After Teasing the aloof Arch-Nemesis Omega - Chapter 18

The wrinkle was near the lower back part of the hem. It did not look like it had merely been brushed wrinkled.

Opposite her, Fang Zhijin also noticed her gaze and looked over, the corners of her mouth holding a faint smile. “Is something wrong?”

Then her lashes lowered. One hand casually brushed over that small wrinkle, and that patch of fabric quickly became smooth again.

“N-no… nothing.” Seeing this, the person withdrew the doubt in her eyes and instead said, “Actually, I thought just now that you had gone to look for that person called Yu Yunlan.”

Fang Zhijin tilted her head slightly. Only her brows and eyes carried a smile as she skillfully said, “We’re not very familiar.”

She had not directly responded, yet she gave the other person the illusion that she had answered.

The person beside her gave an “Oh.” Although she was still a little curious, she did not continue asking and only looked toward the stage. “Right, Zhijin, you’ve seen this year’s list, haven’t you? There are quite a few impressive people.”

She teased, “I feel like if you weren’t in this year, everyone would have fought for the grade chief position.”

Fang Zhijin said, “Because everyone is very modest.”

That person pursed her lips and thought to herself, You’re clearly the one who’s too modest.

She and Fang Zhijin could actually be considered part of the same circle. Although her family could not compare to the Fang family, which had always stood at the top of the pyramid, her family had risen later and squeezed into Domain A’s upper circle.

There were countless people in Domain A with excellent family backgrounds, but the truly uppermost circle only consisted of a small group of people. Everyone was more or less familiar with one another.

But Fang Zhijin was rather special. Before entering Elite Academy, she had always received private customized education. She basically never appeared before outsiders and was not interested in private banquets either.

Even this person had only come into contact with Fang Zhijin later at some large banquets.

Even now, she still remembered the scene of the first time she saw Fang Zhijin. That had been a long time ago. Compared to now, Fang Zhijin’s face at the time had still carried traces of childishness, yet she had already been able to wear a composed smile, and every movement of hers was noble.

Beside her, a newly made friend had enthusiastically explained things to her.

“This is your first time attending such a large banquet, right? I don’t know if you’ve heard the name Fang Zhijin before.” The friend secretly pointed in that direction. “There. She’s Fang Zhijin.”

“She’s very amazing,” the friend said. “But I also feel like she must be so tired. Her course schedule is packed full. She has no time to breathe at all.”

“And her Omega mother passed away when she was very young too. Sure enough, outstanding people always have regrets.”

She looked at the other girl from afar and thought, So she is Fang Zhijin.

Under the brilliant crystal chandelier, the other girl moved gracefully among the crowd dressed in formal gowns. While talking, she happened to meet this person’s gaze by accident, so she smiled at her.

She was a dazzling and wonderful person. Surely no one would dislike Fang Zhijin.

…No, that was not right.

She suddenly thought of that rumor again, and a complicated emotion appeared in her eyes.

That person called Yu Yunlan seemed to dislike Fang Zhijin quite a lot…

In Elite Academy’s grand cathedral, the election had already been going on for more than ten minutes, and the opening procedures had been completed.

The materials handed in just now had all been entered into the system and were only waiting to be projected during the later election speeches.

Just as the first person was about to go on stage, a cold figure suddenly appeared at the entrance of the grand cathedral.

“Sorry, I’m late.”

Yu Yunlan’s delicate face and distant aura were extremely recognizable. Almost the moment she appeared, the atmosphere in the venue changed.

The instant Chen Nanqi clearly saw who had arrived, his eyes widened.

How had Yu Yunlan managed to get here?

A trace of ominous premonition suddenly appeared in his heart, as if a voice were telling him that if the other girl really entered, he would lose something very important.

That feeling made him panic terribly, and his body subconsciously stood up.

“You’re already late, aren’t you?” Chen Nanqi said with a cold laugh. “With that kind of attitude, are you even qualified to participate in the election?”

The onlookers present all held the mentality of watching a show and taking pleasure in misfortune. They already looked down on people from Domain D, and now this situation could almost be said to be exactly what they wanted to see.

Only the person sitting beside Fang Zhijin had her gaze land on Yu Yunlan’s collar, and she became puzzled again.

No… why was Yu Yunlan’s collar also a little messy?

Here, Yu Yunlan stood at the center of everyone’s gazes. Even facing the mocking attitude of the crowd, her expression remained calm and unruffled, giving off a cold feeling.

Only she herself knew that her gaze had quietly swept toward a certain Alpha.

She saw the other girl sitting several meters away from her, her expression gentle. She looked easy to get along with, yet also like no one could enter her world.

Even when their eyes met, Fang Zhijin’s attitude was natural. If not for the slight heat still coming from her gland, Yu Yunlan might have almost thought that those intimate and secret actions in the storage room had only been her own illusion.

She had become cold again. The emptiness in Yu Yunlan’s heart deepened, and she stopped looking at her.

Sure enough, she still did not like an Alpha like Fang Zhijin.

And after Yu Yunlan’s gaze completely moved away, on the other side, Fang Zhijin’s expression changed faintly, so quickly that it was almost impossible to catch.

Her gaze roamed over Yu Yunlan and landed on the corners of the other girl’s eyes.

It could be seen that before Yu Yunlan left the storage room, she had probably tidied her clothes a little. The Omega’s entire body carried a distant indifference, as if strangers should not approach. But probably no one could imagine that not long ago, this person had gone soft in Fang Zhijin’s arms, and that the gland at the back of her neck still carried Fang Zhijin’s teeth marks.

And the spot between her index and middle fingers.

Under this tense atmosphere, Fang Zhijin finally slowly opened her mouth. “It’s fine. Classmate Yu already sent me her election materials earlier.”

