It was Shao Ciâs first time seeing their faces. He had to admit that they were extremely attractive, and they both had their own uniqueness.
Although Edwin had an illustrious background, he didnât like other people nagging him. When he dealt with things, he was very lowkey, even hiding his own status. Most of the people in the school didnât know about it.
And right now, Pei Shijian was also a new student who had talent and popularity. Nobody knew he was the renowned God Time in the online mecha competitions.
So both of them looked like normal students strolling around the school. There werenât any crazy fans following after them, either.
Thus they strolled straight into Shao Ci.
In the next moment, the system began to sound.
[Beep beep beep⊠Detected a more powerful character⊠Beginning to change capture targets in accordance with the systemâs regulations⊠Change complete. The current capture target is Edwin.]
Shao Ci: â???â Hey, wait, why was it Edwin?! He thought it would be Pei Shijian.
[Itâs because the capture target Edwinâs strength is higher, of course.]
Shao Ci: ââŠâ Well, that was true. Pei Shijian was technically still in the first stages of his development. It was normal if his power couldnât compare to Edwinâs.
When Pei Shijian saw the two of them, he was different from Shao Ci, who had been scared out of his wits. Instead, he smiled slightly, greeting them, as though he was seeing a friend. He didnât treat Shao Ci with the slightest bit of strangeness.
Just seeing Pei Shijianâs attitude, anyone could tell he was the one who had unjustly accused the original host of peeping on the menâs bathroom!
The more Pei Shijian acted like this, the colder Shao Ciâs heart got. He would rather Pei Shijian come over and whip him a few times to work out the problem. He didnât want Pei Shijian to keep plotting against him secretly. Still, there was nothing he could do if his character was just like this.
When Ji Zhaoyun saw his adored idol, he became excited and opened his mouth, but because of his nerves he couldnât say anything. After struggling for a long time, in the end he only gave a casual nod, not even saying anything. His attitude was obviously icy⊠If it wasnât for the fact that he was always praising Pei Shijian at home, even Shao Ci couldnât guess that he was Pei Shijianâs fanboy.
No wonder the original novelâs Pei Shijian thought Ji Zhaoyun was his enemy for a long time. He even thought of killing Ji Zhaoyun several times.
When Shao Ci thought of this, he felt that Ji Zhaoyun was absolutely miserable. He was actually fanboying after someone like this. Sincerity really was difficult.
Edwin was just indifferent. He gave a careless greeting to Ji Zhaoyun, completely ignoring Shao Ci.
To Edwin, giving a second glance to someone like this was an insult on his own eyes. He was still thinking constantly of the dozens of mails he had sent to Prince Latiao in his excitement yesterday, and whether Prince Latiao would disdain him for being annoying after seeing them. He couldnât help feeling regretful.
But when Ji Zhaoyun looked at Edwin coldly. After all, he was just some guy who lost to Prince Latiao and let things progress so far. If he was a little more useful, the circumstances would be different.
Shao Ci, staying self-aware, said nothing. He wouldnât make things hard for himself.
It was just some greetings, but things actually got so awkward.
Since both parties had things to do, they dispersed quickly. When Pei Shijian passed by Shao Ci, he threw out a sentence casually. âI didnât think you still knew some schemes. But you wonât be so lucky next time. Just wait and see.â
His voice was very quiet. Only Shao Ci could hear him. His heart tightened, and he whipped his head back, seeing a friendly smile appearing on Pei Shijianâs devilishly handsome face.
Then Pei Shijian turned away, leaving together with Edwin.
To be honest, when Shao Ci saw Pei Shijianâs smile, he was so shocked he nearly fell to his knees.
Could things still be okay when the original protagonist set his eyes on him! With his schemes, he could cause Shao Ci to lose his reputation easily⊠Although his reputation was already gone. Forget it, why think about him so much? Even if the entire empire thought he was a pervert who peeped on the menâs bathroom, so what! He would still live on.
