The Secret in the Mirror

Shi Ji felt a surge of panic.

‘You aren’t going to control my body again, are you?!’ he asked inwardly.

He immediately recalled the previous scene; when the system had forced the plot, he—a living Beta—could actually smell Omega pheromones. If it happened this time, would it force him to seek out four Alpha strangers to r*pe Li Chen?!

Shi Ji remained terrified of the system’s manipulative power, but the system didn’t answer. It only left him with a choice:

[Does the host choose to complete the plot personally, or choose forced completion by the system?]

What was the difference between this multiple-choice question and being told to just go die?!

Shi Ji was speechless. ‘I choose death.’

[I am sorry, the host’s current mission progress and persona maintenance have not reached the requirements for death.]

[Since the host is unable to make a choice—]

The system cut off abruptly.

The sudden, eerie silence made Shi Ji’s heart skip a beat in panic.

[Then let the system help the host choose.]

Once the system’s voice vanished, Shi Ji jumped out of his chair in a fright. He accidentally knocked over the teapot on the table, and the warm liquid spilled out, soaking his shirt and trousers.

The wet fabric clinging to his body was uncomfortable, but Shi Ji had no mind to care about that. He hurriedly felt himself all over with his hands, and only after confirming there was no abnormality in his body did he quietly breathe a sigh of relief.

Shi Ji’s bizarre behavior left the surrounding servants stunned. Until someone suddenly shouted, “The Young Master’s trousers are wet!” the servants didn’t snap out of it, quickly surrounding him.

Shi Ji bit his lower lip and looked toward Li Chen. The boy’s back was toward him, his lean frame hidden under an oversized shirt that swayed with his movements. The bloodstains from his previous back injury had already been cleaned away.

Emerald leaves fell from his slender fingers. The gardener beside him reached out to part the lush foliage, revealing a small, inconspicuous wild flower hidden beneath the layers.

Li Chen’s attention was caught. He leaned down slightly, gazing earnestly at the wild flower. Whatever the gardener said made the corners of his mouth tilt up unconsciously.

Shi Ji’s breath hitched instinctively, his fingers hooking into the hem of his shirt.

He couldn’t quite bear to break this beautiful, lingering moment.

But…

The mission released by the system hovered in his ears. Shi Ji couldn’t help but recall the description of this plot in the original text:

Li Chen was surrounded by four Alphas. The pheromones thick in the air almost suffocated him. He watched helplessly as these four men approached him bit by bit, wearing expressions that disgusted him.

They touched Li Chen’s cheek intimately, calloused fingertips brushing against his reddened eyes while they whispered words that made him sick to his stomach.

Li Chen wanted to flee, to struggle, even to kill them—to plug their pheromones back in and gouge out their glands.

How could such scum be Alphas? Li Chen thought so, but when the men bit his gland, he hated being an Omega even more…

It was too cruel!

When he realized the instigator of this plot was the original owner, Shi Ji fully understood why Li Chen sought such revenge.

But now… the system actually wanted him to complete this plot?!

Shi Ji’s sense of morality simply wouldn’t allow it!

Why? Why did the original owner insist on treating Li Chen this way?

Shi Ji lowered his lashes, thinking deeply.

The original text didn’t describe the original owner much; even his persona was summed up by the eight words: “Human face, beast heart; tragic and inhumane.”

Although he was the most vicious cannon fodder in the book, his plot only occupied about a third of the story and a few of Li Chen’s later memories.

The grudge between the original owner and Li Chen, as far as Shi Ji knew, was simply that the original owner had been highly jealous since childhood. Li Chen’s arrival made him feel his parents’ love was being stolen. Then, the day his parents died in an accident happened to be Li Chen’s seventh birthday, so he had hated Li Chen ever since.

But this small grudge wasn’t enough to make a shrewd character like the original owner use such brutal methods against Li Chen.

Shi Ji thought to himself.

There must be another reason not written in the original plot.

Something about Li Chen… something about the original owner…

Thinking of this, Shi Ji looked up at Li Chen again. The boy had stood up and removed his straw hat. Sunlight fell on his smooth black hair, making his whole presence seem much softer.

“Young Master! Please go back and change your clothes!”

At that moment, a servant’s voice pulled Shi Ji back to reality.

Shi Ji pursed his lips and finally nodded.

Before leaving, Shi Ji turned around one last time.

As if sharing a telepathic connection, Li Chen straightened his back and turned his head.

Shi Ji’s gaze met those deep-sea eyes, and then, he suddenly thought of something.

Perhaps only Li Chen knew the reason for all of this.

Steam filled the bathroom. Shi Ji stood up from the bathtub and walked step by step to the mirror.

He raised his hand and wiped it hard, clearing the mirror surface that had been blurred by the mist.

He looked at the handsome face reflected in the mirror, discovering after some scrutiny that it was almost identical to his own in the real world.

The hair on both sides was soaked and clung to his cheeks. His hair at the back was a bit long, just barely covering his neck. Shi Ji reached out with his fingers and rubbed the slightly reddened skin.

His finger accidentally brushed aside the hair clinging to the side of his neck. Shi Ji knit his brows, seemingly discovering something strange.

He leaned forward, moving closer to the mirror to check carefully. Located slightly to the side of his neck was a small, inconspicuous ring of bite marks.

It was definitely a bite mark. It was clear the person who left it had used great force; as Shi Ji’s finger brushed over it, he could almost still feel the teeth marks.

Furthermore, the position of this bite mark was very tricky. If the original owner were an Alpha or an Omega, this would be almost right on the gland.