She turned her head and glanced at Chen Nanqi. “This shouldn’t delay everyone’s time, right? I saw quite a few classmates do the same just now. If someone were screened out because of this reason, then quite a few people would have to be removed all at once.”

The people from Domain A were used to being praised at Elite Academy, especially those with good family backgrounds. Plenty of people were willing to run errands for them. Many of Elite Academy’s rules on the surface only restricted the majority of people. From what Fang Zhijin had noticed, several Domain A candidates with later turns in the election had someone else come over in advance to hand in their materials, while they themselves only came when the election officially began.

With just a few light words, Fang Zhijin blocked Chen Nanqi’s argument.

It was just that some people’s gazes were filled with doubt, and some even suspected they had misheard.

Yu Yunlan asked Fang Zhijin to help submit her materials? What kind of combination was this?

Here, Chen Nanqi had never expected Fang Zhijin to speak. He immediately became uncertain, and that ominous premonition in his heart grew stronger.

Wasn’t Fang Zhijin’s relationship with Yu Yunlan bad? Then why would Fang Zhijin speak for her?

And Yu Yunlan had handed her materials to Fang Zhijin in advance?

Did that not mean… Fang Zhijin had already seen Yu Yunlan’s materials beforehand?!

Then what should he do? The materials had already been uploaded now, and it would not be easy for him to replace them.

Chen Nanqi’s hands trembled a little. He tried hard to calm down, telling himself that even if she knew in advance, so what? There was no evidence. As long as he insisted that it was his own work, it would be fine.

Yu Yunlan could not help looking over again.

She did not know that she had ever done such a thing, so why did Fang Zhijin have her materials? And the other girl seemed to have already prepared for this kind of sudden situation.

Whether it was after learning that she was an Omega or now, Fang Zhijin gave her a mysterious feeling.

At this moment, the other girl looked over. The usual gentle curve at the corners of her lips lifted a little more the instant their eyes met.

That smile overlapped for a moment with the way she had looked in the storage room.

Then she heard the other girl say leisurely, “After all, Classmate Yu specially requested me to.”

Requested? The person beside her looked strange, truly unable to imagine Yu Yunlan requesting help from someone.

Only Yu Yunlan knew what Fang Zhijin meant by “requested.” The fingers hanging by her side could not help curling, and a wave of numbness came from her gland. She pretended to be cold and shifted her gaze away.

This Alpha really was bad.

Fang Zhijin sat across from her, looking at the protagonist’s cold expression, and laughed inwardly. It seemed that after the temporary mark was over, the other girl had decided not to acknowledge her?

With such a cold appearance, could she be disliking Fang Zhijin again in her heart?

…

No matter how panicked Chen Nanqi was, Yu Yunlan had still obtained the qualification to continue participating in the election.

However, his order was earlier, so Chen Nanqi told himself that this was his advantage.

Under everyone’s gaze, he walked onto the stage.

On the large screen, the electronic version of his materials was projected so everyone could see.

Without a doubt, this was an extremely outstanding set of materials, far better than the previous few people’s.

Everyone revealed astonished expressions.

But Chen Nanqi did not show any proud expression.

Fang Zhijin’s gaze landed on him. She had always presented herself gently to the outside world, but for some reason, being watched by those black eyes placed immense pressure on Chen Nanqi. He even felt afraid.

Because of his guilty conscience, his gaze drifted around uncertainly. He looked distracted, obviously not in the right state.

Because of this, when that cold voice sounded—

“This seems to be…”

Before the sentence could be finished, Chen Nanqi interrupted almost without thinking. “This is mine!”

The moment these words came out, the entire venue instantly fell silent. Everyone looked at one another.

Chen Nanqi’s words had appeared far too abruptly, leaving everyone confused.

Chen Nanqi also reacted and immediately shut his mouth.

Yu Yunlan looked at the familiar materials on the large screen, her eyes turning cold.

From the very beginning, when she saw the opening, she had felt that something was wrong. Especially after seeing Chen Nanqi’s reaction, she vaguely understood something.

Her work had been stolen.

Logically speaking, the people of Elite Academy would not pay attention to someone from Domain D like her. Naturally, they would not care that she often went to the laboratory, much less know what she was doing.

The people who could know these things had either been secretly paying attention to her all along, or were people who were relatively close to her and understood her schedule.

Under such circumstances, many people’s first reaction would actually be to suspect their roommates, especially someone like Fang Zhijin, whose many actions carried suspicious points.

But Yu Yunlan excluded Fang Zhijin immediately. Even she herself was startled by this inexplicable sense of trust.

Her mind turned, carefully recalling the people who had appeared over the past few days.

Finally, it settled on the two Alphas who had suddenly appeared in the laboratory that day.

Those two people had a problem.

She looked at Chen Nanqi and stated the fact in a calm tone. “This is not your work. This is my experimental result.”

The people in the venue let out sounds of surprise, not understanding the current situation.

“What’s going on?”

“Is there drama? Yu Yunlan says this is hers.”

“Uh, is that true or not? She’s from Domain D. Could she make something like this? Don’t just say random things.”

Amid these discussions, Fang Zhijin sat at the side without speaking, seemingly with no intention of interfering.

This made Chen Nanqi feel slightly more at ease. He thought to himself, That’s what I thought. How could Fang Zhijin possibly help Yu Yunlan?

He pinched his own palm, lifted his chin, and said from above, “Do you have any evidence?”

He thought to himself that Yu Yunlan could not possibly have evidence. He had long since had someone damage the laboratory surveillance. After using the equipment to transfer the experimental data, he had also completely wiped the data from the machine Yu Yunlan had used for the experiment.

So his confidence grew a little, and he said, “You, a poor commoner from Domain D, are far too full of yourself. Tell me, do you even have the ability to produce these results?”