Since it was a mainstream media outlet and one that had deliberately used a livestream as a hook, someone was already waiting for Ji Qiu as soon as he said goodbye to Liang Yan and went inside.
Although this was technically his own interview, the heavy buildup in advance, coupled with the fact that KB was one of the top industry giants, meant it had drawn considerable attention.
Liang Yan stood at the entrance, watching Ji Qiu walk in, turning back every few steps. Even before getting into the elevator, he was still looking in Liang Yan’s direction. Only when the elevator doors opened and he had no choice but to go upstairs did he finally force a smile at Liang Yan, wave, and step inside.
Liang Yan watched him. From behind, that dark suit even gave off a sense of cold distance, as if keeping people at arm’s length.
But the moment Ji Qiu turned around and smiled at him, he became Liang Yan’s hero alone, radiant beyond compare.
Ji Qiu was striking in appearance, and many people couldn’t help glancing at him twice. Following his line of sight, some of them inevitably noticed Liang Yan as well.
Liang Yan didn’t try to hide. Only when he could no longer see Ji Qiu did he turn around and get back into the car.
Yu Zhenghao was still reproaching himself. “Shouldn’t we have gone in with him? I know this media outlet, they can be very aggressive with their questions. Xiao Ji hasn’t been through anything like this before. What if they lead him into a trap?”
Leaning back against the seat, Liang Yan replied evenly, without much emotion, “It’s fine. I trust him.”
Yu Zhenghao said nothing more.
Yin Tongguang, meanwhile, had both his iPad and phone open, one waiting for the interview to start, the other keeping track of public reactions to Ji Qiu from all sides.
Several other media outlets were sitting in nearby cafés around the TV station. The car Yu Zhenghao had driven over was fairly spacious, so instead of getting out to find somewhere else, they simply stayed inside and waited for Ji Qiu to come out.
Time ticked by. After a round of preparations, the “apology livestream” officially began.
The opening was a pre-edited short video. A female host and reporter in a red dress narrated the background of the incident, deliberately emphasizing Ji Qiu’s identity—calling him “a victim who lost a family member, yet also a fortunate beneficiary.” She claimed that he had attempted to use his brother’s death as leverage, even personally contacting reporters from Public Health to speak out for him, only for KB to later release transfer records and state that the company itself was the true victim.
The camera cut back to a close-up. The reporter from the video smiled as she finished the introduction. The camera then shifted left, settling on Ji Qiu seated beside her.
As the camera landed on him, he offered a slight smile.
There was no excessive small talk or rambling. The interview quickly moved into the main topic.
“I’ve heard that the theme of your appearance today is an apology.”
Ji Qiu nodded readily. “Yes.”
Before the reporter could ask her next question, he mischievously blinked. “I assume you’ve prepared quite a few questions for this interview. Why don’t we set the main theme aside for a moment and talk about something else first? If I start apologizing the moment we begin, this livestream might end in ten minutes. If some people arrive late and open the stream only to find it already over, wouldn’t that be a pity?”
Ji Qiu’s posture was calm and composed. His hands were folded neatly as he sat upright in the velvet chair, meeting the reporter’s gaze without arrogance or submission.
The female reporter had hosted many similar livestreams and interviews before. Most of her guests were at fault, and once the topic began, they usually launched into lengthy recollections, eventually admitting their mistakes and offering sincere apologies, some even breaking down in tears to win audience sympathy.
But someone who, right from the start, suggested chatting about something else first, she truly hadn’t seen many like that.
Perhaps Ji Qiu was too used to the casual atmosphere at school. Quite a few alumni who rushed into the stream, as well as students from other universities who’d come after hearing the news, began drifting off-topic in the comments.
“Ahhh is this the person involved?!”
“Holy crap, Xiao Qiu looks so handsome today! He even looks kind of Alpha!”
“Where’s my soft, squishy Qiuqiu?! Though I really like this style today too! Suit Qiu! I want to use his tie to blindfold myself! I can do it!”
“Watch your words, Liang Yan might be in the livestream.”
“I don’t get you people. At a time like this, you’re still talking about that?”
“Exactly. Pay attention to the theme, okay? No matter how Alpha or handsome he looks, he still did something wrong.”
“So what? Xiao Qiu agreed to come on and has the courage to apologize publicly. That alone already makes him better than a lot of people.”
“What kind of values are those, upstairs?? If he hadn’t tried to extort the company, would they have needed to expose the facts and ruin his reputation? Looks ruin your morals, seriously.”
“Isn’t he an Omega? The info says he’s pretty outstanding. Instead of focusing on his studies and marrying an Alpha after graduation, he had to step into this muddy mess.”
