In a remote area of the training field, there were several mechas in battle. It was very normal for fights in the training field, but what was unusual was the mecha in the center being attacked.
It was obviously just a normal, outdated mecha, but it fought back against the other three mechas easily, as though it saw their every move. When blocking blows, it could simultaneously attack with skill. Moreover, each of its attacks landed directly on the other mecha’s vitals.
After all, the outdated mechas in the training field were mechas that had fallen out of use for many years. Their weak points were obvious. With a few blows at the weak connections between the limbs, they would fall apart. Still, it was clear that these students couldn’t do it.
Edwin stared fixedly at the scene, not even daring to blink, afraid of missing even the smallest detail of the fight. His hands began to shake in excitement. “Yes, exactly, that’s… That has to be… I wouldn’t make a mistake!”
The person down there was Prince Latiao!
The fight ended quickly. It didn’t even last three minutes in total. The other three mechas had been attacked until they had no ability to fight back. The mechas were even falling apart. The cockpit had protective installations, so the people inside should be okay.
And the mecha Edwin thought was being piloted by Prince Latiao unexpectedly rushed to a hidden corner.
“…Crap.” Edwin jolted awake from his battle-induced daze. He gritted his teeth, spinning around and moving to rush down the stairs. He didn’t even hear when Pei Shijian called for him to come back.
Recently, Edwin’s behavior was a bit strange. Pei Shijian hated being unable to control everything in the palm of his hands.
“It looks like I need to investigate a bit.”
–
After his momentary explosion of power just now, Shao Ci quickly left the scene.
In fact, he had been a little panicky. In his agitation, he had actually broken the three mechas facing him. If he had to pay it back, even a million empire coins wasn’t enough! Though it was those three provoking him to begin with, anyway.
…Even if the school rules said that if a mecha was damaged, the pilot would have to pay for the expenses, Shao Ci started worrying whether his sudden explosive strength would draw anyone’s attention.
Luckily, the area was relatively hidden. According to the system, the security cameras didn’t record that area, and the system also blurred Shao Ci’s appearance when he was leaving.
Everything started quickly and ended quickly. Nobody had noticed anything. Even if the three people said what had happened, nobody would believe a beta was actually able to attain such a level.
When Shao Ci thought about it, he finally let out a breath of relief.
During the period of Shao Ci’s explosive power, his body was slowly beginning to collapse. At first, when he used his healing ability to heal himself, he felt significantly better. Now, the effect had passed, and he felt weak and limp all over. He had no energy left in his limbs, and his head was spinning.
Shao Ci climbed out of the cockpit with difficulty, and met Edwin, who was walking over quickly, head-on.
Edwin glanced at Shao Ci coldly, then walked rapidly ahead.
“Huh? Isn’t that where I just came from?” Shao Ci felt a little suspicious, but he really had no energy and he felt exhausted. He didn’t feel like thinking about what Edwin was doing.
Edwin rushed to where the fight had been happening, but only saw the three fallen mechas. “As expected, he already left… I was too slow.”
Disappointment settled into Edwin’s heart, but he clung to a tiny sliver of hope, stepping forward to open the cockpit of the mecha on the ground, hoping to interrogate the person inside and ask if he knew who his opponent was.
But Edwin’s hopes were dashed. The person inside the cockpit seemed to have been given a huge shock. He huddled in his mecha, trembling. It was obvious that being defeated in just three minute had been too much of a blow. Edwin couldn’t get the slightest bit of information out from them.
“Useless guy.” Edwin gave up on the interrogation, looking at the person inside the mecha coldly. “You don’t have enough strength yourself, but you went to provoke someone else in vain. You were asking to sink this low…”
Edwin went off to investigate the security cameras.
But out of some kind of coincidence, there were no security cameras aimed at that area, and for some reason the image of the outside area was blurry. It was impossible to tell who it was.
He could only give up on it.
“Still, in this case, the scope of my search can be narrowed down.” Edwin thought of something, his face beginning to flush red.
“I didn’t expect us to be so close. I can’t believe I never realized there was someone so skilled at the institute. Could there be some reason that he has to stay lowkey?”
–
Shao Ci waited for class to end in the lounge, completely exhausted, then went home with Ji Zhaoyun. Ji Zhaoyun seemed to be thinking something, and didn’t notice Shao Ci’s weary appearance at all.
Well, Shao Ci didn’t really want to hear his romance worries anyway. Instead, he was able to relax.
But before long he would regret it and ask himself why he didn’t ask. In the end, it led to something terrifying.
