It was laughable, really. Xu Ning had always been worried about what Cheng Ying might do to her, yet to this day, Cheng Ying had done nothing.
This woman, whose public reputation was in shambles, acted like any other diligent agent: she hustled for resources, accompanied her to events, sheltered her from the storm, and pulled her out of a desperate situation, step by step.
She was ten thousand times more reliable than a lover, yet at the same time, she held fast to that boundary, never doing anything inappropriate.
It was as if the very act of helping her regain her brilliance was enough to bring Cheng Ying joy.
Now, whenever Xu Ning heard those baseless slanders from the public, her first thought was, what a pity.
Why didn’t she do those things?
Her gaze fell upon Cheng Ying’s face again. Cheng Ying’s lips were thin and clearly defined. When she wasn’t smiling, she looked somewhat difficult to approach.
She had imagined the sensation of those lips brushing across the nape of her neck, a scorching heat spreading from that patch of skin until it engulfed her entire body.
“Ying, the look in Miss Xu’s eyes is so dangerous.”
Cheng Mantou, who had already taken over the car’s surveillance system, said in a tone that suggested she was enjoying the drama and didn’t mind stirring the pot.
“Have you been spending too much time on certain websites lately? Has your mind been corrupted?”
Cheng Ying wasn’t bothered. She paid no mind to Xu Ning’s harmless little schemes.
As long as they didn’t affect her.
Boss Cheng’s standards for her artists were almost nonexistent, with only two rules: first, don’t lie to her; second, don’t break the law.
As a star currently in the spotlight, Xu Ning resided in a second-tier area of the new district. After verifying her identity, a robot guard opened a direct track for the vehicle to her residence.
Compared to the old district, the towering buildings of the new district were more advanced, more robust, and more rationally laid out, but there was no fundamental difference.
The humans living there were still like bees in a hive, following their individual tracks, each to their own role, diligently and wearily rushing toward a future whose end was already in sight.
—From this perspective, humans are a lot like machines, aren’t they?
Xu Ning pushed Cheng Ying down into a chair in the dining room. The deliberately dimmed lights cast an ambiguous glow. The fish had yet to be served, but Xu Ning, who had gone to the changing room, returned.
—No, actually, there was still a difference.
Xu Ning had changed out of the plain clothes she used for concealment and was now wearing a silk slip. The hem was very short; from Cheng Ying’s angle, she could almost see the shadow at the top of her thighs when she moved.
The smile on Cheng Ying’s face faded. She stood up and took a small step back, shifting her gaze to a safer area. “The air conditioning is on so high, yet you’re wearing something so thin. Aren’t you afraid of catching a cold?”
An unnatural flush colored Xu Ning’s face as she stepped forward and grabbed the Alpha’s arm.
In that instant, Xu Ning could feel the muscles in the arm she held instantly tense beneath her palm.
The Omega pursed her lips. Until this very second, she had believed everything would fall into place naturally. Now, however, she was suddenly struck by an ominous premonition.
But her feverish body left her no choice but to press on.
She took two more steps forward, nearly pressing herself into Cheng Ying’s arms, her downturned eyes brimming with pitiable tears.
“You really don’t understand… what I mean?”
—Humans are flawed machines, unable to restrain their chaotic desires. Like a virus, desire drives them toward mistaken feelings and wrong choices.
The scent of snow orchid now filled the dining room. Cheng Ying stared at Xu Ning as if she were an alien, while memories she had suppressed deep in her mind churned like boiling water.
A messy bedroom, the scent of tangled pheromones filling her nostrils, and on the bed, Bai Ruo in a peculiar pose with that fat, big-eared Alpha.
I cultivated you, yet you willingly sank into depravity.
I cultivated you, yet you tried to harm me.
—Are you angry? Helpless? Or in pain? You should see clearly how depraved people can become for the sake of their own desires.
—Sooner or later, you will understand me. After all, you are the daughter I handpicked from thousands.
