Becoming the Abused Omega and Conquering the Hidden Alpha chapter 23
Chapter 23
“Report, squad one found no trace of mutated creatures!”
“Report, squad two found none!”
“…”
The communications channel’s voice transmissions all fell on Lu Wanqing’s ears. The first round of carpet searches of Longji Island had concluded, and not a single mutated creature had been found.
The inky black, churning clouds pressed lower, an unusual atmospheric pressure persisting over the waters. The alpha members of the search squads waited quietly for further instructions, letting the rain fall on their resolute faces.
Lu Wanqing connected to the squad led by Cui You.
“Any reaction from the tracking substance?”
“None.”
Lu Wanqing fell silent.
Had their previous judgment been wrong? Was there no necessary connection between the unusual atmospheric pressure over the clouds and the appearance of the mutated creatures?
Yet, when the two phenomena were studied separately, experts on both sides couldn’t explain their causes.
He turned and went to the three-dimensional map in the command center. Removing all data elements, he selected only the atmospheric pressure information, gazing at the entire sea area covered in thought.
Longji Island was entirely within the covered area, but parts of the nearby Jiaoyuan Island, including some reefs, were also enveloped within it.
Could it be that Marshal He’s guess was correct?
“General Lu!” Cui You’s usually flippant voice on the communication channel became unusually serious, “The tracking substance is starting to vibrate.”
Here they come!
Lu Wanqing exchanged a look with the analyst beside him. The analyst immediately brought up Cui You’s squad’s real-time feed on the screen.
Cui You’s team was located in the area between the two island-wide search squads. Presumably, the time difference in the two teams reaching their search areas allowed these creatures to slip through.
In the image, countless strange, black creatures swarmed in one direction.
Perhaps sensing the pursuit of alpha pheromones behind them, these creatures twisted and crawled, overlapping each other. Some formed a protective barrier, resisting the alphas’ killing intent, creating enough escape time for those in front.
These creatures actually had this kind of crisis awareness?
Soon, Lu Wanqing heard Cui You’s regretful voice: “Reporting, General, interception of the unknown creatures failed. The number of those dead on the beach is estimated to be one-third; the rest have gone into the sea!”
“Received. That’s already very good.” Lu Wanqing didn’t reprimand him. While Cui You reported the unknown creatures’ trajectory, he had already ordered the maritime patrol teams to enter a state of alert. “Stay on the island to continue monitoring; I’ll handle the sea.”
As soon as he finished speaking, another communication joined the channel.
“This is X squadron. The unknown creatures have entered the observation range and are being tracked. The number of creatures appears to have doubled, and they are moving rapidly towards the northwest sea area.”
Northwest direction? Lu Wanqing looked at the map.
“The northwest direction is Jiaoyuan Island.” Cui You hadn’t left the channel yet. “That’s Gu’s private island, right? We can’t alarm the Gu family; we can’t deploy all the maritime forces.”
And they couldn’t completely annihilate them, Lu Wanqing thought, his brows furrowed.
Simply killing the unknown was insufficient. One of the purposes of their mission was to capture as many live unknown creatures as possible.
Only by providing the research institute with a sufficient number of samples could their research progress, giving them more confidence in future confrontations with this unknown threat.
“Leave the cleanup work on the island to your deputy. You and I will each take a squad to pursue them. X squadron leader, is that Yu Xing?”
“Reporting, General, my name is Yu Xingxing.”
“…Deploy equipment to intercept as soon as possible.”
“Received.”
Lu Wanqing looked at the dense clouds, his gaze meeting the rain-swept sea, and strode towards the ship.
Facial recognition and signature verification were required to enter the connecting passage. As he walked, he received the logistics staff’s stylus, holding the collection panel as he signed his name with a powerful stroke.
“…Lu Wanqing…”
“…Lu…”
“Who called me?” Lu Wanqing stopped, turning back. A faint voice lingered in his ears.
