Even though Xia Xiaotong has gradually grown into an independent and strong-minded little adult, she still blushes and feels embarrassed after being teased. At heart, she is still that soft and cute little girl, and this makes Lin Mingfei very satisfied.
After Zhou Yanjun ruthlessly blocked his romantic partner, the Polaris team seemed to have returned to its former calm.
There was still one day of rest before the match against the Shadow Team. Although they didn't say it out loud, they all secretly started to wind up themselves.
At 4 p.m. sharp, Xia Tong finished his last set of stretching exercises in the first-floor gym. His muscles weren't as strong as Alpha's, so he spent longer stretching after each workout. Not wanting to waste the others' time, Xia Tong always let the others go first. Lin Mingfei had been planning to wait for him, but He Youjin had called Lin Mingfei, the team leader, to discuss work at the last minute, so Xia Tong obediently said goodbye.
After what happened with Zhou Yanjun, everyone became much more cautious in interpersonal communication. Xia Tong naturally wouldn't run around. She planned to stretch, take a shower, and then go back to her room to rest. This way, there wouldn't be any problems with her routine, so there wouldn't be any need for Lin Mingfei to worry.
He got up from the yoga mat, grabbed his phone and water bottle, and went to the male Omega locker room.
The locker rooms in the gym are also divided according to the six genders, but it is obvious that the locker rooms for male Alphas and female Alphas are relatively crowded, followed by male Betas and female Betas, and the locker rooms for male Omegas and female Omegas are deserted.
In fact, this is not surprising. Most Omegas in contemporary society are physically weak, and not many of them can take on important jobs in society after adulthood. Most of them are married and become housewives or househusbands. They do housework and take care of children every day, and there is no need for them to go to the gym. This gym is already good. At least it has locker rooms for male and female Omegas. Xia Tong has seen several small gyms before, with only four locker rooms, which saves space resources.
The male Omega locker room was very quiet, and the noise was far away. Xia Tong walked in, swiped her bracelet, opened the wardrobe with a "beep", took out the toiletries, and went to the bathroom.
Perhaps no Omega had been here today, and there was no sign of use in the huge bathroom. There was not even a water stain on the floor. Xia Tong found a cubicle and walked in, took off her coat, put her toiletries in place, and turned on the shower.
No water.
Is the shower system broken?
Xia Tong was stunned for a moment and didn't do what he wanted. He felt a little cold, so he had to take his things and go to another compartment.
He didn't know if it was because he had taken off his clothes or because the evaporation of sweat absorbed heat, but there was a slight chill when he walked. Xia Tong got goose bumps all over his body and just wanted to take a hot shower so he could go back and rest. He hurriedly stuffed his things on the shelf, pushed the shower switch to the end of the red edge, and turned it on.
"Clatter"
This time, water did spray out of the shower head, cold and splashing all over Xia Tong.
That temperature was disastrous for the human body. Those patches of skin were so cold that they were about to wrinkle. Xia Tong stepped back almost as if he had been electrocuted. He stepped back in a hurry and the ground under his feet was slippery. He fell to the ground with a plop. His hands were supporting himself on the tiles, and his wrist bones ached dully. The coldness of the tiles seemed to penetrate his palms and seep into his bones. Xia Tong was stunned. The time had passed, and the water falling from the shower was still ice-cold, with no sign of heating up.
Xia Tong thought he had turned the switch in the wrong direction. He checked again and the switch was indeed turned to the red side, correct, but there was no hot water.
Humans, as non-warm-blooded animals, have this problem. They feel many times colder after being in contact with water than without. Xia Tong was shivering all over, and his teeth were chattering with cold. Even if he was stupid, he should have known that there might be something wrong with the shower system here. Maybe it was because no Omega came to exercise and use it all day so it was never discovered. Maybe it was because of something else. In short, he couldn't stay here anymore, because the wind blowing out of the air conditioner was also freezing. He gritted his teeth and turned the shower switch back on, then rushed out of the shower room shivering, holding a half-dry towel and toiletries.
Zhou Yanjun ran into Xia Tong while he was waiting for room service in the corridor. The little Omega was wrapped in clothes in a dishevel, his hair was wet and stuck to his temples, his little face was pale, and he was shaking all over.
"Me? Damn, what happened to you?" Zhou Yanjun asked in surprise: "Did you fall into the river? Or did you encounter a ghost?"
When Xia Tong opened his mouth, his two rows of small teeth were chattering and he couldn't speak clearly: "I?...I?..." Without saying a word, he turned around, brushed open the door of his room, and rushed in.
