Chapter 119
When there are many people, all sorts of noise are inevitable. When Afu and Basil were arguing, Fengran acted as judge. When Basil and Fran were arguing, Xingtong acted as judge. When the others were arguing with Xisen, no one wanted to care anymore. So, during the final part of the bionic human body, when they were stitching up the skin and transplanting hair, he angrily said that he was not doing it anymore.
Feng Ran looked around the lab but didn't see the other person in charge of the project. He turned to ask, "Where's Fran?"
Xing Tong succinctly stated: "During my heat, I was bitten by basil and became paralyzed."
When Basil agreed to cooperate with the pheromone marking treatment, Fran complained to Feng Ran that he bit too hard and was very annoying. Several months later, Feng Ran thought that Basil had toned it down and that the matter had finally reached a balance. Unexpectedly, the so-called balance was just that Fran had "gotten used to" it and had put up with it.
She looked at Basil with some unfamiliarity: "It's just treatment, there's no need for that, is there?"
Basil tried to argue, "You know what the effects of his pheromones are."
Feng Ran: "But wouldn't that be useless to you?"
She now strongly suspects that if her rabbit ever dies, it will be bitten to death by basil.
Feng Ran put down his tools: "I'll go check on him."
Basil hesitated, "Oh dear, don't go. It's not a big deal."
Feng Ran ignored him and stared at him intently: "Basil, sometimes I really don't understand what you're thinking."
The castle has many rooms, most of which were converted into guest rooms during the wedding preparations. In fact, the rooms arranged for Fran and Basil were at one end of the corridor, with Sissen in the middle so that he could come out and take a look if anything happened.
The two people in the room had a strong pheromone scent, and Fran, wrapped in a blanket, was making moaning sounds on the bed.
Feng Ran walked in as if he hadn't seen anything: "Fran, are you alright? Xing Tong's human body is in the final stage of the peripheral device process. If nothing unexpected happens, the official wedding rehearsal will be the day after tomorrow."
Fran poked her fluffy head out from under the covers, her eyes red from crying and her voice hoarse: "It's okay, I can make it, don't worry."
Feng Ran: "That's not what I'm worried about."
His legs were useless; he struggled on the bed for a long time but couldn't muster any strength and could only lie awkwardly on his stomach.
Feng Ran: "How is your gland recovering?"
Fran: "It's much better now. After one or two more markings, it should be able to recover to a level where it's safe for surgery."
Fran had always planned to have his glands removed, but he hadn't been able to do it before because his glands had been marked by too many people and couldn't be properly cleansed. Without organs to metabolize these pheromones after removal, his body would deteriorate rapidly, tantamount to death. After Basil's pheromones covered and cleaned up the marks from others, the long-term injections of suppressant drugs caused gland damage, exacerbating his pheromone dependence and forcing him to undergo pheromone marking treatment to repair the damaged glands.
Once the glands have recovered to a fully healthy state, wash off the basil mark and remove it. Then he will be free as a complete person.
Feng Ran: "Can it be washed off?"
Pheromonic marker removal surgery cannot completely remove 100% of residual pheromone markers. Doctors usually conduct a comprehensive assessment of the patient before the surgery. If the compatibility is poor, about 90% can be removed. The remaining residue will not affect the second marking or normal life. However, if the compatibility is high, at most about 75% can be removed. The remaining part still needs to be treated with daily medication to reduce the impact.
Fran: "Sure, I've discussed it with Xing Tong. We'll use a special cleaning agent, so secondary damage won't matter. Anyway, it'll be removed two or three hours after washing."
Feng Ran: "Do you want to go to school? If you don't want to go, you can stay in Qilia and prepare for the research institute with Xing Tong."
Fran hesitated, then said, "Go."
Fran is a very hardworking and dedicated person. During his exam preparation, Xing Tong helped him balance work and rest and to make him yearn for university life. During his breaks, she showed him many youth campus movies.
His student days were a long, long time ago, filled with all sorts of chaotic and unpleasant memories. He only started learning pharmacology by picking up lab bottles to find a drug that could suppress his pheromones. But suppressing them wasn't enough; he also had to change other gender characteristics. Even the body-breaking drug that he sold with Hilde in the anemone herb garden was originally meant for him.
He must change, keep changing, until everything from the past can no longer recognize him or catch up with him, only then will he feel that he has truly gained freedom.
But when people are truly free and have more choices, each choice feels like a review of the past, as if they have reached the present by relying on the past, like a vicious cycle.
Fran initially rejected Xing Tong's suggestion to repeat a year because he was worried that he wouldn't be able to adapt to school life. However, he gradually discovered that memories can be overwritten, just like forming a habit; it just needs to be filled with something else.
Feng Ran ruffled his hair: "It's okay, do whatever you want, there's plenty of time anyway."
