The Frail, Alluring O Always Wants Me to Mark Her (GL) - Chapter 23: 023
Zhu Lexing felt that with Qiao Qiao’s eloquence, she would have made a name for herself in pyramid schemes long ago, so why bother painstakingly practicing ballet.
The cheers and catcalls from the group hadn’t stopped. Zhu Lexing reacted quickly and said immediately, “Alright, since you’ve put it this way, I have one more thing to say before we sing.”
Qiao Qiao didn’t understand this maneuver but seized the opportunity to speak up, “What?”
Zhu Lexing said profoundly, “Qiao Qiao, I’ve liked you for a long time. Please sing this song with me.”
It wasn’t that whoever sang a love song was a couple.
She could be a three-minute couple with anyone, so why single out Yan Mian for teasing?
Couldn’t Qiao Qiao work just as well?
Qiao Qiao hadn’t expected Zhu Lexing to respond this way and was stunned. In just a few seconds, an even more violent cheer erupted—in everyone’s eyes, Qiao Qiao was far more aloof than Zhu Lexing and rarely lost face, so of course, they wanted to enjoy the drama and became even more excited.
The cheering died down, and the one who paused was not just Qiao Qiao, but also Yan Mian, who had instinctively started to stand up.
Zhu Lexing was clearly joking; she could tell, but by doing this, did it count as… a demonstration that she had completely shifted her attention away from her?
This thought brought Yan Mian a strange sense of relief.
So, she also smiled slightly and placed the microphone next to Qiao Qiao.
Qiao Qiao was not someone who couldn’t take a joke, and she immediately picked up the microphone: “Since you’ve said all this, it wouldn’t be nice not to give you face.”
Half a minute later.
As soon as Zhu Lexing opened her mouth, Qiao Qiao confirmed that the other person’s singing was truly awful, yet she stubbornly continued to listen.
Not only her, but the expressions of everyone else present were subtly strange, and they were just short of reaching out to stop Zhu Lexing.
Halfway through the four-minute love song, Qiao Qiao was utterly defeated: “I’m sorry, my singing is too terrible. I can’t listen anymore.”
Everyone with working ears knew who was ruining the song, but since they were the ones who had egged Zhu Lexing on to sing, no matter how arrogant they usually were, they were too embarrassed to speak up and could only nod reluctantly.
Zhu Lexing was a little unfulfilled: “Hey, it’s alright. Singing, you know, practicing more will always yield results.”
Qiao Qiao: “…Have you practiced?”
Zhu Lexing: “Of course!”
In her previous life, whenever she had time, Zhu Lexing would spend it singing at home.
Although it was terrible, not being tone-deaf was a human trait. Since she was only poisoning her own ears, she didn’t feel embarrassed.
Qiao Qiao understood the power of “confidence.” Biting her straw, she let out a deep breath and then asked, “What score do you think you’ll get this time? My mom said if I get good grades this time, she’ll buy me a car. We can drive somewhere else to play then.”
She was much more intimate with Zhu Lexing, clearly having added her to her list of close friends.
Zhu Lexing appreciated the sentiment, but—
“Do you have a driver’s license?”
Qiao Qiao: “I’ll be an adult in two months. I’ll get one eventually. What’s the rush?”
The topic on the floor immediately shifted because of this question. Everyone started sharing the rewards their parents had promised, but neither Zhu Lexing nor Yan Mian had any. They just listened sideways.
Zhu Lin would never refuse any request from Zhu Lexing, and he was afraid that setting goals would make her resentful, so he never brought it up.
If she wanted something, all she had to do was say it.
Yan Mian, however, didn’t have this concept because of Jiang Yue.
To Yan Mian, good grades were an “obligation,” the only “repayment” she could give to Jiang Yue. Why should she ask for a reward for a repayment?
During the conversation, the phone in her hand vibrated. Yan Mian looked down; it was a message from Li Nian saying she was almost there.
She paused slightly and said, “I’ll go pick up Li Nian first.”
When she said this, Yan Mian was looking at Qiao Qiao, who readily nodded.
But for some reason, as soon as she walked outside, Yan Mian suddenly stopped for a few seconds, looking at her phone, and then turned back to look at Zhu Lexing in the private room.
Zhu Lexing hadn’t expected her to suddenly turn around. Afraid of being caught staring at her, she quickly looked down, pretending to check her phone.
Qiao Qiao nudged her with her elbow: “She’s gone. I’m wondering why you aren’t following this time?”
Zhu Lexing bit her straw: “Did I say I’m not following? Why are you rushing me?”
