Ch40.2 - I’ve found you

The arena for the finals was different than the previous ones. It was several times larger, and the entirety of the match would be broadcasted live. They even had people to commentate.

The seats were filled with onlookers, and there was a clear demarcation between the two sides’ fans, seeming diametrically opposed. 

Shao Ci’s opponent this time was a contestant who ranked in the top forty. He was a middle-aged man named Rex.

“The contestant on this side is Rex. He’s only thirty-seven this year,” the host introduced. “This is already his fifth time participating in the mecha competition. I’m sure everyone feels like he’s very familiar. In the past, he was only able to advance a single round. Will he achieve victory this time?”

The camera changed to Shao Ci’s side. A big, bulky mecha plastered with all kinds of ads appeared on the screen.

Exactly—in order to get more ads, Shao Ci had changed to the biggest mecha. 

The people who had heard only about Prince Latiao and never seen him in real life were shocked, but Prince Latiao’s fans were proud. In their words, “An ordinary person  couldn’t get so many ads even if they wanted to. This is the symbol of our idol’s strength.”

“Um…” The hosts had never seen such an impoverished contestant. They were stunned for a moment before they explained, “This is the newcomer, Prince Latiao. Although it’s his first time competing, he’s shockingly strong. In a short timespan, he fought his way into the finals. Who knows how he’ll perform?”

The host had another bout of boasting about the contestants’ performances before starting the competition.

Rex looked towards Shao Ci with disdain. “Though this Prince Latiao’s pretty strong, he’s just too young. He doesn’t have much combat experience, and his movements are more choppy… He’s far from my level.”

Because he didn’t have the privacy protection up, his words made it straight onto the screen. In seconds, Prince Latiao’s fans were unhappy.

“Hmph.” Rex continued, “And who knows what kind of person has so little confidence in their appearance. If you’re still hiding your face at this point, I bet you’ve got some kind of problem.”

Of course, he wasn’t suddenly taunting him for no reason. He just wanted to rile up his opponent. If his opponent lost his reason, it would be easy to get at his weak points.

Shao Ci was thinking along the same lines as Rex. As soon as the match started, he maneuvered his mecha to charge forward. 

“You can’t keep your cool now, huh?” Rex moved to fight back gleefully, but reality was different from what he expected. Although Prince Latiao’s movements were choppy, he was faster than he expected. Before his every attack, Prince Latiao had already disappeared.

Forget about aiming for a weak point to seize victory. If it wasn’t for Rex’s rich experience, he might have been humiliated in a loss right off the bat.

“Dammit, you’re just a little brat.” Rex gritted his teeth.

They engaged in combat a few more minutes. From Rex’s perspective, their strength was about equal, and they were in in a deadlock. For the moment, there was no way to seize victory. 

“I didn’t expect this brat to be so strong…” Rex was a bit shocked, but he felt even more unhappy. He had worked so hard for years to climb up to his spot. How could he give in to this brat so easily? “But you just got unlucky facing me. You should just come back next year.”

Rex had been hiding his true strength from the beginning just so he could erupt now. He attacked fiercely, but Shao Ci dodged it stubbornly. It looked like Shao Ci was completely disadvantaged.

But Shao Ci had done pretty much the same thing. Exactly—he had also hidden his strength from the beginning.

Although Shao Ci had always stuck to fighting a quick battle, this time there was something unexpected. 

When an advertising company was negotiating with Shao Ci, they said that as long as his match lasted for longer than ten minutes, the compensation would be tripled.

Under the seduction of money, Shao Ci had been going easy in the beginning without any moral integrity… If Rex knew he might choke on his anger.

To outsiders, their match looked like a thrilling struggle. In fact, Shao Ci was only using a portion of his spirit to face Rex. He hadn’t brought out most of his strength.

Still, it was more strenuous than how he normally fought as he pleased. If it wasn’t for the fact that he wanted to maximize the time the audience saw the ads on him in order to get even more ads in the future, Shao Ci wouldn’t do such a thankless job. 

If this was the real world, it would be hard to say, but in the virtual world, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that there were few people who could be Shao Ci’s match… After all, based on spiritual strength, these people were who-knows-how-many leagues away from Shao Ci. The opponent he feared the most was the person with the protagonist halo, Pei Shijian.