The logistics staff member was startled by his low voice. They dropped the stylus, which made a clear sound as it fell to the ground. They looked up at General Lu in confusion.
No one called him, though?
Lu Wanqing closed his eyes and quickly walked into the ship’s cockpit, feeling a vague sense of unease for some reason.
Shu Ci looked at the small crack in the glass window, disbelieving.
Gu Lanzhu’s island used the best building materials. Could it really be cracked by his half-baked pheromone mimicry arrow?
He knew that although the pervert Gu Lanzhu had cut off the audio, even if he wasn’t constantly watching the monitor, he would repeatedly review the playback, so he dared not be too blatant about standing by the window.
So he pretended to draw the curtains on one side, walked to the door, leaned against it, and calmed himself.
As if he had gained experience from the first time, the second pheromone arrow condensed faster. He instantly felt more confident, controlling his intention to shoot the arrow at the curtain near the ceiling.
Ten seconds, no reaction.
Eleventh second, the curtain trembled, and an almost imperceptible crack silently opened, letting in the gloomy light.
Shu Ci was stunned.
It was only a small crack, the size of a fingernail, and it took more than ten seconds to appear. It was completely different from the sharp decisiveness with which Lu Wanqing had cut down the vine.
But his own attempt had actually succeeded!
This shocked him even more than witnessing Lu Wanqing’s power.
He took a step towards the window, but found his legs were weak, stumbling, and his whole body collapsed against the wall, sliding to the ground.
His wine-red hair fell over his eyes, and a touch of enchanting red was reflected in his gray-blue eyes.
“Haha!” He couldn’t help but laugh.
This was the first time he had felt genuine joy since he came here, like the crack in the curtain, breaking through the gloom of the abusive novel plot in his heart.
Lu Wanqing hadn’t lied to him; self-preservation was passive. He could not only protect himself; he could also choose to become stronger!
But becoming stronger came at a cost. He had trained his body for so many days, but his physical strength was still holding him back.
At this moment, Shu Ci didn’t realize that his state on the first day of learning mimicry was completely incomparable to the fatigue he felt after condensing two arrows and successfully hitting his target.
Unknowingly, his upper limit had already expanded greatly.
“Knock knock—” Someone suddenly knocked on the door.
“I’m the doctor sent by Mr. Gu; I’m coming in now.”
Shu Ci suppressed the smile in his eyes. Just as he was scrambling to get up, someone pushed the door open and came in, startled to see him collapsed by the door.
Shu Ci met the doctor’s black eyes directly.
Her expression was somewhat languid, her short hair hanging by her ears, and a flash of surprise crossed her face.
They almost simultaneously recognized each other.
They confirmed their identities: the person who had shown kindness in the self-service medical room of the main hospital.
“It’s you…” who kicked him.
Yi Xing Shui’s eyes were full of curiosity and amusement. Obviously, she also knew that there were monitors everywhere, and it wasn’t a good time for reminiscing, so she could only swallow some words.
She reached out and pulled Shu Ci up: “Lie down; I’ll check what’s wrong.”
Shu Ci patiently waited for Yi Xing Shui to finish the examination. She used two pillows to prop Shu Ci up and took a tube of oral liquid from her pocket: “Physical exhaustion. You’re a bit weak now; replenish some energy and sugar.”
Gu Lanzhu had described it seriously on the phone, but in her opinion, this Omega who loved dieting was incredibly healthy.
Shu Ci’s eyes were full of vigilance. He wouldn’t drink anything of unknown origin outside under any circumstances.
“…I am a doctor, after all; I only do things that save people.” Yi Xing Shui knew what he was wary of and said helplessly, “Zhao Qian only gets sedatives from me; they have other means of obtaining other things. I don’t accept being slandered.”
Shu Ci recalled the beta who was Gu Lanzhu’s personal physician in the original book. Her role was much larger than Lu Wanqing’s; she was both an assistant and helped Gu Lanzhu clean up the mess.
