In the bar’s dressing room.
Compared to yesterday, Jiang Wuyue was frequently spacing out, leaning against the wall and staring blankly into space. Song Ya, who had finished changing, noticed her absentminded state, walked over, and patted her shoulder. “Aren’t you afraid of being seen zoning out here?”
Jiang Wuyue snapped back to reality, smiled slightly at Song Ya, and moved closer. Remembering that Song Ya was an Omega, she hesitated for a moment before following her. “Song Ya, do you have a partner?”
Hearing this, Song Ya’s eyes widened slightly. She looked Jiang Wuyue up and down, then burst into laughter. “What’s with you? Why are you suddenly asking me this…”
Jiang Wuyue immediately clarified that she had no inappropriate intentions. Song Ya looked at her for a moment before dropping two words: “I don’t.”
“You don’t? How do you get through your heat?”
Walking as she spoke, Song Ya said, “Alphas have estrus cycles too, don’t they? Why are you asking me?”
Jiang Wuyue paused. “It feels different.”
Song Ya teased, “I could completely report you right now for ‘discriminating’ against Omegas for saying that.”
“Stop fooling around, I really want to know,” Jiang Wuyue said seriously.
“It’s nothing, really. Medical technology is so advanced now. Every month, I go to the hospital to purchase pheromone injections with a high compatibility rate for me. It holds me over for a month, so I don’t have to go through the heat.”
“As you know, I won’t stay single for too long, so I rarely need to buy pheromones at the hospital anyway. As long as I don’t get casually permanently marked, it’s fine.”
Jiang Wuyue lowered her eyes and nodded in acknowledgment of Song Ya’s words.
After differentiating at eighteen, topics concerning the unique traits of Omegas and Alphas were generally taught separately. Due to the sudden tragedy in her family, Jiang Wuyue spent her days working frantically to pay off debts, leaving her with little knowledge regarding these matters. Hearing Song Ya’s explanation today, it turned out Alphas and Omegas managed their estrus cycles in similar ways—using pheromones was the most effective method to stabilize the body. However, Jiang Wuyue’s method to avoid estrus relied on suppressants and inhibitor patches, which cost far less than pheromones. Yet, prolonged use of suppressants led to tolerance, causing the eventual backlash of the heat to be much more severe.
Song Ya waited a moment. Seeing that she didn’t speak, she sighed wistfully, “Pheromones are useful, sure, but you can’t use them forever. Using them for too long creates dependence, and the impact on the body is quite severe.”
Catching a glimpse of Jiang Wuyue’s face out of the corner of her eye, Song Ya felt a sudden impulse. She stepped closer to Jiang Wuyue and lowered her voice: “Asking me this out of nowhere… could it be that you…”
Jiang Wuyue gave a bitter smile and shook her head. “It’s not me.”
Song Ya kindly reminded her, “Whether it’s suppressants or pheromones, neither works as well as a living, breathing person.”
“Especially someone with a high compatibility rate with you,” Song Ya patted Jiang Wuyue’s shoulder, giving her an “if you know, you know” look.
Jiang Wuyue wanted to laugh it off, but found herself unable to.
During her shift, Jiang Wuyue kept thinking about Song Ya’s words, leaving her distracted and staring into space from a chair in the corner. Even while spacing out, she could constantly sense an intense, palpable gaze watching her.
Following her intuition, Jiang Wuyue looked for that gaze. Under the bar’s deliberately hazy lighting, distant silhouettes blurred together. Jiang Wuyue recalled the woman sitting inside the Maybach yesterday—could it be her?
As a red light swept across the floor, amidst the dancing “demons and monsters,” the figure from yesterday that seemed completely out of place in a bar appeared once again.
Although her face wasn’t fully visible, those quiet, scrutinizing eyes were sharply captured by Jiang Wuyue.
Locking eyes across the crowd, Jiang Wuyue was the first to avert her gaze.
The music suddenly blasted, throbbing against her eardrums. Jiang Wuyue abruptly stood up, her restless inner feelings driving her to walk in that direction.
The woman with the quiet eyes was no longer in her original spot. Jiang Wuyue asked someone nearby, roughly got the direction, and gave chase.
The bar was located on the B1 level, and the direction the customer pointed toward was the exit.
As the noise gradually receded, the post-modernist murals lining the corridor grew clearer under the bright lighting. Jiang Wuyue slowed her steps, standing still in hesitation at a fork in the path ahead, unsure of which way to go.
As if anticipating Jiang Wuyue’s dilemma, the lights in the corridor to her left suddenly went out.