Prince Latiao’s fans looked towards the battlefield anxiously. Ever since they had become Prince Latiao’s fans, there had never been a battle that took more than ten minutes.

“Why is today’s match dragging on for so long? I guess the opponents in the finals really are different,” someone said nervously.

“Hmph, I think your Prince Latiao’s done for,” one of Rex’s fans jeered rudely. “That Prince Latiao of yours has just been crushing weaklings. When he’s facing an expert as skilled and experienced as Rex, he certainly won’t last long before he fails. Hmph.” 

Many people at the match thought the same. After all, it was more realistic. Some of Prince Latiao’s fans were losing hope. They liked the Prince Latiao who could sweep his enemies in one go, but now they had to face with the harsh reality that their idol wasn’t the strongest.”

Edwin was also watching, but he worried even more. He was afraid that Shao Ci wasn’t at his normal standards because the omega inhibitors had lost their effect.

“It looks like Prince Latiao has really met his match this time,” one of the commentators narrated, watching Shao Ci continuing to dodge. “Although Prince Latiao’s strong, Rex has experience with five years of competitors. I don’t think Prince Latiao’s situation is looking too good.”

Just as everyone thought the winner was pretty much decided, the situation suddenly changed. 

“Time’s up.” When Shao Ci thought of the huge sum of money that would be entering his bank account later, a smile appeared on his face, and he looked up at his opponent. “I’m really sorry, but let’s end this now.”

Just as Rex was attacking in glee, he discovered Prince Latiao had begun to fight back.

“It’s too late. If you fight back now, all you’ll do is work yourself up into a frenzy,” Rex sneered, thinking that his attacks had upset Prince Latiao’s rhythm. He seized the opportunity, raising his weapon to stab at Shao Ci’s vitals and getting ready to finish their match then and there.

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

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At the same time, Rex and his mecha both faded away from the battlefield.

Everyone looked on in shock. It had only been a few dozen seconds since they thought Prince Latiao was sure to lose. In those few dozen seconds, Prince Latiao had suddenly triumphed, just as if the heavens were on his side.

Prince Latiao’s fans began to shout in excitement, and the people who had said Prince Latiao was going to lose wished they could bury themselves in a hole. 

The commentators were also stunned, then hurried to explain, “It looks like this was Prince Latiao’s tactic. First, he fakes weakness to confuse his enemy, then he seizes the opportunity to fight back. Based on his counterattacks, we can see how amazing his operation skills are.”

After Shao Ci finished his task, he planned to ignore the ruckus and leave the field.

Just as he was checking whether the money had been deposited into his bank account, Shao Ci suddenly received a message.

The message was pretty much the same as the letter of challenge that Ji Zhaoyun had sent in the beginning. The letter expressed a desire to battle Shao Ci one-on-one, and there was no worry of being seen by other people. He had purposely chosen somewhere without a crowd. Moreover, regardless of whether Shao Ci won or not, he would receive two million empire coins. 

Shao Ci: “!” If it wasn’t for the fact that the letter’s tone was totally different from Ji Zhaoyun’s, he would have thought Ji Zhaoyun had come to pick a fight again. But this person was even richer than Ji Zhaoyun!

The empire’s so big, so there are so many rich tyrants _(:з」∠)_

Although Shao Ci felt there might be something wrong, under the seduction of money, his soul was stirred and completely unsteady. He agreed without another thought.

When Shao Ci arrived at the arena the other party had mentioned, it was just like it was described in the mail, empty without a single spectator… For a moment, Shao Ci felt a little unaccustomed to it. 

A mecha was standing in the opposite corner. His opponent had also screened their personal information, and it was impossible to tell who it was. Similarly, the mecha was extremely ordinary. It was the most widely used mecha, and it didn’t have any individuality at all.

Was another opponent doing this to test his strength? Despite his thoughts, Shao Ci didn’t care about these things. In any case, it was fine as long as he had money. If every one of his opponents came this way, he would make a fortune instantly.

Of course, not everyone was as much of a spendthrift as Ji Zhaoyun…

The competition system beeped, and the match began. 

Shao Ci focused his attention, but the opposing mecha suddenly rushed at him.

Shao Ci was stunned. His opponent was lightning quick, and they reacted speedily when they dodged. They were completely unlike any opponents he had faced before.

