Shao Ci was given a huge shock by the teenager’s words, but because of his heat, he was too dizzy to think clearly. He couldn’t explain himself even after a long time.
“Are you alright?” The teenager helped Shao Ci up, letting Shao Ci lean against him. “It looks like you’re having a hard time, hmm?”
Shao Ci plastered himself onto the teenager’s body unconsciously. The cool touch made him feel better, but the fever burning him from the inside out was impossible to bear. The worst part was the part below the neck that couldn’t be described. If Shao Ci was clear-headed, he would wish he could die.
“I… I’m fine…” Shao Ci murmured over and over again with his last bit of awareness. His body went completely weak, and he could only lay weakly on the other person.
The color of teenager’s laughing blue eyes deepened slightly. If he was just a normal, human alpha, the thick omega pheromones would probably have made him lose his sense.
“Yes, you’re fine… Don’t be scared.” The teenager touched Shao Ci’s back tenderly, his other hand cupping Shao Ci’s cheek.
An omega in heat was incredibly sensitive. The teenager’s slight touch was enough to make him shiver. If he was given more stimulation, like pressing their bodies together, or touching that most sensitive and most fragile place, it would be enough to make him orgasm.
The teenager leaned close to Shao Ci’s ear, his voice low. “Because you’re just in heat.”
His words exploded into Shao Ci’s ear like a clap of thunder. Shao Ci used the last ounce of his energy to begin to struggle, but of course his strength, even weaker than a kitten’s, wasn’t enough to throw off anyone. He had no choice but to pant, “No… I’m not an omega.”
“Mm?” The teenager nuzzled his cheek, chuckling. “If you say you’re not, then you’re not. But you can’t keep going like this either, am I right?”
The situation was clearly dangerous, but Shao Ci couldn’t think. When he heard the teenager’s tender voice, it was as though there really was no problem. His body even relaxed unconsciously, and he slowly calmed down.
If he had a little bit of reason left, he would know there was a serious problem.
“Good boy. Although it hurts a little, it’ll pass quickly.” The teenager arranged Shao Ci in a new position and picked him up, brushing over his nape gently.
“Nn…?” Shao Ci had a feeling that something bad was going to happen, but he couldn’t get himself to react either.
The gland on the back of his neck was much more sensitive than other parts of his body. The touch made Shao Ci even more compliant. A mixture of feelings intermingled in his mind, making him sink into a daze.
The teenager lowered his head, gently taking hold of his neck in his mouth and nipping softly. He moved slowly until he was at the back of Shao Ci’s neck, feeling the omega pheromones even more strongly.
Even though he wasn’t human, he was about to go crazy.
He closed his eyes gently, and bit down.
The only thing Shao Ci felt was a wave of pain bursting from the back of his neck. It came with a strong pleasure that he couldn’t ignore. His blood was boiling, and he couldn’t stop gasping for breath, but he had exhausted his energy while struggling and was too weak to even lift a finger.
His last shred of reason realized… This seemed to be a mark!?
Then Shao Ci’s vision blurred, and he fell completely unconscious.
The teenager opened his eyes, letting go of his nape and planting several kisses on the back of Shao Ci’s neck. “…As I thought, it’s not possible… This body is incapable of forming a complete mark.”
The teenager looking down at Shao Ci, who was completely unconscious in his arms, cupping his cheek. “We’ll see each other again…”
When he finished speaking, he stood up. In just a few steps, he sank into the river, and his eyes lost their spirit.
At the same time, far away in the palace on the capital planet, a blonde-haired blue-eyed teenager laying inside a nutrient cabin opened his eyes.
He sat up, beads of water dripping from his dazzling blonde hair and sliding onto a cheek that was renowned to be even more beautiful than the Rose of the Empire, the prince.
“As I thought, it’s not possible… After all, that body was too weak. It’s simply incapable of bearing my power. A few days was already the limit. I’ll need to have someone go and retrieve that body.”
He spoke softly, as though he disliked the annoyance that was about to happen. His brow furrowed slightly.
“…Still, next time it won’t be such a bother.”
Because he was already completely certain of that person’s identity.