Just like in all the domineering CEO stories, the CEO always had a hardworking and diligent doctor friend. Yi Xing Shui’s job was to save the repeatedly physically and emotionally abused original protagonist time and time again, vividly describing his condition, allowing Gu Lanzhu to suffer in the pain and regret of the “chase-wife crematorium” plot.
“Here, I’ll scan the barcode for you; it’s definitely real medicine.”
Yi Xing Shui racked her brains to prove that she was a good doctor, swearing that she would not do anything against medical ethics.
“No matter what Gu Lanzhu did to you, you can’t joke around with your body.”
Shu Ci remembered his escape plan and raised his eyebrows. He drank the medicine under Yi Xing Shui’s relieved gaze.
Yi Xing Shui looked down at Shu Ci’s wet hair, and remembered his appearance huddled against the wall, sighing involuntarily.
How could someone make themselves look so downcast and miserable alone in a room?
Her sharp eyes swept around the room, landing on the curtain.
Why did the curtain seem to have his pheromones all over it? Was he planning to escape through the window?
As soon as Shu Ci finished his medicine, he saw Yi Xing Shui’s gaze and his heart skipped a beat.
She mustn’t find out!
“Has your heat cycle passed?” Yi Xing Shui suddenly asked. “How was the effect of the inhibitor I gave you last time?”
In the two times she had seen Shu Ci, there were leaked pheromones everywhere in the room. The most common situation was the heat cycle. Usually, during this time, Omegas find it difficult to control their pheromones. Without inhibitors, an Alpha needs to be there to soothe them.
Shu Ci was embarrassed, feeling that every time he saw this doctor, she asked him these incomprehensible questions.
“I… I had a disorder attack last time; the inhibitor injection was useless.”
Yi Xing Shui suddenly looked up at him.
Lu Shixiong (Senior Brother Lu) hadn’t replied to her messages; the messages remained “unread”. These days, she had always suspected that she had gotten it wrong. Could there be other people using the self-service room, but she just didn’t know?
But when Shu Ci said he had a disorder, she felt even more certain it was Shixiong!
When she hadn’t chosen a supervisor yet, she heard that the professor had a student who was obsessed with researching disorders. Later, after joining the professor’s group, she learned that Shixiong had practically visited all the disorder patient treatment centers in the country.
Yi Xing Shui’s eyes shone as she looked at Shu Ci.
“Want to go for a walk?” She put her hands in her pockets and said loudly, “Mr. Gu, the patient’s condition isn’t very good; I’ll take him out for a walk.”
After a while, Gu Lanzhu’s voice came from somewhere: “Go ahead, I have a meeting.”
He sounded quite at ease with Yi Xing Shui.
Shu Ci followed Yi Xing Shui out of the building in the center of the island and saw Zhao Qian standing at the entrance with his head bowed, holding two umbrellas, one for the doctor and one for himself.
It was really like inviting him on vacation; everything was arranged perfectly.
Shouldn’t he be grateful that his treatment was vastly different from the original protagonist’s confinement in the small dark room?
Shu Ci sneered, looked straight ahead, ignoring Zhao Qian, and walked directly into the rain.
Yi Xing Shui shook her head, took an umbrella from Zhao Qian, and quickly followed, seemingly affectionately and gently hooking Shu Ci’s arm and holding up the umbrella to cover them both.
Shu Ci twitched the corner of his mouth and pulled his arm away.
He thought, this doctor is much more enthusiastic than in the original book. No wonder Gu Lanzhu misunderstood something between her and the original protagonist in the original plot; it wasn’t unfounded.
“Just say what you want to say.” Shu Ci looked at her, “You specifically invited me out; you don’t really want to just go for a walk, do you?”
Yi Xing Shui looked at him with a complicated expression. After walking for a long time in the rain, she finally spoke: “Who was the doctor who took you to the hospital that day? He… is his surname Lu?”
Shu Ci stopped and turned: “You know Lu Wanqing?”
