If The Persona Is Wrong, Everything Else Is In Vain - Chapter 4

Lin Luo stepped out from the corner, feeling cheerful. He patted Da Li on the shoulder and said, “Nicely done, thanks.”

Da Li looked behind him with a blank expression. “Will he be okay?”

Lin Luo didn’t even lift his eyelids, focused on his phone as he punctually updated his secondary social media account for the day. “Don’t worry, he won’t die.”

He verified the information three times before hitting the send button. He looked up with a devious smile. “He’s reaping what he sowed, it’s time that kid grew up.”

“So, what’s next?”

“Send an anonymous message to his old man,” Lin Luo thought for a moment. “We shouldn’t actually break the Young Master.”

He spoke as he walked downstairs. It wasn’t until he reached the corner, his line of sight completely blocked by the spiral staircase that he realized Da Li hadn’t followed.

Lin Luo called out twice, but there was no response.

He walked back up. Just as he stepped out of the blind spot and looked toward the spot where they had just been standing, he nearly jumped out of his skin.

Zhou Wan stood tall on the steps, looking down at Lin Luo. His hands were in his pockets, looking quite casual, if one ignored the fact that the collar of his cotton T-shirt was stretched out of shape and his meticulously styled hair was a complete mess.

Standing against the light, his expression was unreadable, but a wave of inexplicable coldness radiated from him.

He descended two steps and asked, “Who were you going to break?”

Lin Luo couldn’t help but shiver. He felt the surrounding air temperature drop abruptly, turning biting and cold.

His eyes flickered with guilt. “I was… looking for someone to save you.”

Zhou Wan walked down step by step until he reached Lin Luo. Suddenly, he leaned down slightly to meet Lin Luo’s lowered gaze. “I’ll give you one more chance. Speak properly.”

Lin Luo raised an eyebrow, his sense of guilt vanishing instantly. “Who started this mess? Does Young Master Zhou not know that even a rabbit will bite when cornered?”

Hearing this, Zhou Wan chuckled. He placed a hand on Lin Luo’s shoulder, gently stroking that slender, fair neck with extreme tenderness. Then, he suddenly gripped the back of Lin Luo’s neck, pulling him close.

He leaned into his ear. “I don’t know if a rabbit bites, but you…”

“I want to try.”

With that, he grabbed Lin Luo’s arm and started dragging him back.

That hand was like a clamp, gripping Lin Luo so tightly he couldn’t break free.

A typical Omega wouldn’t have this kind of strength, it was as if Zhou Wan had taken some kind of strength-enhancing pill and mutated.

“Let go!” Lin Luo growled. “If you don’t let go, don’t blame me for getting violent!”

“Oh, right,” Zhou Wan stopped suddenly as if remembering something. He pulled a pair of prop handcuffs from his pocket, deftly snapped them onto Lin Luo, then hoisted the man over his shoulder and gave him a little toss. “I almost forgot that you, Brother Luo, are restless.”

Lin Luo: “?”

“F*ck!” Lin Luo was slammed onto the bed, hitting his old shoulder injury. He broke into a cold sweat from the pain. Just as he sat up, Zhou Wan pushed him back down.

The quilt was flipped and rolled, wrapping Lin Luo up like a cocoon.

Holding the handcuffs with one hand to pin Lin Luo’s restless hands above his head, Zhou Wan used the other to brush away the stray hairs covering Lin Luo’s eyes. His movements were incredibly gentle, his gaze obsessed.

“I originally prepared this for them,” Zhou Wan chuckled. “But of course, it’s being used on you now.”

Lin Luo glared at him, his eyes nearly bursting with rage. He hissed through gritted teeth, “Have you no shame? You’re a f*cking Omega!”

Zhou Wan paused for a second, then hooked his chin, smiling wickedly. “So what?”

“Based on what you’re saying, Brother Luo, it seems I’m the one getting the short end of the stick.”

He spoke as if waiting for Lin Luo’s reply, but Lin Luo refused to give him the satisfaction. So, he had to finish the shameless second half of the sentence himself.

“But it’s okay. I don’t mind losing out a bit.”

Lin Luo pressed his tongue against the roof of his mouth, his molars grinding audibly. He felt so stifled that tears of humiliation nearly welled up.