He suddenly fell into a daze, thinking of what kind of reaction that person would have when he discovered his true identity.
–
After some time had passed, Pei Shijian woke up, his limbs still aching.
If an ordinary person was injured like this, they would already be dead. Yet Pei Shijian was incredibly clearheaded, and he could feel acutely how serious his injuries were. It was the first time in his life that he had been so injured.
“Exactly… It’s this feeling…” Pei Shijian reached up to press his wound, which was no longer bleeding. He pressed slightly, feeling the pain coming from the injury. Unexpectedly, he felt a faint sense of excitement.
His life had always gone smoothly, and he had practically never faced failure. But time and time again, he had failed against the same person.
He should be feeling fury, but he was getting more and more excited.
Compared to successes that he had gained too easily, failures like this were extremely scarce. Rather than someone that he could deal with easily, Shao Ci was like a rarity who burst into his world halfway through, shaking his always smooth-sailing life into uncertainty.
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.
Ufl Vtlpljc rffwfv ab tjnf atbeuta bo rbwfatlcu. “Ljtjtj… Ljtjtjtjtj…” Lf yfujc ab mtemxif, yea la kjr obiibkfv ys tjmxlcu mbeutr.
Ccv ktfc atf cfmxijmf jgbecv tlr cfmx, tlr ijra gfwjlclcu qlfmf bo tlr wbatfg, vlqqfv lcab atf qevvif bo yibbv, la yfujc ab uibk klat j vjhhilcu iluta.
With difficulty, he reached up to grasp the necklace. Pei Shijian’s wounds healed at lightning speed. Although he looked like he was in dire straits, he didn’t have a single injury.
Precisely. Pei Shijian’s last reminder of his mother was a precious necklace that the emperor gifted to her. It was an ore that could strengthen this wearer’s physique. When it touched Pei Shijian’s blood, its remaining strength dissipated, healing his wounds completely.
“What is…?” It was Pei Shijian’s first time analyzing this plain, ordinary necklace so carefully. After its display of power just now, the jewel of the necklace turned gray and shattered.
And there was a design engraved in the metal the jewel was set into.
It was the emblem that represented the imperial family. Nearly every member of the empire knew that the emblem practically represented the imperial family themselves. If anyone had the nerve to use the emblem without permission, they would get the death penalty.
Then why would the imperial family’s emblem appear on the necklace his mother left behind for him?
Pei Shijian suddenly had a completely unrealistic guess about his background.
–
Meanwhile, Shao Ci woke up blearily. He could only remember that the Zerg bit his nape yesterday, and because he couldn’t bear the mix of pain and pleasure he had passed out.
“Fuck…” Shao Ci’s mind suddenly cleared up. He hurriedly touched the back of his neck, turning pale. “…I was marked??”
The original ABO setting had plenty of extra characteristics. For example, to maintain the protagonist’s coolness, Pei Shijian had the innate ability to resist omega pheromones. Even if he smelled them, he wouldn’t lose his reason. Later, when people sent omegas in heat over to him, hoping to befuddle Pei Shijian, they all failed… Still, wouldn’t this make people think that Pei Shijian had a problem in that regard?
As for the matter of marking, if they were more pressed for time, it could only be a temporary mark, and the marked omega could only calm down. Of course, completely getting rid of the problem of heats would still require a furious tumble in the sheets…
When Shao Ci realized this, he was shocked. He looked down at his clothes, which were still properly on his body, before he could let out a breath of relief. As for the mark on his neck, as if he’d go and think about it…
Now that he thought about it, that Zerg was pretty good. Other than biting him, he didn’t do anything in particular.
To a omega native to this world, getting bitten on the nape was a terrible thing, but to Shao Ci, who had transmigrated into this world not even half a year ago, the back of his neck was no different than any other part of his body. He therefore even felt a bit grateful to the Zerg.
But if Shao Ci knew this Zerg’s real identity, he certainly wouldn’t think the same way.
If it was a human alpha who ran into him back then, something terrifying would definitely have happened.
