When he saw that there were unexpectedly two people inside, and one of them was Edwin, Ji Zhaoyun paused and frowned, but he promptly ignored Edwin, looking towards Shao Ci. He said coldly, “What are you standing there for? Hurry up or you might as well just sleep here tonight.”
Without the slightest hesitation, he turned and left.
When Edwin saw Ji Zhaoyun’s attitude towards Shao Ci, he wanted to say something, but Shao Ci stopped him.
After Shao Ci rested for a bit, his energy was pretty much recovered to normal levels. He gave Edwin an apologetic glance. “Let’s talk another time.” He scurried out the door.
Edwin swallowed his half-asked question, watching their fading silhouettes. His gaze was several times colder than usual, and his hands were clenched tightly.
“Someone like this… How is someone like this good enough to stay by his side…”
–
In the aircar, Shao Ci suddenly remembered Ji Zhaoyun was Pei Shijian’s fanboy. He didn’t make Ji Zhaoyun angry by accidentally winning, did he? He felt a bit panicked.
“Congratulations on your victory.” Ji Zhaoyun glanced at him and said, “Although I was hoping Senior Pei would win, I wouldn’t do anything to you because of something like this. After all, your victory was genuine too.”
Shao Ci: “…!” Liar, you’re obviously the kind of guy that could even lay a trap for your biological brother! You even secretly plotted against a few of Pei Shijian’s enemies.
Still, when he thought about it, in the original novel Ji Zhaoyun was already head over heels for Pei Shijian, so it was normal that he was so lovesick. Now, he just worshipped Pei Shijian… so it was understandable that he wasn’t so crazy.
Shao Ci immediately let out a breath of relief. He decided to completely ignore that the person Ji Zhaoyun currently liked was Prince Latiao.
“By the way, how come you and that Edwin guy were together?” Ji Zhaoyun said casually. “He was always scowling at you until just a while ago, wasn’t he?”
You talk like you’re not always scowling yourself.
Shao Ci’s heart skipped a beat. “Oh, yeah, we just happened to met in the lounge…” Though the news about how Edwin got down on one knee would be spreading by tomorrow… Shao Ci guessed that with Ji Zhaoyun being how he was, he had probably never listened to gossip around the school, so he didn’t bother to explain (._.)
“Oh? I see.” Ji Zhaoyun snorted. “In any case, it doesn’t have anything to do with me. Still, that Edwin guy’s really doesn’t know his own limits. He actually went and confessed to my companion online. It’s just wishful thinking. If I’m wooing ahead of time, nobody will fall in love with someone like him.”
Shao Ci: “…” Hey, you and him are two of a kind, okay! And who was your companion, huh? Don’t be so confident.
“By the way, tonight, you don’t have to stay in that little room upstairs anymore. Just come down to eat,” Ji Zhaoyun said calmly. “With your performance these days, I think I should give you a bit of a promotion.”
Shao Ci: “…” Did Ji Zhaoyun’s favorability score rise a bit because they talked a bit about love problems?
He hoped Ji Zhaoyun would never find out the truth.
Dinner in the dining room was, as he expected, more delicious than the meals he had in his room. Shao Ci ate so happily that he was ready to cry. As he ate, he began to think about how to reply to Ji Zhaoyun on the virtual net.
After logging in, Shao Ci went to the school site to take a look first. Contrary to his expectations, there wasn’t a single thread about what Edwin did that day. There weren’t even any threads about Shao Ci. There were only a few threads about how unlucky Pei Shijian was.
After searching a bit, Shao Ci discovered that the keywords had actually been blocked.
Shao Ci: “…” He nearly forgot that Edwin was the crown prince’s younger cousin. Blocking out news like this was no problem at all.
After letting go of the burden in his heart, Shao Ci scurried over to fight a few rounds in the competition before going to find Edwin. This was pretty much his everyday activity by now.
After accumulating points over the last period of time, Prince Latiao’s points had climbed up to the top two hundred. With another hundred-some points, he could squeeze his way into the top hundred.
Other people could fight two or three rounds a day. They would need at least two months before they could collect a hundred-some points. But to Shao Ci, who wanted to fight in the arena every day, a hundred-some points was about what he could accumulate in a day. There were many people who both envied and admired him.
