CH 33

Ji Ning leaned into the Alpha’s arms. He couldn’t see the other’s face but even with his fading consciousness, he immediately recognised the person’s pheromones.

Zhou Rin. 

The protagonist of an ABO world.

Why was he here…

Ji Ning could feel sweat dripping down his face but he didn’t dare raise his head. He wanted to break free of the man’s embrace, but the man seemed to have recognised Ji Ning’s pheromones as well. The hand holding him tightened, as the man spoke in a trembling, hoarse voice.

“Ji…” 

Ji Ning wasn’t aware, but he was no longer in the cabin of the spacecraft, but inside a luxurious reception hall, with guests that ranged from celebrities to royalty. It wasn’t long before people started to notice their unusual movements. Holding their wine glasses, they peered over at them curiously.

Everyone present in the reception hall knew of the Zhou family, especially of the family’s third child, the young master Zhou Rin. The Zhou family had been renowned in the business world for hundreds of years and had only grown more prosperous over time. After Zhou Rin inherited the family business, the Zhou family’s success peaked and established a vast business Empire.

Even looking at him with the most critical eye, it was undeniable that Zhou Rin was a perfect heir. But it was an open secret that back when Zhour Rin was young, his character was very different.

Ignorant, self-indulgent, debauched… almost any negative adjective could be attributed to the teenage Zhou Rin. Back then, he was a hopeless second generation waste with no chance for success.

Perhaps the only good quality Zhou Rin had at the time was that his private life was relatively clean and he’d never had any scandals with Omegas. In fact, even until this day, Zhou Rin had remained single, his icy abstinence unusual for a typical Alpha.

Although it wasn’t discussed openly, many people came to the conclusion that Zhou Rin was impotent. At a previous reception, an Omega in heat threw himself into Zhou Rin’s arms, but they were tossed aside without hesitation.

Furthermore, Zhou Rin’s face had twisted in disgust, and he threw his suit jacket that the Omega had touched to the ground. He left the party immediately, giving no face to the party’s hosts.

Since then, no one had dared provoke the young heir of the Zhou family in public, yet at this reception, an almost identical situation had occurred… 

The bewitching scent of an Omega in heat filled the air. Aside from a few Alphas who retreated to the other end of the room to avoid a fight, most of the Betas and Omegas stayed where they were, watching the two people standing in the doorway of the lounge, interested in how the situation would develop.

Sure enough, the eldest young master was removing his jacket again.

The handsome dark haired man pursed his lips. He supported the Omega’s shaking figure with one hand, while he quickly removed his jacket with the other. The remaining suit vest and white shirt tightly outlined his tall and slender figure.

This time was he intending to change the order, was he taking his clothes off first, then throwing the Omega to the ground afterward? 

A waiter at the reception had already arrived with a syringe containing an inhibitor. He bowed slightly to Zhou Rin and said.

“I’m very sorry Mr Zhou, it was our untimely response that left this gentleman in such poor condition. We’ve caused you trouble. Please leave the rest to us, I can assist this gentleman with injecting the medicine.”

“…No need.”

Zhou Rin draped his suit jacket over the Omega and reached one hand out to the waiter, “Give me the inhibitor.” 

The waiter was confused, not expecting him to make such a request, “Mr Zhou?”

“Give it to me.”

Zhou Rin’s face was stern, as the oppressive scent of an Alpha filled the air. The waiter hesitated for a moment, then handed over the inhibitor. Zhou Rin took it in one hand and lifted up the weak Omega in the other. He carried him into the lounge, then closed the door with a loud bang.

“…” 

Many people were taken aback by this sudden scene.

It was very different from what they had come to expect from the young master. Zhou Rin, who had never given anyone a second glance had actually taken an Omega in heat into an empty room…how could such a thing happen?

This was a perfectly normal occurrence for other Alphas, but for Zhou Rin, what a surprise!

Although Zhou Rin had taken the inhibitor, no one thought he really wanted to help the Omega, otherwise he would have left it to the waiter. There was no need for him to do it himself. 

Could it be that he was already interested in the Omega, but was afraid the other party would reject his temporary mark? That’s why he entered a private room with him.

The guests were surprised and amused at the same time. They felt that Zhou Rin’s preparations were superfluous. How could any Omega refuse an Alpha such as the Zhou family heir? Not to mention that he suddenly entered heat here, perhaps he was aiming for Zhou Rin too?

