After Being Seduced by a Beautiful Bad Girl Omega - Chapter 5

Sweet.

Her fingertips were very soft and somewhat cool. When they touched, they carried a lingering, faint fragrance that made one’s heart itch.

Cen Zhixu stepped back, leaned back into her original position, and crossed her arms: “When can they be peeled?”

Pei Yuan tore away the pith, placed the peeled segments into a small porcelain dish, and handed them over quite respectfully: “Done.”

Cen Zhixu lowered her head to glance at them. The orange segments in the porcelain dish were arranged somewhat loosely, huddled together crookedly.

The space between her brows twitched ever so slightly, though her expression remained gentle and her tone soft: “Thank you.”

However, the moment Pei Yuan blinked her eyes and looked back over, the orange segments had already been rearranged into two neat rows with even spacing.

Pei Yuan raised her head with slight confusion, only to see Cen Zhixu looking completely normal, nonchalantly picking up a segment from the two rows of oranges.

This piece of work.

Pei Yuan could not help but chuckle inwardly.

Cen Zhixu brought the orange segment to her lips. The moment the flesh was crushed by the tips of her teeth, tiny droplets of juice splashed out and stained her fingertips.

Cen Zhixu frowned slightly again.

Seeming to dislike that touch of stickiness, she lowered her head, her tongue revealing a moist red tint in the light, and pressed it against the pad of her finger.

The sticky orange juice was quickly licked away, replaced by a thin, translucent layer of moisture coating her fingertips.

The moment Cen Zhixu raised her head, their gazes collided solidly, without a trace of a buffer.

Pei Yuan did not manage to dodge in time.

Mostly because she herself did not know when she had started staring at the other person.

It was probably when Cen Zhixu lowered her head, or at the exact moment her tongue touched her fingertip.

Cen Zhixu tilted her head slightly, her grayish-blue eyes gazing over as a lock of long hair swung down: “Why are you looking at me?”

Pei Yuan instantly composed her expression.

She said cheerfully: “Didn’t you say in our communication earlier that you had never eaten an orange? I was just a bit curious how you think it tastes.”

“A strange taste,” Cen Zhixu evaluated.

Pei Yuan blinked, tossed two segments into her own mouth, and the orange juice burst between her teeth, refreshing and sweet with a slightly sour undertone.

“Is that so?” Pei Yuan mumbled while chewing the orange, “I think it tastes fine to me, just like a regular orange flavor.”

Cen Zhixu shook her head: “I am not sure. It is somewhat different from nutrient solution with a citrus flavor.”

Pei Yuan could not help laughing: “Of course. Nutrient solutions pursue standardization and zero fluctuation, yet two oranges picked from the exact same tree can vary significantly in sweetness.”

She picked up an orange segment and tossed it into her mouth.

“Nutrient solutions are standardized answers, but a real orange is a process. Sour, sweet, and astringent are all part of its process from blooming to bearing fruit.”

She handed over another segment: “Commander, give it a try. It is not just oranges, but apples, grapes, and strawberries, their tastes are completely different things compared to nutrient solution.”

Cen Zhixu did not take it.

She looked at that segment of orange, her tone calm: “Yet nutrient solutions are fast, efficient, and nutritionally balanced. Why shoulder the risk of instability?”

That remark sounded truly familiar.

Pei Yuan muttered inwardly.

“Trying new things is always a good idea.” Pei Yuan tossed that orange segment into her own mouth.

“Eating an exceptionally sweet one will make you happy all day long; eating one so sour it makes your teeth ache still counts as an extra memory.”

She smiled and said: “Those unstable things are precisely what I find most interesting.”

Pei Yuan prepared herself to be refuted.

After all, Cen Zhixu looked precisely like the kind of person who arranged everything orderly, detesting risk and hating instability.

Yet Cen Zhixu merely looked at her quietly for a moment, pulled out a wet wipe, and unhurriedly wiped her fingertips.

“Alright,” she said.

Pei Yuan was momentarily stunned. Before she could reply, Cen Zhixu had already stood straight, taken the thin jacket from the back of her chair, and draped it casually over her shoulders.

“Time is about up. I should leave.” Cen Zhixu straightened her cuffs. “Until next time.”

With that, she turned and walked away.

Her steps were steady, her spine straight, and her pointed boots landed on the floor tiles with crisp, restrained clicks.

As she reached the doorway, Cen Zhixu suddenly paused her steps. She turned sideways slightly, tilting at an arc.

They were too far apart for Pei Yuan to clearly see the other person’s expression, but vaguely, Cen Zhixu’s brows and lashes seemed to curve slightly.

“Ms. Pei.”

“Leaving messages unread and unreplied is not very polite.”

She said.

Cen Zhixu withdrew her gaze and walked straight into the corridor, the sound of her boots fading step by step.

Pei Yuan remained standing in place, holding the remaining oranges in her hand as juice seeped out between her fingers, feeling cool.

She stared at the direction where the person had disappeared. After a long while, she shoved the remaining segments into her mouth all at once.

Sweet.

Juice overflowing.

Pei Yuan ate her fill and took the sky elevator upstairs. Her arms felt heavy, carrying five oranges, three bananas, two apples, and a honey cupcake.

She returned to her workstation, slumped into her chair, and opened her work interface.

The dataset she had half-annotated that morning still lingered on the screen.

