Top-Tier Omega: Chasing Alpha to the Crematorium – Chapter 4
by Little PandaInject Her With a High-Potency Inhibitor Immediately
Song Qingpei left the private cabin with a dark expression, her chest aching with anger.
How could a person’s personality change so drastically just from losing their memory? Her wife used to be so gentle and clingy. When her heat came, she would sit in her lap, wrap her arms around her waist, and call her “wife” with a blushing face, slowly drawing out her pheromones, never once disdaining how faint they were.
But now, this person who had become Admiral Ming Yu was not only cold-blooded and ruthless, but also unreasonable. It was clearly her pheromones that had provoked a reaction in Song Qingpei, yet she had coldly threatened to carve out her gland.
Only a pervert would like someone like that.
The “wife filter” Song Qingpei had been holding onto was instantly doused with ice-cold water. She didn’t even need to hypnotize herself anymore; for the first time, she recognized with stark clarity that her sweet, dear wife was well and truly dead.
The desire that had stirred because of that face was quickly washed away by her reason.
She didn’t even need an inhibitor. The Alpha pheromones that had been aroused were already gone without a trace. This was probably the only benefit of being a low-grade A, she thought with self-deprecation. Her pheromones would never be so potent that she couldn’t control them.
Gazing at the star-filled galaxy outside, Song Qingpei stood in the corridor for a moment to calm down, then turned and went back to the private cabin.
She couldn’t be bothered with this lunatic. She would go back and sleep while holding her precious daughter.
Song Qingpei walked back to the cabin indignantly, only to be stunned to find the door was shut.
It was definitely on purpose. She shouted, annoyed, “Open the door!”
The response was a mechanical voice: “Command failed!”
“Facial recognition failed!”
“Cabin door cannot be opened!”
“Please re-enter command!”
The series of mechanical announcements made Song Qingpei’s anger flare up.
But in her fury, all she could do was be furious.
This was Ming Yu’s territory. All the hard-knock experience she had accumulated while wandering the stars was of no fucking use in the face of absolute power.
She could only continue to shout in a humble, subservient tone, hoping Ming Yu would have a crisis of conscience and open the door for her.
But Ming Yu was clearly heartless. Her throat was nearly raw from shouting, but the door remained unresponsive.
It was almost certain she wasn’t getting through this door today.
Ming Yu’s successive shows of force1 had already beaten the fight out of her. She could only end this foolish act of yelling at the door and, in desperation, go seek help from Lieutenant Lin. After all, she was the only person she’d had any contact with on the ‘Feiyun’ Starship.
Fortunately, Lieutenant Lin had told her where she was staying earlier, so she followed the corridor and found the lieutenant’s private cabin.
Awakened by the Smart A.I., a somewhat bewildered Lieutenant Lin opened the door. Seeing the dejected Song Qingpei at her doorstep, she said in disbelief, “Miss Song, what are you…?”
Song Qingpei couldn’t possibly tell her she’d been kicked out. She had her pride.
So she said vaguely, “I’m sorry to disturb your rest, Lieutenant Lin. Admiral Ming Yu asked you to arrange a place for me to stay.”
“Ah! Didn’t the Admiral say you would be staying with her for now? Why the sudden change of mind?”
Lieutenant Lin scratched her head in confusion but didn’t overthink it. She looked troubled. “Um… A-class private cabins require an advance application. The deadline has passed, so I can’t apply for one at the moment.”
Song Qingpei was mortified. She didn’t want to make things difficult for the lieutenant and figured she could just find an empty spot to make do for the night. She turned to leave.
“Sorry to have bothered you, Lieutenant Lin. You should get some rest.”
Lieutenant Lin froze, calling out to her, “Miss Song, where are you going?”
Song Qingpei was at a complete loss, too embarrassed to know what to say.
Sensing her predicament, Lieutenant Lin, also an Alpha, quickly said, “Um… if you don’t mind, why don’t you just stay here for one night? I’ll apply for a cabin for you tomorrow.”
“That… would be too much trouble.”
“No trouble! No trouble at all! I have an ultra-fiber air folding bed here, it’s no effort.”
With that, Lieutenant Lin immediately summoned her personal smart robot, which set up the folding bed and brought out a simple set of military supplies for Song Qingpei to use.
“Thank you, Lieutenant Lin.”
