The alpha, who had been half-dead a few seconds ago, suddenly burst to life, eyes shining brightly as he dragged Pei Zhuo over and pinned him down on the bed.
Soft silver-gray hair tumbled down, following heated breaths into the nape of his neck.
...
It was as if he had been snatched up by some large and hairy creature.
Pei Zhuo felt the alpha carefully sniffing him, nose gently rubbing against his neck, almost hesitantly.
He knew what Qin Wenzhou was looking for: a mark.
But after the death of 001, he'd been forcefully stripped of it on the operating table, leaving no trace behind.
The intense bitterness of dark chocolate from the treatment room and the low breathing at his ear seemed like nothing more than a dream. The pale, shadowless light reflected in his slightly unfocused eyes while the scent of disinfectant flooded his nose, and someone was talking beside him.
"027 still has value for reuse, the mark needs to be removed."
"Prepare for surgery."
Experimental Subject 027.
All the emotions were stuffed into a string of cold serial numbers. There was no name, no past. A small metal serial number carried all the value from life to death.
Yes, just an experimental subject.
...
But once there had been someone who stuck to him like glue and called him "Mint", who stuffed meaningless little gifts into his hands, who stumbled clumsily by his ear and whispered softly that he liked him.
Perhaps the impression 001 left was even deeper than the lid of an instant noodle bowl, barely qualifying to the level of an instant noodle fork.
...
Pei Zhuo lay on his back, squinting slightly as he said, "If you dare bite me, I guarantee that not even your ashes will remain."
The alpha, who had been inching forward, froze instantly.
The skin at his neck was smooth and cool, like a large mint-flavored fever patch, irresistibly attractive to the burning alpha.
After a long while, he reluctantly gave up the idea of taking a bite and rubbed his forehead against it.
The area where his forehead rubbed turned red, as if burned by something hot.
Pei Zhuo frowned, reached out, and effortlessly flipped the alpha beneath him over.
Before he could rise, another wave of heat wrapped around his wrist from behind, sending him tumbling back under the quilt. He turned his head and met Qin Wenzhou's eyes.
"You want to mark me?" Pei Zhuo suddenly smiled. His pitch-black eyes were as bright as pearls that had been wiped clean of dust, sucking in people's souls.
His lips hovering near a strand of silver hair, voice soft and cold. "Your glands have been damaged, and your pheromones are so weak that I can't even smell it. How exactly do you plan to mark me? Don't be delusional."
"...It will be fine." Qin Wenzhou avoided his gaze.
To an alpha, there was no difference between damaged glands and castration. He didn't even know what his own pheromones smelled like.
After a brief silence, Qin Wenzhou asked again, "Did you keep the wedding photos?"
Pei Zhuo blinked, momentarily confused before emphasizing once more, "We're only related through money."
Qin Wenzhou refused to believe him, his gaze drifting toward the black bracelet on the table. "Liar, it knows that you are my wife."
"I also want to ask," Pei Zhuo sat up cross-legged, eyes lowered as he glanced at the alpha, "Why are you the landlord?"
"Because we're married, of course." Qin Wenzhou's expression was one of utter certainty. "My house is now yours too, it's only right for me to give it to you... Wait, why do you have to pay rent?"
Pei Zhuo tried to resist but ultimately failed, pulling the quilt off himself and tossing it under the bed. The alpha fell back down with a thud, yet stubbornly crawled back up.
It seemed that six years had done nothing to improve 001's intelligence, as he still liked to stick himself onto others like a retard.
"I found the listing for this house in a pile of small advertisements in front of a black clinic. If you have any issues down there, I can recommend a doctor."
Qin Wenzhou was shocked and immediately clarified, "I don't! You can try it if you don't believe me. "
Pei Zhuo: "…"
"Qin Wenzhou." He called out coldly.
"Mm?"
"If you keep spouting nonsense, I'll really make it impossible for you."
After a long moment of silence, the Alpha finally quieted down, his body curling back under the quilt as he stared at Pei Zhuo through narrowed eyes.
A while passed before he spoke again.
"Pei Zhuo, I want food."
"There isn't any," Pei Zhuo rejected him coldly without hesitation, "You've already eaten six boxes of instant noodles. Don't even think about touching food for the rest of the month."
"I want to eat."
"How about some nutritional supplements instead?" Pei Zhuo asked.
The Alpha fell silent once more. After another moment, his breathing finally slowed and deepened.
Seeing that he had finally fallen asleep, Pei Zhuo left the bedroom and picked up the remains of the sweeping robot from the clutter in the corner of the living room, and pulled out a second-hand toolbox from under the sofa.
The toolbox was well-stocked, but it would be wishful thinking to want to repair an old machine that was almost scrapped.
He reached out and lifted the drawer of the toolbox, five ability storage tubes rolling around inside as they collided softly against each other.
D-level talent—Mechanical Mastery. It could assist in repairing simple gadgets.
However, the effectiveness of ability storage tubes lasted for only 15 minutes, so if one were repairing something complicated, many more would need to be consumed, often far exceeding the value of the item being repaired, thus making it more practical to simply purchase a new device.