Because Edwin knew Shao Ci’s true identity now, he didn’t bother distorting his face and voice. He went directly to look for Edwin with his real face.
After he saw Shao Ci, Edwin just about sank into his happy place. He felt like he was a step closer to Shao Ci. Now, they could meet in both the real world and the virtual world every day. It was another step closer to his dreams.
If that damned hindrance Ji Zhaoyun didn’t exist, things would be perfect.
After they finished practicing together, Edwin and Shao Ci sat in the room together drinking tea, resting leisurely and taking the chance to chat.
“Why do you conceal your strength?” Edwin asked uncertainly. “With your strength, it’s clear that even at school you could be one of the strongest people, but why do you hide your identity? Those ignorant people even shame you for it.”
As soon as Edwin remembered how those people had jeered at Shao Ci, gloom began to swirl in his heart again. He wished he could get all of those people expelled. In truth, Edwin searched up news about Prince Latiao every day. Every time he saw something bad, he would find the person who posted it and bring them out for a beating.
“Oh, that.” Shao Ci sighed, putting on a desolate expression of a worldly gentleman. “I don’t want those people to know my identity… Because I just want to live my school life peacefully without any disturbances as a normal person, not as a prodigy.”
If someone else was saying something so pompous to Shao Ci, Shao Ci would definitely slap them, but when Edwin heard these words, his eyes sparkled. He sighed with emotion. “Indeed, someone like you naturally has different goals than someone as lowly as us.”
Shao Ci thought about what he had turned his entire mecha into for the sake of advertisement fees. It was totally super lowly, but Edwin was still lavishing praise in a frenzy… Shao Ci suddenly felt a little embarrassed. Even if he was more shameless he would feel a embarrassed, okay.
“Um, I also hoped to ask, what kind of relationship do you have with Ji Zhaoyun?” Edwin asked carefully. “I-I apologize, I must be terribly annoying. I already asked yesterday… but I still don’t understand why someone as beautiful and strong as you would stay by someone like him.”
Fuck, what was up with that sentence! The word “strong” was obviously enough! Edwin’s words nearly made Shao Ci spit out a mouthful of blood… It was his first time hearing someone use the word “beautiful” to describe him in all his years of living. The power of a fan’s rose-tinted glasses was simply terrifying.
“It’s nothing.” Shao Ci had just managed to get over the shock of those words. He absolutely wouldn’t say anything about how he was acting as a servant at the moment, so he explained, “You know too. Back then, I was expelled because of that thing. Ji Zhaoyun was the one who saved me, so to repay him, I stayed by his side to help him out.”
“Then you don’t have any way to leave?” Edwin said quickly. “If it’s about money, I can provide assistance, not matter how much money, it’s…”
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.
“Ktja’r cba cfmfrrjgs,” Vtjb Jl rjlv. “Olof lr qgfaas ubbv ilxf atlr. Ktfgf’r cb cffv obg j mtjcuf ja atf wbwfca.”
Ktf lwqbgajca atlcu kjr atja lo tf vlvc’a rajs jcv xffq jcv fsf bc Al Itjbsec, ktb xcfk lo tf wluta ub mgjhs jcv fzqbrf atf ageat atja tf kjr jc bwfuj.
“I see…” Edwin’s face fell.
Sure enough, he hadn’t done well enough. If he did enough, why wouldn’t Shao Ci pick him, and instead pick that Ji Zhaoyun guy?
It must be because that Ji Zhaoyun found out Shao Ci’s online identity and used it to force Shao Ci to stay with him. He was even shameless enough to put up ads to express his love. He obviously wanted to use it to pressure Shao Ci.
As Edwin went on an imagining spree, Shao Ci took the rest time to send Ji Zhaoyun a letter under Prince Latiao’s name.
In the letter, Shao Ci said that he liked people who were lowkey and strong. If Ji Zhaoyun could make it to the finals of the empire’s real-life mecha competition held every few years, then Shao Ci would consider dating him.
If Shao Ci remembered correctly, the real-life mecha competition would begin soon. It could also draw Ji Zhaoyun’s attention.
As for the stuff about the finals, Shao Ci knew very clearly that while Ji Zhaoyun was pretty strong, he wasn’t fully grown yet. It was impossible for him to make it to the finals.
