Becoming the Abused Omega and Conquering the Hidden Alpha chapter 57

Chapter 57

He Lian knew very well that the first time Lu Wanqing had returned to the Central District for a meeting in his capacity as one of the Twelve Generals, he had received an olive branch from Shen Lin. At that time, as an old friend of the Shen family, He Lian had even acted as a bridge between them.

Shen Lin hoped Lu Wanqing could join his camp and become his power within the military.

However, Lu Wanqing had remained impervious and never responded.

He Lian never expected that Shu Ci alone would make him change his mind.

“My intelligence says Shen Lin holds more than one invitation.” He Lian reminded him. “Have you ever considered that he designed this situation with Shu Ci just to make you agree?”

“Whose side are you on anyway? You support Shen Lin, yet you question him in front of me?”

He Lian choked, anger rising out of nowhere. “I’m doing this out of concern for you!!!”

Lu Wanqing opened the last box of nutrients in the cabin’s storage locker and injected it fiercely. “I never doubt Shen Lin’s methods, but using Shu Ci is something he wouldn’t do.”

The sting of the needle prick was accompanied by a pang in his heart.

He was absolutely certain because he had experienced it. He had seen with his own eyes just how well Shen Lin treated Shu Ci—unconditionally well.

During the time Shu Ci was escaping from Gu Lanzhu, Shen Lin’s companionship was the best antidote. Lu Wanqing could even feel the happiness and warmth radiating from the bottom of his heart. Even when they were together, he couldn’t say a single bad word about Shen Lin.

Lu Wanqing quickly hid his emotions and said seriously, “He disdains using such means to force me. He will know sooner or later that we have a common enemy.”

Those Alphas of the Gu family who rode roughshod over everyone’s fate.

He Lian wanted to say something more but was suddenly interrupted. Lu Wanqing could only hear a burst of silence, and then there was only the intermittent breathing of two people on the line. The signal at sea was intermittent, and it was unknown how long this dedicated communication channel could last.

After a while, He Lian’s serious voice came through.

“Lu Wanqing, emergency mission!”

“I’m here.” Lu Wanqing threw away the nutrient vial and ruffled his messy hair.

“The research institute pulled up the records and found that abnormal pressure appeared in the sea area near you some time ago, and the coverage area happens to be on the route of the charity cruise—you know what that means.”

“Mutated creatures will appear.”

“Correct. Your previous judgment was likely correct; the weather anomaly matches the fluctuations you detected under the sea. To prevent them from harming the people on the cruise ship, you must immediately head to… Oh, you’ve already set off.”

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He Lian was stunned for a moment.

Why does Little Lu’s wife always encounter these kinds of things?

“Based on my vessel’s current power, I estimate I can only last until I get near the cruise ship. The signal probably won’t hold up either. You’d better send Yu Xingxing with reinforcements as soon as possible.”

Lu Wanqing quickly activated the detection device on the control screen. Recalling the vibration frequency he had sensed on the seabed earlier, he modified the numerical range. Although even the guidance system couldn’t kill those mutated creatures, he could at least simply monitor their movements.

With everything ready, he took out his phone and replied to Shu Ci’s message in the last second before the signal bars disappeared.

[I trust that you can stay alive and well.]

Shu Ci left the restaurant and saw Zhao Qian trailing behind him indifferently, keeping a certain distance. A little sweat seeped from his back. While staying alert to what was behind him, he also worried whether Gu Lanzhu would suddenly appear from a corner to block him.

He had already experienced the original host’s despair in this part of the plot in the original book.

This was the home ground of high society. As one of the ancient families, the Gu family held absolute authority and status. The waiters wouldn’t believe his accusations against Gu Lanzhu, and when he sought help from the onlookers, they immediately turned hostile upon hearing it involved Gu Lanzhu.

It could be said that his calls to heaven went unanswered, and his pleas to earth were unheard.

Driven into a desperate corner by Gu Lanzhu, he could scream until his throat broke, and no one would save him.

