[Esports] Team Leader Xie, your mid laner is causing trouble again.

After the doctor left, Xie Jichuan stood at the foot of the bed without moving.

His eyes were fixed warily on the ward door, as if he were guarding his territory from any intruders.

Li Zhiqing cleared her throat and waved to him:

"Xie Jichuan, come here for a moment."

Although Alphas' eyes may seem listless, like a layer of glass veiled in mist, they are extremely obedient.

As soon as Li Zhi raised her hand, he immediately strode over.

Xie Jichuan stood in front of Li Zhi, his head slightly lowered, his lips under the bite block twitching slightly, as if waiting for the next command.

"Didn't sleep all night?" Li Zhi looked up at him.

Alpha tilted its head in confusion, with an animalistic bewilderment, as if pondering why Li Zhi had asked that question.

Sleep? Why do we need to sleep?

How can he sleep when there's danger approaching his Omega?

Li Zhi pouted and tapped him with her finger, her expression slightly coquettish:

"I'm asking you, answer me!"

Xie Jichuan immediately shook his head, answering without hesitation: "I didn't sleep."

Li Zhi pointed to the hospital bed next to her: "I'm awake now, and I feel much better. Go and rest for a while."

He thought that Alpha, who was acting so obediently, would turn around and go to sleep.

After all, not sleeping all night would be too much even for someone made of iron.

But Xie Jichuan shook his head resolutely.

His voice was low and hoarse, carrying a suppressed pain: "I can't sleep."

Li Zhi paused for a moment, then frowned slightly: "Why can't I sleep?"

Alpha pondered for two seconds, his brows furrowing even more deeply, as if struggling to find a particular scene in a maze of memories.

Suddenly, a flicker of emotion appeared in those empty eyes, which seemed to have been drained of all feeling.

Like a pebble thrown into the surface of stagnant water, creating ripples that spread outwards.

Pain, self-blame, ripples that threatened to overwhelm him.

"We...we must protect Zhizhi." His voice was broken. "He'll...be in a lot of pain."

Li Zhi fell silent.

Alpha, however, was still clumsily gesturing with his hands, vaguely forming a tubular shape in the air and indicating its length:

"The syringe is so long... Zhizhi is afraid of pain... I want to protect him."

After he finished speaking, he suddenly stopped.

His face contorted in pain at a visible speed, and his lips trembled violently beneath the anti-biting device.

"It hurts so much..."

Xie Jichuan's voice carried a grief that was almost heartbreaking.

"He was in so much pain... but I wasn't there... I didn't protect him..."

Alpha instantly became agitated again.

He stopped just pulling on the bite stopper and started tearing at it frantically.

He dug his fingers into the gaps in the metal fence and pulled them out, the buckle of his belt creaking under the strain.

The metal pipe left red marks on his face, stretching from his cheekbone to his jawline, with blood seeping from the broken skin—a shocking sight.

He seemed to feel no pain, or rather, the pain only excited him more, and he let out a muffled roar like a wild beast.

Li Zhi's tears welled up instantly.

He quickly stood up, pressed Xie Jichuan's hand down, his voice trembling with tears, filled with both anxiety and heartache:

"Xie Jichuan, wake up! I'm right here, I'm not in pain, stop bringing this up."

"Where's the key to the bite stopper? I'll unlock it for you!"

Xie Jichuan felt the soft touch on the back of his hand and suddenly stopped moving.

He lowered his head and looked at the small hands pressing on the back of his hand, then slowly leaned closer and smelled Li Zhi's wrist.

It has a faint scent of lychee pheromones. Because the mating season has just ended, the sweetness still lingers under the skin, like a sugary core hidden deep within the fruit.

Alpha's breathing became more even, and the violent heaving of his chest gradually subsided.

His eyes were still unfocused, but the near-out-of-control madness had faded, replaced by a cautious bewilderment.

"You...you're Zhizhi?"

Seeing this, Li Zhi gently released more pheromones to soothe him.

"Yes, that's me. Can you tell me where the key to the bite stopper is now?"

His eyes were glistening with tears, his nose was red, and his voice carried a soft yet firm tone.

"I'll open it for you, you don't need to wear this anymore, Xie Jichuan."

Xie Jichuan shook his head firmly, even with a childlike stubbornness.

His voice was muffled, coming from behind the metal fence, soft and hoarse:

"No, if you don't wear it... Zhizhi will faint."

Li Zhi suppressed a sob in her voice and glared at him fiercely:

"Open it now!"

He didn't want to see Xie Jichuan wearing a bite stopper.

I don't want to for even a second.

After confirming that the person in front of him was his Omega, Xie Jichuan became even more obedient.

Seeing that the person was really angry, he hesitated before nodding.

He bent over, his tall body bent at a strenuous angle, one hand supporting himself on the edge of the bed for balance, the other hand reaching under the bed frame.

After fumbling around with his fingertips for a while, he finally managed to pry out a small key from a hidden crevice and hand it over.

As Li Zhi unlocked the anti-bite device, she sighed helplessly, her tone a mix of exasperation and amusement:

"Hidden so well, who's afraid of finding out?"

The bite block came off, the metal bars left his skin, revealing the deep red marks left by the binding and the chafed skin on his cheek.

Alpha seemed somewhat bewildered by the sudden closeness.

The sweet fragrance of lychee was no longer a faint background scent lingering in the air, but rather it wafted directly onto his face.

The taste of chestnut.

Xie Jichuan's ears turned red, and he lowered his eyes, not daring to look at Li Zhi again. He stammered as he spoke:

"No...no, you won't let me get it myself. It's hidden deep inside, and it will take me a long time to get it. You can run away."

Li Zhi paused for a moment, then almost imperceptibly wiped the moisture from the corner of her eye with her fingertip.

Turning around, she rummaged through the bedside table for the hospital's usual iodine solution and cotton swabs, patted the empty half of the bed in front of her, and looked up at Xie Jichuan:

"If you don't want to go to that bed, then get on."