Chapter 4: Move Carefully

Shi Yu arrived at the omega information registry at 3:00 pm. He was sprayed with a cedar-scented high-grade inhibitor and the uncontrollable fever finally subsided a little.

The staff who had been waiting at the registration desk for a long time came up to greet him and smelled a sweet smell mixed with cold frost, indicating that the very high class alpha male really was capable of tossing and turning him.

Shi Yu was strong and followed the staff to fill out a bunch of information forms, but was returned at the time of registration.

“Zhong Tan is your friend, right? He has a school loan, so he can’t fill in as a guardian.” The staff member said, pointing to the last column.

Shi Yu stared at the form and hesitated. If he filled in the Lian family, it would be offering his weaknesses with both hands.

Jiang ChengLi watched the omega frown and knew what was bothering him. After all, if the Lian family knew that he was differentiated and were willing to take care of him, Shi Yu would not have been reduced to the point where he could not get inhibitors.

But right now for the omega, the inhibitor was life. His glands would be damaged if he was not marked or it was suppressed for a long time. Jiang ChengLi said to him casually, “Fill in my name.”

Their relationship didn’t seem to have reached this point.

Shi Yu took a bite of the dried fish that he had fed him earlier. “May I?”

The pupils of the omega’s eyes were tormented and timid, like a hungry but wary wildcat.

Jiang ChengLi looked bashful. “Whatever.” It was just a process anyway.

Shi Yu nibbled his pen and wrote down the words Jiang ChengLi.

Suddenly, he thought it sounded pretty good.

The staff, who had been observing the two, finally found an opportunity. “The guardian column is quite important, if you fill in Mr. Jiang’s name… Can I ask what your relationship is?”

Jiang ChengLi was silent. The staff immediately realized that this joke was not funny, and this young master alpha could really be hard to serve.

Filling it out, Jiang ChengLi watched as Shi Yu slumped limply on the desk, then finally got up with a shuffling gait when the staff called him back.

Fifteen minutes later Shi Yu came out.

The inhibitor injection had taken effect. The pain that gnawed at his sanity had dissipated and faded. Gradually he recalled his offense on the stairs to this passing alpha. He rubbed his earlobe uncomfortably. “Thank you. I’m sorry for the trouble.”

Jiang ChengLi expressionlessly glanced at his phone. “I’ll leave now if there’s nothing else.”

When he turned around, Shi Yu saw his collar.

There was a bloody mark on the white school uniform. He had bitten him.

His ears burned again and he rubbed them twice in annoyance, then covered them as if he had given up on himself.

Ah… Damn rutting period.

I’ll have to avoid Jiang ChengLi from now on.

*

Due to his special health condition, Shi Yu took the afternoon classes off. He went home and slept like he was in a coma for a day and only woke up the next evening.

“I thought you were going to sleep day and night.” When Zhong Tan heard Shi Yu say he was already registered, he was surprised. “Did you knock Mrs. Lian or Mr. Lian out and drag them over to fill out the form?”

Shi Yu was about to explain when Zhong Tan’s phone rang. He picked up the phone and looked embarrassed. “You’re not doing it? How can I do that? We have people coming to sing tonight, and we’ve already advertised, so we’re short of staff…”

After Zhong Tan hung up the phone Shi Yu asked, “What’s wrong?”

“I’m working in a store where an employee has quit, and the owner is anxious since he’s going to open the store soon.”

Zhong Tan lived alone and had applied for student loans. He had to bear all kinds of expenses himself, so he’d found a part-time job with a high salary.

Shi Yu thought about it. “Can I help?”

Zhong Tan refused, “You’re weak. I’ll think of another way.”

Shi Yu looked at the time. “It’s only for half an hour. It’s too late to find someone. I can help.”

Zhong Tan hesitated for a moment. “Then you have to tell me if you don’t feel well.”

The owner of the restaurant bar was a fat omega who was ready to take on the job himself, but when he saw Shi Yu brought in by Zhong Tan, his eyes lit up.

Shi Yu, as temporary relief staff, received double pay. Once he changed into the waiter’s clothes, he was told to become familiar with the venue.

“Anyway, this is also a place to order food. We are a serious music meal bar, and you don’t need to worry about what happens.” The boss instructed with a grateful and loving look. “Little brother, can you seriously consider working part-time for me? I will give you a high salary.”

Shi Yu’s eyes flickered, feeling something in his heart. After what happened to Xiao Li, the Lian family tried everything to get him to admit his guilt, quit school and go to vocational school. He was now living in Zhong Tan’s house and no longer spending a single cent of the Lian family’s money, but the Lian family thought this was just his death struggle.

Mrs. Lian and Lian ZiJin were just waiting for Shi Yu to grovel and beg them to take him in like a dog in distress.

“I’ll try first,” he said.

Shi Yu was a little awkward at the start, but after being led by Zhong Tan twice, he became comfortable with it.

A resident folk singer played the piano on the store’s stage. Shi Yu felt fulfilled for the first time as he went from place to place.

The nights had been silent and long for Shi Yu without parents and friends, and loneliness seemed to be inherent. But now that the ‘destiny’ had been removed, he found that he also liked this almost noisy hustle and bustle.

