Omega Manual chapter 7
Does it still hurt?
Meeting with Shelley for the third time, Irey Halton embarked on a long and indefinite journey with this person.
They didn’t know each other, had no understanding of each other, their lives had no intersection at all, except for accidentally having sex once, they were complete strangers to each other.
But Irey didn’t care. He didn’t care about traveling long distances with strangers, nor did he care about working for an Omega as an Alpha. After all, his life had no plans to begin with, and besides, there was a daily salary of one thousand yuan.
During the journey from the villa to the edge of the city, the Omega never spoke a word.
In the intervals of deceleration, Irey occasionally observed him out of the corner of his eye.
From any angle, Shelley was an extremely delicate Omega. Perhaps for the sake of convenience, he tied his long hair behind his head. Not in a high ponytail, but loosely, with the ends hanging down to his shoulders. The sunlight shone through the car window, casting a gleam on his profile, his light-colored hair shimmering, his eyes like precious sapphires, his thin lips pressed into a line, his gaze fixed straight ahead.
He was good-looking, but unfortunately, he wore a cold expression all the way, as if all the effort to leave the city was not for him.
The road was much easier to travel than five years ago. Now there were hardly any cars on the road, the remnants of traffic lights stood in the middle of the road, long since losing their significance, rusty speed limit signs remained unreplaced, and even if you drove at 200 kilometers per hour, you wouldn’t be fined.
But there were drawbacks too. With no maintenance on the highways for five years, some parts of the road were covered with snow, some were raised by tree roots, and some sections were filled with abandoned cars left there, untouched, for five years, turning into useless metal lumps.
After stopping and going for about twenty minutes, the road began to clear up, with fewer abandoned cars on the road. Only occasionally did birds fly up from the roadside. Irey knew they were getting close to the exit of the city.
The only fair thing in today’s world might be the checkpoint at the entrance and exit of each city district.
Whether you were rich or poor, whether you were a man or a woman, a child or an old person, everyone who wanted to leave their own city district and go elsewhere had to pass through this meticulous inspection. Once an unmarked and ownerless Omega was found, they would be sent back lightly or captured and detained heavily. After all, according to current legal standards, an Omega leaving the city without permission was already considered a crime.
No one knew what those captured Omegas would go through.
As the red sports car slowly passed through the checkpoint, Irey noticed Shelley’s visibly nervous expression, his fingers involuntarily twisting together.
The inspector knocked on the car window, and Irey rolled down the window slowly.
“Just routine check, sir, what’s your name?” The inspector held a small booklet in his hand, smiling at Irey, without even looking at Shelley in the passenger seat.
“Irey Halton.”
“Alright, Mr. Irey Halton, you’re an Alpha, right? And that’s your Omega over there?”
“Yes,” Irey said, “his name is…”
“Let me just check his gland and marking.” The inspector walked to the other side of the car, without greeting, and lifted Shelley’s long hair, pulling it up.
The action was obviously painful, but neither the inspector nor Shelley made a sound, as if this were the normal, already assumed procedure.
On the back of his neck, the gland that had just swollen was still marked with fierce bite marks, with faint traces of dark red blood. Irey himself didn’t know he had bitten so hard that night.
The marking was still fresh, and from the appearance and smell, it was impossible to judge whether it was temporary or permanent. The inspector quickly let go of Shelley’s hair, not caring whether it messed up his hairstyle.
“Your Omega is really good-looking.” There was a hint of envy in the inspector’s tone. “How much did you buy him for?”
The matter-of-fact tone made Irey furrow his brows. “He wasn’t bought.”
“Then he was a gift, huh?” The inspector sighed, “Well, that’s understandable, an Omega with such appearance is unlikely to circulate in the market.”
With that, the inspector tore off a piece of paper from the booklet and handed it to Irey through the window. “Your pass, wish you a pleasant journey!”
Irey took the paper and stuffed it into the glove compartment, rolled up the window, and drove out of the checkpoint. Throughout this process, Shelley never said a word, just silently untied and retied his hair band.
Irey glanced at him. “Does it still hurt?”
“What?” Shelley replied absentmindedly, as if his mind hadn’t returned to reality yet.
“The marking,” Irey said, “I didn’t realize I bit so hard that night.”
