The Iris of Madness

Li Chen’s movements halted. He tilted his head, casting a sidelong, disdainful glance at Shi Ji behind him.

Shi Ji stood rooted to the spot, panting slightly. As he took in the scene before him, his smoky-black pupils suddenly contracted.

The youth pinned to the ground by Li Chen was unconscious, nosebleed coating half his face. Dark purple bruising bloomed over both eyes, and his swollen eyelids looked gruesome. The surrounding students who caught a glimpse quickly covered their mouths, eyes wide with horror.

“What on earth happened!” the principal shouted, his entire body trembling with rage.

“We… we don’t know either,” stammered the male student closest to the principal, his voice trailing off. “I think I heard Yang Xing call Li Chen a… ‘unwanted mutt.’ He also said… said that even if Li Chen’s parents were still alive, no one would dare call him disgusting like that…”

His voice was tiny, as if he were terrified of being overheard by Li Chen. Upon hearing this, Shi Ji’s gaze landed on Li Chen’s face.

The boy’s face was dark and somber. The blue within his pupils seemed to have deepened, and the corners of his eyes were rimmed with red. He looked at Shi Ji expressionlessly, his half-raised fist still trembling slightly—he looked like a beast whose sanity had completely collapsed.

After several encounters like this, Shi Ji finally understood: Li Chen had lost his parents at a young age. Naturally, his parents had become the one line that could never be crossed.

He watched as Li Chen turned his head back to stare fixately at the half-dead Yang Xing. The Alpha’s previous arrogance had vanished completely; even though he was unconscious, his lips still twitched as if pleading for mercy.

Li Chen’s raised fist fell once more, completely disregarding the stares of everyone around him. Each punch landed with heavy force, as if he were using Yang Xing as a human punching bag to vent the emotions he had suppressed for so long.

The sound of fist hitting flesh was heart-stopping. Dark red blood splattered into the air, trickling down to stain the side of Li Chen’s face.

No one would have guessed that the perpetrator of this horrific scene was the “weak and submissive” Omega everyone whispered about!

The principal couldn’t stand it any longer. He quickly looked at several tall boys nearby and shouted, “You lot! Get in there and stop him!”

The boys swallowed hard, hesitating to step forward. They could smell the Omega’s pheromones in the air—the scent of iris was laced with violent factors, warning them that another step closer would result in the same fate as Yang Xing.

Bizarrely, an Omega’s pheromones were actually intimidating Alphas. The boys took fewer than five steps forward before scurrying back in a panic. One of them said to the principal with a long face, “Teacher! We don’t dare go over there. Is he an Omega? He seems to be in heat, and his pheromones are absolutely terrifying!”

Like Shi Ji, the principal was a Beta and couldn’t smell the pheromones the boys mentioned. However, looking at their pale faces and panicked eyes, he could tell they weren’t lying.

“To be scared off by an Omega’s pheromones—what use are you!!” His face turned ashen. This unprecedented level of violence was making even the principal lose his composure.

‘Is Li Chen in heat?’

Shi Ji listened silently.

It seemed that the last time Li Chen lost control, it was also accompanied by a heat cycle.

His heat manifestations were different from other Omegas. Usually, Omegas in heat became weak and would uncontrollably cling to any Alpha pheromones they sensed.

But Li Chen… he lost control. A total lack of reason without warning. In fact, contact with even a small amount of Alpha pheromones seemed to make him more furious.

‘How can this be?’ Shi Ji didn’t remember the original novel having such a setting for the protagonist!

The principal frantically dialed the infirmary. After requesting immediate backup with anesthetics and suppressants, he turned back to Shi Ji.

Shi Ji met the principal’s eyes. They were filled with supplication. He understood immediately what the man wanted him to do.

“Mr. Shi! Student Li Chen is your brother! Please, go talk to him! If he doesn’t stop, that student is going to be beaten to death!” Tears welled in the principal’s narrow eyes; he looked ready to kneel before Shi Ji. “Mr. Shi! You don’t want anything to happen to the students at this school, do you?”

Shi Ji looked at him coldly, though internally he was panicked.

‘If the Alphas can’t handle this Omega, what can I, a Beta, do?!’

The crowd of onlookers was growing. Many students joined the principal in pleading. Under the weight of so many eyes, Shi Ji had no choice but to brace himself and nod.

He took a deep breath and began walking toward Li Chen. With every meter he closed, he felt his heart rate skyrocket.

As the distance shortened, Shi Ji smelled the scent of blood permeating the air. He couldn’t bear to look at Yang Xing’s face anymore; he couldn’t even tell if the boy was still breathing.

Li Chen, pinned atop Yang Xing, showed no expression. He stared indifferently at the lifeless youth, his hands continuing their mechanical, repetitive motions.

Violent, bloodthirsty, and devoid of humanity.