“What’s with that face?” Zhou Wan gently smoothed out Lin Luo’s furrowed brow. His thumb pressed against Lin Luo’s lower lip, forcing apart the tightly clenched teeth.

He gave a soft laugh. “Haven’t I told you many times? Don’t always grit your teeth, you’ll get hurt.”

Lin Luo was stunned. He truly wanted to bite him to death, but if he did, the scent of grass in his blood would probably turn him into a madman as well.

“Does your shoulder still hurt?” Zhou Wan’s gaze shifted downward, clicking his tongue. “You really don’t know how to take care of yourself. Without me!”

“What exactly do you want?”

“What do I want?” Zhou Wan covered his mouth in mock surprise. “Don’t you know?”

“Wow, that’s so hurtful, Brother Luo.”

As he finished speaking, the scent of grass began to leak out again, thick and dense. He clearly had no intention of controlling it, it was several times more potent than usual.

“You’re a male Omega.” Lin Luo’s voice was hoarse as he fought down a strange urge. His logic was strained to the limit, on the verge of total collapse.

Zhou Wan sat up straight. Through the thick quilt, he pressed a hand lightly against Lin Luo’s chest. A flush began to creep over his pale face. “You said that before, too.”

“But don’t you just love me anyway?”

He looked directly into Lin Luo’s eyes, seeing right through him, and cruelly exposed the secret Lin Luo had kept tightly wrapped. “From the very first time we met, you did.”

“I didn’t!”

Lin Luo tried to argue, but Zhou Wan quickly covered his mouth. He peeled back the adhesive bandage on Lin Luo’s neck, revealing a faint tooth mark.

He curled his lips in satisfaction. That perfectly matching bite mark was like a trophy. He murmured, “Why has it faded?”

“Oh, right. Brother Luo, you’re an Alpha, you can’t be marked,” he leaned forward, nuzzling into the crook of Lin Luo’s neck, sniffing deeply. “There’s no scent there, either.”

“I told you, I’m not!”

“It doesn’t matter,” Zhou Wan’s eyes looked wrong, dazed and hazy, completely lost in his own world. “Then, you mark me?”

Lin Luo’s face filled with horror. He realized that Zhou Wan wasn’t recovered at all, in fact, he might be entering heat!

He struggled hard again, frantically pressing his hands against Zhou Wan’s shoulders to push him away. “Listen to me, we can’t…”

Before he could finish, Zhou Wan had already pulled aside his already loose, pitiful collar, proactively offering his neck to Lin Luo’s lips.

The scent of grass was about to drown him, the suffocation triggered bouts of dizziness.

“Mark me…” Zhou Wan’s rationality had likely eroded into a pile of sand.

Lin Luo’s mouth was dry, his head covered in sweat. As his phone began to ring, his fracturing thoughts suddenly snapped back into clarity. Simultaneously, with a click, the handcuffs were undone.

Lin Luo violently pushed away the limp, puddle-like Zhou Wan. Wiping his forehead, his legs trembling as he staggered toward the door.

Just as he touched the doorknob, a loud thud came from behind him.

He looked back to see Zhou Wan rolling on the floor in agony. The man was still looking up at him blankly, eyes blood-red, hand reaching out, trying to crawl over, only to grasp at thin air, no longer possessing the strength to move forward.

The way he lay huddled on the floor was so pathetic, completely stripped of his usual arrogance.

Lin Luo stood frozen for a moment before answering the phone.

“Brother… Auntie Luo, she…” Xiao Li’s voice caught in his throat, trembling as he pieced the fragmented words into a sentence. “She tried to commit suicide again. You need to come quickly…”

Lin Luo’s heart finally plummeted into the abyss. He opened the door and ran out without looking back.

“She’s okay for now. Auntie is resting inside.” Xiao Li grabbed the hurrying Lin Luo. He hesitated for a moment, then pulled out a bottle of pheromone neutralizer. “Clean yourself up first. There’s a bit of a… smell.”

Lin Luo froze. He glanced through the small glass window on the door, took the bottle, whispered a thanks, and turned into the restroom.

The man in the mirror was a mess. His hair was matted to his forehead and neck with sweat, and his face was slightly puffy. A single night felt as long as a lifetime.

He forced a weak smile, cupped some water, and splashed it directly onto his face, trying to wash away the misery of it all.

The scent of grass lingered in his mind. The neutralizer could only dissipate the smell on his clothes; he knew that what had been sown deep into his flesh through that bite would never truly leave.

