CH 33

Ch33 - Meeting the original protagonist

The contents of the video that was put online was a scene between Prince Latiao and a more well-known contestant in the top ninety.

On the battlefield, Prince Latiao was the same as before. He easily steamrollered his opponent. Even the people on the sidelines could see his skillful maneuvering, while his seasoned opponent seemed like he had gone stupid. He lost without the slightest resistance. He didn’t even realize his loss for a long time.

And there were several videos appearing. As long as they had been watching outside, they could see the videos. This person named Prince Latiao participated in tens of matches without stopping, and nearly none of the opponents he met could make it past ten minutes in the battlefield.

Generally speaking, it was already impressive for a participant to compete three or four times, but this Prince Latiao seemed not to know how to get tired. What terrifying level had his spiritual energy reached?

All the recordings were spread around. In moments, most of the people who had been cursing in the forums disappeared. Everyone had a sense of disbelief. Was it possible that there were actually two incredible competitors that appeared this year? Other than God Time, there was actually another person who could use an outdated mecha and reach a level of an immortal.

With such incredible power, it was impossible that this was someone unknown to the public. Was it some influential family’s young master who came to participate in secret?

On the side, Edwin expressed in his social accounts that what had happened was absolutely genuine. There wasn’t a single bit that was fake. Moreover, he worshipped Prince Latiao’s strength, and he hoped he could get to know him.

Edwin’s fervent tone gave his fans a shock. Everyone knew that Edwin didn’t have any interest in things outside of the battlefield, and he rarely spoke. They didn’t expect that as soon as he opened his mouth today, he would sound just like a maniacal fan of Prince Latiao.

Edwin had several million fans. After they saw his messages, several who didn’t know what had happened went to look up this person named Prince Latiao. Immediately, they were stunned by the video of their match.

Overnight, Prince Latiao gained an unknown number of fans. Everyone was on the forums guessing who he was. All of the disbelievers had disappeared without a trace, and the people replacing them were countless worshippers.

“Ahhh, why is he so hot, he’s just like my idol God Time! I think I’m faling in love again!”

“Me too, me too. It’s obviously just an old, outdated mecha, but why is it so hot? I’ve licked the videos online tens of times already! It’s not nearly enough!”

“Who knows when God Latiao will come back to compete again. I want to see what it’d be like if he competes with the top fifty.”

“We’ll definitely see it. An expert like this entering the semifinals is certain!”

But Pei Shijian’s fans were considerably unhappy. They felt that this new person was imitating Pei Shijian, and they sent all kinds of jeers on the forum, saying that the newbie was just trash that couldn’t even get in the top fifty. If he met with God Time, he would be beaten down.

But most people were strongly anticipating the clash of the two people using old-style mechas.

During the same time period, there were countless people who wanted to investigate who was behind Prince Latiao, but they had no results no matter how they looked. In the end, they could only drop it.

In a dormitory in the empire’s advanced military school, a teenager with black hair walked out of the bathroom in a bathrobe. He was handsome with a few hints of devilish seduction, a constant, kind smile always on his face. He could make other people trust him unconsciously.

This black-haired teenager was the protagonist of this interstellar ABO mecha novel, Pei Shijian. Pei Shijian toweled off his hair and put on his helmet. As soon as he entered the virtual world, he saw several emails.

These emails were basically all about how a competitor like Pei Shijian who used an outdated mecha had appeared recently. They were asking him if there was any connection between the two of them.

Pei Shijian’s lip curled in a disdainful smile. Immediately, without the slightest hesitation, he cleared all of the emails.

“It’s just someone not worth mentioning. He wasn’t worth my time from the start.”

Pei Shijian had absolute confidence in his own strength. It was impossible for someone to have spiritual energy stronger than his.

His spiritual energy was SSS grade, and he had maneuvering technique honed from years of diligent practice. How could a random guy who even had such a disgusting name pop up and compete with him so easily?

–

After tens of matches, even someone with spiritual energy as strong as Shao Ci couldn’t take it anymore. He watched himself climb up to the first couple hundred in exhaustion, then exhaustedly logged out of the virtual world.

When he took off the helmet, Shao Ci discovered that he was covered in sweat. Since omegas were too physically weak, when they stayed a little too long in the virtual world, it was a huge strain on their bodies.

So Shao Ci went to the bathroom to shower. He even discovered that there were new clothes in his size in the drawer that he could change into.

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

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“But what in the world is Ji Zhaoyun thinking?” Shao Ci sat at the table eating, still puzzled after thinking for a long time. “He beat me up so badly before, but now he’s not hitting me, and he even locked me up somewhere with such good conditions… Is he afraid that after I leave I’ll destroy his image, so he wants to bribe me…?”

