Omega Manual chapter 13

Sky City

In the end, they didn’t have time for breakfast. By the time they left the store after buying clothes, it was nearly nine o’clock. Irey had to buy some bread and instant food from the supermarket and then drive to the next destination.

When leaving the city, the checkpoint personnel routinely checked the Omega’s gland. Irey quickly stopped the person who was about to pull Shelley’s hair. “I’ll do it.”

He lifted Shelley’s long hair and peeled back the bandage halfway.

Probably because it had been treated last night, the wound, though still gruesome, was at least no longer oozing pus.

When the inspector bent down to take a closer look, Irey rudely pressed the bandage back.

“Have you seen enough?” he asked.

The inspector showed an embarrassed expression, nodded, and let them through.

After leaving Sudu, they entered a large uninhabited area.

About ten minutes later, the road abruptly ended, forcing them to take a difficult detour on a side path. Everywhere were ruins, with stones and concrete haphazardly piled together, covered with unknown weeds and vines. The proud creations of humanity were being quickly reclaimed by nature.

This was once a bustling city, destroyed by meteor showers and radiation. Twenty million people used to live here, but only a little over a hundred survived.

Three years ago, this area was still classified as a dangerous radiation zone, only now allowing entry due to lower radiation levels.

Besides the quiet vines and birds, there were a few people dressed in black, praying in front of the ruins. Their expressions were eerily cold, as if their sensory systems had been destroyed by endless tragedies, staring blankly at the ruins, mechanically repeating their prayers and bowing.

Irey slowed the car and carefully drove past them, but none of them looked up from their prayers.

“I remember this place was once called Sky City,” Irey said.

“Yes, ‘the city closest to the sky.’ I used to come here often for business trips. The facilities, conditions, and technology were the best. There was a 199-story office building in the city center, the tallest in the world… but it was also the first to collapse in the meteor shower.”

“So what did you do?” Irey asked casually. “Before the disaster?”

“Nothing much,” Shelley said. “Just some office work, typing on a computer.”

Irey glanced at Shelley, who was staring aimlessly out the window, clearly not fond of the topic.

The red sports car bumped along the ruins of the city. Some buildings were completely destroyed, while others still showed traces of their former selves—residences, supermarkets, shopping malls, cinemas…

Dust-covered signs and billboards lay askew, with squirrels and other small animals roaming freely, as if it had become their territory.

“I’ve been here once, about six or seven years ago, with my girlfriend to watch a movie,” Irey said.

“You had a girlfriend?” Shelley looked at him.

“Your tone sounds like you think I didn’t deserve one.” Irey clicked his tongue. “I checked online and found that Sky City was the best place for couples to date, so I drove four hours to bring her here. But I also had another purpose, to buy something that was hard to find in Lansai.”

“What?”

“Condoms.”

“…” Shelley turned to look at him.

“Really. The internet said Sky City had many self-service adult stores. We booked a hotel room, but after the movie, we got lost. We wandered through at least three streets and didn’t find a single store. Eventually, we were too tired, and she suggested going back. We walked another three streets to the hotel and fell asleep as soon as we got in.”

Shelley looked him up and down, “I’m wondering how old you were six or seven years ago.”

“Old enough,” Irey lazily glanced at Shelley. “Old geezer.”

Old geezer!? The term pierced Shelley’s heart like an arrow.

“I was much wilder than you at twenty.” Shelley said with a fake smile.

“Really? Like ten-plus girlfriends?”

Given his boss’s looks, it wasn’t impossible.

“Boyfriends.” Shelley said.

Irey raised an eyebrow in surprise and looked at Shelley. “So you used to be…”

“A heartthrob who everyone lined up to pursue,” Shelley said.

Irey was momentarily stunned, then burst into laughter so hard that his hands shook on the steering wheel. After a while, he managed to stop laughing. “Boss, has anyone ever told you that you’re a very interesting person?”

“I’m an Omega, no one cares if I’m interesting or not,” Shelley said with a hint of a smile. He leaned his head back, adjusting to a more comfortable position. “But my family thinks it’s because of my sexual orientation that I differentiated into an Omega.”