“I’d better hurry back and get my inhibitors to prevent something like this from happening again.” Shao Ci struggled to get up, but he discovered that his body was still achy and weak. Even lifting an arm was exhausting. He was so tired he felt like he had been run over.
Well, that wasn’t wrong. Yesterday, Pei Shijian had caused him to go tumbling down the mountain, then he had an intense fight with Pei Shijian, and even stabbed Pei Shijian several times… And after that he went right into heat and a Zerg nearly put him to death.
And it all started because he forced a kiss on Edwin.
When he thought about it, Shao Ci felt incredibly unlucky. Although his secret identity wasn’t exposed, the person most important to hide from, Ji Zhaoyun, had found out. He didn’t know what he would do in the future, either… Ugh, he wouldn’t go thinking about a problem so far in the future. The most urgent thing right now was to get out of here quickly.
Since Shao Ci really had no strength left, he had no choice but to use his previous method of continuously using his healing ability on himself. Yet the bite mark on the back of his neck seemed as though they were out of the scope of his ability. No matter how he tried, he couldn’t heal it. Shao Ci could only pull his collar a little higher, trying to cover up where he had been bitten.
Still, as long as someone paid a little more attention to that spot, they would be able to see the marks.
Just as Shao Ci finally recovered most of his energy, a hideous giant insect began to approach slowly from a distance.
Shockingly enough, it was the same giant insect as the one from yesterday night. Though in daylight it didn’t look as gruesome as it did in the evening, each feature was terrifying. Shao Ci was so disgusted that he would refuse to even describe the insect in detail.
“I’m surprised this bug hasn’t left yet… It even turned back around.” Generally speaking, if it had been scared off yesterday it should have ran away, right? It was just a low-grade bug, so what intelligence did it have!
Shao Ci was even more sure that it was because he had poked the son of fate, the original protagonist Pei Shijian, a few times with a knife, and therefore caused the world consciousness to set itself against him. That was why there was so much crap happening to him.
If they swapped to another novel, what cannon fodders would be able to take a knife and go at the protagonist without getting a lunchbox?
Luckily, after a night of rest, his spiritual energy was about enough that he could use it again. Shao Ci gritted his teeth, looking out at the giant insect, calculating silently in his head.
It would be better to use his spiritual energy when the insect got closer. Otherwise it would be ridiculous if he didn’t even injure it and he was the one who couldn’t last.
But in the next moment, there was a loud noise. Something flew out from behind him suddenly, piercing through the giant insect’s body. The insect, unwilling to resign itself to death, thrashed its legs furiously, but it could do nothing. It slowly stopped moving, black fluid pooling on the ground. It was disgusting.
Shao Ci’s first reaction wasn’t celebration. Instead, he turned his head vigilantly. “Who’s there?”
At a time like this, there was no guarantee a human would be safer than a giant insect.
But he just saw Edwin leap out from behind him, a gun in his hands. When he saw Shao Ci, he stored the gun into his space button.
“I finally found you.” Edwin looked like he hadn’t slept all night. He reached out anxiously to hold Shao Ci up, giving him a once-over. “Thank goodness you’re alright.”
Edwin had come down the slope himself and found human blood in the ground. He had nearly fallen apart, but because there was no body he clung to his hopes, searching everywhere.
“Didn’t they say we couldn’t bring firearms?” When he finished speaking, Shao Ci realized that his attention seemed to be on the wrong thing.
“Oh, this? Don’t worry. As long as nobody sees it, it’s fine. Who wouldn’t bring some things for self defense when coming to a place like this?” Edwin said.
Shao Ci, who had not brought any good weapons (and even forgetting that he couldn’t get his hands on them at all), felt like he had been shot right in the heart.
Still, he had a point. Who would go searching a space button who belonged to someone like Edwin, the crown prince’s younger cousin, or Ji Zhaoyun, the son of a duke? Even if they knew there was something hidden inside, they probably wouldn’t have the nerve.
“Yesterday, I lost my reason because I got too worked up and I was unable to stay by your side. It led to this situation. I truly apologize.” Edwin looked like he wished he could throttle his past self.
“It’s okay.” Shao Ci thought that yesterday’s events had been too much of a mess. “It was all because of me that you… If it wasn’t for Pei Shijian attacking all of a sudden, things wouldn’t have gone so far.”
