Chapter 18: Dark-Skinned Rugged Honest Man 18

Jiang Rang had finally gotten a firsthand taste of just how tangled and chaotic the world of high society could be.

It turned out those over-the-top soap opera plots on TV weren’t entirely made up. Art really did imitate life.

And that beta’s employer was even bolder, brazenly pulling strings right in the heart of the Federation’s power center—going so far as to offer a fortune for someone to father his child.

Jiang Rang caught the master’s drift and finally understood why the man had lost control the night before.

The man did take a liking to him, but it wasn’t about attraction. No, what he valued was Jiang Rang’s honest, down-to-earth nature, his simple background, and how easy he was to handle—a perfect candidate for a stud.

For an omega, it didn’t matter whose child ended up in their belly. The key was that it would be born as the posthumous son of Qi Yu’s late husband.

Once that child was brought into the world, Qi Yu would secure the full trust and backing of the Li Family’s old patriarch. He would then rightfully inherit the Li Family’s influence throughout the Federation.

Jiang Rang was stunned. He had to admit, Qi Yu was ruthless. For the sake of power and status, the man cast aside any loyalty to his ex-husband and even stooped to sleeping with a mere servant.

But in the end, the beta turned him down.

Things hadn’t gotten that desperate at home yet. Folks in the countryside weren’t as open-minded as city dwellers. If word got out, the whole family would be ruined.

Besides, his relationship with Hang Liu was steady now, his job secure, and they had food on the table and a roof over their heads. There was no need to get greedy and dive into this high-society scandal for money.

The young man’s refusal seemed to be exactly what the man had expected. Qi Yu showed no extra reaction, just gave a faint nod as if he didn’t care at all—like the beta was just one option among many, and rejection meant nothing.

Just when Jiang Rang thought the conversation was over, the man parted his pale lips slightly and brought up something else.

“The butler should have told you already. Keep the Authority Ring in your custody. I need someone I can trust to monitor my physical condition.”

Truth be told, hearing the man bring it up voluntarily put Jiang Rang’s mind somewhat at ease. After all, he was Qi Yu’s personal attendant, duty-bound to look after him.

“Hand over your phone.” The long-haired man said curtly, then pressed a palm to his lips and coughed softly. The dark circles under his eyes grew even heavier. Though bathed in sunlight, he seemed shrouded in an inescapable haze.

The beta hurriedly pulled out his phone with all due respect and handed it over.

Qi Yu lowered his gaze and scrolled through the young man’s phone. His fingers bent slightly as he tapped away for a moment before passing it back.

Jiang Rang examined the blank screen, where a deep black app labeled “Qi Yu” had appeared. He tapped it instinctively. The phone’s signal stuttered for a second before a pitch-black interface popped up, crammed with location data, analytics, mood assessments.

He swiped down, trying to scroll to the bottom, only to find row after row of densely packed photos.

Every single one featured Qi Yu.

It had to be said—the man’s looks were exceptional. Even the weirdest close-up selfies held up under scrutiny.

In some shots, the omega was quietly working; in others, issuing orders or enjoying dinner. The most recent one was from yesterday evening, snapped in Jiang Rang’s room.

In the photo, the man huddled on the young man’s bed, flushed red in the face. He clutched an old, worn white tank top—Jiang Rang’s—in his hands, burying his pale, lust-flushed features into the fabric. His tongue peeked out halfway, as if lost in the act of licking the beta’s skin through the shirt.

Perhaps it was the man’s twisted, sickly expression and pose, but Jiang Rang felt a chill run down his spine, an uncomfortable queasiness rising in his chest.

He locked the phone, trying to shake it off, but he subtly sensed the man’s odd, peculiar gaze fixed on him from nearby.

Still reeling from the shock of those photos, the beta hesitated to meet his eyes.

Jiang Rang kept telling himself that his employer was a widower whose heat had simply overwhelmed him. Maybe all omegas were like that? He was just overreacting.

After repeating that to himself several times, the beta finally mustered the courage to look up.

Qi Yu’s face betrayed no emotion, as if he hadn’t noticed the young man’s unease at all. In a calm, matter-of-fact tone, he said, “This is a personal Open Permission System for monitoring me. Only your fingerprint can unlock it. If anything happens to me, it’ll alert you immediately.”

Jiang Rang quickly composed himself, nodded in agreement, and promised to keep a close watch.

The Male Master finally seemed satisfied, a faint smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

However, since the man rarely showed such expressions, the unfamiliar smile came off as stiff and mechanical, like some sort of viscous, hypocritical mask.

But the beta, who had already turned and walked away, clearly couldn’t sense the strangeness in it.

The click of the door lock closing acted like some kind of awakening spell. The smile on the man’s pale cheeks slowly faded, as if he were shedding a thin, icy human skin mask.

The Male Master’s face was expressionless as he unlocked his phone. The familiar pure black interface jumped back up, and Qi Yu stared at the photo in his album—the one that fully exposed his ugly desire for the young man—before quietly pressing delete.

He had deliberately let Jiang Rang see that photo.

His slender fingers flicked lightly. After the page-change prompt dimmed, the pure black screen was suddenly overwhelmed by a flood of white.

