41: I really am not an Omega
Sheng Shaoyou didn’t know how long he’d been unconscious. When he woke, the sky was dark.
For a moment, he was disoriented in the darkness. The soft thighs under his head shifted slightly, and above him came a gentle voice, “You’re awake?”
He instinctively tried to sit up, but was pressed back down.
“Don’t move yet,” Hua Yong said. “Your back’s injured—could’ve hurt the bone—so try not to move if you can help it.”
It was only then that Sheng Shaoyou realized he was in a cramped, narrow space. Even if he tried, he couldn’t straighten his back at all.
He remembered what had happened before he blacked out… Hua Yong had held up that massive, crushing bookcase for him???
At the thought, his mind went boom, and his eyelids twitched uncontrollably.
Are you kidding me?
The heavy darkness made him feel faintly dazed, but the familiar scent of pheromones in his nose pulled him back to reality.
The tiny wedge of space they occupied was thick with floral fragrance—a high-grade soothing pheromone.
But this crisp, commanding scent did not come from an Omega. It came from… a high-level Alpha!
Sheng Shaoyou’s heart sank with a thud.
The gland on the back of his neck—bitten through by that bastard—didn’t ache as much anymore. Even the pain in his back was barely noticeable.
The concentration and effect of this orchid-scented pheromone was beyond anything he’d known before. Which meant that this beautiful young man’s pheromone rank might very well exceed his own.
But… wasn’t he an Omega?!
“I think I need an explanation,” Sheng Shaoyou said, forcing himself upright.
He couldn’t see Hua Yong’s face in the dark, only heard that calm, soft voice say:
“I’ll explain. But not now. You’re hurt. Half the house collapsed during the aftershock. We’re waiting for rescue. So don’t get angry yet—save your strength, okay?”
Though his voice was still gentle, there was a faint assertiveness to it that Sheng Shaoyou found unfamiliar.
“Not okay,” Sheng said coldly.
Realizing he’d been lied to, his brain seemed to explode. Every hair on his body stood on end—but rationality soon returned, and in fact his mind grew clearer than ever.
The scent in his nose was incredibly familiar. He’d definitely smelled it somewhere before—and it had left an impression.
“You’re the elusive ‘mystery man’ from X Holdings?” he demanded.
Hua Yong didn’t answer. Instead, he covered Sheng’s hand with his own.
“Don’t be angry.”
Sheng Shaoyou sneered and yanked his hand free.
His sensitive skin brushed past Hua Yong’s palm—and he froze. Something wasn’t right.
Hua Yong’s hand had always been soft and delicate. Why was it rough now, sticky, like he’d been sweating a lot?
What? The uncrowned king of P country was nervous now that his lies had been exposed?
“Lying to you was my fault,” Hua Yong said, his tone calm, as if he didn’t expect forgiveness but still asked anyway. “Can you forgive me?”
Sheng Shaoyou felt cold all over and edged away from him.
“No.”
“I’ve never apologized to anyone before—except you,” Hua Yong said quietly. He reached out, as if eager to keep Sheng closer, unwilling to let him move away.
His body temperature was low—so low it seeped through his shirt—and it left Sheng unable to truly harden his heart, unable to throw a punch at him like he wanted.
So he stayed where he was, listening to Hua Yong murmur:
“I’m sorry. Forgive me, okay?”
“You tell me,” Sheng scoffed back.
Forgive him? The fact that Sheng hadn’t already killed him was reason enough for this Oscar-worthy bastard to count himself lucky!
If this liar hadn’t been Hua Yong—the one he cherished most—Sheng would’ve strangled him already.
He viciously flung Hua Yong’s hand off, his insides tied in knots, leaning back against the wall.
“Get lost. Stay away from me.”
His back stuck wetly to the wall. He suspected it was bleeding where the bookcase scraped him.
If he’d known this delicate-looking “Omega” was actually a brute Alpha, he wouldn’t have bothered trying to shield him earlier.
Thinking of how easily Hua Yong had pinned that thousand-pound bookcase to the wall with one hand, Sheng’s mouth twitched.
And here he’d been protecting him.
Damn it! This lying little bastard!
Who would’ve thought the fragile little orchid lying at his side was actually a man-eating iron flower?
“Mr. Sheng,” Hua Yong murmured again, leaning closer, his body cold as ice. “It’s so cold.”
“Stay away,” Sheng snapped, shoving him off. “We’re not here to keep each other warm. Get clingy again and I will kill you.”
This time, Hua Yong fell quiet and didn’t press closer. The air grew heavier with his pheromones.
Silence.
In the quiet, Sheng glanced at his phone—just past 7 p.m.
The glow of the screen lit up their small space, revealing Hua Yong’s blood-soaked body.
Thick blood had run down his shoulder and across his entire body, sprayed across his pale face like a gorgeous but eerie ghost.
Hua Yong sat slumped against the wall, face deathly pale, eyes unnaturally bright yet unfocused.
