Mr. Si
The air within the research station seemed frozen solid, every inch saturated with the silent battle of top-tier Alpha pheromones. General Shao Qing towered like a mountain, his aura of rust and blood, bearing the heavy weight of a sea of blood and corpses, attempting to crush all resistance. And Si Qi, like a sudden, rising cliff, his sandalwood pheromones were no longer simply aloof and aloof, but a protective barrier, resilient and dense, firmly shielding Shao Wei behind him, not yielding an inch.
This is no longer a suppression of blood, but a contest of wills.
Shao Wei leaned against Si Qi, his breathing still weak, but his ice-blue eyes were startlingly bright. The oppressive and chaotic feeling deep in his brain, which had lasted for more than twenty years like background noise, disappeared. Although accompanied by the weakness after the operation and the stinging pain of the residual neurotoxin, his mind was clearer than ever. Those tampered and blurred fragments of memory were still surging, but the core of his "self" was re-condensing. He looked at Si Qi's broad and tense back, feeling the completely protective posture that had never been revealed to him. His heart felt like it was soaked in warm water and acid, complicated and indescribable.
Cousins. Experimental subjects. An arranged marriage. Three years of indifference and forbearance. The truth is so ugly it's sickening.
But after the most unbearable truth was completely revealed, this person, the person he had secretly loved for so long but never dared to get close to, stood in front of him, fighting for him against the behemoth that was like fate.
"Good. Very good." Shao Qing finally spoke again. His voice was low, and it was impossible to tell whether he was happy or angry. But his eyes, which had seen so much, were already frozen. "Siqi, you have made your choice. I hope you won't regret your stupidity today."
He tapped his cane lightly on the ground. Outside the research station, the engines, which had previously been silent, roared again, now in greater numbers and closer, with an unmistakable encirclement. Dr. Chen and Dr. Li's faces paled instantly.
"General!" Dr. Chen stepped forward, his tone filled with a final plea, "Stop! They've already paid enough! Do we really have to see..."
"Chen Jingming," Shao Qing interrupted him without even looking away, "I haven't yet pursued your defection. Don't test my patience."
At this moment, Shao Wei gently pushed Si Qi away, supported himself, and stood up unsteadily. His movement pulled at the wound, and fine cold sweat oozed from his forehead, but his back was straight, like a green bamboo that refused to break in the wind and snow.
"Grandfather." He spoke, using this name that had never been spoken before and was bound by blood. Although his voice was weak, it echoed clearly in the silent room.
Shao Qing's gaze finally fell on him again, with a hint of scrutiny and an imperceptible complexity.
"You pursue absolute power and control," Shao Wei looked at him, his eyes calm and almost cruel. "Have you ever calculated the destructive power a 'defective product' forced into a desperate situation could unleash?"
He slowly raised his hand, the one not receiving the IV, his fingertips trembling slightly as he pointed accurately at his temple. "The chip has been removed, but some things are etched into my bones. For example, those fragments of memories you consider 'flaws' about my mother—your daughter."
Shao Qing's pupils shrank almost imperceptibly.
"What she left behind before she died," Shao Wei said word by word, as if he had exhausted all his strength, "is not anywhere you can find it. It's here with me. A complete record of the original conception of the 'Twin Project', a list of all the participants, and... how you abused your power to cover up the early experimental accidents that resulted in the deaths of several babies."
Si Qi looked at Shao Wei in shock. He had never heard of this before!
Dr. Chen also gasped, obviously unaware of this.
Shao Wei's face revealed a bleak yet resolute smile. "You said this is a battlefield, and we must know how to cut our losses. But have you ever considered that when the 'defective product' chooses to perish along with its target, what will be left of this game you've been playing for over twenty years?"
A threat. A naked, pointed threat.
Shao Wei's mother, the woman who fell in love with Beta and ultimately died of depression, actually left behind such a deadly thing before her death, and handed it to her son, who was considered a "failure"? And her son, in such a desperate situation, played it as his last trump card!
