Chapter 22

Lu Mingjin stepped through the door. The sensor lights in the entryway glowed silently to life, soft light spreading across the empty hall. But there was no little omega rocketing out with tiny pattering footsteps, calling out for cuddles. Lu Mingjin felt a bit out of sorts. The large house was eerily quiet; only the faint hum of the central air system broke the silence, making the space feel even colder and more cavernous.

That “obedient” Omega had not only skipped the surgery Ji Shiyu had arranged but had also recklessly gone to the Black Market to “play hero.” What was worse, he had been so thoroughly entertained he was still nowhere to be seen. What arrived before him was a pile of odds and ends delivered by starship from the Central Avenue shops, just brought in by the orderly and stacked like a small mountain by the door. All of it was, reportedly, the fruits of the Young Madam’s “meticulous selection.”

As Lu Mingjin surveyed the colorful heap of shopping bags, one bag’s opening loosened, and a crystal ball rolled out, bouncing and wobbling until it tapped against his shoe.

The next second, the crystal ball began to blare out a song, brazen and loud. The little figurines inside began to spin, snow started to fall, a tinkling melody filling the air with artificial snowflakes fluttering about.

“Ding-ding-dong-dong— Ding-ding-dong-dong—”

So annoying.

The air seemed to freeze for a few seconds. Standing nearby, the orderly, who had been about to take his leave, awkwardly rubbed his hands. After holding it in for a long moment, he squeezed out a dry comment: “…The Young Madam… is truly energetic. His taste is quite… unique.”

Lu Mingjin shot him a glance.

The orderly wanted to smack himself the moment the words left his mouth. He swiftly took his leave.

Left alone, Lu Mingjin stared expressionlessly at the noisy source by his foot, strongly tempted to kick the clamoring crystal ball aside. But in the end, he merely bent down and scooped up the merrily singing sphere.

It was slightly cool to the touch. He weighed it in his hand, his gaze falling upon the globe’s interior. Inside were two cat figurines nestled together in an intimate pose, spinning around in circles to the music. One of them had clear blue eyes, accented with a special blue glass.

Perhaps it was the time he’d spent alone, but he inexplicably felt Bai Ruonian was a bit like the cat he had kept before.

This omega gave him a very familiar feeling—unafraid of strangers, and unafraid of him, either.

A coincidence?

An extremely faint, strange feeling flickered through Lu Mingjin’s mind. He tossed the crystal ball carelessly onto a low side table, producing a muffled thud.

The heap of shopping was left in the hall. The orderly had fled swiftly. The house’s round-headed domestic robot, serial number V587, cheerfully slid over, extending its mechanical arms in an attempt to sort the “treasure trove.” The result was predictable: shiny glass marbles rolled across the floor, oddly shaped star ornaments scattered everywhere, a cat exercise wheel fell over with a clatter, and several glass bottles filled with unidentified colored liquids wobbled precariously… V587 beeped and booped in a frenzy, making the scene even more chaotic. The remaining large bags, no need to even look, were surely filled with similar “childish toys.”

How could anyone like such childish things? Lu Mingjin pinched the bridge of his nose. Mysteriously compelled, he picked up the now-silent crystal ball again, his fingertips absently tracing the cold glass casing, lost in thought.

Just then, the faint, deliberately quiet sound of the front door opening came from the entryway.

When Bai Ruonian entered the house, he felt the temperature drop a degree. Looking up, he saw Lu Mingjin in the living room fiddling with his new crystal ball. It gave him a start.

! Master is home?! And so early?!

He swallowed hard, instinctively pulling his head back, holding his breath, and tiptoeing as he prepared to sneak to his room. One step, two steps… just as he was about to reach the stairs leading to the second floor—

“Back?”

A cool, unreadable voice, precise as ice water, splashed over him.

Trembling, Bai Ruonian pulled his leg back. He hesitated. Should he pretend he didn’t hear it?

Didn’t Master usually come back very late?!

He had always expected to wait until night before. Why was he back so early today?

He couldn’t be here to demand an explanation, could he? To blame him for causing trouble, or for sneaking out on his own?

Bai Ruonian’s little brain instantly concocted a chaotic jumble of scenarios, and he deeply loathed that his intermittently poor hearing was working perfectly right now.

“Come here,” Lu Mingjin said flatly.

Bai Ruonian stiffly turned around, his face straining to put on the most innocent, bewildered expression. He pointed at his ear: “Ah?”

Lu Mingjin lifted his eyelids, his dark eyes fixed on him, the corner of his mouth seeming to quirk up in an imperceptible arc. “Don’t pretend. Your ear just moved.” He unhurriedly placed the crystal ball back onto the low table with a soft tak. The cat figurines inside, perhaps out of power or something, had also stopped moving.

