The Second Fall - Chapter 50

Chapter 50: Computer Accessories

“With a company name like that, what exactly did you buy?” Rong Yushu’s lashes flickered, her fox-eyes shimmering with a teasing, flirtatious light as she scanned Lan Cixing.

There was an unspeakable implication in her gaze. It was as if she were watching a joke, yet also teasing Lan Cixing.

Lan Cixing hadn’t even realized the things she bought came from such a ridiculously named manufacturer.

“I—I—I bought a mouthguard,” Lan Cixing stammered. Given her financial situation, she couldn’t afford high-end auxiliary products. She hadn’t intended to buy anything too realistic anyway; she found such things frightening and unappealing.

She had searched for the cheapest basic model. She didn’t ask the shop for pheromone scents; she only wanted a mouthguard that could help her practice releasing pheromones. She vaguely remembered the free gift being a silicone imitation of a glandular skin patch. Lan Cixing hadn’t paid much attention to it, only planning to use the mouthguard the next time she was… intimate with Rong Yushu.

“A… mouthguard?” Rong Yushu narrowed her eyes, her gaze fluctuating for a brief moment. “You call that thing a mouthguard?”

Rong Yushu didn’t actually know what kind of auxiliary prop Lan Cixing had purchased. But judging by Lan Cixing’s reaction, she had definitely bought something. And it was clearly the cheapest model.

“I knew it,” Rong Yushu huffed, tapping Lan Cixing’s nose and letting her finger slide down to her lips.

“It… it really is,” Lan Cixing shuddered at the touch, as if Rong Yushu’s finger was a tooth biting into her, making her lips sting.

“It’s clearly a physiological little toy,” Rong Yushu pressed her fingertip against the peak of the girl’s lips, poking hard with a sharp nail. The nail felt like a blade. Lan Cixing winced at the sting, her reaction obvious.

But none of that was as stimulating as Rong Yushu’s words. A tidal wave of panic surged inside Lan Cixing, and she could no longer control her expression. No matter how much she tried to act, she was no match for Rong Yushu; she rarely managed to maintain a blank face lately. Her shock was fully exposed.

A faint smile touched Rong Yushu’s lips, but internally, she felt a wave of displeasure. She knew Lan Cixing had a psychological barrier and couldn’t mark her, which was why the girl needed “toys.” Yet, she couldn’t soothe this inexplicable sourness in her heart.

If she would just bite down…

Rong Yushu did this and that, yet Lan Cixing never wanted to bite her.

“No wonder it’s called Charismatic Desire Fire. A company selling toys has to be blunt,” Rong Yushu retracted her gaze. Fearing she might show her true feelings, she spun her phone around casually.

Her behavior led Lan Cixing to believe she was unhappy. While it was a misunderstanding, it hit the mark by chance. Lan Cixing always relied on intuition to guess Rong Yushu’s moods. Right now, her heart was racing with anxiety; her instincts warned her of Rong Yushu’s displeasure.

Lan Cixing tugged at Rong Yushu’s sleeve, not knowing what to say. She didn’t even know the exact reason for the displeasure, so an apology felt impossible to formulate.

“I didn’t expect my ‘dumb cub’ to be so refined on the surface, acting all bashful when I flirt with her, but so thirsty in private that she’s reached the point of needing toys.” Rong Yushu looked down, her lashes veiling the emotions in her eyes. The corners of her mouth curled higher—a true smiling fox. With those affectionate eyes, she stabbed with the sharpest, most direct blade.

“I’m not…” Lan Cixing hurriedly tugged the sleeve again, leaning in and lowering her posture in a standard apologetic stance. If only she had a tail; then Rong Yushu could see her submissive state more clearly and perhaps kick her drooping tail to vent her anger.

“It’s… it’s…” Lan Cixing’s face was almost pressed against Rong Yushu’s elbow.

Rong Yushu didn’t let her temper flare out. Her downward gaze swept over Lan Cixing’s face, appearing strangely gentle. Her fingertip happened to land on Lan Cixing’s cheek, brushing away a tear born of anxiety.

“I’m not criticizing you, so what are you afraid of?” Rong Yushu worked hard to restrain herself, making sure her long nails didn’t sink into Lan Cixing’s flesh. She projected a gaze full of affection, enough to deceive anyone.

Except for Lan Cixing’s intuition.