Jiang Wuyue had never considered herself special. Yet, three individuals with exceptionally high pheromone compatibility rates with her—all possessing top-tier social standing and wealth—had kept her in a state of absentmindedness since yesterday.
Just like right now, even though the dark corridor might harbor danger, Jiang Wuyue’s legs disobeyed her reason, following the subconscious urge within her heart as she walked forward.
The further in she went, the more the light from the turn was swallowed by darkness. The passage was deathly quiet. Jiang Wuyue pulled out her phone, intending to switch on the flashlight, when an arm reached out diagonally from ahead and snatched her phone away.
Startled, Jiang Wuyue turned around to run back, but the person hiding in the darkness easily and accurately pinpointed the pheromone inhibitor patch on the back of her neck. The patch, carrying a needle as fine as a strand of hair, was peeled off. Jiang Wuyue’s legs went weak for a second as she scrambled for support. A pair of warm hands caught her by the arms, and Jiang Wuyue’s pheromones began to spread through the corridor.
“Who are you?” Jiang Wuyue thoroughly hated this feeling.
Deprived of her inhibitor patch, her vulnerability was entirely exposed. Society glorified the physical strength and endurance of Alphas, but due to the existence of pheromones, they were far from flawless.
Just like right now, having relied on inhibitor patches and suppressants for so long, the lack of suppression caused the initial symptoms of a reaction to surface.
A cool female voice replied, “I can’t tell you, but I’m not a bad person.”
Seeing Jiang Wuyue’s weak legs and rapid breathing, the woman released one hand and gently stroked the tiny gland on the back of Jiang Wuyue’s neck.
Jiang Wuyue’s body trembled slightly. The woman expressed slight surprise: “So sensitive?”
She then added with a hint of amusement, “Have you never released it before?”
“To be in this kind of environment and remain like this, that’s quite rare.”
How could Jiang Wuyue not understand the implication? Gritting her teeth, she said, “And what about you? Are you harassing me?”
A soft laugh melted into Jiang Wuyue’s pheromones. “I’m a Beta. I can’t smell your pheromones, so how could I be harassing you?”
“I just need to test something.” With that, a crisp click sounded, and the scent of strawberry milk reached Jiang Wuyue’s nose. She let out a soft groan as her pheromones flared even stronger, causing her to slump against the wall onto the floor.
Despite the dark, her body’s reaction was glaringly obvious.
Another crisp click sounded, and the intense fragrance of roses burst into Jiang Wuyue’s nasal cavity. Jiang Wuyue reached out and grabbed the woman’s wrist, her palms damp and warm, almost greedily inhaling the pheromones inside the bottle.
By the time the third bottle—plum wine scented—flooded her nostrils, Jiang Wuyue’s instincts were light-headed and floating. Leaning against the wall, her hand clutched the woman’s arm, her eyes half-lidded.
“It really is true. You have three Omegas with exceptionally high pheromone compatibility.” The woman’s voice sounded distant one moment and close the next, her fingertips wiping away the physiological tears that spilled from Jiang Wuyue’s eyes due to the stimulation.
“Do you know what you look like right now? Fragile, yet intoxicating.”
“Poor Alpha,” the woman sighed.
Her fingers gently pressed the inhibitor patch back onto the nape of Jiang Wuyue’s neck. The heat consuming her body gradually ebbed away, and the soft sound of the woman’s retreating footsteps grew distant.
By the time Jiang Wuyue could support herself against the wall to stand up, she gave chase without hesitation.
The three bottles of pheromones she was made to smell undoubtedly belonged to those three people. To get her hands on their pheromones, this woman was definitely no ordinary person.
Jiang Wuyue’s heart had yet to settle, and her legs were still disobedient. Stumbling her way out, the cold air penetrated her thin clothing, driving away the heat triggered by the pheromones. Jiang Wuyue looked left and right for suspicious figures, but pedestrians on the street hurried past, casting strange glances at her.
The pheromone scent on Jiang Wuyue had already faded significantly, so she didn’t need to worry about affecting others. Urgently scanning the distance, her frantic steps caused her to bump into something metallic. Looking down, she saw a woman in a wheelchair whose wheel had swerved to the side from the impact, her upper body lunging forward due to inertia. Jiang Wuyue quickly reached out to support her arm, the woman’s silky long hair brushing across Jiang Wuyue’s bare arm.
The aura surrounding the woman in the wheelchair was very peaceful; Jiang Wuyue could sense that she was a Beta.