If it wasn’t for the fact that Shao Ci’s spiritual energy could keep track of the entire field, he might have lost already. Yet it was also precisely because of his spiritual energy that he could pay attention to all kinds of details, and it was how Shao Ci noticed exactly how terrifying his opponent was.

“Who the heck is this?” Shao Ci’s mind flew through thousands of possibilities. He kept feeling that the most likely person was Pei Shijian, but Pei Shijian wouldn’t bring out two million empire coins to give to his enemy. 

After a flurried exchange of blows, the two of them fell into an impasse.

Shao Ci could use his spiritual energy to crush his enemy, but he typically didn’t want to do it. Just as he was hesitating, his opponent’s spiritual energy suddenly reached over.

Because spiritual energy was a very mysterious thing, it was practically impossible to prevent someone else from coming into contact with him while he was operating a mecha. Still, everyone would pay more attention to their own spiritual energy. After all, if something happened, they would be left in a vegetative state.

But, shockingly enough, he had met someone who was so careless. The last time he met someone like this, it was that arrogant, bold, carefree guy, Ji Zhaoyun. 

In the next moment, their spiritual energies touched.

Shao Ci froze. He felt that his opponent’s spiritual energy was a somewhat different from an ordinary person’s. Still, he had only felt Edwin’s and Ji Zhaoyun’s spiritual energy before. He might be feeling it wrong.

A typical person’s spiritual energy was bright like the sun, but this person’s felt gloomy and clammy. Being squeezed close to a spiritual energy like this made Shao Ci feel incredibly uncomfortable.

Soon, the spiritual energy began to probe deeper. Last time, when Ji Zhaoyun did the same thing, he had discovered Shao Ci was actually an omega. This time, Shao Ci wouldn’t let this person do the same thing. He immediately hardened his heart, banishing the other person’s spiritual energy and abruptly crashing into their spiritual world. 

Shao Ci felt like he had arrived in a sinister world. His limbs were slowly going cold. He was starting to feel like he shouldn’t have used his spiritual energy so rashly.

“Ahh, this is exactly the feeling… I finally found you.” A low voice rang out, sounding like it was right by Shao Ci’s side. The voice chuckled slightly.

“?!” Shao Ci jumped in shock, withdrawing his spiritual energy almost unconsciously. He maneuvered his mecha to retreat rapidly.

What was up with this person? Why were they so scary… He felt like he had transmigrated into a horror movie. 

His opponent’s mecha didn’t look like it would chase after him. It was as though this fight was just to feel him out. In the next moment, it faded away from where it was standing. His opponent had actually withdrawn.

“Wait, system, what was that just now? How come he could talk?” Even if he was going to get two million empire coins, Shao Ci couldn’t forget what had just happened. He had been scared to death.

[When spiritual energy is high enough to be at a certain level, it’s possible to use spiritual energy for interrogation. It’s a similar principle with the spiritual transmission in cultivation novels.]

“I see… Well, as long as it’s not some mysterious magic.” Shao Ci let out a breath of relief. 

But what the heck did that person mean? “Found you”? Who was it? Who was looking for him? He just felt really uncomfortable hearing it.

Forget it… The other person was completely anonymous. Even if Shao Ci wanted to find him, he would be able to. Rather than getting tangled up in something he didn’t know about, he might as well be realistic about it.

So Shao Ci left this alone temporarily and logged off.

After coming out, Shao Ci felt a sudden wave of vertigo. His body was begin to feel hot, and he felt incredibly ill. His limbs were weak, and he fell over immediately. 

“Crap, i-is this an oncoming heat like I’ve heard about?” In the dry heat of his body, Shao Ci was dumbfounded. He attempted to reach for his bag to get the medicine inside.

Based on this ABO novel’s settings, a typical omega would start heats after they finished maturing. Shao Ci had been fully matured for a long time, but he had been constrained because of the inhibitors.

He had heard that heats would be even more strong like this. If he didn’t roll around in the sheets for a few days and nights, he wouldn’t be able to calm it down.

If Shao Ci was a gay, he would die of happiness, but he thought of himself as a straight guy! He had no choice but to reach for his medicine with difficulty, hating his past self for not keeping it on him. 

There was a knock on the door. Ji Zhaoyun’s voice came from behind it. “Have you slept yet? I want to talk with you a bit.”