Bai Ruonian, distressed at the sight of his crystal ball, suddenly forgot his fear. He pattered over, ready to snatch it, but a hint of amusement flickered in Lu Mingjin’s eyes. With a turn of his wrist, he effortlessly evaded him. Bai Ruonian’s fingertips had just grazed the cold glass when the sphere was smoothly transferred to the owner’s other hand.

As he teased the omega, Lu Mingjin grasped his wrist and pulled him closer.

“Pretending you couldn’t hear? What are you feeling guilty about?”

Hopping mad, Bai Ruonian was nonetheless thrown off balance by that pull and unceremoniously plopped right into Lu Mingjin’s lap.

His eyes glued to the crystal ball, Bai Ruonian looked at Lu Mingjin, his expression pitiful.

“Because I messed up. I bothered you and called you. You’re definitely going to scold me. I didn’t want to be scolded.” He swallowed. “I was wrong.”

Lu Mingjin looked at Bai Ruonian. So, he was afraid of that.

The beautiful little omega had puffed his cheeks into a bun-face, giving him a strong urge to poke it.

The corner of Lu Mingjin’s lips quirked up. He was about to say it was good that he called, that it was the right thing to do, but before the words could leave his mouth, Bai Ruonian’s eyes darted around. Sitting in his lap, he thought for a moment and added a caveat.

“You said before that if I had something, I should call you. So I… I actually didn’t want to find you at first… Major General Ji’s place should have been able to test it.”

It was better without the caveat. Lu Mingjin stopped smiling.

“Hm?” Instead of releasing Bai Ruonian, he moved even closer, his warm breath practically grazing Bai Ruonian’s ear as he asked softly, “So you didn’t think of finding me?”

He didn’t know when Ji Shiyu and Bai Ruonian had gotten so familiar.

“Ah…” Bai Ruonian didn’t understand why his focus was on that point. A little bewildered, he tilted his head innocently, “Yeah…”

Lu Mingjin watched him quietly, his eyes dark, his expression neutral. Bai Ruonian was oblivious but sensed that his master was probably displeased.

A spark of temper rose in Bai Ruonian too. Master’s breath tickled his ear, making him feel strange. If he were still a cat, he definitely would have scratched someone.

Being held in his embrace like this was also weird. His tailbone felt numb.

“You just left me—a person—there alone. Why should I come find you?” Bai Ruonian’s tone was a sticky mix of coquettish complaint, grievance, and anger, all pitifully tangled together.

Lu Mingjin raised an eyebrow. The omega couldn’t stand being left alone for a single minute in the hospital, yet he was perfectly capable of amusing himself outside for hours.

“I left you there so Ji Shiyu could fit you for an external hearing aid. You were supposed to come back right after.”

Bai Ruonian fell silent.

He felt a little wronged.

Before, he would always stay with him even for a simple injection…

Now he made him face surgery alone and just left without a second thought.

Wuwuwu, bad Master.

Bai Ruonian held his silence. What use were grand excuses? If you loved someone, you’d stay with them no matter what.

Not staying meant he didn’t like him.

The omega in his arms was clearly sulking. Lu Mingjin leaned in close. “It’s for your own good. I don’t want to have to breathe down your ear every time I talk to you.”

As he spoke, he blew a puff of air.

His tone was cold, but his actions were anything but.

Bai Ruonian felt every hair on his body stand on end.

The sensation was too strange.

Like an electric shock, a numbing tingle shot through his tailbone.

Bai Ruonian let out a soft cry, instinctively grabbing onto Lu Mingjin’s collar. Both of their breaths grew heavier.

So strange…

A faint trace of pheromones began to spread. Bai Ruonian felt a rush of heat at his tailbone, a very strange, electric feeling. His wrist went limp, and the crystal ball in his hand slipped between them. The little cat inside started dancing and singing.

In that instant, the pheromones dissipated. But Lu Mingjin’s dark eyes still bore into him, like a predator watching its prey, carrying an Alpha’s bestial nature.

Bai Ruonian shrank his neck, a hint of wariness in his eyes.

He recognized that look. He had seen it when he was a stray cat—the same expression other cats got when eyeing a sausage.

He… hell, he wasn’t a sausage…

Bai Ruonian’s gaze darted to the crystal ball that had fallen onto his master’s leg. Quick as a flash, he snatched it and scrambled out of Lu Mingjin’s arms. He stuffed the little trinkets into a bag and hugged them to his chest, terrified Lu Mingjin would take his things and then devour him.

At a safe distance, Bai Ruonian began to shout from afar.

“I didn’t want to have surgery alone either! And I don’t want to stay home by myself every day!”

But Lu Mingjin remained silent, his gaze fixed on just one spot.

It was a hot day. Bai Ruonian was wearing a simple pair of shorts, exposing his snow-white legs.

And there seemed to be…

…a tail?!