Apex Predator - Chap 14

Shen Dai poured all his energies into preparing his speech. His diet, sleep and energy levels had been poor these past few days. He tired easily and never felt like eating. At first he suspected that it might be exhaustion from overwork, but after three days was when he started to worry, as these were symptoms that every adult Omega was all too familiar with – the symptoms that occurred before the start of one’s heat.

The heat of most Omegas followed a relatively constant pattern, occurring once every three to four months. Though not always precise, it would more or less happen around the same time. The body would also start to self regulate in advance, for example, exhibiting symptoms such as an abnormal loss of appetite to prepare the body for conception, and effects such as anxiety and insomnia due to changes in hormone levels.

His heat only occurred twice a year, and always when the climate was warm. In fact most Omegas rarely went into heat during periods of extreme cold, barring external factors, such as the influence of Alpha pheromones. This was very much an evolutionary trait shared with animals – offspring born in winter were less likely to survive.

Except winter had just begun and it wasn’t that cold yet, so there was still the possibility of going into heat during this time.

This possibility made Shen Dai a little nervous. Although it was not uncommon to have such a reaction when he was stressed at work, not wanting to take any risks, he bought medication from the pharmacy to suppress and delay his heat. These types of drugs acted directly on the gland and were not metabolised easily. As they could have harmful effects on the body, they were therefore only used during emergencies.

Once taken, those symptoms would naturally be reduced by a great deal, only to return with a vengeance a few days later. Shen Dai had asked for leave in advance, deciding to go home once the presentation was over.

The night before, it suddenly occurred to him that he had forgotten to prepare what to wear. Thankfully Uncle Heng already had a few suits tailored for him. Holding up a garment bag containing a waistcoat suit, he stood at the entrance waiting for his taxi. The wind was strong that day, blowing into his eyes, turning them dry and puckery.

As he was rubbing his eyes, a car slowly pulled up. His eyes opened to find Qu Moyu’s car in front of him.

The driver, Old Wu, got down from the car and held open the rear door for him, “Mr Shen. We’re headed to the office as well. The young master would like to give you a lift.”

“Ah, thanks.”

After getting into the car and hanging up his suit, Shen Dai said, “Thank you President Qu, I should have brought these over earlier but I totally forgot.”

“Not a problem.” Qu Moyu was at that moment looking over the brief, “The breakthrough process in solvent extraction developed by your group this year has a high separation efficiency for light rare earths, but shows no substantial improvement in the case of heavy rare earths.”

“Right. The main point is the difficulty in controlling heavy rare earths during the process of fractional precipitation and crystallisation – which will also be our primary focus in the future.”

“The stakeholders are bound to have questions about this. But when it comes to the subject of this technology’s commercial application, questions about returns, you can always sidestep them. At the same time, they are extremely interested in the mine in South Africa acquired by the company this year.”

“Great, I already have that section prepared. After the professor left to go to South Africa he started sending back a lot of valuable data.”

“Professor Liu is so relaxed about entrusting the laboratory to you. It seems like he values you the most.”

“That’s unlikely.” answered Shen Dai, candidly. “At present the mine in Gansu is the principal source of revenue for the company’s Rare Earth Sector, and all of my senior colleagues are at the Research Institute there. They are all more accomplished than I am, but since the Professor is willing to mentor me, I’ll do my best not to disappoint him.”

Qu Moyu gave Shen Dai a look that was not without some admiration. “To be able to do this much is quite a feat. But I must warn you of a few things. The first is that Qu Chengchen will be at the meeting representing my uncle, the second, that a majority of attendees today will be Alphas, you’d do best not to reveal your gender to them.”

Shen Dai sighed to himself: “I understand.”

What Qu Moyu just said was extremely pragmatic. To be a typical Omega, with a mild temperament and low physical stamina, who was prone to getting pregnant, and who went into heat four times a year for a period of seven days, was to find oneself at the bottom of the labour market. In middle to large enterprises, there were labour laws which enforced mandatory quotas for hiring Omegas as well as tax incentives for doing so. As such there were a number of Omegas hired at the Xingzhou corporation, but very few in important positions. In short, the workplace was an uphill battle for Omegas, and even more so in the domain of scientific research, which Shen Dai had fought tooth and nail on the strength of his academic qualifications in order to enter.

But there would be Alphas with massive egos and deep-seated prejudices who would very likely doubt his capability. He had prepared himself mentally for this.

The car stopped at a reserved lot. Qu Moyu went directly to his office via a private lift. Shen Dai had to cross half the carpark to access the employee lift, looking around the whole time for fear of being spotted.

After reaching his dormitory and changing into his suit, he turned his neck with his back towards the mirror to have a closer look at his nape. Pheromone blocking patches always came in the same shades as skin tones and were only noticeable up close. Just as well that he hadn’t had the time to get a haircut recently, and so the ends of his hair touched his collar enough to cover his neck. Nodding at his reflection, he walked out, taking along with him his laptop and documents.

The meeting was due to start at nine-thirty. Since he was the third out of a total of five teams in the Research Institute presenting, he still had time to go over his slides a few times.

As soon as he entered the conference room his junior colleagues started heckling him.

“Oh my god, Shen-shixiong is so handsome today!”

“First time seeing Shen-shixiong in a suit. So fancy! He doesn’t look like a miner at all!”

They referred to themselves as “miners” – a bit of self-irreverence – as their day to day work involved handling all types of minerals and chemical reagents, getting themselves dirty was a common occurrence.