“Fuck!” Ji Zhaoyun’s sudden visit made Shao Ci break out in cold sweat. He had barely managed to prop himself up, but he nearly fell back down.

When he thought about it, shouldn’t someone like Ji Zhaoyun just kick open the door and burst in? He had become so polite. It was really unscientific.

No, this wasn’t the time to be thinking about how Ji Zhaoyun became so polite. 

Perhaps because Ji Zhaoyun had shocked him into his senses, Shao Ci suddenly regained a bit of energy. He scrambled to grab the inhibitor in his bag, managing to twist it open with trembling hands. He grabbed a pill and swallowed it.

The medicine was extremely effective. Within a minute, the heat in Shao Ci’s body settled, and his heat was pushed back down. He was now clearheaded, as if what had just happened was a dream. He didn’t feel so weak anymore either.

Shao Ci quickly put away the medicine and aired out the room, getting rid of the omega pheromones that might have overflowed into the room.

Although Shao Ci couldn’t feel it himself, alphas were extremely sensitive to omega scents. If he was discovered, he would be done for, so he pulled out a bottle of perfume that he had never used before, spraying it all around the room. The fragrances intermingled. Even an alpha with the keenest senses couldn’t smell any omega scent anymore. 

When he finished, Shao Ci went to the bathroom to take a quick shower, putting his sweat-soaked clothes to the side and changing into a new set of clothes.

When he finished, Shao Ci went to open the door, freshly showered.

Shao Ci said uncertainly, “What happened? What do you need me for?”

“You let me wait so long? You’ve really got some guts.” Ji Zhaoyun looked over, arms crossed across his chest and looking unhappy. “My time is precious, you know.” 

Who’s fault was it for coming over to look for someone so late!

“I truly apologize.” Shao Ci was already well-practiced. Even if he was roasting Ji Zhaoyun silently, he kept a remorseful expression up on his face. He said quietly, “I was just taking a shower, so I didn’t hear you… So, what did you need?”

“Nothing much. I just wanted to ask how you’re feeling recently. After all, as the master I need to pay some more attention to our servants’ situations.” Ji Zhaoyun looked haughty. These kinds of action were the ones that made people want to give him a beating the most.

“It’s great,” Shao Ci said. “The room and board are both great.” And all he had to do was keep Ji Zhaoyun company. It was super relaxed. At least it was better than keeping Ji Zhaoyuan company. 

Although he had only exchanged a few sentences with Ji Zhaoyuan, Shao Ci felt guarded against him.

“Well, of course. Nobody would dare to look down on the dukedom. Still,” Ji Zhaoyun said, frowning, “why does your room smell so weird? It’s disgusting. Your sense of smell’s got some problem…”

In order to cover it up, Shao Ci had no choice but to make himself look bad. “…Well, actually I like it like this. I can’t sleep well unless it smells like this.”

“I really don’t know what to do with you. Don’t do something like this outside. Alright, go and rest.” Ji Zhaoyun humphed and left quickly. 

Shao Ci guessed that Ji Zhaoyun hadn’t noticed anything and let out a breath of relief. When he closed the door, he realized he had broken out into cold sweat, but he didn’t have the energy to go shower again. He gave up and got in bed.

The day had been full of too much excitement. He had nearly been discovered by Ji Zhaoyun. Still, he couldn’t keep going like this. He might be able to fudge it once, but next time might not be so easy.

It looked like he needed to find a way to move out.

And in the hallway, Ji Zhaoyun, who had turned to leave, had a somber expression on his face, and his hands were clenched tightly. 

–

In the heart of the capital planet.

Ji Zhaoyuan looked uncertainly at the inhumanly beautiful teenager on the screen. “Your Highness, why did you suddenly call me back again?”

Recently, he had found many interesting things in the empire’s military institute, though he hadn’t found Prince Latiao’s true identity. But Ji Zhaoyuan had looked into Pei Shijian’s matters. 

“You don’t need to keep looking.” Roris had a slight smile on his face. “I’ve already found part of it on my own… In comparison, there are other things that need you more. Having you investigate is really a waste of your talent.”

“It’s as you say. I’ll defer to your instructions.” Ji Zhaoyuan knew that even if they had grown up together, Roris had never believed in him. Chances were that this was also a decision made based on other factors.

In any case, he would stop looking into this.

“By the way, I’ve been a bit tired lately. Arrange a few rest days for me next month. I’m going to take a vacation,” Roris said. 