When he returned to his room, although he was tired, Shao Ci still had to log on to the virtual world. After all, he didn’t finish his daily task yet… Besides, it was almost the last day of the competition. If he didn’t hurry to participate in some matches, he wouldn’t have enough points to enter the finals.
As soon as he logged online, Shao Ci’s inbox was stuffed full again.
Shao Ci skimmed them. They were all about the same as the emails from yesterday, with a dozen more from Ji Zhaoyun. He didn’t even need to think to guess what was inside. Shao Ci didn’t look at them at all, deleting them immediately (._.)
As for the ads, Shao Ci was famous now. He picked a few with higher prices, then wrote an email to Edwin, asking him to reply when he had landed. It would make it easy for Shao Ci to do his daily task.
And then Shao Ci strode out of the room, appearing at the virtual square. As soon as he arrived, he was stunned by the sight.
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.
Every possible location for ad placement, whether it was big or small, had been bought. The same picture was in all of them, and the picture was a video from when Prince Latiao was fighting.
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The memory of what Ji Zhaoyun had said in the morning suddenly surfaced in Shao Ci’s mind. A bolt of lightning jolted through his mind. Fuck, Ji Zhaoyun wasn’t getting up to some crap again, was he?
To be honest, although Ji Zhaoyun’s personality and brains were a little off, he was extremely handsome. When he appeared, the people in the virtual square began to shriek. Several of them began to ask other people if he was some new celebrity.
Shao Ci felt very complicated, but people were always face-cons. He was too. He didn’t have any right to judge someone else.
The Ji Zhaoyun on the screen wasn’t as vexing as he usually was. Instead, he looked out of the screen with a serious expression, beginning to introduce himself. He started from his family background, then to his height and his body measurements, the food he liked to eat, the color he liked… He also recited his grades from elementary school.
It was just like a dating app bio. No, a normal person’s bio wouldn’t have so much unnecessary information!
Still, as long as he had that face and the status of a duke’s son, as long as he said he was looking for romance, the people interested would probably break down the duke’s doors.
Shao Ci had a bad feeling. It was as though something bad was about to happen.
As expected, in the next moment, Ji Zhaoyun began to speak adoringly. “Prince Latiao, when I saw you, I knew that you were my destined partner. I really wish to understand you well… In fact, I’m not someone with a forceful personality. I just wanted your attention, which is why I did those things…”
Shao Ci: “…” Hey! Do you think you’re not forceful as long as you say you’re not forceful?! Like this you might as well never have a wife in your fucking life, okay!
Everyone watching the advertisements was shocked. Although they didn’t know Prince Latiao’s gender, if he was so amazing, he had to be an alpha. The son of the duke had actually come out of the closet in front of a whole crowd! This was breaking news!!
But the omegas that had been full of excitement immediately turned cold. In any case, a gay alpha who was interested in alphas didn’t have anything to do with them.
Shao Ci could pretty much imagine how the breaking news would spread through the entire empire by tomorrow. He didn’t even want to become famous like this, okay.
Now, the only thing worth celebrating was that now this brainless guy Ji Zhaoyun didn’t announce Shao Ci’s gender. Otherwise, even if Shao Ci had to put his life on the line, he would have charged over to have them die together.
Even if Shao Ci was completely unwilling, because of Ji Zhaoyun, talks about the name Prince Latiao went crazy again. His popularity was competing with the top fifty competitors… Although this popularity was super weird too.
To vent some of his anger, Shao Ci went straight to compete in the virtual mecha competition.
This time, Shao Ci used the mecha full of advertisements just like last time, and started to begin the selections.
The opponent that the system randomly selected for System this time was a competitor in the top fifty. Those in the top fifty were all incredible people. To keep them with the competition, the competition organizers would even give them one percent of the ticket prices.
In other words, every time someone in the top fifty competed, there were heaps of empire coins to collect. Shao Ci envied it a lot. He also wanted to be in the top fifty and make money.
The current Prince Latiao wasn’t the same as the confused, nameless newbie he was a few days ago. There were many of his fans in the stands, calling his name continuously.
Shao Ci’s heart burst in pride, but when he looked towards the stands, he immediately noticed that all of the screens in the stands were playing Ji Zhaoyun’s image.
Is having money so great, huh?! Just how much money did Ji Zhaoyun spend?! Did he think the other person had accepted him after a bombardment of brainwashing?!