Qiao Qiao sighed with emotion: “Of course, it’s because I finally have a classmate who has a crush on me, and I’m afraid you won’t turn back from your misguided path.”
Zhu Lexing thought this was purely Qiao Qiao being falsely modest and was too lazy to entertain her humble-brag. She greeted her and left.
As she exited the private room, she happened to bump into Xu He. Claiming to be picking up takeout, Xu He did indeed have a few waiters behind her holding packaged bags, all with two cups: “Want some?”
Zhu Lexing didn’t want any, but she noticed that one of the two-cup bags only had one cup, clearly meaning someone had taken one.
Was it Yan Mian?
Zhu Lexing usually didn’t care about such things, but since she noticed, she couldn’t help but ask.
Xu He’s answer was the opposite of what she imagined: “I just met Li Nian outside. She took a cup.”
“…Outside?” Zhu Lexing paused, remembering Yan Mian who had just gone out. “Then where is Li Nian now? Did you see Yan Mian? She just went out.”
Xu He was bewildered: “Yan Mian? No. Li Nian is not far behind me—”
As she spoke, Li Nian approached from the end of the corner. Her hair was loose, and she walked stiffly in this environment. When she saw Zhu Lexing, her timidity lessened considerably.
Before she could speak, Zhu Lexing had already frowned: “Did you see Yan Mian?”
Yan Mian had only been gone for two minutes. Zhu Lexing tried her best to reassure herself, saying it was just temporary nervousness and overthinking. But given the two psychos in the Lin family and the chaotic environment of the bar, who knew what could happen to Yan Mian?
She stared at Li Nian, hoping the other person would give her a satisfactory answer.
Meeting her gaze, however, was an equally bewildered look.
“I didn’t see Mianmian. What happened to her?”
Zhu Lexing stopped wasting time and walked straight out: “Call her.”
Li Nian quickly followed her and dialed the number. On speakerphone, the cold silence of the unanswered call was particularly jarring.
Zhu Lexing quickly asked the system: [Do you know where Yan Mian is?]
System: [I’m very sorry, the system can only sense characters within 20 meters of the host.]
In other words, Yan Mian was no longer in the bar.
Xu He didn’t understand the two girls’ overreaction but also felt anxious. She asked the waiter, “Where is your boss? Can we check the surveillance footage now? Our friend is missing.”
The person looked very troubled: “The bar’s surveillance has been broken recently.”
This time, even Xu He realized something was wrong: “Broken?”
Last time, with the stage play accident, No. 1 High School also just lightly concluded that the surveillance was broken.
Once is a coincidence, but twice?
In the private room, Qiao Qiao, after hearing the news, was silent for a few seconds and suddenly asked, “Does anyone know Yan Mian’s predicted secondary gender?”
“…Unclear.”
“But looking at Yan Mian’s physical condition… she should be an Omega, right?”
Xu He suddenly realized something: “Is she about to differentiate?”
Qiao Qiao found Zhu Lin’s number in her contacts and said coldly, “If we can’t find her, we’ll have to drop the ‘about to.'”
The lights in the dance floor were multicolored and particularly dazzling.
The system had confirmed that Yan Mian was not in the bar, but it was not guaranteed that other customers were unaware. As soon as she left the private room, Zhu Lexing and Li Nian split up to ask customers about Yan Mian’s whereabouts.
To their questions, some responded seriously, some were dismissive and couldn’t be bothered, and some even tried to tease them. A man with a bloated face stood before Li Nian like a silent wall.
It was Li Nian’s first time facing such a person. She froze in place, momentarily unsure what to do.
Zhu Lexing had been keeping an eye on Li Nian. Seeing that the other person hadn’t followed her steps, she glanced sideways and realized what had happened.
She didn’t hesitate, grabbed a glass of liquor from the bar, walked over, and splashed it onto the male Beta’s face.
The Beta was stunned, and the others were also somewhat surprised that Zhu Lexing would suddenly dart out from the side. Her movement was clean and swift, as if she were splashing a basin of dirty water.
Zhu Lexing said coldly, “Watch your mouth. Otherwise, I don’t mind paying for your lifelong hospitalization expenses.”
“You—”
The male Beta immediately flew into a rage, but the bartender had already rushed over and restrained him. Looking at Zhu Lexing and Li Nian, both of whom were dressed casually and showed no sign of designer brands, he was inevitably a little contemptuous: “Misses, it’s best to be cautious when out and about.”