Countless pieces of information about another person crammed the screen like swarming insects: name, height, skin tone, heart rate frequency…

His pale fingertips finally lingered on the terrifyingly vast photo album.

With a gentle tap to open it, a handsome, wheat-colored face gazed at the camera with a smile.

No—or rather, the oblivious beta wasn’t looking at any camera at all, but at some other person or thing in reality.

Qi Yu stared at the handsome young man in the photo, his deathly pale face slowly flushing red.

His long lashes trembled uncontrollably, and his slender knuckles unconsciously pressed hard against the young man’s perfectly shaped lips on the screen.

Erratic breaths layered and rose in the room.

He still needed to hold back, the man thought to himself. Yet a haze of longing clouded his dark eyes, like an addict lost in their vice—lucid one moment, frenzied the next.

He had already scared the young man.

Someone like that beta was traditional at heart. Forcing him too hard would only backfire if he wanted the other to stay willingly by his side.

Once there was a child, even if the young man was temporarily lured away by some cheap slut, he would eventually return to his side.

He just needed to be patient a little longer.

Patiently waiting for the moment when the beta couldn’t resist and willingly walked into the trap.

~~~

After that day, life seemed to slowly return to normal, but there were still subtle differences.

Jiang Rang didn’t know how to put the odd feeling into words, but he really thought that Open Permission System was strange.

Specifically, whenever the Male Master was out of the young man’s line of sight, the system would pop up a video or message every half hour or so.

It was fine at first, but as the frequency increased, Jiang Rang started feeling helpless and irritated.

For one thing, the constant vibrations made it hard for him to focus on anything. For another, the system’s pop-ups were downright tyrannical—if Jiang Rang didn’t open and read the message, he couldn’t exit the page, and even shutting down the phone didn’t work.

Worst of all, the messages the system sent grew increasingly explicit. Yes, explicit.

The Male Master’s photos started off fully clothed, but gradually shifted to half-exposed backs, steamy bathroom scenes, and the unconscious reveal of thighs and waist while sleeping…

It was practically forcing the beta to ogle him.

Terrified and spineless as he was, Jiang Rang worried the Male Master didn’t know the system was sending these kinds of messages. He even tried to probe indirectly.

Qi Yu acted completely normal, as if he had no idea.

The beta, honest to a fault his whole life, grew even more afraid—scared that one day he’d be slapped with charges of harassing an omega and thrown in jail. Finally, he couldn’t hold back and brought it up.

Surprisingly, the Male Master’s reaction was calm, as if it were the most ordinary thing in the world. He even asked Jiang Rang, puzzled, what the problem was.

Jiang Rang fell silent. He even started wondering if he’d been brainwashed by some rural superstition, overreacting to a minor thing.

Since the Male Master didn’t mind, the beta naturally didn’t want to come off as pretentious.

As a bit more time passed, the young man actually got used to it. He’d browse the info with a straight face, exit, and act like he hadn’t seen a thing.

The weather had started cooling off. In the evenings, the Villa District lights glowed softly in the dimness. A cool breeze wafted into the room, carrying the faint scent of flowers—thoroughly pleasant.

Jiang Rang simply left the window open. Sitting at his desk, he pulled out the pitiful remnants of his balance from under his pillow and meticulously sorted and calculated it again.

No helping it—there was still a Little Dog waiting to be fed back in the Low-Rent Apartment, and this money wouldn’t last if he didn’t stretch it.

Jiang Rang meticulously planned and calculated the grocery budget for the next day. He folded the neat list and placed it beside the nightstand. He’d just turned off the light and hadn’t even closed his eyes when the phone on the nightstand began buzzing noisily.

Jiang Rang didn’t need to guess. He knew it was a message pushed by the Permission System.

The beta simply unlocked his phone in the dark. The glaring light made him squint involuntarily.

This time, the notification was a video.

Jiang Rang hated videos the most. He could glance at images or text and close them right away, but videos wouldn’t let you dismiss them until they finished playing.

The absurd mechanism reminded him of those infuriating pop-up videos from the real world.

With a helpless sigh, the youth tapped to play it, planning to set the phone on the nightstand and let it run its course.

But one quick glance froze him in place, as if his entire body had been nailed down.

The camera panned in and out through a misty haze, teasing the viewer’s curiosity. Soon, a tall figure emerged in the frame.

A stunning purple form-fitting mermaid skirt swayed against the man’s calves. The black high heels had razor-thin stilettos, and the omega clearly wasn’t used to such an outfit—he took only two awkward steps before halting.

The Male Master’s face, usually cold and impassive in videos, now bore a different expression: one laced with nervousness and tentative probing. Half his sleek black hair was tucked behind his ear, while his pale neck and collarbones bloomed with an embarrassed, yet alluring, pink flush.

It was as if he were trying to seduce the youth beyond the lens using the elegant style that omegas adored and championed.

And frankly, he had succeeded—at least halfway.

Jiang Rang stared at the video in a daze for what felt like ages. Only when it looped back for the third time did he snap out of it, slamming the power button to shut off the phone.