Shao Ci’s heart filled with grief and indignation. He attacked the other person with an almost furious blow. Before they could react, Shao Ci’s momentum bowled them over. Luckily, they had experience, and wouldn’t lose immediately like other people. After they dodged the blow, they began to fight back, but in the end they still couldn’t resist Shao Ci.
–
At the other side.
In a dormitory that was almost like a small mansion in the Empire Military Institute, Edwin took a deep breath, then sank into his nutrient cabinet impatiently.
In order to attain the best conditions, Edwin had bought the most expensive nutrient cabin in the beginning. He wouldn’t even think about using a helmet.
In the past, Edwin had logged into the virtual net only for mecha competitions, but now he had a new goal. He wanted to see the person he thought longingly about, Prince Latiao.
As soon as he logged on, he received Prince Latiao’s email. Edwin’s heart skipped a beat. It was just a few dozen words, just asking him to respond when he went online, but Edwin felt like every word was precious. This was the email that his male god had taken the initiative to send! He couldn’t stop himself from reading it a few more times
before he calmed down to write a reply. His hands were shaking. He thought over every word for a long time before he finally hit send.
Edwin couldn’t calm himself from his excitement. When he looked up, he spotted Ji Zhaoyun’s ridiculously expensive ads. When he saw Prince Latiao’s familiar bearing, he paused, unable to move.
After seeing half of the advertisement, Edwin’s joy immediately turned to fury.
This Ji Zhaoyun was nothing. Other than his background and his face, he didn’t have the slightest redeeming quality. He even had some beta clinging onto him for influence. He must be confessing just to play around… Damn it, he used such an attitude to Edwin’s male god? He couldn’t be forgiven!
What would he do if his male god was seduced by Ji Zhaoyun? Edwin couldn’t help beginning to worry. “No, it won’t happen. He wouldn’t be so easily seduced.”
And where did Edwin get the right to interfere with his decision?
Edwin couldn’t stop himself from beginning to ponder. If someday Prince Latiao really wanted to be with someone else, then what would he do… Just thinking about it made Edwin’s chest ache like it was about to split apart. He felt uncomfortable.
He was too greedy, wasn’t he? Before, he could easily watch from afar, but now he wanted to take another step forward even if they were close together.
Edwin began to feel perturbed. He could only cheer himself up when he saw Shao Ci.
Shao Ci also noticed that Edwin seemed a little off today. After he finished his daily task, he blurted, “You seem a little gloomy today? What’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing, I’m fine. You don’t need to worry about someone like me,” Edwin said hurriedly, overwhelmed by his favor. “But… if you don’t find it offensive, I have something I’d like to ask you. If you would rather not hear it, don’t need to say it.”
Shao Ci was curious about what Edwin wanted to ask him. “Go ahead.”
“You must have seen the advertisements today, right?” Edwin said carefully.
Shao Ci nearly vomited a mouthful of old blood. He began to choke. “Yeah, I saw them.”
Shao Ci began to feel embarrassed now that someone had actually brought it up.
“What do you think about it, then…” After he finished speaking, Edwin hurried to explain, “I don’t mean to interrogate you, I just think… well, someone like that doesn’t seem very reliable…”
He was absolutely right! Shao Ci practically wanted to shake Edwin’s hand.
“I don’t have any particular thoughts about that video,” Shao Ci said calmly, trying to revive his awesomeness. “To me, the most important thing is the competition. I won’t think about anything else. Besides, those kinds of people are just talk. They’ll probably forget it quickly.”
“That’s true…” Edwin let out a breath of relief. He said, “After all, you’re an alpha. You naturally don’t have any interest to other alphas like you, right?”
When he finished speaking, Edwin, who realized he was also an alpha, felt his chest begin to ache.
“I don’t have any interest in alphas,” Shao Ci said absently. “I like omegas… But right now I won’t think about those kinds of things anyways.”
Something like two omegas being together was simply impossible, but Shao Ci had only come to do a daily task. He didn’t think anything about romance.
“By the way, it’s not that convenient to send emails every time we want to meet. How about we exchange contacts?” Shao Ci said without thinking.
Edwin was stunned. His depression instantly dissipated. Excited, he said, “Of course we can. That would be my honor.”
–
Mecha combat classes were that night.
It was a ten minute class that they only had once a month. All the first and second years would participate. Nobody could ask for leave.
Generally, they would draw two random students to fight. Because they were using armed mechas, they were much more dangerous than the outdated mechas. Thus, this time of year was also the time that students had the most injuries.