Whether it was the influence of the Omega’s pheromones or the turmoil of her chaotic memories, Cheng Ying’s chest and throat felt horribly constricted. She felt sick.
Her body instinctively grew hot. The gland on the nape of her neck throbbed, stimulated and aching, desperately wanting to release a high concentration of pheromones in response to the Omega’s enticement.
But she ruthlessly suppressed it, offering no release.
Its master was likely one of the people in the world who most detested marking.
Cheng Ying bit down hard on the tip of her tongue. The sharp pain caused her reacting body to temporarily subside.
She blocked Xu Ning’s approaching lips, her voice trembling. “Do you have any idea what you’re doing?”
Xu Ning’s mind was a complete mess. She said blankly, “I want you to be my Alpha…”
Cheng Ying let out a cold laugh.
Blood from her tongue stained her lips, and she smiled like a man-eating monster.
Then, she reached out and slowly gripped the Omega’s nape.
Xu Ning trembled slightly as an irresistible force spun her around.
The Alpha held her wrists firmly behind her back, leaving her unable to exert any strength or struggle free.
Unable to see Cheng Ying’s expression, she began to struggle anxiously.
But Cheng Ying offered no response, maintaining the restraining hold as she frog-marched her into the bathroom.
Xu Ning’s bathroom was equipped with the latest thermostatic shower system, which always dispensed water at the perfect temperature for the human body.
A cold shower drenched Xu Ning, chilling her to the core.
She finally snapped out of her Omega instincts, and with her clarity came an immense sense of shame.
She had been rejected.
Cheng Ying took two steps back, methodically wiped the cold water from her arms, then crouched down. She took out a vial of suppressant and, without a shred of pity, jabbed it into the nape of the Omega, who was huddled in a ball.
The discomfort of the cold needle piercing her skin made Xu Ning subconsciously seek Cheng Ying’s comfort.
But the words died in her throat when she saw the expression on Cheng Ying’s face.
Cheng Ying’s expression was colder than anything she had ever seen. But it wasn’t just cold; what frightened Xu Ning was the anger and disappointment hidden beneath that sneer.
It was the look a gardener gives a rotting flower, the look a god gives an irredeemable soul.
Xu Ning had always thought Cheng Ying was an easygoing, almost casual person. At least to her, Cheng Ying had been like her ocean-deep eyes—vast, warm, and all-encompassing, admonishing her while also protecting her.
But now, she had finally seen the ocean’s other side.
A cold, merciless, and unstoppable tsunami of rage.
Perhaps only now did she truly know Cheng Ying.
Cheng Ying tossed the empty suppressant vial into the trash, took the towel from the rack, and draped it over Xu Ning’s head, blocking her vision.
“You don’t want me to be your Alpha. You just want to use my instincts to trap me. Need I remind you that, legally, this behavior would be classified as sexual assault?”
Cheng Ying’s voice was low and gentle, as if she were telling a child a bedtime story.
But the words themselves were blunt and cruel.
“If you truly believed I loved you, why would you need to drug yourself, Miss Xu?”
As Cheng Ying gently dried her hair, Xu Ning’s body temperature slowly returned, but her heart was plummeting into an endless void.
The towel was removed, and she looked up at Cheng Ying’s now-calm face.
She thought blankly that perhaps the Cheng Ying from moments ago was the real one.
Cheng Ying tilted her chin up, looking at her with regret.
“I thought you would cherish our relationship.”
Xu Ning explained in a panic, “I just…”
Cheng Ying cut her off.
The Alpha narrowed her slender eyes, the corners of her lips curling into a mocking smile. “You just look down on me, which is why you forgot my words completely, isn’t that right? Miss Xu, before we are Alphas or Omegas, we are first and foremost human beings, not beasts that lose control at the slightest scent. You shouldn’t use this kind of relationship to bind anyone.”
“Our contract is terminated.”