What was the identity of that Omega and why did Zhou Rin not reject him?

The reception hall soon regained its composure. Although what just happened seemed to be a small incident, everyone was still discussing the potential relationship between Zhou Rin and the beautiful Omega. 

“Doesn’t anyone know who that Omega is?”

Amongst the younger people, someone raised their voice and said, “If you’re asking this, he probably didn’t receive an invitation here. Does that mean he came uninvited?”

Other guests shook their heads, indicating they didn’t know either. If so, that meant that Omega wasn’t so simple, if he could fascinate Zhou Rin without even considering the occasion.

“P uba j mifjg ibbx ja atja Ywfuj’r ojmf.” 

Ktf qfgrbc ktb rqbxf ogbkcfv, ajixlcu ribkis, “Lf rffwfv nfgs ojwliljg ab wf, P wera tjnf rffc tlw rbwfktfgf yfobgf, tf kjr ilxf…”

“Ktf Ywfuj fcujufv ab Itbe Jec?” Vbwfbcf rjlv revvfcis.

“Yt, sfr, tf ibbxr pera ilxf Itbe Jec’r oljcmf.”

The man slapped his palm, then quickly lowered his voice. 

“Zhou Rin’s older brother, Zhou Cun, died some years ago, but before his death, he was engaged to that Omega from the Ji family. If I remember correctly, his name was Ji Ning, and there were always a lot of rumours that Zhou Rin was in love with him.”

“…What do you mean?” The listeners were a little stunned, “Zhou Rin liked him before he was his sister in law?”

“You can say that,” the person replied, “For so many years, Zhou Rin hasn’t had a single Omega by his side. Perhaps he’s always been obsessed with Ji Ning.”

“Then…why didn’t he just marry Ji Ning? It wasn’t like the Omega had married Zhou Cun before he died. Did he have a hard time because Ji Ning had already been marked by his brother?” 

“I don’t know.” The man shook his head, “but Zhou Rin couldn’t marry Ji Ning.”

“Why not?”

“Because Ji Ning passed away shortly after Zhou Rin’s brother died in a car accident.”

Zhou Rin carried Ji Ning into the lounge. Although the lounge looked unfamiliar and its design was completely out of tune with the reception hall, he paid it no attention. 

After placing the person in his arms carefully on the sofa, he was unable to take his eyes off him. He clenched and unclenched his hands, pinching marks into his skin, fearing that if he lost attention for a second, this person would disappear from him forever.

…There was no mistake.

Even though his appearance could be surgically imitated, the pheromone scent couldn’t be faked.

This was the person he had been longing for ever since he was a child. The breath of infatuation was a mark engraved on his soul, which couldn’t be erased from his memory, even in death. 

He was Ji Ning.

He must be Ji Ning.

The young Alpha’s eyes flashed red and his chest heaved violently.

For many years his heart had been cold, his once hot emotions burned to ashes. He thought his heart would never waver for anyone again. 

It was not until this person once again appeared in front of him that he realised the scattered sparks buried in the ashes had never been completely extinguished. Within seconds, a wildfire burned in his chest. It seemed that his heart had never been frozen, it was just the one thing that warmed it had disappeared.

But…how was this possible?

Zhou Rin stared blankly at the face that had appeared countless times in his dreams. He raised a finger, wanting to touch him, but immediately withdrew his hand, afraid that the person in front of him was only an illusion. If he touched him, he might immediately shatter and disappear.

Was it possible? 

He questioned himself again.

Because he knew that Ji Ning was dead.

He was the one who buried Ji Ning with his own hands. Through the glass lid of the coffin, he’d gently kissed the boy’s lifeless face, vision blurred with tears. That had been no illusion, only the cruel reality he lived in.

No one knew better than him that Ji Ning was dead, because there was no one who wanted Ji Ning to be alive more than him. 

The dark haired Alpha half kneeled in front of the sofa, watching the Omega gasp for breath, glittering tears streaming from his eyes. Finally, he couldn’t help but grasp the Omega’s slender wrist and ask him in a hoarse voice.

“Are you really Ji Ning?”

Although he could almost believe that the person in front of him was Ji Ning, he still wanted to hear them admit it.

He didn’t know if there really was resurrection in this world, but as long as that person said ‘Yes’, even if he was a demon sent to drag him down to hell, he would believe him regardless. 

