The car had just pulled out when Bai Yue’s phone in her pocket suddenly buzzed.
She pulled it out to check. It was a message from Lin Wei.
[President Bai, the owner of that number is a male Beta who used to work in card registration. He used his own ID to help a client set up this card two years ago, and the actual user cannot be tracked at the moment.]
Bai Yue’s brows twitched slightly as she continued reading.
[As for your badge, the bar owner identified it and confirmed it indeed originated from Lost. He said that while the top-tier membership is capped at fifty, if a generous newcomer arrives, he will also give one out to attract business. Due to different batch productions, there are subtle differences in craftsmanship, and yours was issued early last year.]
Early last year?
Bai Yue tapped her finger lightly against the edge of the phone.
[The bar owner said this guest does not come often, and whenever she does, it is basically around the New Year. I compared the usage frequency of that number, and it matches this exact time frame.]
Bai Yue stared at these words, pondering the other person’s identity.
A generous young Omega.
Most likely a student from an affluent background.
She really wasn’t that old. That night at the bar, although her face wasn’t clear, her temperament and way of speaking didn’t resemble someone who had been mingling in society for very long.
Yet why did she only appear during the New Year? Did she have no needs at ordinary times? Or was she rather devoted? No! If she were devoted, she wouldn’t have actively vanished.
Unable to go, lacking conditions, unable even to use a phone. Studying abroad? An international student?
Bai Yue leaned against the seat, rubbing her glabella.
A headache.
Not the sharp, throbbing kind, but the kind brought on by too much information, too few clues, and the more she thought about it, the more tangled it became.
The phone buzzed again.
Still a message from Lin Wei.
[The bar owner just said they have a commemorative photo album where they take pictures of some guests. He has already sent the photos over, and I am forwarding them to you.]
Bai Yue tapped to open the images.
Loading.
Photo after photo popped up.
A dim bar, a blurred crowd, various backsides.
She flipped through them one by one. When she was past the halfway mark, Bai Yue’s finger stopped.
In the corner, a figure from behind.
Chestnut-colored long hair hanging loose, wearing a light-colored dress. Sitting near the bar counter, holding a glass of wine in her hand. Her head tilted slightly, as if talking to the person next to her.
Her face could not be seen clearly.
She continued flipping through a dozen more photos, and her finger stopped again.
In the photo was the front view of a woman. A black dress, tall, cold, and stunning. She was standing by the bar counter, holding a wine glass, smiling directly at the camera.
That face.
Bai Yue narrowed her eyes.
Gu Yan.
The woman who had pinned Jiang Manru against the wall in the fire escape.
Bai Yue stared at the photo. In the bottom right corner was a date from February of this year.
At that time, Gu Yan was also at Lost.
The same bar, the same time period.
In Bai Yue’s mind, something twitched gently. She stared at the photo for a few seconds and continued flipping forward.
There was nothing much afterwards.
She put her phone away and leaned back against the seat.
Outside the window, the city lights flashed backward in a blur.
She turned her head and glanced at Jiang Manru, who was leaning against her shoulder.
The car turned into the side street and parked steadily in front of the door.
“Miss, we have arrived,” the driver said, looking ahead.
Bai Yue snapped back to her senses and gently tapped Jiang Manru. “We’re here.”
Jiang Manru opened her eyes and rubbed them.
After getting out of the car, neither of them spoke.
It wasn’t until they entered the house and Jiang Manru changed into her slippers that she suddenly spoke up, “Bai Yue.”
Bai Yue turned to look at her.
Jiang Manru stood in the entryway, looking at her. Those amber eyes shone brightly under the light. “I want to explain something to you. That person tonight…”
Bai Yue let out a casual yawn. “Let’s go inside and talk.”
The two of them sat down on the sofa.
Jiang Manru kept her head down, as if organizing her words.
“We met abroad,” she said. “Back then, I had just gone to the UK and was completely unfamiliar with everything.”
Bai Yue listened with a blank expression on her face.
“Being alone in a foreign place, I didn’t understand anything,” Jiang Manru’s voice was very soft and slow. “She helped me with a lot of things, and I always looked up to her like an older sister. But she probably misunderstood.”
She paused.
“Later on, her behavior became more and more out of bounds. I started avoiding her, but she could always find me. In the end, having no other choice, I returned to China early.”
She raised her head and looked at Bai Yue.
“That’s all.”
Bai Yue looked into those eyes of hers. They were completely clean, holding only honesty.
The explanation was flawless and fit the persona of a good girl.
Except for Gu Yan. If she was so determined to pursue a good girl, why go to Lost? In the photo, she was smiling brightly, looking nothing like a lovelorn person after being rejected.
“Got it,” Bai Yue nodded.
Jiang Manru was slightly stunned. “You don’t have anything else to ask me?”
Bai Yue smiled slightly. “Ask what?”
She reached out and gently patted Jiang Manru’s head.
“You explained it very clearly,” she said. “Compared to a nameless outsider with an unknown background, of course I believe you.”
Bai Yue withdrew her hand.
“Go to sleep,” she said. “You’ve been tired all day.”