But he was a Beta. Why would there be a human bite mark?

Shi Ji thought seriously but couldn’t recall the original owner having any romantic history.

After all, he died at the hands of Li Chen’s revenge at the start of the story. Shi Ji didn’t understand what kind of person the original owner truly was.

Could it have been someone biting him on purpose?

For some reason, the name “Li Chen” immediately surfaced in Shi Ji’s mind.

The moment this guess appeared, it was instantly rejected by Shi Ji.

Li Chen is an Omega. When did Omegas start having the habit of biting people like Alphas?

The fog before him was heavy. Shi Ji felt a headache coming on. He leaned one hand against the mirror and pinched the bridge of his aching nose with the other. In the next second, the mirror in front of him suddenly shifted, and from the gap revealed below, two things fell out.

Shi Ji opened his eyes and looked down. Two thin pieces of paper were lying on the edge of the sink.

He quickly reached out to pick them up, finding they were two scraps from newspapers. They looked old, the grey pages tinged with yellow.

On the newspaper were two news items. One was: Hearthy Celebration for the World’s First Artificially Cultivated Top-tier Omega!

The other was: Shocking! A Tragic Murder Occurred in a Certain Building in X City; the Killer Was Actually a Six-year-old Boy?!!

Shi Ji frowned, reading these two news items back and forth. Aside from catching the detail that “the existence rate of top-tier Omegas in the world is very low, and scientists are striving to use artificial methods to increase it,” Shi Ji didn’t see any other useful information.

He raised his hand, moving the newspaper scraps under the bathroom light. The warm yellow light shone through the thin paper, revealing a string of elegant handwriting on the back.

Shi Ji froze. He flipped the newspaper over, and a line of text appeared before his eyes—”STAY AWAY FROM LI CHEN!!!”

Just five words, yet Shi Ji felt as though his heart had been squeezed by someone.

This bathroom was the original owner’s private one; even personal servants were not allowed in. So Shi Ji was certain the original owner had hidden this.

Why did he write this?

What exactly was wrong with Li Chen?

Shi Ji’s fingers trembled. The newspaper in his hand fell lightly onto the water-soaked floor. The thin paper was instantly saturated with liquid. Shi Ji knelt down, wanting to pick up this piece of information, but the moment his fingers touched the surface, the newspaper unexpectedly disintegrated into fragments.

He swallowed hard, staring at the pile of waste paper on the floor. A strong sense of unease lingered in his heart.

The bathroom door was tapped gently. A servant’s urging came from outside. Shi Ji blinked and came back to his senses, standing up to dress and leave the bathroom.

He glanced at the sky outside, which was gradually darkening, and instinctively asked, “Where is Li Chen?”

The servant beside him was stunned for a few seconds before answering, “He went back to his room. If the Young Master wants to find him, I will go call Young Master Li over now.”

After driving Li Chen out of the wooden shack, Shi Ji had arranged a clean guest room for him.

He lowered his gaze and waved his hand. The servant nodded in understanding and obediently shut his mouth.

Shi Ji was preoccupied all evening. Even the report his secretary gave, he didn’t hear a word of it.

“…President Shi.”

“President Shi?”

Looking at Shi Ji, who was sitting behind the desk with his head in his hand, staring blankly, the secretary sighed quietly.

She took a few steps forward and tapped the desk with her knuckles. Shi Ji’s unfocused eyes finally returned to her.

“What did you say?” Shi Ji took a deep breath and asked.

“I said…” The secretary patiently repeated her words, “Lin Xun committed suicide in prison to atone for his crimes.”

“Another of our leads has been cut.”

Shi Ji raised his eyelids, his calm gaze hiding turbulent emotions.

This was a plot point from the original text. The reason the original owner pursued Lin Xun was that Lin Xun had been undercover by his side for years and finally escaped with a confidential file.

That file was very important to the original owner. Although Lin Xun was eventually captured, he committed suicide, and the file later ingeniously fell into the hands of the second lead attacker. It also became the main motivation for Li Chen to overthrow the original owner.

Shi Ji closed his eyes. The plot was slowly advancing. Combined with the problems he had just discovered, Shi Ji felt his situation was becoming increasingly difficult.

His head ached terribly. He waved his hand to let the secretary out.

Shi Ji sank into the back of his chair, resting his head on the cushion. He turned his head to stare at the full moon hanging in the pitch-black night sky.

The cold moonlight spilled across the windowsill. As he watched, a sense of exhaustion hit his brain, and his eyelids grew increasingly heavy.

Gradually, Shi Ji closed his eyes and slid into darkness.

At 3:00 AM, Shi Ji was jolted awake by a wave of cold.

He opened his eyes and scanned his surroundings. The floor lamp that should have been on was now extinguished. The half-open window swayed with the wind, the “creak, creak” sound accompanied by the chilly breeze, giving Shi Ji goosebumps.

Shi Ji frowned, wanting to stand up. He only moved once before an inexplicable sense of heaviness made him fully alert.

In front of him…

Was a person.

Shi Ji’s eyes widened. With the help of the bright moonlight from the window, he saw the other’s face clearly.

It was Li Chen.

The youth before him was looking down at him. He was expressionless, his misty-blue eyes darkened by the shadows.

His gaze was unfamiliar, so cold that Shi Ji mistakenly thought he was looking at a dead object.

Shi Ji’s Adam’s apple bobbed several times. He was about to speak, but at that moment, he felt a wave of icy cold against his neck.

His back went numb instantly. His eyelashes trembled. The knife in the other’s hand reflected a glint of cold light.