Chapter 33: The Admiral’s Rut (Part 1)

Luo Ran himself was deeply asleep, ignorant of the kiss that fell softer than a feather.

The scent of white tea clung to Lucas’ lips, not only from the wine he drank but also from Luo Ran.

It was still his favourite flavour.

Lucas gazed at Luo Ran, who was sleeping on his front, then picked him up and carried him horizontally in his arms.

“Mmn…”

Through his blurred consciousness, Luo Ran detected a thick tobacco scent. The smell of earthy hay had long sunk into the memory of every cell in his body and brought him an unparalleled sense of safety.

Luo Ran, having lost his reason and awareness, subconsciously followed his instincts and curled around Lucas’ neck.

Lucas froze.

Shit, this cunning guy, he’s being seductive again.

Isn’t he just relying on his good looks?

At this moment, Lucas — the dignified admiral, the Lion of the Empire — flushed bright red from the base of his ears.

Lucas carried Luo Ran into the inner room and gently put him down on the bed.

Luo Ran frowned slightly and tightened his arms around Lucas’ neck, still asleep.

“…So sticky.” 

There was a tenderness in his eyes that he himself didn’t notice.

After he put Luo Ran down, he also helped him pull up the quilt.

The wind outside began to blow again, causing the floor to be covered with petals.

So the next day, when Luo Ran first woke on Lucas’ bed in the office, he was very confused.

Oh, that’s right, I accidentally got drunk last night.

…Wait.

Why did I get drunk so easily?

Did I go overboard?

Luo Ran knocked the side of his head in annoyance, trying to wake himself up.

He said he’d be a proper employee but look at him now, he actually drank himself to unconsciousness in the office.

Fortunately, his tolerance was quite good, and he wouldn’t make trouble after getting drunk.

He was very confident in this.

Luo Ran was just about to get up when he noticed the quilt covering him and froze.

Smiling softly, he made the bed, prepared breakfast and a suit for Lucas, ironed and hung up his military uniform, and then quietly left the office.

At around the time Luo Ran finished sorting through his folders, Rong Duo also arrived at work.

After he handed her the day’s work and made some other arrangements, he went to Xia Zhi’s house.

Luo Ran first took a look at the research institute’s progress report, which stated that most of their omega had successfully touched the ore’s core, but were missing the crucial spiritual path.

“Sure enough, the efficiency goes up when there’s more people,” Luo Ran said with a smile.

Xia Zhi rolled his eyes. “It’s not like they’re as awesome as you, exploring the key routes so early on.”

He’d been in constant communication with the research institute about Luo Ran. The research institute was very interested in this SSS-level omega, and they’d always carried the hope of pulling him over to refine UNK at the institute so they could study his spiritual power.

However, Xia Zhi and Luo Ran made it very clear that this was an omega with social anxiety who hated crowds. If he were forced to participate in a large group, he might have a mental breakdown.

Why were SSS alpha and omega so rare? Apart from their low numbers, many — especially omega — faced the threat of mental breakdowns.

Because their spiritual power was too strong and too sensitive, it was easy for them to fall into a mad, berserk state. And most alpha and omega who went berserk… died.

This was also why Lucas’ symptoms after he left the battlefield were so serious, and until now, could only be managed with aromatherapy and drugs.

After the two of them went down to the basement, Luo Ran put his hand on the by now extremely familiar stone, and got started.

* * *

At the cemetery.

Lucas placed the flower bouquet in front of the tombstone.

The tombstone had a name carved into it — Alton Aldor — along with a photograph. Although the man in the photo had a murderous expression and looked fierce, Lucas knew that in private, he was mischievous and playful, and wasn’t serious at all.

For example, he would secretly drag him to drink wine.

The marshal and his wife also approached and put down a flower bouquet.

The marshal’s wife smiled at Lucas. “Your secretary didn’t come with you?”

Lucas didn’t bother to answer such an obvious, self-evident question.

“I heard the manager say you took Secretary Luo to the ranch to go horse-riding,” the marshal’s wife said, clearly very satisfied. “That’s good, Secretary Luo helped you do so much work, you should take him out to play more, don’t always bully him.”

That manager had patted his chest and swore not to tell Lucas’ family about their visit, but he sold them out in the blink of an eye.