Ji Zhaoyuan was stunned. In all his years of knowing Roris, it was his first time hearing him say he wanted to take a vacation… Before this, he thought His Highness the Crown Prince was a working machine.

“Understood. I’ll arrange it for you.”

–

The next day, Shao Ci discovered that Ji Zhaoyun had practically become a new person. 

Although Ji Zhaoyun was hard-working before, now he was training like he had no other purpose in life. He was using up almost all of his free time. Every night, he would be exhausted to the point that he could barely move.

Shao Ci didn’t expect he would work so hard just for the mecha competition. He felt a bit surprised.

Though Shao Ci thought about leaving, he could never find a time to tell Ji Zhaoyun. He could only put it on hold for the time being.

In any case, with Ji Zhaoyun so exhausted, he wouldn’t be able to see anything wrong. 

And during that time, the inhibitors that had already been losing efficacy finally stopped working completely.

Shao Ci finally understood how great it was to have an inhibitor that could work for ten-odd years in one go. Now, he had to take an inhibitor every day in order to control himself, or his omega pheromones would start to diffuse.

Edwin seemed like he didn’t know that Shao Ci was an omega. He acted exactly the same as he did before, and didn’t change because Shao Ci’s gender changed.

If it wasn’t for what had happened before and how exciting it was, Shao Ci would wonder if he was dreaming… 

Shao Ci thought that being a fan on the level of Edwin was amazing. Still, thinking about how much the novel’s Edwin liked Pei Shijian, he didn’t have to get with Pei Shijian. Shao Ci probably didn’t need to worry about it.

The next few competitors in the mecha competition couldn’t match up to Shao Ci at all. He rose directly to first place of their group. By this stage, even more people Prince Latiao’s strength.

Before, there were people who said that he was just a low-grade Pei Shijian copycat. If anyone said that now, his fans would rip into them. Besides, it was obvious that Prince Latiao’s strength wasn’t that much different from Pei Shijian’s. Slowly, there was nobody who would say it anymore.

Pei Shijian had also succeeded in becoming number one. Of course, his success was more of a journey. There were several times that he had nearly lost, but in the end he was victorious. 

As Pei Shijian watched videos of Prince Latiao, who he expected to be his opponent, his expression turned unhappy.

In the beginning, he thought Prince Latiao was just trash copying him. He didn’t expect that the other person would climb step by step up to this level and even be equally matched with him.

Pei Shijian had always been the one above everyone else. There had never been anyone who stepped into his position.

Still, for now, Pei Shijian just didn’t like Prince Latiao. The person he hated the most was still the evil, ever-present person who had taunted him several and managed to win over him somehow, Shao Ci. 

“For some reason, whenever I see Prince Latiao, I think of that guy.” Despite his thoughts, Pei Shijian didn’t think too much of it.

Although Prince Latiao had always kept his identity hidden, everyone knew he had to be an alpha. On the other hand, Shao Ci was just a weak, potato-level beta. Even if Pei Shijian didn’t like Prince Latiao, he wouldn’t bring Shao Ci into the conversation.

“Even like this, won’t he become my subordinate anyways?” Pei Shijian smirked.

– 

After the small group competition ended, the last ten people were basically the strongest people in the competition. Of course, there was an element of luck involved.

By now, their popularity had pretty much reached the peak. The person who received the most attention was the undefeated Prince Latiao, but it was different from the beginning. Now, most people thought that Prince Latiao must be a seasoned veteran who had dozens of years of experience.

Compared to a middle-aged person, a student like Pei Shijian had more future prospects.

Shao Ci wasn’t happy about being stuffed into the box of a middle-aged person at all. 

Besides, there was still half a month before the ultimate finals would take place. During that time, there would be all kinds of publicity and even merch of the competitors (when Shao Ci saw it, he was really shocked).

Still, even if this was happening, Shao Ci didn’t know why exactly it had been dragged out for so long… When he thought about the original novel’s plotline, Shao Ci felt that everything was secondary. The most important thing was to let Pei Shijian be promoted.

Exactly. The next thing that would happen was the most important event in original novel.

And in this plotline, Pei Shijian’s strength would surpass Edwin’s. 

T/N: sorry for the lateness + that I haven’t been responding to comments! I’ve been really busy ;w;