Shao Ci was simply giving up on a hopeless situation.
Ji Zhaoyun, who had already walked ahead by several steps, turned to glance at Shao Ci. âWhatâre you looking at? Stop looking, hurry up.â
Shao Ci hurried after him.
Ji Zhaoyun went straight to selecting a private room in the restaurant, then ordered a bunch of expensive food. When the food came, he looked straight at Shao Ci and said unhappily, âWhat are you still sitting there for? Hurry up and come to serve me. Donât you have the sense of a servant?â
âŠShao Ci was wondering if Ji Zhaoyun didnât even eat when he was by himself and didnât have someone to serve him.
Well, the capture target had changed. Similarly, Shao Ci was a lot lazier. He hesitantly said, âHuh? But Iâm just a beta. Itâs not very good if I come in contact with you, right?â
Ji Zhaoyun said haughtily, âAlthough youâre just a beta, youâre doing alright, youâre much better than other betas. Iâll permit you to serve my meal more closely.â
Shao Ci really wanted to say, âSo what if you die of starvationâ, but he had to lower his head under this roof, and he still went over to feed Ji Zhaoyun.
Shao Ci was very curious about Ji Zhaoyunâs favorability score, so he asked the system, even though this laze-about system could only check if the score was negative, zero, or positive.
[The previous capture targetâs favorability score is zero.]
Shao Ci: ââŠâ Hey, then why did Ji Zhaoyun even make him feed him.
[Itâs because the previous capture targetâs favorability score towards most betas is negative, so the hostâs 0 is more acceptable.]
Weâre sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so weâre going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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Shao Ci didnât start eating until he finished feeding Ji Zhaoyun. He quickly sank into the blissful taste of the food, flinging all the unhappy things into the back of his mind.
Was there anyone on the planet as easily satisfied as him.
After Ji Zhaoyun finished eating, his mood improved significantly. He watched Shao Ci and said, âThereâs a mecha battle lesson in two days. Youâd better practice properly when you go back. I donât want to see you humiliating me.â
Shao Ci immediately remembered how terrible the original hostâs mecha battle grades were. Immediately, his face turned pale. The reason he could be so amazing on the virtual net was all reliant on his spiritual energy. But in reality, where his body would collapse as long as he used spiritual energy, he could only operate manually.
And his manual mecha operation experience was only from the warm-up during the battle with Edwin yesterday. He even fell down several times.
That was even on the virtual net. Falling down didnât hurt much. But in reality, with an omegaâs frail body, it would probably break his bones, and he would have to lay in bed for several monthsâŠ
The original hostâs mother and father had already talked it out with the teachers. Every time they had mecha battle lessons, he just wouldnât attend. But it was obvious that Ji Zhaoyun wasnât someone who could be reasoned with.
âŠIt looked like he would have to go into the virtual net and practice his manual operations properly.
Most of Shao Ciâs good mood dispersed in moments. He picked up the tea on the side, taking a sip.
âThereâs still that damn Prince Latiao,â Ji Zhaoyun snorted. âIâm going to go teach him a lesson today. Iâll let him know how high the heavens are.â
Shao Ci nearly spat out the tea he just drank. He began coughing.
âWhatâs wrong?â Ji Zhaoyun immediately frowned. âYou donât think I can win?â
âNo, noâŠâ Shao Ci hurriedly said. âHow could Prince Latiao win against you? I believe you will definitely succeed!â
âThatâs just about right,â Ji Zhaoyun said. âYou did pretty well today. Keep working hard in the future. Iâll think about increasing your salary.â
Shao Ci was shocked: â!â He actually had a salary! He even thought he was just working for nothing.
In fact, Ji Zhaoyun was a good person, huh⊠But when he thought of how he was given a beating as soon as he came, Shao Ci decided to forget it.
â
Physical education was in the afternoon. Shao Ci worked hard to toughen himself before he realized exactly how bad omegasâ physical strength was.
He only ran for a bit, but he was already panting for breath, while the surrounding alphas were full of energy.
