Amidst the commotion, the starting whistle blew. In the blink of an eye, Owen threw a straight punch. Seventeen reacted quickly, raising his elbow to block and dodging to the side.
“Those boxing gloves are really thin. They don’t even weigh 8 ounces, probably only 6. It’s easy to break your knuckles.” He Wei chewed his gum, “But in a place like this, those who wear thick gloves often play tricks.”
He leaned forward, clenched his fist with one hand, and tapped Lu Heyang’s right rib, “Some people stuff broken glass into their gloves and throw a punch under the ribs, right here—where the liver is. One punch there, and the opponent won’t be getting up.”
In underground fights, most boxers played dirty, and the crowd didn’t care. They even cheered and applauded for it—after all, they had come here for the excitement and the smell of blood, hoping for a crazier, more gruesome spectacle.
Within ten seconds of the start, Seventeen was clearly at a disadvantage. Owen was constantly disrupting his offense with lightning-fast jabs while targeting his head and lower abdomen. Seventeen kept retreating, almost reaching the edge of the octagon cage. Many spectators had already stood up from their seats and yelled, “Fight back, damn it! Get him!”
Relying on his weight advantage, Owen began to use heavy punches to break Seventeen’s blocks. During the continuous defense, Owen broke Seventeen’s left guard, then took the opportunity to land a direct punch to his face. Bright red nosebleed sprayed instantly onto the gray rubber mat below.
The screams and yells were deafening. Several people had gathered around the octagon like a surging swarm of ants, grabbing the steel wire and shouting at the boxers inside. It didn’t matter if the shouts were scolding or encouraging. This kind of fight was all about stimulating the adrenaline of the crowd, using the fighting and bloodshed of the boxers to vent their rage, excitement, pleasure… As long as it provoked one of these emotions, it would be considered a success.
“How many rounds does this last?” Lu Heyang asked as he watched Seventeen wipe blood from his elbow and lean against the steel fence with his head down.
“There are no rounds here. It goes on until one of them can’t get up anymore,” He Wei explained, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees and keeping his eyes on the ring, “This is the usual way, but sometimes they have knockout matches.”
Inside the octagon cage, Seventeen slowly straightened up, raised his hands, and lightly bumped his two gloves together before walking back to the center of the ring.
Owen twisted his neck and stood in place, waiting for Seventeen to come up to him. He stuck out his tongue and provokingly made an insulting grimace. The arena was suddenly alive again with people cursing and cheering. Seventeen, however, seemed unfazed. He drew his arms back into a ready stance and arched his back slightly.
Another series of quick jabs followed, and Seventeen was hit on the nose again. Blood trickled down his thin chin, mixing with the paint on his face to create a mess. Owen closed in confidently, throwing punches at his vitals.
Seventeen was pushed to the edge once again. Lu Heyang could hear the spectators who had bet on Seventeen cursing and complaining that he couldn’t even defeat a newcomer… But suddenly, the insults turned into excited cheers as Seventeen, who had been in a defensive position, suddenly dodged and changed the fighting position by diving low and throwing an uppercut that landed on Owen’s jaw.
The punch was solid and stunned Owen. He quickly retaliated, but Seventeen dodged, faked a straight punch to the stomach, and followed with a right hook that landed squarely on Owen’s left cheek. Before anyone could fully comprehend his moves, Owen’s head had tilted to the side and his mouthguard, stained with blood and saliva, had been knocked out of his mouth by the impact.
Seventeen was like a snow leopard exploding with power after awakening, he was calm, decisive, and swift. He struck with precision, hitting Owen with each punch, gradually backing him into a corner. That unwavering, aggressive calm turned into a barrage of punches and uppercuts, one after another, flashing like lightning, igniting the entire arena. The crowd’s cheers threatened to burst their eardrums.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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“Get up if you’re not dead! Fight!”
“Keep fighting! Hit him!”
“Don’t stop! Beat him to death!”
The crowd waved their fists and shouted hoarsely. The referee didn’t stop the fight or count down the seconds, which meant Seventeen could keep on punching—no rules applied here, as long as he wanted, he could beat Owen until he convulsed and passed out on the stage, satisfying the cruel bloodlust of the spectators.
However, Seventeen merely crossed his arms to signal a stop. He took off his gloves and mouthguard, opened the octagon cage’s exit, and walked through the competitor’s tunnel back to the backstage area. Many people were shouting and throwing wine bottles and cigarette butts into the octagon cage around Owen and on his back. But soon some people came in with a stretcher to carry Owen out.
The arena was cleaned up, and new boxers entered the ring to start a new match.
He Wei sat back in his seat, the gum in his mouth had lost its flavor, but he was still chewing. “So cool! Seventeen’s abs and pecs are nice enough, and that waist, and those legs.”
“Not only that,” Lu Heyang said.
“Huh?”
“His back muscles aren’t bad either.” After saying that, Lu Heyang got up to go out.
“Aren’t you going to keep on watching?” He Wei asked him.
“I need some fresh air,” Lu Heyang replied.
Around 11 pm, the two of them left the underground club. He Wei was driving and suddenly said, “Since Seventeen is S-level, if there are any records, the prep school should have contacted him. Even if he doesn’t have money to study, the school would give him free tuition and financial aid. Why resort to boxing instead?”
