Omega Manual chapter 31
Heartbeat
Shelley was speechless, shocked by the scene before him.
Countless faint glows floated in the air, forming tiny miracles that slightly illuminated Irey’s profile, reflecting the smile on his lips.
Shelley couldn’t help but reach out towards the twinkling lights, only for Irey to grab his wrist.
“Don’t touch,” Irey said. “Just look. It might not be safe.”
“What exactly is this?” Shelley turned to look at him. “There can’t be fireflies in winter.”
Irey touched his chin, indicating the ground. Shelley looked down and saw a meteorite about half his height lying not far from their feet. It had probably hit a house when it fell and was now quietly lying on an abandoned concrete slab.
“The radiation from the meteorite seems to react chemically with some substance in the air, emitting this faint green light at night,” Irey said. “It’s like will-o’-the-wisps but smaller, denser, and prettier. Places with meteorite remnants often have this phenomenon. We call it green fire in Lansai; I don’t know what it’s called in Leisau. I saw a meteorite during the beer festival, so I guessed it would glow at night.”
“I’ve never been out at night,” Shelley murmured. “I’ve never seen it.”
“Does it look nice?” Irey asked.
“Very nice,” Shelley replied.
Irey smiled and gently squeezed Shelley’s palm. Shelley, feeling ticklish, tried to pull his hand back, but Irey firmly held it and tucked it into his pocket.
“Aren’t you hot?” Shelley asked, amused.
“No,” Irey said. With his left hand, he fished out a cigarette from his pocket, lit it with a lighter, and despite the awkwardness of using one hand, refused to let go of Shelley’s hand.
Smoke rose into the cold night air, mingling with the scattered green phosphorescence, then quickly vanished.
“Feeling better now?” Irey asked.
“I told you, I’m not in a bad mood,” Shelley sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I just feel that with your qualities, without this job, you might find a better Omega than me.”
One who was undemanding, not arrogant, wouldn’t reject advances, and was more Omega-like than he was.
Irey Halton wasn’t just any common thug from the lower district; he was excellent, sharp, quick to adapt to abnormal environments, emotionally intelligent, with a unique set of moral principles he never violated.
Such an Alpha, even living in the resource-poor lower district, could certainly find a gentle and virtuous Omega willing to take on all the household chores and raise children for him if he wanted.
Unexpectedly, Irey laughed after hearing this, white smoke streaming from his nose.
“Boss, do you know what a daily wage of a thousand means to someone from Lansai?” Irey said. “One dollar can buy two hard rolls, three dollars can buy a plate of plain boiled wild vegetables, and seven dollars can get you a decent meat wonton. Yet many people in the lower district starve. Most people’s monthly food expenses are less than fifty dollars; a hundred dollars is enough to keep many people fed, clothed, and safe from beatings. Before meeting you, my average daily income was 34.5 dollars, which is already higher than most people in Lansai because I’m an Alpha, and everywhere prefers to hire Alphas.”
Shelley was stunned, looking at Irey, unsure of what to say.
“A better Omega? Can you eat that?” Irey sneered. “Can forming a bond and having children bring in more income and improve my living standards? No way. Poverty is like a vicious cycle; the harder you try, the deeper it swallows you. Once you start a family and have children, you’re bound even tighter. By then, you’ll never escape.”
Irey flicked his cigarette ash, exhaled all the smoke from his lungs, and turned to look at Shelley.
“Boss, you might not know what your appearance means to me,” Irey said. “When I received your letter, I felt like I must have died eight hundred times in my past life to get such a rare stroke of luck in this one. This kind of opportunity will never come again in my life.”
As he spoke, he looked into Shelley’s eyes and said very seriously, “Let me tell you, we have a black-and-white contract. Even if you want to fire me halfway, I’ll use that contract to force you to keep me employed. You can’t escape, even if you go to the ends of the earth, understand?”
Shelley bit his lip hard, took a deep breath, and barely managed to suppress the surge of emotion in his chest.
“Hillbilly,” Shelley said. “This little money makes you so cocky.”
“Of course. When I go back, I can brag to that old hag upstairs for three days and nights,” Irey said. “No, this much money is enough to build a small house in Lansai. Let’s do that. You can help me plan it. Or on the way back, we can go to Lansai first. After you help me, I’ll send you back to Nantes.”