“I didn’t expect he would do something so inhumane.” By now, Edwin loathed Pei Shijian from the bottom of his heart. He had completely forgotten his initial appreciation for Pei Shijian’s friendship. “How could he move against you? He’s truly too ruthless.”
If Edwin knew what Shao Ci had done to Pei Shijian, would he still say something like this…
“This is still…” Shao Ci changed the topic hastily. “By the way, what happened to Ji Zhaoyun?” Edwin had brought a fucking gun, so Ji Zhaoyun should be okay, right… Although he didn’t care that much about Ji Zhaoyun, for better or worse they had been together for a long time. It was perfectly normal for him to be concerned about whether Ji Zhaoyun had died or not.
Edwin’s expression cooled. It was obvious that he didn’t want to talk about Ji Zhaoyun, but Shao Ci was the one who brought it up, so he couldn’t not answer. He said, “After I hit that guy, he was injured. He ran away already.”
Shao Ci: “…It’s been hard on you.” When he thought about it, Edwin could even bring in firearms, so it would be very normal if Ji Zhaoyun brought in some weapons for self-defense.
“Where did this blood come from?” Edwin finally noticed the bloodstains on Shao Ci’s sleeves and clothes. Because it had been some time and Shao Ci had also fallen into the dirt, he wasn’t able to tell just now. He immediately turned anxious. “Are you hurt somewhere?”
“No, these… these are all from Pei Shijian’s blood.” Shao Ci couldn’t avoid the topic any longer. He could only say, “Yesterday when I was fighting with Pei Shijian, I got worked up, and I was a bit more ruthless… I don’t know what happened to Pei Shijian after that, either.”
Though a normal person would certainly have no way to walk off after getting stabbed all over, Pei Shijan was a man with plot armor on his side. No matter what, nothing bad would happen, unless it was something really too ridiculous.
“You truly deserve your renown. You can even fight an alpha down to such a state as an omega.” Edwin’s eyes sparkled. From the bottom of his heart, he praised, “Having the opportunity to follow at your side is truly the most fortunate occasion of my life.”
Of course, even if Shao Ci wasn’t able to beat Pei Shijian, Edwin would still think that being able to follow at Shao Ci’s side was the most fortunate occasion of his life.
Shao Ci had a feeling that even if he lost Edwin would find a way to praise him to the skies.
“This isn’t the most suitable place to converse. I’ll lead you away,” Edwin said. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the back of Shao Ci’s neck, and he froze.
“Perfect timing. I was just getting hungry.” Shao Ci didn’t notice where Edwin’s gaze was in the slightest. He was tired, hungry, and ready to sleep. Where would he get the extra attention span to notice what Edwin was looking at?
Besides, after interacting with him for so long, Shao Ci had confidence in Edwin. At first, he was completely on guard, but after meeting up with Edwin he relaxed. He got sleepy quickly and yawned. He said, “Mm… I still have omega inhibitors at the campsite… I have to go and get them.”
“Alright.” Edwin turned around, pretending that nothing had happened. He put Shao Ci on his back, heading back in the direction he came from.
It was clearly what he had been dreaming of for a long time, but his heart sank further and further.
To Shao Ci, their surroundings were full of forests that all looked the same, but Edwin walked as comfortably as if he was in his own backyard, and his pace through the woods was extremely nimble. He was even able to walk so smoothly that Shao Ci didn’t feel much from his position on Edwin’s back.
In those conditions, Shao Ci quickly fell asleep where he was sprawled out on Edwin’s back.
If he hadn’t transmigrated and was instead a native who had seen the strength of passerby alphas for himself, he would probably start feeling like Edwin’s strength was simply inhuman… But even if Edwin was strong, he wasn’t stronger than the strongest villain, Roris, or Pei Shijian post-evolution.
When they arrived at the bloody hill, Edwin paid attention to the surroundings. He didn’t know where Pei Shijian was. The blood on the ground had already dried up, but it was still disgusting. It was easy to imagine what had happened here yesterday.