Li Nian snapped out of her daze: “What do you mean? Didn’t you hear what he said just now—”
Zhu Lexing and Li Nian had gone straight into the private room after entering the bar. The bartender thought the two of them had deliberately sneaked in. As soon as he spoke, he felt even more justified and became increasingly scornful: “If the Miss didn’t deliberately get close, would he have acted this way? Why don’t you look for the problem within yourselves?”
Zhu Lexing found this person to be utterly shameless, but the priority was Yan Mian.
Li Nian clearly realized this too. She clenched her teeth, ready to tolerate it, but a female voice suddenly came from behind them: “Lexing.”
The newcomer was Lin Yang.
The other party was dressed exceptionally glamorous tonight and was wearing a very light rosemary perfume.
All the problems found a perfect, standard answer after seeing Lin Yang’s face.
For the sake of so-called love, she would put others in danger.
Zhu Lexing couldn’t understand and grew even more disgusted: “Where is Yan Mian?”
Lin Yang did not answer Zhu Lexing’s question but looked at the bartender: “What are you doing standing here? Kick him out.”
The bartender quickly said, “Yes, Miss Lin.”
The Beta was thrown out, and even the other customers who were watching the show were led to the seating area.
“Lexing, this is the bar my brother bought the other day. It’s under my name now.” Lin Yang smiled slightly. “We haven’t seen each other for so long. Don’t you miss me? I miss you every day.”
Zhu Lexing repeated: “Where is Yan Mian?”
In the few minutes of delay, who knew where Yan Mian might have been sent? To a psycho, they were not bound by morals, nor did they have any logic. Zhu Lexing wouldn’t be surprised by anything they did.
But when the targeted protagonist was Yan Mian, Zhu Lexing only felt a chill down her spine.
Lin Yang’s smile faded slightly: “I can guarantee that she is safe. I won’t do anything immoral. It’s not necessary.”
“I just want to make a deal with you.”
Zhu Lexing stared at her face: “What?”
Lin Yang said, “Give me a mark.”
From the moment she stepped into this room, Yan Mian felt a complete discomfort throughout her body.
The room was filled with a nauseating scent. Yan Mian instantly realized that the air was filled with an Alpha’s pheromones.
In the past, this wouldn’t have been a big deal. But in a confined space, it was enough to force her, who was already close to differentiation, to differentiate early.
But when she wanted to leave, the room was already locked from the outside. She tried to open it, but her body gradually lost strength, and she fell down in front of the door.
Hot.
At first, only her ears were scalding, and then the heat spread outwards—cheeks, neck, and finally her whole body was burning hot.
Pain.
Her skin and flesh ached, and then her bones felt like they were dislocated. Yan Mian felt that even breathing was excruciatingly painful, like walking on the tips of knives, silently enduring torture.
When she struggled to open her eyes again, Yan Mian was already in the differentiation period.
In front of her was bright light.
This was a cramped room with only a bed and a table. The door was closed. Yan Mian wasn’t sure if it was locked. Her back was pressed against the cold door, and her breathing was rapid.
The sound insulation of the room wasn’t very good. The next second, she heard footsteps coming up the stairs, followed by the sound of men and women jesting. The door closed, and the unrestrained gasps penetrated the wall, stabbing Yan Mian.
Yan Mian’s back went cold. She smelled a faint scent of lily of the valley in the air. That was the scent of her pheromones.
If someone were to come in now…
Yan Mian couldn’t imagine the consequences.
Yan Mian bit her lip, trying to use the pain to keep herself conscious, but this only intensified her already agonizing body.
The pain became more pronounced, and her strength softened considerably. She didn’t even know who to ask for help.
All emotions were blurred into a mass, and her thoughts were muddled. Just before she was about to fall into a coma again, the last text message on her phone flashed before her eyes.
[Go to Room 603, I’ve prepared something for you.]
Sender: Zhu Lexing
Lin Yang’s request was like the delirious babbling of a lunatic on the verge of death to Zhu Lexing.
Marking now?
Will she die if she isn’t love-struck?
Zhu Lexing didn’t want to waste any more words with Lin Yang and lifted her leg to leave, but Lin Yang calmly said, “If you want to leave, fine, but I can’t guarantee Yan Mian’s safety.”
Lin Yang curled her lips, and a hint of mockery entered her eyes: “Zhu Lexing, is being with me such an offense to you? What is Yan Mian? How am I inferior to her? Isn’t it just differentiating into an Omega? I can be one too.”
Lin Yang opened her mouth, about to speak more, but her body was suddenly shoved, and her back slammed against the edge of the bar counter.
The music was silent for a moment. The bartender in the distance looked at the scene in astonishment and quickly ran over.
