Omega, Always Wants to Mark Me - Chapter 34

Lu Jinxi returned to her room, her footsteps heavy as Song Wanwen’s words echoed in her mind.

Song Wanwen had raised a question she had never considered: Why did she believe that helping Ming Xiaoyue debut was enough? Why couldn’t they debut together, and why couldn’t she walk alongside Ming Xiaoyue for a while longer?

Song Wanwen sensed the unusually tense atmosphere in the dorm as soon as she entered. She approached Ming Xiaoyue and whispered, “What’s wrong? Did something happen?”

Ming Xiaoyue glanced up briefly but remained silent. Instead, she took out her notebook and wrote: Yang Yuting and Xi Ruoqiong must have had a fight.

Song Wanwen immediately lost interest in discussing it further. She had never particularly liked Yang Yuting, and she’d never realized she harbored any resentment toward the wealthy until she met her.

Someone with a little money acts like they deserve everything, she thought. To put it bluntly, it’s just childish. We’re adults now, yet she still acts like the world should revolve around her.

She didn’t understand Yang Yuting’s behavior, but she also didn’t want to judge it.

“What about you?” Song Wanwen wrote, taking a pen from the side. “Are you confident you’ll win tomorrow?”

“I’ll win. Don’t worry,” Ming Xiaoyue wrote back without hesitation, her words radiating unwavering confidence.

“Okay, good,” Song Wanwen replied. Knowing Xiaoyue always had her plans, she didn’t press further.

After all, tomorrow was the individual competition, and with so little time left, the atmosphere was less tense than it might have been.

Fortunately, when the time came, everyone tacitly settled into their beds.

The next day, as everyone gathered in the lounge, the director walked in holding a box.

“Alright, everyone! After a day of preparation, you’re all ready, right?”

However, the atmosphere in the room was heavy, and the contestants responded with listless nods.

“Ahem, as you all know, the vote gap is still quite significant. We’ve also received numerous suggestions and complaints from contestants. To ensure fairness, we’ve decided to modify the rules.”

The director’s words were met with mixed reactions—some cheered, while others looked dismayed.

Ming Xiaoyue frowned and started to rise, but Lu Jinxi gently pulled her back down.

“Ahem, alright, we’ve already eliminated nearly half the contestants. We’ve decided to combine the scores from the individual and group competitions to directly eliminate the bottom 25 contestants with the lowest cumulative votes. The two-on-two battle format has been scrapped. We’ll now draw lots to determine the performance order.”

The director’s announcement sparked immediate uproar. The elimination quota had suddenly doubled, and some contestants who knew their skills were lacking protested vehemently, jumping to their feet. “Director, this is unfair!”

One person spoke out, and others quickly joined in. “Exactly! Director, this is completely unfair!”

The set erupted into chaos. The director, however, seemed completely unsurprised by the uproar. With a wave of her hand, she signaled the crew to immediately shut off the cameras.

This marked the first time the show’s live broadcast had been cut, effectively a production mishap.

“Enough! Anyone who’s dissatisfied can withdraw right now!”

The director’s furious roar gradually silenced the commotion.

“Don’t talk about fairness! Everyone here has earned their place through their own hard work. Since you all love changing the rules on the fly, the Production Team will indulge you. Now that we’ve actually changed them, why are you complaining?”

“Alright, alright,” the assistant director interjected. “This decision reflects the viewers’ wishes. Yesterday’s performance was severely disrupted due to your protests.

The higher-ups believe that since the show has been running for nearly a month, is broadcast live in its entirety, and is the first girl group competition, these reforms are necessary. We ask for your understanding.”

A classic good cop, bad cop routine. Despite their lingering dissatisfaction, the contestants knew they were powerless to change anything once the cameras went dark.

“Let’s draw lots first. You’ll perform immediately afterward,” the director announced. Yet no one moved.

The first to step forward was Tang Jinshu, a girl with a porcelain doll-like face. As she approached, the director gave her a barely perceptible nod.

Satisfied, she reached into the box and casually grabbed two slips. “I’m getting the other one for Wen Hongyu,” she announced.

At this point, everyone in the room who knew the score understood who was behind this sudden reform. After all, Wen Hongyu had been Tang Jinshu’s opponent in yesterday’s draw.

From the very beginning of the show, everyone present knew that the Tang Family had poured money into the program to launch Tang Jinshu’s career. Moreover, her childhood friend, Wen Hongyu, was also participating.

The show claimed to offer eight debut spots, but everyone knew that in reality, only six slots remained after accounting for Tang Jinshu and Wen Hongyu.

Yet the Tang Family was one of the entertainment industry’s three major powerhouses. Offending Tang Jinshu could mean being blacklisted from the industry before one’s career even began.

After all, if the Production Team were truly fair, Tang Jinshu and Wen Hongyu wouldn’t have been consistently placed on the same team since the show’s premiere. They wouldn’t have always drawn their numbers first, and those numbers wouldn’t have consistently been advantageous.

In yesterday’s group performance, they were the second-to-last to perform and ranked second in votes. The unspoken truth behind these results was glaringly obvious.