“Omega discrimination again?”
“Too bad his partner is also an Omega…”
Meanwhile, the people at the center of the incident were still sitting in the car, eyes fixed unblinkingly on the screen.
Yin Tongguang saw that Liang Yan was still watching the livestream with the barrage of comments on. Just as he was about to walk over and help turn it off, the other stopped him.
“It’s fine. I’m just watching,” Liang Yan said, halting him.
I also want to see what you look like in other people’s eyes.
How they judge you, how they slander you or how they praise you.
In other people’s eyes, you have so many different versions of yourself, yet in the end, you belong only to me.
The female reporter froze for a moment, finding it odd, but still continued with the original plan of questioning.
“So you’re admitting that there’s no issue with KB’s inhibitor 3.0, and that you only acted this way due to a moment of emotional impulse?”
Ji Qiu adjusted his posture. He didn’t answer directly. The corner of his lips lifted slightly, but the smile never reached his eyes.
“Of course. No matter what, as an industry leader, KB has always been at the forefront of inhibitor research and has indeed benefited the vast majority of Omegas.”
The reporter hadn’t expected him to suddenly say that, but she responded smoothly anyway.
“Yes. However, this doesn’t seem very relevant to the topic of your apology… In fact, you contacted the media claiming that KB’s newly developed inhibitor has issues, which directly delayed the launch of the new drug.”
Ji Qiu let out a soft chuckle.
Seeing that he still hadn’t answered, she tried probing from another angle.
“By the way, according to the information, you—like your older brother are also an Omega, correct?”
Ji Qiu neither confirmed nor denied it.
“Then may I ask, as an Omega, you must have used many inhibitors. And according to information provided by KB, you were even a volunteer during their clinical trials, is that right?”
She stared at him, pressing on aggressively.
“It’s well known that KB treats its clinical trial volunteers very well. According to the records, you were among the most proactive participants, submitting your data every time. Under their conditions, you already qualified for the ‘lifetime free medication’ standard.”
Ji Qiu nodded. “Yes.”
“Then since you’ve already received such benefits like lifetime free medication, saving you a huge amount of money on future inhibitor expenses and since KB’s clinical trial reports show you had no adverse reactions, why suddenly choose to obstruct this now?”
“Does raising questions count as obstruction?” Ji Qiu asked calmly.
“No, but you also don’t have sufficient evidence to support your claims,” the reporter replied without backing down. “And Mr. Ji, wasn’t the purpose of your appearance today to apologize?”
After all, Ji Qiu usually went by other names at school. Hearing “Mr. Ji” made him pause slightly.
The reporter assumed she had cornered him and quickly followed up.
“So, Mr. Ji, is there anything else you haven’t said yet?”
Ji Qiu slowly turned his gaze back, nodded politely, and said, “Yes.”
“I am indeed here to apologize,” he said with a smile. “I did cause some negative impact on KB.”
The reporter let out a quiet sigh of relief finally back on track.
Next, they could follow the preset interview flow. Maybe they could even—
“And I was also fortunate enough to be selected from the public to become one of the researchers for inhibitor 3.0.”
The thought in the reporter’s mind froze halfway through.
“This is…?”
She hadn’t expected him to bring this up. Ever since Liang Chen first spoke out and took back the laboratory, this information hadn’t been made public. Everyone believed the researchers at Qicheng Medical University were simply randomly assigned by KB.
Ji Qiu put on an apologetic expression.
“Perhaps there was a lack of communication between both sides, and the research team didn’t inform you.”
Fortunately, the reporter reacted quickly.
“So did you encounter any problems during the research process?”
“No. I didn’t encounter any special issues during the experiments. One could even say that the trials for inhibitor 3.0 were nearly perfect…”
Ji Qiu paused, as if suddenly remembering something, and asked casually, “This is a live broadcast, right?”
The reporter could only follow his lead, smiling and nodding.
“Yes. Since you’ve said there were no issues during the experiment, then why—”
Ji Qiu smiled nonchalantly.
“But I still want to say something else.”
The meticulously made-up reporter cooperated. “Oh?”
“I don’t know how many people are watching right now,” Ji Qiu said as he turned to face the camera, “but my older brother, due to having a constitution different from that of typical Omegas, suffered extremely severe adverse reactions when using this company’s inhibitor.”
“The specific symptoms included cold, clammy limbs and respiratory suppression. As for the cause of death stated by PR, it’s not entirely wrong, he did die from a spinal cord injury. But the key point is that after experiencing severe side effects from the inhibitor, when he went to the company to report it, he was pushed down.”
“Does that still count as having nothing to do with them?”