Zhou Yanjun was stunned at the door for two seconds, vaguely feeling that something was wrong. He wanted to take a step forward to check the situation, but he remembered in time that Xia Tong was essentially an Omega, and still a member of the opposite sex to him. It would not feel right to just barge in, so he restrained himself and turned to knock on Shi Ya's door.
"Timer! Timer!" After a long while, Shi Ya finally answered and opened the door. Earphones were still in her ears. She wondered, "What's wrong? Can't you just send a WeChat message if you have something to say? Why are you still yelling at the door? I'm calling you back!"
Zhou Yanjun gestured towards Xia Tong's door. "Dwarf just came back from the gym, and I feel like something's not right!"
"Something's wrong?" The frivolous look on Shi Ya's face instantly disappeared. He took off his headphones and asked, "What's wrong?" After a pause, he said nervously, "Is she in heat?"
"In heat?" This concept was clearly beyond the ken of the fat man Zhou Yanjun. His eyes went blank for two seconds before he asked Shi Ya, "What does an Omega in heat look like? Shivering all over? Wet hair? A pale face? Is this heat?"
Shi Ya: "...Do you smell anything different?"
Zhou Yanjun looked even more bewildered. "Smell? What smell? Ah... I don't smell curry, but it seems to be the curry pork chop rice ordered by the room across the street."
Shi Ya raised her hand and pushed Zhou Yanjun's pig head away: "Damn it, asking you is useless."
The two of them turned around and hurried to the door of Xia Tong's room. Shi Ya raised her hand and knocked on the door, calling softly, "Xia Xiaotong? Are you there? I, Timer and Fire, can you open the door for me?"
There was a chaotic commotion from inside the door, followed by Xia Tong's trembling response: "I... I... need to take a shower first... It's not convenient to open the door now!"
"Shower?" Shi Ya was stunned for a moment, then asked again: "Didn't you shower in the gym just now?"
"I? I took a shower...but there's no hot water in the gym, and the locker room is really cold QAQ." Xia Tong cried through the door.
Shi Ya turned her head and looked at Zhou Yanjun, and the gentleness in her eyes disappeared.
"Go to the supermarket downstairs and buy some ginger tea for brewing."
"Ginger tea?" Zhou Yanjun was clearly not very smart in this area. "Is this dwarf in heat?"
"No, with combined fever you'll only feel body heat, not chills. Are you stupid?" Shi Ya said, "Get ready first. I'll go downstairs."
"What are you doing downstairs?" Zhou Yanjun asked.
"Let's go check out the gym and ask them for an explanation." Shi Ya's face darkened slightly. "Because Xia Tong won't have to swallow her anger."
Shi Ya put one hand in her pocket, stepped into the gym, and went straight to the front desk without saying a word.
The lady at the front desk had a good impression of him. This handsome guy was good-looking, had a good figure, and was very talkative. In the past two days, every time he took the bracelet from the front desk, he would smile at them and praise them in different ways. So when he saw Shi Ya, he immediately said enthusiastically, "Handsome guy, are you planning to apply for a long-term membership card?"
Shi Ya was unusually serious and solemn, which was very different from his usual sunny and amiable image, and even seemed a little scary. He leaned sideways towards the front desk and explained his purpose directly. The lady at the front desk stopped laughing immediately and led him to the Omega locker room obediently.
After confirming that there was no one in the locker room, Shi Ya followed the lady inside. As soon as he stepped into the locker room, he frowned because of a biting cold wind.
The temperature inside is frighteningly low.
The lady at the front desk was also a little dumbfounded. She hurried to check the parameters of the central air-conditioning, and then was shocked to find that the air-conditioning mode was actually set to "cooling" mode without her knowing.
While she was checking the air conditioner, Shi Ya had already walked into the shower room.
He checked each cubicle one by one, and finally stopped at a cubicle with obvious water stains. He saw that the shower switch was at the end of the red direction.
At this time, the public relations manager of the gym came in trotting and whispered with the lady at the front desk for a while. The two seemed to have reached some kind of consensus, and then they walked towards Shi Ya together with a smile.
"Sir, you said your friend caught a cold in our dressing room. We just checked the air conditioning and found that it was on cooling mode, so it was blowing cold air." The manager said, "But since it's winter now, we certainly wouldn't deliberately turn on the cooling mode for guests. Look, the dressing rooms next door are all on heating mode, right? So... I wonder if your friend may have touched our air conditioning parameters without permission and accidentally pressed the wrong button and-"
"Come here." Shi Ya didn't respond to him, but waved at him with a flat tone. The manager walked over with a confused look on his face. Shi Ya said to him, "Stretch out your hand and put it here."
