It was time to warm up the crowd.
Jiang Wuyue stepped out of the dressing room, running her fingers through her freshly permed curls as she walked.
Passing a mirror, she glanced at the reflection inside.
Wearing an aviator cap that cast a shadow over her eyes, an intense coat of red lipstick sat beneath her high-bridged nose. Dressed in a tailored black uniform, her entire presence radiated a sense of aggressive dominance.
She was quite satisfied with her current look.
None of her original features were discernible.
Her performance partner leaned against the doorframe and called out to her.
Jiang Wuyue responded with a brief nod and stepped forward, the flat heels of her leather boots clicking against the floor.
Inside the dimly lit bar, neon colors blurred into the dusk. Jiang Wuyue moved to the cadence of the music as a tide of excitement swept through the crowd below, accompanied by a chaotic mix of screams from men and women alike.
She nudged up the brim of her hat, which had been concealing her eyes. In that brief moment, under the quick flash of a silvery-white spherical spotlight, her eyes caught the silhouette of a woman’s back.
She sat quietly and serenely—a striking barrier between herself and the surrounding sea of wildly dancing, screaming figures.
People came to bars to unwind and seek thrills.
That woman’s temperament seemed far better suited for a seat in a grand concert hall, quietly appreciating high art.
It was merely a passing stranger, so Jiang Wuyue gave it no further thought.
Especially since someone had just hopped onto the stage, attempting to grope her.
Jiang Wuyue intercepted the intruder’s hand mid-air.
The person had neck-length short hair and a remarkably frail, slender build. Smudged lipstick from a recent passionate kiss lingered at the corner of her lips, and even a faint trace of grape-scented pheromones was spilling out into the air.
In modern society, Alpha-Alpha and Omega-Omega marriages were legal, but that did not mean Jiang Wuyue had any interest in that direction.
She pushed the woman’s hand away and said coolly, “I perform; I don’t sell.”
When the dance track ended, Jiang Wuyue returned to the dressing room to remove her makeup.
Her colleague, Song Ya, sat in a chair beside her, cursing under her breath. “Getting groped every single day, and that damn manager couldn’t care less.”
“You’re fine since you’re an Alpha, but I’m just plain unlucky.”
Song Ya picked up a piece of skimpy fabric left on the table, dangling it between her slender fingers for Jiang Wuyue to see. “Claiming we wear too much and that wearing even less would be more appropriate.”
“He can go straight to hell.” Song Ya pulled a thin cigarette from her bag, lit it, and slammed the new outfit back onto the table.
Smoke curled and drifted through the breakroom. Jiang Wuyue wiped away the red lipstick from her mouth and warned quietly, “Careful, walls have ears.”
There were several dancers responsible for warming up the crowd at this hour, and one of them was particularly close with the boss.
She loved playing the informant.
Song Ya fell silent, letting out a cold scoff. Still dissatisfied, she continued to shove her belongings around with heavy thuds.
Jiang Wuyue carried on with her routine in a methodical, calm manner.
Song Ya stared at her own reflection in the mirror for a moment before turning her gaze toward Jiang Wuyue.
With her makeup washed away, Jiang Wuyue’s skin appeared fair and clear. Her hair was tied into a loose ponytail. As she stood up, her tall frame and long legs made Song Ya snuff out her cigarette in resignation. “To be completely honest, working here is a total waste for someone like you.”
“With your appearance, if you had a few connections to become a model or an actress, it’d be miles better than working in a bar.”
The corners of Jiang Wuyue’s rosy lips curved upward slightly. “I think things are just fine as they are.”
She had to work again tomorrow, so Jiang Wuyue didn’t have the energy to offer further comfort. Stuffing her cosmetics pouch into her large bag, she offered a quick farewell and made her exit.
Leaving the noisy bar behind and stepping into the chilly night air, Jiang Wuyue rubbed her cheeks, forcing herself to rally her spirits for the walk home.
After only a few steps, a luxury car pulled up, blocking her path.
Jiang Wuyue moved to step around it, but the car simply shifted along with her pace.
It was already past midnight, and traffic on the road was sparse. Irritated, she cast a glance at the car’s emblem. The eye-catching luxury logo dampened her rising temper by half, prompting her to knock politely on the window.
As the window rolled down, she offered a polite smile and asked, “Are you lost?”
A wave of warm air blew out from inside the vehicle. In the backseat, a woman wore dark sunglasses that concealed most of her face. Her hair was impeccably combed into a sleek ponytail. Under the overhead light of the car cabin, her straight nose bridge and pale pink lips gleamed like fine jade.
Wearing sunglasses at night—what a poser.
