Accidentally Marked My Ex’s Crush, the Ice-Cold Goddess O - Chapter 28: Gland Mutation

Chapter 28: Gland Mutation

Gu Feiran found the item and forcefully opened it.

Jiang Ci walked over, placed the clothes she was holding on the nearby sofa, and said, “These are the clothes I wore this morning. They’ve been dry-cleaned, and now I’m returning them to you.”

Gu Feiran took two suppressant patches from the box, held them in her hand, and didn’t even bother to close the cabinet. She hurriedly walked out.

Passing by Jiang Ci, she stuffed the office key into her hand. “I have an emergency. Lock the door when you leave. Here’s the key.”

“Oh, okay,” Jiang Ci replied.

She agreed, but Gu Feiran was already gone.

Although there were no valuable items in the office, there were patient records more important than valuables. So Jiang Ci didn’t dare linger for a second. She quickly stepped out and locked the office door.

Then she stood at the door, waiting.

Gu Feiran, holding the suppressant patches, jogged to the operating room door and handed them to the waiting nurse.

“Suppressant patches,” Gu Feiran said, panting heavily.

The nurse didn’t have time to say thank you. She rushed into the operating room, sterilized the patches, and handed them to another nurse inside. The nurse gently lifted the patient’s head and applied the patch to the back of their neck.

In the operating room, the patient’s pheromones finally stopped leaking out. The lead surgeon let out a slow breath and said, “Alright, continue the surgery. Stay focused, no mistakes.”

“Hmm,” the doctors in the operating room refocused.

Because she had run so urgently, Gu Feiran kept panting lightly on her way back. By the time she neared the office, she had mostly caught her breath, and her cheeks were no longer so red.

The patient in surgery was a top-tier omega who, minutes earlier, had suddenly entered a heat cycle.

The intense scent of gardenia pheromones filled the entire ward.

The lead surgeon, an ordinary alpha or omega, couldn’t handle the influence of a top-tier omega’s pheromones but couldn’t abandon the scalpel and leave the operating room either.

So the nurse immediately contacted the director and Gu Feiran to request the emergency use of suppressant patches from the office. That’s why Gu Feiran had run there and back.

To prevent such situations, operating rooms usually kept spare suppressant patches. But this patient had been rushed in for emergency surgery an hour ago, and there hadn’t been time to prepare.

Jiang Ci saw Gu Feiran return and stood to hand her the key. “Dr. Gu, are you okay?”

Her ears were red, and her hair was slightly messy from running.

Gu Feiran shook her head and took the key. “I’m fine.”

Work ended early today. Gu Feiran went into the office, took off her white coat, hung it on the rack, organized the medical records, grabbed her bag, and left with Jiang Ci. They took separate elevators down, though.

After all, it was a hospital with many eyes. Being seen together too often would inevitably spark gossip.

They met at the hospital entrance.

Gu Feiran asked her, “Not waiting for Dr. Jiang?”

Jiang Ci, holding the clothes, said, “I asked Little Aunt. She’s on duty tonight. Let’s go.”

“Okay,” Gu Feiran said, walking side by side with Jiang Ci.

They got into her car, and the Bluetooth connected automatically, starting to play music. This time, though, Gu Feiran turned it off.

Jiang Ci started the car and asked, “Why not listen?”

She usually played music every time they rode together.

Gu Feiran adjusted the seat back, leaned lightly, and said, “I don’t feel like listening today. Just drive quietly.”

“Okay,” Jiang Ci said, turning on the left signal and pulling onto the main road.

The drive was quiet, not just the road but inside the car too.

Jiang Ci never talked much while driving, and Gu Feiran was the quiet type, so neither said a word from the hospital to the neighborhood entrance.

The car slowly stopped in front of the neighborhood. Gu Feiran thanked Jiang Ci, grabbed the clothes, and got out. She walked slowly into the neighborhood under the warm streetlights on both sides.

Jiang Ci watched her go in before driving away.

Lately, whenever Jiang Ci wasn’t busy, she would come to the hospital to pick up Dr. Gu and Little Aunt after work, sometimes bringing dinner.

Neither refused, and they’d sit in the back, discussing work.

Jiang Ci played the role of a dutiful driver.

On Friday at 7 p.m., Jiang Ci attended a private dinner party. The host said it was casual, no need for formal attire. So Jiang Ci touched up her makeup and went in her work clothes. But at the venue, she saw almost everyone in formal dresses, making her shirt and slacks stand out. There was nothing she could do about it.

The dinner officially started, and the host came out to speak. The crowd surged forward, almost everyone holding a drink.

To avoid standing out even more, Jiang Ci grabbed a glass of white wine from the table as she passed by.

She stood at the back of the crowd, one hand in her pocket.

The host’s speech was mostly formalities, and people half-listened. When it ended with a toast, the room livened up, clinking glasses with those nearby.

Jiang Ci thought no one was around her, so she didn’t plan to drink.

As she turned to leave, a glass suddenly clinked against hers. The other person smiled sweetly and said, “Cheers.”

Jiang Ci looked up and saw a girl with a sweet smile, but she didn’t know her. Since the girl had clinked glasses, it would be rude not to drink, so Jiang Ci smiled, raised her glass, and took a small sip.