When he remembered Ji Zhaoyun’s arrogance, Shao Ci quickly wiped the unrealistic thoughts from his mind.

Still, Shao Ci wasn’t sure about anything else, but he knew that if Ji Zhaoyun still didn’t come, then his daily task [Greet the capture target] couldn’t be completed.

Shao Ci began to think. If Ji Zhaoyun still didn’t come by nighttime, he would have to brave the dangers and make some trouble to draw Ji Zhaoyun over… Getting beaten up wasn’t nearly as scary as the system’s punishment.

Luckily, Ji Zhaoyun didn’t forget that there was someone locked inside. When Shao Ci finished eating, Ji Zhaoyun pushed open the door with a haughty expression and walked inside.

Shao Ci hurriedly said, “Young Master Ji, hi.” It was wonderful to have the task completed.

“I don’t have the leisure to be greeting trash like you. Don’t think that if you’re a bit more enthusiastic I’ll consider you important,” Ji Zhaoyun said angrily. “And don’t think you can stay here comfortably just because you changed rooms. I won’t let you mooch off of me.”

He wasn’t even the one who wanted to come mooch!!

“T-then can I go home?” Shao Ci hadn’t forgotten that he had a mother and father in this world. Still, he had sent a message home while he was in the virtual world, so they wouldn’t worry even if he didn’t go home for now.

Of course, their son getting expelled because he peeped in the male bathrooms was extremely embarrassing… Shao Ci felt that the host’s parents really weren’t simple.

“No.” Ji Zhaoyun crossed his arms across his chest, smiling coldly. “You think you can go as you please after offending me like you did yesterday? Don’t joke around.”

Didn’t you offend me right back yesterday?!

Shao Ci thought, but of course he couldn’t say that out loud, otherwise Ji Zhaoyun would definitely beat him half to death. He could only say, “Then what do you want me to do, Young Master Ji?”

“To make up for what you did to me, I want you to be my servant,” Ji Zhaoyun said arrogantly. “Of course, there are other servants to do those specialized things. You just need to be in charge of waiting on me at school. You know, you’re just a beta, and you managed to become my servant. If your parents knew, they would be proud of you.”

Although Shao Ci really wanted to curse Ji Zhaoyun for being too proud, it really was fact. For a family in dire straits like his, a family had the name of a noble but didn’t have any true power, they would be honored if even the son of a duke greeted them.

Shao Ci: “But I was already expelled…” This was so cruel.

“So what? You can keep going to school tomorrow. I already had people settle it with the dean,” Ji Zhaoyun said. “Of course, if you don’t serve me well, the institute will expel you just as before. So you’d better do it properly. Don’t think that you can slack because you’re a beta. My expectations are very high.”

After sarcastically making things clear, Ji Zhaoyun turned to leave.

Shao Ci: “!!” Hey, that’s so careless. You think you’re amazing just because you have power and influence?! …He really was amazing. Shao Ci could finally go back to school!!

It was lucky Ji Zhaoyun didn’t mention the thing from yesterday about apologizing to Pei Shijian. For the time being, Shao Ci didn’t have the guts to go see Pei Shijian. He was afraid that as soon as such a disreputable and tormenting thing was publicized, Pei Shijian’s name would be ruined.

Pei Shijian would seek revenge if someone just glanced at him the wrong way. To reach his goal, even his friends were calculated. It would be better to say that, in his eyes, nobody was his friend. They were just chess pieces that he could use. In the original novel, he had used Edwin thoroughly. In the end, his family had been thrown into bankruptcy, and he committed suicide in his guilt over causing his cousin’s death.

Although there were plenty of gay alphas who liked Pei Shijian in the original novel, all of the people who succeeded in joining his harem were omegas. After all, the protagonist’s interests were still normal… What kind of danmei novel was this?!

Anyway, even Edwin, the crown prince’s younger cousin, the young master of a financial magnate, was so miserable. Shao Ci didn’t think he, as a cannon fodder, could protect his life!!

The one thing he could rely on was charging out to suck up when the original protagonist became successful and famous. Then he could have his lunchbox and leave the world immediately. It was fine as long as he avoided seeing Pei Shijian.

The more he thought, the more Shao Ci felt that his method was absolutely perfect. He slept peacefully.

–

The next day, Shao Ci dragged himself out of bed early in the morning and changed into his school uniform. After yesterday’s experience, he was full of interest for mechas. He wanted to hurry up and go to school to learn… If he could, it would be best to train his body to be a bit more sturdy. This way, there might be a day where he could succeed in piloting a mecha in the real world.