Yi Xing Shui’s pupils constricted: “It really is Shixiong?!”
This was truly unexpected for Shu Ci!
Yi Xing Shui had a considerable role in the book, but she had never interacted with Lu Wanqing. Since Yi Xing Shui was so close to Gu Lanzhu, how could she possibly not know that Lu Wanqing was the original spouse of the man Gu Lanzhu had forcefully taken?
He narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing Yi Xing Shui’s expression.
Yi Xing Shui was also scrutinizing him.
The two of them shared an umbrella, blown by the sea breeze, looking at each other in the rain.
“Although I don’t know if Lu Wanqing is in a traditional Alpha-Omega relationship, or if he can accept an Alpha-Beta relationship, but you being so concerned about him in front of me is a little inappropriate.” Shu Ci took out his marriage certificate kept close to his body. “Here, legal.”
Yi Xing Shui looked like she’d been struck by lightning, her voice shrill: “No, Shixiong is, among the seven senior and junior classes in our major, the one who is universally recognized as the least likely to get married, okay? Married?! When?!”
“Why seven classes?”
“Because he graduated in seven years, and I’m the one who’s been prolonging my graduation the longest in the school.”
“I’m freaking out, no way?”
This time it was Shu Ci’s turn to be shocked.
It wasn’t because Lu Wanqing graduated early, but because… Lu Wanqing’s marriage certificate showed his age as twenty-seven.
Even if we assume seven years for medical school, eighteen years old for university, twenty-five years old for graduation.
He didn’t know how long he had worked for the Shu family company, but to climb from the bottom to the rank of twelve-star general, it was impossible to do it in just two years! It’s faster than even Shen Ti’s husband, who has a family background!
Lu Wanqing, what kind of time management master are you?!
Both of them had their own thoughts, looking dumbfounded as they walked forward, unknowingly reaching the beach.
“You—”
“I—”
“It’s okay, Master’s sister-in-law, you go first!” Yi Xing Shui’s attitude immediately became relaxed after learning that she was the wife of Master Shixiong.
“…”
Shu Ci was too lazy to complain. He was thinking about the original protagonist’s closest attempt to escape.
It was inseparable from Yi Xing Shui, the personal doctor.
Now that he thought about it, did she realize in the original book the intricate relationship between him and Lu Wanqing, so she ignored his tracking and let him sneak away?
“Is your speedboat here? Let me play with it.”
In the original book’s plot, Gu Lanzhu had finished playing his island’s dark room game and took the original protagonist back to City A.
When the helicopter rose above the sea, the original protagonist pointed to an island in the southeast direction and softly asked Gu Lanzhu where it was. Gu Lanzhu lazily said it was a deserted island.
At that time, the original protagonist was filled with regret and despair. He felt that he had almost escaped Gu Lanzhu’s clutches, reaching that deserted island. Rather than staying by the devil’s side, he might as well die on a deserted island.
Gu Lanzhu had worn down all the original protagonist’s dignity, making him extremely sensitive after five escape attempts.
“How do you know I have a speedboat?” Yi Xing Shui was stunned. “It is, but it’s raining now.”
Her black eyes stared motionlessly at Shu Ci.
Shu Ci didn’t know if she had understood his intention to escape.
Shu Ci looked at her for a while: “Like this, just let me go for a couple of rounds, and I’ll take Lu Wanqing to treat you to dinner when we get back.”
Yi Xing Shui stopped, her black eyes shining.
“Deal!”
Author’s Note:
Ci Dao (Director Shu): Lu Wanqing, so useful.
Old Lu: My wife invited my junior sister to dinner in the name of our couple! (Secretly writing in a diary)
Doctor: When you meet your academic idol’s spouse.
——
I want to ask which title, the current one or the previous pre-order title “Rebellious Mark”, everyone prefers?
My friend said that the current one isn’t attractive enough, I’m so conflicted. Or does anyone have any suggestions? (Worried.JPG)