As such, this type of ability storage tube had poor sales, and they were usually bundled together at discounted prices with other abilities, relegated to the role of a slow-selling product on second-hand apps.
Pei Zhuo occasionally bought some for himself, then extended their duration by up to 24 hours through his S-level talent—Mirror Image, saving both time and money.
Rolling up his sleeves, he organized the damaged parts neatly before beginning repairs on the sweeping robot with the aid of Mechanical Mastery.
His knuckles accidentally rubbed against a bit of black engine oil, which made his slender and beautiful hands look like a flying white bird.
...
Time passed quietly, dusk gradually fell.
Outside the window, there was still no light. Only a hazy glow lit up from the distant rooftop of a building.
That kick had been a full attack from a top-tier alpha. The damage to the robot was too severe, and if he wanted it fully repaired, Pei Zhuo would likely need to find a B-level talent—Mechanical Mastery.
However, Pei Zhuo didn't mind.
Half of the things he bought were incomplete mascots anyway, so one less working sweeping robot wasn't much of a loss as long as it could move.
He crouched down, put the robot on the ground, and pressed the start button.
The round disc responded generously with a buzzing hum.
Before Pei Zhuo could celebrate, the robot promptly spun wildly, exhibiting an alarming degree of aggression as it raised its two cleaning brushes, ready to slap his father across the face.
Pei Zhuo stared at the robot in silence, then dodged the brushes before swiftly shutting off the machine. He decided to sleep today and go buy a new one tomorrow.
He had been sleeping here for the past two days. The bedroom was given to the weak and semi-disabled Alpha.
Before going to sleep, Pei Zhuo habitually locked the bedroom door, lest someone do something irreparable in the middle of the night and thereby end up dead in his dreams.
...
It was very quiet at night.
In the darkness, the quartz clock on the wall ticked away with its broken minute hand. The bedroom door suddenly made a soft "click", and an electric arc flashed through the keyhole, unlocking it.
Unaware of this, Pei Zhuo rolled over beneath his quilt.
The shadow that came out of the bedroom bypassed the sweeping robot, stepped over the toolbox on the ground, and crept closer to the sofa.
Just as he reached the coffee table, a sudden noise came from behind.
The sweeping robot started up without warning, letting out a deafening roar while its two brushes spun wildly, bravely charging toward the shadow.
Then the lights in the living room flickered back on.
The suspect was arrested on the spot.
"What do you want?" Pei Zhuo sat up wrapped in the quilt. He didn't have a trace of sleepiness. He stared at him with unkind eyes, "I clearly locked the bedroom door."
"…" Probably because Pei Zhuo's eyes were dangerous, Qin Wenzhou swallowed his saliva and quickly explained, "My fever is gone. I can sleep on the sofa. I want you to sleep in the bedroom."
Pei Zhuo took ten full seconds to understand what he meant before asking, somewhat puzzled, "Why?"
Qin Wenzhou hesitated and finally said, "Because you are Omega."
Pei Zhuo had never received such care before and was slightly stunned.
Then he came back to his senses and carefully looked at Alpha's eyes. He was sure that this guy originally wanted to say "Because you are my wife".
He deserved a beating.
But he didn't have anything on him, so he couldn't beat him.
001's little bit of IQ was probably used on this.
"If you want to sleep on the sofa, then be my guest." Pei Zhuo didn't bother holding back as he carried his own quilt into the bedroom, clutching it tightly around himself. A minute later, he poked his head out again and pointed at the door lock. "How did you open this? Explain."
"By using electricity," Qin Wenzhou explained while demonstrating, sparks of lightning dancing above his head. "Like this."
"You broke the lock?"
"Yes." Qin Wenzhou suddenly felt an ominous premonition.
Sure enough, Pei Zhuo quickly took out a pen and paper, "Two hundred yuan to change the lock. Do you want to write the IOU or should I?"
Qin Wenzhou fell silent. He took the brush and prepared to copy the previous IOUs when the pen in his hand was effortlessly snatched away and landed in the omega's hands.
The tip of the pen lightly jabbed at the gland at the back of Qin Wenzhou's neck, accompanied by the gentle breaths of the omega like a fluttering butterfly resting on his skin, still with that minty scent.
"!!!"
All the blood in Qin Wenzhou's body rushed to his head, and for a moment, he thought he was dreaming.
"I suddenly remembered, weren't your glands broken?" Pei Zhuo continued poking with the pen without noticing the alpha's strangeness. "Why can you still use your talent?"
"..."
"Speak. Is that right? You..." Pei Zhuo turned to face him and paused, feeling very confused, "Why are you blushing?"
It was more than blushing.
Qin Wenzhou now looked like an innocent Alpha who had his pants taken off in public. His face was a mixture of shock, embarrassment, and disbelief.
Pei Zhuo couldn't help but wonder what he had just done.
The two stared at each other for a moment.
Finally, Qin Wenzhou broke the silence first.
"You touched my gland," he asked sincerely, "Can I call you my wife now?"
0 Comments