Chapter 9 – The First World 9

When Chu Shici was very young, he already knew he was gay.

He did want a well-endowed and skilled top, but that didn’t mean he would make a move on a male doll.

What does Su Zheyan’s recent statement mean?

“What are we playing and how do we play it? He wouldn’t know, he has never played it before.”

The system laughed in his mind, and Su Zheyan urged him from the side, “Hurry up, I’m in a hurry.”

Chu Shici stared blankly at the doll, and the doll stared blankly back at him.

He gazed into those pair of dark eyes for a long time and inexplicably felt like crying.

Impatient, Su Zheyan reached out and poked his head.

Chu Shici clenched his teeth and made up his mind, picking up the doll and pretending to play house.

He made the doll sit against the bedside table, draped a towel over its shoulders, and said, “You be the mom, and I’ll be the dad.”

Then he grabbed Su Zheyan’s finger and said, “You be my son, come on, call me dad!”

Although Su Zheyan still had a blank expression, it was clear that he hesitated for a moment.

Chu Shici admitted it was intentional; he was seeking revenge on the male lead.

Even though Su Zheyan definitely wouldn’t call him that, it was satisfying to gain the upper hand verbally.

He secretly withdrew his hand, thinking that if Su Zheyan wanted to hit him later, he would squeeze into the gaps between the bookshelf and the wall.

Just then, a cold voice came from above, “Hmm, dad.”

Chu Shici turned his head abruptly, looking at Su Zheyan as if he had seen a ghost.

“What did you just call me?”

“Dad.”

Chu Shici was utterly bewildered. “You…called me?”

Su Zheyan furrowed his brows almost imperceptibly1 and looked puzzled. “I was playing a child, as you said.”

He paused, hesitated, and said, “Wasn’t it just playing house?”

Chu Shici:…

For some reason, looking at the serious male lead, he suddenly felt dirty.

Su Zheyan only wanted to see the robot and the doll play a game and join them in playing house. And yet, he had thought of something like that. Clearly, he was just a child’s toy now, how could his thoughts be so vulgar?

Chu Shici helplessly said to the system, “Truly worthy of being the male protagonist of a no-romance pure plot novel. Compared to him, I’m just a filthy adult.”

[Ever since I heard that you used to frequent the flower market and had a taste for explicit content, I knew you were not as innocent as you appeared. You’re like a well-pickled salty duck egg, not only with a heavy mouth but also oozing yellow oil.]

Just as the play house roles were assigned, the robot dove into the covers and refused to come out no matter what.

At first, Su Zheyan didn’t understand what was happening. He touched the small blanket and heard the robot emitting a desolate wail.

After a few seconds of contemplation, he figured out the reason.

“No need to hide, I won’t argue with a toy.”

The covers twitched a bit but remained still.

Su Zheyan squeezed his fingers into the covers and touched the robot a few times before getting up to look for supplies.

The cabin door closed again, and Chu Shici peeked out from under the covers.

There was a moment before when he almost died from excessive embarrassment.

Chu Shici threw the doll off the bed.

Driving away the last witness, he felt alive again.

The system was still laughing hysterically. Chu Shici pulled out the antenna on top of his head, attempting to cover up its malicious laughter.

He quickly tuned the frequency, hoping to find something interesting to listen to.

But it was still too early, and the radio was playing news.

A female announcer’s voice echoed inside the capsule.

[#Recently, Eternal Life Technology has completed the final human experiment for ‘Beta Gender Conversion.’ Eternal Life Technology claims that this technology is mature and perfected, and the entire process only takes 24 hours. Betas can choose to convert into Alpha or Omega while retaining their original gender. The company can arrange for a designated person to accompany them to government departments to assist in re-registering their citizen information after the gender conversion.#]

Chu Shici listened for a while and found that there wasn’t much interesting news afterward, so he switched to other channels.

[#Due to the spread of rumors and slander by Li and Liu, among others, accusing Eternal Life Technology of stealing citizen information, causing social panic and severe repercussions. After a court trial, they have been sentenced to less than five years in prison. Eternal Life Technology once again issued a statement, denying any theft of citizen information and stating that they will use the law to defend the company’s reputation.#]2

[#Under the slogan ‘Protecting the legal rights of betas and restoring their work rights,’ clashes occurred between the protesting group and the capital’s police last night, resulting in 1 death and 3 injuries.#]

The system listened for a while and suddenly spoke up, “I checked the original text, and the reason the male lead was able to bring you to the desolate star is because there was a massive riot among the nearby protest groups when he was about to be placed in the capsule. With fewer people guarding him, he secretly took you away.”

Chu Shici shook his head with a click of his tongue. “The lives of the imperial citizens are truly violent.”

“The gender discrimination is so severe; conflicts are bound to arise,” he said reasonably.

