Chapter 8 SJC

Shen Jinnian’s entire worldview shattered. He couldn’t even fathom that Gu Yan would stoop so low!

How did he even get his hands on something that disgusting?

Shen Jinnian had no idea how Gu Yan managed to drug him, but thankfully, his body was strong, and his immunity was high—he regained consciousness early. Otherwise, he couldn’t imagine what might have happened.

A chill spread through him.

The doctor noticed his increasingly horrified expression, and quickly interrupted his thoughts. “Don’t overthink it. I’m talking about pheromone induction based on high compatibility between different designations.”

“When an A and an O have a compatibility rate above 95%, the Alpha can induce a pseudo-heat in the Omega by releasing pheromones.”

“That said, cases like this are rare. It’s hard enough to find an A-O couple with such a high match.”

Shen Jinnian thought back. He had indeed smelled an overwhelming scent of pheromones in Gu Yan’s bathroom.

But he was a bona fide Alpha.

He had seen Gu Yan’s medical records at school—the guy was also an S-rank Alpha, same designation, same rank.

“Can an Alpha induce a pseudo-rut in another Alpha?” Shen Jinnian asked, though he already had an answer in his heart. He was just unwilling to accept it.

“Of course not,” the doctor replied firmly.

An Alpha releasing pheromones at another Alpha? That was pure provocation.

Shen Jinnian was completely lost.

No matter how he looked into it, there wasn’t a single useful clue. It wasn’t a rut, nor was it pheromone induction.

Even the doctor had no answers.

“Logically, you shouldn’t be susceptible to pheromone induction—unless the other person belongs to a fourth designation that surpasses Alphas.”

Shen Jinnian narrowed his eyes. “An Enigma?”

But as soon as he said it, he dismissed the thought.

Impossible. There were only a handful of Enigmas in the entire world. The chances of running into one were slim to none.

The doctor clearly agreed and treated Enigmas as little more than a concept in research papers. Ordinary people would likely never encounter one.

Their speculation led nowhere in the end.

Shen Jinnian had planned to get a blood test, but the doctor deemed it unnecessary. Too much time had passed—his hormone levels had probably already returned to normal. Even if there were traces of drugs left, they had likely been metabolized.

In the end, the doctor just advised him to go home and take care of the kid.

“If something unusual happens again, just come straight to the hospital.”

Shen Jinnian thought that made sense.

After the appointment, he took a cab to campus for class.

This time, he arrived early, successfully avoided Gu Yan and spotted his friend sneaking looks at his phone in a corner.

Shen Jinnian sat down beside him.

The guy caught a whiff of him, looked up, and grinned without even bothering to hide it. “Haven’t seen you in a while. Been busy taking care of your kid?”

Shen Jinnian elbowed him in alarm. “Are you trying to get yourself killed, Chen Han? Keep your voice down.”

“Relax, there aren’t many people around,” Chen Han said, then eagerly followed up, “So, did you find the baby’s parents?”

“No,” Shen Jinnian sighed, his head aching. “Now even the doctors and police think he’s my son. They probably think I’m just making a fuss over nothing.”

Chen Han nodded in sympathy. “Honestly? If I didn’t know you’ve never dated before, I’d also assume he’s yours. You two look exactly alike.”

He even gave Shen Jinnian a big thumbs-up.

He’d seen plenty of kids before, but never one that looked like a perfectly scaled-down copy of an adult.

Shen Jinnian clenched his fists under the desk. “Say one more word, and I will hit you.”

His friend instinctively leaned away and strong survival instincts kicked in as he hurriedly changed the subject. “So, what’s the next step?”

“I’ll ask the police for help to get the child taken in,” Shen Jinnian said. “As long as I provide proof that the kid has nothing to do with me, I can file a report.”

At that thought, he sighed inwardly.

He had assumed that the child’s parents would be frantically searching for him. But after all these days, there had been no news at all.

And his current strategy of collecting Omega clothing bit by bit wasn’t efficient.

After weighing his options, Shen Jinnian decided to just pay for a paternity test.

