The Cold Alpha's Black Lotus O Strategy Plan (GL) - Chapter 6
“The brain MRI shows no abnormalities,” the attending physician said, holding Lü Zhongcai’s latest test report. “The concussion has also improved, though it still needs time to fully recover. Do you feel any other issues?”
Lü Zhongcai sat in the wheelchair, her brows slightly furrowed.
052 laughed wildly in Lü Zhongcai’s mind: “Hahahahahaha!”
Jin Sique looked at Lü Zhongcai with concern: “What exactly is going on?”
“I genuinely hear another voice in my head,” Lü Zhongcai stated.
Jin Sique had seen the report and asked in confusion, “Can you try to find another way?”
Lü Zhongcai: “I would like a more comprehensive screening.”
The attending physician turned around, exchanged a glance with the nurse next to him, and after a moment’s thought, said, “We can invite specialists in Alpha neurology and psychology to conduct another consultation for you.”
Jin Sique paused, gripping Lü Zhongcai’s shoulder with worry.
Aunt Guo asked anxiously, “What does that mean?”
“Are you suspecting I have a mental illness?” Lü Zhongcai asked, tapping her forehead with a finger.
052: “CEO, I think you’d better not expose me. Not only is this detrimental to our great cause of restoration, but it might also make the Black Lotus vigilant and suspicious of you.”
Lü Zhongcai looked back at Jin Sique. Jin Sique was wearing the same clothes as yesterday, looking at her with a worried expression. A marked Alpha and Omega can sense each other’s emotions; she could feel Jin Sique’s worry and panic.
Jin Sique: “A-cai…”
Lü Zhongcai nodded, signaling to Jin Sique not to worry, then said to the doctor, “Fine.”
“Something’s wrong with her brain?” On the other end of the phone, a girl’s voice carried a mysterious, playful tone. “Is it because of the car accident? Will she become an idiot?”
Jin Sique pondered for a moment, recalling seeing Lü Zhongcai replying to work emails yesterday. “I don’t think so.”
The girl said “Oh,” and continued, “I’ll be back next month. Remember to pick me up at the airport.”
Jin Sique curved her eyes: “Got it, Xiao Yue. Has she… been found?”
Chen Xiaoyue was silent for two seconds and said, “Sorry, Sique, I’ve tried my best to look, but there’s still no news of Meng Zhen.”
Jin Sique adjusted her expression and smiled, saying, “It’s alright. I understand.”
The call ended. Jin Sique lowered her smile and shifted her gaze toward the consultation room for Alpha Psychology.
Inside the consultation room, a strange and absurd conversation was still taking place.
“An S-rank Alpha?” Qin Ming stood by the window, looking at Lü Zhongcai’s inspection report, and said with a laugh, “As far as I know, there are no more than a hundred S-rank Alphas across the entire country. President Lü, it seems you really need psychological guidance.”
Lü Zhongcai nodded politely: “I can control my emotions.”
Qin Ming shrugged, indicating they could begin.
The young doctor sitting opposite Lü Zhongcai began asking Lü Zhongcai some basic questions to determine if she had any psychological or neurological disorders.
But Lü Zhongcai’s answers were perfectly normal.
Qin Ming strode over and asked, “Briefly describe the conversations you’ve had with the voice in your mind.”
“She’s encouraging you to commit a crime?” Qin Ming asked after half an hour.
052: “I suggest you don’t talk about me to outsiders, President Lü…”
Lü Zhongcai: “Yes, she told me to permanently mark or directly destroy an Omega.”
Young doctor: “Is that your true desire?”
052: “Of course!”
“No,” Lü Zhongcai said coldly.
The young doctor glanced at Qin Ming and asked, “Is there anything unique about this voice? Or, did she introduce herself?”
052: “If you must have a title, you can call me 052.”
Lü Zhongcai: “She calls herself 052.”
Qin Ming chuckled.
Doctor: “…”
“What is that expression?” 052 asked with slight indignation.
Lü Zhongcai: “Reversed, it means 250 (Chinese slang for idiot/simpleton).”
The doctor cleared his throat and asked, “Are there any other characteristics?”
Lü Zhongcai pursed her lips and said, “Her voice is very familiar. It sounds a lot like me.”
052: “…”
Qin Ming froze, then snatched the notepad from the young doctor’s hand, physically moved him out of the consultation room, and stressed seriously to Lü Zhongcai: “I need you to recount everything that started yesterday again, especially the dream.”