Lin Yang felt a sharp pain in her back and angrily cried out, “Zhu Lexing—”
Her unfinished words suddenly vanished.
Her pupils widened, staring at the shattered handle of the glass that Zhu Lexing had broken at some unknown point. The sharp glass was only a few centimeters away from her.
“Zhu Lexing.” Lin Yang felt a difficulty swallowing in her throat. Her breathing became rapid with fear: “You—”
“I’ll ask one last time.” Zhu Lexing said coldly, “Where is Yan Mian?”
The coldness in the girl’s eyes was intense, filled with malice. Lin Yang had no doubt that if she still didn’t answer the question, Zhu Lexing would ruthlessly use the broken glass handle—
Lin Yang didn’t dare to think further and tried her best to steady her voice: “Room 403 at the hotel.”
Zhu Lexing said, “You just said you could let Yan Mian do anything at any time. What did you mean? Did you prepare people outside the room?”
Lin Yang said, “It’s a Beta hotel. They won’t be able to sense her pheromones.”
The system quickly checked the information. As Lin Yang said, it was indeed a Beta hotel.
Qiao Qiao arrived late. The chaos on the dance floor far exceeded her imagination. She met Zhu Lexing’s gaze and said, “I contacted Uncle Zhu and called the police. You—”
“Watch her,” Zhu Lexing said. “I’m going to find Yan Mian.”
“Li Nian,” Zhu Lexing said, “You come with me.”
Before leaving, Zhu Lexing looked at Lin Yang, who was curled up in front of the bar counter, suffering in pain, and said calmly, “If anything happens to her, I will never let you off the hook for the rest of my life.”
Lin Yang bit her lip.
After arriving at the hotel, Zhu Lexing asked the system. As Lin Yang said, Yan Mian was indeed here.
She went straight to the front desk and asked for the key to Room 403. The front desk was completely bewildered and was about to refuse, but Zhu Lexing scanned the code directly: “My friend has a heart condition and is an Omega. She’s currently going through differentiation. If anything happens during this time—”
The key was handed over to Zhu Lexing.
When opening the door, Zhu Lexing found that the room door was locked from the inside. She knocked on the door, but there was no response from 403.
The room had a wooden door. Zhu Lexing instructed Li Nian: “In a moment… Yan Mian is inside. You go in and give her the inhibitor.”
Both Alpha and Omega have special reactions before differentiation, but Li Nian had never sensed anything, so she already knew she was highly likely to become a Beta.
Zhu Lexing’s words exposed that she would differentiate into an Alpha, but this time, Li Nian was not as anxious as she used to be.
If Zhu Lexing wanted to harm Yan Mian, she would not be standing here with her.
The room door was smashed open by Zhu Lexing with a fire extinguisher, blow by blow. The noise was so loud that even the front desk ran up from downstairs in shock: “How could you do this? Didn’t you say you were looking for a friend? This is destruction—”
Even the other guests on the same floor poked their heads out. A few people initially wanted to curse, but seeing Zhu Lexing’s vicious expression and her relentless actions, they were afraid the fire extinguisher would hit them in the next second and fell silent.
“Li Nian, take my phone and scan the code.” Zhu Lexing said the payment password. “Transfer as much money as you need to her—”
With the last blow, the door was mostly ruined. The room was pitch black, and an overwhelming scent of pheromones washed over Zhu Lexing’s face. Since she hadn’t differentiated, she didn’t sense the scent immediately, only knowing it was pheromones.
The next second, she felt her senses become dull.
Zhu Lexing bit her tongue and raised her hand to turn on the light. This was a two-bedroom apartment. No one was in the master bedroom. The side bedroom was closed but not locked.
She walked straight in. The room only had one bed. Someone was curled up in the blanket, trying hard not to make a sound.
Zhu Lexing slowly approached: “Yan Mian?”
Just before her hand was about to touch the girl’s face, Zhu Lexing suddenly smelled the scent of pheromones.
It was very cold, very faint, and not the pheromone scent of Yan Mian that she remembered.
This was not Yan Mian.
The girl turned her face, revealing a beautiful face. Her complexion was flushed, but her expression was extremely painful. Her fingers dug into her palm, and bl00d was already oozing out unconsciously.
The system said: [This is Shi Ruofeng.]
At a time like this, Zhu Lexing didn’t care whether she was Shi Ruofeng or not. Her only remaining sanity was to tell Li Nian to look after Shi Ruofeng in the room and inject her with an inhibitor.
Lin Yang was clearly being deliberate, forcing two Omegas to come here at the same time for forced differentiation.
If Shi Ruofeng had already differentiated, what about Yan Mian?
