Su Jingsheng felt a slight pain from his grip, and her eyes reddened even more.
But she didn't pull away.
She tilted her face up, looked at him, then suddenly leaned forward. Her soft lips pressed against his prominent Adam's apple and gently closed around it.
Bo Jinghuai was pleasured by the kiss again. The hand gripping her chin loosened its force, curling into a fist, the veins on the back of his hand bulging menacingly.
He forced himself not to let out a gasp.
Su Jingsheng pulled back slightly, her voice light, soft, and tinged with grievance: "No."
"I haven't been involved with any other men."
"My first kiss was yours."
She added in a small voice, "What happened in the private room earlier... was the first time I've ever kissed anyone."
Bo Jinghuai felt somewhat mollified inside.
Su Jingsheng looked at him and continued: "The reason I don't want to go home is because the Su family is bankrupt."
"Dad owes a lot of money. He wants to give me to another man to settle the debt."
She sniffled, her eyes rimmed red, "I'm scared. I don't like any of those people."
She reached out, her slender arms encircling his neck, "I only like you. I only want to go home with you."
Bo Jinghuai stared at her for a long time, so long that Su Jingsheng thought he was going to refuse again.
Then, he suddenly reached out and lifted her down from the table.
The motion wasn't exactly gentle, but he didn't drop her.
Su Jingsheng's feet touched the ground, she was unsteady, swaying slightly. Bo Jinghuai supported her by the waist.
His hand was large, a single palm almost able to circle her slender waist.
"Su Jingsheng," he spoke.
"Remember, this is your own choice."
"Once you come home with me, don't regret it."
Su Jingsheng looked up at him, her eyes bright, nodding vigorously: "I won't regret it."
Bo Jinghuai glanced at her, released his hand, turned, and walked towards the door.
After a few steps, he didn't hear the sound of the girl's footsteps following.
He stopped, frowned, thinking to himself: Didn't she say she wanted to come home with him? Where's her awareness?
"Keep up," Bo Jinghuai said, turning back to take the initiative.
Su Jingsheng was momentarily stunned, then hurriedly trotted to catch up.
Only then did Bo Jinghuai pull open the door and walk out.
The corridor lights were bright, shining on his face, which showed no particular expression, yet one could somehow sense his mood had improved considerably.
Su Jingsheng followed behind him, watching his tall, straight-backed figure, and pursed her lips which still felt slightly numb.
The corner of her mouth secretly curved upwards.
...
The next day, Su Jingsheng opened her eyes, looked at the unfamiliar ceiling, and it took her several seconds to realize where she was.
Bo Jinghuai's apartment.
Last night, after he brought her back, he seemed somewhat annoyed.
With just a single sentence, "The guest room is on the left," he dismissed her.
Su Jingsheng sat up, rubbing her slightly heavy head.
She was Su Jingsheng, but also not.
Three days ago, she was still a musical prodigy hailed as a genius in another parallel world, having stayed up all night polishing a composition.
Her inherently frail body finally gave out, her vision went black, and she died suddenly.
When she awoke again, she had already arrived in this world.
A voice calling itself the World Consciousness told her:
"Here, based on male and female, humanity has extended into six genders."
"Betas are the majority, making up sixty percent of the population. They are like the ordinary people in your understanding, without pheromones and unable to detect them. They are the cornerstone of society's operation but rarely touch the true core of power."
"The remaining forty percent are split equally between Alphas and Omegas."
"Alphas are natural dominators. Their intelligence, physical prowess, and pheromones far exceed ordinary people's. They are born at the upper echelons of the pyramid, controlling ninety percent of the world's resources and power."
"But they have rut cycles and need a mate's pheromones for comfort, otherwise they suffer pain and can even lose control."
"Omegas are more delicate, softer, more beautiful, especially high-ranking ones."
"Their pheromones are non-aggressive but can effectively soothe Alphas. Moreover, only Omegas can give birth to powerful Alpha offspring."
"Therefore, they are resources to be fought over and kept."
"As for Enigmas, they are legends among Alphas, the most elite variant of Alpha."
"They are born only when an Alpha of extremely high talent, at least SSS rank, undergoes differentiation and mutation under extremely low probability."
"They appear once in a millennium, truly the apex predators atop all genders."
"Bo Jinghuai is one."
"Unfortunately, standing too high, there is almost no one who can match him, and he is overly picky."
"Without an Omega's comfort, his rut cycle will backfire on himself, and he won't survive it."
"Even though later he finally lowered his standards and married his childhood sweetheart, the S-rank Omega Shen Qingyue."
"But by then it was already too late, and the compatibility wasn't high. Before the wedding night even began, Bo Jinghuai died."
At this point, the World Consciousness sounded both aggrieved and remorseful.
It hadn't expected its own favored son to perish early for such a reason.
So it urgently searched across parallel timelines and finally selected her, Su Jingsheng, a visitor from another world whose soul perfectly matched Bo Jinghuai's at 100%.
"I don't want to romance a man," was Su Jingsheng's first reaction after hearing all this.
"I only love music. You've got the wrong person."
The World Consciousness fell silent for a moment.
Then, it changed its tone, adopting a somewhat coaxing manner: "Everything comes with a price."
"If you want to live, you must help me let Bo Jinghuai overcome his death calamity."
"Moreover, your current identity, the eldest daughter of the Su family, comes with a bankrupt family burdened with heavy debt."
"Your father is planning to give you to a powerful man past his prime as a mistress, to settle the debt."
The World Consciousness projected a scene:
The original body's father was bowing and scraping over the phone, saying: "Rest assured, President Wang, my daughter will definitely be delivered."
Su Jingsheng frowned. How could a father not love his own daughter?
The World Consciousness added:
"Besides the Su family, there's also a woman, Shen Qingyue, who has admired Bo Jinghuai for years from the shadows. Believing the original body once defiled Bo Jinghuai, she poisoned her with a gene-destroying toxin."
"That's how the original body died."
"You are now in this identity: penniless, powerless, with someone in the shadows wanting to harm you."
"Standing alone against this, how many days do you think you can survive?"
"Helping me is also helping yourself. Don't you want to live the life of a pampered young lady again, focusing only on art without worrying about survival?"
