After Saving My Cannon Fodder Omega - Chapter 7

“How could that be? I have excellent manners when I’m drunk!” Ming Rui said with a laugh as she pulled off her down jacket. The dark gray sweater dress underneath accentuated her graceful curves.

Even in the dim lighting of the bar, her shapely figure drew several sideways glances.

Feng Zhi took a sip of her cocktail to moisten her lips, her eyes full of undisguised jealousy as she looked at Ming Rui. If the lights hadn’t been so low, the envious redness in her eyes would have surely startled Chi Wei and Xie Yueyue.

But there was nothing to be done; luck of the draw had dictated that Ming Rui successfully differentiated as an Alpha.

If Feng Zhi hadn’t failed her own differentiation, she might have had a chance to surpass her during secondary development.

Unfortunately, there are no “ifs” in life.

Chi Wei, who was busy downing her fourth “Hallucination,” happened to catch Feng Zhi shaking her head to herself. Not quite understanding why she suddenly had that expression, Chi Wei nudged her curiously with an elbow: “What’s up with you?”

Feng Zhi twitched the corner of her mouth in a perfunctory smile. Her right hand held a shot of vodka, which she clinked against Chi Wei’s nearly empty cocktail glass. She sighed: “Jealousy has made me unrecognizable.”

“Jealous of what? What is there to be jealous of her for?” Chi Wei glanced confusedly at Ming Rui standing by the table.

In her eyes, the four of them had grown up together, their families’ economic status was similar, and their material lives were virtually identical. They had all been well-nourished since childhood, so their genetic advantages didn’t differ much. Even if she and Feng Zhi had failed to differentiate, they only lacked pheromones compared to Xie Yueyue and Ming Rui.

Besides, every gain has a loss, and every loss has a gain.

While they couldn’t release pheromones to attract Omegas, they also couldn’t smell the aggressive pheromones released by other Alphas. Without the “pheromone buff,” they were immune to pheromone-based suppression and control. The pros and cons balanced out perfectly—honestly, it was great!

Betas were the strongest in the world! …Except for the conception rate.

But such a small flaw was, objectively speaking, not worth mentioning. As the elders say—the next generation is a matter of fate anyway.

Chi Wei rattled off her perspective like beans spilling from a bag. Feng Zhi was profoundly shocked. She grabbed another shot glass and clinked it against Chi Wei’s fifth “Hallucination” with a ding: “Xiao Wei, you’ve really seen through it all! Sister is toasting you again with this one!”

“…” Chi Wei nodded expressionlessly and downed another one.

Xie Yueyue, who had been sitting beside them supervising Ming Rui’s three penalty drinks, finally finished her task. Seeing Feng Zhi and Chi Wei clinking glasses repeatedly, she leaned her head in close to Chi Wei: “Sister Chui, what are you guys talking about? Why are you laughing so happily?”

Chi Wei turned her expressionless face toward her, about to ask who exactly do you see laughing happily? but Ming Rui reached out. Pressing her palm against Xie Yueyue’s face, she shoved her in the opposite direction: “If you have something to say, just say it. Why are you leaning in so close?”

Xie Yueyue: “…”

Chi Wei glanced at Ming Rui and scooted a bit closer to Feng Zhi.

Once Xie Yueyue sat back up and processed what Ming Rui had said, she leaned back toward Chi Wei defiantly: “How is that close? There’s still half a meter between us. It’s only because it’s quiet here; if we were anywhere else, you wouldn’t be able to hear me even if I screamed.”

Chi Wei, her face flushed red, let a tiny smirk play on her lips, thinking that was actually a fair point.

Ming Rui, refusing to accept the explanation, looked at the talking-back Xie Yueyue and reached out to shove her again.

Chi Wei couldn’t stand seeing Xie Yueyue look so aggrieved. She reached out in time to grab Ming Rui’s arm, pulling her back. “Don’t move,” she said to Xie Yueyue. “Just sit there and see what Director Ming can actually do about it.”

Feng Zhi wiped her alcohol-stained fingers and chimed in: “Perfect! Let’s spectate a fight between two Alphas. Let’s see if they really don’t have to get their hands dirty like us pheromone-less Betas, and if they can just use their ‘willpower’ instead.”

Xie Yueyue and Ming Rui fell silent simultaneously. After exchanging a look, they sat down helplessly in their respective seats.

Chi Wei sensed Ming Rui staring at her after she sat down. She looked down at the bottom of her glass, thinking she should find time in a couple of days to have a proper chat with Sister Ming.

Thinking of the things Ming Rui had said to her in her past life, Chi Wei couldn’t help but think of Xuan Nian, who still hadn’t appeared.

A wave of sourness rose in her heart, and she felt secretly annoyed. Why isn’t she coming?

Once that thought started, she couldn’t stop it—

Chi Wei had possessed a vivid imagination since she was a child. Now that a seed had been planted, her thoughts began to spiral like a tornado. Her mind flashed back to the scene she had witnessed with her own eyes—Xuan Nian falling from the balcony. Her chest suddenly tightened. As if she had met some “duplication glitch,” empty glasses began to pile up on the table.

Unknowingly, the empty glasses multiplied, and all four women at the table began to feel the effects of the alcohol.

Among them, Xie Yueyue—who was hiding a secret—and Chi Wei were the most intoxicated.

Feng Zhi, a natural party-lover who was used to being lighthearted, was giggling foolishly through her drunken haze: “I’ll have to… trouble Director Ming to drive us home…”

Ming Rui’s complexion remained normal, her face not flushed red by the alcohol like the other three, but she had actually drunk quite a bit because she was in a sour mood watching Chi Wei drown her sorrows for no apparent reason.