Once he proved to the police that the child wasn’t his, they wouldn’t be able to ignore the case any longer.

Chen Han nodded, thinking it was a solid plan.

Shen Jinnian didn’t bother responding further. He pulled out his phone to reply to the nanny’s messages, then checked the time. Since class was about to start, he took out his notebook.

But before he could focus, Chen Han suddenly let out an uncontrollable snort of laughter, startling him.

His friend shoved his phone in front of him, barely holding back his amusement. “Jinnian, take a look at this. I swear this guy looks just like you—same build, even your clothes match.”

Shen Jinnian took the phone skeptically.

Onscreen was a video from that night—the downpour when he and Gu Yan were running through the rain, using a cardboard box for cover!

Judging by the angle, it must have been recorded by a passing driver who was trying to capture the storm and unknowingly filmed them in the background. Thankfully, the heavy rain had acted like a natural blur filter and made their faces unrecognizable.

But the video had been posted by a news account. Right at the top, in bold pink text, were the words:

“Love in its purest form—finding happiness in the rain.”

…And it had 200,000 likes.

Shen Jinnian: …He wanted to gouge his eyes out.

“Tell me this isn’t you, hahahaha!” Chen Han was losing it. “If I hadn’t checked the comments, I would’ve sworn It was you and Gu Yan. Your CP fans must be going feral right now.”

Hearing that, Shen Jinnian instinctively opened the comment section.

[@SleepWell]: Finally, my moment has come! I swear this is a real CP. I actually saw them yesterday—they came to my store to buy baby formula and baby clothes. The Omega was mad and sulking, but the Alpha just doted on him the whole time. It was adorable. Wishing them a lifetime of happiness!

Shen Jinnian: …He wanted to stab his own eyes out.

For a moment, he considered asking the uploader to take the video down.

But then he thought it through.

Right now, nobody knew the people under the cardboard box were him and Gu Yan. If he stepped in to get it deleted, wouldn’t that just expose himself?

Forget it.

Besides, he was an Alpha. No one would ever link him to the Omega in the video.

Still, when he casually scrolled down, he saw a flood of fresh comments.

[@CPTheory]: This kinda reminds me of our school’s legendary campus heartthrob and that bratty rich kid… This is such a good substitute CP, I’m devouring it!

[@SleepySoftie] replied: Sis, I think we’re shipping the same couple.

[@CPTheory] replied: S and G, right?! I have 100k words of strong-strong/kabedon/dark room fics, do you want them?!

[@SleepySoftie]: YES.

…

Alright.

If the algorithm was already pushing this to people in their school, then it was probably just a matter of time before it landed on Gu Yan’s phone.

At this point, Shen Jinnian resigned.

The netizens had no idea what actually happened. And Gu Yan—he knew what had gone down that night.

Besides, they weren’t even an A-O pair. There was no way Gu Yan would take the shop assistant’s words seriously.

Shen Jinnian refreshed the video, and a newly pinned comment caught his eye:

"Since this video promotes positive relationship values, our company has decided to gift the couple a 30,000 yuan ‘Love Fund.’ If the individuals in the video see this message, please contact us."

The comment quickly gained traction, with many netizens praising the initiative.

Shen Jinnian could tell this was just another marketing tactic.

If the people in the video never saw it, they wouldn’t come forward to claim the money. And if someone did claim it, the company would definitely milk the situation for more exposure by posting a follow-up.

Either way, 30,000 yuan was a cheap price to pay for that level of engagement.

Not to mention—the "couple" in the video wasn’t even real.

Shen Jinnian had zero intention of accepting the money.

He was about to close the app when a new comment popped up:

[@BrushInkPaper]: Is this for real?

A sense of unease crept over him as he noticed the user’s display name and IP address.

Something didn’t feel right.

He clicked on the user’s profile.

Their page was mostly filled with study-related posts—nothing out of the ordinary. But…

In the middle of the dull, repetitive study updates, his sharp eyes caught a tiny, insignificant detail—

A glimpse of Gu Yan’s robe.

The very same robe Gu Yan had been wearing that night.

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