In the quiet night, Irey’s words suddenly became particularly grating.
“Impossible,” Shelley said coldly.
“Why?” Irey clicked his tongue. “It’s just helping to look at a house. You have money, so you must know more. Helping me won’t hurt you.”
“I said it’s impossible. Buying a house or whatever is your business. Don’t involve me,” Shelley said, turning to leave.
“Hey, boss, boss!” Irey quickly turned on his phone’s flashlight, illuminating the path as he chased after Shelley. “No, what are you suddenly mad about?”
“I’m not mad.” Shelley pulled his coat tighter and kept walking. “It’s too cold. Time to go back.”
Irey quickened his pace to catch up with him. “No, we should be reasonable. At least tell me what I said wrong. You can’t just get mad for no reason…”
Irey suddenly stopped mid-sentence. Shelley walked a good distance ahead before realizing Irey hadn’t followed. Turning around, he saw Irey had stopped a few steps behind, motionless.
What new trick is this?
“What now?” Shelley was a bit annoyed. “Did you see a UFO or get hit by a freeze spell?”
Irey didn’t answer. Instead, he pulled Shelley close, gesturing for silence and lowering his voice, pointing ahead. “Boss, look over there. Is that a person?”
Shelley followed his gaze. About five meters away, under a tree, there was indeed a figure moving. The person looked around for a while, then started gathering dry leaves into a pile with their foot, making a rustling sound.
Shelley frowned. “This isn’t a maximum-security prison. Why is it strange to see someone?”
“First, it’s very late, and this is the lower district. Almost no one except Alphas would dare to be out this late. Second,” Irey pointed to the person’s feet, “for some reason, they’re trying to start a fire.”
As soon as Irey finished speaking, the figure threw something on the ground, and white smoke started rising from the pile of dry leaves. Soon, flames appeared, illuminating half of the person’s body.
Wandering around at night might not be too unusual, but deliberately coming to a secluded place to start a fire was definitely strange.
To be honest, Shelley was in no mood to worry about whether a stranger was acting strangely or not right now.
All he wanted was to hurry back to the old house and sleep, to shut the bedroom door, and temporarily get away from Irey’s irreverent and inappropriate chatter.
“What does it have to do with us? Let’s go.” he said, wanting to keep moving forward, but Irey grabbed him.
In the darkness, by the faint light of the phone, Irey squinted at the silhouette in the firelight, deep in thought, then suddenly exclaimed, “Fuck!”
Shelley was startled.
“It’s him! The one with two holes in his sleeve!” Irey shouted, “The one who stole your wallet!”
Before Shelley could react, Irey shot forward like an arrow towards the firelight.
The person burning things was very alert and looked up the moment he heard the noise, only to be stunned by the sight of a tall Alpha sprinting towards him in little fox pajamas and cartoon slippers. He was frozen for two seconds before he turned and ran.
Irey thought he had the advantage but didn’t expect the other guy to run faster than a mouse. The oversized slippers became a burden, and within a few steps, the distance widened.
“Fuck you!” Irey roared, kicking off his slippers and chasing barefoot.
By this time, Shelley had snapped back to reality. He quickly pulled out his phone to light the way with the flashlight and chased after them, shouting, “Watch out for the stones!”
A sharp stone lay in their path, but Irey didn’t slow down. He leaped over it at the last second, landing safely on soft ground.
Shelley watched with a pounding heart, wanting to call it off, but seeing the determined look, he knew Irey wouldn’t listen.
It was the first time he saw Irey Halton running.
During the interview, Irey mentioned he had won both marathon and sprint championships, but Shelley didn’t grasp it until now.
Irey was like lightning slicing through the night, a cheetah relentlessly pursuing its prey. In the flashlight beam, Shelley could see the bulging veins on Irey’s forearm and thigh muscles.
The thief had good burst speed, but his stamina couldn’t match Irey’s. He was soon panting heavily. Irey took a leap and pinned the guy down. They rolled down a slope, locked together.
“Halton!” Shelley’s heart nearly jumped out of his chest as he ran to check.
Both Irey and the thief were covered in dust. The thief had fainted, while Irey spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva and gripped the thief tightly. “You bastard, you think you can get away?”