“You’re angry,” Lan Cixing said, though she felt somewhat comforted by Rong Yushu’s surface gentleness. She lightly rubbed against her finger and tugged her sleeve like a child acting spoiled.

“…What do I have to be angry about? It’s just an auxiliary prop. After all, I clearly don’t satisfy your heart. It’s normal for you to use external objects.”

Rong Yushu never thought she could be seen through. Her acting was such that she couldn’t even fool a kid she had personally trained—a kid who hadn’t stepped on stage for four years. She withdrew her hand and, without thinking, slapped Lan Cixing’s face.

What was the point of acting? She was angry, so what? Wouldn’t Lan Cixing comfort her regardless?

Rong Yushu nearly rolled her eyes. She exhaled, suppressing a sneer, and turned her head away with her arms crossed.

“No, no, Sister.” Lan Cixing grabbed Rong Yushu’s hand, accidentally using too much force as she pulled her back into her embrace. “This is what Yan Siyi mentioned last time—to help relieve the condition of my glands…” She directly sold out the doctor.

Rong Yushu’s palm pressed against Lan Cixing’s chest; the softness made her fall silent for a moment. Then, she turned back to look at this incredibly bold “bad dog.” Positioned one above the other, their gaze froze the air.

“That old-fashioned woman recommended that to you?” Rong Yushu clearly knew what Yan Siyi had said. Right now, she just didn’t want to admit it.

She had truly looked forward to a marking for a long time. The thought that upon returning, Lan Cixing would rather use a toy than her made her mood unsalvageable. Even being hugged and rubbed by Lan Cixing made the bridge of her nose sting with unshed tears.

Why won’t you give it to me?

Rong Yushu couldn’t bring herself to ask. She retained a shred of logic, knowing about Lan Cixing’s psychological trauma and that such things couldn’t be forced. But… it just hurt. It felt sour and painful.

“She really said it. I just wanted to try; I don’t want my glands to be damaged…”

Perhaps because of the increased contact with Rong Yushu over the past few days, Lan Cixing’s glands hadn’t flared up uncontrollably. But since she still couldn’t perform a marking, Lan Cixing feared a breakdown in the near future, much like the four years she had spent suppressing herself. She thought things would be fine.

Lan Cixing’s movements became heavy, her eyes downcast. Her mood made Rong Yushu even more irritable, and she pulled her hand back. Lan Cixing really wasn’t going to comfort her.

“You… leave a real person like me unused.” When she spoke again, her voice was very soft. It sounded as if she had just cried, tinged with a seductive hoarseness.

Lan Cixing instinctively looked up, then remembered she couldn’t see Rong Yushu well from that angle and shrunk down a bit. She wanted to see if there were tears, redness in the eyes, or a pitiful nose.

But she saw nothing.

Rong Yushu’s face was as calm as water. It was as solemn as a landscape after a snowfall, frozen in ice. Not a trace of emotion remained. She looked at Lan Cixing, yet Lan Cixing couldn’t feel the weight of a gaze. Rong Yushu’s eyes failed to focus.

“Insisting on using that toy.” Rong Yushu seemed to look right through Lan Cixing into the distance. It was as if she were looking at no one, or perhaps at something from long, long ago.

Lan Cixing’s heart was struck by these words. A sharp pain tore through her brain, but only for an instant. The pain vanished so quickly it felt like a hallucination. She blinked.

Rong Yushu no longer looked solemn. She was squinting and smiling, the picture of a mischievous red fox. “Fine then. When we get back today, I’ll watch you use it.” She even raised a hand to gently push away the clinging Lan Cixing.

Lan Cixing was forced to lean back into her seat. She didn’t dare blink, staring unblinkingly at Rong Yushu, trying to find the emotion beneath the smile. But she couldn’t see it anymore. Rong Yushu had completely sealed her shell, leaving no opening for Lan Cixing. She even rejected Lan Cixing’s instincts.

“I was wrong.” Lan Cixing began to tremble with fear. Not being able to see through Rong Yushu made her even more terrified.

Was an apology enough? Should she throw the toy away? But what about her glands?

“But—but that’s to assist in releasing pheromones, not for anything else…” It wasn’t that she didn’t like Rong Yushu. She didn’t find her repulsive; she didn’t want to play with a toy instead of her. Lan Cixing bit her lip, the words she most needed to say remained unsaid.