Shu Ci thought very clearly: the only safe area on this cruise ship was near Shen Lin. So he didn’t waste his breath asking for help and went straight to the VIP floor.

Entering the VIP area required exchanging an invitation for the corresponding card. Fortunately, Shen Lin had prepared him in advance and even shown him the floor plan of the cruise ship. Shu Ci knew exactly where to go without hesitation.

So he deliberately avoided the rooms assigned to the Gu family, winding through the corridors towards Shen Lin’s territory.

Along the way, Shu Ci concentrated on controlling his pheromones, probing the state of the entire corridor in a weak but non-diffusing state. As he walked, he vaguely noticed something was wrong.

Not only had his senses become sharper, but even his pheromone detection had become much more sensitive.

Weak pheromones slid along the walls, and his mind seemed able to perceive the specific location of breathing sounds on the other side. Some A’s and O’s were fooling around in rooms in broad daylight, panting loudly, while exhausted assistants fell into deep sleep on sofas during breaks.

It was as if… he had unlocked a different kind of X-ray vision.

A trace of surprise flashed in Shu Ci’s eyes. He subconsciously probed behind him with his pheromones and actually sensed that Zhao Qian’s breathing was a bit heavy. His steps faltered with hesitation.

He paused, and just as he boldly wanted to probe again, his vision suddenly went black.

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Holy crap, is Gu Lanzhu already ridiculous enough to just bag him directly?!

Shu Ci nervously retracted his pheromones and reached up to grab his head, feeling a soft texture. He pulled and realized that what was covering his head was a fluffy blanket.

Shen Lin was panting slightly, standing in front of him, looking down at him.

Shu Ci saw beads of sweat on his forehead.

Shen Lin gave him a faint look and shielded him behind his back. “Keep your pheromones in check.”

“…Oh.” Shu Ci’s shoulders trembled. For some reason, Shen Lin’s serious expression made Shu Ci feel like he was back in his high school homeroom teacher’s lecture, and an inexplicable sense of guilt rose in his heart.

“Mr. Zhao, please come in.” Shen Lin took a step forward, casually pushed open the door of an empty room, and looked at him leisurely.

Shu Ci’s last wisp of unretracted pheromones sensed that the breathing sounds in several nearby doors had stopped. Soon, he saw people in identical suits walking out of each room, standing side by side to form a wall, surrounding Zhao Qian.

Shu Ci suddenly realized that this entire section of the floor had been booked by Shen Lin, and even the people in the rooms were fake tourists meant to pass as real ones!

No wonder Zhao Qian had suddenly hesitated just now.

Zhao Qian pushed up his glasses, his gaze wandering between Shu Ci and Shen Lin.

As Gu Lanzhu’s right-hand man, he shouldn’t have revealed so many flaws, giving the opposing camp a chance to control him.

He knew too many of Gu Lanzhu’s secrets. If President Gu found out about his current predicament, he would probably be discarded immediately—or President Gu might even eliminate him before Shen Lin could extract any information.

Shu Ci poked his head out from behind Shen Lin. “Forcing him like this… what if he commits suicide to show loyalty to the Gu family and frames you?”

He didn’t relax his concentration, ready to release pheromones at any time to rescue the reckless Zhao Qian.

Shen Lin’s eyelid twitched as he looked sideways. “What dynasty are we in?”

Shu Ci was speechless. He sensed Shen Lin’s helplessness regarding his imagination from his tone.

“He won’t.” Shen Lin leaned against the door and looked at Zhao Qian. “Currently, only my people are on this floor. You don’t have to worry about our conversation being known by anyone.”

Is he going to lobby Zhao Qian? Shu Ci’s gaze locked onto Shen Lin’s face, which showed no emotion.

Zhao Qian stood with his hands down for a long time before slowly walking into the room under their gaze. Shu Ci followed him in. Before he could find a place to sit, he saw Shen Lin reach back, tear a button off his chest, and hand it to him.

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Shu Ci took it blankly. “Wh-what is this?”

Shen Lin closed the door. “A micro-camera.”