After pressing the key to send the letter, Shao Ci couldn’t help feeling very clever.
He had spent enough time online. Shao Ci said a quick good-bye to Edwin and logged off.
Edwin stayed in his seat, looking at the cup Shao Ci had drank from. Unconsciously, he picked up the cup, pressing his lips to the edge of the cup gently.
Like this, it was as though he could touch the other person just as closely.
After some time, Edwin returned suddenly to his senses. The hand holding the cup trembled. “What did I just do…”
–
Everything that happened later went without a hitch.
The next day, when Shao Ci was still asleep in bed, Ji Zhaoyun dragged him up.
Shao Ci, still bleary, was pulled to the garden of the duke’s residence and began to train with Ji Zhaoyun.
“What’s with this?” Shao Ci yawned, looking dazedly at Ji Zhaoyun.
“I need to make it into the finals of the mecha tournament. To achieve that goal, I have to start training now.” Ji Zhaoyun gritted his teeth. “I’ll become an alpha worthy of him.”
Shao Ci: “!” Fuck, Ji Zhaoyun was really going all out for the sake of a letter. It looked like he was really serious…
Although Shao Ci felt complicated, things progressed smoothly. As expected, Ji Zhaoyun forgot about those lousy online confessions and switched his focus to training for the real-life mecha competition. He even took any time he could get during break time at school to practice with mechas.
Because Shao Ci had told Edwin not to look for him and be a little more lowkey, Edwin had no choice but to keep himself hidden upstairs.
Seeing Shao Ci pressed to close to Ji Zhaoyun, Edwin’s heart filled with envy, but he couldn’t tell Shao Ci how he felt. He could only use his terminal to take pictures of Shao Ci training.
Though nobody could talk about how Edwin got down on one knee online, everyone pretty much understood what had happened, and their attitudes towards Shao Ci changed greatly. Instead of their previous disdain, they would avoid him if they saw him from a distance, like he was a landmine that would explode with the slightest touch.
Although Shao Ci found it a bit weird, it was fine as long as it was convenient for him. In any case, their attitudes wouldn’t affect him at all.
Shao Ci attended classes in the morning and trained in his free time. At night, he fought in the virtual mecha competition. A dozen days passed as such, and his body was finally much stronger than before… Still, “much stronger” was only relative to his previous strength. After all, omegas were born with limited physical strength. Even if he was impressive, he couldn’t train himself up to an alpha’s level.
Shao Ci’s goal was to achieve the strength of a beta.
And in the virtual world, Prince Latiao had finally succeeded in making it to the top hundred in the virtual mecha competition. It was enough to enter the finals that would be beginning soon.
Shao Ci didn’t know how many matches he had fought. He encountered terrifying opponents several times.
But they were only terrifying to other people. To Shao Ci, they weren’t very strong, and after several days of combat, Shao Ci’s strength increased rapidly. He was solidly undefeated.
Unwittingly, the number of Prince Latiao’s fans skyrocketed. There were many crazy fanboys and fangirls who would praise Prince Latiao madly at all kinds of different places. There were even people who claimed that Prince Latiao’s strength was already in the top ten, and that as long as he was given time, he would certainly be able to take first prize.
Because of his fans’ words, fans of other competitors were indignant. They would begin to argue time and time again. But even if they slandered Prince Latiao, they could only attack his name and the ads on his mecha. They didn’t have the nerve to slander Prince Latiao’s strength. After all, Prince Latiao’s strength was obvious to anyone with eyes.
Everyone asked Prince Latiao to get a social account for publicty, but Shao Ci felt that it would expose his identity, so he didn’t show any signs of making one.
During this period of time, Prince Latiao’s ad-filled mecha actually became a new trend. Many young people stamped a mess of words on their own mechas, feeling very stylish.
The first person to imitate him was actually Edwin.
Once, Shao Ci went to watch one of Edwin’s matches. When he sat into the stands and saw Edwin’s mecha, he nearly spat out a mouthful of blood.
The kinds of mechas that Edwin piloted were all stylish and bougie. They all made him seem extremely rich and cool.