Although he could surpass most people relying on his spiritual energy alone, if he was matched with someone extremely strong, he probably wouldn’t be able to defeat them, particularly because the original host didn’t study properly before, and Shao Ci didn’t know a bunch of different things about mechas. How was he supposed to fight like this, huh!

He went downstairs to eat. It was just like yesterday. When Ji Zhaoyun was eating, there were several different people waiting on him. There was no need for Shao Ci to lift a finger.

Shao Ci wondered what Ji Zhaoyun was thinking when he made him a servant for no good reason, but it was fine as long as he could benefit.

After finishing breakfast, Shao Ci got onto the aircar with Ji Zhaoyun.

Shao Ci sat solemnly, thinking about how he could study well, when he heard Ji Zhaoyun suddenly speak. “By the way, you were on the virtual net yesterday, weren’t you? Did you see  the virtual mecha competition or not?”

Shao Ci didn’t realize Ji Zhaoyun was actually talking to him for a long time. He immediately let out a noise of surprise, then when he saw Ji Zhaoyun’s expression turn much darker, he immediately said, “Of course I did. Is something wrong?”

“Hmph. You really are a useless beta. You don’t even know when someone is talking.” Ji Zhaoyun continued with his ad hominem. Shao Ci felt that if Ji Zhaoyun wasn’t the son of a duke, the surrounding betas would have jumped him and started beating him up.

“Then you should know about that Prince Latiao who made a huge splash at the competition yesterday.” Ji Zhaoyun’s gaze filled with disdain. He sneered, “What a horrible name. He even copied Senior Pei, using an old mecha. He’s just a joke. He just beat a couple of weak chickens and he thinks he’s so great.”

Shao Ci didn’t expect that he would hear his virtual world’s nickname from Ji Zhaoyun. He began to cough violently.

“When someone else is talking, you listen properly.” Ji Zhaoyun glared at Shao Ci with extreme unhappiness, then continued to vent his fury with Prince Latiao.

Although Ji Zhaoyun had the character design of an arrogant young master, he truly admired the strong, which was why he looked up to Pei Shijian and even became his fanboy.

When he saw a ton of people bringing up Prince Latiao and Pei Shijian in the same breath, Ji Zhaoyun was extremely unhappy, but he couldn’t find anyone to talk to. When he thought about it, Shao Ci still had some use, but he was embarrassed to have a proper conversation with him. He hesitated for a long time before he finally spoke.

“Ahh, yeah.” When Shao Ci heard Ji Zhaoyun’s words, he nodded again and again. Once in a while, he would even say indignantly, “You’re exactly right. This Prince Latiao is absolute garbage.”

Hearing Shao Ci speak, Ji Zhaoyun felt that he was getting easier and easier on the eyes. He even nodded amiably at Shao Ci. “Not bad. Although you’re trash, you’ve still got some taste.”

Shao Ci: “…” Was raising the favorability score easy! He even needed to curse himself out. It was lucky that after Ji Zhaoyun heard the first bit, his favorability score seemed to skyrocket. When the favorability rose up, he wouldn’t need to worry his future would be so crappy!

“Hmph. I don’t know why I can’t find Prince Latiao’s identity, either. Otherwise, I would grab him and take him for some torture,” Ji Zhaoyun said, annoyed.

Shao Ci: “…” Actually, you already tortured him.

Soon, they arrived at the empire’s military school. It was a pretty famous school. Many noble families studied here, and even some underage princes were here.

As a special student, Ji Zhaoyun’s aircar could drive straight into the school into the parking lot before stopping. He didn’t have to weave through the huge garden before he could get to the school like the normal students.

Although they both made it into the school with their connections, there was a big difference between someone from a rundown family like Shao Ci and Ji Zhaoyun, the son of a duke. The places they learned were also different. Even the teachers and the study materials were as different as night and day.

Shao Ci got ready to leave, wanting to go to the other area he remembered from the host’s memory to study, but Ji Zhaoyun stopped him. “Hold still. Where are you trying to go?”

“Huh? I-I’m going to the classroom,” Shao Ci said.

“Are you an idiot?” Ji Zhaoyun snorted. “Since you’re my servant, you have to stay by my side. You’re trying to go somewhere else? Hurry up, come here.”

“But won’t there be a problem? I’m not a student here…” If he could go somewhere better, Shao Ci would naturally be happy, but would he really be able to avoid getting kicked out by the teacher?

Ji Zhaoyun shot him an arrogant glance. “There’s nobody with the guts to touch my people. Just come here.”

Shao Ci: “!” Ah, he suddenly thought that Ji Zhaoyun was super cool.

Thus, Shao Ci was forced along with Ji Zhaoyun to go to the higher ranking classrooms.