This was heartfelt gratitude from Song Qingpei. Someone she had just met was already better than her cold-blooded ex.
Lieutenant Lin rubbed her head with an honest smile and gestured for Song Qingpei to lie down and rest. The two of them didn’t know each other well, and soon, only silence remained.
Song Qingpei tossed and turned, unable to sleep at all, her mind filled with the question of how she was supposed to get through these hopeless days.
Meanwhile, the young Lieutenant Lin was so consumed by curiosity that her heart itched, making it impossible for her to sleep either.
The cold and ascetic Admiral, the lofty Rose of the Empire, actually had a three-year-old child with this obscure Alpha before her. And their relationship didn’t seem to be very good. She was extremely curious about their story.
After hesitating again and again, she finally couldn’t resist speaking up. “Miss Song, you’re not asleep, are you?”
Startled by her sudden voice, Song Qingpei came to her senses and grunted in acknowledgment.
Lieutenant Lin still couldn’t hold back her gossip. “Um… how did you and the Admiral meet?”
Song Qingpei, who had just managed to calm down, felt a sore spot being poked once again. She truly didn’t want to recall the ill-fated connection between her and Ming Yu. Besides, if she dared to speak recklessly, Ming Yu would never let her off.
So she shifted the blame directly onto Ming Yu, saying vaguely, “We just happened to meet. Admiral Ming Yu doesn’t want me to talk about it. You can understand, right?”
“I understand, I understand.”
Lieutenant Lin nodded hastily. If the Admiral forbade it, she wouldn’t dare ask again, even if she was dying of curiosity.
The two exchanged a few more perfunctory words before falling asleep one after the other.
When Song Qingpei woke up again, it was Lieutenant Lin who woke her, telling her that a private cabin had been arranged and she could go rest in her own room.
As Song Qingpei became fully awake, her first instinct was to find her daughter. But Lieutenant Lin informed her that Songsong had gone with the Admiral to the Mech Training Ground early in the morning. She quickly followed Lieutenant Lin over.
The moment she entered, she felt an intense combat atmosphere.
Five giant black mechs were surrounding a single crimson-flame red mech, attacking it simultaneously. For a moment, the air was filled with a hail of bullets, the battle raging amidst billowing smoke. She couldn’t see clearly, only faintly making out the crimson mech nimbly dodging the attacks.
Song Qingpei’s gaze was immediately fixed on the crimson-flame red mech.
She had seen this mech before. It was Ming Yu’s personal unit—’Yan’.
She looked around but saw no sign of her daughter. In disbelief, she considered the only possibility. Surely Ming Yu hadn’t taken Songsong into a 1-v-5 battle?!
As if to confirm her suspicions, after successfully evading a wave of attacks, ‘Yan’ quickly switched from defense to offense, disrupting the five mechs’ attack formation with even greater ferocity.
Song Qingpei’s heart pounded in her chest as she watched.
‘Yan’ seized upon a vulnerability in one of the black mechs and launched an immediate counterattack, destroying it in the blink of an eye. The other mechs tried to close in, but they couldn’t possibly match ‘Yan’s’ speed.
After another round of attacks, only one black mech was left, barely holding on.
But in just two more exchanges, the final mech’s right wing was shot down, and it let out a series of warning beeps.
Lieutenant Lin, who had been watching with rapt attention, couldn’t help but exclaim, “Heavens! As expected of the Admiral. To win so beautifully in a 1-v-5 while carrying a child!”
Witnessing such a dangerous scene, Song Qingpei’s pupils constricted instantly, and she ran towards ‘Yan’.
At that moment, the cockpit of Ming Yu’s mech slowly opened.
Songsong was sitting in Ming Yu’s lap, waving her little arms and cheering, “Wow! Mama, look! Mommy is so amazing! She can fight five people all by herself! Five of them!”
Beside her, the Admiral stood up, holding her daughter with a blank expression.
Her gaze fell briefly on Song Qingpei, a dangerous, cold glint in her eyes.
If it weren’t for this detestable woman, she wouldn’t have needed to come to the training ground first thing in the morning to vent her uncontrollable pheromones. This was her shame.
Completely unaware of this, Song Qingpei rushed forward anxiously. “Songsong, are you okay? Are you uncomfortable anywhere?”
“Nope! Songsong was very brave. I wasn’t scared at all.”