But now, although he was still using expensive mechas, his coolness was completely gone. There were a bunch of words printed on his mecha, and looking carefully they were all, shockingly enough, Prince Latiao’s name… Edwin even had a design of Shao Ci’s mecha stamped on his mecha…
This was no longer at the level of someone without a sense of beauty. It was simply offending the eye. It was terrible to look at. It was as hair-raising as a brainless fan’s work.
No… Edwin was a crazy fanboy to begin with.
It was the first time, Shao Ci, as the person printed on Edwin’s mecha, felt so ashamed of his nickname…
And he finally realized how hideous his own mecha was when he piloted it out. Even so, Shao Ci wouldn’t change!
The surrounding crowd was actually used to the terrible style of Edwin’s mecha. Shao Ci had to ask around a bit before he found out that Edwin was actually the president of Prince Latiao’s fanclub. He was the one who started many trends.
Shao Ci: “…” In some ways, Edwin was really terrifying.
Because Edwin didn’t choose to hide his identity, the view of the inside of his cockpit was projected directly onto the screen in the middle of the arena.
Everyone could see clearly that Edwin was wearing a school uniform. His handsome face was cold and he looked at his opponent carelessly, as though he didn’t take his opponent seriously at all.
His opponent was infuriated by Edwin’s gaze instantly. He pulled out his weapon, rushing him furiously.
“Too weak.” Edwin shook his head, but he thought of Shao Ci. “If it was that person, his movements wouldn’t be so slow.” After fighting with Shao Ci, these people’s strength was nothing to him. “If it was that person, he would already be in front of me…”
Edwin’s mind was filled with the scene of Shao Ci teaching him. He didn’t have any patience for the fight before his eyes and stabbed through his opponent’s cockpit without the slightest hesitation.
“Fighting with people like this is simply a waste of my time,” Edwin thought coldly.
–
Shao Ci almost felt like he couldn’t recognize that this was the same Edwin that had been following him recently. After all, the way Edwin acted with him was too different from the way he acted with other people.
When the match ended, the two of them met up in front of Edwin’s house.
“I saw your match just now,” Shao Ci said.
Edwin was stunned. His face flushed red. He said clumsily, “I-I… Just now I didn’t even perform very well. You actually saw such a failure…”
“It’s okay, I think you’re great,” Shao Ci said. “You were really cool when you were fighting, your opponent couldn’t match up to you at all.”
Shao Ci really felt that way. Besides, in the original novel, Edwin was truly strong. Moreover, he was currently even more powerful than Pei Shijian… He rescued Shao Ci who nearly had to go have Pei Shijian as his capture target.
Edwin froze. He felt like something had struck him right in the heart.
H-he had been praised by Shao Ci. Edwin felt like there would never be another moment so happy again. He didn’t react for a long time, his deep green eyes filled with joy. He looked at Shao Ci earnestly. “Thank you very much. That you approve of me… I’m incredibly happy.”
He was so happy that he would rather this moment never ended.
After he logged off, Edwin opened his eyes within the nutrient cabin.
The room that was once bare and plain, now had pictures pasted all over the walls. The person in every one of the pictures was, naturally, Shao Ci.
The pictures were all pictures that Edwin had taken of Shao Ci behind his back recently. He had taken so many, but he couldn’t bear to delete any of them.
Edwin crawled out of the nutrient cabin and walked over to the wall. There was a live-size picture of Shao Ci. It was as though he was really there.
Edwin reached out and pressed his hand to where Shao Ci’s hand was. He rested his forehead against the wall, his eyes full of infatuation.
In the next moment, he caught sight of Ji Zhaoyuan in the corner of the picture.
“There’s always some people in the way who shouldn’t exist…” His eyes turned as cold as ice. “It’s obvious that having me alone at his side is enough. There’s no need for anyone extra.”
–
A few days later, the finals of the virtual mecha competition began.
The finals were different from the preliminary competitions. It was no longer a point system. Instead, everyone was divided into ten groups, and within the groups everyone would fight with each other to select the best results. In the end, the ten remaining people would enter the real finals.
At this point, every contestant would earn five percent of the earnings from ticket to their matches. Though the people at this ranking typically didn’t value that little bit of money, it was still a symbol of glory.
Shao Ci felt great emotion for the officials’ sense. Although he was already a wealthy man with a million empire coins, this little bit of money was nothing on the capital planet.
If he didn’t have this many opponents, Shao Ci would wish that he could fight a dozen matches every day.