“I am so sorry! Are you alright?” Bumping into someone because she wasn’t looking—especially someone disabled—left Jiang Wuyue overcome with guilt.
“I’m fine.” The woman’s voice was gentle and pleasant, her waist-length hair shifting slightly with her movement.
Adjusting her posture, the woman raised her face to look at Jiang Wuyue.
In society, Betas were usually ascribed traits of being ordinary and plain. Yet this woman in the wheelchair possessed an elegant demeanor, her visible face glowing softly in the night.
She wore a white dress that reached her ankles, looking fresh and refined. The more stunning she appeared, the harder it was to ignore the fact that she was in a wheelchair, making it all the more tragic.
Fine beads of sweat from anxiety still hung on Jiang Wuyue’s face, a hint of confusion lingering deep in her eyes. The woman smiled at her: “You look like you’re in a hurry.”
“Go on ahead.” With that, her finger pressed a button on the wheelchair’s armrest, maneuvering it to make way for Jiang Wuyue.
Looking at the vast crowd on the street, Jiang Wuyue calmed down. The experience just now felt surreal and fake; checking the bar’s surveillance footage would be far better than running around outside like a headless fly.
Exhaling a breath, Jiang Wuyue bent down slightly, her loose collar slumping forward to reveal her smooth, recessed collarbones. “Not anymore.”
“Where do you live? I’ll see you back, just so I can put my mind at ease.” Even though the woman said she was fine, Jiang Wuyue felt obligated to take responsibility.
The woman shook her head, gesturing for Jiang Wuyue to turn around. Parked a kilometer away was a silver commercial van. “There’s no need to take me home. My car is parked over there; it felt too stuffy, so I came down for a walk.”
Noticing Jiang Wuyue’s hesitation, the woman thoughtfully offered, “It’s getting late. Why don’t you push me back to my car instead?”
Jiang Wuyue took hold of the wheelchair handles. The woman expressed a moment of surprise, then smiled and placed her hands on her knees, letting Jiang Wuyue push her.
“Do you work at the bar?”
Jiang Wuyue hummed in agreement, teasingly asking, “Is it because I’m wearing so little?”
The woman laughed softly, “No, I saw you come out of the bar, and you don’t smell like alcohol, so you must work there.”
“My name is Qin Shuangjing. What’s yours?”
“Jiang Wuyue.”
Stopping in front of the silver commercial vehicle, the driver immediately got off and laid down an electric ramp setup from the car onto the ground.
Before boarding, Qin Shuangjing looked at Jiang Wuyue. “I have a feeling we’ll meet again.”
Seeing her safely board the vehicle, Jiang Wuyue didn’t truly believe they would meet again in her heart, so she didn’t respond. As the door closed, Jiang Wuyue stood by the roadside, letting her mind drift.
Qin Shuangjing.
She repeated the name silently, finding it strangely familiar.
pulling out her phone, she searched the name. Related results popped up instantly, the most frequent entry being: 《Heiress of Dongqin Aviation, Qin Shuangjing, Crippled in Rainy Night Car Crash, Confined to Wheelchair for Life—Accident or Conspiracy?》, published five years ago.
Dongqin Aviation’s fleet size and flight volume ranked among the highest in the world. Jiang Wuyue recalled that before her family went bankrupt, they had once been invited to attend a Qin family banquet. Numerous wealthy businessmen attended, and the Jiang family was inconsequential among them. Standing on the outer perimeter back then, across more than ten years, she seemed to vaguely remember a girl standing high on the grand steps, glowing brilliantly like stars holding up the moon.
Overlaying the girl from back then with the woman currently sitting in the wheelchair, Jiang Wuyue involuntarily tapped on the news article.
The power struggles of wealthy families served as fuel for news headlines, and the editor of this article could hardly conceal their excitement. Qin Shuangjing’s parents were a Beta and Omega pair who died ten years ago when their private plane crashed into the sea. Because of that incident, Dongqin Aviation’s stock suffered heavily, with the outside world doubting the safety of their aircraft. After handling his daughter and daughter-in-law’s funeral arrangements, Dongqin Aviation’s chairman at the time, Qin Yu, personally flew four times on the same aircraft model over the sea to prove that the crash was an extremely low-probability event.
Dongqin Aviation recovered, but Qin Yu lost his daughter and daughter-in-law, while Qin Shuangjing lost her mothers. Five years ago, just as Qin Shuangjing graduated abroad and prepared to return home to take over Dongqin Aviation, tragedy struck—she suffered a car crash that paralyzed both her legs, leaving her unable to ever stand again.