“Sister, I really can’t do this anymore…”
The woman stood before her, looking down from above, issuing an order with a queen’s indifferent tone: “Satisfy me.”
Duan Jinwei sat on the floor, retreating backward step by step, trembling slightly with fear: “Sister, please, really no more.”
Qiao Jiao stepped closer and closer to her, reaching out to lift her chin, her tone dropping a few degrees colder: “Did you not hear clearly what I said?”
Left with no choice, Duan Jinwei reached out to hug her.
The woman sat on her lap, lowering her gaze to look at her, gently stroking the back of her neck. A wave of numbness instantly surged through her entire body.
Duan Jinwei looked up in terror.
The woman’s cool fingertips pinched the nape of her neck: “I heard that squeezing an Alpha’s glands hard can make their marking teeth secrete more pheromones. I wonder if it’s true.”
“Sister!”
As the words fell, the woman’s hand had already tightened, fiercely gripping the back of Duan Jinwei’s neck.
Sob—
Duan Jinwei jolted awake from her bed, gasping heavily for air.
It was six o’clock in the morning. The dormitory curtains were drawn tight, plunging the room into pitch darkness.
Her roommates were still fast asleep.
Cold sweat soaked through Duan Jinwei’s back. She raised a hand to rub her throbbing forehead and rolled out of bed.
She headed to the bathroom to splash cold water on her face.
In this world, both Alphas and Omegas possessed pheromones.
In traditional ideological concepts, Alphas were always viewed as aggressive, volatile, and quick-tempered.
This was tied to an Alpha’s pheromones.
An Alpha’s pheromones carried a massive amount of aggressive factors; when the concentration of Alpha pheromones in the body grew too high, emotions easily spiraled out of control, and personalities became increasingly irritable and aggressive.
Duan Jinwei possessed an extremely acute perception of her own pheromone fluctuations. The amount of pheromones secreted by an S+-grade Alpha was simply too massive, and to avoid causing trouble for others, she used to visit a donation center every month to offload the excess pheromones. Because Qiao Jiao required marking, she had skipped her donation last month, and now she could distinctly sense an abnormal swelling around her glands.
Duan Jinwei stared blankly at the floor, lost in thought.
Yet, even if pheromones were expended, the flaws of high-grade Alphas would manifest in other ways.
After washing her face, Duan Jinwei stepped out of the bathroom and sat blankly at her desk.
Her roommates were still asleep. She pulled open a drawer and took out a thick, leather-bound notebook.
It was a bullet journal. Duan Jinwei had a habit of keeping one; for a time, she had been obsessed with journaling and learned a few techniques from instructional videos online.
Regular recording helped relieve stress, and she had already been using this journal for five years. Duan Jinwei took out four rolls of Washi tape to create a border. Then, dipping an ultra-fine calligraphy brush into a dab of mixed pigment, she began to paint.
Soon, a cartoon illustration sprang to life on the paper: an iceberg-like beauty half-reclining on a hospital bed.
Duan Jinwei felt her drawing skills were far too poor to capture even a ten-thousandth of the other person’s beauty.
Next to the drawing, she wrote: A terrifying woman.
Around nine o’clock, her roommates woke up one after another.
Gu Tian got out of bed and jumped in surprise upon seeing Duan Jinwei: “Weiwei, you got up so early?”
Duan Jinwei immediately stopped what she was doing and asked softly, “I’m sorry, did I wake you?”
“No, no,” Gu Tian waved a hand. “I sleep like a log, didn’t hear a thing.”
Xia Tang had stayed up all night and was currently climbing out of bed with a yawn.
Gu Tian: “Are you trying to kill yourself? You only slept for an hour?”
Xia Tang returned to her desk to flip through a book: “You think I’m like Weiwei? I’m an academic slacker, okay? We have an exam next Monday, and I haven’t even finished reading the book yet.”