Only after Tang Jinshu left did some people dare to whisper among themselves. Ming Xiaoyue and her group, emboldened by their high vote count from the previous day, showed no hesitation in drawing their performance order numbers, especially since the Production Team had made a show of fairness this time.

As more contestants wavered, it became clear that some were acting solely on their own personal agendas.

“Once the performance begins, anyone without a number will be considered to have forfeited!” a staff member announced, silencing any further dissent.

Meanwhile, due to yesterday’s buzz and today’s sudden broadcast mishap, the incident had quietly climbed to the bottom of the trending searches.

Surprisingly, most netizens who had witnessed the entire incident sided with the Production Team.

“If you don’t work hard and keep pressuring the Production Team, you can’t complain when they change the rules. What a joke~”

“Exactly! I saw another camera angle yesterday—was Ming Xiaoyue about to rush up and confront them?!”

“Honestly, she’s so fierce! It’s hard to believe she’s just an Omega.”

“Hey, what’s wrong with being an Omega?”

“Tsk, are Omegas all so sensitive? No one said anything offensive—just stating facts objectively.”

“Can’t Omegas stand up against injustice?!”

“No one said they couldn’t! Why are you getting so defensive?”

The original poster likely hadn’t anticipated the conversation would veer off course. In recent years, as society continued to evolve, the Omega rights movement had grown increasingly fervent.

Before long, the post was deleted.

In the waiting room, apart from the contestants with leading vote counts, most remained anxious.

Lu Jinxi’s gaze involuntarily drifted to Ming Xiaoyue beside her. After their reconciliation yesterday, they were now sitting side by side.

“Hmm?” Ming Xiaoyue sensed Lu Jinxi’s intense gaze and tilted her head slightly. “What is it?”

Song Wanwen’s words still echoed in Lu Jinxi’s mind, stirring a moment of hesitation. She pursed her lips, feeling conflicted.

If Tang Jinshu could pave her way through family connections, why couldn’t Lu Jinxi do the same for herself and Ming Xiaoyue?

“Hmm?” Ming Xiaoyue seemed to detect a slight agitation in Lu Jinxi’s pheromones, yet beneath the restlessness lay a hint of unease. She pressed further, “What’s wrong?”

Lu Jinxi felt uncertain. She had a gut feeling that Ming Xiaoyue wouldn’t be happy if she actually went through with this. In the end, her words caught in her throat, and she murmured, “Nothing.”

“Nervous?” Song Wanwen whispered from nearby.

Wen Yifan’s face was pale. Truth be told, her individual skills weren’t particularly outstanding. Having a beautiful singing voice wasn’t considered a particularly remarkable talent.

Given that previous competitions had always been duets, Wen Yifan was deeply anxious about the sudden rule change for the solo round, fearing her ranking would plummet.

“It’ll be alright,” Song Wanwen reassured her, squeezing her hand gently. “Just perform as you practiced.”

“Mm,” Wen Yifan murmured, her voice trembling slightly.

Ming Xiaoyue, observing their interaction, suddenly felt a weight on her hand. She glanced sideways at Lu Jinxi beside her.

“I’m a little nervous,” Lu Jinxi said expressionlessly.

Ming Xiaoyue clicked her tongue softly, knowing Lu Jinxi was lying again. Yet, inexplicably, she couldn’t bring herself to be angry. Instead, the sight of Lu Jinxi’s tentatively curled fingertips struck her as unexpectedly endearing.

After a long moment, Lu Jinxi noticed Ming Xiaoyue hadn’t moved her hand or said anything. Her heart, which had been pounding in her chest, finally settled.

She resolved to work even harder, determined to debut alongside Ming Xiaoyue.

The performances proceeded swiftly. The Production Team’s last-minute rule change had clearly affected some contestants, leading to several basic errors. Worse still, some contestants buckled under the pressure and withdrew before even taking the stage.

The wait was agonizing, and Ming Xiaoyue was no exception. Without realizing it, she had gripped Lu Jinxi’s hand.

Lu Jinxi noticed Ming Xiaoyue’s reaction and her expression softened. She murmured, “It’ll be alright. Even if we do poorly, we won’t end up in the bottom 25.”

But Ming Xiaoyue’s anxiety wasn’t about that. It was about Tang Jinshu and Wen Hongyu. “Don’t you think they’ll change the rules again for the later rounds?”

“Hmm?” In her previous life, Lu Jinxi had started at the bottom overseas and only climbed up by spending a fortune to pave her way.

“If the Production Team dares to publicly change the rules, it means Tang Jinshu and Wen Hongyu are guaranteed to debut. Right now, we’re a variable in their debut plans. If you were a capitalist, what would you do?”

Lu Jinxi was surprised Ming Xiaoyue would discuss such a deep topic with her, feeling a bit flattered.

“Uh, the rules will probably change again, and it might be disadvantageous for us,” Lu Jinxi blurted out instinctively.

“Exactly. That’s what I’m worried about too,” Ming Xiaoyue said, tightening her grip on Lu Jinxi’s hand. Lu Jinxi felt a secret thrill, her lips curving upward slightly.

“Well, it’ll be fine. The Production Team probably wouldn’t dare to pull too many blatant tricks behind the scenes, right?” Lu Jinxi said, though she wasn’t entirely convinced herself.

“Let’s hope so.”