Songsong waved her little hands excitedly, looking very proud of herself.
Hearing her daughter’s reply, Song Qingpei finally breathed a sigh of relief and quickly reached out to take her.
Ming Yu handed Songsong over with a cold face, calmly averting her gaze.
Lieutenant Lin stepped forward. “Admiral, there is a military department meeting in twenty minutes. Shall it proceed as scheduled?”
“As scheduled.”
Ming Yu was a woman of few words, only showing a miserly hint of a smile when facing Songsong.
She exchanged a few more words with Songsong, and under a barrage of “Mommy is so amazing” rainbow farts,2 she smiled and promised to bring her to watch mechs fight again before leaving with Lieutenant Lin.
“Bye-bye, Mommy! Songsong will be good and wait for you to come back.”
Songsong waved at Ming Yu reluctantly. If she had a tail, she’d be wagging it furiously.
Song Qingpei felt a mouthful of blood stick in her throat. A powerful sense of crisis washed over her. Was her leaky little padded jacket3 really going to be so easily swayed by Ming Yu’s sugar-coated cannonballs?4
“Mama, where did you go? I couldn’t find you when I woke up this morning.”
Thank goodness, thank goodness. Her little padded jacket still had her in her heart.
Song Qingpei comforted herself, picking up Songsong. “Mama had to go out for a bit. Let’s go, we’ll go back and eat.”
The two left the training ground and walked through the long corridor.
Passing by Ming Yu’s private cabin, Song Qingpei was once again reminded of the humiliation of being locked out the day before. She gritted her teeth secretly and quickened her pace, carrying her daughter towards the cabin that had been assigned to her.
Songsong tugged on her arm, tilted her head, and pointed at the cabin with a smile. “Silly Mama, you forgot the way. We’re here.”
Song Qingpei gave a bitter smile and explained helplessly, “Songsong, we can’t get in…”
Before she could finish, Songsong’s milky voice rang out, “Little Yanyan, open the door!”
The smart door’s originally emotionless mechanical tone suddenly changed to that of a sweet young lady: “Command received!”
“Facial recognition successful!”
“Door opening!”
“Welcome home, dear little princess!”
The series of sickeningly sweet, cutesy voice5 commands left Song Qingpei completely dumbfounded.
After entering, she managed to coax the story out of her daughter. It turned out that when Songsong woke up crying for her mama this morning, Ming Yu, in order to placate her, had given her direct access to the private cabin’s main Smart A.I. With the A.I.’s help, Songsong had quickly learned how to use the smart devices in the cabin.
The little one strongly disliked the emotionless mechanical voice, so she had the Smart A.I. change the cabin’s voice system. Judging by the result, she clearly had a special fondness for the sweet, cutesy-sister voice.
Song Qingpei’s mouth couldn’t help but twitch.
For a moment, she didn’t know whether to be gratified by Ming Yu’s affection for their daughter or to feel sorry for her own differential treatment.
Oblivious to all this, Songsong was still chattering excitedly about mechs and how amazing her Mommy was. It was clear the little girl really loved mechs.
Could this be the power of genetics?
For a split second, Song Qingpei felt a pang of sorrow and couldn’t help but waver in her decision for a moment.
Was it too selfish of her to keep her daughter by her side? As Ming Yu had said, in the long run, leaving Songsong with Ming Yu was clearly the better option.
But… she really couldn’t bear it. Songsong was her only family in this world.
Fortunately, she wasn’t one to get bogged down by overthinking. She quickly made up her mind to keep trying. There were still two years, after all. She would leave it all to time. For now, there were more pressing matters to resolve.
Ming Yu clearly didn’t welcome her, so the question of who Songsong would live with during this time was a thorny issue.
Seeing her mother’s silence, Songsong shook her shoulder. “Mama, what’s wrong? Are you unhappy?”
“Mama’s fine.”
Song Qingpei quickly composed herself and coaxed, “Songsong, Mama can’t live here anymore. How about I take you to play where Mama is staying?”
Songsong’s bright eyes widened in confusion. “Mama, aren’t we living with Mommy?”
Although Song Qingpei didn’t want her daughter to be hurt by adult matters, the current situation was impossible to hide. She could only try to explain it to her daughter as tactfully as possible.
“Songsong, your Mommy doesn’t like living with me, so…” She gritted her teeth and said, somewhat cruelly, “Songsong can only choose to sleep with Mama, or sleep with Mommy. Understand?”
