Chapter 42: Gu Xiujue
That same smile also snared the attention of someone watching from outside the screen.
He had five screens in front of him. Each screen showed the same world, the same time period, the same protagonists and supporting characters.
The difference lay in the outside arrivals who had broken into that world. Based on their different personalities and ways of handling things, they would take the plot in completely different directions.
Starting from the second world, the monitor had focused more attention on one particular test subject.
This was because Tester No. 1 had an extremely flamboyant style of going through the plot, which always made him smile with appreciation.
Occasionally, he could even select segments to replay and watch them like adult videos.
Like right now, Tester No. 1 had the world’s main-character big-boss shou pinned beneath him, tearing up the sheets in a hotel room. The battle raged on.
Their clashes and quarrels, their laughter and sweetness, sometimes left the watcher with a faint ache of loneliness.
“Sir.” As always, the lifeless synthetic voice reported in. “Tester No. 5 has died.”
The watcher turned to Screen Five. At the boisterous birthday banquet, Tester No. 5 had been shot dead by the main-character shou.
“I know,” he said, unconcerned, and hurried his eyes back to Tester No. 1’s feed.
Inside, the fierce battle was still going with no end in sight.
“Sir, it is time for your rest,” the synthesized voice reminded him. Every night at this hour it urged its master to go to bed.
“It is not over. Give me ten more minutes.” The watcher stared, fully absorbed, a suspicious flush rising over his pale face.
“Sir, it is time for your rest.” He had set this reminder to chime once every three minutes.
Beep. The watcher grabbed the remote and pressed a button somewhere in the room.
Good. The room finally fell quiet, leaving only the discordant sounds of bedroom activities echoing in his ears.
The other screens? They were all muted.
At last, the big boss collapsed, boneless and spent, on the young man’s body and murmured, “Xiao Mo, you were amazing tonight.” Ever since the banquet ended they had been itching to get a room, and they had been celebrating deep into the night.
“Yao-ge,” Li Dong said, “wasn’t the most amazing one you?” He brushed his lips against Guan Yaoming’s ear and meant every word.
Because the wounds on Guan Yaoming’s back had not fully healed, they had not used the usual position. Instead Guan Yaoming stayed on top the whole night.
That was exhausting for a shou.
“As long as you like it.” Guan Yaoming kissed his beloved little wolfdog again, face utterly satisfied. “I love you. What about you? Do you love me?”
Li Dong only smiled lazily, then climbed up once more, flipped him, and continued the unspeakable.
“Why won’t you answer?” The watcher cocked a brow, raised the remote, and slid the timeline bar all the way to the end of this world.
Two elderly men, living calmly side by side.
Tester No. 1 still loved his partner with the same unshakable devotion. That steadfastness hit the watcher hard through the glass of the screen.
The next morning, 8:20 a.m.
“Sir, for world three, whom do you intend to keep?” The smart butler, shut down for the night, rebooted itself at six and picked up its daily tasks.
“No. 1.”
“Eh?” said the butler. Just one?
That was not ideal. The risk was too high.
If No. 1 died, then the entire experiment would be for nothing. As a cool, rational e-brain, it tried to advise gently. “Sir, please be rational. If anything happens to No. 1, you will gain nothing.”
“No. 1,” the watcher repeated.
“Okay, okay.”
Per its willful master’s order, only one giant screen remained for world three.
Because this world’s settings were special, the butler kindly swapped in an outrageously expensive 3D surround system. The master was very satisfied.
Once again, the ending shot was a funeral.
Having done this once before, Li Dong knew that not long after Guan Yaoming’s passing, he himself would vanish from this world.
He had accompanied someone through the span of a lifetime twice now, and looking back, it did not feel long at all.
Instead he understood more and more clearly that time was the gentlest gift this unkind world gives to everyone.
“Yao-ge, I am leaving,” Li Dong said. After a century’s tempering, his eyes were tranquil and restrained, full of grace.
His back was still straight as a spear. He stepped out of the cemetery and turned with a smile that, even now, still held a boyish glint.
“No. 1 really is a charming man,” the smart butler commented.
Li Dong had a hunch that when he woke the next morning, he would be in yet another world.
He pulled out his notebook and reviewed the “Trash and Scum” reading list he had compiled. The plots were laid out in detail. It had been too long; he was afraid he would forget.
Reading through again, it was still packed with high-tension beats. A real death flag parade.
When you get older and revisit a story with childish plotting and brain-dead characters, it only grows more exasperating.
Maybe because he had read too many aggravating scenes before bed, Li Dong dreamed of a ghost pressing on his chest and woke with a start.
He opened his eyes to a warm-toned room furnished in a stylish Euro-American taste. Nothing creepy in sight at a glance.
