The noon bells tolled long and resonant across the junction of sea and sky, ushering in the most scorching, brilliant sunlight of the day in Haicheng.
The symphony orchestra in the venue had transitioned into a grand and sacred wedding march, while countless white waves broke tirelessly against the white marble railings beneath the oath platform. The air, thick with the sharp scent of fir and the sweet, fresh fragrance of citrus, steeped this open-air hall in a scent that belonged exclusively to the two of them.
Huo Xingran, having just been forced to sign the Ultimate Restrictive Clauses, stood obediently on the left side of the oath platform.
His pure black bespoke suit was pressed to perfection, his golden hair reflecting the dazzling light of a thousand fragments of gold under the sun. Though he had just been handed a "one-month separate sleeping" Damocles sword by his brother and fiancé, the moment his eyes fell on Shen Qingzhou—who was making his way toward him step by step along the petal-strewn red carpet—the feigned grievances in his eyes vanished instantly.
Shen Qingzhou walked slowly.
The sea breeze ruffled the hem of his pure white suit. He was not wearing his glasses, and his phoenix eyes, as cold and clear as ever, reflected the vast blue sky overhead and the boy before him—who was grinning at him with a mix of silliness and absolute, unadulterated sincerity.
"May the two grooms exchange their rings."
The officiant's smiling voice carried across the seaside hall via the microphone.
Huo Xingran reached out for Shen Qingzhou's right hand, unable to contain his eagerness. His palm was large and scorching, and upon touching Shen Qingzhou's fingertips—chilled by the sea breeze—he wrapped them firmly in his own with a gesture that was at once tyrannical and tender. He took the custom-made wedding ring from its velvet box, preparing to slide the metal band—engraved with micro-sculptures of oranges and fir—onto Shen Qingzhou's ring finger.
However, the very instant the two rings were about to overlap, a cynical, icy sneer erupted from the shadows at the back of the venue, near the media zone.
"So this is the 'Century Wedding' of the so-called 'Father of Blockers'? What an earth-shattering farce built upon capital and lies!"
The voice was hoarse and sharp, laced with a madness twisted by resentment. Transmitted through a neglected media microphone, it tore the soaring wedding march to shreds.
The noisy venue plunged into deathly silence.
At the main table, Huo Xingchen's eyes turned glacial; the champagne flute in his hand shattered into fine shards of glass without warning. Beside him, Lu Yu frowned deeply, his amber eyes darkening as his gaze locked onto the shadows in the back row.
A man in an old, washed-out suit, his face haggard and gaunt, was swaying as he stood up from the media seats. He clutched a thick, coffee-stained cowhide file folder, his bloodshot eyes burning with a venomous desire for mutual destruction. He stared fixedly past the countless guests at the proud, straight back of Shen Qingzhou on the oath platform.
"That is... Zhou Jiande, the former associate professor who was expelled by the Beijing University Life Sciences Institute three years ago?!"
Lin, sharp-eyed, recognized the man immediately, so shocked that his camera nearly slipped from his hands.
Zhou Jiande had been destroyed by Shen Qingzhou—then a newly appointed professor—during a school-wide hearing three years prior. With a stack of irrefutable experimental data, Shen Qingzhou had exposed Zhou's academic fraud and plagiarism of student research, effectively exiling him from the academic world. No one had expected this pariah, who should have been in custody for contract violations, to infiltrate the Huo Group's multi-billion dollar, high-security wedding in this manner.
"Shen Qingzhou! Stop putting on this sickening facade of a high-minded scientist!" Zhou Jiande waved the folder frantically, screaming hysterically into the surrounding media lenses. "Everyone has been deceived by him! What 'freedom of choice,' what 'autonomous blockers'! Do you know why the Huo Corporation is so generous in handing over their entire biotech division to him? Because the raw data for the first-generation blocker in his hands has a lethal genetic defect! He is gambling with the future of the entire Omega population in a dark deal with capitalists!"
Black curtain. Lethal defect. Capitalist collusion.
These three explosive terms, broadcast before hundreds of thousands of viewers, were the equivalent of detonating a public opinion nuclear bomb capable of destroying the entire Life Sciences building.
The surrounding reporters, like sharks smelling blood, disregarded the blockers of the Huo security team, madly thrusting their lenses and recorders toward Zhou Jiande.
"Mr. Zhou! Do you have hard experimental data chains to support this?!"
"Professor Shen! In light of these public accusations from a former colleague, is there a suspicion that you have concealed clinical risks?!"
Faced with this sudden, catastrophic storm, Shen Qingzhou, standing in the center of the oath platform, remained terrifyingly calm. He didn't even turn to spare the madman a glance, simply lowering his eyes to watch Huo Xingran's hand—which had frozen in mid-air, clutching the ring box.
Shen Qingzhou raised his left hand, his long fingers resting on Huo Xingran's wrist, ready to use his habitual cold tone to order Lin to call the police.
However, the next second, the skin beneath his fingertips twitched violently.
A top-tier high-level Alpha mental power, possessed of a destructive and tyrannical nature that Shen Qingzhou had never felt since they first met, erupted from Huo Xingran's tall, straight frame like a giant beast awakening in the deep sea!
Boom—!
In an instant, the air above the seaside hall seemed to be vacuumed away by an invisible force. The orange tree forest decorating the sides of the red carpet swayed violently in the gale of mental power. Large swaths of golden orange petals were ripped off and tossed into the air, creating a suffocating blizzard.
The sweet, syrupy scent of oranges completely transformed into a terrifying killing intent—scorching like magma and carrying absolute dominance.
"Zhou. Jian. De."
Huo Xingran slowly turned around, his dazzling golden hair flying wildly in the storm. His "puppy eyes," usually wet and filled with docility and playfulness, were now completely consumed by an eerily demonic crimson.
A high-level Alpha's mental power after a rut was already at a critical tipping point. Zhou Jiande splashing filth onto Shen Qingzhou before his eyes and before the eyes of the world had completely shattered the last of the wolf's reason.
"If you want to die, I will grant your wish right now."
The boy's voice was low and hoarse, carrying a mental pressure strong enough to rupture an ordinary person's eardrums. Across dozens of meters, it struck Zhou Jiande's chest like a heavy hammer. Zhou Jiande, who moments ago had been frantic, felt his legs go weak upon meeting Huo Xingran's cold, crimson beast-eyes. He collapsed to his knees in the mud in front of everyone, his face bleached of all color.
The security guards and reporters in the venue fell into chaos under the terrifying pressure, watching as the century's most romantic wedding spiraled toward a bloody endgame in the wake of a lost-control Alpha mental power riot.