To be honest, Tang Jianxi felt as if her lines had been stolen.
At the same time, she realized that this omega, famous for being lovesick, was not as simple as he seemed.
Tang Jianxi lowered her gaze, drank the last sip of her coffee, and said softly, “Let’s talk somewhere else.”
Following the typical omega shopping routine, they arrived at an omega wellness club. No matter the era, as long as beauty remained important, cosmetology would always be a profitable business.
Compared to alpha wellness clubs, which only offered treatments for hair, skin, and glands, omega clubs were refined to a terrifying degree. It was said that the most famous club on the Imperial Capital Star was known for making omegas look indistinguishable from virtual characters. Someone who had experienced it described it as: “I felt like I had turned into a cup of panna cotta.”
Furthermore, because of the numerous and complex services offered, covering everything from the tips of their hair to their toenails, these clubs were often the preferred social venues for high-society omegas.
They chose a relatively private hand treatment and followed an AI attendant into a room that was entirely white. The fragrance of orange blossoms wafted from the doorway. A humanoid robot bowed slightly, holding the door open for them. A simple smiley face flashed on its light-screen face, but its voice was that of a sweet and lovely young girl. “Enjoy your time.”
The room was filled with all sorts of artificial flowers that felt just like real ones to the touch and even continuously emitted a faint fragrance. In the center of the room were two large leather armchairs, flanked by white machines. All one had to do was place their hands on the machine’s platform to begin a full hand treatment.
Tang Jianxi reclined in the armchair and picked up a glass of juice from the small table beside her. She took a sip with her eyes closed, washing away the lingering bitterness of the coffee. Then she placed the glass back, her eyes still closed, and said, “Mr. Qi, why did you say that earlier?”
Then Tang Jianxi heard a familiar question: “Do you know about Glory?”
Tang Jianxi’s eyelids twitched. She snapped her eyes open to look at the male omega sitting upright in the armchair. His eyes held an expression that was either mocking or sarcastic—perhaps both. His pale lips softly revealed a shocking truth. “That’s not just a simple high-society alpha club. In fact, they’re buying and selling lower-class omegas. My husband bought a few, and it seems your alpha is about to buy one too.”
“Do you have proof?”
“No.” Qi Sheng spread his hands, his tone somewhere between a sneer and a taunt. “It’s impossible for me to get any proof. It’s an alpha-only place, after all.”
Tang Jianxi sat up straight, staring at Qi Sheng. “Then how do you know? It’s not like Johansen told you, right?”
The unsettling expression on Qi Sheng’s face deepened. Finally, he couldn’t help but laugh, looking rather pleased with himself. “How could he? I hacked his comm.”
He explained slowly and deliberately, choosing his words with extreme care, as if he had been rehearsing this for a long time. “Normally, the comm system is unbreachable. But there’s a very useless mode in the comm, with a disgusting name: Sweetheart Mode.”
“I used to be very fond of Johansen, and he doted on me. So after we got married and met the conditions, we activated this mode. It can sync some bills and starnet messages. That’s how I noticed something was wrong.”
“Johansen’s bills and messages didn’t follow a pattern, at least not his social or business patterns. I guessed he was hiding something from me. To find the answer, I used this mode to hack his comm—of course, I had to borrow a bit of his biometric information in the process, but I had drugged him, so he probably didn’t feel it.”
“And then I discovered Glory. And your famous alpha.”
At this, he couldn’t help but laugh again. “I really didn’t expect it. I thought only trash like Johansen would join Glory, but there are so many S-rank alphas in there. Even many alphas adored by omegas are members. They act so human in real life, yet they insist on being beasts in secret.”
“Oh, and that includes your alpha.”
Tang Jianxi was speechless. She had only intended to tell Qi Sheng about Johansen’s affair. The matter of Glory was too significant, and she and Yun Chuji had agreed that Qi Sheng shouldn’t be involved, to reduce the risk of exposure beforehand.
But Qi Sheng already knew so much.
And he had uncovered the truth step by step, relying purely on his own sensitivity and intelligence. Tang Jianxi was quite impressed, but Qi Sheng’s reaction made her feel a sense of unease.
So she asked, “Have you already planned your revenge on Johansen?”
Qi Sheng placed his hand on the machine’s platform, letting it soak in the warm liquid. He smiled and said, “Of course. Neither he nor the three omegas he’s keeping will get away with it.”
“As for your alpha, you can wait until after she buys someone before you make your move. This is an age of law, after all. We need both witnesses and evidence.”
Indeed, the line between a lovesick fool and a crazed yandere was often a thin one.
Tang Jianxi finally understood why Qi Sheng had told her everything. It seemed he wanted to pull her in to take revenge on their cheating alphas together. Tang Jianxi sighed. “You can’t touch those three omegas. They’re innocent.”
