Neverland

Week 1 – 01

The sea breeze blew across the darkened coastline, and before dawn came, the tide was high in Neverland.

The word “Neverland” held two meanings, one was the island swallowed by darkness, and the other was the name of the world’s first interactive large-scale variety show—with hundreds of millions of viewers crouching in front of all kinds of electronic devices twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Choosing their favorite perspective to watch, monitor, and even manipulate any of the things that happened on the island, tampering with the fate of any of the inhabitants at will, and deciding the life and death of all the inhabitants with the votes in their hands with the online voting that ended every Sunday.

13 didn’t like the feeling of being controlled, whether it was the voice coming through his headset or the power granted through popularity voting—they were no different to him than a collar around his neck, so he always hid himself in the dark and deliberately suppressed his online votes to stay out of the limelight.

Apparently now a seemingly ordinary killing had shattered his modest hopes.

Almost everyone who knew him commented that “13 was born to kill for attention”—attention was the only way to survive in Neverland. Different people would show themselves in completely different ways, such as Janice Veseli’s beautiful flesh exposed in the mirror, or Giuseppe’s romantic and suave eloquence, or the innate madness and bloodlust of the first-ranked maniac. While 13’s only means was to kill, cutting off a human head with a crisp, clean cut, and then let the female viewer watching him on the other side of the headset scream with admiration and excitement.

But he wasn’t passionate about this. Admittedly, his body lurked closer to the bite of a beast than others, but he didn’t like blood.

There were many things he disliked, most of all hot, sticky liquids—including the Ónod milk-flavored oatmeal served in the morning, including buttered corn soup, and naturally, the blood spurting out during murder and the bodily fluids secreted by Omega in heat.

He was allergic to Omega—no exaggeration—so he couldn’t build up popularity by being a handsome and flirtatious knight in shining armor like some other Alpha. At the same time, his slight stutter also left him with no way to rise to a high position through the power of words alone, like Chief Alpha Giuseppe.

He could only kill.

And killing always came with great risk.

He was once “eliminated” for this reason.

13 didn’t know how Neverland dealt with other losers, but in his memory, once, he joined the Federation in a tavern because of a bad fate in poker, where the tall and handsome brown-haired chief cherished him as much as his favorite gun. He swallowed him up little by little with the hollows of his lips, making him willingly surrender all his votes and become a shadow to kill for him, and it was precisely because of this that he lost his last dagger. After being abandoned by the heartless audience, he was thrown into the garbage recycling plant leading to the deep sea.

Before his consciousness dissipated, he heard a voice asking him: “Are you willing to go back to before everything started at the cost of one-third of your lifespan?”

He never knew there was such a rule in Neverland, nor did he remember whether he chose the answer “yes” or whether the woman in the headset ordered him to do so. He only remembered that in the next moment, he found himself back in the bar where he had first met Giuseppe. The bartender with the stiff robotic smile said to him, “Welcome to the Miracle Bar!” And then his hypocritical lover from his previous life lost to Queen’s leader in the online vote, losing the very meaningful territory of the Victory District.

None of this ever happened in the previous life. At that time, Giuseppe’s power always overwhelmed Queen, and even at the end, the inflated ambitious man made a more grandiose wish, a wish so grand that the audience in front of the screen couldn’t accept it, so they used the vote to kill 13, and would soon use the vote to kill Giuseppe.

Re-living the life, all the nuances had changed, as if his rebirth had became a faint butterfly flapping its wings, unknowingly causing a huge impact on the direction of the situation.

But in his reborn life, he still would only kill.



13 stood in the woods by the beach, his companions gathered in groups ten meters away from him, and as he cast his eyes, the oldest, Andico, approached him and asked, “Captain, where do we go next?”

13 was silent for a moment and said, “Disperse.”

Andico was startled: “Captain?”

13 didn’t speak, but he thought about it in his mind, Neverland had a total of six blocks. The three districts of “Victory”, “Death” and “Monarch” belonged under Queen’s jurisdiction, Giuseppe still owned “Prestige” and “Reputation”, Janice Veseli firmly grasped “Eros” known as the City of Desire. To be honest, among these six districts, he didn’t want to go to any.

“It’s better to disperse.” He said, “You guys go find Giuseppe.”

“Captain!” Andico was anxious, “What about you? You surely don’t want to see that bastard Veseli again either, why don’t you come with us?”

13 indeed didn’t want to go to Eros to smell the Omega pheromones that made him breathless, but he didn’t want to go to Giuseppe’s territory even more, Giuseppe’s gentle and elegant smile simply made his scalp numb, which had nothing to do with negative emotions such as hatred and dislike. The feelings left in him were only overwhelming embarrassment and discomfort.