Shao Ci was incredibly anxious. He looked up at the people on the podium, completely unable to calm himself down.
Although he could use his spiritual energy for three minutes, if he suddenly became skilled, it wouldn’t be easy for him to end things. If someone overestimated his skills in the future and assigned him to some more difficult classes or duties, Shao Ci would have no way to complete them.
Actually, it didn’t matter if his opponent was someone else, but Shao Ci was most worried that he would be unlucky enough to draw Pei Shijian as his opponent. What would he do then?
Compared to this, even all of the news he saw this morning about Ji Zhaoyun coming out was nothing.
Like Shao Ci, Ji Zhaoyun was extremely anxious, but he wasn’t worried about the mecha combat class. Instead, he was worried about what he had done yesterday. “Was I too much yesterday? I didn’t want to go so far, but if I didn’t do that, then how would I express my sincerity? Should I apologize?”
Shao Ci didn’t have the guts to believe that the apology Ji Zhaoyun was talking about would be a normal apology. He said hurriedly, “He definitely understood you already. He probably didn’t reply yet because he was too shocked.”
…Although he really didn’t want to answer Ji Zhaoyun, with things like this he didn’t have a choice.
“I hope you’re right,” Ji Zhaoyun sighed.
Shao Ci wondered why the duke and duchess didn’t care a bit more about their son. Don’t ignore your younger son just because you have an outstanding eldest son as the heir! Was coming out so openly really not a problem… Would the dukedom really stay unaffected!
After he finished spitting curses in his head, Shao Ci forgot about his nerves. Anyway, he’d just do his worst. It was fine.
At the same time, in the luxurious private box at the other side, Edwin was staring fixedly at the image on the broadcasting screen that filled up the entire wall. It was displaying the fifth or sixth match that was currently ongoing.
After Edwin investigated, he found that there were only first and second year students in the training field yesterday. They were certain to appear in the combat class, and Prince Latiao was certain to be in their midst.
Prince Latiao had such strength. If he wanted to appear to the public, he could, but instead he was quiet and unknown. He must have been hiding his true strength all this time.
So in the combat class, he would definitely behave very discreetly. He might even lose on purpose. Edwin was prepared to survey the details. He watched Prince Latiao’s videos countless times, and he had already engraved the subtleties of his movements in his mind.
Edwin was both excited and nervous.
Pei Shijian sat at the side, looking at the screen expressionlessly. He had already cleared up the investigation. Edwin’s abnormal behavior was actually because of that Prince Latiao.
“He’s just someone who failed at imitating me, and he can only pick such a sensationalist name to capture people’s attention,” Pei Shijian thought. “Even if there’s someone even stronger, so what? I’ll let him be proud for a few days.”
Pei Shijian’s favorite thing to do was letting his enemies crawl upwards, then, right when they were at the height of their pride, knocking them off of their throne and enjoying their grief.
By that time, Edwin would understand that the real person deserving of his loyalty was Pei Shijian, not that lowly copycat.
“Ah, it’s my turn.” Pei Shijian stood up, smiling slightly at Edwin. “I’ll be back soon.”
–
Match after match passed. Soon, it was Shao Ci’s turn.
Shao Ci gritted his teeth, getting up from his seat, his steps heavy.
He had already decided. He would use his normal ability to fight. The competition rules dictated that he couldn’t surrender until five minutes had passed. It would be fine as long as he managed to endure five minutes and then surrender. In any case, he wouldn’t get expelled if he surrendered… Normal people should stop fighting after the other party surrender.
But Shao Ci saw his opponent–Pei Shijian.
Shao Ci was so shocked he nearly buckled and fell to his knees. “…???” Wait? What kind of luck was this? Out of all the people in the school, he really ended up matching with Pei Shijian? Holy fuck.
Pei Shijian gave Shao Ci a friendly smile. “What a coincidence. I didn’t expect that my opponent would actually be you.”
Shao Ci: “Ah, hello…” No, this had to be one of Pei Shijian’s plots. How else could it be so coincidental?
“I still remember the circumstances when we first met,” Pei Shijian chuckled. “In the blink of an eye, so much time has passed. I really miss it.”
If someone out of the loop heard Pei Shijian, they would think he and Shao Ci were friends or something.
But Shao Ci knew that the first time they met was when Pei Shijian had just started school, but he had been utterly humiliated by the original host… Pei Shijian’s words were totally a threat!
Shao Ci gritted his teeth. “Um, Pei Shijian, don’t you think classmates should exchange our views… There’s no need to be too serious? It should be okay as long as we don’t overdo it.”
