Everything in front of Xi Heyan had clearly gone beyond the bounds of his understanding.

If the wings that had suddenly appeared behind Wen Yuzhi were still something he could barely force himself to accept, then the way the boy in his arms had suddenly grown up left Xi Heyan completely frozen.

The young man looked exactly the way Xi Heyan had once seen him in the video.

But seeing it with his own eyes felt completely different from watching it through a screen.

Compared to how he had looked in the video, the person in his arms was obviously more real, and at such close range, every detail was even clearer.

Before this, Wen Yuzhi had looked like a beautiful doll, his features delicate but still carrying a trace of childishness that made people think only of how cute he was.

But now the doll had clearly grown up. The soft lines of youth had gradually faded, revealing strikingly beautiful brows and eyes.

Under Xi Heyan’s gaze, those little fanlike lashes trembled lightly, and the young man with his eyes shut slowly opened them.

His pale golden eyes were like the clearest, prettiest gemstones, misted over with a faint watery haze. Since he had only just awakened, his eyes were still a little unfocused, carrying a dazed, innocent look.

Still caught in that haze, Wen Yuzhi blinked once. The moment his gaze landed on Xi Heyan, he unconsciously let out a soft murmur.

“Mmn... Xi Heyan...?”

Wen Yuzhi’s voice was no longer as soft and fluffy as before. It had the clear brightness and cleanliness a young man’s voice ought to have.

But mixed with that hoarseness of just waking up, the way he said Xi Heyan’s name carried some kind of feeling that was hard to explain.

When it fell into Xi Heyan’s ears, the black-haired young man’s eyes darkened slightly despite his calm expression, and even the tips of his ears hidden beneath his hair tingled faintly.

It was like a soft feather had brushed across his heart, leaving behind the slightest itch.

It was only at that moment that Xi Heyan realized just how...

inappropriate their current position was.

Because earlier, terrified that Wen Yuzhi might injure himself while unconscious, Xi Heyan had no choice but to pin down his wrist, and that posture had inevitably led to close physical contact.

Then, when he had finally soothed the distressed boy, Wen Yuzhi ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) had ended up cradled in Xi Heyan’s arms.

If Wen Yuzhi had still looked like the little boy from before, Xi Heyan probably would not have found anything strange about it.

But now that the cute, exquisitely pretty little boy had suddenly become a breathtakingly beautiful young man, that intimate position and closeness took on an ambiguous edge under cover of the night.

Especially since they were both still on the bed, and Wen Yuzhi’s body was still burning hot.

Even through the thin layer of clothing between them, Xi Heyan could feel the constant heat pouring from Wen Yuzhi’s body through every place they touched.

His body unconsciously tensed. He quickly averted his eyes, letting them fall somewhere to the side instead of daring to meet the gaze of the young man in his arms.

“We...”

Only then did Wen Yuzhi also realize he had woken up in Xi Heyan’s arms.

But the moment he started to bring it up, Xi Heyan explained in a low voice, “Your body was burning up just now, and you kept saying it hurt while clawing at your back. I was afraid you’d hurt yourself, so I held your hand down.”

Only then did Wen Yuzhi remember that, while dreaming, he really had smelled a bitter orange scent.

As for what Xi Heyan had said...

The moment Wen Yuzhi lowered his head, he spotted a familiar-looking feather on the bedsheet.

This looked like... one of his...

Wen Yuzhi froze for a second.

Ever since coming to Blackrock Star, he had never dared reveal his wings for fear of exposing how unusual he was. Fortunately, the pain in his body had eased a lot over the past few days.

He had thought that meant his molting period was already over, but unexpectedly, today his mental power had surged all at once, and the down on his back had shed away in one go, completing the whole molting process.

Xi Heyan had noticed the feather too.

But he pretended not to have seen it. He neither asked about it nor showed any curiosity.

Everyone had secrets.

Xi Heyan was not a particularly curious person. He respected Wen Yuzhi, and naturally would not pry too far.

Knowing that Wen Yuzhi had only just woken up and probably still had not processed what had happened, Xi Heyan cleared his throat softly and reminded him, “Do you... want to go look in the bathroom mirror?”

The mirror?

Wen Yuzhi still looked a little lost.

That was, until he saw his own body.

The hand spread before him had long, slender fingers at every joint, but that was not the important part. The important part was...

his hand had gotten bigger.

Not just his hand. His whole body had gotten bigger.

“...”

His mind went blank for a moment.

Then he realized something, and his eyes went wide.

“!!!”

The mirror...

He needed the mirror!

Remembering what Xi Heyan had just said, Wen Yuzhi immediately wanted to rush to the bathroom and look in the mirror.

But he was still a little weak, and the moment he got out of bed, he nearly stumbled.

Fortunately, Xi Heyan had been paying close attention to Wen Yuzhi the whole time.

Just as the young man was about to fall, Xi Heyan caught him in time.

Their palms met without warning.

Wen Yuzhi’s first reaction was that it was hot.

Unlike Xi Heyan’s always cool and detached outward manner, his palms were very warm.

