After he was done showering, he heard his phone vibrating furiously on top of the bedside table.
Huo Shaoheng picked up the phone. It was an incoming call from Chen Lie.
He unlocked the phone with a swipe, accepted the call, and heard Chen Lie say, “Open the door! I have something to report! It’s important!”
Huo Shaoheng walked to the door, opened it, and hurried out of the bedroom.
Chen Lie stood before him, his face as white as a sheet.
Huo Shaoheng calmly asked, “You have the results of the drug analysis?” Six hours had passed.
Chen Lie’s face was pale; he said, stuttering, “Sir, I know what it is. This is no ordinary sexual stimulant!”
“What is it?” asked Huo Shaoheng. His voice was quiet and calm, but deeper than usual. It seemed to come from somewhere deep inside his chest.
“It’s H3aB7!” Chen Lie’s voice was now high and piercing. “You know about H3aB7, right? It’s the drug we’ve been investigating recently!”
The blue veins on the back of Huo Shaoheng’s hands stood out. “What? You’re sure it’s H3aB7?!”
“There’s no mistaking it!” Chen Lie looked like he was about to cry. “Your team obtained the molecular formula and composition ratio for it not too long ago. I have them stored on my computer, so I cross-referenced the data with the results from the aphrodisiac. I’ll be damned if they aren’t exactly the same!”
“But it’s a very expensive drug, and very little of it has been produced so far. How…?” Huo Shaoheng could no longer keep his composure.
“H3aB7 is a special genetic drug developed by Japanese scientists. It can destroy, on the genetic level, both the immune system and genetic inheritance system.
“Children born to women affected by the drug become less genetically viable with each subsequent generation. Their IQ decreases, but their physical strength increases. They eventually end up like the dumb trolls portrayed in Western myths. By that point they are no more intelligent than your average farm animal, and have to be treated as such. They won’t even be good enough to be used as slaves. Now on to the drug’s side effects: the drug causes women to ovulate and emit pheromones that entice men into mating with them, so their eggs can be fertilized. The scientists then screen the subsequent offspring to see whether their genes deteriorate with each generation. So when a woman is injected with this drug, her reproductive instincts take over, and her appetite for sex increases, way beyond that of the average women. She basically behaves like an animal, living and breathing according to biological instinct—”
Huo Shaoheng interjected, “But our intel shows that the drug experiment was a failure. H3aB7 does not actually weaken the genetic material of the maternal carrier.”
Chen Lie nodded, and said, somewhat awkwardly, “That was what they were aiming for, but they failed to achieve the desired effect because their research wasn’t quite there yet. They’re still experimenting with it. Something did come out of their research, however—they learned that the drug has a fatal side effect.”
“What side effect?”
“You know the drug ‘Viagra’? It wasn’t supposed to be a male aphrodisiac. Originally, the researchers were developing a treatment for heart disease, but along the way they found that the drug increased blood flow to the male groin. That was how they discovered an exceptionally effective male enhancement drug for men.
“Do you get what I’m saying now? To put it simply, they haven’t found a way to sabotage genetic material with H3aB7, not yet, but its effects as a first-rate sexual stimulant for women have already been proven.”
Chen Lie was becoming increasingly embarrassed. He said, with some difficulty, “The end-goal for this drug is reproduction. That means that a woman under its effects needs to experience actual sexual contact…”
Huo Shaoheng was silent for a full minute. He finally said, in a hoarse voice, “She needs actual sexual contact?”
Chen Lie nodded gravely. “It’s either that, or she dies. I’m not joking! These genetic drugs are incredibly potent!”
Huo Shaoheng was silent for a long moment. He finally nodded, and rattled out a string of conditions as he paced the room, counting them out on his fingers. “Number 1: No one else must know. Number 2: Get a man who is healthy, free of STDs, and has never fooled around with multiple partners. Better still, get a virgin. Number 3: This man must forget everything once it’s all over and done with. Got it?”
Chen Lie rolled his eyes. “Don’t worry, I got it, but what do you think you’re doing—looking for a son-in-law? Healthy, STD-free, and a virgin to boot?! Why don’t you set up a martial arts tournament and have the entire army fight for her hand in marriage, while you’re at it?! And besides, this drug was injected into her bloodstream, so it’s a lot more effective than ingesting it orally. One man may not be enough!”
