Ma Qingyu glared at him with fiery eyes, yet she refrained from shouting insults. Instead, she calmly negotiated, “My parents are both businesspeople. Our family has several hundred thousand in savings, and I’m their only child. If you let me go, I can call them and have them gather a million for you. I promise I won’t report this to the police.”
“Hahahaha!”
Zhang Youcheng laughed maniacally, tears streaming from his eyes. His shrill voice echoed, “Several hundred thousand in savings? Who do you think you’re fooling?! Even if you said tens of millions, I wouldn’t be surprised. Thinking a million would make me let you go? You’re dreaming!”
Ma Qingyu was taken aback and pressed further, “How do you know?”
“Your clothes and shoes,” Zhang Youcheng raised a delicate finger, tugged open the collar of her blouse, and glanced down at the omega’s cleavage with an appreciative look. “From the inside out, everything is branded. It all adds up to no less than five figures.”
Ma Qingyu’s voice trembled slightly, “Then how much money do you want? I can give you anything.”
“Hahahaha!” Zhang Youcheng laughed again, his eerie, sharp cackle reverberating through the cave. “I’m a man about to die, what use do I have for money?”
He grabbed Ma Qingyu by the throat, shaking her violently as he demanded, “Tell me, what would I do with money?!”
Che Xiayun watched his hand nervously, swallowing hard. The vines binding her were impossible to loosen, and one was tightly wrapped around the wound on the back of her hand. Even the slightest movement of her fingers sent sharp pain shooting through her. She had no choice but to change tactics, using her fingernails to slowly grind away at the vines.
After roaring for a while, Zhang Youcheng regained a sliver of rationality. He released his grip, licked his lips, and roughly tore off the inhibitor patch on the back of her neck. “Now, all you have to do is be obedient and enjoy it. It’s best if you don’t resist.”
A clear red mark appeared on Ma Qingyu’s pale neck, her face flushed a deep, purplish red as she gasped for air. Tears streamed down her cheeks uncontrollably. Why? Why had she been targeted by such scum of society? And of all times, why did it have to happen in front of Che Xiayun.
Zhang Youcheng brought the omega’s inhibitor patch to his nose, inhaling deeply with a intoxicated expression before tossing it aside. He then turned to Che Xiayun. “Kid, it’s your turn to help me.”
Che Xiayun swallowed again and asked in a low voice, “How can I help you like this?”
Zhang Youcheng sneered, roughly dragging Ma Qingyu and shoving her into Che Xiayun’s arms. His yellowed teeth looked menacing, and flecks of spit landed on her face. “Want me to untie you? Not a chance!”
Che Xiayun endured the pain in her hand, using her nails to slowly wear down the thinnest vine. The blood oozing from her repeatedly rubbed wound had already soaked the soil behind her. But if she could just buy a little more time, there was a chance to escape. She didn’t dare look at Ma Qingyu, keeping her head lowered as she asked, “Then what do you want?”
Zhang Youcheng gripped Ma Qingyu’s shoulder, shoving her into Che Xiayun’s embrace, and barked, “Mark her.”
What? Mark her? Did she hear that right?
Che Xiayun looked up in astonishment, staring at him in disbelief.
Zhang Youcheng toyed with a shard of glass in his hand, a sinister smile curling his lips. His sharp voice grated on the ears, “I want you to mark her to experience what it’s like to be an alpha one last time. Then, I’ll dig out your gland. I won’t kill you. I’ll let you live the rest of your life in the shadow of having no gland. How about that? Doesn’t it sound thrilling?!”
Thrilling? Not at all.
Che Xiayun felt a chill run down her spine. What kind of traumatic experience would drive someone to devise such an extreme solution? Could it be that his own family consisted of alphas without glands?
Seeing her expression, Zhang Youcheng was about to erupt in anger when he faintly heard scattered noises from outside. Pressing Che Xiayun’s head down, he urged, “Hurry up! Mark her! Don’t mess up my plans.”