Inside the research station, you could hear a pin drop. A muscle on Shao Qing's face twitched slightly, and true anger finally surged in his bottomless eyes. He felt threatened, threatened by the "work" he had created and was about to abandon.
"You're gambling." Shao Qing's voice was like ice. "You're gambling on whether I care about these old things, whether those things really exist."
"You can try." Shao Wei didn't flinch, his icy blue eyes filled with a desperate madness. "Let's see if your people can control us first, or if those materials will appear in the Supreme Military Tribunal and on the headlines of the global media tomorrow. 'Shao Family Glory'... huh, I really want to know if it can withstand such a scandal."
Si Qi subconsciously tightened his grip on Shao Wei's hand, finding his fingertips cold, yet their slight tremor conveyed a desperate strength. He instantly understood that Shao Wei was bluffing, or rather, gambling on a possibility that Shao Qing wouldn't dare take. The existence and completeness of the so-called "evidence" were unknown. But this was their only chance to break the encirclement.
Time ticked by, the roar of engines outside the window drawing ever closer, bright beams of light piercing through the windows, sweeping across the room. The atmosphere was as tense as a fully drawn bowstring.
Finally, Shao Qing slowly closed his eyes. A few seconds later, when he opened them again, his expression had returned to its calm depth. He gave Shao Wei a deep look, a look no longer like that of a failed experiment, but rather of a rival who had finally bared his fangs and was worthy of serious consideration.
"You're more courageous than your mother," Shao Qing said calmly, his tone unclear as to whether it was praise or sarcasm. He raised his hand and spoke solemnly to the miniature communicator under his collar, "Retreat."
Outside the window, the roar of the engine began to weaken, and the bright beams of light moved away one by one, finally disappearing in the wind and snow.
The oppressive feeling receded like a tide. Dr. Chen and Dr. Li almost simultaneously collapsed against the wall, their legs giving way and breathing heavily. Si Qi also felt a wave of weakness, but he still clung to Shao Wei, holding him up to prevent him from collapsing.
Shao Qing took one last look at the two people standing side by side, his gaze lingering on Si Qi for a moment: "Si Qi, you chose your own path. I hope you won't come back to me on your knees and beg me one day."
He didn't pause. He turned, leaning on his cane, and walked out of the research station with steady steps. The heavy metal door closed behind him, blocking out the wind and snow outside, and also seemed to temporarily block out the suffocating control.
There was a brief silence in the research station.
"He... is really gone?" Dr. Li murmured in disbelief.
"For now." Dr. Chen wiped the sweat from his forehead, his expression solemn. "The general has never been threatened. He retreated this time only because the information thrown out by Shao Wei exceeded his expectations, and he needed time to verify and evaluate it. Once he is sure that the evidence is not scary, or has found a way to deal with it..."
He didn't say the rest, but everyone understood. The crisis was only temporarily resolved, far from over.
Si Qi ignored all this, his full attention was on Shao Wei. The moment Shao Qing left, Shao Wei's strong breath seemed to be instantly drained away, and he collapsed, his face pale, and his breathing became rapid and shallow.
"Commissioner Shao!" Si Qi picked him up and carefully placed him back on the stretcher. "Doctor Chen! How is he?"
Dr. Chen and Silver Fox immediately stepped forward to examine him. "The emotional fluctuations are so severe, coupled with the forced induction of mental energy and pheromones, that his body is overdrawn," Dr. Chen said quickly. "Immediate monitoring and nutritional support are required. Silver Fox, prepare the sedative and nutrient solution."
Si Qi stayed by the bed, watching Shao Wei's brow furrowed in pain, his heart clenching as he saw the gauze bandaged around his pale, fragile neck. He reached out, wanting to smooth the wrinkles between his brows, but his fingertips paused just as they were about to touch.
cousin.
These three words were like an invisible chasm, standing between his suddenly turbulent emotions.
Shao Wei seemed to sense something even in his coma, his eyelashes trembling as he struggled to open his eyes a crack. His vision was blurry, but he accurately caught Si Qi's hand and the complex struggle in his eyes.
He twitched the corners of his mouth very lightly, as if he wanted to laugh, but was too weak to do so.