“…”

Ji Ning opened his eyes and blinked hard, the tears pooling in his eyes falling down his face until he could clearly see the Alpha in front of him. The warm scent of pine that emanated from the Alpha was like a net, wrapping tightly around him and entangling their pheromones in a fatal allure.

“Answer me.”

The Alpha’s tone was cold, covering up the restless anxiety in his heart. 

Why couldn’t he admit it? Why wouldn’t he reply?

Was it so difficult to say a single word?

“You won’t speak?”

Facing the Omega’s continued silence, the shadow in Zhou Rin’s heart grew heavier. He didn’t believe that the other party hadn’t heard him. An Omega in heat would instinctively obey an Alpha’s orders. If this Omega kept quiet, that meant he was extremely against answering that question. 

Yet at the same time, he was still deeply attracted to the Omega’s sweet scent…

He was born with a natural aversion to all Omega pheromones, finding them sickly and saccharine. Even breathing Omega pheromones for a short period of time would make him nauseous and in extreme cases, physically ill. The only Omegan scent he had ever been attracted to was Ji Ning’s.

Soon he could no longer bear it, he pulled off his tie impatiently, messing up his neat clothes. He pulled the Omega up from the sofa, grabbed his shoulders and moved his head closer to the glands on the side of his neck.

The person in front of him could disappear at any time. 

For some reason, this feeling still lingered in Zhou Rin’s heart.

His Alpha instincts urged him to claim this attractive Omega who belonged to no one. Zhou Rin wanted to endure it and wait for the Omega to confess his identity, but the Omega’s silence made him uneasy. He decided to put a temporary mark on him, to cover the Omega in his scent.

He pressed his lips against the skin of the Omega’s neck, preparing to bite it and inject his pheromones into the glands. But the next moment, his world tilted and he was unexpectedly knocked to the ground by the Omega.

The pretty Omega was flushed and panting, his soft dark hair wet with sweat and his body trembling. 

He should be wanting to surrender to the Alpha but instead, he’d grabbed Zhou Rin by the throat, staring down at him condescendingly. His eyes were cold but extremely alluring.

At this moment, Zhou Rin was motionless. He could easily have broken free of his opponent’s hold, but the powerful aura of the Omega had stunned him. In an instant, everything else felt meaningless and all that mattered in his eyes was the figure in front of him.

How similar to that time.

Back then he was arrogant and indulgent, never putting anyone else into his eyes. Even in the face of his own brother, he never showed due fear or respect. Only Ji Ning could control him. 

“I don’t belong to you.”

The Omega on top of him lowered his body, took the inhibitor from his hand, and injected it into his arm.

The rich pheromones that filled the air slowly subsided. The Omega plucked a tissue from the table and wiped the sweat from his face, glancing at Zhou Rin.

The dark haired Alpha stood up and said slowly. 

“You are Ji Ning.”

The Omega glanced at him without saying a word, leaning lazily against the sofa. He barely bothered to look at him, as if standing in front of him was not a handsome and mature Alpha, but the childish and irritating second generation waste of the past.

Fine, let this Omega be dismissive. He hadn’t admitted his identity but Zhou Rin no longer doubted whether he was Ji Ning.

He twitched his lips mockingly. It seemed that even after so many years, Ji Ning still hated him and refused to even speak with him. 

“You can go out.”

Once the heat subsided, the Omega spoke coldly to Zhou Rin.

“Why did you-”

Zhou Rin looked at him as if he had too many questions to ask, but he stopped himself abruptly and picked up his suit jacket. After putting it on neatly, he spoke to Ji Ning, “I won’t ask you anything but I hope you can come back to the Zhou house with me.” He paused, “You can treat this as my last request to you.” 

Ji Ning looked at him for a few seconds, then suddenly stood up and motioned for him to walk in front. Zhou Rin’s heart softened, thinking he had agreed. With a gentle smile in his eyes he moved forwards, opening the door for the Omega and made a gesture of invitation. But Ji Ning just pushed him out of the lounge.

“Don’t bother me.”

With a snap, the door closed again, shutting Zhou Rin outside. The sound of the door locking could be heard immediately after.

“…” 

The remaining guests witnessed the young master of the Zhou family remain silently outside the door of the lounge for a long time. When the end of the reception came, he frowned slightly and opened the door, only to find the lounge was empty. Instead of the restroom from before, there were two unfamiliar adjoined rooms.

