The first episode uses a flashback narrative, starting with a fierce and passionate struggle for half the chapter. It is filled with the dangerous atmosphere of violence and coercion, characterized by neon lights, vibrant nightlife, and dim lighting.
Cui Mingyao pinches Jiang Zhengze’s neck with one hand, his index finger tracing the fragile gland on the omega’s neck, while the other hand presses against his waist, repeating the brutal actions.
Jiang Zhengze’s eyes are filled with tears, and the air is filled with sand-like red ribbons, likely representing Cui Mingyao’s pheromones.
As a top-tier alpha, Cui Mingyao’s pheromones smell of rum. They are aggressive, domineering, and paranoid. Ordinary alphas would retreat three quarters of a mile upon smelling them, let alone Jiang Zhengze, who is an inferior omega.
The ABO worldview evolved from the social hierarchy patterns of wolf packs, possessing distinct class characteristics.
In this world, alphas hold the highest status and power, followed by betas who assist alphas in management, while the lowest tier is occupied by omegas, who are in a position of being protected or dominated.
Despite possessing sacred reproductive capabilities, they are subjected to endless exploitation and suppression because of their inherent weakness.
Regarding ABO, most authors only borrow the framework and establish many original settings.
For example, the inferior omega in Cuscuta has poor perception of pheromones under normal circumstances and cannot control their own, making it very dangerous for them to walk among crowds.
The estrus period is another state where they crave an alpha’s mark. Due to their body’s unique characteristics, they can be marked by multiple alphas without getting pregnant.
That is correct. Whether male or female, omegas can get pregnant and give birth.
When an alpha invades the reproductive chamber and completes the marking, a new life can be nurtured within the omega’s body.
Cui Mingyao takes a deep breath. Isn’t this setting purely for erotica? In a 19R Korean comic, such a setting is simply like a fish in water.
In this light, only betas are the most normal and safe.
The sexual scene in the first part of the first episode is likely because Jiang Zhengze discovered Cui Mingyao’s true nature and was scared, wanting to escape, but was caught and forcedly marked.
Yes, according to the plot story introduced by 007 earlier, Cui Mingyao adopted a gentle and reliable appearance to intentionally approach him, providing care and help when Jiang Zhengze was at his most desperate, winning his trust. In reality, he would take advantage of him while he was sleeping.
The latter part introduces Jiang Zhengze.
He was an excellent student with high moral character, low-key, and diligent in his work. He had a loving mother and a young, cute sister. When he was born, he was an ordinary beta without pheromones. At that time, his father was still running a small business and had not yet developed the bad habit of gambling, so Jiang Zhengze spent the most peaceful period of his life during that time.
However, unforeseen circumstances arose. When Jiang Zhengze was 15, he differentiated into a rare inferior omega. This matter was overheard by classmates with ulterior motives, who returned to class to publicize it widely, causing many people to begin looking at him with strange eyes.
People always exclude those who are different. In the eyes of these people, Jiang Zhengze had long been an outcast.
He had an introverted personality, was not good with words, had excellent grades yet would not help them cheat, and was handsome, capturing the attention and gaze of many girls.
Many of his classmates were extremely jealous and repeatedly found faults with him on purpose. Jiang Zhengze had little reaction, keeping his head down to do his own things. Whether it was mockery or ridicule, it went in one ear and out the other, as if they were nothing more than insignificant air.
So this is why Jiang Zhengze differentiated into an inferior omega.
Omegas are already inferior, and he was an inferior toy that everyone could mark.
Several unruly alphas harbored malicious thoughts and deliberately blocked Jiang Zhengze on his way home from school, releasing their pheromones to force him.
Who would have thought that Jiang Zhengze, who had always had an indifferent expression, would reveal a bewildered look for the first time? He unconsciously took a few steps back, cold sweat oozing from his forehead, and his rosy lips lost their vibrancy, becoming pale and fragile.
The alphas were incredibly surprised. Could Jiang Zhengze really show such a fragile expression? Could those purple eyes be so beautiful when reflecting their figures?
Excitement shone in the alphas’ eyes. One pressed his shoulder and gave a light push. Jiang Zhengze lost his balance and fell straight to the ground, his strength to even struggle being negligible.
Since then, the nightmare of Jiang Zhengze’s youth began.
His father’s business failed, and he became an alcoholic, behaving with volatile rage, easily triggered by anything. He vented his frustration on his family, beating and scolding his wife, and pushing all the blame onto this innocent woman.
In order to protect his mother and sister, Jiang Zhengze clashed with his father many times.
The drunk, hyper-masculine father felt even more infuriated. A perfectly good beta had differentiated into a lowly omega, and an inferior one at that, who had lost even the sole reproductive capability.
He picked up a wine bottle, smashed it directly at Jiang Zhengze, and cursed with a slurred tongue.
“If it weren’t for you lot, would I have to be so subservient outside, begging for investments and running a business?”
“Now the business has gone bust, and you bastards still won’t give me any peace. So what if I beat my woman twice? All you do at home is reach out for money. You worthless bitches, you’d be better off selling yourselves!”
Jiang Zhengze held his silently weeping mother, seeing the black and purple bruises on her face, gritted his teeth, and intended to take his mother away.
However, the hyper-masculine man pounced on them like a madman, grabbed the woman’s hair, and slapped her face.
Jiang Zhengze could no longer endure it. He picked up the wine bottle from the floor and smashed it heavily against his father’s head.