“Right. I didn’t beg you to mark me. Use your toy if you like.” Rong Yushu spoke leisurely, appearing completely unbothered.

Lan Cixing breathed in, and her chest felt a dense, stinging pain. She stopped talking and turned away, no longer looking at Rong Yushu. Rong Yushu ignored her further, closing her eyes to rest.

Once they entered the house, Rong Yushu didn’t give Lan Cixing a single glance. Acting as if no one were there, she walked straight into her own room. Lan Cixing hurriedly followed but was met with a face full of dust. She gave the door a light push.

This time, Rong Yushu had locked it. Lan Cixing couldn’t move it even a fraction of an inch.

“…” She stood before the locked door for a long time. There were a thousand things she wanted to say, but she couldn’t open her mouth. Nor could she bring herself to knock. In the end, despite Rong Yushu teaching her that she could say what she wanted, she still didn’t dare.

Telling Rong Yushu before that it wasn’t a lack of desire, but an inability, had already exhausted all her courage. If she said any more, she felt she would crumble into dust. Lan Cixing didn’t move again; she turned and went to her own room, pulling the door shut.

She left a small crack. She didn’t lock it. She wanted to wait for her.

After washing up, Lan Cixing curled up on her bed, clutching her blanket in distress. Even her breathing felt sour. Every breath in was Rong Yushu’s smile; every breath out was Rong Yushu’s tears. It made her want to cry too. Rong Yushu, please don’t ignore me.

After tossing and turning, she still wanted to go apologize. Just as she got up, the phone on the bed vibrated. Lan Cixing remembered she had an internet friend. And, of course, her sister and aunt. She sent them messages saying she was safe and that the mission was over, with another starting next week. Neither found it strange, especially Lan Bairan, who seemed quite cheerful. Without her sister watching her, she was likely going wild this summer.

With her attention diverted, Lan Cixing’s mood shifted slightly. She stayed in her room, standing by the door clutching her phone, reading the messages from “An Yu.”

“It’s been three days without a reply. Did something happen to you?” An Yu’s message came in.

Lan Cixing went silent and scrolled up. She typed a period and sent it first, fearing the person might actually call the police.

“You didn’t look for me during these three days either.” She had been on a desert island filming a show without access to her phone; of course she was offline. She hadn’t even thought of An Yu before logging off, only telling her sister and aunt. She could see her sister’s reports, but there was nothing from An Yu.

Is An Yu really Rong Yushu? Lan Cixing was in a terrible mood and was too lazy to guess; even with the thought surfacing, she had no interest in investigating. Even if it were Rong Yushu… there was nothing she could do if she didn’t admit it. Besides, Rong Yushu was clearly angry with her.

“Finally alive.” An Yu typed fast, followed immediately by a question mark. “I sent you so many messages, isn’t it you who didn’t reply?”

Lan Cixing replied with a question mark of her own. She sent a screenshot of their chat log. The last time they had messaged each other was three days ago.

An Yu sent a screenshot back. It was very long. Dozens of messages sent continuously over the past three days. Lan Cixing scanned them. There were game intel shares, event invites, and requests for co-op play. The most frequent were questions asking why she hadn’t replied, if she hated her, or if something had happened.

“You didn’t receive a single one?” An Yu didn’t use any emojis. Through the screen, Lan Cixing could feel that she was also in a bad mood.

“It seems so…” Lan Cixing sheepishly toggled her data and refreshed, but the messages still didn’t appear.

“So for these three days, you thought I hadn’t looked for you, and you just ignored me?” An Yu sent a crying cat emoji.

Lan Cixing sighed and apologized with a heavy heart. Her facial expression didn’t change, but her tone was sincere. “I’m sorry!!! I was on a mission for the last three days. There was no signal and I couldn’t have my phone. I didn’t ignore you on purpose. I just got back and showered, was about to rest…”

Thankfully, An Yu was just a netizen. Lan Cixing exhaled another sigh. In her current state, she couldn’t face anyone.

“Mission? Assigned by your boss?” An Yu finally stopped the emoji bombardment.

“Pretty much. Anyway, it wasn’t on purpose! I forgot to tell you in advance… For the next two months, I might be offline every Saturday through Monday.”