Jiang Wuyue snorted inwardly, a trace of mockery slipping from the corners of her eyes.
The woman tilted her head slightly, studying Jiang Wuyue outside the window through her dark lenses without saying a word.
Three minutes passed in utter silence before the car window rolled back up right in front of Jiang Wuyue’s face. The glossy body of the Maybach then glided smoothly past her.
Jiang Wuyue knitted her brows. What’s with that woman’s bizarre temper?
The minor incident on her way home was quickly forgotten. After taking a shower and collapsing onto her bed, Jiang Wuyue’s phone chimed with a notification. It was a notice reminding her to complete her pheromone management test.
Every adult Alpha and Omega was required to register their information with the Pheromone Administration Bureau, where a sample of their pheromones would be extracted and archived.
Due to physical instincts, adult Alphas and Omegas were prone to pheromone disorder events. To prevent such incidents, unmarried Alphas and Omegas had to undergo monthly pheromone testing at the bureau.
Jiang Wuyue fell right into the required demographic.
Turning off her phone, Jiang Wuyue let out a weary sigh. If only she were a Beta; then she wouldn’t have to go out of her way every month for these tests.
As a law-abiding citizen, even though the tests were a massive waste of time, Jiang Wuyue took time off from work the next day to complete her evaluation at the bureau for the sake of public order.
Ascending the steps and looking at the sparse crowd in the lobby, Jiang Wuyue couldn’t help but sigh mentally. Requiring single Alphas and Omegas without fixed partners to test every month felt like a indirect way of forcing people into marriage.
After collecting her name badge from the window, Jiang Wuyue waited for the elevator, intending to go to the fifth floor for her sample extraction. Holding her name badge between her index and middle fingers, she stared absentmindedly at the floor.
When the elevator doors opened, a faint, lingering scent of sweet strawberry milk drifted into her nose before it could be fully suppressed.
Her brain was instantly stimulated by this trace of pheromones. She quickly looked up, fixing her gaze on the two figures stepping out of the elevator.
One was tall and the other short. The taller woman wore an off-the-shoulder top, revealing a dazzlingly fair shoulder. She wore a face mask, but her exquisitely beautiful eyes were filled with annoyance.
Noticing someone outside the elevator, she didn’t bother to filter her words as she complained to the person beside her, “A ninety percent compatibility match? As if I’d believe in this garbage.”
“The administrator meant well. Finding a compatibility match that high is extremely rare. You’re twenty-nine now; it’s time you considered getting married,” the companion’s voice faded as they walked away.
Jiang Wuyue tracked the taller woman’s retreating back with a sharp, probing gaze. The faint trace of pheromones radiating from the woman made her feel unexpectedly comfortable.
As the elevator doors were about to slide shut, Jiang Wuyue stopped overthinking and stepped inside to head up to the fifth floor.
When her test results came back, her hormone levels were remarkably stable.
The administrator remarked in surprise, “You’re the single Alpha with the most stable hormone levels I’ve ever seen. You must have an exceptionally peaceful inner mind.”
Jiang Wuyue smiled slightly, her lips pursing. “Perhaps I just lack those worldly desires.”
The administrator chuckled at her remark. Setting the test report flat on the desk, the pair of eyes behind the glasses turned to look at Jiang Wuyue.
She was a clean-cut, beautiful Alpha, right down to her fair and well-defined knuckles.
Placing both hands over the report, the administrator looked at Jiang Wuyue and spoke calmly, “As an administrator, I believe I have the duty to inform you of something. Your pheromones have a compatibility match of over 90% with three different Omegas. As you know, finding a pheromone compatibility exceeding 80% is already extraordinary. I think you should consider reaching out to these three Omegas and giving it a try.”
Hearing the administrator’s words, Jiang Wuyue froze for a moment.
Unbidden, memories of the car that had trailed her last night and the scent of strawberry milk in the elevator came rushing back into her mind. Jiang Wuyue was far from ignorant regarding pheromone dynamics. Just as the administrator said, a compatibility exceeding 80% was exceptionally rare. She…
“Wait a second. If the compatibility is extremely high, does that mean you can smell the other person’s pheromones even from a distance?”
“Precisely.” The administrator tapped her fingers twice against the paper.
Jiang Wuyue’s gaze turned dazed for a brief moment. She had never fully agreed with the bureau’s methods. Whenever there were single individuals with high pheromone compatibility, the bureau would act like a matchmaker, urging both parties to meet, get acquainted, and fall in love.
The probability of them falling in love was extraordinarily high. Because when pheromone compatibility was that elevated, simply drawing near the other person would trigger a series of primal biological reactions in the body.