Cheng Zimei clapped her hands in an exaggerated manner, “A-Dai. You look so good in that suit. That waist! Those legs! Tsk!”

Receiving so many compliments made Shen Dai a little embarrassed. “Thanks everyone for showing me some face. I’m going up on stage in a bit, so please be as enthusiastic about applauding.”

Clothes made the man, as it turned out. This suit was costly, so there was no doubt he would look good while wearing it. Thinking of his speech today, how during his section, everybody’s gaze would be fixed on him, including that of Qu Moyu, who seldom looked directly at him. Perhaps Qu Moyu would be looking at him for a very long time, longer than he had in all of the moments before put together, and in that case, would Qu Moyu also think that he looked good?

“Shen-shixiong, sit here.” Zhou Lan, a younger male colleague of his, got up to let him have his seat in the middle.

“No need, I can sit over here, I’ll have to go up a short while.” said Shen Dai, sitting down and immediately opening his laptop.

Zhou Lan uncapped a bottle of mineral water and placed it next to Shen Dai’s hand, “Shixiong, have something to drink. Have you had breakfast? Do you need me to buy you anything?”

“I’ve already eaten. How about the rest of you?”, asked Shen Dai offhandedly.

“We’ve already eaten. They started selling Yunnan ham mooncakes at the cafeteria. They’re pretty tasty!”

Shen Dai nodded his head, his gaze not leaving the screen. “Alright, I’ll try it some other day.”

This attentiveness from Zhou Lan had already gone on for more than a day or two. Being a young man in engineering, his overtures were somewhat clumsy. But still, being able to sense his intentions gave Shen Dai a bit of a headache.

He had never entertained obvious hints from anyone. Owing too much money made it impossible for him to be in a romantic relationship. And now, it was even more out of the question. A pity that this junior colleague of his was too young and could not catch the refusal by his impassivity.

Just let Cheng Zimei handle it for him in two days’ time.

As the other teams, team leaders, and stakeholders started to arrive one after the other, the massive auditorium quickly filled up.

Shen Dai caught sight of many of the company’s top executives, but his eyes were continuously trained on Qu Moyu. Qu Moyu had on a black trenchcoat over his waistcoat suit which flapped in the wind as he walked. He was chatting with some stakeholders beside him the entire time, and did not once look over.

Qu Chengchen had arrived as well, dressed equally impeccably. He was carrying a grey briefcase, and was still on the phone as he walked in. He appeared extremely respectable, a complete departure from his irreverent manner he had the last time they met.

“Gosh, it’s so rare that the Crown Prince and the Marquis appear at the same time.” Cheng Zimei was taken over by her gossipy side again. She nudged Shen Dai with her elbow and said, “We really ought to make friends with some colleagues from the department of Chemical Industry. That way we can get all the gossip about the Marquis. He’s way more interesting than the Crown Prince.”

“Don’t bother me, I need to go over my script again.” replied Shen Dai, without looking up from his laptop.

“Can you stop being so tense? The professor already said that this conference won’t have much of an impact on our budget. Just say whatever and it’ll be fine.”

“How can you even suggest saying ‘whatever’?”

“You’re so -oh wow!“ Cheng Zimei excitedly grabbed onto Shen Dai’s arm, squeezing it so hard that it hurt.

There was a bit of an uproar inside the auditorium, everyone present was looking at the entrance. A stunning Alpha had just sauntered in. Many of the top level executives who were already seated got up to greet him.

“It’s Yan Mingxiu!”

“How is it that he’s here?”, gushed one of his younger female colleagues.

“Ah it’s because of Longke Heavy Industries, our company’s strategic partner. He must also be one of our shareholders.”

Shen Dai could not help but be curious, stretching his neck to catch a glimpse of Yan Mingxiu. He was the successor to Longke Heavy Industries, which was nothing strange. What was strange though, was that he had run off to join the entertainment industry in his early twenties. Though his acting skills were mediocre, his godlike countenance and superior S-class Alpha genetics had quickly made him a big hit, only for him to suddenly disappear from the public eye two or three years later. Clearly it had been a spell of youthful folly: the young son of a rich family having fun chasing fame and fortune, but at the end of the day still needing to return to inherit the family business.

Yan Mingxiu was the epitome of top-tier Alpha grade looks, and the shock of seeing the person in real life far surpassed that of seeing him on the silver screen.

“The concentration of Alphas here is too high.”, remarked Cheng Zimei, shrugging her shoulders.“ Thank goodness I can’t smell it. Seeing cute guys is good enough for me. A-Dai, you aren’t feeling uncomfortable, right?

By virtue of being the population majority that contributed most to the society, being a Beta was stable and convenient.

While Betas may not be able to withstand an Alpha’s pheromone suppression, their inability to smell pheromones allowed them to function without being influenced in most scenarios. In this instance, being in an enclosed room laden with the pheromones of three S-class Alphas and multiple other Alphas must definitely have been extremely stifling for an Omega.

Shen Dai was without a doubt uncomfortable. He felt the air around him becoming rarefied. His chest was tight and his breathing short, even his eyes were starting to sting from the vapour.

He nodded his head and said, “I’m going out for a bit, when it’s almost my turn please let me know.”

The first group had started their presentation a short time ago. He excused himself to the bathroom and quietly slipped away with his notebook. As he breathed in the fresh air in the rest area, he continued to look at his slides.

It was not until Cheng Zimei called him that he returned to the auditorium. When he was ready, he stepped up onto the podium.

1. It’s Yan Mingxiu! | Major love interest in the novel Professional Body Double (职业替身), another title in the 188 series