Only a small portion of the vine remained, not yet frayed by her nails. Che Xiayun was forced to bring her mouth close to Ma Qingyu’s neck, inhaling the refreshing, slightly sweet scent of the omega’s pheromones, a familiar and pleasant aroma.
But now, this omega pheromone did not bring comfort to her, who was in her sensitive period. Instead, it evoked a sense of sorrow at being manipulated.
Upon hearing Zhang Youcheng’s command for Che Xiayun to mark her, Ma Qingyu stopped resisting. Provoking him would only make things worse.
She obediently leaned against Che Xiayun, swallowing her endless grievances. At least her first mark in life was being given to the person who mattered most to her.
Zhang Youcheng pressed the shard of glass against Che Xiayun’s neck, his expression frantic as he roared, “Bite her now! Or I’ll kill you!”
Che Xiayun’s lips trembled, her chest heaving violently. She moved closer to the omega’s small gland, which, under normal circumstances, was not swollen but merely slightly raised on the back of her neck. The surface was smooth, no different from regular skin.
Ma Qingyu closed her eyes slightly, tears still clinging to her lashes. She bit her lower lip, trembling with tension.
How could Che Xiayun bring herself to do it? Forcing an alpha to mark an omega was no different from rape.
Zhang Youcheng anxiously glanced toward the cave entrance and pushed the glass shard forward, urging again, “Hurry up!”
Che Xiayun suddenly lifted her head, her face flushed crimson, and glared at him, shouting, “Her hair is all in the way! How am I supposed to bite?!”
Startled by her outburst, Zhang Youcheng looked down and momentarily focused on moving Ma Qingyu’s hair aside.
This was the moment!
Che Xiayun suddenly lunged, pinning him to the ground. The sharp glass shard sliced a deep gash under her jaw, splattering blood across Ma Qingyu’s face.
Immediately, she struggled free from the loosened vines, seized Zhang Youcheng’s hand holding the glass, and punched him in the face.
Ma Qingyu’s eyes reddened as she quickly reacted, shifting her position and lifting her bound legs. The sharp heel of her high-heeled shoe slammed down onto the glass shard in Zhang Youcheng’s hand. The glass shattered with a crack, shards embedding in his palm, and he let out a pained howl.
Che Xiayun punched Zhang Youcheng’s face again and again, mechanically repeating the motion. Blood from her wound dripped continuously, mingling with the blood on his face as they grappled fiercely, a gruesome sight.
The rustling noises from outside grew louder.
Zhang Youcheng, pinned and struggling to breathe, felt jealousy and rage consume his last shreds of rationality.
Why? Why was she a complete alpha while he had been stripped of all alpha abilities by a senseless tragedy? Why?!
At this life-or-death moment, Zhang Youcheng’s mind was filled with nothing but thoughts of revenge.
He dug a shard of glass from his own palm, his swollen and clouded eyes fixed on the back of Che Xiayun’s neck. Gathering his remaining strength, he broke free from her grip and, with his last ounce of energy, drove the glass shard through the inhibitor patch on Che Xiayun’s neck, piercing the gland of the alpha in her sensitive period.
No one had anticipated this sudden, desperate counterattack in his final moments.
He collapsed to the ground, laughing maniacally, “Hahahaha! You won’t get off easy either, Hahahaha!”
The shrill, eerie laughter echoed piercingly through the dimly lit cave.
Che Xiayun struggled to her feet and stomped on his neck, abruptly cutting off the grotesque laughter. She pressed a hand to the back of her neck, blood seeping through her fingers, soaking her clothes and staining Ma Qingyu’s vision crimson.
“Young Master!”
Three shadow guards finally traced the sounds to the cave, clearing away the dead branches and leaves at the entrance before rushing in. They were met with the sight of Che Xiayun, drenched in blood, her eyes bloodshot and wide with fury.
Che Xiayun knelt weakly on the ground, the pain of her gland being pierced by a foreign object overwhelming all her senses. Her face was deathly pale, a stark contrast to the vivid red blood covering her body.
Wounds of all sizes across her body continued to bleed profusely. The dizziness from severe blood loss replaced the excruciating pain, her vision blurred, and her eyelids grew heavier and heavier.