“And a medical corporation that has nearly monopolized the market upon learning of this, their first reaction wasn’t to investigate deeply, but to do everything possible to cover it up and continue developing new products.”
“Fine. Even if their direction in developing new products was correct, they still failed to learn from the incident. They treated my brother’s case as an isolated example, believing there was no solution. Even during the trials for 3.0, they failed to follow the most basic experimental principles, simply because they were overly confident in their product.”
“I know that for the vast majority of Omegas, KB’s inhibitors are good products. So does that mean a small number of people should be sacrificed? That enduring suffering worse than a heat cycle every single time is somehow deserved?”
The reporter hadn’t expected him to say this. Instinctively, she curled her ring and pinky fingers toward the camera on the opposite side, making a waving gesture.
Inside a car watching the livestream in real time, Yu Zhenghao let out a short laugh, understanding what that gesture meant.
“She probably forgot this is live,” he said. “That gesture means she wants to call ‘cut.’”
Liang Yan still said nothing, staring fixedly at the person on the screen.
Meanwhile, Yin Tongguang—still watching the scrolling comments noticed the viewer count rising sharply, and the tone of the comments beginning to shift.
Many people questioned the truth of Ji Qiu’s claims. Others began to reflect on what he had said.
But a live broadcast can’t be stopped. Even if everything deviated completely from the original plan, there was no way to pause it.
“As for the money KB once gave our family…” A hint of contempt finally appeared on Ji Qiu’s face. “I also have records proving that we never used a single cent of it. It has all been returned in full.”
The reporter finally found an opening to interject and quickly pressed on.
“But everything you’ve said lacks evidence. Besides your brother, who else? Who else has had such reactions? You’re trying to steer public opinion with just your words—it’s far too hasty.”
Ji Qiu calmly took out two reports, along with the pheromone samplers belonging to Xu Yishu and Liang Yan.
“Our voices before were too weak, almost no one could hear us. But what I’m holding now is evidence. We have obtained the consent of the parties involved, and they are willing to support further investigation.”
“We need a higher-level evaluation institution to identify the key issue.”
He couldn’t help but tighten his grip on the items in his hand as images began flashing through his mind.
“You’ve never seen what they’re like during heat. Even after the original agitation is suppressed, they have to endure suffocating breathing difficulties all over again. They clutch their throats, unable to make a sound, when all they wanted was simply to breathe.”
On online platforms, countless people were already in shock from his words.
“Does that kind of Omega really exist??”
“That’s terrifying. Does that mean every heat is pure torture…unable to live, unable to die?”
“Thank god I’m a Beta, holy shit.”
“Is it real? Is it really real?”
“I think I saw the name on that report… Liang Yan.”
“The other one is from our school! I know them!”
“That’s only a preliminary pheromone test report. I hope there will be more advanced examinations.”
“Thank god 3.0 hasn’t launched yet…”
Only then did the reporter remember this was a live broadcast. She abandoned the thought of calling a cut but no matter what, once Ji Qiu had said all this, the tide was bound to turn. If she continued rigidly following the original plan, the losses would far outweigh the gains.
She steadied herself and could only force herself to follow Ji Qiu’s words.
“Then why did you choose an interview with the theme of ‘apology’? You could have framed it differently.”
Of course, if it had been framed another way, whether it would still have been given such a large media platform was hard to say.
“I am someone who needs to apologize,” Ji Qiu’s expression changed, and the hardness in his tone faded. “We discovered it too late, and we exposed it too late. We failed to let more Omegas with the same constitution discover the problem earlier. Those are the people I owe an apology to.”
“So I hope that anyone who can see me now—if possible, please contact me. If you have the same issue, perhaps you really aren’t the only one bearing this pain. Even if we are only a one-in-a-thousand probability, we still deserve to be treated clearly and equally, rather than becoming forgotten sacrifices.”
The reporter began to awkwardly pick up the thread, as if those biased, pressing questions earlier hadn’t come from her at all.
“Then aside from your brother, what else is driving you to persist in this matter?”
The man who had been speaking so fluently a moment ago suddenly froze.
Inside the car, Liang Yan was also staring intently at the person on the screen, unwilling to miss a single detail of his movements.
Ji Qiu’s brows and eyes trembled slightly, as if recalling something. His hand pressed beneath his tie, right where Liang Yan had grabbed him and kissed him earlier.
Very quickly, his pupils filled with a tenderness that could be felt even through the screen. Ji Qiu looked back at the camera, curved his lips into a smile, and said:
“That would be another person I need to apologize to.”
“I haven’t known him for very long, and regrettably, I was too foolish and missed far too much time.”
“If time could be turned back, I would find him on my very first day at school and tell him this.”
“I’m sorry. I came too late.”