He relaxed a little. At least he could confirm that “he” here had taste, money, and a decent social standing.
Overall, he was basically satisfied. It wasn’t as tragic as the undercover identity in the previous world.
Guessing which book this was, Li Dong got up and stood before the mirror to see what he looked like here.
First thing he saw was a height north of 1.8 meters. The body was long-limbed and fluid, the bearing refined.
Higher up, a handsome face fit for a young lord came into view. Fine features, fair skin, and an entrance aura of cool arrogance.
Seeing his fabulous self in the mirror, two words floated into Li Dong’s mind: aristocrat.
Those two words unlocked a memory chest. A flood of foreign memories surged in. Li Dong was dumbstruck. AAAAAAA… an ABO world…
Holy sh*t.
He dropped to his knees on the expensive carpet, radiating a desire to just die.
This was the one world he had most wanted to avoid when rereading last night.
All the prayers in the world had not saved him. Here he was anyway.
He did not know how long he sat there before he raised a trembling hand and, face twisted, reached into his pants.
He found his little brother and sighed in relief. At least he could still be on top. Then he felt the “little sister” underneath the “little brother,” and his face flattened into a “I really should just die” expression.
What kind of cosmic grudge was this? Why would a powerful top have to transmigrate into this kind of thing! This kind! That would go into heat like animals, then have their entire life controlled by men, specifically responsible for breeding and reproduction.
When Li Dong first saw an ABO story, he had even looked it up on Baidu to figure out what it meant.
Only then did he learn that ABO was such an anti-human existence. They had six genders and heat cycles. It was simply a devilish setting created for bedroom activities.
Let us set aside the three female genders. He was a grown man. No way would he cross into a female role.
Among the three male options, he had not become the top-of-the-food-chain male Alpha.
Male Alphas had strong bodies and outstanding ability, in every sense.
Nor had he become a male Beta, a step below Alphas. Betas also had the “little sister,” but no damned heat cycles.
Instead he had become a male Omega with high fertility and the charming “heat” feature. Great.
Do you know what a male Omega is?
A male Omega is a creature who, during heat, begs to be taken like a beast.
Li Dong went ashen. He could not accept it. In this world he would not have to do anything but dodge Alphas.
Important point: Alphas, plural. Not only male Alphas could take an Omega, female Alphas could as well.
Wait, looked like male and female Betas could too…
Thump. He flopped on the floor, thinking about life choices. Should he kill himself and bounce out of this world, or stay indoors for life?
Save-the-tragic-shou mission?
Compared with possibly being mounted and giving birth, that was a cloud in the sky.
He was kidding about the suicide and the shut-in life.
He had lived many years without seeing all that much of the world, true, but he had a calm core.
So he had gone from a powerful top to a male Omega every living soul wanted to mount. Fine. He would just make any Alpha or Beta who tried to mount him cry for mercy.
It was just being a down-on-his-luck noble young master who, in order to snatch away the scumbag top who held real power, testified in court that the protagonist bottom attempted rape, causing the protagonist bottom to be expelled from the military and become an object of public scorn.
They had not yet gone to court. There was still time.
In the original, this supporting character’s name was Chu Huanyan, a deep-scheming, vicious Omega from a declining noble family.
To keep the family’s prestige alive, Chu Huanyan set his sights on the main shou Gu Xiujue’s excellent former fiancé, Major General Huo Leishao.
Huo Leishao was born into the Hansen family, one of the seven great noble families. This family held real power and had abundant wealth.
Two months earlier, a three-year border war with the Zerg had ended.
Gu Xiujue and his fiancé Horatio returned in glory. In those three years the two young men racked up brilliant achievements and both were promoted to major general.
Gu Xiujue, like Huo Leishao, came from one of the seven great houses, the Gu family.
But unlike the mighty Hansen clan, the Gu family did not dominate the military. They preferred the cultural realm.
Gu Xiujue was the odd one out in the family. At 25, he took the major general’s stars in a single stride. Originally, this should have been cause for celebration.
But after the triumphal return, he was found to have been affected by radiation, completely losing his ability to sire children.
Upon learning this, the Hansen family immediately proposed breaking off the engagement.
Huo Leishao and Gu Xiujue had met on campus. They formally got engaged in the year they graduated from military academy at age 22.
In August that same year they both went to war, swearing they would hold the wedding when they returned victorious.
Unfortunately, vows under heaven and sea could not compete with a fertile womb. When Gu Xiujue received notice of the dissolution, did you think he walked away with pride?
He did not. Our shou, sunk deep in love, was summoned by the scum attack. After a few honeyed words, he felt the other still cared and agreed to keep seeing him.