Bai Yue stood up and walked toward the bathroom, taking the opportunity to send a message to Lin Wei, instructing her to investigate Gu Yan, especially her movements over the past year.
The next morning, Bai Yue sat in her office, spinning the badge in her hand. Sunlight poured in through the floor-to-ceiling windows, falling upon the silver metal and reflecting scattered pinpricks of light.
Lin Wei knocked and entered, holding a file folder. “President Bai, we found out.”
Bai Yue raised her head.
Lin Wei opened the file folder and handed it to Bai Yue. “Gu Yan, twenty-six years old, Alpha. Her family runs an import and export trade business, and it is quite substantial. Her entire family emigrated to the UK ten years ago and basically never returns.”
Bai Yue’s brows twitched.
“Basically?”
“Yes,” Lin Wei said. “She occasionally returns to the country herself, but the frequency is very low. Her last return was in February of this year because she had to accompany a friend to a wedding.”
Bai Yue looked at her. “What wedding?”
Lin Wei flipped a page.
“A childhood friend of hers got married early this year. Before the wedding, she even threw a bachelorette party for this friend, following that Western custom where friends gather for a wild night out the night before the wedding.” She looked up. “The location of the party was right at Lost.”
A thought stirred in Bai Yue’s heart.
“Those photos.”
“They were taken for them by the bar owner,” Lin Wei continued. “I’ve already asked the bar owner, and because that kind of custom isn’t common domestically, he remembers it very clearly.”
Bai Yue leaned back in her chair, looking down at the photos on her phone.
One was Gu Yan’s frontal photo, and the other was that very familiar silhouette.
The fragments in her mind pieced together another piece.
If this silhouette was the Omega she was looking for, then she and Gu Yan definitely knew each other since they attended the same bachelorette party.
She put down the report, picked up the badge, and twirled it between her fingertips.
Returning home that evening, Jiang Manru was in the kitchen preparing dinner.
The range hood hummed softly, mingling with the sizzle of stir-frying. Wearing an apron, she stood in front of the stove, her side profile tinted a faint rosy hue by the heat.
Bai Yue stood at the doorway, watching her.
Sensing her gaze, Jiang Manru turned her head. “You’re back? Wash your hands and eat.”
Bai Yue walked over and hugged her from behind.
Jiang Manru was slightly startled.
“What is it?”
“Nothing much,” Bai Yue rested her chin on her shoulder. “Just wanted to hug my wife.”
Jiang Manru smiled and said nothing.
She continued cooking.
Holding her and inhaling the faint scent of jasmine on her body, Bai Yue’s mind was actually dwelling on something else.
If, just if, that white peach Omega really was Jiang Manru, why would her pheromones change?
Jasmine and white peach, how could they possibly be the same person?
Bai Yue shook her head.
Impossible.
That was too absurd!
Pheromones don’t lie; she had smelled them far too many times.
She must be overthinking it.
During dinner, the two of them chatted casually.
“Was work tiring today?” Jiang Manru asked.
“Not bad,” Bai Yue replied. “How about you? What did you do at home today?”
“Read books, slept,” Jiang Manru smiled. “Just a bit bored.”
“If you’re bored, you can go out for a walk. Find some friends for tea or go shopping.”
Jiang Manru shook her head with a look of regret. “I’ve always been studying abroad, I don’t have many friends here.”
Bai Yue paused. “What about those from the UK? Those who graduated at the same time should have all returned.”
Jiang Manru’s movements faltered.
“Many of them stayed over there,” she continued picking up food with her chopsticks. “We don’t keep in touch much.”
Bai Yue didn’t ask further.
After dinner, Jiang Manru went to wash the dishes.
Bai Yue sat on the sofa, took out her phone, and tapped on the photo.
That silhouette. Chestnut-colored long hair, slender shoulder line, the curve of her head tilted slightly.
She looked back and forth, comparing it to Jiang Manru in the kitchen.
There was some resemblance.
Except for the hair color.
Bai Yue took out her phone and opened the browser.
Hesitating for a moment, she typed into the search bar: [Can an Omega’s pheromones change?]
Search results popped up, and she scrolled down them one by one.
“Pheromones are determined by genes and are usually lifelong unchanged.”
“Every Omega has unique pheromones, much like fingerprints.”
“Currently, the medical field has no method to alter pheromones.”
“So-called pheromone perfumes on the market can only briefly cover them up and cannot change the essence.”
Bai Yue stared at the screen.
So, pheromones are fixed.
Then Jiang Manru couldn’t possibly be that white peach.
Because jasmine and white peach were too far apart, completely two different things.
Then what if there was a method that could alter pheromones?
Bai Yue picked up her phone and changed her search keywords: [Pheromone disguise]
Search results popped up.
This time it was a bit different.
“Pheromone perfume: can briefly cover the original pheromone, lasting about two to four hours.”
“Suppressant-class products: some contain masking ingredients, which can lower pheromone concentration.”
“Special masking agents circulating on the black market: rumored to completely disguise pheromones, but unverified by medicine, side effects unknown.”
Bai Yue stared at the words “black market circulation.”
She recalled that night, being injected with an inducer.
That Omega knew about “Ash.”