“Oh?” Pei Shijian raised an eyebrow. “I’m very sorry. I’m very serious about everything relating to mechas. Still, I’m confident in your strength. It’ll be fine as long as we both do our best. I think it’s certain that no accidents will happen. Right?”
Right your foot! This is already a complete threat!
Shao Ci already knew that it would be no use if he surrendered. For someone like Pei Shijian, even if his opponent surrendered, he would definitely pretend he didn’t hear it and continue beating his opponent even more fiercely.
Feeling a huge amount of pressure, Shao Ci climbed into the cockpit of the mecha.
It was his first time using a standard mecha in the real life. If he wasn’t facing Pei Shijian, everything would be wonderful.
Soon, the competition began. Pei Shijian was calm despite the situation, maneuvering the mecha to attack with ease.
Like a cat playing with a mouse, Pei Shijian didn’t prepare to take Shao Ci out in one blow. Instead, he wanted to thoroughly play around with him, waiting until he didn’t have anymore patience before he acted.
Shao Ci continuously evaded Pei Shijian’s attacks, only feeling that every second was taking longer than the last. He didn’t know when Pei Shijian began to move, and he didn’t know what he would do in the next second. Sweat trickled down his face.
If he could use his spiritual energy, he could observe his opponent’s movements, and he wouldn’t be in such a miserable situation. Dammit.
At the side, Edwin sat in the private box, examining for a long time. He hadn’t found anyone who moved like Prince Latiao. He looked towards his friend’s match, feeling disappointed.
He knew very clearly that there was probably nobody in their grade that could compete with Pei Shijian. The opponent today looked especially weak. Even with Pei Shijian deliberately going easy on him, he was barely able to evade.
“How could someone like this be him.” Edwin sighed. He didn’t know whether he would be able to find Prince Latiao today.
–
Fierce attacks flew towards Shao Ci. He swayed in place, discovering that one of the mecha’s legs was no longer stable.
When Pei Shijian had attacked just now, the mecha’s left leg had been disconnected.
“Crap.” Shao Ci bit his lip, understanding immediately. Pei Shijian was preparing to use the method he had used on the three guys from yesterday to deal with him.
And with Pei Shijian’s personality, he might pretend that he had accidentally hit the cockpit. If he got Shao Ci injured, Shao Ci wouldn’t let him off.
“If things keep going like this, I’ll be a sitting duck.” Shao Ci’s gaze turned cold. “Even if my opponent is the original protagonist, there’s nothing I can do. If I don’t fight back…”
Since the beginning, Shao Ci never wanted to fight the protagonist head-on. After all, the other party was the blessed son of the world consciousness. If he fought back, it would always be him on the short end of the stick.
But he understood now. There were some things he couldn’t avoid no matter how much he wanted to. If he didn’t face them, the other person would just get more intense.
Shao Ci closed his eyes, connecting his spiritual energy with the mecha.
On the other side of the field, Pei Shijian was leisurely operating the mecha. With his SSS-grade spiritual energy, his mecha was just like part of his body. Sometimes, it could even react faster than his own body. Nobody was his opponent, no matter who it was.
Pei Shijian though of himself as a natural mecha operating genius. It was the gift the heavens had bestowed on him. Nobody could defeat him. Even if he was born in the slums, he had incredible luck. He had anything he wanted, and he had barely met any setbacks.
Because of this, Pei Shijian had grown into a warped personality. For example, he could easily kill off this beta, someone who didn’t understand his own limits. But what he enjoyed the most was a weakling’s last struggle before death.
The weakling was obviously destined to defeat, but because he had the slightest hope of succeeding, he continued to endure. Finally, in his despair, he discovered that there was only one road forward to defeat.
Every time he saw the painful despair in his opponent’s eyes, Pei Shijian would feel joy. When he attacked, he specially left his opponent an opportunity to escape. Sometimes, he would let them escape. Sometimes, he would shoot them in their vitals.
When he thought about what expression this beta had on at that moment, Pei Shijian couldn’t hold back his glee.
In the next moment, Pei Shijian suddenly froze.
His opponent suddenly evaded the blow that should have landed.
No. According to his plans, he would certainly land his blow. With the strength of a beta, how could he avoid it? And the left leg of his opponent’s mecha was malfunctioning.
Again, Pei Shijian felt the anxiety of the situation slipping out of his hands. His eyes turned cold. “I’m done playing… Now, you should get ready to lose.”