After Unbinding the Simp System, I'm Targeted by the Villain - Chapter 28

The sweet and sour strawberry flavor dissolved across his tongue.

Yu Chucheng forgot what he was about to say, standing frozen on the spot with his ears burning. “This is a kid’s snack!”

He was a nineteen-year-old adult; counting his age before transmigrating, he was forty-one! This lollipop was something Duan Huaijin kept for Yuanyuan—how could he steal candy from a child!

Duan Huaijin raised his hand to pinch the lollipop stick, carefully picking at a piece of wrapper that hadn’t been fully peeled off. “Does it not taste good?”

Yu Chucheng’s breath hitched violently, and he suddenly grit his teeth.

It was an instinctive reaction to keep the lollipop from rolling around in his mouth. But because Duan Huaijin was holding the stick, the gesture became inexplicably intimate and strange.

Yu Chucheng felt the stairwell grow stiflingly muggy, making it hard to draw a breath. He abruptly turned his head away, stuttering in an embarrassing display. “I—I’ll do it myself.”

Duan Huaijin’s fingertips didn’t have time to retract. Following Yu Chucheng’s movement, they brushed over his cheek like a dragonfly skimming water. He rubbed his fingers together, feeling the lingering sensation of the touch. “You don’t like this flavor?”

“No… the flavor is fine,” Yu Chucheng mumbled incoherently.

“Then what’s your favorite flavor? I’ll bring it for you next time.”

The hallway was quiet, making Duan Huaijin’s deep, pleasant voice exceptionally clear, as if he were speaking right into Yu Chucheng’s ear.

Yu Chucheng felt like a cat having its ears blown on; every hair on his body stood up from the shiver.

“Don’t bother!”

He didn’t know what kind of expression he was wearing when he blurted that out. But after dropping those words, he bolted like a rabbit without looking back—it could only be described as a frantic escape.

If Yu Chucheng had to rank the most “unbearable to witness” moments of his life, that would be at the very top.

Duan Huaijin stood in the hallway, watching Yu Chucheng flee. As a guy, Yu Chucheng was quite agile; he disappeared from sight in no time.

Duan Huaijin curled his fingers and tucked the candy wrapper into his pocket.

That night, Yu Chucheng had just finished his shower when he received a call from Mrs. Yu in France.

As soon as the call connected, Mrs. Yu asked anxiously, “Chengcheng, Mama heard your heat came early. Is there any discomfort? How are you feeling now?”

Yu Chucheng dried his hair. “I’m fine. I don’t feel anything anymore, don’t worry.”

Mrs. Yu: “Those Alphas I picked for you last time—do you want to look at them again? I left the files in the study drawer. Is there really no one you like?”

At the thought of those muscular men, Yu Chucheng’s head throbbed. “Really, no need, Mom. Besides, I already have—”

Yu Chucheng stopped abruptly.

“You already have an Alpha you like?” Mrs. Yu followed up naturally, finding nothing odd about it.

Flashbacks of Duan Huaijin shoving the lollipop into his mouth earlier that evening flickered in Yu Chucheng’s mind. He shook his head vigorously. “No, I was going to say I already have a suitable suppressant. It’s very effective. When the heat hits, a bite—I mean, one shot does the trick.”

Mrs. Yu asked in surprise, “Really? It’s that effective?”

“Yes, yes.” Yu Chucheng cajoled and misled Mrs. Yu until she felt at ease.

After hanging up, Yu Chucheng let out a long sigh. A “human-shaped suppressant” was basically a suppressant, rounding it off.

* * *

A few days later, Yu Chucheng moved all his luggage into an apartment near the university.

This “talent apartment” was mostly populated by students. The hallways were wide and bright, the facilities were complete, and there was even a gym and a swimming pool.

Ji Zhou had arrived a day early. The moment Yu Chucheng walked through the door, he nearly tripped over a pile of packages Ji Zhou had stacked at the entrance.