Although, since the topic turned to Luo Ran, Lucas’ expression did ease a little. “I’m not bullying him,” he huffed.

Then the couple’s eldest son, who was also Lucas’ older brother, Cyril also arrived, holding a bunch of flowers.

Lucas pinned noticeably hostile eyes on Cyril.

“Lucas,” Cyril greeted cheerfully, “Long time no see.”

The two would only meet a couple of times a year on special occasions like this.

Lucas refused to look at him.

Their conflict hadn’t lasted for a mere day or two, the marshal’s wife also didn’t know what to say to them.

“Yeah… it’s been a long time since we’ve seen each other.” The marshal’s wife stepped forward, wanting to hold Lucas’ hand, as she tried to smooth things over. “It’s rare for us to get together, why don’t we go out for a meal? Take it as spending some time with mom.”

Lucas reacted quickly and easily avoided the marshal’s wife’s hand.

He couldn’t accept, and even hated, touch from others.

“Sure,” Cyril replied. “Anyways, I’m just about done with my work, I can stay with mom and dad.”

Cyril was a member of the Imperial Council, and part of the eldest prince’s faction.

The Aldor family’s Cyril followed the eldest prince, but Lucas was obviously more friendly with the second prince, who previously joined the army, so no one knew which prince would have control of the military in the end.

“You guys eat.” Lucas only came to clean the grave and pay respects. He left as soon as he was done.

“Hey…!” The marshal’s wife wanted him to stay, but Lucas was already far away.

She looked down, feeling sad.

Their estrangement was real, and it had accumulated for many years. She and her husband hadn’t handled it well at the beginning, so they took one wrong step after another.

Cyril and Lucas only had four years between them. When Lucas was five, and Cyril was nine, Cyril listened to other people’s slander and rumourmongering, saying that everything they owned — their property, control over the army, even the foundations of the Aldor family — would belong to Lucas in the future, because he was an SSS-level alpha. Lucas’ birth heralded the arrival of the king, while he, as just an A-level alpha, could never surpass Lucas.

So Cyril obtained dangerous drugs made by pirates from an undercover agent with ulterior motives and put them in the young Lucas’ food, causing a lot of damage to his spiritual power.

Later, Lucas did recover, but he kept pestering his parents to expel his brother. The two of them argued all the time, and couldn’t keep the peace even for a day.

The two were both their sons. Cyril was still young, he was just deceived, how could a child have so many ideas? And Lucas was even younger, he would forget it as he grew up, so the marshal and his wife always hoped the two would reconcile, and that Lucas would forgive his brother.

Later, the two of them started living at the military academy. The marshal and his wife didn’t know what happened, and neither did they get wind of any major incident.

Only, Lucas somehow joined Alton’s army at just thirteen years old and even went on the battlefield. The marshal and his wife had no way of stopping him, so they could only beg Alton to look after him more.

At the time, Alton had laughed and said, “This nephew of mine is an SSS-level alpha, what’re you afraid of! How can any Aldor man be a coward?”

Afterwards, as he fought in battle after battle, Lucas gained his own power and fame. He forcefully took over the Aldor family’s army, including the marshal’s forces, and didn’t leave a single crumb for Cyril.

Cyril was now a high-ranking member of the council, but even still, his only protection was Lucas and the Aldor family.

There was nothing concrete about him.

“It doesn’t matter.” Cyril chuckled helplessly. “He’s always been like this. If mom and dad really want to spend time with him, let’s wait until I’m not here.” He lowered his eyes. “After all, I’m the one in the wrong.”

The marshal slowly frowned. He was naturally introverted and wasn’t suited to dealing with problems between children.

His wife also felt helpless.

Their two children… one was hot-headed with a strict worldview, while the other was empathetic gentle like water.

How did they turn out so different?

　　——— XXXXX ———

“Success…!”

A burst of disbelieving exclamations came from the basement.

Luo Ran was also stunned when he saw the blood-red core in front of him. 

He finally pulled out this thing that had been hidden deep inside the ore, now they just needed to knock off a thin layer of the stone to take it out.

At this moment, the small piece of ore which Xia Zhi carefully carved out was exuding a strange yet dazzling red light.

A preliminary examination of the numbers jumping on the measuring instruments gave some indication of just how much energy this tiny little thing might provide.