052: “CEO, I really think you shouldn’t. You’ll hurt me, and you’ll also be dragged into a lab by a mysterious organization for dissection and study… Wait! Wait!”
“Hello.”
The young doctor closed the door and turned to face Jin Sique, who was walking towards him. “Hello, Mrs. Jin.”
Jin Sique paused, clasped her hands in front of her, and smiled slightly at the young doctor: “A-cai introduced me to you? Please don’t call me that. Just call me by my name.”
The young doctor was a Beta. A quick glance at Jin Sique made him unable to look away. He chuckled sheepishly, “I, I’d better call you Mrs. Jin. President Lü is an S-rank Alpha, I…”
The young doctor gave a strained smile. To an Alpha, their Omega partner is an extremely personal item. Any show of affection or intimacy towards their Omega in their presence would be considered a provocation.
Therefore, many people avoid getting involved with Omegas who already have an Alpha. Medical personnel, in particular, strictly adhere to these ironclad rules. After all, no one is more aware of how difficult a rampaging Alpha can be to handle.
And Lü Zhongcai was a top-tier S-rank Alpha. If her emotions were ignited by a small detail, the consequences were simply unimaginable.
Jin Sique smiled: “It’s alright, A-cai won’t mind these things. How is she?”
The young doctor said, “She looks quite well. Although she’s in a wheelchair, she’s very… uh, anyway, she’s doing fine.”
“The content of your conversation…” Jin Sique carefully considered her expression and tone, asking with a worried and timid look, “Can you tell me? I’m very worried about her.”
The young doctor shook his head: “I’m sorry, that is confidential information.”
Jin Sique had no choice but to thank him and not press further.
Jin Sique returned to the waiting area, sat down, and started scrolling on her phone. On her screen, Zhu Wanqing had sent a message, saying she had covered her attendance and not to rush back to school.
Jin Sique sincerely replied with a thank you, exited WeChat, opened a music app, put on her headphones, and started looping a Peking Opera piece, humming along while skillfully tapping the beat on her knee with her fingers.
“It’s absurd, isn’t it?” After recounting everything, Lü Zhongcai looked at Qin Ming, who was about thirty years old. “Have you had a case like mine before?”
“Nothing exactly the same, of course,” Qin Ming said, then smiled mysteriously, giving Lü Zhongcai a deliberate tease.
Lü Zhongcai slightly raised her eyebrows. She looked at Qin Ming very politely, but the Alpha’s dominance still made Qin Ming’s hair stand on end.
“Don’t be so lethal, President Lü, I’m just an ordinary Alpha.” Qin Ming raised his hands in a gesture of surrender.
052 said angrily: “What a weakling! Quickly use your pheromones to attack her! Let her see the wrath of an S-rank Alpha!”
Lü Zhongcai said politely, “You haven’t introduced yourself yet.”
Qin Ming: “I am the director of Alpha Psychology. You can just call me Dr. Qin. President Lü, your situation is rare for an Alpha, but not unheard of. I have a theory, but I need some simple data to support it. Please come with me.”
Lü Zhongcai rose and followed Qin Ming into the studio next door.
The studio was filled with various test tubes and equipment. Obscure medical books were stacked on the walls and tables.
Qin Ming said, “You and your wife must be very affectionate, right?”
052 scoffed scornfully in her mind, “The Black Lotus is faking it all.”
Lü Zhongcai said, “I believe she loves me very much.”
Qin Ming turned around with an amused look. “And you, how do you feel about her?”
“I need an Omega wife to deal with the endless pressure from my family to get married.” Lü Zhongcai steered her wheelchair to the window and stopped, her gaze scrutinizing the crowd six floors below.
Qin Ming, wearing a white coat, glanced at the silver glint reflecting in the sunlight near Lü Zhongcai’s neat collar. “So, you don’t love Jin Sique?”
Lü Zhongcai: “No.”
052 shouted in her mind: “Yes! Yes! Excellent! A qualified Scum A only likes her body. So what if she’s the female lead O? If she dares to betray, she’ll still end up being tormented!”
Qin Ming pointed to Lü Zhongcai’s collar and asked, “What is this? Can I see it?”
Lü Zhongcai looked down, her eyes narrowing dangerously.
Qin Ming explained: “I need a personal item to extract pheromone scent. Your body is very weak right now, and I don’t want to draw blood. What do you think, President Lü?”
052: “Quack doctor?”
Lü Zhongcai took off the necklace from her neck. It was a simple silver chain, very thin. As she pulled it out of her collar, it revealed a gem-encrusted loop hanging from the bottom.