Yan Mian was already sickly and couldn’t endure pain. Forcing an early differentiation period would only bring an Omega hundreds or thousands of times more pain.
How could Lin Yang do this?
How could she.
Zhu Lexing dared not miss a single floor. She started searching from the 2nd floor. When she reached the 5th floor, she still found nothing.
Before stepping onto the 6th floor, Zhu Lexing already felt numb.
Her thoughts were gradually becoming dull. Clearly, she was also about to enter the differentiation period, affected by Shi Ruofeng’s pheromones.
Trying her best to keep moving and resist the drowsy feeling was the limit of what Zhu Lexing could do.
But this time, it was different from every floor before.
A faint, almost ethereal pheromone scent drifted in the air. It was the first time she had smelled it, the most familiar scent, the one that had appeared in her occasional dreams, Yan Mian’s pheromones.
Lily of the valley.
Zhu Lexing couldn’t articulate her current mood.
This time, there was no need to check each room one by one. The strongest concentration of pheromones was where Yan Mian was located.
As she approached, Zhu Lexing’s breathing became rapid as she sensed more and more of Yan Mian’s pheromones.
Her throat was dry. She realized that this was the instinct deep within an Alpha’s heart, her biggest flaw.
The desire to possess an Omega.
Zhu Lexing lowered her head and took out two syringes from her pocket. Both were inhibitors, but they targeted Alpha and Omega, respectively. The one for Alphas had low efficacy, better than nothing, but the advantage was that it wasn’t painful.
The one for Omegas had a strong effect, but the disadvantage was that it was extremely painful.
Inhibitors could not be mixed for Alpha and Omega. The Alpha body would strongly reject the Omega inhibitor, causing more severe pain and potentially sequelae.
Zhu Lexing did not hesitate and injected herself with the stronger one.
The connection between Alpha and Omega was subtle yet strong. Even after injecting the inhibitor, there was still no guarantee that the inhibitor wouldn’t fail due to Yan Mian’s sudden surge of pheromones, leading to an early differentiation.
If she crossed this line, she would be free to advance or retreat, with a justification for everything.
Yan Mian couldn’t. She must not.
As her neck grew cold and the bl00d flowed, Zhu Lexing finally felt her mind clear, but accompanying it was a loss of strength in her body.
She knocked on the door.
At this point, she no longer had the strength in her heart to forcibly smash this door open.
“…Yan Mian.”
“Can you hear me?”
In the haze, everything became quiet. Her senses were magnified infinitely. Yan Mian let out a light breath, her eyelashes trembling slightly.
She felt like she was dreaming, that she could hear Zhu Lexing’s voice here.
Was Zhu Lexing here to mark her?
After acting for so long, pretending to be good to her.
Was it all for this moment?
Why?
Yan Mian felt a pain in her heart.
She hadn’t given Zhu Lexing much trust, but at this moment, she still felt immense sadness and humiliation. It was as if an invisible person was watching her, mocking her, saying that this was her fate.
To be played with, to give sincerity, and then to be scorned.
No one cares about you.
Until she heard the person outside the door murmuring to herself.
“I’ve already injected the inhibitor. I haven’t differentiated. Don’t be afraid.”
“I’ll come in later… to give you an inhibitor. Yan Mian, don’t resist. I’m not a threat.”
“Trust me, okay?”
After speaking, Zhu Lexing gritted her teeth and reached for the doorknob.
The door wasn’t locked. She saw Yan Mian curled up against the wall, her head buried in her knees. Everything was just like the day she transmigrated.
The light was bright. The girl’s cheeks were flushed, and the bl00d on the corner of her lips was particularly noticeable.
Zhu Lexing didn’t know what to say or do to protect Yan Mian’s only remaining dignity.
In the silence, the only thing she did was reach up and turn off the light.
The hallway light was dim, and faint footsteps could be heard.
She whispered, “It’s—it’s okay now.”
Zhu Lexing’s fingers touched Yan Mian, but the girl suddenly recoiled. The next second, she saw the injection in Zhu Lexing’s hand.
Yan Mian didn’t move and meekly allowed Zhu Lexing to inject the inhibitor into her.
“…Zhu Lexing.”
Yan Mian’s voice was very faint, but Zhu Lexing heard it.
The scent of pheromones in the room had faded considerably. She asked softly, “What is it?”
Just as she was about to check on Yan Mian’s condition, the girl’s feverish body fell directly into Zhu Lexing’s arms.
Zhu Lexing’s body stiffened. Her hand carefully covered Yan Mian’s forehead. It was scalding hot.
She had a fever.