But Shao Ci felt he was doing pretty good for transmigrating into an omega pretending to be a beta. Although he would occasionally feel jealous of alphas, he wouldnât go around cursing that life was unfair or anything like that⊠After all, most omegas were locked up at home, otherwise they went to all-omega schools, and once they came of age they waited to be married off.
If he had transmigrated into that kind of omega, Shao Ci would just choose death.
When school was over, he returned to the residence. Ji Zhaoyun went fiercely back to his own room.
Shao Ci went back to his room too, putting on the helmet and entering the virtual world. As soon as he went in, he was stunned by the amount of mail. Before this, the original host only had ten-some letters cursing him out for being a pervertâŠ
These letters were all from people who sent them through the competition, and the competitionâs system forwarded it to him. There wasnât any problem with keeping his identity secret. Nobody would know Shao Ciâs mailing address.
Yesterday, Shao Ci just fought a couple dozen rounds and left. He didnât think of going to take a look at other places like the forum. He didnât expect that he would actually become a small celebrity in the competition.
Shao Ci poked open a few letters to take a look. Shockingly enough, there were a significant number of love letters filled with all kinds of selfies. There were even some from male and female omegas. It really gave Shao Ci a shock.
And Edwin even sent him several dozen letters. When he picked them out, he discovered that they were written in the same tone as a fanboyâs. Shao Ci really couldnât imagine the cold Edwin from earlier in the day actually writing something like this⊠If he knew Shao Ci was Prince Latiao, who knew how he would react.
And this Edwin guy was actually ecstatic after being beaten. In fact, he was a total masochist, wasnât he! âŠBut living like this, he wouldnât have any problems doing his daily task. Shao Ci thought about contacting Edwin to meet up online after this stuff was dealt with.
He could do his daily task with Schezar in his dreams, so it should be possible online too.
Another portion of the letters were related to a collaboration. There were also several strong people who wanted to pull him over onto their side. When Shao Ci saw the huge number of empire coins, he got emotional, but in reality he was a potato. What use was an expert that could only live in the virtual net? He could only reluctantly ignore these letters.
As for the ones saying how much money he could get by doing a couple random commercials during the competition, Shao Ci was very interested. It was just doing a few ads, how wonderful it was to earn money so carelessly.
Thus, after Shao Ci got the system to thoroughly conceal his location, he went to ask the other party about the fees. Finally, he asked around several places and earned a good amount of honest money. In moments, he had tens of thousand of empire coins.
Although the original hostâs family were nobles, they lived about the same as commoners. A year of their expenses was only a few tens of thousand empires coins.
When Shao Ci finished settling those things, he arrived at the square with the most people. Shockingly, the most conspicuous advertisement had a declaration of war.
It invited Prince Latiao to go to a certain virtual mecha training site to exchange pointers. If Prince Latiao won, then he could get a million interstellar coins. If he lost, then he would have to withdraw from the virtual mecha competition, and never participate again.
There were a huge number of people competing in the virtual world every day, but there were only a few people who were so arrogant. It quickly drew many peopleâs attention.
People could see the ad as soon as they walked into the district. It cost dozens of thousands of interstellar coins per day.
Shao Ci understood immediately. No wonder so many advertising companies were looking for him just now. It seemed it was because of this adâs positioning.
Shao Ci: ââŠâ The damn person who put up this declaration of war was definitely Ji Zhaoyun. Should he go or not⊠Although Ji Zhaoyun wasnât participating in the competition this time, he was very strong. He had avoided death from Pei Shijianâs schemes several times. After the plot in the original novel finished, he even became a general and Pei Shijianâs capable assistant⊠So should he go or not?
Wasnât this nonsense? Of course he should go! Shao Ci had confidence in his spiritual energy. If Ji Zhaoyun was giving away money, why wouldnât he go collect it? That was a million interstellar coins!