“A ring?” Qin Ming put on gloves, curiously taking it to examine.
Lü Zhongcai: “Mm, a wedding ring.”
Qin Ming smiled and carefully placed the necklace and ring together in a petri dish, poured in a blue extraction liquid, sealed it, and waited.
“It looks like it’s been worn for a long time,” Qin Ming observed.
Lü Zhongcai: “Since the marriage, I haven’t taken it off except to shower.”
Qin Ming: “Oh?”
Lü Zhongcai: “I don’t love Jin Sique, but I respect our marital relationship.”
The smile on Qin Ming’s lips gradually widened. He said, “A few years ago, there was a case study in Country M about an extreme Alpha. This Alpha, due to underestimating their emotional capacity when dealing with the termination of their relationship with their Omega partner, dismembered and consumed their Omega after the breakup.”
052: “…”
Qin Ming: “After regaining lucidity, the Alpha tortured herself to death in an extremely cruel way. I know you don’t want to hear it, and it’s almost lunchtime, so I don’t want to recall it either.”
“Even doctors are afraid of this?” Lü Zhongcai asked curiously.
Qin Ming: “I’m a psychiatrist, not a surgeon who needs to wield a knife.”
Lü Zhongcai looked at the petri dish: “So?”
Qin Ming: “Do you have any personal items belonging to your partner?”
052 loudly and smugly clamored: “It’s useless! The worldviews and characters of the inner and outer worlds are independent of each other. Neither side has the ability to explore the other yet. Only the Transmigration System, as a third party, can…”
Lü Zhongcai ignored 052, remaining silent for a moment, and said, “I would need to retrieve one. It’s not a personal item, but it shouldn’t be a problem for pheromone extraction.”
Qin Ming: “That works.”
A few minutes later, a white shirt wrapped in a plastic film bag was delivered to the lab. Qin Ming switched to a larger petri dish. The two of them guarding a shirt created a strange scene.
“You two were intimate last night? As expected of an S-rank Alpha, even with a broken leg, you can still…” Qin Ming teased.
Lü Zhongcai maintained a cold, severe demeanor: “No.”
052 snorted: “Yes, the CEO is that fierce. You’d better not imagine any strange scenarios, or I’ll pluck off your rude head and use it as a soccer ball.”
Lü Zhongcai said helplessly, “Be quiet.”
Qin Ming: “?”
“Are you talking to each other?” Qin Ming asked.
052: “Hmph.”
Lü Zhongcai: “Yes.”
Qin Ming: “About ten minutes.”
Lü Zhongcai took out her phone, imported a document into the reader, selected 3x speed with automatic page turning, and began rapidly scanning the file.
052: “CEO, can we please slow down the reading speed?”
Qin Ming: “So diligent?”
Lü Zhongcai: “Too much work piled up during my hospitalization.”
[Are you okay?] A message popped up on her phone.
Lü Zhongcai switched to the chat app. It was a message from Jin Sique. Lü Zhongcai had been in the consultation room for over two hours, and Jin Sique was worried something serious had happened, so she quietly sent a message to Lü Zhongcai.
Qin Ming: “What did your wife say? We actually don’t recommend bringing phones in. See, I didn’t wear mine. This is for a quiet and relaxed consultation environment.”
Lü Zhongcai replied: [I’m fine. Contact Old Li to drive you back to school.]
[No way!] Jin Sique refused seriously. [I can catch up on notes later, but I can’t miss any updates on your condition.]
“The results are out,” Qin Ming said, holding two brief reports printed due to time constraints. He quickly scanned them and handed the reports to Lü Zhongcai. “Hmm, the gene sequencing for pheromones is very mature, so don’t worry about discrepancies or errors.”
Lü Zhongcai looked at the report, still showing no emotion, only 052 screaming wildly in her mind, Impossible, impossible, like a hysterical, deranged chicken.
Qin Ming: “Now, I can explain my theory to you. Do you remember the case I mentioned earlier?”
Half an hour later.
Lü Zhongcai quietly and completely listened to Qin Ming’s explanation, steering the wheelchair’s control keyboard to leave the consultation room.
Before Lü Zhongcai left, Qin Ming said, “I suggest you come twice a week. Although I haven’t encountered many patients like you, I can attempt to treat you.”
The consultation room door closed automatically.
Jin Sique had been waiting outside the entire time. Aunt Guo had gone back to pack food. In the entire Alpha Psychology consultation area, only a few other family members were waiting listlessly outside.
