ABMSI Chapter 43
by SuxxiThe motion-sensor lights in the hallway had long fallen into disrepair, flickering sharply and sometimes painfully bright.
Alpha clutched the takeout in his arms, hands trembling, completely at a loss for words.
Anyone with a single working brain cell could tell that right now, right here was absolutely not a place to linger.
So under Fu Duqiu’s gaze, he forced a laugh and prepared to retreat up the stairs as if nothing had happened.
Just as he set foot on the first step, Fu Duqiu—standing in the stairwell—spoke.
“Wait.”
“……”
Alpha froze mid-step.
He turned around with the expression of someone resigned to their tragic fate.
…Was he about to die on the spot??
Fu Duqiu shifted to the side, cleverly angling himself so that he and Duan Wei were face-to-face—yet Alpha couldn’t see Duan Wei’s wobbling legs at all.
He slipped an arm around Duan Wei’s shoulders, took the bulging plastic bag of takeout from his hands, and passed it to Alpha.
“Take it upstairs.”
Though both were Alphas, whenever someone stood before Fu Duqiu, all their Alpha bravado mysteriously evaporated.
The Alpha on the stairs was no exception.
At the command, he instinctively avoided looking behind Fu Duqiu, took the bag like a waiter, and bolted upstairs as though fleeing for his life.
Once he was gone, the pheromones thickened noticeably in the stairwell.
A wave of burning heat surged through Duan Wei’s body; that familiar weakness from earlier climbed up his spine again.
He inhaled the clean, pleasant scent on Fu Duqiu, struggling against the growing urge to lean closer.
He tried to go upstairs to get an inhibitor—then remembered he hadn’t brought one today.
Deflated, he stopped.
“Where did you just go?”
Seeing that Duan Wei’s heat wasn’t accompanied by sharp pain like before, Fu Duqiu wasn’t panicked.
Hands in his pockets, he pinned Duan Wei into the corner of the stairwell.
Duan Wei wasn’t hurting, but that dangerous, familiar loss-of-control feeling crawled over him.
He fought it back and answered, “To pick up the food.”
“Then why do you have someone else’s pheromones on you?”
Fu Duqiu’s tone sounded like an interrogation.
“……”
Duan Wei’s brain lagged; he tried hard to recall what happened at the back entrance, but nothing came.
So he simply gave up.
“How would I know…”
Each word slurred faintly, his heat making his voice soft and sticky, carrying a hint of something… else.
Fu Duqiu’s gaze darkened.
“Don’t act spoiled.”
“I’m not…”
Even in his unclear state, Duan Wei instinctively rejected the idea—he was not the type to act cute.
“Do you want me to give you a temporary mark?”
Fu Duqiu lowered his head, long lashes casting shadows as he gazed down from above.
A temporary mark to an Omega in heat was like a life-saving drug—especially when offered by someone like Fu Duqiu, an especially desirable Alpha.
Duan Wei’s eyes lit up at once, nodding with clear anticipation.
Seeing him look like a cat seeing dried fish, Fu Duqiu’s lips curved.
He glanced around, then said softly, “Come with me.”
Even though no one was in the stairwell, it wasn’t an ideal place to mark someone.
More importantly, Fu Duqiu didn’t want anyone but himself to see Duan Wei like this.
So he led the dazed Duan Wei to the restroom.
A few students saw them enter but were scared off by Fu Duqiu’s expression, fleeing like that unfortunate Alpha earlier.
By the time they reached the bathroom, Duan Wei’s pheromones had spiraled beyond his control.
He followed pure Omega instinct, leaning desperately toward Fu Duqiu.
The cool, clean white-pine scent wrapped around Duan Wei; the moment he neared, his discomfort drained away.
Fu Duqiu led him into a stall, letting him enter first, then closed the door behind them.
Two scents flooded the space at once.
Fu Duqiu lowered his eyes to look at the boy in his arms and spoke quietly:
“I asked you a question earlier. You still haven’t answered.”
