Chapter 2: The Scent is Overpowering, but I Have Rhinitis

Step by step, he approached, and the scent of pheromones grew more intense.

“Wait a minute.”

Sweat formed on Ji Laili’s forehead. “Senior Shen, don’t come any closer, I can’t hold it in anymore.”

A chill flickered in Shen Yu’s eyes, but he didn’t stop. He continued approaching Ji Laili.

“Really? Then let me satisfy you, alright?”

Ji Laili twitched his nose, his face changing dramatically. “No, seriously, I really can’t hold it in!”

“Then don’t. I’ll help you let go.”

Ji Laili’s expression turned resistant as he took step after step backward.

But Shen Yu didn’t let him go. With a wickedly seductive smile, he moved closer, his omega pheromones wrapping around Ji Laili like an intoxicating mist, luring out the deepest, most hidden desires.

The more Ji Laili resisted, the more Shen Yu wanted him to surrender.

After all, he utterly despised Alphas.

“No, Senior Shen, I—Ah… Ah-choo!”

“Ah-choo—!”

I’m about to sneeze!

Ji Rhinitis Patient Laili’s nose turned red as he sneezed several times in a row, completely halting Shen Yu’s advance.

Sniffling, he looked up with red-tinted eyes, slightly teary from the sneezing, and said very seriously, “I have rhinitis. This is unbearable.”

Shen Yu: “…?”

The eerie, seductive aura of Senior Shen, the very picture of a demon from hell… was stuck.

His expression stiffened as he stared in disbelief at the young man in front of him, who couldn’t stop sneezing.

Perhaps after holding it in for so long, now that he’d started, Ji Laili’s nose was completely out of control. Covering his nose, he stammered, “S-Sorry… Ah-choo, ah-choo!”

Ji Laili sniffled again, his eyes welling up from the irritation. “Senior… Ah-choo! Sorry, can you… Ah-choo! Can you just move a little further away?”

Every time Shen Yu got closer, the scent rushed into his nose, making his rhinitis act up like never before.

In the ABO world, pheromones are intoxicating… but rhinitis is a nightmare.

No matter how enticing the scent, once rhinitis kicks in, it’s nothing but pure suffering.

Shen Yu’s expression was bizarre—stiff, complex… and deeply puzzled?

In both of his lives, he had never heard anyone say something like this to him.

Especially in his past life, after his second differentiation into an omega. The very memory of those experiences disgusted him. Alphas had only ever desired him.

And now someone was… rejecting him?

A sneer flashed in Shen Yu’s eyes as his expression grew even colder.

He thought back—this situation had never happened in his previous life.

So this Alpha was lying?

Seeing Shen Yu’s dark and unreadable expression, Ji Laili panicked, worried that he was about to make a move. He quickly explained,

“Ahem… Senior Shen, listen, I’m very clear-headed right now. I don’t have any improper thoughts about you. I just think we need to talk.”

Ji Laili quickly reviewed the original plot in his head.

Dominant Submission was a story marked HHH—a very dangerous world…

The kind that led straight to a dark, locked-up room.

The protagonist, Shen Yu, was originally an Alpha. However, during a mission, he was injected with a mysterious serum. When he woke up, his pheromones were completely out of control.

After struggling to regulate them, he realized something even more terrifying—the scent on his own clothes wasn’t from an omega.

It was his own scent.

A once-in-a-century second differentiation had begun.

From that day forward, the Federation’s golden boy fell from grace, gradually becoming a caged canary, stripped of everything simply because of his newly assigned gender.

But… surprise!

This was actually a revenge story.

The true victim wasn’t the protagonist but the cannon fodder villains—the lust-driven antagonists who thought they could take advantage of him.

Though Shen Yu was initially caught off guard and betrayed, he turned the tables in the end.

Using his enemies’ own methods against them, he returned every humiliation and torment a hundredfold.

His revenge was ruthless.

And Ji Laili?

He was one of those disposable villains.

His character was the first to suspect that something was off with Shen Yu. The moment he realized that the prestigious, worshipped Alpha senior might actually be an omega—

It was too thrilling to resist.

He had stalked Shen Yu for days, memorized his routines, and planned this exact night to make his move.

To avoid accidents, he even brought along a partner.

The result? As expected, Shen Yu successfully reversed the situation.

The unconscious Alpha lying on the ground was proof enough.

Ji Laili’s gaze remained clear, unaffected by the pheromones that could disturb one’s rationality—his rhinitis had blocked them all out. He spoke seriously, “Senior Shen, if you kill me, you’ll just have one more problem to deal with. How about we switch things up and work together instead?”

“Work together?” Shen Yu let out a mocking laugh. “Dealing with one person or two makes no difference.”

Ji Laili reasoned, “But if you deal with one less person, you get to relax for a little while longer. Why insist on taking me out?”

The Alpha’s expression was sincere. He had soft, chestnut curls and a pair of bright, crescent-moon-like eyes. When he smiled, they seemed to shimmer with light.

“Senior, I’m not a problem.”

“Fewer enemies, more allies, right?”

“I’ll keep your secret and be your blade. Whoever you want dead, I’ll take care of them—without hesitation!”

Shen Yu stared at Ji Laili, taking in his slightly curved eyes. Despite being tormented by the pheromones, there wasn’t a trace of disgust in his expression.

Maybe it was precisely Ji Laili’s clear-headedness at this moment that stopped Shen Yu from striking him down immediately.

“You have a way with words. But unfortunately… I don’t believe any of it. Alphas all deserve to die.”

Shen Yu had seen the true faces of Alphas on the brink of death—hypocritical and disgusting.

Ji Laili sniffled. The scent in the air seemed to carry a slight bitterness now.

He rubbed his nose, looking a little troubled and confused. His once bright and cheerful eyes dulled slightly, like a puppy that had lost its joy.

Seeing that Shen Yu remained cold and resolute, determined to kill him, little puppy Laili sighed. If he was going to die anyway…

He might as well ask whatever was on his mind.

“But you’re an Alpha too,” Ji Laili pointed out, utterly sincere in his confusion. “Aren’t you including yourself in that statement?”

Even if Shen Yu had differentiated into an Omega, wasn’t he still technically in the process of transformation?

Ji Laili raised an eyebrow and deliberately provoked him, dead serious, “You’re an Alpha too, Senior Shen.”

You’re an Alpha too…

Shen Yu’s fingers twitched, his expression going blank for a brief moment.

Ji Laili pressed on, “This is just the differentiation period. No matter what happens later, right now, you’re still an Alpha.”

“Are you looking down on yourself? You say Alphas deserve to die, then you…”

“I can let you live.”

Shen Yu suddenly changed his tune.

“…Shouldn’t you also—huh?” Ji Laili froze, momentarily wondering if he had misheard. “Wait, you’re serious?”

He didn’t have to die? His mission could continue?!

Surprise—so sudden, so unexpected!

Shen Yu looked at the young man whose face had instantly brightened with joy, his own gaze dark and unfathomable. This was an entirely different beginning from his past life… He wanted to see if Ji Laili would slip up.

“If you want to cooperate, I’ll agree.”

“Have you ever dealt with an Alpha before?”

“Huh?” Ji Laili snapped out of his excitement, slightly unsure of what Shen Yu meant. He hesitated before asking, “You want me to kill him?”

That… wouldn’t work.

Ji Laili was still figuring out how to respond when he saw Shen Yu smile.

The protagonist’s stunning face carried a hint of mockery. His fever-flushed eyes gleamed coldly—terrifyingly—as he uttered his next command:

“I want you to ** him. Do you understand?”