Shu Ci was confused. “Why give it to me?”

Shen Lin loosened his tie and said grumpily, “That extremely possessive husband of yours made me guarantee your safety, demanding that I record the whole process and forbidding me from touching you.”

Shu Ci: “…”

Possessive? Is he talking about Lu Wanqing? Did I hear that right?

Leaving the bewildered Shu Ci behind, Shen Lin walked up to Zhao Qian and threw a set of photos on the table.

“I heard you work like a dog for the Gu family to earn living expenses for your daughter? If I may ask, where is your daughter now?”

Zhao Qian glanced down, and his pupils constricted.

“This is a registered account on a forum found through the email on your resume. A few years ago, this account claimed his daughter was missing and posted online looking for her. Later, Zhaoxi News interviewed this father, and soon there were no more posts or replies.”

Shen Lin paused and said slowly, “Although you had plastic surgery, the iris information left in the interview can be matched.”

Shu Ci’s eyes widened. He walked quickly to the table to look at the photos.

He suddenly remembered that a lawyer he consulted before said that Zhao Qian’s daughter was his weakness, but when he tried to bribe Zhao Qian, he didn’t get the expected result.

“Oh right, the reason I looked into this was because Mr. Shu asked me to check the Gu family crest.” Shen Lin threw another photo on the table. “Don’t you think it’s a coincidence? I found the same mark on the newspaper box at your door.”

Shu Ci took the photo and looked at Shen Lin, dumbfounded.

The mark was so hidden that the shape couldn’t be seen without looking carefully. Coupled with the blurred old image data, for Shen Lin to find this kind of information… what kind of freak is he?!

“So… your daughter’s disappearance is related to you changing your identity to become an assistant at the Gu family?” Shu Ci looked at Zhao Qian blankly. “You know what that family crest means, right?”

Zhao Qian clasped his hands together tightly and remained silent.

Half an hour later.

On the terrace of the top-level VIP room, Shen Lin poured Shu Ci a cup of tea. The facts Zhao Qian revealed were difficult for them to digest for a while. Surprisingly in sync, the two held their tea cups and sat in the reclining chairs without speaking.

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“Xigui tea?” Shu Ci took a sip, his eyes curving. “How did you know I love this? Does Ah Ti report even this to you?”

Shen Lin was silent for a moment, looking at his profile. “I guessed you would like it.”

The atmosphere seemed a bit off.

Is this another original plot point? Surely Shen Lin wouldn’t fall for me without reason, right?

Shu Ci sniffed, put down his tea cup, and spoke boldly, “Can I ask a question?”

Shen Lin nodded.

He weighed his words in his mind, but finally decided to just be blunt. “Your attitude towards me is very special. I feel like you take more care of me than you do of Ah Ti. I want to know why.”

Shen Lin stared into his eyes for a moment. Shu Ci met his gaze without shying away.

Now he was even more certain that Shen Lin’s golden pupils were not just looking at him, but looking through him at another person.

“Have you heard of the shipwreck incident from over a decade ago?” Shen Lin stood up and walked to the edge of the terrace.

…What a coincidence, I just heard about it today.

Shu Ci put down his tea cup and walked to his side. “I heard it was a Shen family ship that crashed.”

Shen Lin looked at the horizon, took a deep breath, took a pocket watch from his chest, and handed it to Shu Ci.

“Then did you know that you are a survivor of that shipwreck incident?”

The waves were turbulent. Lu Wanqing arrived at the designated sea area at top speed, the tall cruise ship within his field of vision. He calmly observed the state of the ship with binoculars, and suddenly saw two people standing side by side on a high point in the lens. His heart tightened.

He didn’t know what the two were saying, but he could see the distance between them closing.

In the next second, he saw Shen Lin pull the Omega beside him into his arms.

Coming back to his senses, the binocular lenses fell to the ground, shattered.

The broken lenses reflected a pair of reddened eyes.

Author’s Note:

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Old Lu, don’t get jealous at a family reunion scene (Lighting a cigarette.JPG)

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