Lu Heyang leaned back in his seat, “He’s probably too short on money.”
“Actually, you can’t make much money in a place like this. If you really want to make money, professional fighting is the way to go. The commercial value is completely different,” He Wei said, “Judging from Seventeen’s appearance, he probably had some professional training before. I don’t understand why he’s hanging around here.”
“What if—,” Lu Heyang looked at the road. His right hand was resting on his knee, his index finger gently tapping on his knee a few times. He continued, “Seventeen was already in the prep school.”
He Wei stared blankly. He turned to look at him, then burst out laughing, “Impossible, how could that be?”
“Mn,” Lu Heyang replied, “I agree.”
On Monday, after the last class, Lu Heyang went to the swimming pool to wait for He Wei. The sky was cloudy as if it was going to rain, making the air stuffy. Lu Heyang walked around the flower bed and went up the stairs to the pool. Just then, he encountered an alpha coming out from inside, holding a plastic bag, his head bowed, and walking with a sense of urgency.
Xu Ze only realized that someone was there when he took a step down. It was too late to avoid a collision. The moment he bumped into him, the other person’s indifferent expression flew past his eyes at close range. Being so close, Xu Ze could even see his distinctive long black eyelashes and black pupils. When their eyes met, the eyes seemed to be devoid of warmth.
Xu Ze briefly felt a hand clasping his upper arm. Logically, such support should have stabilized him, but instead, he stumbled frantically and stepped onto the grass at the side of the stairs. The contents of the plastic bag spilled out with a clinking sound.
The dark clouds looked ominous as if they were about to come down. Xu Ze glanced at Lu Heyang for a moment, then quickly averted his gaze and bent down to pick up the fallen items, apologizing, “I’m sorry.”
His ears were slightly red, and he looked genuinely apologetic.
“It’s my fault. I didn’t move aside in time,” Lu Heyang said as he helped pick up the items. Xu Ze’s voice was deep and hoarse, and his breathing was a little rapid, giving the impression that he was sick and had come to the infirmary for treatment.
Lu Heyang noticed that there was a bandage on Xu Ze’s nose, with a small patch of bruised skin exposed at the edge, and the corners of his mouth were slightly swollen. Judging from his appearance alone, he looked more like someone who had just been in a fight and had come for medicine.
What fell to the ground, however, was not cold medicine or ointment for wounds, but several disposable syringes and injection vials. They both reached for the last bottle at the same time, and their fingertips accidentally touched. Xu Ze instantly pulled back his hand, so Lu Heyang picked up the bottle and saw the words “Alpha Inhibitor” printed on it.
Lu Heyang wasn’t familiar with alpha inhibitors. S-level alphas had a natural advantage in pheromone self-control and generally didn’t go into rut unless they were strongly stimulated. Even if they did go into rut once or twice a year, it was usually just mild fever symptoms, nothing too serious.
As an S-level, the use of alpha inhibitors was considered a rare occurrence.
Lu Heyang didn’t say anything and handed the inhibitor over to Xu Ze, who took it and immediately stuffed it into the plastic bag before whispering, “Thank you.”
“It’s nothing,” Lu Heyang replied and climbed the steps to the swimming pool.
As he walked, he adjusted the setting of his wristband to a higher level to completely block the unfamiliar and oppressive S-level alpha pheromones.
Xu Ze’s pheromones.
Alpha pheromones became more intense as the rut approached. Xu Ze’s old wristband was clearly no longer able to suppress the pheromones of this level of intensity.
Xu Ze left through the special passage. His pheromones had already begun to spread. If he walked into the crowd of students, it would affect other AOs. He hurriedly walked forward and took out a suppression patch from his pocket. He bit off the adhesive layer and placed the patch on the back of his neck.
At the end of the special passage was a dedicated resting area. Xu Ze did a facial recognition scan at the door and then pushed it open. He was panting heavily and didn’t even make it to the couch. He sat on the floor right next to the wall and poured out the contents of the bag. His hands were trembling and he used his teeth to pry open the cap of an iodine swab bottle—his movements were too hasty and the swab bottle fell over as he put it down. Xu Ze just glanced at it but had no time to care. He grabbed the swab and applied it roughly to his inner arm. He proceeded to tear the syringe package, open the reagent bottle, extract the inhibitor, and inject it into his vein.
Originally, he could have waited until he got home to do these things, but the intense emotional fluctuations in the short period of time promoted the secretion of pheromones, thereby accelerating the onset of the rut.
The cause of his violent mood swings in such a short period of time—Xu Ze breathed heavily and closed his eyes, forcing himself not to think about it.
Author’s note:
Lu Heyang: I suspect that Seventeen is in the prep school, but not entirely sure.
The setup is like this: the higher the setting of the wristband, the better the effect in blocking others’ pheromones and suppressing one’s own pheromones.
OMGGGGGG AAAAAAAAAA THIS IS SO EXCITING I MISSED THIS KIND OF FEELING AS AN AVID READERRR AJRGWOSBWB
“His back muscle are also nice.” 😏 also don’t forget the 180 cm and have six pack, def Lu Heyang’s type
I hope life becomes easy for him soon