Omega Manual chapter 9

There’s also porn to watch

The punch landed with a dull thud on the cartilage, with considerable force. The man’s nose started bleeding, his glasses flew off, shattered on the ground. He sat down abruptly, not immediately comprehending what had happened.

Everyone stood still for two or three seconds. The Alpha with slicked-back hair was the first to react, cursing loudly and charging at Irey.

Irey’s movements were swift and decisive. He kicked the man in the stomach without hesitation. Seeing the situation turning dire, the bespectacled man picked up a stone from the ground and aimed it at Irey’s head.

But Irey reacted faster. Before the man could raise his hand, he kicked his wrist, causing him to drop the stone, then delivered a punch to his jaw.

Realizing they were outmatched in the fight, the group realized that their fancy moves would only lead to their defeat. They all backed off simultaneously.

After the scuffle, Irey’s cigarette hadn’t even dropped ash.

“Assault… fighting is illegal!” the bespectacled man held his jaw, shouting, “We’re calling the police!”

“Go ahead, let’s see who the police will arrest when they come.” Irey said, “You know it’s illegal to assault an Omega who’s marked. Do you know the consequences of harassing someone else’s Omega?”

As Irey spoke, he released his pheromones, asserting his identity to everyone present. Several Alphas stood angrily in place but dared not make any rash moves.

Irey didn’t bother to look at them again, just took Shelley’s hand and walked away from the scene, passing by the fragrant cake shop and into a less crowded ramen restaurant.

The owner of the ramen shop was a chubby middle-aged Beta. When they entered, he didn’t even look up, lethargically dragging out a “welcome”.

“The restaurant you chose is obviously the most upscale on this street, mostly frequented by Alphas,” Irey extinguished his cigarette in the ashtray on the table, “As an Omega, saying you want to dine there would arouse suspicion.”

Shelley remained silent, his eyes fixed on a corner of the table.

“Are you alright? Did they hurt you?” Irey asked.

“No. On a busy street like that, they wouldn’t dare.” Shelley said.

Irey nodded, “These people are like that, they only dare to be sneakily malicious. When it comes down to it, they’re all bark and no bite.”

Shelley didn’t respond to his words, picking up the menu from the table.

The atmosphere inexplicably became tense. Irey, feeling as the nominal Alpha in charge, felt he should say something comforting.

“It’s not your fault. You’re from a wealthy family, probably can’t imagine how unreasonable people can get when they’re bad.” Irey said, “You’re an Omega, they’re Alphas, they think they’re naturally superior to you and can act without consequence…”

Before Irey could finish, Shelley interrupted him.

“There’s nothing I can’t imagine.” Shelley said, “Just thirty years ago, society’s discrimination against women was deeply ingrained. The same discrimination, the same lack of reason, and no one thought anything was wrong. History always repeats itself, and everything now is just repeating the mistakes of the past. I’ve just played the role of a woman from thirty years ago for once.”

Irey leaned back in his chair, sizing up the golden-haired young man in front of him and chuckled, “You really have a broad mind.”

“I’m not new to being an Omega, Mr. Halton.” Shelley lowered his eyelids, his lashes like butterfly wings half-covering his eyes, “I’m not as fragile as you imagine.”

“Alright, Mr. Not-Fragile,” Irey raised his leg, “You’ve been staring at the menu for ten minutes, have you decided what to order?”

Shelley immediately turned the menu over and handed it to Irey, saying, “You choose, I don’t really feel like eating anything.”

“Hmm? They all look pretty good to me,” Irey said, picking up the menu and tapping the fragile paper. “Potato tomato noodles, egg drop soup… Oh, they also have mushroom and green vegetable noodles here. I used to eat that often in Lansai, I wonder how they make it here.”

Shelley frowned almost imperceptibly. “No, you go ahead and eat. I’m not hungry.”

“Not hungry? Alright then.” Irey put down the menu without further insistence and waved to the plump waiter, “Boss, a bowl of mushroom and green vegetable noodles, a bowl of egg drop soup, and make them spicy!”

The boss replied with a simple “okay,” still not lifting his head, and continued his work.

“Oh, by the way, take this.” Shelley took something out of his pocket, didn’t place it on the table, but handed it directly to Irey, “Use this for communication in the future, to avoid situations like today. It’s expensive, don’t lose it, or else—”

“I can’t afford to compensate, got it.” Irey reached out, inadvertently brushing against Shelley’s hand with his fingertips. The latter visibly recoiled for a moment, then forcefully placed the object into Irey’s palm.

It was a smartphone. These things were even rarer on the market than cars now, as after the collapse of the internet and telecommunication systems, smartphones had ceased production altogether.