Shelley was silent for a few seconds. “It was a bit painful a few days ago, but I’m used to it now.”
Used to it, not that it doesn’t hurt anymore.
Irey glanced at him. “How did you get through the days after your heat?”
In theory, after being marked, an Omega should be taken care of during the heat period by the Alpha who marked them, because after being marked, the Omega cannot have relations with anyone other than the marker.
Shelley’s situation was special, and out of humanitarian concern, Irey asked, but he didn’t expect Shelley’s reaction to be so intense.
“Omega’s heat period, how else can it be spent? It’s been five years, and every time it’s been the same,” Shelley sneered, “Shut your mouth and drive.”
Irey was a bit annoyed by this remark. Three minutes after driving, he spoke again.
“So you’ve been an Omega for five years, you know what the heat period is like, how dangerous it is, so why do you still want to be on the offering day list? Don’t you know that Omegas selected for the list might be forced into heat? With your connections, even if you can’t leave the city, it would be easy enough to withdraw your name, right?”
“I didn’t know I’d be forced into heat!” Shelley said irritably. “I thought these people would at least have some basic morals, at least it should be consensual. And Omegas willingly offering their bodies, Alphas should at least be grateful. So I thought participating in the offering day event would at least get me a chance to negotiate with an Alpha from outside the city. How could I have known that as soon as I entered, I’d be injected with drugs?”
Irey turned his head to look at him for a few seconds, then couldn’t help but chuckle, “Young master, I really don’t know how you’ve survived these five years.”
“Shut up and drive,” Shelley muttered through clenched teeth.
Irey didn’t bother to care about this inexperienced Omega young master anymore. He stepped on the gas pedal and focused his gaze back on the road ahead.
Although he thought Shelley was just a pampered rich young master who hadn’t ventured beyond Lansai’s city limits in the past few years, he himself hadn’t ventured out much either.
Alphas almost always had certain privileges anywhere they went, even Betas needed a lot of documentation to leave the city, but not Alphas. With their glands emitting an aggressive scent, Alphas could almost freely come and go anywhere.
But Irey didn’t have anywhere he wanted to go, nor anywhere he needed to go. Just getting by each day was enough for him.
Departing from Nantes to the north, it would take over two hours to reach the next human settlement. Along this two-hour stretch of road, there were hardly any signs of human activity.
The sky resembled a washed glass, clear and blue, with clouds moving slowly towards the horizon as the sun steadily sank towards the west, scattering its residual light on the earth, casting their car a long, slender shadow.
Along the roadside, one could vaguely see a few completely barren fields and long-abandoned houses.
Five years ago, this place used to be a village, inhabited and cultivated. But now, there was no trace of human presence, and as their car approached, a few mountain deer hurriedly fled from within.
If they got out and searched, they might even find human skeletons in the fields.
Irey remembered a report he had seen two years ago, stating that only 60% of the human deaths were directly due to meteor radiation. The remaining 40% died due to the collapse of the entire social system after the disaster struck.
Unemployment, hunger, disease, looting, fighting… the government collapsed, laws became meaningless, hospitals ceased to operate, police stopped enforcing the law, the internet crashed, all electronic devices malfunctioned overnight.
Places like this small village by the roadside were even more like dead ends of human society, like isolated islands, where people could only wait for death in isolation.
The blue sky, white clouds, and dilapidated houses formed a cruel yet beautiful picture. Irey knew nothing about photography, but he figured if this scene were captured, it would likely win some award.
Unfortunately, in the world as it was now, there were no longer any professions like photographers.
Soon, a corner of the sunset dipped below the horizon, and nightfall descended gradually. Irey turned down the radio.
He noticed that Shelley had been staring out the window with his eyes open the whole time, although he hadn’t spoken a word in the two hours. Those beautiful eyes seemed to be looking at another world through the air.
His eyes were red, showing signs of not having rested well, yet he showed no intention of resting during this long period.
“I’ve been driving for five years,” Irey suddenly said. “Cars for five years, motorcycles for eight, buses for three. Even though I haven’t touched a car since the disaster, I’m still proficient.”
“What?” Shelley turned to look at him, not understanding his point.
“So, I won’t suddenly cause an accident,” Irey said. “You can rest if you’re tired.”