The scum wanted to eat from both bowls. He said there was hope, but he had to see whether the Omega his family arranged for him would accept Gu Xiujue’s existence.
Chu Huanyan was the arranged Omega. Of course he would not allow his future husband to keep entangling himself with an ex.
He boldly asked Gu Xiujue out and warned him to stop clinging to his fiancé.
Of course they did not reach an agreement. Gu Xiujue did not even put Chu Huanyan in his eyes. Aside from being unable to have children, everything else about him was superb.
He had spent years as Huo Leishao’s fiancé as a male Beta. All across the stars, Leishao’s thousands of fanboys and fangirls envied him to the bone.
Now that Gu Xiujue had been cast off for infertility, while many people sympathized with him, they also felt this was the correct outcome.
Male Betas should honestly find a Beta to marry. An Alpha as handsome, charming, and powerful as Huo Leishao should be left for the Omegas instead.
To get what he wanted, Chu Huanyan posted a press release on the star-net accusing Gu Xiujue of attempted rape, then took him to court.
Omegas were the most protected class under the law. People thought of them as kind and fragile, in need of care.
Chu Huanyan was a fake Omega in that sense. His body was Omega, but everything else about him was shockingly vicious.
An angelic face hid a blackened heart.
Here was the situation: Gu Xiujue had been temporarily detained pending trial. After the verdict tomorrow, punishment would follow.
Everyone believed Gu Xiujue bore malice toward Chu Huanyan. He had been dumped and could not have children. Of course he was unbalanced and jealous of the Omega who had taken his fiancé.
When Li Dong first read this book, he couldn’t really tell how much the protagonist bottom loved the scumbag top. What he saw was just an obsession.
Even as a secret lover, even when being used and nearly sacrificed, Gu Xiujue felt numb in love.
Perhaps the scum had been good to him once and they had beautiful memories.
But why would a noble son from a good family cling to such scraps?
Li Dong had held a breath in his chest reading that book. He had analyzed many causes and finally decided it likely came down to Gu Xiujue growing up without a father.
He was born to an unmarried mother, father unknown. So he was the family’s oddity and its disgrace. The Gu family did culture, and out popped a soldier.
Because she had gotten pregnant young and raised a child alone, his mother had some mental health struggles.
You could guess the atmosphere at home was not warm or easy.
At school, he and Huo Leishao had started as rivals and eventually became friends. The thorns on his body were gradually melted by the cheerful Huo Leishao.
What he longed for inside was worship of, and dependence on, a father figure or a strong protector.
Gu Xiujue was seeking belonging and shelter, not physical shelter. His strength ranked near the top at the military academy, or he would never have become a major general as a Beta.
What he wanted was emotional shelter, a home for the heart.
In short, a little wild beast hunting warmth.
Now that beast sat in a detention cell awaiting trial.
Once he had sorted the facts, Li Dong opened his personal terminal and began drafting the press statement for tomorrow.
He would clarify that Gu Xiujue had not assaulted him, formally apologize to Gu Xiujue and to all the citizens he had misled, and accept whatever consequences were appropriate.
From what he knew of this world, Omegas would not face punishment in the end. They had infuriating privileges.
He might even be praised after apologizing. Omegas are pure of heart, sweet of character, and so on. Please.
In half an hour, a soulful self-critique was ready to go.
Just then, someone knocked. Standing outside was Mother Chu. “Huanhuan, your dance teacher is here. Get ready for your lesson.”
Li Dong eyed his own frame. Long-limbed and pretty, yes, but not a lick of muscle. “…” Dance? He should be lifting.
He saved the article and changed into loungewear.
“Mom,” he said when he saw her, “do we have a gym at home?”
“We do. Your big brother loves working out. Did you forget?” She also wanted to talk to her son about the court hearing and Huo Leishao. “Are you ready for court tomorrow? I heard Major General Huo Leishao will accompany you to court. You still haven’t told me how things are going with him.”
The barrage of questions left Li Dong speechless. He loathed this fiancé-included ABO world. “Mom, cancel dance from now on. And Major General Horatio is scum. I am not marrying him. Understood?”
“Wait. You said Major General Horatio is…” she began.
“Scum,” Li Dong said, flipping a middle finger in his heart. “He dumped his infertile fiancé, then tried to keep both lovers in play. Tell me, what is ‘good’ about that? Power and money? Have we really fallen so far that we would trade our dignity for those?”
“But…” Chu Mama said, “you were the one who wanted to marry him. We never forced you. Our family is democratic.”
“Excellent.” This was a family he could live with. He slipped an arm around her shoulders. “I will break the engagement and later I will find you a gentle, considerate daughter-in-law.”
“I have no objection,” she said, completely baffled. Did I not give birth to an Omega son?