“My god…! We really did it!” Xia Zhi couldn’t help shouting. “You’re amazing…! No wonder you’re SSS!”

Luo Ran also looked at the core.

“Then the next step… is to negotiate with the research institute.”

They carefully packed the core away and then went to the living room to discuss their options.

Before, when no one succeeded in refining it, Luobing drew so many pies in the sky but after all, it was all based on speculation and rumours, and no one knew what the ore could actually do.

As a result, after they began research into this, Luo Ran could conduct independent research with Xia Zhi, the former ace doctor, and inform headquarters later.

But now that he was successful, the research institute would definitely ask for the omega’s records. Even if the omega couldn’t go in person due to his mental illness, they still needed him to ‘exist’.

Luo Ran bit into a nutrient tube as he relaxed on the sofa. “Now, I’ll make a detailed tutorial and pattern map for the research institute. You’re also an S-level omega, so you can try and see if you can refine it based on my information. If you’re successful, then that ‘SSS omega with anxiety’ doesn’t have to go to the research institute, you can go negotiate with them instead.”

“Theoretically, you’re right, and since you’re the one making the tutorial it must be fine, but what about the recordings…?”

Luo Ran had already thought of a countermeasure to ensure that his identity was completely hidden. “It’s very simple, just find an omega from another planet to cooperate with us.”

He grinned. “Anyways, I’m the admiral’s secretary.”

He had a lot of privileges, it wouldn’t be a problem to mess with a few files.

“Okay.” Xia Zhi nodded and said, “Then I’ll go report it, and tomorrow I’ll go to the research institute.”

Then Xia Zhi proposed to celebrate.

“After all, you completed such a feat! Unfortunately, no one knows about your contribution,” Xia Zhi said, a tad unwilling. “You’re an SSS omega!”

Luo Ran chuckled. “Then let’s go out for a good dinner, should we call Doctor Shen as well?”

Luo Ran did promise to arrange a dinner for him. Although Shen Xiluo also forcibly stuffed him with a few unmentionable websites, Luo Ran couldn’t not keep his word.

“…” The corner of Xia Zhi’s mouth twitched. “Are you crazy?”

“Doctor Shen treats you pretty good,” Luo Ran said with a grin. “He’s brought you breakfast every day the past few years, three hundred and sixty-five days through rain or shine, you’re not even a little moved?”

“…The hell I’m moved.” Xia Zhi’s ears grew red, yet he gritted his teeth. “He treats this as just another chore, right? He even comes at the same time every day!”

Luo Ran remembered that this was the person who would set alarms during papapa.

…He couldn’t do anything about it, the memory was too profound, after Xia Zhi said it once while he was drunk, he’d never forgotten.

Luo Ran tried again. “At least he’s devoted…?”

Xia Zhi’s expression turned complicated. “The admiral also seems like a devoted person. If the only two alpha left in the world are Shen Xiluo and the admiral, who would you choose as your partner?”

As a partner…

Luo Ran’s expression also turned complicated. “I’m quite comfortable being single.”

Xia Zhi: “Right?”

Once he dealt with the UNK and the research institute, Luo Ran packed his things in preparation for going to the agricultural area with the eldest prince’s group of people.

As for the dinner, Xia Zhi absolutely refused to go, so they could only postpone it.

After returning to the company and completing the work handover, unexpectedly, Lu Cheng asked to see him.

“I’m sorry!”

Lu Cheng bowed to Luo Ran as soon as he pushed open the door to the meeting room.

Luo Ran already had a good idea of Lu Cheng’s purpose for coming. He smiled and asked, “What’s wrong?”

“I… I looked for His Highness Prince Andika…” Lu Cheng looked shy. “I still think that it’s better to talk things out! I confessed to him, I said, don’t mess around in the dark, he can tell me if he has his reasons, we can work it out together! I can help him.”

Luo Ran took that in, then asked, “Did he say anything?”

Lu Cheng straightened. “Not much, he just said that he won’t harm me, or the empire. And he accepted my confession, he said he’s willing to try it with me.”

Luo Ran was silent for a while as Lu Cheng looked at him nervously.

“Lu Cheng,” Luo Ran said. “Before you came, I received a report from the intelligence team.”

Lu Cheng’s breath stuttered as he waited for Luo Ran’s judgement.

