Powerful Investment Chapter 3: Mark

Chapter 3: Mark

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

 

Outside the alley, the streetlights were bright, but inside the alley it was pitch dark. Although it was only a few steps apart, the conditions on both sides were worlds apart.

Lu Yao walked in front, and Ji Jin followed behind.

Actually, Ji Jin didn’t know what to say. Things between him and Lu Yao were both simple and complicated. If he wanted to explain clearly, he didn’t even know where to start.

On top of that, the faint scent of slightly sour yet mellow plum wine wafted into his mind, invading his consciousness bit by bit, causing his thoughts to stall for a moment.

This body of his had been repeatedly tormented deeply by the Alpha in front of him. Now, after being empty for more than three years, even the slightest involuntary release of pheromones was enough to stir up his bodily memories. That bone-deep shudder still held a terrifying power over him.

Halfway through the alley, Lu Yao seemed to have finally had enough of the calm after the storm, and suddenly stopped.

Ji Jin, suppressing the urge in his body, didn’t notice Lu Yao’s sudden stop and almost bumped into his back.

 “Why did you suddenly return to the country?” Lu Yao turned and looked at Ji Jin, his gaze cold and hardened. Because of the darkness, the person in front couldn’t see his expression at all.

 “Of course… no money,” Ji Jin answered. He didn’t understand why Lu Yao asked that question first. He thought it would be easy for Lu Yao to guess after seeing how poor he looked. Raising a child was expensive, and he had no roots abroad, so naturally he had to come back.

Besides, he wanted to play games again. Those years abroad after retiring were all because of Ji Xingxing.

“Did he reject you?” Lu Yao’s hands gripped Ji Jin’s arms, pinning him against the wall. This made the distance between them even closer. Lu Yao lowered his head slightly and smelled the sweet strawberry pheromones on him.

The sweet strawberry scent showed that the person in front had not been marked.

A mark was an Alpha’s promise.

In this world, an Alpha could mark many Omegas, but most Alphas rarely wanted to mark many Omegas just to show off their sexual prowess. Also, marks would mix the scents of pheromones, and if too many were marked, the scent on the body would become abnormally confused.

Especially after monogamy became popular, most Alphas only wanted to mark people they liked. It was like a promise: I mark you because I’m willing to let my pheromones infect you, and yours infect me. Because I love you.

This situation was like how people were reluctant to marry lightly, making the mark precious. But it also meant that if an Omega wasn’t marked, the Alpha didn’t like that Omega and only treated them as a tool for release without responsibility.

Ji Jin had a child but hadn’t been marked. That meant there was such an Alpha, one that made Ji Jin willing to bear a child for him, yet he wasn’t even willing to give a single mark. The person Lu Yao worshipped like a deity was being treated this way by a stranger whose name he didn’t even know.

Ji Jin was slightly stunned, not knowing why Lu Yao had said such a thing out of nowhere. But with his sharpness, he soon understood how Lu Yao had come to that conclusion.

Situations like his were extremely rare. For an Omega to be marked by an Alpha, two necessary steps were required. One was the Alpha biting the Omega’s nape gland and injecting pheromones. The second was the Alpha and Omega mating, forming a bond inside the body.

Both steps were indispensable. If only one was achieved, it was only a temporary mark.

Ji Jin had been pregnant, meaning the second step was completed, but the first step wasn’t. If an Alpha was willing to bond inside an Omega’s body, but the Alpha refused to bite once, it could only mean the Alpha refused to take responsibility.

Thinking about this made Lu Yao feel like his heart was being torn apart.

He lowered his head and gently pressed against Ji Jin’s ear and cheek, his hands braced on the wall to trap Ji Jin from escaping.

Because of the Alpha’s natural advantage, Ji Jin couldn’t break free from Lu Yao’s embrace, and his body betrayed his mind, unwilling to resist. He longed for the warm and solid embrace of an Alpha, which gave unmarked Omegas unparalleled security.

Just in that moment of Ji Jin’s indulgence, Lu Yao seized the opportunity. The next second, his lips touched the softness he had longed for day and night.

Ji Jin didn’t expect Lu Yao to take this chance, nor did he expect himself to crave it so desperately.

The rich plum wine scent wrapped around him tightly, like Lu Yao’s embrace, airtight and unyielding. He could feel the Alpha’s hand firmly controlling his waist, easily making him submit.

The battle between lips and tongue was fierce and impulsive. The strawberry scent retreated under the onslaught of plum wine, powerless to struggle, enveloped by the rich aroma like a dense net with no escape.

The terrifying tingling made Ji Jin intoxicated, even recalling that night three years ago. His body went limp, as if drowning in Lu Yao’s tender embrace.

“No…” Ji Jin’s voice was hoarse. He suddenly pushed Lu Yao away, using rapid breaths to mask his loss of composure. The corners of his eyes were slightly red from the kiss, and even the mole at his eye’s edge seemed to carry deep desire.

Lu Yao, confused and distracted, could still hear the refusal and insistence in Ji Jin’s tone. The sweet strawberry scent surrounded him but now felt like countless blades slicing his skin.

Even after three years, it was still no. Others could kiss Ji Jin, possess him, mate with him at will, but only he, Lu Yao, could not. Lu Yao abruptly released Ji Jin. Ji Jin leaned against the cold wall, the plum wine scent nearly staining him inside and out. The memories deep inside his body made him weak all over, even his hands trembled slightly.

It was just a kiss, yet Ji Jin suspected he was about to be forcibly dragged into heat.

“Maybe so,” Ji Jin took a deep breath. His voice still carried a faint sweetness from earlier, mixed with his uniquely cynical attitude.

Explaining or not explaining made no difference. Because he had never considered being with anyone, or being marked by anyone someday. Even if he once had a fleeting encounter with Lu Yao, it didn’t mean he would give himself away.