But for his companion, seeking refuge in Giuseppe wasn’t a bad choice. In recent years, Giuseppe had always preached “gender equality” to gain the support of the disadvantaged. It was only natural that he wouldn’t turn a blind eye to the poor group of Alpha who came to him for help from being hunted by Queen.

He couldn’t explain, 13 simply stayed silent. He didn’t want to reveal the fact that he was reborn, nor did he want to say such a long sentence—too much talking could easily lead to stutter, and stuttering was very embarrassing.

Andico scratched his ears and cheeks anxiously. Suddenly, a clear and moving voice interjected: “Andy, you’re still so obnoxious, you don’t want to see me, don’t the captain want to see me either?”

13 turned his face and sneezed.

Andico yelled, “Veseli! What are you doing here!”

The blond and blue-eyed Omega young man stood in the sea breeze, dressed in a thin gauze. His white skin was dazzling: “I have an appointment with Captain, so I come, naturally.”

Andico looked at 13 in horror, only to see that he was rubbing his red nose pitifully: “Captain?!”

13 nodded: “It’s been a long time, you don’t have to come in person.” He said, then sneezed again.

Veseli laughed out loud: “Hahahahaha, Captain’s still allergic to me, Andico, I heard you just finished dinner, I’m going to bring Captain back to the arms of Eros, don’t miss us too much.” He said as he turned his head to look at the team members gathered not far away: “Oh, Captain has learned well, you don’t pick up any Omega back. Less Beta as well, all of them useless Alpha.”

13 frowned and called out, “Jannie.”

Veseli hastily clamped his mouth, “Okay, okay, I’m wrong I’m wrong, Riega drove the car to pick us up, let’s go, Captain.”

13 hesitated, turned his head to look at his former teammates, deliberately ignoring Andico’s reddened eyes, and stepped into the black car in front of him.

This group would surely die if they follow him again, he thought. He had proved this fact in his previous life.

He was also past the age of always picking things up to bring home.

“Do you need me to have someone escort them into Giuseppe’s block?” Veseli noticed his sight and asked kindly.

“Thank you for your trouble.” He was as reticent as ever, even if the blonde Omega in front of him was an old acquaintance who had once spent time together with him day and night, he didn’t have the thought of reminiscing about the past at all.

“To be honest, I didn’t think you’d really agree to my request.” Veseli sat beside him in the back seat of the car, spontaneously and consciously opening the window for ventilation, “Even if it’s not in Victory, Reputation and Prestige will always have a place for you.”

“Don’t like it.” 13 replied casually.

Veseli’s turquoise-blue cat eyes lit up: “If you don’t like Giuseppe, then it means you like me?”

13 shook his head: “Easier to kill.”

“Captain is still as honest as ever.” The beautiful angelic young man sighed, “Actually, you don’t need to take that big risk, after the spokesperson showed your video in Miracle Square last night, your popularity is unimaginably high, as long as you keep it up and survive this week, you can have your own territory.”

13 lifted his eyes and gave him a look with dark eyes, “What about you?”

“You still have time to worry about me, Captain.” Veseli leaned lazily against the back of the car, “According to me, if you also come to be my guest, we can take advantage of the highest traffic now, yes, right now, and fuck hard in this car. Then you can win Victory next week with the gimmick of the prospective Alpha Chief successor marrying the most lascivious Omega on the island.”

13 imagined the scene for a moment, and felt his throat itch like it was about to swell up.

Veseli looked amused, didn’t say anything more, just carefully traced the side of this Alpha’s face beside him with his eyes.

Even if the window was open, the air was filled with the faint smell of tobacco. It was a refreshing and slightly spicy cloudy scent, like a light wine newly-taken from the freezer, confined to a transparent glass, and slowly evaporating without losing control.

Captain 13 still didn’t know yet how good his own pheromone smelled. When he was at full strength, even Queen’s group of Beta would have varying degrees of drunkenness. It was just that compared to a direct show of force, he preferred to hide and lurk, erasing his traces silently, and no one could catch his shadow.

In fact, the first time Veseli saw the video on the screen, he had tried to contact the captain he used to follow. At that time, he offered the same terms as ten years ago—to establish a more “deep and friendly” intimate relationship with him, the bargaining chip was a residence in the Eros district by the coast, a small villa hidden enough and away from all forces.

