The Picked-Up Omega is Both Delicate and Flirtatious - Chapter 1

The autumn rain in City A was always lingering, carrying a hint of chill from the evening wind as it hurried into the collars of pedestrians on the street, freezing them so tightly that they wrapped their coats around themselves, shrinking into small bundles and stepping out one ripple after another on the water-logged road.

As the trading capital of the entire northern region, the nights in City A were always filled with an air of decadent luxury. To say nothing of the bustling influencer shops on the pedestrian street or the bustling KTVs with heavy traffic, even a tiny pharmacy on the roadside revealed an ambiguous atmosphere. A young couple shyly linked arms, acting like thieves as they placed condoms on the cashier counter, nervously looking around in all directions for fear that someone might walk in and make the atmosphere awkward.

Who would have thought that a blunderer would actually appear?

“Excuse me, do you have omega inhibitors?”

The panting man stumbled and rushed up to the cashier counter, ignoring the astonished gazes of the cashier and the young couple. His face was flushed red, as if he had reached the ultimate state of thirst and cravings, and he asked again in a hoarse voice, “Excuse me, do you have omega inhibitors? I have been induced into a forced heat.”

The young female cashier looked with utter shock at this man with pretty features and a temperament like a pine tree. He clearly had a youthful, green face like a student, yet the words he spoke were so vulgar. Even if he were full of youthful vigor and making a fuss behind closed doors was his own business, he should at least show some restraint outside.

Seeing the atmosphere instantly become incomparably awkward, the young couple hurriedly settled their bill and fled, leaving the female cashier and the man staring blankly at each other. The former gave a disgruntled “tsk” sound and said, “What heat or no heat? So young and not learning anything proper. Condoms are on the shelf.”

The man was stunned, a pair of watery eyes slightly red as he eagerly shook his head in defense, “It is not what you think. My pheromones are out of control right now. If there is an alpha nearby, I do not know what will happen.”

The female cashier rolled her eyes almost to the heavens and said angrily, “I do not understand what you are talking about! If you disturb the normal business of this shop again, I will call the security guards to kick you out!”

With that, she actually picked up the walkie-talkie to summon the security guards at the entrance. Seeing two burly security guards aggressively walking toward him, the man was so frightened his soul almost flew out of his body, and he bolted out of the pharmacy as if fleeing for his life.

Once out of the shop, without the support of the heater, the temperature plummeted abruptly. The man sneezed fiercely, hugged his thinly clad body, and walked blankly toward the main road.

No, everything seemed to be completely messed up. Where on earth was this?

His name was Liang Ling, and he was originally the only son of the empire’s monarch, as well as the rarest omega. However, because he suffered from a pheromone disorder, he had been unable to find a matching alpha for twenty-two years. Fortunately, both of his parents doted on him, allowing Liang Ling to freely do whatever he liked; he could live very well even without relying on an alpha family.

That day, he was attending a grand diplomatic banquet with his father as usual, when someone with malicious intentions mixed a powerful catalyst into his wine. This caused him, an omega who had never experienced heat in twenty-two years, to be forced into heat.

Because of his noble lineage and because it had been suppressed for too long, his powerful pheromones destroyed the sanity of every alpha present like a burst giant dike. To avoid these beast-like alphas with reddened eyes who wanted to rush up and tear him apart, Liang Ling could only endure the sharp pain and rush out of the banquet. Who would have thought that his foot would slip and he would fall into the freezing, biting pool at the entrance? The moment he opened his eyes again, he had arrived in this strange place.

Enduring the high fever of his heat, Liang Ling walked in a daze through the rain. He was terrified; omegas were extremely fragile during heat, not to mention that his pheromones, though he could not smell them himself, were potent enough to make alphas go crazy. Walking on the street without taking inhibitors was practically no different from streaking naked.

Liang Ling took a deep breath, and his lungs were instantly filled with the freezing cold air, making him shiver and his stomach growl loudly.

Fighting against heat consumption took a toll on his stamina. He had not eaten anything for an entire day, and he was already starving to the point where his back stuck to his chest.

Suppressing his discomfort, Liang Ling raised his head and his gaze fell upon a small noodle shop with dim lighting ahead. Joy bloomed in his heart, and he quickly quickened his pace and walked inside.

“Excuse me, sorry to bother you. A bowl of beef noodles, please.”

The female owner of the noodle shop never expected that there would still be a customer at this hour. She unhappily stopped washing the bowls and went into the back kitchen. “Twenty. Anything else?”

“No, thank you for the trouble,” Liang Ling replied apologetically.