Jin Sique noticed Lü Zhongcai immediately, quickly stood up, walked closer to her, and urgently bent down to ask, “How did it go?”
052: “Tell her the truth! The data won’t lie! That way, she’ll be completely devoted to you!”
Lü Zhongcai: “There’s no issue. It’s just some temporary auditory hallucinations caused by the after-effects of the concussion. I just need rest, and it will gradually improve.”
Jin Sique slowly stood up, subtly removing the Bluetooth earbud from her ear. A gust of wind blew, making her long hair flutter as she stood in the corridor, looking remarkably gentle and attractive: “Really? That’s wonderful.”
In the afternoon, in a quiet café, Lü Zhongcai, who brought her own fish congee, ordered a cup of coffee and sat in her wheelchair.
“What?” Lu Baimei almost spat out the chicken soup in her mouth.
Lü Zhongcai leaned away, frowning slightly, and slightly lifted her bowl of fish soup to prevent Lu Baimei from spraying her.
052, using Lü Zhongcai’s own clear and indifferent voice, said in Lü Zhongcai’s mind: “So gross! Peasant! Move your hand away!”
“Ideological split?” Lu Baimei pressed her palm against Lü Zhongcai’s forehead. “President Lü, did you go crazy from the illness?”
Lü Zhongcai dodged back: “Probably.”
Lu Baimei burst into laughter: “Hahaha, I’ve only ever heard of schizophrenia (personality split).”
Lü Zhongcai: “Ideological Schism (thought split). Qin Ming suspects I experienced some kind of unacceptable shock before the car accident. After the accident, my cerebral cortex became overactive and split into an ‘Other Me’ consciousness.”
“What kind of shock?” Lu Baimei asked.
Lü Zhongcai: “Concussion, I’ve lost my memory.”
Lu Baimei asked excitedly, “And? What is the ‘Other Me’? Do you have two personalities now? Which one am I talking to?”
“The ‘Other Me’ only exists in my brain and cannot use my body,” Lü Zhongcai explained. “It is my dark side.”
Lu Baimei: “?”
Lu Baimei: “Does she have a personality? Describe it.”
“Stupid, lazy, evil, and unmotivated,” Lü Zhongcai stated.
052: “I admit I’m evil, but I refuse to admit I’m stupid and lazy!”
Lü Zhongcai didn’t respond to 052, continuing: “Extremely noisy.”
“Doesn’t that precisely contrast with you?” Lu Baimei slapped her thigh. “The CEO is smart, diligent, kind, ambitious, and idealistic. Wait, I get it. 052 is your dark shadow.”
Lü Zhongcai didn’t deny it, only saying, “She claims I exist in a book, and after I separate from Sique, I will end up homeless.”
“Hahahaha!” Lu Baimei laughed heartily. “How is that possible!”
Lu Baimei was startled and suddenly said, “I understand. Do you read web novels? Transmigration and systems are standard tropes.”
Lü Zhongcai: “No.”
Lu Baimei explained: “I recently read one about an Alpha who transmigrated into a world with only two genders, becoming the only Alpha in the world. Except for the female protagonist, no one could solve her heat condition.”
“And the female protagonist just happens to be the only person affected by the Alpha’s pheromones. Hahaha, you must think the story will go in an explicit direction. The main text is all about the two of them being intimate in various times, places, and settings, right?”
“…”
Lü Zhongcai finished her congee, opened her laptop, connected to a cross-border conference room, and waited for the two-minute countdown to the meeting.
Lu Baimei: “This is the author’s trick, you know? They play on the edge to attract readers, but in the main text, they prevent the two from getting intimate due to various reasons, leaving the two protagonists perpetually on the verge of emotional explosion, and incidentally driving the invested readers crazy with frustration.”
“Oh! Also, characters like this are usually stubborn people like you who are in denial and pretend to be aloof. The system, as a word-count generating tool, also serves the purpose of issuing absurd commands that deviate from the protagonist’s character path, just to force the two protagonists to intersect and interact…”
Lü Zhongcai looked at her laptop screen. People were gradually entering the conference room, but they broke the usual polite tradition of “exchange greetings first” and maintained a tacit silence, ears perked, listening intently.
Lü Zhongcai: “You enjoy reading these books?”