Lin Luo straightened his collar and knocked gently on the door. “Mom, I’m coming in?”

There was no sound from inside.

Xiao Li comforted him, “Auntie’s emotions are still unstable. Don’t rush. Go in; I’ll keep watch for you out here.”

Lin Luo patted his shoulder and pushed the door open in silence.

A pillow flew at him, which Lin Luo caught steadily. He put on a smile and walked to the bedside.

“Mom.”

Luo Wenying was leaning against the bed, not looking back. She stared blankly at the night sky outside the window. Her arm was wrapped in gauze, her face was bloodless, and her expression was cold, as if the commotion just now had nothing to do with her.

Lin Luo went to tuck the pillow behind her. Just as he leaned over, he was caught off guard by a sharp slap to the face.

“What are you still doing here?”

Accustomed to this, Lin Luo helped settle her blanket. “Look at what you’re saying. You’re my mother; of course I have to come.”

“You are not my son,” Luo Wenying’s eyes filled with tears, her hatred running deep. She spat out every word with venom. “From the moment Lin Shen died, you ceased to be!”

“Get out!”

She grabbed the pillow and threw it. She even began frantically clawing at the gauze on her arm. The wound tore open, and blood began to seep out again.

Lin Luo rushed to hold down the wound, shouting anxiously, “Mom! Be angry at me if you want, but can you please stop playing with your own life!”

“If you’re really that angry, just beat me to death.”

“Beat you to death?” Luo Wenying suddenly laughed. “If I beat you to death, will Lin Shen come back to life? Do you think that by sending money back every month, they’ll give him a proper burial? People who die out there can never come home.”

“And all of this was caused by you. If you hadn’t liked men, how could he have been provoked to death by you? You murderer!”

Lin Luo grabbed her wrist. The tip of a hairpins was inches away from his carotid artery. A flash of confusion crossed his mind, quickly turning into desolation.

He silently disarmed her of the weapon, having no words to argue back.

“Please rest well.” After saying that, he didn’t even dare to look at her again and turned to leave.

“Please ask the doctor to help treat the wound again,” Lin Luo told the anxious Xiao Li who had hurried over.

In the past, Lin Luo could never understand why, in an ABO world, being an Alpha who liked male Omegas made one a freak.

Clearly, Alpha, Beta, and Omega were the primary genders, yet being “male” or “female” the secondary genders, was such a heavy, influential factor.

It was as strange as liking someone but having “liking them” not be the most important factor.

From the moment he realized he liked men, he had kept it hidden, never daring to show it. It wasn’t until his teenage years, when the secret crush he only dared to write about in his diary was discovered by his father, that the matter blew up at school.

His desk-mate had transferred because of him. He still remembered the look in that boy’s eyes as he left, as if looking at a freak, desperate to get away.

The fragile, thin, and stubborn dignity of his youth had collapsed along with it. He became increasingly rebellious, eager to prove his own logic, determined to prove his truth to the fullest.

Then, one day, while skipping evening self-study to escape, he ran into his father and his father’s childhood friend. Lin Luo called him Uncle Zhao. Like his father, he was also an Alpha.

That day completely shattered the three-year-old values Lin Luo hadn’t even fully formed yet, causing his beliefs to crumble instantly.

Lin Luo had stepped forward to demand justice for his mother, not noticing a car swerving toward him. His father had shoved him out of the way.

A living human being ended up lying in a pool of blood. He mumbled, likely having many things to say, but time probably only allowed for one sentence. So, in his final moment, he said, “I’m sorry.”

Sorry to whom? Sorry to me? Or your wife? Or…

Lin Luo looked up at Uncle Zhao, who was struggling to maintain his composure but had likely already lost his soul.

Maybe he was sorry to him too?

Lin Luo couldn’t bring himself to say that his father had fallen for a man, another Alpha. In the end, his father left behind a hollow “I’m sorry” with no subject and passed away in haste.

Instead, he let his mother believe the version the whole family knew, the one that made Lin Luo the target of everyone’s scorn.

Ever since Lin Luo’s father was “provoked to death” by him, the number of times his mother had been admitted to the hospital exceeded the number of fruits produced by the pomegranate tree his father had planted in front of their house years ago.

It was just that since then, that tree hadn’t borne fruit for many years.