Li Dong had already breezed off. He ate a lovely breakfast in the palatial living room, then hit the gym to warm up and train.
Back when he dated a man from the underworld, he had learned fighting, marksmanship, even boxing.
He had peaked in hand-to-hand at forty-five. Now, with a fresh young body, training felt fantastic.
In Chu Huanyan’s memory, this interstellar ABO world also had mechas.
Omegas could pilot mechas too. With enough speed and stamina, an Omega could make a great mecha warrior.
History recorded a few famous Omega pilots, but those were ancient times.
Because of heats, Omegas were not suited to the battlefield.
If an unmarried Omega went into heat mid-battle and flooded the field with pheromones, every Alpha would be done for, lost to lust instead of fighting the enemy.
So Omegas could only play mecha sims online. They never touched the real thing.
Li Dong worked out all morning and self-studied all afternoon on the star-net. So by night, he was woozy. Lying in bed, his head was a carousel of Omega, Omega, heat, heat.
Chu Huanyan would soon turn eighteen. His first heat was coming.
Barring surprises, he would be ravenous enough to die, and even with a man at his side doing this and that, it would take three days and nights to bank the fire.
This hurdle, Li Dong felt he couldn’t overcome. He might break.
Before he folded, he wanted to return justice to the shou. After that, heaven could take the wheel.
The next morning, 8 o’clock.
Li Dong rose early and tidied himself up. He saw that the scumbag top Huo Leishao had sent him a text message saying he would come to the Chu home to pick him up for court.
Huo Leishao had not supported Chu Huanyan’s lawsuit. He thought it should not be made a spectacle.
Once it was public, there would be no more sharing both lovers.
Chu Huanyan insisted. He could not stop him.
But since Chu Huanyan insisted on suing, he had no choice.
As for why Chu Huanyan could become Huo Leishao’s fiancé?
Perhaps it was because Chu Huanyan tested as having extremely strong fertility. As everyone knew, the stronger an Omega's fertility, the greater their heat cycle reactions, and the more of a treasure they were in bed.
Huo Leishao was in his prime and a textbook male Alpha, full of fantasies about mouthwatering Omegas.
Gu Xiujue, nearly his equal in strength, sparked soul-deep collisions with him but not a blazing physical desire.
So it was love for the first love, lust for the current partner. Holding both was the sweet life.
Li Dong despised men like that and wished them lonely to the end.
Huo Leishao’s sports car rolled up to the Chu gates. He stepped out.
Seeing his fiancé standing neatly dressed at the door, he flashed a dazzling smile. “Hi, Huanhuan.”
He had to be honest: the blond, blue-eyed major general was handsome, faintly reminiscent of a certain Hollywood star in his youth.
Looking at Huo Leishao’s height, Li Dong’s mouth twitched. The average height here was a meter ninety. It was the Omegas dragging down the mean.
“Hello,” Li Dong said, mimicking Chu Huanyan’s usual manners and giving him a cool aristocratic smile. “Major General Huo Leishao, thank you for coming.”
“No need to be so polite. We will be legal spouses soon,” Horatio said. He stepped closer, reaching to circle that enticingly narrow waist.
“Let us go,” Li Dong said instead, folding his arms and striding ahead.
Huo Leishao sighed to himself. His fiancé truly was an arrogant noble cat.
Right. Chu Huanyan’s quantum beast was a long-haired white cat with odd eyes. It rarely appeared and only showed itself in utterly safe places.
Horatio’s quantum beast was a majestic lion. It prowled around Chu Huanyan, stalking the white cat, but cats are masters of hiding. He never found it.
While we are at it, another master of hiding: the leopard.
Click. In the dim detention block, a black leopard coiled in a corner twitched both ears, rose, and in a sleek bound vanished into shadow.
“Major General Gu Xiujue.” A man stood at the bars, eyes tinged with pity as he looked at the black-haired officer inside. “Ahem. It is time for your hearing. We are here to escort you to court. Please cooperate.”
A Beta with family and talent, laid low by bodily damage and a wrecked reputation. People could not help feeling for him.
But a crime was a crime, and must be punished.
Gu Xiujue lifted his head. A striking, enigmatic face came into the light.
No wonder they called him the noble of slaughter. Those amber eyes, wild as a beast’s, held a ferocity that did not belong to the Gu bloodline.
Because of those eyes, the words he had heard since childhood were always the same: You are not of the Gu family’s seed. Our Gu family could never produce a beast like you.
Indeed, most Gu quantum beasts were gentle little animals. When a predator was born, they feared and rejected him.
Li Dong’s read was right. Gu Xiujue lacked belonging. He had no place to go.
Not in the Gu family, not in the military, and not with Huo Leishao.
He was a stray with no home.
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