Before long, the proprietress came out with a steaming bowl of noodles. As soon as Liang Ling caught the scent, he could not help swallowing his saliva and picked up his chopsticks, ready to dig in. But before he could, the proprietress slammed her hand down on his and said unpleasantly, “Hey! What are you doing? Did you not see the sign over there?”

Liang Ling was slightly stunned. Following the proprietress’s index finger, he finally saw the sign written on the shop door: Pay before dining. WeChat, Alipay, and cash accepted.

“Oh, oh, I am sorry.” Liang Ling fumbled through his wallet in a fluster, pulled out a one-hundred-dollar bill, and said to the proprietress, “Keep the change, consider it a tip for troubling you to make noodles for me in the middle of the night.”

His tone of voice was extremely gentle and gentlemanly, very much like a wealthy young master out experiencing life. He originally thought the proprietress would accept his kindness with a smile, but instead she rolled her eyes and flew into a rage, “Oh, so this is your game! So young and not learning anything proper, you even dare to use fake bills so openly!”

Liang Ling was completely dumbfounded. He carefully examined the one-hundred-dollar bill in his hand printed with “ABO Alliance Bank,” checked the watermark against the light, and said in a daze, “It is not a fake bill. I just withdrew this new from the bank.”

The proprietress had a fiery temper. With her nose turned to the sky, she scolded and drove him out of the shop with blows. Liang Ling’s footing faltered, and he crashed heavily onto the ground, hitting his head against a roadside utility pole and immediately raising a large bump.

“Ugh.” Running a high fever and physically weak, Liang Ling did not even have the strength to stand up for a moment. He clutched his burning gland tightly and groaned in pain.

Seeing this scene, the proprietress did not dare to continue beating or scolding him, afraid that making a fuss would be hard to clean up. She could only spit toward the ground near Liang Ling and said bitterly, “If it were not for the look of you half-dead, I would definitely send you to the station to lock you up for ten days or half a month!”

With that, she retreated into the shop without looking back, slamming the door shut with a click as if dodging a plague god.

Enduring the nausea brought on by dizziness, Liang Ling struggled to his feet. He looked blankly at the closed door, sighed, and continued walking forward with unsteady footsteps.

Even if he were a complete fool, he would have noticed that something was wrong. The people on the street were probably all betas, since they felt nothing about his out-of-control pheromones. Inhibitors could not be bought at the pharmacy, and the cash just withdrawn from the bank could not be used either. Everything pointed to the fact that this place was vastly different from the empire where he had grown up.

What kind of world on earth had he come to?

Liang Ling was burning up so much that he felt dizzy, feeling as if his brain was no longer his own. His lips were chapped from a prolonged lack of water, and swallowing felt like swallowing a knife. He had no family, no friends, and did not even know where he was going to spend the night.

At the thought that he might have to curl up in the wilderness and have disgusting bugs crawling all over him, Liang Ling broke out in a cold sweat. Accustomed to being pampered since childhood, he could not even get used to five-star hotels, let alone a harsh outdoor environment.

Good heavens, life was truly bitter.

Liang Ling cast his gaze into the distance. At the end of this street was a teahouse with antique and elegant decorations. Melodic sounds of the pipa drifted over, accompanied by faint laughter, making one instantly picture the refined scene of a group of friends gathered around a red clay stove, boiling tea and playing music.

Perhaps the teahouse owner would kindly let him stay the night in the security kiosk at the entrance.

Having made up his mind, Liang Ling took staggering steps toward the teahouse. The scene before his eyes grew increasingly hazy, and the heat grew fiercer. Even with his pheromone disorder, Liang Ling actually managed to catch a faint whiff of his own refreshing and sweet pheromones.

The sweet fruity fragrance of peaches accompanied by the spicy kick of sparkling water felt like a refreshing summer breeze. It was his favorite scent.

So his pheromones smelled this good.

Although it was inappropriate to be happy right now, Liang Ling, who had been depressed all day, could not help laughing out loud, to the point that he stood stupidly in the middle of the road, startling passing drivers into cursing.

“You looking to die?!”

Startled back to his senses by the bark of abuse, before he could finish crossing the remaining half of the road, a taxi came roaring over without any intention of slowing down, charging straight toward Liang Ling.

“Ah!” Liang Ling instinctively closed his eyes, every cell in his body screaming to escape, but his legs felt filled with lead and were hard to budge an inch. At the critical moment of life and death, a powerful force yanked him forward, helping him dodge the fatal taxi.

The excruciating pain Liang Ling had imagined did not come. Instead, he tumbled into a warm and solid embrace.

Through his hazy senses, a crisp scent of Longjing tea lingered at the tip of his nose, only purer than anything Liang Ling had ever smelled before, like snow water on winter rime, or a deep pool in an autumn forest.

Ugh, is this the scent of pheromones?

Was this person an alpha?!