The wine was good, a fine vintage.

After the toast, the crowd dispersed.

Jiang Ci, holding her glass, turned to leave. After a few steps, the back of her neck suddenly heated up, burning as if something was igniting in her gland. It wasn’t painful, though. She frowned, reached to touch it, and the scorching heat vanished as quickly as it came, like nothing had happened.

Jiang Ci felt with her palm for a moment, confirmed nothing was wrong, and slowly raised her glass, saying, “Just one sip. I shouldn’t be drunk yet.”

She didn’t think much of it.

After nearly two hours at the dinner, people started leaving, and Jiang Ci followed.

She’d had a drink, so she didn’t drive and sat in the back seat.

Not long after the car started, her gland began to heat up again. She frowned, pressed her hand against it, and held it there.

This was the tenth time tonight.

The first time, she could dismiss it as a fluke. But now, after ten times, ignoring it could mean real trouble.

Jiang Ci shook her head to clear the drowsiness, forcing herself to stay alert. “Don’t go home. Go to the city hospital.”

The driver responded, “Okay.”

On the way to the hospital, Jiang Ci kept telling herself not to fall asleep, to hold on until they arrived. When her eyelids grew too heavy, she pinched her thigh and arm hard and bit her tongue.

But even so, just before reaching the hospital, Jiang Ci couldn’t hold on and passed out in the back seat.

The driver saw her condition in the rearview mirror, called out “Miss Jiang” twice, and, getting no response, sped up.

Ensuring safety, he ran two red lights.

General Surgery Department.

Jiang Lan was making rounds when an emergency department nurse ran over, panting, and found her in the ward. “Dr. Jiang, your niece fainted. She’s in the emergency room now.”

“What?” Jiang Lan froze, her body turning cold.

The nurse’s voice wasn’t loud, but her urgency drew the attention of everyone in the ward.

All the patients looked over.

Even the patient Jiang Lan was examining turned with a concerned look.

Jiang Lan paused, then pulled herself together, regaining her calm. She picked up the chart and continued checking the patient’s equipment, saying gently, “Your recent data looks normal. We’ll do a full check in a couple of days. If everything’s fine, you can be discharged. I’ll come by again then.”

The patient nodded lightly. “Okay, thank you, Dr. Jiang.”

Jiang Lan smiled faintly. “No problem. Rest well.”

She moved on to the next patient. The ward was quiet; no one spoke, all eyes on her.

Emergency Room.

Jiang Ci lay on the bed, the monitors showing normal heart rate, bl00d pressure, and oxygen levels. Overall, there was no issue, except for the gland monitor…

It flatlined one moment, then spiked to the highest normal human level, then dropped back to a flat line.

The pattern looked like a rollercoaster.

In all their years as doctors, they’d never seen anything like it.

“Xiao Ci, Xiao Ci!”

Jiang Lan, done with rounds, rushed in.

The nurse stepped forward to stop her, calming her. “Dr. Jiang, stay calm. Your niece is fine for now. Vital signs are normal. It’s just her gland that’s unstable.”

Jiang Lan, panting heavily, steadied herself with the nurse’s arm and said in confusion, “Vital signs normal, gland unstable? Alpha and omega glands can be unstable, but how could hers be? Xiao Ci, her gland, her pheromones—they’re nonfunctional. There’s no such thing as stable or unstable for her.”

Dr. Zhao from the gland department came over and said, “Dr. Jiang, your niece’s gland is special. I know this, and I’ve studied it. Her gland and pheromone dysfunction are due to a gland mutation, which is extremely rare. There are only a few cases nationwide. But…”

Dr. Zhao pointed to the gland monitor. “Look at this line. If no gland activity is detected, it’s a flat line. But now it’s fluctuating, which means your niece’s gland might be undergoing another mutation after differentiation. If this mutation is positive, her gland might return to normal. If it’s negative, she could face lifelong torment from constant heat cycles.”

Jiang Lan, a general surgeon, didn’t fully understand glands and asked, “Explain it clearly. What do you mean?”

Dr. Zhao explained again, “Based on years of research, alpha heat cycles occur roughly every two weeks, omega heat cycles every week. Top-tier alpha and omega cycles are delayed by a week. For S-tier alpha and omegas, heat cycles are irregular—yesterday’s might end, and today’s could start again, heavily influenced by their partner. This patient’s heat cycles last a few seconds, maybe five or six, reaching brief peaks, as shown on the monitor. Each peak is a heat cycle, with very short intervals.”

Jiang Lan looked at the monitor’s data, summarized, and said, “This… the heat cycles could kill her.”

Dr. Zhao nodded. “Exactly. Even with suppressant patches, they won’t stop the internal damage from the heat cycles. To cure it, we’d need a top-tier or S-tier omega to counter-mark her. But with her gland and pheromones currently nonfunctional, marking might not even work.”

“Dr. Jiang, Dr. Jiang.”

Jiang Lan’s legs buckled, nearly collapsing. The nurse quickly steadied her.

“Xiao Ci,” Jiang Lan called, looking at the bed.

At the ward’s entrance, Gu Feiran leaned against the wall, dazed.