Lop-Eared Guard

Yan Yi dragged the notched sword as he stood by the edge of the shore. The occasional waves with tiny shells surged up and washed his bare ankles, carrying away the blood and dirt. Countless guns were aimed at him, but no one dared to pull the trigger.

No one dared to challenge the unparalleled S4 differentiation. If he wanted to, he could even easily destroy this half ruined city with just a flick of his finger. 

Yan Yi indifferently commanded them to put down their guns.

Although his voice was light, the power contained in it poured into everyone’s ears with a cold sound, crushing the last line of defence in the hearts of the security team members who still stubbornly wanted to resist with their backs against the corner. At first, one person put down their gun, but no one rebuked him, so more people threw down their weapons and were confiscated by the high-grade omega.

A lion-print helicopter landed with a roar and a pale-faced Dr. Zhong led several emergency doctors to hastily climb down the rope ladder to help the wounded stop bleeding and bandage them. The eldest from the Xia family had a bulletproof vest hung over his arm as he anxiously looked around to find his worrisome little brother. 

Swaying their large and colourful fish tails, several omegas climbed onto the rocks next to Yan Yi. The leader, holding a Walter sniper gun in both hands, presented it to Yan Yi and looked at him regretfully.

Yan Yi lightly sniffed the faint and fishy sea breeze. He could feel the lingering scent of narcissus in the wind completely disappear, not drifting further away, but forever silent from this world.

He carried Lu Shangjin’s gun on his back, separated the crowd blocking the way, and walked into the gate of the base under the gaze of PBB soldiers in the lane. The soldiers on both sides slowly retreated as Yan Yi approached, and the beasts of prey alphas had to choose to surrender at this moment.

The desks and chairs in the control room were toppled and shattered, the bodies on the ground were strewn everywhere. Gu Wei had disappeared, and Lu Lin stood blankly in front of the console going out of control, the calm composure on his face was already broken by the twisted and mad gaze in his eyes. 

A few hours ago, he repeatedly issued orders to stop the attack, but each order was intercepted by the Pacific headquarters until the security team rushed into the control room and reported that Lu Shangjin was seriously injured and fell into the sea. The fatal injury was on his glands, and his vital movements in the sea could no longer be detected.

Behind him came the sound of slow footsteps and Lu Lin had become a frightened bird. He felt for the gun on the control console and pulled the trigger at Yan Yi with his hand turned back. 

Yan Yi suddenly lifted his long sword and the oncoming bullet was split in half and fell at his feet.

Lu Lin was stunned for a long time. His scarlet eyes sized him up and gradually turned from panic to greed, “Have you differentiated? It seems like you’re stronger than the A3 I’ve seen. Even compared to Wan Wan you…”

Yan Yi lifted the cultivation cover he was holding in his left hand, and inside, the glands of an A3 chameleon, whose blood had faded and stopped beating, laid peacefully in the cultivation fluid.

At a glance, Lu Lin saw the gun he was carrying, and his gaze kept wavering from Yan Yi’s hands and behind his back. He didn’t know who had poured a basin of ice water directly over his head, making him a bit stiff with cold.

He tightly gripped a tube of Lu Shangjin’s stem cells in his hand, before taking two tablets of medicine while holding onto his twisted and painful chest. Right after, he held the console and barely stood still, mournful laughter squeezing out between his teeth.

“I was the one who held his hand and taught him the sniper technique. I had high hopes for him, but after so many years, he stopped after differentiating to M2. I knew it. I was once an A3, and Xiao Jin wouldn’t be any different. Do you want to know the differentiation potential of my little grandson?” 

“He’s different from you.” Yan Yi looked at him coldly, not understanding how this false and stubborn obsession was of use. His own child didn’t have to bear the burden of investing in such deformities either. 

The unkempt and wretchedly disheveled alpha snatched Ye Wan’s glands, which had stopped beating, from Yan Yi’s hand. With his cheek pressed against the cracked glass cover, he stared at the ground lost in thought, muttering our Xiao Jin was the most promising. 

Yan Yi didn’t want to argue about a topic that would bring no results anymore. He let a few omegas come in and take the person away.

Lu Lin was received as a felon by the prison of the Pacific Headquarters Base and had to wait for the verdict of the international court. It took a longer time to collect evidence. Yan Yi had no intention of worrying about these trivial matters, so he took the baby back home alone.

The leaves in the courtyard at home were completely red; a thick and soft layer of fallen red leaves had accumulated under the trees and the newly hired nanny was bending down to sweep the fallen leaves. Yan Yi was really up to his ears in taking care of the baby alone and was actually not used to having strangers coming and going at home.

A few days ago, Bi Ruijing called to talk about the results of sending people to salvage him. After hesitating for a while and not saying anything useful, Yan Yi already knew the result and expressed his gratitude lightly.

The smell of Lu Shangjin in this house decreased day by day. The study was locked and he had forgotten which drawer he had pressed the key deep into.  

Tan Meng and the rest occasionally come to visit him. Everyone had a tacit understanding to stop mentioning the person Yan Yi didn’t want to hear about. When they carried Lu Yan and teased him, they would only use his baby nickname Qiu Qiu1. 

The fluff on the little bunny’s ears had grown and his snow-white little ears still trembled quietly when he slept. Perhaps it was because he hadn’t been soothed by his alpha father. When he was born, he was always wrapped up by alphas’ chaotic oppressive pheromones for too long, and his startled response was too frequent. He would often twitch suddenly when he slept and scare himself awake, and then screaming and crying loudly.