Huo Shaoheng fell silent again. After a moment he said, through gritted teeth, “It was injected into her bloodstream? Who did it?”
“That’s not important right now. You have to do something about her situation, ASAP. She only has 24 hours, but 6 hours have already passed.” Chen Lie pointed at his watch. “Keep dragging your feet, and she’ll be the one to suffer.”
Huo Shaoheng did not reply.
He could look the other way—just barely—if she did it with one man… but multiple men? That was crossing the line.
He had watched this little girl grow up before his very eyes, and now, she was about to be thrown into a wild orgy with multiple men. Just thinking about it made him feel like his brain was about to explode.
Chen Lie kept his eyes on his phone and said nothing. Several times, he opened his mouth as though about to say something, but he stopped himself each time.
He knew that Huo Shaoheng was not the type of man who could be persuaded. He had to figure it out on his own.
As he mulled this over, Chen Lie stealthily pressed the start button on his stopwatch.
He wanted to see how long it would take for Huo Shaoheng to make up his mind.
It took him exactly 10 minutes and 20 seconds.
A new record.
Huo Shaoheng finally said, with great difficulty, “Forget what I said. Don’t bother looking for candidates.”
Chen Lie grinned. “Very noble of you.” He paused, then said, “You’re going at it alone?”
Huo Shaoheng said in a low voice, “I was careless. I should have taken better care of her. ”
The Imperial Military had specifically asked him to be her guardian, and he had failed his mission.
“It’s not your fault. Don’t say that, it’s not like you. What’s that motto of yours, again?” Chen Lie imitated Huo Shaoheng’s tone of voice. “Death is the only thing that cannot be overcome. There is always hope, as long as you’re alive.”
It wasn’t like having sex with a man would kill Gu Nianzhi. It was simply a necessary cure for her condition. So why get all hung up over the number of men she would have to sleep with? One man, several men—what difference did it make?
Chen Lie secretly thought that Huo Shaoheng was acting like a hypocrite. He would never dream of saying this to his face, however.
Huo Shaoheng opened the bedroom door. He looked at Gu Nianzhi, who was starting to become restless on the bed again, and asked Chen Lie, “She’s completely unaware?”
Chen Lie understood Huo Shaoheng’s concern. “She won’t remember a thing. She can’t recognize anyone: she’s just acting according to her instincts.”
Although Gu Nianzhi was not related to Huo Shaoheng by blood, she had stayed with him from the young age of 12 and had grown into a young lady before his eyes. He was her guardian, and had always thought of her as a child under his care. The situation was impossibly awkward for him.
“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone.” Chen Lie nodded his head in understanding. “I know this is serious. And anyway, there’s the Hippocratic Oath. I have to protect the privacy of my patients.” He thought for a bit, then added, “I’ll keep it a secret from the military, too.”
“All right. This is an official military order: if you tell anyone about this, you’ll be conducting your medical experiments in prison for the rest of your life.” Huo Shaoheng was a cautious and prudent man; he knew that a verbal promise was worthless and could not be trusted.
He went into his study and returned with the official form for military orders. Chen Lie was forced to seal his promise with his signature and thumbprint.
Chen Lie had been about to remind Huo Shaoheng of a few other precautions, but Huo Shaoheng’s insistence on an official military order had rubbed him the wrong way; he decided to keep them to himself. He tossed a small box into Huo Shaoheng’s receiving hands. “Take it. You can put them on after the first time.”
Huo Shaoheng looked at it. It was an unopened box of condoms.
“It’s a pack of 20, I’m sure it’ll be enough.” Chen Lie looked Huo Shaoheng’s well-built body over. He slyly asked, “Are you really up to the task? You’re 28 years old, yes? What’s your record for a single night? Don’t overestimate yourself! She has to climax every time, are you sure you can do that? I have a little blue pill here, it’ll help—”
He did not finish his sentence, because Huo Shaoheng was already dragging him by the collar towards the door. He was promptly thrown out of the house.
“Son of a b*tch, was that necessary?” Chen Lie’s face twisted in a grimace as he landed painfully on his butt. But the door had already closed behind him with a thunk, and it was no longer possible to hear what was going on inside the house.