That scared him to death…

After driving the Alpha out of the lounge, Ji Ning could no longer hide his fear and quickly locked the door. Then he breathed a sigh of relief and collapsed on the sofa, motionless.

He asked Future why Zhou Rin was here and was informed that there had been a pocket space distortion, connecting the reception hall where Zhou Rin was with the spaceship, which caused him to run into the Alpha. 

The reason why he had such a bad attitude towards Zhou Rin was because of his character settings inside the ABO world. Inside that world, Ji Ning acted as Zhou Rin’s white moonlight and had to die young. He was always dismissive toward Zhou Rin, but the real reason why he was so impolite was because inside the ABO world, men could also conceive and have children.

When he first arrived in the ABO world, Ji Ning was stunned. Even though the previous world had been Huo Wuoling’s infinite flow ghost worlds, this was a far greater shock.

In that world, Ji Ning had countless nightmares, dreaming that in order to complete the task he had to have an affair with Zhou Rin and get pregnant.

Although Zhou Rin hadn’t even kissed him by the time the mission was completed, that world had still left a lot of psychological shadows on him. When he saw Zhou Rin just now, Ji Ning had almost fallen to his knees. 

He was really afraid of Zhou Rin…

Fortunately, he had more experience now and had improved his acting skills. According to Future, the pocket space distortion should only last for a short time and the outside would soon be restored to the cabin of the spacecraft.

Sure enough, not long after, Ark knocked on the lounge’s door and asked about Ji Ning’s physical condition. He had returned to the spaceship.

After taking the inhibitor, Ji Ning was happy to unlock the door, feeling refreshed. Under the angel’s concerned gaze he assured him that he was alright. 

To Ji Ning’s surprise, Fu Ji also entered the room.

Seeing that Ji Ning was okay, the red haired man smiled at him before speaking with a more serious expression.

“The spaceship has stopped, we’ve arrived at a transit station in the Mo Ling Empire. I thought this would only be a small scale security check, but they’re boarding the ship for spot checks.

The Mo Ling Empire? Ozer’s country? 

Ji Ning’s heart sank. If Ozer was searching for him, this inspection would immediately reveal his location to Ozer.

“When the security officers enter for the random inspections, act naturally and don’t show any nervousness.”

The red haired man urged, “As long as the documents I have aren’t put under advanced scanning, they won’t be flagged as fakes. Advanced scanning is more troublesome, so as long as you don’t give them any reasons to be suspicious they shouldn’t be using it.”

Ji Ning nodded, he was confident in his acting abilities, but he didn’t know how much information the Mo Ling Empire had on him. 

But there were no other options. He followed Ark and Fu Ji back to their seats. The cabin was silent, everyone waiting for the security officer to board the spacecraft.

“Don’t worry.” Ark put his hand lightly on the back of Ji Ning’s hand and said seriously, “I’ll protect you.”

Ji Ning gave him a small smile.

Soon several security officers from the Mo Ling Empire boarded the spaceship. Dressed in white uniforms they explained their responsibilities gently and politely. At the same time, a team of armed guards stood behind them, to prevent any accidents. 

The security officers patrolled the cabin, taking note of the passengers and occasionally asking a person to show their documents.

What was frightening was how good their instincts were. Five people were ‘randomly checked’ and four of them had problems with their documents. Although there were no big problems, it made the surrounding passengers nervous. They didn’t even dare breathe too loudly.

This accuracy should be related to the Mo Ling people’s spiritual abilities.

Ji Ning guessed privately, unsure if this would cause any unexpected consequences. 

Several security officers walked up to the three of them. After a few seconds of observation, they spoke to Ark, “Please show your IDs, thank you for your cooperation.”

Ark handed over the documents without saying a word. After reading them, the officer declared there were no problems. He gave Ji Ning a quick salute, then moved on to check passengers behind them.

Was it all right now?

Ji Ning glanced back casually, but still couldn’t feel completely relieved. 

At the same time, one of the security officers moved quickly to the forefront of the spacecraft and quietly took out his communicator. He entered a line of text into it.

【Security Transit Station, Level One target, ‘Ji Ning’, please alert His Majesty Ozer promptly.】

Introducing our new protagonist, Zhou Rin (how many are we on now…?)!! I quite like how quietly pathetic he is, and that I get to see Ningning’s cruel streak (＾艸＾)

For my Ozer fans…the Emperor is back!