Yan Yi got up from the bed and leaned down over the side of the crib and put his hands in. The bunny scrambled to grab his father’s hand and sucked hard on the soothing pheromone in the air. The soothing pheromones of his omega dad were powerful and deep, with a kind of depressive force that caressed him to make him feel safe.

The little bunny was extremely delicate and only wanted Yan Yi to hold him. If others did, he would cry like a piercing little speaker at the maximum volume. His little ears would tremble in grievance as he searched for his dad everywhere.

“Daddy is holding you.” Yan Yi doted on him the most. He held little Lu Yan to comfort him and walked a few turns around the room. When the drowsiness from waking up disappeared, he stood in front of the french windows and looked at the red clouds in the dawn sky. 

Lu Yan turned over sadly, tears streaming down his face as he pressed close to Yan Yi’s heart. Yan Yi lowered his head and kissed his fleshy little face and ears, humming a tune to lull him into sleep.

He then carried little Lu Yan downstairs and sat on the sofa in the living room, falling into a daze for a moment. He had thrown a lot of things away at home, making it seem a bit empty.

Repeated news was broadcasted on the TV reporting that the new PBB commander, Gu Wei, issued a peacekeeping statement at the joint meeting. Originally, Yan Yi was supposed to represent the International Omega Anti-Hunting Alliance at the meeting, but reasoned that the baby was too young for him to leave and asked Tan Meng to attend on his behalf.

He had received several short videos from Xiao Xia on WeChat. The little lion in the videos was wearing a camouflage combat uniform with a PBB badge hanging on his chest, a crooked smile revealing two small fangs, and behind him were a group of young elites who were also newly recruited. Together with Xiao Xia, they called out ‘Senior Yan ge’ to the camera.

Yan Yi greeted Xiao Xia’s captain and told him to take care of this mischievous little lion who loved seeking the limelight. 

On the summer solstice, Dr. Zhong came to his house to check on Yan Yi and little Lu Yan’s health. He smiled and complained that Yan Yi didn’t come to the hospital for a physical examination, so he could only make it an exercise to take a few trips over. 

He wore a fine jade ring on his ring finger with a violet glass. Yan Yi had seen this ring in a jewelry feature of a magazine, and just a few days ago, it was sold for over 8 million HKD at a Hong Kong auction, bagged by Hongye Xia family’s eldest young master.

When he looked down to take the stethoscope, a lion mark was formed on the back of his exposed glands on his nape. Yan Yi held the baby looking at that mark as his mind wandered off.

Dr. Zhong also realized what Yan Yi was looking at; he covered his mouth and cleared his throat. He couldn’t help but laugh.

After the establishment of the International Omega Anti-Hunting Alliance, many alpha and beta scientists with ideas at the forefront of humanity participated in Dr. Zhong’s research. The head of the Hongye Xia family was quite optimistic about the commercial prospects of the research and invested a large amount of funds into the research project of eliminating higher-order dependency. They had a breakthrough this summer to live up to the expectations of the public, with the first batch of L-barrier vaccines being released. 

“It’s good for your health to go out more.” Dr. Zhong took off the stethoscope and packed his suitcase. Lu Yan laid over Yan Yi’s lap with his furball of a tail puckered. He only had two small teeth but wanted to bite everything, holding his dad’s finger and chewing on it until it was full of saliva. 

Dr. Zhong was a bit worried about Yan Yi’s condition. Since returning from the Huaining branch, until now for such a long time, Yan Yi had maintained a calm and indifferent attitude from beginning to end. He had also raised the baby to eight months old alone and had never mentioned the tiredness and trouble of taking care of the baby to them.

Yan Yi looked through the french window. It was time to go out for a walk.

Last winter, the park near their home was renovated with greenery and planted with patches of Christmas roses. According to the uncles exercising in the park, these flowers were of an improved variety that had been detoxified and could bloom all year round, their elegant  fragrance light and gentle.

Yan Yi occasionally took Lu Yan to the park for a stroll. Little Lu Yan liked it very much, babbling as he pointed to the flowers and wanting to pick them, but Yan Yi kept walking and took him to see his favourite scenery.

In the past, the artificial lake side was filled with narcissus, and when they bloomed, the snow-white and golden petals swayed in the wind. But when he came, the large area of daffodils had been uprooted by the workers, and new flower seedlings were being planted in full swing with enthusiasm.

Yan Yi held the baby with one hand and grabbed a worker to ask the reason. However, they laughed and said that the narcissus scent was so fragrant that it caused  headaches. The exercising uncles and aunties in the park were unhappy and complained about changing the greenery.

So he went to that park less often.

Dr. Zhong had just left, and the nanny came back with a basket of fresh vegetables and carried a bunch of Christmas roses stained with dew in her arms.

Happy at the sight of Yan Yi, she placed the flowers in his arms and praised them for their beauty and fragrance. She specifically asked the gardener who planted the flowers and found that it had been improved to be non-toxic and harmless, and could be placed in pregnant people’s rooms.

Yan Yi’s expression didn’t look very good. He instructed the nanny to bring a bunch of narcissus back tomorrow.

The nanny was worried that Yan Yi didn’t understand how to take care of the baby, “Narcissus cannot be placed in the baby’s room. That flower is poisonous and has a bad smell.” 

Stunned, Yan Yi asked the nanny to feed Lu Yan some milk and mashed fruit. He then went upstairs on his own.

He shut himself in the bedroom and sat in front of the french window, lighting a cigarette with his fingers and gently exhaled the smoke to block the sea of flowers at the end of his line of sight.

Tears quietly fell, hitting the back of his hand and dripping onto the scar of his tattoo removal on his ring finger.