The manager slowly stretched out his hand, and Shi Ya impatiently grabbed his wrist and pulled it forward, reaching it just below the shower head, and then turned on the shower switch.
The cold water splashed down.
The manager shivered with cold, his sleeves soaked. He subconsciously tried to pull his hands back, but was frightened by Shi Ya's gaze. He rushed forward for more than a minute. Shi Ya asked, "Is it warm?"
The manager: “…”
Shi Ya glanced at the switch again: "Let me see, is it the hot water switch?"
The manager: “…”
Shi Ya: "Still talking to me about the air conditioner?"
There was complete silence. The manager's hands were frozen stiff and numb, just like his expression.
Shi Ya didn't look at them again. She took out her phone and turned away. "I'll call the Consumers Association and ask for compensation."
"Oh! No, no, no!" The manager suddenly came to his senses. He thought that not many Omegas would come here to exercise. It must be that an Omega got a little cold here during the day and came back to complain in anger.
But the manager didn't take it seriously. In his opinion, the gym's clientele wasn't primarily Omegas, and the two Omega locker rooms were practically useless. Omegas weren't supposed to come to the gym in the first place, so what if they suffered a little setback? They could just stay away from them.
"Handsome guy, let's talk it over nicely!" The manager winked at the lady at the front desk, and the two of them surrounded Shi Ya from the left and right.
"Please tell your Omega that we're sorry. We can give him a free gym bag, a towel, a fitness tracker, and other things as an apology. We'll tell him to stop taking it too seriously. Anyway, he should learn from this and spend less time at the gym. Stay home, rest, do some chores, and make use of his remaining energy. Isn't that right?"
"Handsome, there's no need to make such a fuss. You've experienced this here during the day. Our service to Alphas is pretty good, right?"
They thought they were being reasonable, but Shi Ya's expression grew colder and colder.
"Speaking of which, our Omega makes tens of millions every minute. Without him, our whole family wouldn't even have enough to eat. He's our Alpha's cash cow." He lowered his head with a forced smile and said, "If he gets frozen by your cold wind and cold water, your gym will be losing money."
When Shi Ya returned, He Youjin and Lin Mingfei had already returned. He Youjin was staying in the room with Zhou Yanjun and Bo Yu. Lin Mingfei was not there, but it was obvious that she was accompanying Xia Tong in her bedroom.
"You're back." He Youjin stood up, walked over and asked, "What did you say?"
"There's nothing much to say. It's just compensation. I've already collected evidence and reported it to the Consumers Association. We'll discuss the specific amount later when we have time." Shi Ya waved her hand. "It doesn't matter to us whether it's a large or small amount. The most important thing is how Xia Xiaotong is doing."
"Zero has been taking care of him. He took a shower, blew his hair, drank ginger tea, and took cold medicine in advance. Now he is asleep." He Youjin said.
"How can he perform in tomorrow's game if he's like this?" Shi Ya frowned.
"I don't know, but when I was consulting with Fire at the pharmacy just now, they said this brand of cold medicine can prevent most respiratory infections as long as it's taken promptly, so it should be fine." He Youjin said, "Let's see tomorrow. There's no point in thinking about it now."
Shi Ya let out a breath of air, and then heard He Youjin urging her, "Alright, everyone, go back to bed. It's getting late. Don't forget that you have a game tomorrow, so you need to be in top shape."
The next morning, Xia Tong woke up to the sound of the alarm on his phone that Lin Mingfei had set for him. He propped himself up on the bed and sat up with difficulty. He felt weak in all four limbs, his waist and neck were sore, and he was also cold all over.
Xia Tong was stunned for a while, then raised her eyes and saw a person sitting on the sofa, with one hand supporting her chin and her elbow resting on the armrest of the sofa, taking a nap. Judging from the shape of her frowned brows, she must not be sleeping very soundly. It was Lin Mingfei.
Lin Mingfei actually stayed here with him the whole night...On the eve of the game, he implicated his teammates.
Xia Tong was stunned, a strong sense of guilt rising in her heart, and her five fingers slowly clenched the quilt.
He can't be a burden anymore, he has to cheer up and play the game!
Thinking of this, he calmed himself down, threw off the quilt and got out of bed, preparing to go to the bathroom to wash up first. However, after taking only two steps, he suddenly felt dizzy. He felt as if he had lost control of every part of his body and fell to the ground all of a sudden.
With a "thump", the noise woke up Lin Mingfei who was lying on the sofa.