Gu Tian sighed: “So tragic…”
Xia Tang: “Sometimes I wonder if I should just walk this path to the dark and become a doctor. Actually, being an Alpha marker isn’t a bad gig either. Did you know experienced Alpha marker fees go for several thousand a session nowadays? The people looking for Alpha markers are all wealthy Omega women.”
Cough, cough, cough. Duan Jinwei, who was in the middle of drinking water, suddenly broke into a violent fit of coughing.
Gu Tian: “But helping others with markings… wouldn’t that feel a bit… too erotic?”
“Not at all,” Xia Tang shook her head. “Medical-level marking is completely different from ordinary intimate marking. When your head is full of data and rehabilitation plans, you don’t think about anything else at all, right, Weiwei?”
A trace of complexity flashed in Duan Jinwei’s eyes.
“Having one more skill these days means one more way out. I’m even debating whether I should take the test for that certificate.”
“Weiwei, you already have that certificate, right?” Gu Tian suddenly remembered something and turned to ask.
Duan Jinwei awkwardly acknowledged it, picked up her towel, and headed back into the bathroom to wash her face again.
After a brief rinse, she came back out, sat at her desk, booted up her computer, and pulled up Qiao Jiao’s medical record.
Despite her many misgivings toward Qiao Jiao, Duan Jinwei had to admit that Qiao Jiao’s medical case was utterly fascinating.
It was a special glandular case she had never encountered before, holding immense research value.
Staring at the medical chart, her mind couldn’t help calculating how she should use pheromone therapy paired with massage and dietary remedies to step-by-step treat and cure her root condition. Before she knew it, she was completely absorbed.
Duan Jinwei recalled what her teacher used to say: A qualified doctor should look at their patients like an artist.
Besides.
Omegas were notoriously picky when it came to markers. A rookie marker like Duan Jinwei would never be chosen by anyone if thrown onto the open market.
Usually, one needed to accumulate enough clinical experience and reputation before earning the qualification to independently take on orders.
This also created a vicious cycle within the industry: rookie markers found it difficult to stand out and were mostly weeded out by the brutal competition, leaving only a small handful of deeply experienced veterans active in the market long-term.
Qiao Jiao was right.
For her, this was an exceptional opportunity.
It meant she would have an extra avenue for making money in the future.
Duan Jinwei stared dazedly at Qiao Jiao’s medical chart for a while before snapping back to reality and shaking her head vigorously.
What on earth am I thinking?
Qiao Jiao wasn’t just a patient; she was her ex-girlfriend’s older sister…
Duan Jinwei immediately stamped out the shred of temptation that had just sprouted in her mind.
During the National Day holiday, Duan Jinwei managed to squeeze out two days of leave.
Since it was a holiday, the high-speed train was bustling and lively, with almost every seat taken.
Duan Jinwei walked over to her seat with her backpack. Standing behind her was a woman traveling with a child, dragging a large suitcase.
“Excuse me, little missy, this suitcase is too big and I can’t lift it up. Could you help me?”
Duan Jinwei readily agreed with her gentle temperament: “Sure.”
She hoisted the suitcase up, braced it with her knee, and quickly hoisted it onto the luggage rack.
Though she looked somewhat slender, she possessed the strength of an Alpha. The woman thanked her repeatedly. Duan Jinwei smiled, said it was nothing, and sat down in her seat.
Pulling a faded black phone stand out of her school bag—a freebie that came with a pillow—she propped up her phone, put on white wired earphones, and pulled up a downloaded cooking video to watch.
In her spare time, Duan Jinwei liked learning things. She had already self-taught drawing online, and now cooking—for no other reason than that having an extra skill meant having an extra way out.
At noon, the smell of instant noodles permeated the high-speed train.
Duan Jinwei ate a piece of steamed bun.
Finally, they arrived at Huacxia Village.
The drive from the high-speed rail station to Huacxia Village took half an hour. The bus ran there for 30 yuan a ticket, but Duan Jinwei scanned a shared bicycle by the roadside, intending to ride it back instead.
“Hey, girl, where are you headed?” A pirate cab driver ran over to ask.