Seeing this, Cui Mingyao raised his eyebrows in surprise.
He went straight for it without hesitation.
Jiang Zhengze, is this his personality?
The following chapters are still about his tragic teenage years. In the day-to-day suffering, it seemed there was nothing to look forward to.
Yet, in the yellowed imagery, Cui Mingyao saw a tall, heroic figure.
Only the lower half of his face was exposed, and he said nothing, appearing in Jiang Zhengze’s memory.
The story unfolds from Jiang Zhengze’s perspective, recalling things from his student days. So who is this person? Is he someone who is not even willing to appear in his memories?
Cui Mingyao kept a mental note and continued reading.
Jiang Zhengze finally survived his painful high school years and was admitted to a well-known university in South Korea, but at this moment, disaster struck from the sky.
His father suddenly disappeared, leaving behind astronomical gambling debts. Debt collectors showed up at his door and smashed his home to pieces.
When Jiang Zhengze returned home, he only heard a commotion and his sister’s crying. He opened the door in a panic, just in time to run into the debt collectors who had gained nothing.
They were dressed in black suits with baseball bats in their hands. The shirts under their suits were wrinkled and unbuttoned, and their collars were popped up, their hooligan aura piercing through the screen.
As soon as those fierce alphas saw Jiang Zhengze, they grabbed his collar and viciously forced him to pay up.
It turned out that his father had borrowed high-interest loans to gamble, lost everything, and when the incident came to light, fearing that the loan sharks would chop off his hands, he fled in a panic.
With the son paying the father’s debts, this liability fell on Jiang Zhengze.
Jiang Zhengze looked at his face, his mind went blank, and he subconsciously called out Mom.
Unexpectedly, the gangsters sneered and fished a wrinkled piece of paper from their pockets, holding it up in front of him.
“Your mom was afraid of being implicated and ran away long ago.” The alpha shook the paper in his hand. “Now, how are you going to pay us back? A total of one billion?”
Jiang Zhengze’s eyes moved sluggishly, landing on the paper in the alpha’s hand.
That was a letter, written in his mother’s handwriting.
Short of seven lines, it was full of words like I am sorry and Apologies.
The alpha let go, and Jiang Zhengze knelt down uncontrollably. The IOU and the letter fluttered in front of him like snowflakes.
Jiang Zhengze picked up the letter with trembling hands, and bean-sized tears landed on the letter paper, soaking the crooked ink marks.
His eight-year-old sister cried while throwing herself at Jiang Zhengze, hugging his waist tightly and saying she wanted to find Mom.
The debt collectors had not never seen pitiful people before. There were plenty of poor, pitiful people in the world, but if one wants to obtain something, one must pay the corresponding price.
They spat on the ground, prodded Jiang Zhengze’s thin shoulders with their baseball bats, and gave them a deadline to pay off the corresponding debt.
One billion, within three years.
For 18-year-old Jiang Zhengze, it was simply an Arabian Nights-style fantasy.
He did not look for traces of his mother. If she had left, how would he be able to find her?
He lived a life of mutual dependence with his sister alone. He did not hate his mother; he respected her choices.
Their lives were like hell. If they were destined to wither in the end, he also hoped that his mother could live well.
Jiang Zhengze did not give up his studies. He entered university while working part-time, turning night into day, squeezing in time whenever possible. As long as there was a job, he would go, no matter how hard it was.
He hid his identity as an inferior omega. When he had free time, it was only during his estrus period. He would lock himself in his room for a week with inhibitors and then proceed to work hard to earn money to pay off the debt.
Money, he needed money. He couldn’t take a single step without money; money was needed everywhere. His sister needed money for primary school, and he needed money for university.
He slept five hours a day, worked three jobs, was frugal, and lived cautiously.
Every time, he paid back the debt one day before the deadline.
It was not that he did not harbor resentment. He also tried to contact his father, but with his abilities, he could not find a single trace of that man.
Life went on like this for a year. Who would have thought that his identity was exposed by someone? Perhaps it was a classmate who had bullied him in high school, who couldn’t bear to see him living a stable life and spread it intentionally.
This caused great trouble for Jiang Zhengze. Because of his physical condition, malicious alphas would intentionally approach him, and pheromone suppression often left him in a poor state. Over time, this delayed his part-time jobs.
Moreover, because Jiang Zhengze was so good-looking, the alphas who came by to admire him thought they had a chance to get close to him. They often stalked and followed Jiang Zhengze, scaring away a crowd of customers.
The store manager fired him.
Having lost his source of income, he could not repay his debts, and every few days, he was surrounded by rich playboys, nearly being forcibly marked.
Misfortunes never come singly, and tragic fate did not let Jiang Zhengze go.
The first time he failed to pay his debt by the deadline, he was thrown to the ground and severely beaten by the debt collectors.
The next day, he discovered that his sister’s health was poor. After taking her to the hospital for an examination, they found she had kidney failure.
It was already at the middle stage; if they delayed any longer, it would enter the late stage.
Jiang Zhengze blamed himself extremely. Busy with work and studies, he simply did not notice his sister’s abnormalities, and his sister did not want to add trouble to her brother, so she suffered in silence.
The high interest on the loans continued to grow, the dialysis for kidney failure was another expense, and the relentless pursuits by alphas at school.
Everything pressed down on him, pressing down on this 19-year-old youth.
At his wit’s end, he met Cui Mingyao.