If Edwin was to run into Pei Shijian now, he would fight him until they took their last breaths.
While Shao Ci was still asleep, Edwin took the chance to set him down under a tree, clearing up the ground a bit so that nobody could tell what had happened there.
Because Shao Ci was sleeping too deeply, he had no idea what was happening. When he woke up, they had already arrived at their campsite from yesterday.
It was a complete wreck. When the two of them started fighting yesterday, they fought with control. When Pei Shijian discovered that Shao Ci had evaded him, he pulled out any weapon he could. There wasn’t a single space left intact.
Now, the area was a mess. The tent was even more tattered. At a glance, it looked as though some robber had swept their way through, and it was enough to make someone worry whether or not they could find what they needed inside.
Shao Ci nervously walked to where he had put his things down yesterday. He was pleasantly surprised to find that everything was still in one piece… He didn’t expect that he would be so lucky during such an unlucky time.
It was okay not to have anything else, but he couldn’t lose his omega inhibitors. Shao Ci went straight to take a pill out and stuff it in his mouth, and he felt the last shred of omega scent in his body dissipate before he could finally relax.
When Edwin saw him, he felt a bit worried. “I’ve heard that it can be a serious danger if you take too many of those inhibitors… A typical omega won’t take them. Is there really no problem if you take them?”
“Well, there’s no other way right now.” Shao Ci shrugged. “Anyways, that’s nothing to worry about.”
Anyway, Shao Ci didn’t have any intention of staying in this world for a long period of time. Ever since he sneakily healed the original host’s mother with his healing ability when he went back to the host’s house, he was prepared to leave at any time.
But Edwin’s attention wasn’t swayed but Shao Ci’s words. His gaze turned even more complicated.
Was he imagining things? Why did he have the feeling that Shao Ci would leave him at any time and go somewhere that nobody could chase after him…
Shao Ci put away the rest of the things that were still of use. He remembered how Ji Zhaoyun and Pei Shijian had ran off somewhere, but the rules were that two people had to arrive at their destination to succeed. When Shao Ci reached that point of his train of thought, he gave up on it.
In fact, based on their power as four, they wouldn’t have had any problems at all. It was just that within a day they had an unforeseen mishap…
Speaking of the people in the institute, if they knew that Pei Shijian, the person they had been anticipating would seize first place, couldn’t take first because he had forfeited on his own, they would probably scold his ears off.
Edwin looked like he had thought of the same thing. He hastily said, “No, we can’t let those ignorant people humiliate you. I will take you to the destination point. You just need to rest well.”
Shao Ci thought for a moment. He felt the same way… So he nodded. He didn’t need to worry about what would happen if he stayed at Edwin’s side, and he would also get a chance to train his physique a little.
And so they made their way to the destination, dawdling for several day before they finally arrived. Because Pei Shijian wasn’t with them, things progressed especially smoothly. Nothing out of the ordinary happened at all.
It had already been so much time that most of the other top students at other institutes had arrived at the destination already. What Shao Ci didn’t expect was that Ji Zhaoyun would also be waiting at the destination.
Ji Zhaoyun was sitting outside, looking listless. When he caught sight of Shao Ci, his eyes lit up, then he put up an expression of disdain, striding over like he wanted to say something.
Edwin immediately blocked Shao Ci behind his own body.
Ji Zhaoyun glared. “What are you doing? Get out of my way.”
“No,” Edwin said coldly. “Someone who has lost to me doesn’t need to keep up the arrogance.”
Ji Zhaoyun knew that he wasn’t strong enough to compare with Edwin, and he could only grit his teeth, giving up on getting closer to Shao Ci to talk one-on-one. He turned to Shao Ci. “I won’t forget our deal. When I complete my end of the deal, you need to fulfill your promise too. Or else I won’t let you off!” When he finished, he didn’t wait for Shao Ci to reply before turning to flee.
Shao Ci suddenly felt like catfishing Ji Zhaoyun might have been a mistake. “…”
Pei Shijian hadn’t arrived yet. Shao Ci let out a breath of relief. If he saw Pei Shijian and this shameless system changed Pei Shijian into his capture target, he really had no idea what he would do.