"Xia Tong!" He leaned on the armrest of the sofa, rushed over, and helped the little Omega up from the ground.
"I'm sorry..." Xia Tong said softly, his eyes half open and his words weak.
Lin Mingfei didn't say anything and leaned the back of her hand against his forehead.
Hot.
"You have a fever." Alpha said in a deep voice.
Xia Tong shook her head, breathing rapidly, but her tone was apologetic: "I? I'm still too weak... Taking cold medicine in advance is useless. I'm sorry."
Lin Mingfei didn't say anything. He picked up the cold medicine box on the bedside table and turned it over to read the contraindications. At the end of the box, there was a line of words written: "Combined use with steroid hormone drugs may weaken the efficacy of the drug or make it ineffective."
So that's how it is...
Alpha felt helpless and heartbroken.
"It has nothing to do with you," he said. "You're taking a pheromone inhibitor and cold medicine at the same time. The two medicines conflict with each other, so the cold medicine isn't working."
Xia Tong didn't say anything, but just closed her eyes with difficulty.
"This won't work. I'll call Lao He and ask him to ask the organizer to adjust the schedule." Lin Mingfei said in a deep voice. He was about to touch his cell phone, but his wrist was held down by Xia Tong's hot palm.
"Don't..." Xia Tong's voice was hoarse but firm: "Zero, have you ever... played a game while sick before? Tell me the truth."
Lin Mingfei hesitated for a moment and whispered, "Yes."
"What illness did you...what was it?"
"Appendicitis." Lin Mingfei said, "After the injection, go to the hospital for an IV drip."
"Then why... don't you ask the organizer to adjust the schedule?" Xia Tong asked with difficulty.
Lin Mingfei paused, then answered truthfully: "Because I don't think it's necessary."
"Adjusting the schedule is very troublesome and a very serious matter... I know." Xia Tong took a breath and said, "So if you can persist, I can do the same. There is no difference between us."
There is no difference between us. Lin Mingfei was shocked. He thought that this was Xia Tong's last self-respect and self-reliance as an Omega.
They could submit a request to the organizers today to adjust the schedule, causing more trouble for others and making a big fuss to buy Xia Tong a day or two of rest. But how would outsiders view them? How would they view Xia Tong? Someone would undoubtedly ask, "Why can Alphas play even when sick, while Omegas are so fragile that they need everyone to tolerate and give them time off when they're sick? Why would Omegas even play professionally?" "Get out of the professional arena!"
——But if Xia Tong really had to play despite being sick, he would feel extremely distressed.
"I just feel a little dizzy because my head is too hot. I can take antipyretics." Xia Tong opened her slightly red eyes and said softly, "Zero, antipyretics won't... they won't conflict with my inhibitors, right?"
Lin Mingfei frowned tightly.
"Let me take a look. Wait for me." He spoke in a calm voice, suppressing the restlessness in his heart. He helped Xia Tong to the bedside and turned to search for fever-reducing medicine in the suitcase.
He quickly took the medicine box out of the suitcase and checked it carefully to confirm that there were no contraindications related to pheromone inhibitors.
"No, you can take antipyretics." Lin Mingfei said.
"That's good." Xia Tong nodded. He sat up weakly, propped up by the bed sheet, breathing heavily and rapidly, causing his thin shoulders and chest to rise and fall. "I? Go get a glass of water and take the medicine..."
"You sit down, I'll go get you some water!" Lin Mingfei interrupted him eagerly, feeling helpless and depressed. He thought, he had taken Xia Tong on this path, and there were many things that he could not stop or do for her, and Xia Tong had to face them by herself.
When he thought about it this way, there were always a few moments when he doubted himself and wondered if he had done something wrong.
He could completely hide Xia Tong, like a little canary, hiding forever, controlling her, and protecting her from the intrusion of the outside world.
The team, victory or defeat, and honor are all his own business, and Xia Tong obviously doesn't need to share the burden with him.
He held the cup of water, paused, and did not look back for a long time.
"Brother..." Xia Tong called him softly from behind, "Don't be afraid..."
Fear?
Really, why is this little guy still worried? He is scared himself.
Lin Mingfei smiled, sighed silently, turned around, and handed the water and fever-reducing medicine to Xia Tong.
The little Omega took his hand and swallowed the pill. He drank water and swallowed, choking and stretching his neck. Lin Mingfei leaned over and gently patted his back. It took a while for him to recover. Xia Tong took his hand in hers and emphasized her words, each one a promise and a comfort. "Brother, we'll do it like we did last time we played Amoon. We'll finish this quickly, then come back and get a good night's sleep. We'll be well again."
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