“That’s bullshit,” Irey said. “I know several homosexuals who differentiated into Alphas, and quite a few straight guys who differentiated into Omegas. Differentiation is like a virus; it doesn’t follow any logic.”

“Yeah,” Shelley said. “Sometimes I actually wish I differentiated into an Omega because of my sexual orientation. At least then there would be a reason. People always want to find a cause for their suffering, even if it’s tenuous or ridiculous. It’s better than enduring inexplicable disasters. Otherwise, every night when you close your eyes, you’ll have thoughts like: ‘Why me? Why not someone else? What did I do wrong to deserve this?'”

Irey didn’t respond. He glanced at Shelley through the rearview mirror. Shelley had closed his eyes and was leaning back in the seat, golden hair falling down from his temples, partially covering his eyes.

Although he had often described his boss’s appearance as “delicate” in his mind, Shelley’s looks weren’t feminine. His features were sharp and defined, distinctly male.

Even so, beautiful things remain beautiful, transcending gender and orientation, making everyone admire them.

But as a driver and companion, he actually knew very little about the man named Shelley Manta.

He was from the Manta family, a wealthy aristocrat with three sports cars, who ate delicacies that people in the lower city might never see in a year, and wore custom-made suits and expensive shoes that he couldn’t even touch. But beyond that, what else?

Why was he willing to let himself be marked by a strange Alpha just to go to that godforsaken mountain? Why, despite being part of such a large family, did he never have any contact with his relatives?

From that night in Lansai until now, Shelley Manta had always been alone. Irey recognized that look—the look of someone who no longer had any support behind them.

Shelley, with his eyes closed, suddenly felt something warm pressing on the top of his head, gently rubbing.

He opened his eyes abruptly and found it was Irey’s hand.

Irey, being very tall, was still much taller even while sitting, and this gesture of reaching out to pat his head seemed very casual.

“It’ll pass,” Irey said. “Bad things don’t stop happening, but eventually, people get used to it.”

Get used to disasters, get used to misfortune, get used to waking up from nightmares in the middle of the night, get used to pain taking root deep in your heart. Eventually, whether willing or not, people become numb, or in other words, strong.

Shelley’s deep blue eyes stared straight at him. He opened his mouth as if to say something but couldn’t. Irey’s hand was still on his head, and for a few seconds, there was an unexpected silence in the confined space.

Just then, a loud “bang” sounded in their ears, and the car jolted violently.

Shelley was startled. Irey quickly slammed on the brakes, producing a screeching sound and another loud bang as the car swerved and came to a stop.

“What happened?” Shelley exclaimed in shock.

Irey immediately unbuckled his seatbelt, opened the door, and got out. After circling the car, he concluded, “The tire blew.”

“It blew?” Shelley quickly followed, “How could it blow?”

“This area is full of debris and nails on the road,” Irey said irritably, kicking some rubble to reveal a hidden nail.

Shelley frowned. “There’s a spare tire in the trunk, and a toolbox. We just need to change it…”

“Two tires blew,” Irey said. “One front and one rear.”

Shelley looked down in shock and saw that two tires were indeed blown. The car was now unstable, wobbling in the debris.

“Didn’t you see any of the nails on the road?” Shelley looked at his driver in disbelief. “And is this even a road? It looks more like a footpath…”

“With a sports car’s low chassis, it was never suitable for this kind of complex terrain!” Irey kicked the deflated tire with a thud. “You think I wanted to take this path? The main road had even more debris. A small stone could have scraped the chassis!”

Shelley was almost amused by his words. “So it’s my fault now? You drove the car, you chose the road, and you blame my car for the blown tires?”

“I’m stating the facts!” Irey moved closer to Shelley, raising his voice. “Who in their right mind drives a sports car on such roads? Is showing off your money that important? Is it worth risking your life?”

With the Alpha’s anger, his oppressive and aggressive pheromones were released. Shelley’s legs instinctively began to tremble, his body screaming at him to submit unconditionally to this powerful being that had marked him.

His hand gripped the car window’s edge tightly to keep his balance.

“So what?” Shelley’s voice trembled slightly. “You’re going to suppress me with your pheromones? You know I can’t possibly resist.”