“Fine, I won’t blame you. After all, I’m just a netizen, not your girlfriend.” An Yu accepted her explanation. But the tone… it felt strangely familiar to Lan Cixing. Wasn’t this exactly how Rong Yushu had sounded when she was mocking her?

Lan Cixing paused. She decided to “seek help” from An Yu.

“I think I made my boss angry again.” Thinking it was just a netizen, Lan Cixing threw away her pride. “She discovered the kind of toy I bought and is very angry. But I just have a glandular issue and wanted to use it for relief.”

Lan Cixing held back the last sentence and didn’t type it. She felt that Rong Yushu wanted her to mark her. But she simply couldn’t do it. She had told Rong Yushu the reason before. That was why she had stopped pestering her and stayed silent all the way home.

An Yu sent a string of ellipses. “You… have a glandular issue and can’t be marked?” An Yu remembered Lan Cixing was an Omega. She had never heard of an Omega who couldn’t be marked. At most, a marking might fail, but it wouldn’t be impossible to bite.

Lan Cixing forgot her cover and replied honestly: “Can’t mark.”

“Aren’t you an Omega? You guys play that wild? Meds? Secondary differentiation?”

Only then did Lan Cixing remember her online persona was a “playboy Omega.” D*mmit, she couldn’t play the “O” anymore.

“Sister, actually, I’m an Alpha.” Lan Cixing nearly collapsed back onto the bed. Truly, one shouldn’t do too much when tired. She had messed up another thing.

“No wonder you like Shushu.” An Yu didn’t say much else. In the role of a “veteran Alpha,” she planned to give some advice. “What do you mean ‘can’t mark’? You didn’t buy that kind of doll, did you?”

Lan Cixing stared at the words “that kind of doll” in silence. Did she look like the kind of Alpha who was so thirsty that she’d order a custom Rong Yushu doll because she couldn’t have the real thing?

“I have no money.” First of all, she was poor. Lan Cixing rubbed her temples, beginning to understand where Rong Yushu’s anger might be coming from. “Secondly, I don’t really want to face toys that look too human.” Her inability to mark Rong Yushu was due to a psychological barrier. If she got a doll that looked like Rong Yushu, she’d be scared to death, let alone mark it. What would be the point?

“Then what did you buy?” An Yu didn’t quite believe her.

Speechless, Lan Cixing pulled up her purchase record and sent it to An Yu. She really bought a mouthguard! A mouthguard for glandular stimulation! Why did no one believe her?

“Does this work? How do you use it?” An Yu replied after a full five minutes.

Lan Cixing had spaced out, not noticing how much time had passed. When she saw the message, she suddenly felt An Yu didn’t seem like an Alpha. A normal Alpha would know how to use such a prop, how to fantasize, and how to coordinate their nerves with their glands. Lan Cixing’s functions were normal—it was just a mental block—so she hadn’t even had that question.

She tapped the keyboard and asked directly: “An Alpha should know. You aren’t a Beta or an Omega, are you?” The “Scumbag Alpha” was An Yu’s cousin. That meant An Yu wasn’t necessarily an Alpha. Why was she faking it?

But An Yu answered even more honestly: “I have never marked anyone.”

Lan Cixing was too embarrassed to ask further. Asking more would hurt an Alpha’s pride.

“Can I ask why you can’t mark? Because that seems to be the key to the problem between you and your boss.”

Lan Cixing looked at An Yu’s topic change and turned off her phone. She was afraid… of hurting Rong Yushu. She was influenced by the media and that cold gaze from the past. She felt the act of marking was inherently bad. Especially since their status gap was too large; she was just Rong Yushu’s bed partner. On what grounds should she mark Rong Yushu? She couldn’t take responsibility for her. Her background, marriage, career… her own life was a mess, and her family had a hereditary disease. She couldn’t give Rong Yushu a future.

In the end, Rong Yushu might not even like her. Why think about it so painfully?

Lan Cixing ignored An Yu and planned to apologize to Rong Yushu first. She was content just being her bed partner. To stay by her side and look at her was enough.

Lan Cixing hadn’t even reached the door when it was shoved open violently. Something was hurled inside, nearly hitting her before landing on the bed.

Dazed, Lan Cixing looked up to see Rong Yushu. Her face was set, her eyes red and swollen. She had clearly been crying.

Lan Cixing’s heart tightened, and she instinctively looked back at the object thrown onto the bed.

…Why was it a realistic doll?!

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