I Marked My Arch-Nemesis Omega - Chapter 2

The dorm room had its own private bathroom and balcony, with a loft bed above a desk below. Though not as comfortable as home, the space was more than adequate.

Sheng Yu never considered herself someone who was spoiled or pampered. She found her assigned spot, quietly memorizing the names of her roommates. It was rare for seniors in high school to remain undifferentiated, so filling even a few dorm rooms with them was no easy feat. As a result, this building was mostly occupied by freshmen and sophomores.

She had just finished unpacking her things when the other three roommates arrived. They exchanged brief greetings, going through the motions of introductions.

Sheng Yu grabbed her toiletries and headed to the bathroom. Half an hour later, she emerged and climbed straight into bed. Lying on her back, she stared at the ceiling and yawned.

“Sheng Yu, are you having dinner with us tonight?” one of the girls asked.

From the voice, Sheng Yu could tell it was the more lively one of the trio—Bai Ying, if she remembered correctly.

“Sure,” Sheng Yu replied.

“I heard about you back in freshman year,” Bai Ying said, walking over to Sheng Yu’s desk and placing a carton of milk on it before distributing some to the others. “Now that I’ve seen you in person, you really are as pretty as they say.”

“Thanks.”

“I wonder when I’ll finally differentiate,” another girl sighed. “Have you guys unpacked everything yet? It’d be such a hassle to move dorms if we differentiate after just a couple of days.”

“True, but I’ve already unpacked,” Bai Ying said. “Sheng Yu, did you take everything out?”

“Yeah,” Sheng Yu yawned again. “There are usually signs about half a month before differentiation. So if you don’t feel anything now, you’ll probably be here a while longer. Might as well settle in properly.”

“I heard it’s really rough when you differentiate into an Alpha or Omega,” the third girl chimed in.

“Not sure. But I’m definitely going to be a Beta,” Sheng Yu said, yawning once more.

The others laughed, exchanging glances.

Sheng Yu turned toward the wall, tugging at her bedsheet.

She had to be a Beta. Even if she wasn’t, she would force herself to be.

Classes wouldn’t start until tomorrow, so today was left for students to settle in. Many were wandering around campus, most of them former students of No. 1 High.

Sheng Yu had no interest in that. Though she’d agreed to eat with her roommates, they ended up touring the school, leaving her to head to the cafeteria alone.

She stood in front of the campus map for a long time, studying it.

“Sheng Yu, where are you headed? Want me to show you around?” someone passing by asked.

“Thanks, but no need,” Sheng Yu smiled at them. “I’m just looking at the map.”

“Alright,” the person replied, sounding a little disappointed.

On her way to the cafeteria, Sheng Yu took a detour, sticking to the edges of the school grounds.

The perimeter was fenced with ordinary iron railings, about 1.8 meters tall by her estimate. Sheng Yu stared at them for a moment, mentally calculating—just two steps would do it.

The food at No. 13 High’s cafeteria was decent, with a wide variety of dishes. That single advantage alone silenced many complaints, especially since the food at No. 1 High’s cafeteria had been notoriously inedible.

Sheng Yu circled around before buying a bowl of noodles and settling at a quiet corner. When she looked up, she spotted a girl sitting alone at another table in the distance.

The other person’s meal was bought from the counter, and their eating movements were extremely elegant, standing out slightly among the ravenous crowd around them. Clearly, they were a young lady from some aristocratic family. However, it was unexpected that such a young lady would take their civilian-class spaceship.

What a coincidence—running into each other four times in a single day.

Sheng Yu twirled her noodles around her chopsticks, gauging the size to ensure she could swallow it in one bite before stuffing it into her mouth. When she looked up again, she saw the girl frown slightly, her expression tinged with disdain, before picking up her tray and leaving.

“Tch.” Sheng Yu took a sip of her soup.

Gender differentiation in the Empire had only emerged about five hundred years ago. Before that, the Empire recognized only two genders, not the current six. The change came about because the Empire kept losing wars against the Alliance, prompting a group of radicals to initiate the so-called “Genetic Modification Project.”

Around the same time, a faction within the neighboring Alliance had secretly launched their own “Genetic Modification Project.” However, due to the Alliance’s general opposition to such genetic tampering, the project was eventually abandoned.

When the Empire’s “Genetic Modification Project” was exposed, the ruling class didn’t oppose it. Instead, they vigorously promoted the experiments, making a choice entirely different from the Alliance’s. Nowadays, when Sheng Yu looked up the Empire’s history, she found almost no criticism of the project. But anyone with half a brain could imagine how horrifying those experiments must have been.

The “Genetic Modification Project” didn’t make everyone stronger. In Sheng Yu’s view, it merely filtered out a batch of individuals more suited to being war machines.

After the mass modifications, Alphas and most Betas lost the ability to conceive. The minority of Omegas, who retained this ability, became the Empire’s most heavily protected demographic, enjoying generous social benefits.

But Sheng Yu wasn’t the least bit envious. She had read through those benefits—every single one was designed to make Omegas more willing to bear children. For Omegas born into ordinary families, aside from pregnancy, there were hardly any better life choices available.

After the AO classification system was established, social stratification became even more pronounced.

Compared to the old aristocracy, who had already accumulated considerable wealth, a new class of “neo-aristocrats” emerged.

These “neo-aristocrats” gained higher status by participating in the Empire’s external wars. Initially, they were mostly S-rank or A-rank Alphas. Over the centuries, they consolidated their position by marrying S-rank or A-rank Omegas to ensure their families produced “high-quality Alphas.” As a result, the likelihood of an S-rank Alpha being born into an ordinary family had drastically decreased.

Sheng Yu had no fondness for these aristocrats, whether “neo” or old. Thirteenth High School was, in everyone’s perception, a covertly aristocratic institution. The proportion of nobles here was much higher than in other schools—otherwise, there wouldn’t be so many A-rank Alphas. Sheng Yu guessed that among the nine A-ranks, apart from Liao Keke, the rest probably came from well-off families.

She finished her noodles cleanly, wiped her hands, and left her seat.

On her way back to the dorm, Sheng Yu detoured to a fruit stand to buy some fruit. Along the way, someone asked for her contact info again. She sighed inwardly—being pretty really was a hassle. She decided she’d wear a mask the next time she went out.

When she arrived at the dorm, the three roommates were huddled together discussing something. Seeing Sheng Yu return, Bai Ying turned her head and greeted her, “The student council just came by and collected our neural interfaces.”

“Huh?” Sheng Yu froze. “Why would they take them?”

“That’s just how our school is. They’ll return them on Saturday and Sunday,” Zhang Yunsu explained.