Don’t Pick Up Boyfriends From the Trash Bin

translator: baumkuchen  editors: serefina, glitterypanda

That night, after the promise was made, Ji Zuoshan didn’t sleep at all. He thought about a lot of things. 

In the mecha academy, no one dared to bully Ji Zuoshan.

Of course, it wasn’t because Ji Zuoshan was tough. It was because Zhan Yanchao didn’t allow him to fight with anyone at all, to the point that everyone joked behind their back that Zhan Yanchao wasn’t raising a human sacrifice, but was raising a little wife.

Since he was the Omega Zhan Yanchao had set himself on long ago, of course no one dared to touch him. 

There were, of course, ugly words and speculations, but whenever Ji Zuoshan heard them, he never took them to heart.

He’d been hearing barrowloads of ugly words from Zhan Yanchao for so many years now, a few comments that barely brushed the skin were nothing.

Every time he heard those sarcastic little barbs of “little Young Master”, Ji Zuoshan would always think, not without a tinge of pride, Yanchao promised me that I won’t be a human sacrifice.

Because he had been given hope, Ji Zuoshan also had many thoughts he shouldn’t have had.

Zhan Yanchao liked him. This, Ji Zuoshan could confirm.

After all, other than him, practically no one else of his age was willing to tolerate his horrible temper. 

This kind of being each other’s “only one”, the tyrannical Zhan Yanchao liked it very much, and found it very suitable.

This person’s love and hate were both incredibly intense. When he hated, he hated so much that he would want nothing more than to tear the flesh off Ji Zuoshan’s body. When he loved, he would then become clingy, sticking himself to Ji Zuoshan and force Ji Zuoshan with threats to say how much he liked him.

Ji Zuoshan’s ears reddened slightly. He said, “Don’t fuss.”

Hanging off of him, Zhan Yanchao bit his ear. “I’ll stop when you say it.” 

Ji Zuoshan thought for a moment. “I like you as much as I like my siblings.”

Zhan Yanchao glared. “Surnamed Ji, you’re just asking to get lashed, aren’t you?”

Ji Zuoshan had no choice but to say. “I like you more than I like mechas.”

Zhan Yanchao laughed loudly, “Not enough. Not enough not enough not enough.” 

Ji Zuoshan, given no other choice with how the other was wrapped around him, thought for another moment, then replied, “I like you more than I like myself.”

After that, Zhan Yanchao wrapped him in a hug and kissed him, kissing him until Ji Zuoshan couldn’t make any more noise.

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He, Ji Zuoshan, didn’t have that big a dream. He just wanted to be on equal footing with the person he liked. As they shopped together in the winter, they would share a scarf, and share a baked sweet potato. 

……Just like what he’d seen when he was younger as he held his older sister’s hand, following behind his Beta parents on the streets.

His promises were like mountains, so he had thought Zhan Yanchao’s promise to him would be like a mountain too.

Thinking of those past, unrealistic dreams of his, Ji Zuoshan’s cheeks burned.

But what other choice did he have.

He had been bought as a human sacrifice for Zhan Yanchao. Over these few years, the Zhan family had taken care of his younger siblings and his life. How could he say that he didn’t want to do it now?

Ji Zuoshan had known the rules of the mecha tournament for a long time.

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Winning or losing decided who had ownership of the energy, and how much by which one had won or lost decided how much energy was to be transferred.

The amount of energy that could be obtained from a crushing defeat, a decisive victory or a draw was completely different.

Sometimes, one loss was enough to result in the majority of the energy in one’s body transferred away. 

Therefore, in the tournament, as long as one side had the advantage over the other, they would want nothing more than to pressure the other until they were half-dead. And those who were pushed into a disadvantage would also do their absolute best. Even if they managed to get it to a draw before admitting defeat, it was much better than losing miserably.

After all, the slightest difference was like the difference between heaven and earth. So in every tournament, there would inevitably be deaths.

Those they were called soldiers were cultivated in these kinds of battles that could determine one’s life or death.

Having lost his hope,  Ji Zuoshan just carried out what Zhan Yanchao asked of him in the mecha tournament, winning dully and unenthusiastically.

Zhan Yanchao was even quite unhappy. “Why aren’t you crushing them? I wanted you to give them a shock.”

Ji Zuoshan used a dull tone to hide his resignation, “If my performance is too outstanding, then when the time comes and I lose to you, they would think I purposely let you win and would doubt your abilities.”

Actually, even without Ji Zuoshan letting him defeat him, Zhan Yanchao was also a very remarkable mecha pilot. 

Zhan Yanchao of course didn’t want to be misunderstood by others. Pulling Ji Zuoshan into his embrace, he curled Ji Zuoshan’s hair around his index finger and murmured, “I’ve also taken pains. Isn’t it because I’m scared you’ll run?”