Duan Jinwei: “Huacxia Village.”
The man said, “Why don’t you take our chartered car? Carpooling is 25 per person, a great deal. Riding a bike from here all the way over there is super far.”
The weather was scorching, and a faint smell of sweat hung around the man. Duan Jinwei felt annoyed, but still replied politely, “It’s fine.”
Before the man could say more, he watched the girl pedal away like the wind.
On the highway, Duan Jinwei wore an old straw hat, riding her bike unhurriedly.
She had fair skin that turned red under the blazing sun. Though slender—a matter of constitution, as she didn’t put on flesh easily—her Alpha genes were still at work, endowing her with exceptional stamina and physical strength.
The air in Huacxia Village was always damp.
This trace of moisture felt particularly pronounced in October, when the summer heat had yet to fully fade. The sound of ocean waves drifted by her ears, surrounded by uniform red-brick houses and a tranquil village atmosphere.
“Huhu, you’re back?”
An older woman poked her head out of a single-story house, asking in surprise.
Duan Jinwei nodded and greeted her: “Auntie, this is some local specialty I brought back from Haicheng. Have a taste, it’s really good.”
A bright smile immediately bloomed across the woman’s face: “So sweet of you to remember me, more considerate than my own kid.”
“Are you tired from studying all the time? Have you eaten? Come inside and eat!” Another elderly woman walked out, warmly inviting Duan Jinwei in.
Duan Jinwei pulled the specialty snacks out of her bag and handed them to the older woman: “Thank you, Auntie Sun, but no need. I’m going to the hospital to see grandma.”
Duan Jinwei had grown up in Huacxia Village.
When she was little, her grandmother had been very busy. Whenever she wasn’t home during the day, she would leave Duan Jinwei in the care of the adults in the village.
Dropped off at one family today, picked up by another tomorrow. Duan Jinwei was very well-behaved, pretty, and sensible, often helping the adults with chores. As a result, all the elders who had looked after her grew very fond of her.
The village was so small that the slightest bit of news spread far and wide in no time.
Several villagers caught sight of Duan Jinwei passing by and huddled together to whisper.
“This kid looks so well-behaved, pretty, and mild-mannered. I remember she had such a sweet temper when she was little, always smiling. How could her mother abandon such a good child?”
“I remember her mother left Huacxia Village when she was four. Aside from Lunar New Year, she barely ever came back to see her.”
“I remember when she was little, every time that woman left, the child would cry her heart out, and the whole village could hear it. Now she’s really blossomed into a fine-looking young woman.”
“It’s just a shame she doesn’t have an ounce of Alpha presence. Probably because she grew up with her grandmother and had no one to teach her.”
“Teacher Ye hasn’t had it easy either, raising her through all that hardship. Now that she’s accepted into A-University Medical School, she’s finally made something of herself.”
“Too bad about her mother, dying so miserably…”
Duan Jinwei remained completely oblivious to the villagers’ discussions.
She rushed to the hospital ward, pushed open the door, and saw an elderly woman with graying hair but clear, sharp eyes wearing a hospital gown and glasses, lying in bed reading a book.
Duan Jinwei hurried forward: “Grandma, how on earth did you manage to fall?”
“It’s nothing,” her grandmother waved her hand. “A neighbor’s cat tripped me while I was walking at home.”
Duan Jinwei frowned: “Can you still walk?”
She glanced at Ye Qingshu’s legs. Ye Qingshu replied: “Still limber. I even walked around the corridor outside by myself this morning.”
Duan Jinwei poured a glass of water for Ye Qingshu to drink, but Ye Qingshu said, “You don’t always need to worry about coming to see me, you’re so busy at school.”
“I just happened to be on break and had free time,” Duan Jinwei said.
Ye Qingshu remarked: “The last time you and Xiao Yi came back together, she mentioned having trouble sleeping, so I prepared some spices and made them into a sachet…”
Hearing Ye Qingshu mention “Xiao Yi,” the smile on Duan Jinwei’s face suddenly froze.