"Now... do you understand why... I always say 'life is boring'?" His voice was weak and full of self-mockery. "From birth... it's been a cursed play..."
Si Qi's heart seemed to be pierced by these words. He no longer hesitated, and grasped Shao Wei's cold hand. He leaned down and said firmly in his ear in a voice that only the two of them could hear:
"The show is over. From now on, it's real."
Shao Wei's eyelashes trembled violently, and a flash of water seemed to pass through his ice-blue eyes. Then, he fell into a deep sleep completely, but the hand held by Si Qi slightly clenched back, although the force was so weak that it was almost imperceptible.
Si Qi maintained a leaning posture and did not move for a long time.
Dr. Chen arranged the follow-up treatment and walked over to Si Qi. Seeing him tightly holding Shao Wei's hand, he sighed, "What are your plans next? We can't stay here for long. Although the general has temporarily retreated, his spies are everywhere."
Si Qi stood up straight, his eyes regaining the sharpness of a cold-blooded decision-maker in the business world: "We need an absolutely safe place for him to recover. Also, regarding anything his mother might have left behind..."
Dr. Chen shook his head. "I've never heard the young lady mention this. Commissioner Shao is likely taking a gamble. But this also reminds us that perhaps there really is some evidence of earlier plans that the general is unaware of. This could be your only chance of survival."
Si Qi pondered for a moment, a flicker of determination in his eyes. "I know a place. In Iceland, a private medical center known for its pheromone neutrality and absolute confidentiality. It has the world's top gland experts and security systems. As for the evidence..." He looked at Dr. Chen, "We need to find it. Before Shao Qing reacts."
Dr. Chen nodded. "I'll use all my connections and resources to investigate. I'll especially focus on those who left the project early on or are dissatisfied with the general. They might know something."
"Thank you," Si Qi said solemnly. He knew that Dr. Chen's help also came with huge risks.
"No need to thank me. I owe this to the young lady, and I also owe it to you." Dr. Chen looked at the unconscious Shao Wei with a guilty look in his eyes.
For the next few hours, the research station was bustling with activity. Silver Fox and Doctor Li stabilized Shao Wei's condition and prepared the necessary medicine and equipment for the journey. Si Qi, through an encrypted line, contacted his most trusted confidant overseas, mobilizing a private jet and making all the necessary arrangements for Iceland.
The wind and snow are gradually subsiding, and the darkest moment before dawn is about to pass.
Si Qi stood by the window, gazing at the hazy outlines of the snow-capped mountains outside. His life had been turned upside down in a single day. His marriage, his background, his beliefs—all shattered and reassembled. Yet, strangely, at this moment, despite the heavy burden and the uncertainty of his future, he felt a sense of unprecedented clarity within him.
He turned around and looked at Shao Wei, who was sleeping under the influence of the drug. His face was still pale, but no longer had the dead silence of the past. It was as if a heavy burden had been lifted, revealing a pure, fragile silence.
He walked over, sat down beside the bed, and gently brushed Shao Wei's slightly cold cheek with his fingertips.
"No matter who you are, where you come from, or what our relationship is..." Si Qi whispered to himself, as if he was taking an oath, or trying to convince himself, "From the moment you pushed me away and said, 'I'm dying anyway,' I knew something was different."
"The play is fake, but the coffee is real. The problem you solved is real, and the back of you cleaning up after the susceptible period is real..." He paused, his voice getting deeper. "Everything I missed and let down in the past three years is real."
"So, Shao Wei, live on." He clenched the hand, as if to pass on his vitality. "Give me a chance to turn the fake into the real."
Outside the window, the sky was turning pale, and the faint light struggled to penetrate the thick clouds and snow, sprinkling on the vast snowfield. It also passed through the window, bringing a hint of brightness to the dim room.
The road ahead is still long, and the darkness is not far away. Shao Qing's shadow hangs over his head like the sword of Damocles. The physical trauma, ethical violations, and scars of the past all require time to face and heal.
But at least, in this cold, disaster-stricken dawn, they held each other's hands and decided to walk out of that carefully woven drama together.
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