The boxes were already open. Yu Chucheng called out, “What is this stuff at the door?”

Ji Zhou’s voice came from the bedroom. “Books. Bought them for you. Read them carefully.”

“?”

Yu Chucheng crouched down curiously to take a look.

《The Complete Guide to AO Physiology—Starting from the Mark》, 《How to Spend Your Heat Period Peacefully》, 《Three Steps to Capturing a Top-Tier Alpha》…

Yu Chucheng’s eyes widened. What the hell was this?!

He grabbed a book and hurled it at Ji Zhou in the bedroom. “Take them away! I’m not reading these!”

Yu Chucheng’s aim was excellent, hitting Ji Zhou square in the face. But Ji Zhou was thick-skinned and didn’t feel a thing.

He had already made up his mind to educate Yu Chucheng. Seeing how his friend had agreed to roommate with zero defense, he felt even more compelled to cram this knowledge into Yu Chucheng’s brain—to prevent him from wandering out in just boxers after a shower, or worse, being scammed by someone until he didn’t even have boxers left.

“Don’t be like that, I picked these carefully for you.” Not only that, Ji Zhou pulled his laptop from his bag. “Come here, I even found live-action educational videos. Come learn how Alphas and Omegas perform a permanent mark.”

Yu Chucheng stiffened his neck. “Get lost! I’m not watching! What ‘educational video’? That’s just porn!”

“Why won’t you watch? You’ve differentiated into an Omega; you’ll have to go through this eventually.”

“Forget it. I’m not going to be the one on the bottom.”

“That’s not up to you.”

Yu Chucheng: “…”

Can anyone feel the breakdown of a 21st-century straight man?

Ji Zhou set the laptop on the desk and forcibly held Yu Chucheng down to watch. Yu Chucheng covered his eyes—the final stand of his straight-man dignity.

However, the audio grew louder, and the sounds were enough to make anyone flush. Yu Chucheng thought, Maybe I should just treat it like a normal adult movie. It’s not like I haven’t seen a man and a woman before.

He peeked through a crack in his fingers, seeing the intense “battle” on screen.

“Holy shit, he looks like he’s in pain.”

Ji Zhou replied, “Keep watching. He’ll be enjoying it in a minute.”

Yu Chucheng kept watching out of sheer disbelief, and in the end, it was exactly as Ji Zhou said.

His entire understanding of the world was refreshed. Yu Chucheng slammed the laptop shut. “That’s enough. I get it.”

“Look in the mirror! Hahaha, look how red your face is!” Ji Zhou, the culprit, laughed until his stomach hurt. “Now do you understand how dangerous Alphas are to Omegas?”

The video made Yu Chucheng’s backside feel phantom pain. His head was buzzing.

Ji Zhou tilted his chin toward the door. “That’s why I’m not rooming with you after all. There happened to be a vacancy across the hall, so I’m rooming with an Alpha there instead. The landlord didn’t want to make two trips and knew we were friends, so he gave me the keys to your place to check if the previous tenant left anything.”

Ji Zhou reached into his pocket and tossed the keys to Yu Chucheng. “Here, keep them safe.”

“Oh.” Yu Chucheng was still dazed from the video.

Just then, Ji Zhou’s phone rang.

“Hey, it’s my cousin. You know her.” Ji Zhou took a swig of water. “Hello? What’s up?”

The girl on the other end seemed to be crying.

Ji Zhou nearly crushed the water bottle. “Don’t panic. Send me your location. I’m coming right now!”

Yu Chucheng had never seen Ji Zhou this angry. “What happened?”

Ji Zhou grit his teeth. “My cousin was dating a guy, and she caught him cheating. She’s in a hotel lobby right now. I have to go find her and tear that scumbag apart.”

This cousin was only two months younger than Ji Zhou and used to hang out with them in high school; Yu Chucheng treated her like a sister.

Yu Chucheng grabbed his phone. “I’m coming with you.”