But Edwin gave up on the chance to participate in the finals. Recently, he had less and less interest in fighting with these people. He might as well say that other than fighting with Shao Ci, everything was dull.
Edwin felt that rather than wasting his time on the competition, he should just take the time to watch Shao Ci compete and let himself get a bit more excited.
Of course, it would be worth celebrating if he got to fight Shao Ci in the finals, but Edwin didn’t want to become an obstacle in Shao Ci’s path forward. Even if it was unlikely to be in the same group was small, he wasn’t willing to take that chance.
All contestants were required to attend the opening ceremony of the finals. Normally, many contestants who never appeared in public would show their true faces. After all, this was something honorable.
Of course, if they didn’t want to reveal themselves they could put on a mosaic.
Shao Ci really, really wanted to show off in front of so many people, but he absolutely couldn’t reveal his identity, so he had to reluctantly put on a mosaic, feeling like the entire world had turned gloomy.
Everyone was disappointed. They had thought that they could see Prince Latiao’s real face. They started guessing why Prince Latiao was hiding his identity.
What the people of the empire prized the most was strength. Even if someone was ugly, everyone would accept it. Out of the people who entered the finals, there were several unattractive contestants, but they still had plenty of fans.
So there weren’t many people who guessed that Prince Latiao had a mosaic to hide his face. Most people thought that he had an identity that he couldn’t publicize, like being a noble or a member of the imperial family or something.
But Pei Shijian felt that it was about time, and revealed his own face at the finals.
Immediately, the crowd began to stir. Nobody had expected God Time to be such a handsome man. His every smile had an affect on their hearts.
If he was strong, fine, but being strong and being so attractive, and being so attractive while still being so young, this was hard to come by! Pei Shijian quickly gained a sizable number of fans.
At the empire’s military institute, the students were also stupefied. The people at the school would naturally pay attention to the virtual mecha competition, and they all had their own favored contestants. Because of his broken techniques, God Time had naturally gained many of them as fans.
Now that everyone knew Pei Shijian was actually the legendary God Time, they were completely and utterly stunned.
Those who didn’t get how Pei Shijian became close friends with Edwin suddenly understood. They must have met at a match… Damn it! They wanted to be God Time’s bro too!
When Shao Ci went to school the next day, he spotted Pei Shijian in the middle of a crowd. Everyone was staring at him with admiration, asking for autographs one after another and lavishing praise on him.
But Pei Shijian’s expression was as calm as always. He looked at everyone with a slight smile. “Guys, there’s no need to hurry. Let’s take it slow. I’ll sign an autograph for everyone. I just got lucky, I’m not that strong. There’s no need to care so much about me either.”
His gentle manner allowed many of them to sink into the trap. With the addition of Pei Shijian’s protagonist halo, he gained several people who were willing to act as his underlings in seconds.
But when Shao Ci walked over, everyone’s gazes turned strange. Everyone knew that after Shao Ci first jeered at Pei Shijian there was no way for him to come back out with his head held high, but Shao Ci went straight to give them a slap in their faces.
But in the few days before at the combat training lesson, Shao Ci won over Pei Shijian with sheer dumb luck. Although the process was amusing, it wouldn’t change the result of the victory.
When they thought about how this useless beta had managed to use such a reason to be victorious over their amazing God Time, everyone’s mood turned complicated.
Someone who could enter the finals of the virtual mecha competition wasn’t a normal person. There were numerous strong people vying for a spot. Moreover, Pei Shijian was just a student. It was easy to imagine his bright future.
After a short internal struggle, nobody could be bothered to pay attention to Shao Ci. They continued to praise Pei Shijian. Who had the time to care about a passerby? It was more important to built a good relationship with Pei Shijian, who seemed easy to talk to.
But Edwin was hidden away, watching them ignore Shao Ci as such. His fingers were practically digging into the post. When the surroundings cleared of people, he finally rushed down to Shao Ci. “Don’t bother with those people. They don’t have an eye for talent. To me, you’re the most amazing.”
“I don’t care, but shouldn’t you go congratulate Pei Shijian a little?” Shao Ci said. “Recently I think you and Pei Shijian haven’t been spending as much time together.”
Edwin looked as though he had just realized something. “Oh, I’ve always been paying attention to you recently. I forgot about communicating with him for a while.”