Qi Sheng caught a hint of something in Tang Jianxi’s tone and immediately looked at the omega across from him, whose face was full of helplessness, with renewed vigilance. “You know everything?”
“I know more than you do.”
“But for your safety, I don’t plan on telling you what I know.”
“However, I can help you get revenge on Johansen.”
Qi Sheng scoffed at this, his voice tinged with resentment. “So you were just watching me make a fool of myself before?”
The machine was using ultrasound to remove the dead skin from his hands. The slight vibration stirred the negative emotions he had long suppressed. “Let me tell you, don’t even think about using me. I’ve been a fool once, and I will never be one again. Whatever you want to do has nothing to do with me. Likewise, if you’re not going to join me in what I’m doing, then keep your mouth shut.”
“I have to admit, I did intend to use you. I never planned on telling you the truth.”
“But I must tell you, this isn’t just about Johansen. If you’ve been in that system, you should know where those omegas came from. They are more important than Johansen.”
Tang Jianxi tried to placate him, but it only made Qi Sheng’s hostility grow stronger. “Those omegas, they knew from the very beginning that the alphas buying them had partners, yet they shamelessly stayed by their side. They should pay the price.”
Tang Jianxi reminded Qi Sheng, “They had no choice.”
Qi Sheng’s hand had completed the first stage of the treatment and now looked like some kind of gelatinous object. He said with malice, “At least they could have chosen to die.”
Tang Jianxi let out a soft “tsk.”
She crossed her arms and leaned back against the chair. “If you’re going to talk like that, then I guess we have nothing to discuss.”
The male omega still wore that mocking expression, his sharp features looking as if they were laced with poison. “What do you want to do? Don’t tell me you want to save those shameless lower-class omegas?”
“Miss Tang, why bother with this self-righteous act, playing the saint? Those people were already living in hell. Now they’ve just moved to a different hell. They should have just quietly lived their miserable lives. They had no right to bring their misery to others. It’s shameful, isn’t it?”
After hearing such shameful words, Tang Jianxi suddenly began to seriously observe Qi Sheng’s appearance. She was surprised to find that he was actually quite good-looking, with delicate features and skin as smooth as a peeled egg. By omega standards, he could be considered top-tier.
Yet, his face failed to convey a top-tier feeling. Instead, it projected a very specific form of selfishness and cruelty. Perhaps this was a judgment born from their recent conversation, but in any case, it was not something pleasant. To summarize, he possessed a gloom and unease typically found in unattractive people who are often despised. Even though he wasn’t unattractive, people would automatically ignore his actual face and trust their intuition.
However, according to Tang Jianxi’s common sense, a more realistic reason was probably that in the upper echelons of the Empire, it was more respectable to call someone truly ugly than to say their temperament was strange, like that of an ugly person. The feeling of rejection wasn’t as strong, and it seemed more straightforward.
It was said that Qi Sheng’s stepmother had yet to bear a child, and his own mother had very quickly agreed to his clearly unequal marriage with Johansen. This was originally a beautiful story of two generations of deep affection in G-District, but now, combined with Qi Sheng’s true nature, it was rather chilling.
“You can’t touch those three omegas, and you can’t touch my alpha.”
Tang Jianxi didn’t want to talk to him any further. People like him were extremely paranoid; only facts would convince them. But out of consideration for their shared omega status, she couldn’t help but add, “No one is born to be someone else’s plaything.”
Qi Sheng looked at her with pity. “You’re so kind.”
“But unfortunately, kind people are usually useless.”
Qi Sheng pulled his hand out of the machine and leisurely dried it with a thick towel.
His thin eyelids lifted slightly. He said, “Your alpha is, of course, for you to deal with. But you have no right to command me regarding those omegas, Miss Tang. This is Azure Star.”
“I don’t care what grand ideals you have about saving humanity. I don’t want anyone to stand in the way of my wishes. Miss Tang, I regret to inform you, they may have already met with misfortune.”
Qi Sheng had wanted to find someone to share the joy of his victory with, and then continue planning his revenge on alphas like Johansen who were beasts in human form, to add some excitement to his boring life. Who would have thought that the famous Second Miss Tang would have the heart of a saint? It was utterly dull.
He said with extreme contempt, “You’re a real disappointment.”
Tang Jianxi began her own hand treatment. In contrast to Qi Sheng’s vicious words, she appeared to have calmed down.
“You too,” Tang Jianxi said. “They only fell into hell because of their ill fate. But you were born in hell.”
“How pathetic you are.”
As for Helen and the others’ safety, Tang Jianxi watched the figure leave without a backward glance and thought to herself, Helen should have met Winona by now.
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