Hearing Feng Zhi’s voice, she patted her chest without changing her expression: “Leave it to me.”

She looked at the three sisters slumped on the table, then glanced around the now-empty bar. Finally, she gave an apologetic smile to the owner who was walking over: “Sorry for the trouble, we’re leaving now.”

With that, Ming Rui fished a spare stack of cash out of her handbag and handed over a bundle: “This is for the tip. Thank you for your hard work.”

The owner took the money and thanked her profusely: “No trouble at all! Thank you for your patronage.”

Ming Rui smiled slightly but didn’t engage further. She pushed off the table gracefully with one hand and waved toward the seven-seater business van parked outside the glass doors, signaling her housekeeper to come and help move people.

The housekeeper hurried over. Ming Rui practicedly handed Feng Zhi over to her, then personally helped Chi Wei up. One hand supported Chi Wei’s waist while the other pulled her arm over her own shoulder.

It was funny to think about—this childhood-friend Beta was actually about the same height as her. If Ming Rui hadn’t successfully differentiated, gained a centimeter in height, and changed her style, she might not have actually won in the “aura” department.

Chi Wei, this little girl, was only abnormally well-behaved in front of her elder sister, Chi Yu. The rest of the time, she was as arrogant as a wolf cub. Not only was she fierce, but her mind was always overly sensitive in places it shouldn’t be. Take today, for instance—she didn’t know if Chi Wei was angry or if she’d discovered something, but her attitude toward her was clearly off.

“Sigh…” Ming Rui looked down at the seemingly unconscious Chi Wei and smiled bitterly to herself. It seemed she still had a very long road ahead of her.

The two walked slowly to the bar entrance, passing the housekeeper who had already put Feng Zhi in the car and was returning for Xie Yueyue.

Ming Rui stepped aside to make room and happened to lock eyes with an Omega standing in the corner behind the door.

The Omega’s eyes were red and swollen, and she looked to be in a bad state. Seeing the faint smile in Ming Rui’s eyes, she quickly looked away, glancing at the person leaning on Ming Rui’s shoulder with closed eyes. Her brow furrowed slightly. She reached down to pick up her reversible black-and-white down jacket from a seat, wound a patterned scarf carefully around her neck, and followed them out of Starry Sky.

Ming Rui walked very slowly, appearing to treasure the moments of half-holding Chi Wei, or perhaps she truly was running out of strength.

After a long while, she finally finished her lingering walk and reluctantly placed Chi Wei into a business seat behind the driver. She then stood outside the car door, head tilted, looking at the woman who had followed them out and was now walking briskly toward the street corner.

It was strange. Even if Alphas and Omegas aren’t always attracted to each other, they aren’t usually repelled. Yet for some reason, from the moment their eyes met, Ming Rui had felt that the Omega with the bright, sharp eyes was somewhat unpleasant to look at.

But searching her memory, she couldn’t recall ever having such an “enemy.”

Doubt, accompanied by the cold wind, swept across Ming Rui’s brow. Her seemingly normal face finally began to feel warm under the influence of the alcohol.

The next second, she brushed back the long hair blowing into her face, took a quick look at Chi Wei—who was restlessly turning her head against the seatback—and stepped up into the van.

The electric door slid shut. Chi Wei, who was dazed from drinking, pressed a hand to her forehead and opened her eyes into tiny slits: “What are you looking at? See someone you know?”

Ming Rui smiled and replied: “No. Taking you home or to the apartment?”

Chi Wei took a deep breath and was about to answer when Feng Zhi, sitting behind her, chimed in: “To the apartment! If we go back now and wake up Big Sister, we’re in big trouble.”

Xie Yueyue slurred her agreement: “Y-yeah.”

Chi Wei: “…” See, having sisters is great—you don’t even have to speak for yourself.

Ming Rui chuckled: “Should I drop you each off at your own places, or are we all going to mine?”

Chi Wei looked sideways: “You have tomorrow off?”

Ming Rui pursed her lips. Since she started working at her family’s company, she had not only started missing group dinners, but waking at dawn and sleeping at midnight had become routine.

Of course, even if Ming Rui—the homeowner—wasn’t there after they woke up, it wasn’t a huge deal to them. But the homeowner being away while a stranger lived in the house was a different story.

Although Ming Rui had repeatedly emphasized that the girl was her cousin’s little girlfriend just staying there temporarily, Xie Yueyue was still resistant to the idea of living under the same roof as an unknown Omega.

Since she refused, the other two couldn’t very well leave her alone.

Chi Wei rubbed her temples, thought for a moment, and said: “Go to my place. I have everything there.”

Xie Yueyue immediately raised her hand to vote.

In terms of closeness among the four, Feng Zhi felt she was best friends with Chi Wei. Seeing someone else vote first, she hurriedly raised her hand to follow suit, determined not to lose.

With the answer unanimous, Ming Rui had nothing else to say. Xie Yueyue and Feng Zhi, knowing their destination was set, relaxed, and their heads immediately slumped to the side as they fell asleep.

Chi Wei hadn’t had a good night. Hearing their rhythmic breathing, she wanted to take a nap too, but she simply couldn’t sleep. She kept her eyes half-open, watching the snowy late night drift past the window of the moving car.

The snowflakes were tiny, dancing in the night wind. They weren’t very obvious to the naked eye, but they looked quite romantic falling under the streetlights.

Chi Wei noticed Ming Rui’s reflection in the glass was staring at her. She tiredly shifted her gaze toward the large intersection they were passing. However, in that casual glance, the blood in her entire body froze.

A powder-blue BMW was turning from in front of their van into the adjacent lane. The dome light inside the car cast a soft glow, and Xuan Nian—the woman she had been chasing all night—was sitting right there in the back seat!