“According to the intelligence team, Prince Andika’s maid left the embassy and went to the black market. They followed all the way, and watched with their own eyes as the maid made contact with interstellar pirates.”

Lu Cheng’s face paled drastically.

Interstellar pirates.

They were the enemy for whom he’d followed Lucas for many years, aiming to eradicate them once and for all.

Seeing Lu Cheng frozen in place, Luo Ran added, “But we don’t have to rush so quickly to conclude that Prince Andika is evil. After all, we don’t know the whole truth — I just hope that you can understand the situation and not get bewitched.” He smiled. “Can you do it? If you can, then tomorrow, go with me and Doctor Shen to the agricultural area.”

Luo Ran already had a lot of information on hand, including a photo of the maid at the black market. He was well prepared to have a good discussion with Andika.

Lu Cheng took a deep breath, adjusted his breathing, and gave Luo Ran a perfectly standard military salute. “I can!”

“Good, then go get ready.”

“Yes sir!”

* * *

However, when Luo Ran got up early the next morning to go to the meeting point with a small suitcase, he saw a hovercar parked at his apartment building’s entrance.

It was unknown how long Lucas stood leaning against the hovercar, with Lu Cheng following at his side. “Let’s go.” 

Luo Ran: “…??”

Lucas: “I haven’t been to the agricultural area for a long time, plus the royal family wants me to go.”
He thought, Let Luo Ran go alone with the eldest prince? The hell he’d go alone!

Luo Ran: “…”

He didn’t dare to believe his eyes. “Admiral, you’re actively taking part in an activity like this…?”

Did he suddenly gain an interest in having an arranged marriage with Luobing?

But Luo Ran’s own thoughts amused him.

It was too far-fetched. His admiral probably wouldn’t fall in love in his lifetime.

“I said, I’m interested in the changes at the agricultural area,” Lucas said solemnly. “Food is the foundation of a country. It’s important during wars, and equally important during peace.”

“Of course.” Luo Ran nodded his head and joined Lucas on the hovercar.

After the hovercar picked up Shen Xiluo, they followed the royal convoy to the plains outside the city.

From the hovercar’s windows, they could see endless paddy fields of rice. The grains weren’t ripe yet, so the soil was covered by neat rows of greenery.

Machines for watering, weeding, and fertilizing surrounded the crops, alongside glass shades that controlled their exposure to sunlight.

It was very impressive.

Lucas and Lu Cheng sat in a row, while Shen Xiluo and Luo Ran sat in another row.

Lucas frowned and suddenly spoke. “Lu Cheng, you and Luo Ran swap places.”

Lu Cheng, Shen Xiluo: ???

I-Is he that possessive?

Luo Ran was also puzzled, but after sitting next to Lucas, he could tell that Lucas’ breathing wasn’t quite as smooth as usual.

“Admiral, is something wrong?”

“Nothing, headache.” Lucas rubbed his temples then regarded the other two alpha. “You guys stay further away.”

Having followed Lucas for so many years, Luo Ran was intimately aware of his body and habits, so his heart naturally skipped a beat.

This… This was the precursor to a rut!

An alpha’s rut came twice a year, and when it did, they would be stressed by pheromones of other alpha, leading to hostility and uncontrollable attacks. They would also be more sensitive to omega pheromones, and their possessiveness, libido, and destructive tendencies would be infinitely magnified.

To use the words of Xia Zhi, they were a pile driver bomb on two legs.

For someone like Lucas with especially strong spiritual power, his rut would only be more intense.

Luo Ran felt a headache coming on.

Lucas’ past ruts all took place in the office. He’d directly call a beta from the Pheromone Management Agency to take care of him, then lock himself in the office to isolate for two or three days.

But they were now outside the city.

Lucas wasn’t as sensitive as Luo Ran, he only thought it was a headache.

However, being next to Luo Ran felt very comfortable.

Luo Ran took out pills and warm water from his bag.

“Admiral, please eat this.”

Shen Xiluo, who sat opposite them, slowly raised an eyebrow.

Yo, it’s a rut.

Maybe I need to show Lucas some resources as well.

Translator:
I kind of understand Cyril’s feelings, because that cannot be a good environment to grow up in, and it’s his younger brother who’s more talented and pressing on his head. But also, wow what a disproportionate response.