And Shao Ci had suddenly thought of something very important. Didn’t the system say before that after changing capture targets it would hurt to touch the previous capture target? This effect had never taken place with Ji Zhaoyun.
The system came out to explain, [It’s because this world is a bit more unique. It’s different from the previou worlds. In order to let the host get accustomed slowly, a safeguard period has been initiated. It will continue for three months, so in these months the host doesn’t need to worry about the effect after switching capture targets.]
Shao Ci: “…” You’re saying it oh-so-kindly, but why don’t you say something like this earlier! And the three month period was about to pass, too. He felt like it was ending before he could enjoy the special treatment.
All kinds of problems had come up in the previous worlds because of this lousy setting. Couldn’t they just get rid of this penalty mechanism completely!
Shao Ci was just blurting out whatever, not expecting the system to listen to him. As he t thought, the system knew plenty about making excuses, and nothing was unchangeable. What was all that about maintaining the capture target’s interest… Shao Ci actually felt sorry for the capture targets, except for Chu Jin, who he disliked the most.
But there had been no news about that Zerg teenager. Even when he went to ask around at the institute that he had stayed at before, everyone else was confused. They had no information about him, only that they had seen how powerful he was before, and that was why they had been so flattering of him before.
Shao Ci: “…” Hey, why is your school so casual about it! They were on track to be finished.
Shao Ci couldn’t do anything about it, and that teenager didn’t seem like the kind of person who would go spreading someone’s secrets either, so he would leave it alone for the time being.
As time passed, the rest of the students slowly arrived, but Pei Shijian still didn’t appear.
The heads of the institute couldn’t hold themselves back from questioning Shao Ci. Shao Ci had no choice but to say that they had separate partway through, and he didn’t know where exactly Pei Shijian was.
Other than hiding the part where he gave Pei Shijian a beating, the rest was all real.
Because he had Edwin and Ji Zhaoyun acting as witness, nobody suspected that Shao Ci was hiding anything. After all, Shao Ci didn’t look like the kind of person that could fight with Pei Shijian.
Soon, the competition formally ended. This year, the empire’s military institute had ranks in the middle. Pei Shijian, who they had expected would be able to give a good showing, had disappeared. Everyone was in low spirits. There were even some people that brought up whether or not Pei Shijian might already be dead.
But Shao Ci knew very clearly that Pei Shijian was the central figure in this world. If he died, the world might just collapse. Where would you get the time to keep guessing if he was alive or not…
Pei Shijian must have encountered some good luck. After all, protagonists would all get their opportunity after a hardship.
Though they left some people behind at the base to search, most of them thought that Pei Shijian’s situation had taken a turn for the worse. Everyone boarded the airship back to the capital planet. They had come in excitement and with high spirits, but now the mood had disappeared.
Because Pei Shijian was gone, Edwin let Shao Ci move to his room. Ji Zhaoyun didn’t say anything either.
During the few days they spent on the airship, Shao Ci kept lowkey and typically didn’t go out. If he went out and Pei Shijian’s fans came to vent his anger, what would he do?
After he finished his meal, Shao Ci got in bed and went to sleep. He could relax now that he was staying with Edwin.
But on the side, Edwin gazed at his sleeping face, his eyes gloomy.
He had never asked out loud why exactly Shao Ci had forced a kiss onto him. Was it the reason that Shao Ci and Ji Zhaoyun explained? If so, then Edwin knew very clearly that Shao Ci obviously had no intentions towards him…
Edwin had always thought that it was enough for him to follow after Shao Ci. As long as he could watch Shao Ci’s shadow from up close, he could be satisfied.
But after that event, Edwin finally understood.
He didn’t just want to stay at Shao Ci’s side. He wanted Shao Ci to have only him at his side, wanted Shao Ci to only look at him, to talk to him, and to never look at someone else.
“…I really am insatiable.” Edwin looked towards Shao Ci, recalling that day when he had found Shao Ci and happened to see the bite mark on the back of his neck.
“…Who exactly was the person who marked you then?”
But this wasn’t important anymore, because in the future… the alpha who marked Shao Ci would be him.