Although he had already been marked, the person who marked him was a low-profile driver who survived his sexual relationship. He was now pregnant with the sixth child of the two, but he still wanted to have a fling with the Alpha he had tried so hard to get, wanted to be buried in his arms, let the rich scent release, feverish, rising, let it wrap him only, completely wash away the rotten smell that seemed to pile up and fermenting in his body.

13 chose to refuse without hesitation, even for the same reason as when he had refused the still naive, innocent, and unaware Omega boy.

Once again, Veseli was infuriated. After being rejected last time, he left the team in shame, giving up the captain’s shelter and chose to obtain his current status by seling his flesh. Now, he shyly threw out another alternative proposal: he wanted 13 to help him relieve the dilemma that Eros was facing—to kill Queen’s leader, the madman who won the No. 1.

Surprisingly, 13 agreed.

And so there was that conversation just now, with his Omega-allergic former captain sneezing while helplessly answering his question.

“Captain, after I leave, you should hire a new accountant.” He sighed, “You’re so bad at accounting. If you do manage to kill that guy and survive, then you won’t even need my help at all. You can get everything. It’s such a losing business. A big loss.”

13 still gazed at him with those dark, penetrating eyes sullenly: “I’ll help you kill him.”

He didn’t deliberately emphasize it, but Veseli knew that the stress of the sentence fell on “help you”.

Veseli’s throat felt hot, and after a long while, he smiled bitterly: “Yes, you’re alone, you can survive anywhere, you just want me to owe you the favor.”

13 shook his head: “I receive payment.”

“That’s too light a reward.” He shook his head.

This captain always overindulged his teammates, an idea from nowhere that somehow made him feel responsible for this group of found teammates, just as every dagger he had ever used would be well-treasured in his hands, he was willing to take care of anyone he had ever “picked up”.

At first it was an Omega who was abused under the law of the jungle. A few years later it was a worthless Beta. Finally, more Alpha who were hunted all over the world by Queen. He seemed to be addicted to bringing them under his shelter one by one, and in fact, he did have the addiction. Just like seeing rusty daggers on the side of the road, he couldn’t help but pick them up and wash them and hide them in his coat pockets.

He was used to being the leader of the herd. When new members join, he wouldn’t hesitate, just silently sheltered. When old members leave, he wouldn’t show half reluctance or any wish to hold them back, but he gave each of his companions long and equal value, at the unnecessary cost of shouldering too much duties.

Veseli felt that this value was a little too heavy, it made him feel hot, so he stopped answering, until the driver slammed on the brakes, then he said leisurely: “We’re here. this is my office, you can come down, stay here for one night. We’ll talk about other specifics tomorrow.”

13 got out of the car. Under the lights, he noticed that Veseli’s abdomen was already slightly bulging, Remembering what the spokesperson said not long ago, he couldn’t help but ask, “When?”

Veseli noticed his gaze, smiled and nodded: “About four or five more months.” He held the driver’s arm and continued, “I may not be able to ‘work normally’ for the next few weeks. It’ll definitely have an impact on the outcome of the online voting. If Queen used this opportunity to attack Eros, then my children and I will definitely die without burials. You know, I’m a thorn in that guy’s side. He can’t stand an Omega who’s no different from a sex slave sitting at his equal.”

“Don’t.” 13 frowned, “Don’t talk about yourself like that.”

Veseli hadn’t belittled himself all the way to reaching this point. 13 didn’t like hearing such words.

In his eyes, whether it was Veseli or Giuseppe or Queen’s madman, there wasn’t much difference. The three only capture the audience’s satisfaction from different aspects. Their ranking reflected the status of sex, prestige, and power in the hearts of human beings. Those insatiable audience, in their dark hearts, all the time yearned for Giuseppe’s fame, Veseli’s body, and Queen’s copper wall and iron bastion of bloody dictatorship.

And in essence, he wasn’t much different from them. Or even worse, because he showed off a more disgusting and dirty circus.

“That’s very kind of you.” Veseli blinked and suddenly broke away from the driver’s arms, leaping forward to grab 13’s wrist.

13 shivered, and shot back nearly two meters like a gun.

Veseli once again laughed out loud at his captain: “Go upstairs, poor captain, the second bedroom on the left belongs to you tonight, there’s a magnificent first class bath, you must’ve never enjoyed it, and I guess want a hot bath very, very much now.”

As he said it, 13 felt as if he were itching unbearably. Without even saying thank you, he strode upstairs in silence, his back anxious as if there was a fire burning behind him.

Veseli looked at his hastily-departing figure, let out a chuckle, took out his cell phone and pressed a series of numbers:

“Everything’s ready, come here.”