Unfortunately, just before the appearance of the meteor shower, Manta tech had announced the successful development of revolutionary void projection technology, which would reduce the cost of all electronic terminals by 80%. However, on the night of the press conference, the meteor shower descended without warning, destroying all telecommunication network systems on Earth.

It was said that the high-tech professionals in the smartphone chip industry either died in the meteor shower or committed suicide by jumping off buildings after the disaster. Some even witnessed crazed programmers laughing maniacally as they tore off their clothes and ran towards high radiation zones, eventually disappearing into the blue mist.

Since then, high technology had become a joke. The already released smartphones were mostly dismantled and sold for a pitiful amount of metal to recycling supervisors, who would exchange them for a few bucks to buy alcohol.

So when this thing appeared in Irey’s hand again, he had a miraculous feeling as if time had reversed.

“How did you manage this? Wasn’t the telecommunication system shut down?” Irey asked.

Shelley pursed his lips, seeming reluctant to explain, and spoke quickly, “Manta launched a private satellite after the disaster, covering almost all human settlements.”

“A private satellite,” Irey repeated, suddenly feeling that Shelley’s social status was a bit beyond his imagination.

“Yeah, making calls and sending messages is no problem,” Shelley said. “My number is the first one in your contacts, or you can dial shortcut key 1.”

Irey toyed with the phone for a moment and looked up at him, “Can it access the internet?”

“…What do you think?” Shelley didn’t want to answer such a stupid question.

Irey chuckled. Indeed, even if Manta tech had money, there was no way to restore the internet base stations that had become ruins.

“But they made some simple backups,” Shelley said, “like the content on Wikipedia, and some old videos from video websites. If you’re bored on the road, you can take a look.”

Irey whistled, “Rich people have it good. While everyone else is struggling to survive, you still have porn to watch.”

Shelley’s face flushed and paled alternately. “There’s no porn on it!”

“How would you know?” Irey raised an eyebrow. “Have you searched for it?”

“I haven’t searched for it—anyway, there isn’t!” Shelley raised his voice.

“Alright, got it.”

As Irey finished speaking, the boss brought the dishes he had ordered. A bowl of noodles and a bowl of soup, both with generous portions, emitting hot steam.

“Smells good.” Irey brought the bowl closer. “You really aren’t eating?”

“Not eating.” Shelley replied stiffly.

Irey shrugged and began to enjoy the food alone. Shelley sat there, still frowning slightly, not even moving his fingers.

It had been over six hours since they started their journey, and he still couldn’t quite understand the man in front of him, Irey Halton.

He came from the slums, yet he wasn’t as unreasonable as other slum dwellers, seemingly possessing a hidden gentlemanly demeanor. However, if one expected him to act like a gentleman, they would inevitably be disappointed because he never did anything that didn’t benefit himself, even when he saved him that night, it was only for his pleasure…

He would deliberately wear a suit on the day of departure but insist on listening to tasteless rock music in the car; he would directly punch anyone who harassed him among other Alphas but make lewd jokes at the dinner table.

Sometimes Shelley felt he was mature, able to navigate the complex underworld environment like a fish in water; sometimes she felt he was childish, enjoying making tasteless jokes just to see his reaction.

After all, he was almost thirty years old, yet he behaved like a primary school student who liked to pull the pig tails of the girl sitting next to him…

“Twenty-six.”

Irey’s sudden remark caught Shelley off guard, and she looked at him, “What?”

“You wanted to know my real age when we were on the road, right?” Irey put a forkful of noodles into his mouth, “Twenty-six. Two years younger than the age listed in the records.”

“Twenty-six?” Shelley repeated in astonishment. “You’re only twenty-six this year?”

“There’s no need to lie about something like that to you,” Irey chuckled, “and besides, people usually lie about their age to make themselves older, to get licenses and various permits. Why would anyone lie about being younger, to look older?”

“But you got your driver’s license ten years ago, so you would have been…”

“Sixteen, so what?”

Irey finished his noodles and lifted the soup bowl for a sip. There were some strange minced meat and oil floating in the soup. Shelley didn’t know what kind of meat it was, but he was sure it was definitely not pork, beef, lamb, or chicken.

“It’s nothing special where we come from,” Irey chuckled, “If you don’t learn skills, you can’t make money. Without money, you can’t support a family. My family is a single-parent household, with only my mom, my younger sister, and me. My mom is disabled, and my sister is five years younger than me. I became the main source of income for the family when I was seven.”

Shelley hadn’t expected to hear such a story and didn’t know what to say for a moment.

In the files and records he had investigated, Irey Halton had always been living alone, with no family or siblings.

What happened to his disabled mother and his five-year-younger sister later? But this didn’t seem like a suitable question to ask.

In less than two minutes, Irey had finished a whole bowl of meat soup, wiped his mouth, casually crumpled the paper and tossed it onto the table, then stood up, “It’s getting late, let’s go find a place to sleep.”