This was the first time Shi Ji had seen Li Chen this insane. Even when he had held a knife and nearly killed Shi Ji, he hadn’t looked like this.

He stopped walking and stood behind Li Chen, his gaze fixed on the back of the boy’s head. Shi Ji bit his lip, about to speak, when Li Chen suddenly stopped his movements and tilted his head slightly.

“Get lost.”

His voice was low and hoarse, like the growl of a demon from the depths of hell—his first warning to Shi Ji.

Shi Ji’s hands, hidden at his sides, trembled slightly. He steadied his heartbeat, ignored the warning, and said coldly, “Stop.”

The veins on the back of Li Chen’s hand bulged. His skin was naturally pale, making the vessels beneath appear prominent. He suddenly whipped his head around, staring into the man’s smoky-black eyes.

“I told you to get lost!”

He roared. The man still held that high-and-mighty posture, standing tall and straight. The cool, aloof aura emanating from Shi Ji made Li Chen’s entire body shake.

It was as if Shi Ji were a pristine, unbreakable glacier, while Li Chen was a patch of mud meant to be trampled upon.

Shi Ji’s expression made Li Chen surge with a volatile anger—

He wanted to pull him down. Use the filth on his own body to stain him black. Drag him into the swamp to sink together. Blind those eyes that looked down on others, so that in a world of darkness, the only person the man would ever remember was someone as unclean as himself.

Li Chen’s mind was a chaotic mess. The only image floating in his brain was the terrified look on Shi Ji’s face when he was on the brink of death.

He raised his fist again.

“Stop!” This time, the man’s calm tone finally sharpened. Li Chen could feel his heart thumping; the blood on his knuckles felt scorching hot.

“Li Chen.”

Shi Ji wiped the sweat from his palms and called the boy’s name. The onlookers watched from a distance, unable to hear anything, but seeing Shi Ji’s composed demeanor, they all held their breath.

Li Chen’s movements froze. Then, he stood up unsteadily and turned to face Shi Ji.

The youth stood on the open playground, his thin frame buffeted by the cold wind that whipped the hem of his clothes. His head was slightly lowered, his black bangs nearly obscuring his eyes.

‘Is it an illusion?’ Shi Ji thought. It felt like after a few days of feeding him, Li Chen had grown taller.

Before Shi Ji could secretly compare their heights, he felt a sudden, incoming gale. Accompanied by the gasps of the crowd, Shi Ji’s vision went black. Then, a sharp pain radiated from his tailbone, spine, and the back of his head.

He had been tackled to the ground by Li Chen. In that moment, Shi Ji’s first thought was—

‘Why does Li Chen love tackling people so much??!’

The youth braced his hands on either side of Shi Ji. In those misty-blue eyes, only Shi Ji remained.

His breath was scalding, falling mercilessly onto Shi Ji’s cheeks. Li Chen’s uniform was soaked in Yang Xing’s blood. His long, thick lashes trembled, and in the eyes looking at Shi Ji, there was—

“You’re looking for death.”

The low-pressure voice grazed Shi Ji’s ear, followed immediately by a sharp sting on his neck.

Li Chen was actually biting him again!

Shi Ji’s eyes flew open. He could clearly feel his skin being broken by Li Chen’s canines. The sharp teeth sank into his vulnerable flesh. It was as if he had bitten into a prey’s artery; he even mimicked a predator, tearing slightly at Shi Ji’s neck.

The sensation of being about to be devoured made Shi Ji reflexively afraid. He struggled violently. Blood slid down from where lips met skin. The Omega opened his eyes, tilting his head slightly to look at him, as if he didn’t want to miss a single expression on Shi Ji’s face.

“Madman!” Shi Ji cursed. He kicked Li Chen’s abdomen without hesitation. The youth let out a muffled groan but still refused to let go of his neck.

‘Show me more of that expression. Say more things to excite me. Plead for mercy with a trembling voice. More… just a little more…’

The screaming voice in his heart completely overwhelmed Li Chen. His bite tightened again; the sound of Shi Ji’s cry of pain was exceptionally pleasing to his ears.

“Make way! Everyone move!”

In the distance, the long-overdue medical team finally arrived. Six or seven teachers in white protective gear split into two groups. One group went to treat the unconscious Yang Xing, while the other moved to surround Li Chen.

One of the teachers raised a suppressant gun, aiming at Li Chen’s exposed neck. Li Chen, sensing the hostility directed toward him, lifted his lashes slightly and glanced at them.

That beast-like gaze made the teacher holding the gun shudder reflexively. Then, he took a deep breath and re-aimed.

Li Chen lowered his eyes. He let go of Shi Ji’s neck, sat up, and ripped away the half-loose tie hanging from his own collar.

Then, he pulled his collar aside, proactively offering his neck to the needle.