No one could mark or possess him unless he willingly allowed it.

“Then what exactly was I… Ji Jin?” Lu Yao stood still, his voice carrying obvious heartbreak.

Although it sounded a bit funny, as the current world’s dominant Alpha, he had actually been toyed with by an Omega.

From the very first day he started playing games, Lu Yao had admired Ji Jin. From the day he became a professional player, he had regarded Ji Jin as the brightest light. From the first time he met Ji Jin, he had liked this person.

He liked Ji Jin, but in the end, it was nothing but infatuation — he was merely someone the other party casually played with.

Ji Jin, usually eloquent, didn’t know what to say. It seemed whatever he said would only add fuel to the fire. He thought back then it was just a fleeting romance, but unexpectedly the other half took it seriously.

Ji Jin felt his head pounding.

“You…” Ji Jin racked his brains to speak, but Lu Yao no longer wanted to listen.

“Enough, Ji Jin.” Lu Yao’s voice was forced out of his throat. He didn’t even manage to say another sentence before turning and leaving, without a trace of lingering feelings.

They hadn’t said many words, but Lu Yao already knew what he needed to know. There were no more questions. Any delay would only make him lose face.

He heard the faint hope kindled by Ke Yu’s call inside, but it vanished completely under this verdict.

The scent of pheromones in the alley gradually faded. Ji Jin leaned against the wall, calming his breathing. He felt that if he moved even slightly, the discomfort brought by his feelings would come crawling back.

Perhaps he once did have a bit of a crush, Ji Jin thought. But compared to that, he was more unwilling to waste Lu Yao’s time.

The only thing that surprised him was the arrival of Ji Xingxing.

*

Before Ji Jin officially joined the team, he received his first month’s salary in advance. The MOE team was too small, and its financial situation wasn’t great; the salary couldn’t compare to big teams, but it was enough for Ji Jin and Ji Xingxing to live on.

The dorm was arranged the same day, in a small apartment building next to MOE headquarters. The building was a bit old, but much cleaner and tidier than the place Ji Jin had rented before, and it came fully furnished with appliances.

Especially the air conditioner and electric fan in the room were quite nice. Ji Xingxing had always slept poorly because the room was too hot before; this time, he refused to leave once he saw the fan blowing.

“Cool~ Daddy! There’s wind!” Ji Xingxing waved his little hands in front of the fan, signaling Ji Jin to look at him. “There’s wind! Daddy’s not hot!”

Ji Jin suddenly felt that his son following him was really a bit pitiful.

Since they had a dorm, Ji Jin started moving in. He had only returned for half a month anyway, and apart from Ji Xingxing and the inhibitor, he had almost nothing else. Carrying his computer and bag, taking Ji Xingxing, and catching a taxi was all it took to move in.

Ji Xingxing was very satisfied with the new home; the only dissatisfaction was that there was a kindergarten right across from the new place.

“I don’t want to go! I don’t want kindergarten!” Ji Xingxing stood on the soft bed, naked and hands on hips, yelling loudly at Ji Jin.

“Why don’t you want to go?” Ji Jin asked Ji Xingxing, who had just finished bathing and hadn’t dressed yet. “Other kids go to kindergarten, why don’t you?”

His tone was calm, but his head hurt a little from anger. He didn’t know if it was from his Alpha father, but that stubborn temper was really hard to deal with.

“I don’t want other kids, I want Daddy!” Even though Ji Jin wasn’t angry, Ji Xingxing felt a little guilty, lowering his head and looking at his little feet with red eyes. “Don’t you miss the baby if you go to kindergarten?”

Ji Jin’s breath stalled, and his heart felt sour.

But the feeling quickly passed. He wasn’t the type to give in; he had to go to kindergarten!

That night, Ji Xingxing turned his back to Ji Jin and made a firm declaration—

“If I go to kindergarten, I won’t hug Daddy to sleep!”

Ji Jin: Fine.

In the end, Ji Xingxing changed his mind, secretly climbing into Ji Jin’s arms while Ji Jin pretended to sleep, even pulling Ji Jin’s hand over to cover him before falling asleep.

*

That night, in the IKW team meeting room.

“Speak up. What’s wrong with all of you?” Lu Yao slammed the training record sheet on the table with a loud bang. “You started acting cocky after winning the championship? Look at how you played!”

The official IKW team members sat silently, not daring to speak. They had never seen their captain so angry. Especially the team’s only female player, Yu Huanhuan, who feared the captain’s anger so much she even breathed lightly.

Today’s practice match was not great, but before… cough cough… even worse times hadn’t made the captain this angry. Yu Huanhuan cast a pleading glance at Ke Yu standing by watching the scene.

Although an Alpha, Ke Yu was still a female Alpha. She glanced at the team members who looked frostbitten from the scolding and quickly came out to help.

“Captain Lu, the info you asked me to check.” Ke Yu pulled out a file from somewhere and handed it to Lu Yao. His ambiguous gaze made Lu Yao easily guess whose file it was.

“Throw it away.” Lu Yao said coldly.

If Ji Jin had been there, he would have thought Lu Yao’s expression looked very familiar.

“Really want to discard it?” Ke Yu chuckled lightly and asked again.

Lu Yao looked at the file close before him and recalled how today he had unknowingly wandered into that shabby community, where the tenants had already left, leaving nothing behind.

At that moment, panic struck him.

He never wanted Ji Jin to suddenly disappear again without a trace.

 

Author’s note:

Xiao Lu: Then what exactly was I… Ji Jin

God Ji: You’re just a silly goose. Can I finish? Besides ‘lover,’ that’s all there is.

 

 

 

 

 

This Title is available for faster chapter releases through paid Patreon membership. Any proceeds go to keeping the website running. Check it out HERE.