Who would expect that because he offended the male protagonist he falsely accused of being a pervert who peeped into the male showers, and then after the protagonist’s fan brought him home for a whipping… things would actually turn out for the good. He succeeded in coming back to school, and even came straight to a higher ranking area. Was this called profiting from disaster?

Feeling complicated but excited, Shao Ci and Ji Zhaoyun walked into the classroom. All of the students in this class were alphas. There were probably betas before, but Ji Zhaoyun must have crowded them out.

At first, everyone was sitting at their desks, silently reading. When they saw Shao Ci had come in with Ji Zhaoyun, their expressions changed immediately.

Actually, based on Shao Ci’s status as a cannon fodder, there was no way these people would remember him. But what had happened was too shocking. Nobody had expected that someone would actually peep in the men’s bathroom. He was a pervert among perverts! When everyone in the school thought about how they might have been seen while they were in the bathroom, their entire bodies filled with goosebumps.

It nearly made the news. If it wasn’t for the fact that the dean was afraid it would ruin their reputation and he suppressed the news, Shao Ci might be a well-known pervert throughout the entire empire.

It was easy to tell how terrifying of a person Pei Shijian was. Because of his framing, the original host had no way to continue living.

Shao Ci: “…” Although it’s not my first time being seen as a gay, I don’t know why but this seems especially humiliating.

The thing that was even more surprising was that Shao Ci actually came with Ji Zhaoyun. Was Ji Zhaoyun possessed?! This guy was a beta, and he was also a pervert who peeped on the men’s bathroom!

Even if other people didn’t know, they were very clear how much Ji Zhaoyun despised betas. He was even arrogant to his alpha classmates. How the heck did this guy manage to suck up to Ji Zhaoyun?!

Under everyone’s peculiar stares, Shao Ci sat down stiffly.

But Ji Zhaoyun was completely at ease, not feeling like there was any problem at all. He called Shao Ci to open his books for him.

Class started soon. The teacher just glanced at Shao Ci for a moment before naturally beginning to lecture.

Shao Ci could understand most of what was going on. He could even relate the circumstances from when he was connected to the mecha. What he couldn’t really figure out were the few more profound topics. Whenever they got to those topics, he would unconsciously begin to take notes.

When Ji Zhaoyun was in class, he was also completely focused. His attitude was completely different from his normal arrogance. After all, he was chasing stubbornly after this goal.

While he was listening earnestly to the lessons, time passed quickly. Soon, it was the end of class. Shao Ci felt a bit like he hadn’t heard enough, but when he saw the notebook full of questions, he didn’t have the guts to go and ask.

Because he was just a student who was stuck in as a transfer. How could he go and ask the teacher questions.

The original host just came to school to pass time. His test scores were just okay, and during mecha battle classes, it was painful to watch.

But it was also because of his family. After all, the original host was actually an omega, and his natural physique had its drawbacks. His parents felt some remorse for him, but they didn’t ask that he became someone amazing.

“I’ll go on the virtual net to look it up later.” Shao Ci sighed, then realized Ji Zhaoyun was looking at the notebook in his hands.

“Hmph, you don’t even know something so simple.” Ji Zhaoyun jeered at him with disdain first, then leaned over. “Look, it’s not like this… You have to do this part like this. You don’t even know something like this? Did you even listen properly?”

Like such, Ji Zhaoyun explained all of the questions Shao Ci had. Although he had an extremely impatient attitude, and he would often add in a few barbs, he explained in great detail. Even Shao Ci understood in moments.

When Shao Ci was done listening, he suddenly realized, wasn’t Ji Zhaoyun just like the tsunderes in rumors?

Wait, he didn’t want to keep thinking about something scary like this!

The next class was about the same. Ji Zhaoyun explained the things Shao Ci didn’t understand. Finally, his expression turned much warmer. “It seems like you’re not completely trash. You’ve got a bit of drive.”

Shao Ci: “…” It seemed that Ji Zhaoyun liked people who loved studying.

Next, it was time to eat lunch. There were several restaurants in the school. There were restaurants with low prices that even the commoners could afford, restaurants with sky-high prices, and restaurants that only allowed noble students to eat there. Although Shao Ci was technically from a downtrodden noble family, he was broke. He just ate the food from the noble restaurant.

Of course, the restaurant Ji Zhaoyun picked was the most expensive kind. When Shao Ci thought about how he could eat all kinds of delicacies later, he was incredibly moved.

But what happened next extinguished Shao Ci’s belly of fire.

Weren’t the people over there Pei Shijian and Edwin? What the fuck!? Hey, all of the beautiful plans he thought of last night were destroyed!