When Wen Yuzhi’s hand was wrapped in Xi Heyan’s, he felt as though he himself had been wrapped up in Xi Heyan’s presence too.

The air was full of that bitter orange scent.

And with their skin touching, that scent seemed to seep into him bit by bit.

Wen Yuzhi blurted out instinctively, “Are you wearing some kind of cologne?”

“Cologne?” Xi Heyan clearly had not expected Wen Yuzhi to ask that, but he still shook his head. “I don’t wear cologne.”

Quite a few nobles in the upper ranks of the Empire liked it.

But Xi Heyan often had to take bounty jobs, and in the wild, scent was something that had to be concealed.

Wearing cologne was basically the same as announcing that there was a bright, obvious live target standing right here.

So Xi Heyan never left any scented things on himself.

Wen Yuzhi also felt that his question had come out strangely.

But if Xi Heyan was not wearing cologne, then was that scent his pheromones?

But there were obviously no more Alphas or Omegas here.

For no clear reason, a line he had read somewhere came back to him.

People could be drawn to each other. When two people who were highly compatible met, they could smell each other’s scent, and that scent was even more reliable than the pheromones released by glands.

Because it was a resonance of the soul.

“So we really are suited to being friends!”

Wen Yuzhi said with sudden realization.

There was no blood relation between them, and it was not the effect of glands, yet he could still smell Xi Heyan’s scent. Didn’t that prove they were exceptionally compatible?

Since they were this compatible, clearly they were destined to be the best of friends!

Xi Heyan: “???”

For once, an honestly baffled look appeared on his face, as if he truly could not understand what connection there was between cologne and being friends.

But Wen Yuzhi had already let go of his hand and gone into the bathroom.

So whatever Xi Heyan wanted to ask, he could only swallow back down again.

The vague, unnameable feeling in his heart was instantly replaced with helplessness.

Seeing that it was still early, Xi Heyan tidied up the rumpled bedsheets and the rest of the mess.

Meanwhile, after entering the bathroom, Wen Yuzhi still seemed to feel the scorching warmth left behind on his fingertips.

He put his hand under the faucet and rinsed it with water.

Then he scooped up a handful of cool water and splashed it against his face. Looking at himself in the mirror, Wen Yuzhi finally confirmed that he really had grown up.

More precisely, he had changed back into the way he used to look.

He let his wings out.

The instant those white wings appeared in the bathroom, everything around him seemed to brighten a little.

There were not many other changes, but the most obvious difference was that Wen Yuzhi’s wings had grown larger along with his body.

The feathers were arranged in perfect order, each one looking as though it had only just grown in.

Wen Yuzhi reached out and touched them.

The feathers still felt soft to him, but compared to the delicate down from before, his wings had now become much sleeker and more beautiful.

They no longer looked like a beautiful decorative ornament. Faintly, they were already beginning to resemble the sharp, powerful wings of an adult Saint Clan member.

And Wen Yuzhi could also feel that the mental power in his body was now abundant.

Was this change because of that dream?

In the dream, he had been in a laboratory.

And that woman...

She had been wearing a mask, so he could not see her full face clearly, but something about her brows and eyes felt strangely familiar to Wen Yuzhi, as though he had seen them somewhere before...

But where...?

Just as Wen Yuzhi was focusing hard, trying to think, the horn of the hunting squad sounded first.

A familiar tremor rose beneath his feet.

The stray beasts were here again.

And what Wen Yuzhi did not know was that, at this exact moment, in the underground depths of the mountain range not far from the base, the hidden laboratory concealed there was also welcoming a visitor.

As that figure kept drawing closer—

the staff member in charge of the surveillance system inside the base immediately noticed something strange.

He hit the alarm, and guards rushed toward the entrance at once.

But the moment both sides came face-to-face, the monitor scan picked up the collar around the other party’s neck.

“It’s Number One!”

“Hurry! Report it up the chain—tell them Number One has already been found!”

At the staff member’s shout, the guards rushing forward also lowered their guard, because everyone knew that these collared test subjects were more obedient than dogs.

As long as the collar was still there, no test subject could disobey the institute’s orders.

So once they learned this was a test subject, every one of the guards relaxed.

They even sized the other party up with interest.

After all, this was only a small experimental base. The highest clearance anyone in the laboratory had here was only B-level.

The only test subjects they normally ever saw were those stray beasts.

So now that a humanoid test subject had suddenly appeared before them, the guards could not help feeling curious.

One of them stepped forward and reached to pull back the other party’s cloak.

Before he could even touch it, his wrist was seized.

The test subject holding him slowly raised his head, and the cloth covering his face slipped down.

It revealed a pair of vertical pupils colder than any beast’s.

A chill burst across the back of the guard facing him.

The staff in the surveillance room saw what was happening and had just opened their mouths to order Number One to let go—

when, in the next moment, he slit the guard’s throat with some kind of invisible blade.

The instant blood sprayed out, the monitor was destroyed too.

The surveillance room stayed silent for quite a while before one of the staff members finally cried out:

“Number One has rebelled!”