Chu Shici recalled the recent news and the more he thought about it, the more he felt that the Empire’s government was leading the discrimination against betas.

He didn’t know the specific details of the “Beta Labor Protection Law,” but judging from the slogans of the protest groups, it seemed like that law had caused a massive unemployment crisis among betas.

Chu Shici was a small gay man who frequented the flower market and often read ABO genre literature.

He had read over a dozen ABO novels, where alphas, omegas, and discrimination against omegas reducing them to playthings were depicted. He had also seen numerous stories where alphas dominated the market.

In most of the stories, betas were numerous and unremarkable background characters.

But in this world, they had become a minority and a vulnerable group.

Chu Shici couldn’t understand it and didn’t bother to investigate further.

He didn’t care about the affairs of the Empire since Su Zheyan was currently trapped on the desolate star. The situation in the Empire had little to do with them.

Instead of pondering these things, he was more concerned about how to convince the male lead to take him along outside.

Every time Su Zheyan returned from outside, he wore a displeased expression.

Chu Shici thought that if he had someone by his side, Su Zheyan might feel a little better.

The system offered suggestions, but none of them worked.

At noon, a commotion of footsteps came from outside.

Chu Shici quickly turned off the broadcast and hid under the bookshelf.

Through the covers, he could hear the conversation of several men.

“This is the beta’s residence? Are you sure you saw him talking to the capsule before?”

“Could it be fake? I used a genuine military telescope. He was standing by the capsule, bowing his head and speaking to something inside. The distance was too far, so I couldn’t hear what he said clearly, but judging by his lip movements, he was definitely having a conversation with someone.”

Chu Shici hid under the bookshelf, feeling extremely conflicted.

Su Zheyan was a very vigilant person. He always checked his surroundings before entering the cabin to rest.

Never did he expect that, despite all precautions, he would be discovered because of the telescope.

Outside, a few people were still discussing.

A man clicked his tongue and said, “There must be someone hiding inside. A beta playing ‘Hidden Beauty in a Golden House.’ Do you think he might have hidden an omega?”

“I didn’t smell any pheromones. Probably just hiding a beta.”

“To have two betas in one go, the hidden one must be even more valuable. It could fetch a good price if sold.”

As they spoke, they pried open the transparent lid of the capsule.

One of the alphas crawled in and searched the interior of the capsule.

Chu Shici cowered in a corner, afraid of being discovered.

The alpha first took out several boxes of nutrient paste that Su Zheyan had stored, and then took away the machine oil he bought for Chu Shici.

Chu Shici gritted his teeth, feeling his heart bleed.

When they were almost done flipping the capsule, the men started reaching into the bookshelf.

One of them picked up a princess bed and disdainfully threw it aside. He picked up the male doll on the floor, glanced at it, and turned to his companion holding the lid, saying, “Look, what kind of things is this beta playing with?”

The man outside took the doll from him. “Who would play with this as an adult? Could it be that he hid a child inside the capsule? Tsk tsk, that would be a jackpot.”

The alpha continued rummaging through the bookshelf, while Chu Shici desperately tried to shrink back.

The man’s fingertips touched his body, and he made a puzzled sound, “There’s something here.”

He searched for a while but couldn’t find anything. In the end, he decided to move the entire bookshelf.

There was nothing valuable under the bookshelf, only a small robot wearing a princess dress.

The robot was an antique in platinum color, a toy from over a decade ago, lying motionless on the floor.

The man picked up the robot, tore off its princess dress, and opened the cover on its chest.

He found that there were no batteries inside and sighed with regret.

From above, his companion’s voice came, “This robot is quite an old relic. It doesn’t matter anyway. Let’s take it with us. We can see if anyone wants to buy it when we get back. Even at a low price, we can sell it for a few gold coins. Let’s bring the stuff back first, and tonight we’ll gather thirty people to come and capture those two betas.”

Chu Shici couldn’t fight back or escape.

He slumped his body, roughly held in someone’s hand.

The alpha walked back with his spoils, chatting and laughing, while Chu Shici followed, being shaken back and forth.

The capsule became smaller and smaller until it disappeared from sight.

At seven o’clock in the evening, Su Zheyan returned to the wilderness on time with supplies. He carried a bulging backpack on his back and held a new dressing box in his hand.

He approached the capsule and opened the transparent lid.

The robot didn’t greet him as usual, lying motionless inside the capsule. It was quiet, without a sound.

The sight before him was a mess, and the scent of the alpha still lingered in the air.

Su Zheyan stiffened for a moment, then quickly searched inside the capsule.

He searched everywhere, but there was nothing. It was all empty.

Su Zheyan stared blankly at the disarrayed capsule.

His robot had been stolen.

not noticeable

Remember it will also be mentioned in further chapters