“Oh.”
Songsong looked a little unhappy but quickly accepted it. “Okay, Mama, let’s go. I’ll come find Mommy to play when she’s free.”
Song Qingpei couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. She took Songsong back to the new private cabin.
Her heart was in her throat all day, worried that Ming Yu wouldn’t so easily agree to let her live alone with Songsong.
But Ming Yu didn’t come looking for her, not even after she had coaxed Songsong to sleep. Only then did she relax.
However, she had barely lain down when there was a knock at her cabin door. Through the virtual image, she could see Lieutenant Lin standing outside, and she didn’t look happy. Song Qingpei’s heart skipped a beat; she had a bad feeling about this.
She got up, opened the door, and stepped out. “Lieutenant Lin, is something wrong?”
Lieutenant Lin said, “Miss Song, the Admiral has ordered me to take you to the Medical Bay.”
The Medical Bay? What for?
Song Qingpei froze for a second, then asked warily, “Did she say why?”
Lieutenant Lin shook her head. She was clearly just following orders. Having just been taken in by the lieutenant the day before, Song Qingpei couldn’t make things difficult for her. She could only ask her to have someone watch her daughter and reluctantly followed her to the Medical Bay.
On the way, Lieutenant Lin seemed to want to say something several times.
Finally, under Song Qingpei’s questioning, she said, “Miss Song, when the Admiral returned to her cabin and found no one there, her expression turned sour. Later, I don’t know what happened, but the Admiral suddenly went to the Medical Bay. Not long after, she furiously ordered me to bring you over.” She added worriedly, “I’ve never seen the Admiral so angry. You should be careful!”
This made Song Qingpei even more anxious.
But thinking it over, all she had done was take Songsong back to her own cabin. That wasn’t enough to warrant such fury, was it?
When they reached the Medical Bay, Lieutenant Lin stopped at the door and gestured for her to go in alone.
The door slid open. Song Qingpei braced herself and walked inside. A smart robot led her down a long corridor into the interior of the bay.
From a distance, she saw a military doctor in a white medical uniform who seemed to be giving an injection to a half-reclining Ming Yu.
Ming Yu’s uniform was pulled down to her shoulder. She was gripping the corner of her clothes tightly, her cheeks were flushed, and dense beads of sweat covered her forehead. She was clearly enduring intense pain. As the injection was completed, her expression eased slightly, and she collapsed weakly onto the medical bed, closing her eyes to rest.
After finishing the injection, the Military Doctor looked at Song Qingpei. Her voice was as gentle as a spring breeze. “Miss Song, you’re here.”
Song Qingpei was a bit dazed. Just as she was about to step forward and ask what was going on, Ming Yu, who had been lying down, shot up at the sound of her voice. She glared at Song Qingpei, her teeth clenched. “Song Qingpei, look what you’ve done!”
Song Qingpei: ???
What was going on? What had she done?
Seeing their different expressions, the Military Doctor sighed inwardly. As Admiral Ming Yu’s private physician, she knew the Admiral’s body all too well. This Miss Song was truly unlucky to have crashed right into the muzzle of the gun.6
“Miss Song, the Admiral’s heat was triggered prematurely due to the stimulation from your pheromones, and it is proving difficult to control…”
The Military Doctor hadn’t even finished speaking before Ming Yu cut her off.
“Inject her with a high-potency inhibitor immediately. I don’t want to smell her pheromones ever again.”
Footnotes
- The original term is xiàmǎwēi, a ‘dismounting show of might,’ an idiom for an initial display of power or authority intended to intimidate a subordinate or newcomer.
- ‘Rainbow fart’ is modern Chinese slang for effusive, over-the-top flattery or praise.
- The term xiao mian’ao, or “little padded jacket,” is a common and affectionate nickname for a daughter, implying she brings warmth to her parents’ hearts.
- A ‘sugar-coated cannonball’ is an idiom for a stratagem that uses pleasantries or benefits to conceal a harmful intention.
- ‘Jiazi yin’ or ‘pincer voice’ is slang for an intentionally cute, high-pitched, and somewhat affected voice, similar to ‘cutesy voice’ or ‘baby talk’ in English.
- An idiom meaning to run right into trouble, especially by encountering someone who is already angry and looking for an outlet.
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