Whether in the past or the present, pheromone alignment inevitably led to profound psychological and physiological harmony.
Even after thousands of years of evolution in a pheromone-driven society, humanity had still failed to entirely eradicate these animalistic instincts.
Jiang Wuyue had never expected that one day, she too would be pushed toward submitting to the influence of pheromones.
“Forget it,” she said, drawing out her tone lazy and flat. “I don’t have any intention of getting married.”
Her response didn’t sound particularly pleasant to the administrator’s ears. However, having seen her fair share of chaotic cases, the administrator merely offered a gentle smile. “This isn’t entirely up to what you want or don’t want. We also have to consider societal safety.”
“Single Alphas and Omegas with unstable hormones easily cause public disturbances. When there’s a case with extremely high compatibility, we usually issue a mandatory meeting requirement.”
As she spoke, the administrator pulled up the file on her monitor. The moment her eyes scanned the detailed records, her gaze froze briefly before shifting back to Jiang Wuyue, who sat across the partition.
Jiang Wuyue’s eyebrows were tightly knitted, her irritation plain to see.
This is going to be tricky…
It seemed that none of the four individuals involved had the slightest desire to meet based on high compatibility.
And yet, they desperately required pheromone stabilization.
“When I came for testing in the past, I was never informed about three Omegas having high compatibility with me,” Jiang Wuyue said, adopting a troubled expression. “This is far too sudden. Besides, you can’t strictly force me to meet them.”
The administrator printed out the profile documents and explained patiently, “That’s because those three Omegas recently experienced severe hormonal instability. When hormones become unstable, more diagnostic data points are measured. The bureau isn’t as terrifying as you think; we only step in to mandate matches when an Alpha’s or Omega’s pheromones are critically unstable.”
“The soothing pheromone supplements provided by hospitals only treat the symptoms, not the root cause.” The administrator placed the printed dossier right in front of Jiang Wuyue. “Take a look at the files. It really is incredible—even I am seeing a case like this for the first time.”
“Three at once… indeed quite rare.” Jiang Wuyue picked up the sheets casually, assuming the administrator was merely referring to the sheer statistical oddity of matching three people at once.
However, the moment her eyes fell upon the names and brief summaries printed on the paper, her entire body went rigid.
The administrator continued, “One is the CEO of the country’s largest petroleum corporation, one is a top-tier movie star, and the last is a world-renowned pianist. Your pheromones are truly a precious commodity.”
“Honestly, I’m almost jealous,” the administrator said, resting her chin on her hand. “Too bad I’m a Beta. Would you like me to give you a recommendation?”
Jiang Wuyue stared blankly at the chatty administrator.
The administrator gave a bright smile. “I can arrange a meeting with the movie star right away! I just finished watching her latest film a few days ago—she was fantastic. You two would make a great couple.”
Jiang Wuyue shifted her gaze downward, landing directly on the name of the top-tier movie star.
So the strawberry milk pheromone belonged to her?
“How about it? Interested, aren’t you?” The administrator clicked on a program on her computer screen. “I’ll set up a meeting for you two immediately.”
Jiang Wuyue reached out just in time, placing her hand over the administrator’s to stop her. “Don’t act recklessly. Let me think about it first.”
The administrator was puzzled. What was there to hesitate about when presented with such an amazing opportunity?
“I can only give you three days. This is my contact card—come find me once you’ve made up your mind.”
“Even if you haven’t made up your mind, it doesn’t matter. I’ll be reaching out to you regardless.” The administrator offered a business-standard smile and saw Jiang Wuyue out of the office.
That afternoon, Jiang Wuyue went to work in a total daze. She spent half her shift staring blankly at her backpack, her mind completely disrupted by the three thin sheets of paper stored inside.
Noticing that she was out of it, her department lunch buddy, Zhang Xue, reached out and offered her a piece of candy.
Jiang Wuyue took it automatically, unwrapped it, and popped it into her mouth.
It was a strawberry milk candy.
The sweet, rich scent instantly flooded her nasal passages, almost triggering an acute stress reaction in her.
“What is this?” she blurted out, annoyed.
Zhang Xue was completely bewildered. “It’s just candy?”
Realizing her reaction had been overly dramatic, Jiang Wuyue offered Zhang Xue an apologetic smile. “No, sorry… I wasn’t talking about the candy.”
She bit down hard, crushing the soft milk candy in her mouth.
Right at that moment, a news notification popped up on her work computer screen:
【Top Actress Xiao Sui Suddenly Collapses on Film Set】
As the flavor of the strawberry milk candy saturated her mouth, Jiang Wuyue gradually slowed down her chewing.
Is it really that severe…?
Her pheromones must be in absolute chaos by now.