Shi Yu was suddenly a little confused as to which was more like a dream, the present or the past.

“Dumbfounded?” A passing Zhong Tan smiled at him as he pushed the food cart. “The wine orders will be busier after this round, at midnight.”

Shi Yu was about to say something when he saw a tall guy stop a woman at the corner of the balcony.

Shi Yu smelled some pheromones… like vodka. The boy was an alpha.

“You can smell… Oh yeah, you’re an omega now,” said Zhong Tan, who was beta and couldn’t smell anything.

It was very common to strike up a conversation at a drinking table so Zhong Tan was just about to turn around and ignore it, when he saw the lady sway slightly and fall into the boy’s arms with a less than natural look.

*

Jiang ChengLi didn’t think he would have to make two trips to the hospital a week.

The first time was to send the newly differentiated omega to the hospital, and the second time was to come to the hospital to see the awakened Xiao Li.

Xiao Li was induced into heat at the indoor pool on Monday lunchtime, and fell into the water unconscious with Shi Yu present. The student union was about to test the use of the indoor pool that day when they happened to find two shadows in the water.

Xiao Li was sent to the hospital and Shi Yu became the suspected culprit of the incident.

The school leadership was anxious about this matter. The evidence was not enough to convict, the Xiao family was trying to pressure the school and Shi Yu differentiated into an omega. The matter was too confusing. No one could easily draw a conclusion.

Fortunately, Xiao Li woke up.

In the ward, the frail omega smiled reluctantly and looked at Jiang ChengLi. “It’s hard for the president to come to the hospital.”

The pain from the induced estrus was too heavy. Xiao Li’s face was as pale as paper. Even her anger had been thinned by three points.

“Take care of your health. The school will investigate this matter strictly.” Jiang ChengLi said.

“Be sure to investigate that Shi person.” The mother, sitting by the hospital bed, looked at her daughter with pain. “My Li Li almost lost her innocence and suffered this kind of crime. I can’t wait for him to die.”

“Nowadays, medical conditions are so rare that there are hardly any older differentiated omegas.” Father Xiao gazed at Jiang ChengLi. “This time our Xiao family refused to let the school teacher come because my daughter said you are the most authoritative president and she trusts you.”

Jiang ChengLi looked at Xiao Li. “Are you sure it was Shi Yu who tried to kill you that day?”

Xiao Li, sitting on the hospital bed, looked down at her folded hands. “… No.”

Mother and Father Xiao’s faces changed slightly. “Li Li? You don’t have to excuse the person who did this to you!”

Xiao Li shook her head. “The lab report came out this morning, the doctor said I was induced by pheromones. He said the person who induced me could only be an alpha, and asked if I had smelled any pheromones.”

Unfortunately, Xiao Li crashed into the pool getting soaking wet. No residual alpha pheromones could be detected in her body.

“This morning, I don’t remember, but I have a slight impression… It seems to be the scent of vodka.”

Father Xiao stood up. “That means if I grab that Shi kid now, extract his pheromones, conduct a pheromone skin test on Li Li, and a reaction occurs, it will prove that he is the culprit!”

Because of the malicious induction, Xiao Li’s glands were damaged, and now had pheromone ‘target cells.’ So long as she was in the proximity of the pheromones it would produce a reaction.

“It’s not Shi Yu,” Jiang ChengLi said in a soft voice. “His pheromones aren’t vodka.”

Father Xiao was about to ask who else had the audacity to lay hands on his daughter when there was a flurry of footsteps outside the door. The door was slammed open and a bear-like figure burst into the room.

The man didn’t know that he had disturbed the peace of the ward. He rushed back to the hospital corridor and cursed, “A dog-fucking beta, you dare to make a move on me? I’ll kill you!”

Jiang ChengLi was standing at the edge of the hospital bed when he raised his eyelids and saw Shi Yu standing outside the door.

Shi Yu’s eyes were harsh and gloomy but not weak, with a hint of red at the end of the eyes. Together with the wound at the corner of his mouth, it gave him a subtle, shadowy, hostile look.

Jiang ChengLi seemed to have seen this omega in plenty of wretched situations, but Shi Yu had never shown the same fragile feeling as the sickbed Xiao Li, he thought anachronistically.

So this omega was different.

Shi Yu seemed to be in a fit of anger, stepped forward and kicked the man in the small of his back, hard enough to knock the alpha, who was nearly a head taller than him, against the wall.

The man’s bravado was gone, but before he could cry out in pain, Shi Yu grabbed him by the collar. He heard him say in a mean, soft voice, “Misbehaving with a woman, forcing an omega, fighting in public… It’s justice for people like you to die in the streets.”

The alpha seemed intimidated by Shi Yu’s eyes. His mouth trembled twice. He was unable to speak, and scent oozed out of the back of his neck.

Jiang ChengLi turned around and noticed that the blotch marks on Xiao Li’s arm seemed to have deepened a bit.

Some medical staff and police officers came up to assert control and pull the two apart. A nurse held Shi Yu back, but could not stop his contemptuous and arrogant taunts, “Also, I am an omega. Why can’t I beat you to the ground and make you shout ‘Daddy?’”