Shao Ci went to an individual-use competition terminal at the side without a sliver of hesitation. These one-on-one matches were also held through the virtual mecha competitionâs system.
After he entered, a screen to select his mecha appeared just like it did yesterday.
Generally speaking, a contestant would use the mecha he was most familiar with. They usually wouldnât change at will. They were also more personalized, where they would put a special symbol on the mecha. For example, it was easy to identify who it was just by looking at the mecha for the experts in the top fifty.
But Prince Latiaoâs appearance made Pei Shijianâs outdated mecha look less unique, which was why Pei Shijianâs fans fans were so unhappy.
Yesterday, Shao Ci only picked randomly because he was poor. Now, he had so much money from down payments that he had become rich in moments. Why would he pick the worn outdated mecha? He immediately picked the latest, most popular mecha. It only cost a few hundred empire coins.
In the real world, he couldnât pilot any of these amazing mechas, so of course he would give it a try online. He wasnât trying to play cool like the original protagonist or anything.
And if he was going to shoot ads, then he had to pick a custom appearance and spend a few thousand more empire coins. Still, compared to his ad appearance fee, it was nothing.
Shao Ci went straight to initiate the new functions, copying the lines the ad companies gave him onto his mecha. The plain white mecha quickly became colorful. It looked absolutely stuck-up. It was obvious the ownerâs sense of beauty was trash.
Still, Shao Ci didnât care about these things. Compared to getting cursed out for his sense of beauty, empire coins were obviously more important.
Shao Ci opened the screen. As expected, he saw Ji Zhaoyun sending out a challenge. There was an attached agreement explaining clearly what would happen if he lost and what would happen if he won. It had been approved by the competition and was legally binding. As long as he signed, he couldnât back out.
It even had Ji Zhaoyunâs signature at the bottom.
In the virtual world, Ji Zhaoyun was also hiding his true identity. Here, his name was Stay Away From Me. It really matched his personalityâŠ
Shao Ci signed the agreement at once, then clicked accept. His sight filled with color, and he was sent directly to the battlefield.
It was already filled with spectators. They were people who had just heard the news and quickly bought tickets to come in. These unofficial battle rooms all had to be paid out of pocket, but one percent of the ticket revenue would be split between the two participants.
So when Shao Ci saw all these people, it was like he was looking at empire coins. He felt very emotional.
Most people had come to see Prince Latiao. They also wanted to know who had challenged him, even wasting his money to buy the ad space in the square. When they saw Shao Ciâs mecha, they were stupefied.
Didnât Prince Latiao use an outdated mecha? Why did he suddenly change now? And it was whatever if he changed, but why did this mecha look so tacky? And it was full of a mess of words⊠Wait, these were ads!
A perfectly good mecha had been tormented into such a ghastly state. Just how many ads did Prince Latiao take?!
This completely shattered the showiness of Prince Latiao in their hearts!! Although this name was showy to begin with, they really wanted to ask exactly how poor Prince Latiao wasâŠ
And Edwin, who had people paying attention to news about Prince Latiao at any moment, was the first person to have bought a ticket. He looked at the battlefield, both anxious and excited. He couldnât calm himself down ever since what happened yesterday. His mind was full of Prince Latiao.
Through the filter of his brain, Edwin thought that even such an ugly mecha had personality. He even thought of making his own mecha similar when he went back.
âHmph.â Ji Zhaoyun sneered when he saw the mecha. âAs expected, youâre just trash. Youâre doing something like this to get strong for a moment, and even wanted to be compared with Senior Pei. Today, Iâm going to make you lose and never think about competing in mecha competitions again.â
But Shao Ci didnât care too much. He just looked at the various buttons inside the mecha, remembering what he had learned in school that day, and excitedly realizing he had remembered them. Now, he pretty much knew the things he hadnât known yesterday.
Anyway, there was still a bit of time before the warm-up time ended. He would use this time to practice a bit.
Shao Ci began to attempt to operate the mecha manually. After his experience yesterday, his maneuvering was much better today. Although it couldnât compare to the feeling that he and the mecha were one when he was using spiritual energy, at least he could walk without falling over.