Pei Yuan pinched the back of her neck, moved her fingers a bit, and continued boxing, labeling, and submitting.

The mechanically repetitive actions were dull enough to make one drowsy. After she finished labeling, the next image automatically popped up.

Pei Yuan paused slightly.

It was a vast wasteland.

A grayish-brown horizon stretched across the center of the image, beneath leaden clouds pressed extremely low over cracked earth.

The entire landscape resembled a carcass drained of its blood, leaving behind only a skeleton and endless yellow sand.

Time rolled back three months.

A massive modified vehicle stood parked across the wasteland, its body covered with welded steel plates and reinforced rivets, trembling slightly in the heat haze.

A woman leaned against the side of the vehicle.

The wind laden with dust blew past, lifting her fiery red, curly long hair.

Her strands whipped fiercely back and forth in the wind like a patch of burning wild fire. The woman narrowed her eyes, letting the grit brush across her long eyelashes.

She was the most formidable existence on this wasteland: the captain of the mercenary squad Rust Fang, codenamed Red Snake.

Naturally, she also went by another name.

[Pei Yuan]

Beside her, another woman crouched in the shadow of the rear of the vehicle, her fingers continuously swiping across a light screen.

That person was named Mole, the sole information technician of the Rust Fang squad, concurrently holding multiple important roles including intelligence gathering, equipment maintenance, restaurant exploration, emotional counseling, snack hoarding, peeking at melodramatic imprisonment play novels, and vine binding play novels.

“Boss, don’t worry. This time I really have done exhaustive research and will never lead you into a trap again!”

Mole pushed her goggles, which were wrapped in three layers of tape around the bridge, her tone brimming with excitement.

“The reason White Tower managed to outpace other city-states and develop so rapidly is entirely due to one thing: the Eye of Order.”

“Nobody knows what that specifically is,” Mole continued, “but rumor has it that White Tower City is able to operate so precisely and efficiently entirely because this thing commands and dispatches from behind the scenes.”

Her eyes shone brightly: “As long as you sneak into the city, Boss, and successfully get your hands on the Eye of Order, we will truly be unstoppable!”

Pei Yuan responded lazily.

She hung a grenade from her fingertips, the metal safety pin looped over her index finger, spinning it casually in circles around her knuckle.

Click, click.

The faint sound of metal rang out.

“Stealing something when you do not even know what it is sounds a bit too difficult,” Pei Yuan shrugged. “Is everything prepared?”

Mole said: “Of course, of course!”

She fished two items out of her equipment box and handed them to Pei Yuan: “Boss, this is pheromone suppressant, and a tube of scar tattoo camouflage cream.”

“However, suppressants have a time limit.”

Mole’s expression turned serious as she raised a finger: “Three months at most, and the suppression effect will start to gradually decay. You must find an excuse to leave the city as soon as possible.”

Pei Yuan acknowledged: “Understood.”

Mole added: “Also, Boss, while you are inside the city, you had better minimize contact with high compatibility Omegas.”

Pei Yuan raised an eyebrow: “Why?”

Mole explained: “No matter what, a suppressant can only suppress pheromones and cannot achieve complete elimination.”

“Once you encounter pheromone induction from a high compatibility Omega, your pheromones may break through the suppression and leak outward.”

“However, I believe in your strength, Boss. Even if you run into the prettiest, cutest, most alluring Omega sister, you can remain as calm as still water and immovable as a mountain!”

She blinked her big eyes: “Right, Boss?”

Pei Yuan drawled slowly: “Thanks, I believe in my own strength too. It is just that I do not trust you all that much.”

“White Tower’s Inner City is notoriously heavily guarded with patrol guards everywhere. What if the quality of your suppressant is subpar, causing my identity to be exposed and leading to a manhunt?”

Mole let out a long sigh: “Indeed, that possibility exists. If such a misfortune truly occurs, Boss, you will simply have to rely on your own luck.”

Pei Yuan: “?”

Mole clenched her fist: “Go for it, Boss! I believe you, Boss, you can definitely carve out a bloody path of survival from the dual encirclement of the Eye of Order and the White Tower guard force!”

She pressed her palms together and bowed devoutly toward Pei Yuan: “Don’t worry, we will silently pray for you in the safest place in the Outer City!”

Pei Yuan: “…”

Thanks, that really helps a lot.

The photo of the wasteland had long since been flipped past.

On the screen was a new image, an overhead view of a certain street filled with passing vehicles and pedestrians, as ordinary as ordinary could be.

Pei Yuan mechanically boxed and labeled, though her thoughts still lingered on Mole’s words.

[Should I minimize contact with her?]

Pei Yuan released her labeling stylus and leaned back against her chair.

She stared at the ceiling, inexplicably recalling the previous scene once more.

The narrow, pale boot tips hooked around her ankle, slowly grinding along the protruding curve of her malleolus bone.

Only then did Pei Yuan realize that such a light force could actually be so tormenting.

She stepped on her, she ground against her.

With thin fabric and thin skin, amidst the soft rubbing sounds, it made her ankle feel numb and her breathing hot.

Pei Yuan breathed out slowly, her nose seeming to catch that faint fragrance from her once again.

That wispy, sweet, damp floral scent that seeped thread by thread into the bone marrow, leaving one parched.

Pei Yuan closed her eyes.

98.9% compatibility.

Truly terrifying.