“…What?”
“Do you want me to give you a temporary mark?”
For some reason, Fu Duqiu cared a lot about his answer.
Duan Wei’s eyes narrowed slightly, and instinct spoke for him:
“…I do.”
Seeing Duan Wei’s unnaturally flushed face, Fu Duqiu frowned. Something felt off.
“Why do I feel like I’m luring a clueless, fallen… young boy?”
Even though this young man was practically plastered against him—like he might devour Fu Duqiu whole the next second—
Duan Wei ignored him and continued rubbing against him without restraint.
He had no awareness of how suggestive it was for an Omega on the verge of heat to rub all over an Alpha;
he was simply running on instinct.
Deep down, Duan Wei believed that someone like Fu Duqiu wouldn’t take advantage of him.
Sure enough, aside from Fu Duqiu’s gaze darkening, he didn’t do anything excessive.
He wanted to help suppress the heat temporarily but didn’t want to act while Duan Wei wasn’t fully conscious.
So he asked softly,
“Tell me—who am I?”
“……”
No response.
Duan Wei kept nuzzling into him.
Even Fu Duqiu, who was normally unshakable, felt his composure fraying under this relentless rubbing.
He lifted a hand to cover his lips with a fist, then used his other hand to push Duan Wei slightly away.
“Say it. Who am I? Call my name.”
“……”
“Hurry.”
Duan Wei paused.
Finally, his sluggish mind caught up.
His misty deer-like eyes looked straight at Fu Duqiu, and in a soft, weakened voice, he said:
“…Fu Duqiu…”
The moment the words landed, Fu Duqiu turned him around.
A chill brushed the back of Duan Wei’s neck.
With prior experience, Fu Duqiu pinned Duan Wei’s hands against the stall door.
“Hold on.”
Before the boy could react, Fu Duqiu sank his teeth directly into his gland.
“Mm—!”
Duan Wei let out low, choked whimpers.
The faint white-pine scent from the previous temporary mark still lingered on him, but it was instantly engulfed by this new one.
Maybe he recalled something, because this time Fu Duqiu’s bite was harsher than before.
White-pine pheromones flooded the entire restroom—
let alone Duan Wei, the one being marked.
Watching him tremble, Fu Duqiu’s eyes darkened further.
This person always managed to come back reeking of pheromones—Omega, Alpha, didn’t matter—
and it unfailingly made the usually calm Fu Duqiu furious.
So he stripped every trace of Alpha pheromone from Duan Wei, leaving only his own white-pine scent.
The marking didn’t last long, but because it was stronger this time, Duan Wei felt it was endless.
Mind scrambled, he braced himself against the wall until the final pulse of pheromones sank into his gland.
Only then did his senses slowly return.
He gasped for breath, consciousness stabilizing—only to realize he’d been temporarily marked by Fu Duqiu again.
The boy infamous for having a face thick enough to rival a city wall actually blushed.
Maybe it was Omega instinct—
every time he went into heat, he lost control, unable to stop himself from wanting to cling to Fu Duqiu.
At first, he could lose himself in the haze.
But now that he was fully awake, post-mark embarrassment washed over him from head to toe.
He jolted upright, wanting to fling open the stall door and flee immediately—
but Fu Duqiu seemed to have predicted it.
He raised a hand and blocked the half-open door.
“Where are you going?” he asked, voice low.
“You got marked and you’re not even going to say thanks? Planning to run after freeloading?”
“……”
His escape blocked, Duan Wei slowly turned around like an ostrich trying to bury its head, opening his mouth only to find no words forming.
At that moment, an awkward sound echoed inside the stall—
“Grrr—”
Duan Wei’s stomach, empty since morning, growled.
Fu Duqiu: “……”
Author’s note:
After feeding his spouse’s gland, he still has to feed his spouse’s stomach.
Fu Duqiu: This life is too hard.