The surrounding spectators watched the mecha take extremely stiff steps, just a tiny bit better than a beginner, and their expressions turned shocked. They had only seen videos of Prince Latiaoâs heroic displays. They had no idea that at the beginning of the first match, Prince Latiao had gotten plenty of ridicule because of his terrible operations.
âMaybe heâs not used to the new mecha?â
âGosh, he should be using a mecha heâs used to for a match as important as this. Why did he have to change?â
âWill he really lose because of this? Then I bought this ticket for nothing.â
Only Edwin was excited. His gaze fixed on the field, remembering the first time he met Prince Latiao. Through his mental filter, even if Shao Ci fell over, Edwin would probably still think it was a skillful, beautiful fallâŠ
Soon, the warm-up time ended. Ji Zhaoyun also got serious, despite how he hadnât considered his opponent a true threat before. Ji Zhaoyun had seen all of Prince Latiaoâs videos before, and even he had to admit that his opponent had some skills. But if he wanted to be compared with Pei Shijian, he still fell short.
Although he was very strong, Prince Latiaoâs techniques were very unpracticed, and he didnât seem to have any understanding of strategy. He often seemed like a mecha operating beginner.
âBased on the video from yesterday, this Prince Latiao is going to try and sneak attack me as quickly as possible. For many people, their cockpits will be skewered before they can react,â Ji Zhaoyun thought. âAs long as I block this first strike, then take the opportunity to attack, I can defeat him easily.â
Ji Zhaoyun sat calmly in the same spot, connecting to the mecha with his spiritual energy, waiting for his opponent to move.
People on his level typically use spiritual energy to maneuver the mecha. Otherwise, their hand speed wasnât fast enough.
In this world, spiritual energy was decided at birth, but their physiques could be improved. Many things were set at the beginning. Even if Pei Shijian was the original protagonist who climbed up from the slums, his biggest cheat was his powerful spiritual energy.
In the moment the match began, Prince Latiaoâs clumsy bearing disappeared. His mecha began to move quickly, attacking immediately.
âJust as I expected. If I hadnât prepared, I might really have lost.â Ji Zhaoyun caught the blow as he had planned, his mind at ease but moving quickly. He seized the opportunity to attack his opponent in return.
It was reasonable to think that at such a high speed, according to his plans, Prince Latiao couldnât possibly avoid him, but in that moment, his opponent disappeared in a flash, quicker than he had in the video.
âHow could it be.â Ji Zhaoyunâs eyes widened, then he realized that yesterday Prince Latiao was using the most worn, outdated mecha, but today he had changed into a new mecha. It was normal for him to be faster.
So Ji Zhaoyun missed his best opportunity. Prince Latiao had already flashed away to a safe place.
âShit, I actually made this kind a mistake. Forget it, Iâll use Plan B.â Ji Zhaoyunâs expression turned ugly. He pulled out a laser scalpel, rushing towards his opponent.
After watching the videos, Ji Zhaoyun deduced that his opponent wasnât very good in combat. Since his first plan failed, then he would go with the normal method. In any case, he was confident in his strength.
Ji Zhaoyunâs guess was correct. Shao Ci really wasnât good in combat. He hadnât learned many skills to begin with. Yesterday, he had relied on his speed and the element of surprise to win. Now that he was faced with Ji Zhaoyun, who had investigated him thoroughly, it quickly exposed his shortcomings.
But with his powerful spiritual energy controlling the entire arena, Shao Ci could practically see anything Ji Zhaoyun was trying to do. He could avoid any blow. He could even avoid sneak attacks like he had eyes on the back of his head. If he wanted to lose, it was hard, but it wouldnât be easy if he wanted to win, either.
As they exchanged blows, Shao Ciâs spiritual energy recorded all of Ji Zhaoyunâs movements in his memory. In the next exchange, it unconsciously exerted itself.