Sheng’s heart squeezed painfully.
He flicked on the flashlight, flooding the space with cold white light.
Hua Yong pursed his lips, not speaking. His face glistened with cold sweat, like a fragile paper flower drained of color.
Sheng finally realized what that sticky feeling on his back was. He turned—and saw the wall behind him sprayed with blood.
That amount of blood loss was fatal.
His chest tightened.
“Come here,” Sheng said at last.
Hua Yong froze, then tried to crawl closer, but failed.
“Forget it,” he murmured bitterly. “I can’t move.”
Sheng clicked his tongue impatiently and crawled over instead.
“Don’t get me wrong,” he growled, pulling him into his arms. “I just don’t want to sit here with a corpse.”
Hua Yong said nothing, resting his head on his knees. Sheng’s warmth seeped into him, easing his chill.
Sheng roughly grabbed his icy fingers, muttering,
“Don’t make me regret this. You’ve already pissed me off enough.”
Hua Yong shivered, then lifted his face faintly and whispered:
“It’s starting.”
“What’s starting?”
Outside, there was a click, then the faint rumble of machinery.
“How do you know?”
“Footsteps,” Hua Yong murmured against his chest, his voice weak. “A lot of them. Probably the rescue team. They stopped here about forty minutes ago—should’ve finished assessing the site and are starting to dig.”
Sheng stared at him in disbelief. He could tell by footsteps alone? What was he, some kind of monster?
Then again, higher-tiered A/Os did tend to have heightened abilities.
But… Hua Yong’s scent didn’t match his usual at all.
That usual orchid fragrance was soft and gentle—clearly Omega-like.
How had it suddenly become identical to the tyrant from X Holdings?
Wait—Sheng frowned—he’d smelled this scent somewhere else, too, but couldn’t quite place it.
The dense floral pheromone was so strong it made his jaw ache.
Hua Yong seemed to sense his silent breakdown, sighed, and said softly:
“I really am not an Omega.”
“Then what was that before?”
“Pheromone modifier,” Hua Yong explained. “An experimental tech from X Holdings. It alters my scent to mimic an Omega’s. But it doesn’t last long. I didn’t replenish it in time today, and I released too much, so it wore off.”
He lowered his gaze, voice gentle:
“I’m sorry, Sheng. I lied to you on purpose, but I never meant to hurt you. I just… liked you too much.”
The sight of him apologizing meekly like this would melt anyone—but Sheng didn’t care.
“Cut the pheromones,” Sheng barked. “At this rate you’ll die before they even dig us out.”
“I told you,” he added coldly. “I don’t want to sit here with a corpse.”
But this shameless liar latched onto that tiny shred of concern, smiling faintly.
“You’re worried about me?” he teased softly, his pale face lighting up with rare joy. “I won’t die so easily. I still have to win you over.”
Sheng’s scalp tingled.
Win me over? This is extortion, not courting!
He shoved Hua Yong away.
“I’m not interested in Alphas who enjoy playing the aggressor,” he said coldly.
Hua Yong leaned weakly against the wall, whispering:
“But… I don’t want you to hurt.”
“I don’t hurt,” Sheng muttered, avoiding his bloody gaze.
Even knowing Hua Yong was that man, he couldn’t help but worry.
He cared.
He loved him.
That damnable bastard.
Even while cursing him inwardly, Sheng didn’t actually want him to die here.
At the very least, he deserved to survive long enough for Sheng to stuff him in a sack and beat the hell out of him later.
Besides—he still owed too many explanations to die yet.
Outside, Shen Wenlang and Chang Yu were equally frantic.
With the aftershocks knocking out nearby towers, they’d lost contact with Hua Yong half an hour ago.
Fortunately, life detectors pinpointed their location near the entrance.
After about thirty more minutes of work, the two trapped men were finally rescued.
Hua Yong let Sheng take the first stretcher and stood aside, clutching his shoulder, showing none of the weakness he’d displayed earlier.
But the sheer amount of blood and the gaping wound still left Chang Yu pale.
When the medics tried to lift him, Hua Yong pushed them off, squatted next to Sheng’s stretcher, laid his cheek against his chest, and hugged him tightly.
That clingy, reluctant look was completely at odds with his usual cold-blooded self.
Even Shen Wenlang winced just watching.
Chang Yu gave the “tool-man” a sympathetic look and shook his head.
His boss had clearly fallen for this Alpha—utterly and completely.
In ancient times, Sheng Shaoyou would’ve been a male Daji.
For Hua Yong, love and obsession outweighed power and wealth by far.
After a moment, Hua Yong released him, stepping back just before Sheng could shove him away.
Bloodied and beautiful, he gave Sheng a faint, fragile smile.
“Goodbye, Mr. Sheng,” he murmured softly.
Like a harmless cat.
Sheng stared at him, thinking:
Next time I see him, I won’t be able to resist punching that pretty face. Maybe… it’s better not to see him again at all.