Edwin spent most of his time salivating over Shao Ci’s videos and pictures. Where would he find the time to go talk with Pei Shijian?
Shao Ci was stunned. “!” Hey, is this really no big deal?
–
In the most central region of the capital planet, Ji Zhaoyuan was sitting next to the window, his head lowered and his eyes focused on the papers on Prince Latiao that he was holding.
After an investigation by his subordinates, while the materials on Prince Latiao were significantly greater than before, there was still nothing on his true identity. They could only get reports about his mecha piloting habits, what kind of ads he liked (…), and all kinds of completely useless things.
When he thought about how his little brother had actually come out of the closet on the virtual net a few days ago, and that the person he had come out of the closet for was Prince Latiao, Ji Zhaoyuan felt his head ache.
The duke and duchess were both travelling on other planets, but Ji Zhaoyuan couldn’t go back home because of business. He didn’t expect that just leaving his little brother alone for a month would give him the chance to make such a big mess. Ji Zhaoyuan had no idea how he would face his parents.
Why would his little brother, who didn’t take a second glance at anyone lower than him, suddenly fall in love with an alpha of unknown identity? What in the world happened when Ji Zhaoyuan was gone?
Even His Highness the Crown Prince was focused on news about that person… Ji Zhaoyuan suddenly had a thought. His own little brother wouldn’t become His Highness the Crown Prince’s enemy by accident, would he?
No, it was impossible. Even if His Highness the Crown Prince paid more attention to Prince Latiao recently, how could anyone like someone who didn’t even show his face? He must be thinking too much.
After he finished thinking, Ji Zhaoyuan furrowed his eyebrows and looked down at his hands. “You can only find this much? Who in the world is this Prince Latiao? There are even such open permissions. It can’t be that even the central computer can’t find him?”
“We have no way to search the central computer or find the details of his location,” the subordinate bent on one knee at the side said hurriedly. “But we finally did everything possible and locked onto his approximate location. This shouldn’t be wrong.”
“Oh? Go ahead and say it.” Ji Zhaoyuan raised an eyebrow, looking over.
“Prince Latiao’s location is exactly in the direction of the capital planet’s academic district. But we couldn’t find any more details,” the subordinate said.
“Very good, he’s actually over there… That Prince Latiao must be a student here.” Ji Zhaoyuan glanced in the direction of the academic district. “There are only a few schools there. Finding one person is still so difficult?”
When he thought about his little brother, who was still in the academic district, Ji Zhaoyuan suddenly realized that Prince Latiao might have connections with his little brother in reality.
“It looks like I need to make a trip personally.”
thanks for the chapter! <3
Thank you for the chapter 😊😊😊😊😊
When he thought about his little brother, who was still in the academic district,\ Ji Zhaoyun\ suddenly realized that Prince Latiao might have connections with his little brother in reality.
you forgot the a.
also, thank you!!!!!~ ^^
Wait, the image of Edwin digging his nails into the wall reminded me of an aggrieved retro shoujo villainess… with eye sparkles and all (≧▽≦)
Thanks for the update! 💕
Hey! Shao Ci here comes another one to befriend~🙂
Thanks for the chapter<3
+1 😂
<3
Thanks for the update 💕
_(´ཀ
」∠)_ finally got to eat meat after staking out for the night....anyway Edwin and the crown prince sure are related like wow dude make a left turn and go see a psychiatrist after you leave home in the mornings...but shao ci baby is still cute as always.... can't wait to see how all these misunderstandings play out (´∩≧ω≦∩) *hehe*Thank you for the chapter
Thanks for the chapter! ^^)❤
Thanks for the chapter <3
Thank you for the chapter YanYan!
Edwin’s actions makes me feel nervous about him… 👀💧 Good luck Shao Ci.
WOw…I can smell the dog blood now…
Thanks for the chapter~
Edwin has become a crazy fanboy jsjdndndnxndnxnxnxs If ever Shao Ci will end up in the hands of Roris, I doubt he’ll escape from that possessive person so easily kskssksj
Idk but my favorability points towards PSJ’s only 25 pts. at most lmfao
Thank you so muchhhhh!!! You worked hard! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧
Edwin was actually a crazy masochist stalker😂