Fran looked at her timidly: "Without glands and pheromones, am I still of any use to you?"
Feng Ran: "I stopped doing pheromone experiments a long time ago. Even if you still have some, I won't use them."
Fran: "Then what about your theory?"
Fran initially admired the theory of wind-burning, which was also a maxim that gave him hope.
Feng Ran: "It doesn't matter. If the second sex is a strange disease unique to humans, then I, as Enigma, am the one with the most severe disease. So I can bite whoever I want. Isn't that great?"
Fran: "So am I considered mildly ill? But in terms of impact, the least affected should be the Beta, right?"
Feng Ran: "I don't know if it's light or not, but it should be the strongest."
She held up several fingers in turn, “Enigma is disordered, Alpha is repressed, Beta is silently infected, and Omega is self-tamed. People of the other genders are unaware of the symptoms. Only you are the first to understand the ability and meaning of reproduction and childbirth, choosing to adapt to it, but maintaining your independence from being objectified.”
Fran: "So you think Omega is actually very powerful, right?"
Feng Ran: "Think about it, if someone who needs pheromone labeling treatment for gland damage today were Basil or Shen Shiqian, they would definitely rather die in pain than be treated by just any Omega, because while their original gender provides them with a stepping stone, it also deprives them of the right to look down."
Feng Ran: "Without downward self-examination, one's self-awareness is incomplete. Just like how they feel repressed because they are Alphas, but don't know they are sick, they exhibit a highly unified arrogance. When faced with downward assistance or charity, the incomplete self they have built shatters instantly. To put it bluntly, they are not strong at all."
Fran sniffed and agreed, "You're right! I feel energetic again, and I can get out of bed and get to work right now!"
Xing Tong jumped in at the opportune moment: "I don't need you! Kalista is almost finished sewing me up. You've been lying here for so long, you should eat first, or you won't look good in your dress!"
Feng Ran: "Let Xiao Fen bring you some of the soup she made."
Fran: "Oh, that's not a good idea."
After all, it's specifically for pregnant men.
Feng Ran grinned: "What's wrong with that? He's very picky about what he eats. If you make him drink it every day, he either pours it out or feeds it to Zuo Ling. Zuo Ling has gotten so fat from all that."
Feng Ran: "You continue to rest, I'll go check on how Xisen's stitching is going."
When Feng Ran walked out of the room, he bumped into Basil, who was lurking suspiciously outside the door. Not surprised at all, he grabbed Basil and headed towards the outer wall of the castle.
From the city wall, one can see the purple sea of flowers below. It seems that nowadays, lavender no longer has any special meaning for her, just like she has gradually gotten used to living under the sun, sometimes feeling its warmth, sometimes its scorching heat.
Feng Ran: "You heard everything?"
Traditional wood and stone buildings don't have much high-tech soundproofing. Just as Fengran can detect Basil sneaking around outside, Basil can also overhear everything without missing a single word.
Basil's expression was somewhat somber: "Does he really want to have the gland removed?"
Feng Ran countered with, "Otherwise, would you be willing to treat him for the rest of your life?"
If the glands are not removed, Fran will be forever bound to basil because of the mark, and because of the high compatibility, the mark will be very difficult to wash off.
Basil: "Is Fran important to you?"
Feng Ran rarely spoke to Basil so seriously. When there was no smile in her eyes, she exuded a strong sense of pressure: "Basil, you should ask yourself that question."
Just when Basil thinks he's mature enough and in control, reality always throws a problem at him that he can't handle, telling him that people can't empathize with their past selves and that he even has to pay the price for the past.
He didn't understand why he was always like this, always forcing himself to start something bad, realizing his mistakes but not changing them, stubbornly going all the way to the end until he hit a wall and then pretending to wake up.
Just like Feng Ran said, he's not strong. Ever since he was abandoned by Feng Ran, he's been using and relying on Fran. He messes things up because of his weakness. He's also incomplete. He lacks self-awareness but is arrogant, so when he sees the tenacious Fran, he wants to use him to complete himself.
Fran hates him, but he comforts himself by saying it doesn't matter, since he doesn't like Fran either. In reality, he's incredibly childish.
Fran always knew, but he just ignored it. No matter how deep the mark was, it couldn't be engraved in his heart. If pheromones would affect his judgment, he would decisively discard them without hesitation. He firmly maintained his own identity, which was much better than Basil. That's why Basil hated him and was unwilling to think why he could stand by Feng Ran's side. But in reality, he knew better than anyone that he had that ability and qualifications.
Basil lowered his head, feeling a tightness in his chest. Looking down made tears more likely to fall, but he couldn't figure out if this self-examination could be considered strength.
So he simply squatted down in front of the corner and said, "I understand, I will think about it carefully."
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