Yu Zhen's eyes fluttered open to the hum of fluorescent lights and the distant chatter of students. The world was strange, bright, and unfamiliar. Gone were the polished stone floors and scent of incense from the Crimson Palace; instead, he was surrounded by the faint smell of chalk, books, and waxed wood.
His body moved instinctively, muscles recalling a life he had not yet lived in this world. Silver hair brushed his shoulders as he rose from the narrow dormitory bed. The System chimed softly in his mind:
[SYSTEM ALERT: WORLD 2 — MODERN ERA]
[USER STATUS: RARE OMEGA — UNCLAIMED]
[THREAT LEVEL: MODERATE]
[TARGET DETECTED: Lian Xuan — ALPHA PRESENCE CONFIRMED]
Even in this mundane world, Yu Zhen felt the pull of fate. Somewhere on this campus, the Alpha waited—the one whose golden eyes could pierce through any disguise, any world, any lifetime.
He stepped into the hallway. Students bustled past, their laughter and conversation filling the air. Some glanced curiously at the pale, silver-haired boy moving with quiet confidence. But Yu Zhen paid them no mind. His senses were already aware of the pull in the air: the unmistakable presence of an Alpha.
And then he saw him.
A figure standing at the far end of the corridor, tall, impeccably straight, the casual lines of his uniform hiding the strength beneath. Golden eyes scanned the hallway, and when they landed on Yu Zhen, it was as though the world narrowed, as though every other soul in the corridor ceased to exist.
Time seemed to pause. Yu Zhen's pulse quickened—not with fear, but with the sharp, instinctive recognition of the bond they shared.
[SCENT RESONANCE DETECTED — COMPATIBILITY 94%]
[INSTINCT ALERT: ALPHA POSSESSIVENESS ACTIVATED]
[SOUL FRAGMENT 2: PARTIAL AWAKENING]
The Alpha's presence pressed against him—not physically, but like a gravitational force pulling at his very core. Yu Zhen felt warmth spread from his chest, a pull so instinctual that it made his hair rise at the nape of his neck. Across worlds and realities, this was the same Alpha who had claimed him in the Crimson Palace—a presence that suffocated, protected, and demanded without a word.
Lian Xuan took a deliberate step forward, and every instinct in Yu Zhen screamed that this world's rules—its mundane classes, its social hierarchies—were meaningless against the primal dominance radiating from the Alpha.
Yu Zhen allowed himself a quiet exhale. His mind raced, already calculating: where was he? What was the best approach to maintain discretion while still understanding the Alpha's intent? The System chimed guidance:
[USER TASK: OBSERVE TARGET, GATHER INFORMATION, MAINTAIN STEALTH]
[AFFINITY LEVEL: RISING — 22%]
[ALPHA POSSESSIVENESS: ACTIVE]
He adjusted his posture, walking slowly, deliberately, toward the music building—the place the System had indicated as the hotspot for the next fragment of soul-thread activation. Each step was measured, every breath careful, as if walking a tightrope between danger and fate.
The Alpha did not move away. Instead, Lian Xuan's gaze followed him, a silent command woven in the intensity of gold and black. Even the students around them seemed to fade from his awareness, leaving only the pull between the Omega and Alpha, unbroken and undeniable.
Yu Zhen reached the music room. The faint smell of polished piano keys and varnished wood filled the air. Lian Xuan was already there, waiting, the tip of his boot tapping softly against the floor. He did not speak. He did not need to. The possessive energy radiating from him spoke volumes.
[MEMORY FRAGMENT 2: INITIATED]
[AFFINITY LEVEL: 28/100]
[PROTECTIVE SYNC: INCREASING]
Yu Zhen's fingers itched to reach for the piano keys. The music room was more than just a place to practice—it was a world of control, emotion, and resonance, and somehow he knew that the Alpha's presence here would make the awakening of the soul fragment more intense, more precise.
Lian Xuan finally broke the silence, voice low, firm, and suffocating in its intensity:
"You are mine."
No one else in the room could touch him. No one else would. And Yu Zhen, standing at the threshold of the music room, felt the truth in that statement pulse through his veins, awakening a fragment of memory he could not yet fully comprehend, yet recognized instinctively.
He took a step closer to the piano, feeling the familiar pull, the magnetic dominance, the thread of their bond reassert itself across worlds. And as he set his hands on the ivory keys, the first notes of recognition trembled in the air, vibrating between them, unspoken, undeniable, inevitable.
The world around them had shifted. This was no longer a mundane university. This was a stage, a battlefield, and a sanctuary all at once. And in the center of it, the Alpha and Omega found each other again.
[SYSTEM ALERT: HIGH-POTENTIAL INTERACTION DETECTED]
[AFFINITY RISING: 35%]
[SOUL FRAGMENT 2: PARTIAL AWAKENING CONFIRMED]
Yu Zhen's lips curved faintly. No matter how strange this world, no matter the distractions, he would survive. And he would find a way to fully awaken the bond with the Alpha who had claimed him across worlds.