Ji Zuoshan asked back, “Why would I run?”

Zhan Yanchao said, “If you become an Alpha, wouldn’t you run?”

Ji Zuoshan, “I wouldn’t run.” 

Zhan Yanchao slung his arms around his neck. He snickered, “I’d be a fool to believe you. All Alphas are ambitious. If that time came, you’d definitely run so fast I wouldn’t even be able to catch your shadow. If you become my Omega and I mark you, there’ll be nowhere for you to go. You’ll be mine for the rest of your life.”

Zhan Yanchao had been born lacking this cord called “trust”, and Ji Zuoshan had no way of making Zhan Yanchao believe him, believe that his promise was true.

It wasn’t like he could rip out his heart for Zhan Yanchao to see. 

He could only dully win all his matches, until he met Zhan Yanchao.

Even Zhan Yanchao hadn’t expected Ji Zuoshan to let him have his way to this extent. Mechas were naturally heavy. Ji Zuoshan only gave him a single gap, yet three of his ribs ended up broken.

But he still forced himself to bear it, never showing even a hint of defeat. Even as his fortunes declined, he still wouldn’t admit defeat. Against reason, he acted exactly the same as he had in his previous matches. Anyone would think that Ji Zuoshan’s defeat was reasonable and fair. 

Only after fighting for a long time did Zhan Yanchao realise something wasn’t right. He took the initiative to stop, got out of his mecha and slipped into Ji Zuoshan’s.

Upon feeling his sunken-in ribcage, Zhan Yanchao slapped him across the face in rage. “Are you crazy?! You’re already this hurt, why didn’t you call for me to stop?!”

Ji Zuoshan lay in Zhan Yanchao’s arms. As he endured the slow dissipation of his energy and spiritual force, he thought, that debt from all those years of kindness, it’s all been paid off now.

After close to a year of rest, Ji Zuoshan degenerated into an Omega.

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The smell of his pheromones was the light scent of red wine, with a note of orange mixed in.

On the other hand, Zhan Yanchao was so angry he spent every day swearing at others.

His pheromones had the slightly sweet scent of milk, smelling especially unintimidating. 

However, there were still a lot of benefits to being an Alpha. Zhan Yanchao marked Ji Zuoshan practically the moment he was able to. He spent every day hanging onto him, claiming that he wanted his scent to move over to him.

After becoming an Omega, Ji Zuoshan’s body was simply feeble compared to before. He could only let Zhan Yanchao rub him, and when he received the occasional lashes from Zhan Yanchao’s whip, the intense pain was simply impossible for him to bear.

Every time they joined, when he couldn’t bear it anymore, Ji Zuoshan would say to Zhan Yanchao, it really hurts, slow down. 

Zhan Yanchao said, “Why are you being so unreasonable? You weren’t like this before.”

Even though he would pay a little attention to his strength afterwards, those words made Ji Zuoshan feel utterly powerless.

Indeed…… he hadn’t been like this before. 

A little more than half a year after they got together, the Zerg swarm invasion broke out once more.

When the overwhelming mass of armoured insects attacked, the city turned into a battleground. Broken and burning pieces of steel limbs and mechas melted into one, making it impossible to distinguish between humans and insects.

Zhan Yanchao of course needed to go to the frontlines, but he had yet another one of his untimely “brilliant” ideas.

He said to Ji Zuoshan, “Come with me.” 

Ji Zuoshan didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “I can’t.”

He had originally planned on retreating with his younger siblings to the underground fortresses, where there were abundant resources and resting points for Omegas to gather, which could provide comprehensive services for these Omegas with low combat power.

Zhan Yanchao said, “I’ll send your younger siblings away, you come with me.”

Realising that Zhan Yanchao wasn’t joking, Ji Zuoshan truly didn’t know how to talk him down. “What would I do if I went with you? I currently can’t help you anymore.” 

Zhan Yanchao said, as if it was obvious, “I want to see you ah.”

To Zhan Yanchao, Ji Zuoshan had long since become a basic life necessity.

On the battlefield, how could he not bring his towels and toothbrush? 

Ji Zuoshan said no, and Mister Zhan also didn’t agree. In response to this, Zhan Yanchao’s temper flared up, saying that if Ji Zuoshan wasn’t going then he wouldn’t go.

Ji Zuoshan said, helpless, “You can’t not go, that’s unreasonable.”

Zhan Yanchao was filled with the power of shamelessness. “I’ve done a lot of unreasonable things.”

Upon realising that this person wasn’t going to listen to sense at all, Ji Zuoshan could only give in, and at the same time, pack a huge amount of suppressants in his luggage. 

On this planet, Omega’s heats came on a monthly basis. Ji Zuoshan had just had his last heat, but he still needed to be prepared.

Out of every tragedy that occurred in this world, most stemmed from this moment of inaction.