“Hahaha,” Lu Baimei waved her hand and whispered, “I love them, but you can’t read them with your brain on. Oh right, do you browse smut websites and fiction markets? I have lots of web novel files… You must understand, right? A single Alpha, when in heat, inevitably needs to…”
“I read legitimate copies,” Lü Zhongcai said, adjusting the watch face on her wrist and pointing at Lu Baimei, interrupting her non-stop chatter.
Lu Baimei: “2:00 PM. What is it? Oh, right, what did you need me for today?”
Lü Zhongcai looked at the computer screen: “Everyone, let me introduce you. This is Lu Baimei, the newly promoted CFO of the branch. Alright, Novi, the M&A case…”
Lu Baimei froze, leaning back. Only then did she clearly see the seven or eight suppressed faces on Lü Zhongcai’s computer screen, all maintaining uniform movements, trying hard to control the swelling of their cheek muscles from holding back laughter.
Lu Baimei: “…………………………..”
“Discharge in two weeks.”
That night, at Jingwan Villa, Jin Sique, wearing soft loungewear, was talking to an elder on the phone: “You and father don’t need to worry. I’ll take good care of her, mm…”
Aunt Guo set the dishes and walked out of the kitchen, signaling to Jin Sique that dinner was ready.
Jin Sique smiled sweetly, patiently listening to the voice on the other end of the phone, “No need. Yes, I’ll be back for National Day. You and father don’t need to make another trip. A-cai’s work is too busy.”
“Okay.”
“I know. You and father should also rest early.”
The call ended. Jin Sique sat back down at the dining area. Aunt Guo was using a small knife to carve the meat off a plate of stewed ribs for her. “Are the Old Madam and Master well?”
Jin Sique took the utensil from Aunt Guo’s hand and said, “Very well. They just finished their check-ups, and everything is normal.”
Aunt Guo nodded, took another plate, and continued carving meat.
“You should rest,” Jin Sique said. “I will prepare A-cai’s portion.”
Aunt Guo was elderly, even a few years older than Lü Zhongcai’s parents. Having no children of her own, she had stayed with the Lü family, like family though not by blood.
Jin Sique slightly nodded, a gentle smile on her lips: “Please go.”
The living room fell silent. Jin Sique casually put down the exquisite knife and picked up her chopsticks to eat. She didn’t eat much. The entire day, her mind had been preoccupied with Lü Zhongcai.
Her phone vibrated. Jin Sique casually glanced at it, then raised it to answer: “Hello.”
“Xin Street No. 10. Coming or not?” The person on the other end asked.
Jin Sique looked at the antique grandfather clock in the living room and said faintly, “Not tonight. I have to go back to school tomorrow.”
“Don’t be like that,” the person on the other end howled. “Xiao Qing has a bad stomach and can’t perform. Come and fill in for her this one time. Consider it a favor I’m begging you for, okay?”
Jin Sique remained silent.
“Sique? Give me some face.”
“It’s not ideal,” Jin Sique smiled, lazily playing with a pair of silver chopsticks.
The other side was quiet for a few seconds and said, “A Drunken Concubine segment, twenty thousand. Deal?”
Jin Sique’s smile deepened, and she said, “The whole troupe earns two hundred thousand for a night, and you only offer me twenty thousand?”
“…”
“Sixty thousand!” The person on the other end gritted their teeth.
Jin Sique stood up decisively: “Done.”
“If you ask me, there’s truly no one more suitable for the role of the Drunken Concubine than you,” Monkey said with a laugh, taking a brush, dipping it into a plate of greasepaint, and applying makeup to Jin Sique’s face.
After the makeup was complete, Monkey clicked his tongue a few times, curled his index finger, and slowly backed up two steps, sighing in admiration: “It truly moves my heart.”
Jin Sique sat in front of the vanity mirror, adjusted her headdress, and examined the makeup from side to side.
While she was putting on makeup, a crowd had gathered backstage, all surrounding her. Someone approached with the costume, exclaimed loudly, and in a drawn-out Peking Opera tone, sang softly: “The Imperial Concubine Yang is finally dressed.”
“Troupe Master, The Tale of the White Snake is almost done, and The Peony Pavilion is about to end. Is our Concubine Sister’s segment ready?”
Jin Sique stood up, a red dot on her forehead, her eyes as bright as the moon, her smile like a dream. In her full costume, her phoenix coronet was adorned with kingfisher feathers, her ceremonial robe embroidered with a phoenix among peonies, her jade belt fluttering like an immortal’s, and her folding fan painted with scattered cold plum blossoms.
Her fox-like eyes were full of watery affection. She was adorned with gold and treasures, a dignified and precious Imperial Concubine.
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