Endemic Love Chapter 6: A Crescent Shape, Encircling Him Part 1

He went into the eting room alone.

When he approached the large, oval eting table, he imdiately sensed sothing dull in his heart. This side of the table had only one chair, empty and reserved for him, whilst at the other side, all twelve seats were taken. Six sponsors and six CEOs were seated across him, creating a crescent shape encircling him, as if the teeth of a beast’s wide, monstrous mouth.

"The treasure, good afternoon. Please take a seat."

These people were the strongest in the country. They were the figures of industry who were exerting their authority fully, by any ans. Politics, dia, healthcare, comrce, entertainnt... Le An knew many of the CEOs, but the faces of the sponsors were not very familiar to him. Le An sat onto his chair, maintaining a strategic, calm deanor.

"How is everything? We sincerely hope you are doing well."

Sincerely, my ass. The first one to talk was GAC’s Executive Director, Mr. Renji Qui, aka the bridge between guides and guiding laws. He suggests, and the next day, consider it done. "Thank you, sir. I am very well these days. Hope everything is okay, I have not been inford about the eting’s issue, you see."

He was a man in his 50s, always smiling subtly, as if there were hundreds of foxes inside his head. "I totally understand your curiosity, Mr. Le An. But the matter we wanted to discuss was not quite suitable to share beforehand. Call it because of contamination risks or because of possible confidentiality issues.

"I understand." Le An contorted. As he continued to listen, he felt sothing, a scent, and as a reaction, his left leg under the table jolted reflexively. That was an alpha pheromone. He assud soone was mistakenly giving off this subtle scent. Mr. Qui continued, as if unaware of the sll.

"And these gentlen also insisted on their presence at this eting." Those Le An haven’t t yet have presented themselves.

Mr. Qui continued. "So, arranging a proper eting ti for everyone was hard. So, I assu since their ti is truly precious, I can get straight to the point."

The ominous feeling he felt before entering doubled, as an assistant put a file before him. And a pen. Seeing the pen, one of the sponsors, lightly, as if smiling, waved his hand and said, "Such detail-oriented assisting... I am overjoyed with your team mbers, Mr. Qui."

They had a brief chat between them, laughing. "This team especially consists of a few very trustworthy and hardworking mbers we have, Mr. Silas Vale. No leakage is possible, they are fully devoted to the association."

Le An looked at him briefly and turned back to see the assistant. My god. She was an oga, and her face was flushed because of pheromones. They shared eye contact, Le An understood he wasn’t the only one slling pheromones in the room. But the oga behind him seed to perceive the sll as an invitation.

Le An was resisting ntally, this resistance would block his ability to differentiate the pheromone’s instinct type. This is weirdly soothing for a second. He wasn’t the target of these pheromones, maybe.

And it was a fact that Le An’s real secondary gender information would not be shared with this many people, from outside the circle. It was confidential between GAC’s top mbers and the Ministry of Health’s few figures. And his house staff.

The clock was ticking; soone’s old-fashioned watch was ticking. He heard and took his hand up from his lap, ready to open the file.

Right when he assud he was expected to read through the file, the title, written in bold style, caught his eye. At the sa ti, he vaguely started to sll two, no, three more different alpha pheromones, slowly spreading into the air, reaching him. His legs trembled and convulsed. Little sweat drops appeared on his forehead...

What?

One of the assistants, this ti another one of them, asked if they wished to have a drink. Mr. Qui cut her words. "No need. The eting won’t take long."

With bold fonts... Le An was still looking at it as if possessed by it.

"Excessive Guide Energy Research and Experint (EGERE) Consent Form."

He flipped the first page and started to read. His fingers were clenched, not to show the light tremble on his hands. As for these unique genetic codes to be examined throughout and wholly, starting from the date 11.02....., the laboratory for extended research is ford. Subjects’ all personal information, health records, family and environntal records, and the detailed analysis of his physiological, psychological, and biological information are available, yet further investigation is needed....

Cranial investigations and further screening, type 867, type 874, 1116, 1635, 976, and 26 other blood tests are required...

Le An raised his head and looked at them, in more disbelief as he read. He flipped all the pages quickly.

Tissue analysis and invasive body and brain implentations are crucial and planned. 47 other essential sub-interventions are listed below.

He was on the last page now. These n in front of him, their nas on one side. As for the other side, there was only his na. And four sign-requited spaces.

"As the subject, I will et the conditions listed above and also maintain my current job and keep the research confidential."

"As the subject, under any circumstances, I will not file a suit against any of the research sponsors, directors, institute leaders, and researchers."

"As the subject, I accept that I have no authority to terminate or draft from the research before the research’s estimated end date arrives."

"As the subject, I know and will attend the research’s 3-month mandatory trial phase. And keep this phase confidential." The last sentence ended with an extra note (attending fully, except the subject’s oga heat cycles)."

Oga heat cycles... Le An was visibly trembling now. He looked across all the faces instantly, and fear blocked his ability to understand. Everyone in this room was aware that... He was an oga.