Shao Ci didnât even realize it himself, but when he unconsciously used such a movement to attack, Ji Zhaoyun was stunned.
âHe actually learned my moves. He learned so quickly. Itâs even a move that not many people in the school learned,â Ji Zhaoyun thought back to the strange movements from the warm-up, and a terrifying thought surfaced in his mind.
âCould it be that this guy is a mecha piloting beginner? So when he wasnât connected to the system, he was like that⊠In this case, then how terrifying is his spiritual energy?
âIf this is the case, then he wasnât purposefully imitating Senior Pei yesterday. It was because it was his first time, and he didnât know what mecha to use, so he used the outdated mecha. But he won so easilyâŠâ
After thinking of this, Ji Zhaoyun couldnât stay calm. He looked towards Prince Latiaoâs mecha, his original disdain gone. Instead, it was filled with strong curiosity.
He wanted to know exactly how strong this personâs spiritual energy was.
Before that, the person with the strongest spiritual energy that he had seen was Pei Shijian. He could tell at a glance that even though Pei Shijian was much stronger because of his experience and all kinds of reasons, if it was just based on spiritual energy, this person would, without a doubt, be the strongest person in the future.
Besides, Pei Shijian still had terrifying skill, and he had an aura of infinite possibilities. It was exactly because of this that Ji Zhaoyun became Pei Shijianâs fanboy without the slightest hesitation.
But now, it seemed that he had found someone even more amazing.
In fact, from a certain viewpoint, Ji Zhaoyun and Edwin very alike. Both of them sought the strong, and their attitudes were close to being twisted. It was related to the original protagonistâs setting, to make it easy for him to collect followers, but now it had made it easy for Shao Ci.
Ji Zhaoyunâs eyes flashed with fanaticism. Without the slightest hesitation, he approached his opponent, even using the most dangerous method, reaching out with his spiritual energy to probe the other mecha.
It was an extremely dangerous method. Only people who were very confident in their spiritual energy would do it. When they had the upper hand, they could make their opponent fall into a trance so they had no way to operate their mecha, seizing victory for themselves.
If their opponentâs spiritual energy was stronger, as long as they were careless, the initiator could even fall into a coma. It was also likely for them to lose themselves in their opponentâs spiritual world because of the disparity in energy. It was a gamble.
It wasnât that Ji Zhaoyun didnât know the risks. But in that moment, all he wanted was to know exactly how strong this personâs spiritual energy was, so much that his own safety was secondary.
The people in the stands thought they were about to see an intense battle. Nobody expected that Stay Away From Me would actually fling himself over to embrace Prince Latiaoâs mecha. What the heck was this, huh?! Werenât they fighting perfectly well before?!
When Edwin saw what was happening, he nearly crushed the arm of the chair he was sitting on. His expression turned ugly. âWhat the heck is this guy doing? Is he trying to use tricks because he canât beat Prince Latiao?â
The noise of the outside was distant. As his spiritual energy touched his opponentâs spiritual energy, Ji Zhaoyun sank into the middle.
In moments, this powerful spiritual energy dispersed most of his willpower. It was as though he was soaking in an ocean spiritual energy. There was a faint fragrance in the air.
No, this fragrance⊠Ji Zhaoyun jolted suddenly from his stupor, waking up from his daze,
Although Ji Zhaoyun felt like a long time had passed, it had only been a moment in the outside world.
Shao Ci felt awful. Someone invading his spiritual energy was just like someone peeling off his clothes. Since Ji Zhaoyun had sent himself to his door, then Shao Ci would move directly.
Just as Shao Ci picked up his weapon and aimed at his opponentâs cockpit, Ji Zhaoyun opened his eyes. His pale cheeks were flushed a faint red, and he looked towards the opposing mecha in shock. In the moment before he lost, his voice tore from his throat.
âYouâre actually⊠an omega?â
The author has something to say:
I feel like an interstellar world is even more dog blood with an ABO settingâŠ