CH 10

Tonight in the wilderness, it seems unusually quiet.

Su Zheyan was already accustomed to solitude, but these days, the nights were too lively. Every time he came home, the little robot would come out to greet him, running around and making noise by his side.

Now that the robot was gone, the loneliness became unbearable.

The dust on the wilderness had a life of its own; they were constantly moving at an extremely slow pace.

They would devour corpses and swallow footprints.

Su Zheyan walked around the capsule several times, but the footprints had completely disappeared. There was no trace of anyone else ever being there.

Betas were not sensitive to pheromones, so he couldn’t sniff out how many people were involved from the residual scent. Let alone using pheromones to identify the person.

Now there was only one option left: go directly to the nearest town and participate in the night market. The people who stole the robot were definitely going to sell it, and by going there multiple times, he might be able to run into them.

However, when the night market opened, thousands of alphas would swarm into the town for revelry. The night would stimulate their instincts, making them more irritable. They would fight, kill each other, and even the slightly weaker alphas would avoid entering the town at night.

In the end, the Desolate Star was just a prison specifically for death row inmates, and the law of the jungle was the only rule here.

On the first night he was exiled here, Su Zheyan inadvertently stumbled into the night market.

He saw three weak alphas tied up on the road, used as punching bags. One box of nutrient paste could get you a turn, and the vendor provided the knives. In less than half an hour, the three alphas transformed from living beings into skeletons.

There were also entertainment poles nearby, where people were hung up, and for five coins, you could play with them for ten minutes.

There were many similar amusement activities, and the screams echoed in Su Zheyan’s ears.

The scene he had witnessed that night resurfaced in his mind, with tens of thousands of alphas and only one beta, and if he were captured alive…

Su Zheyan held onto the capsule, his heart pounding fiercely. He didn’t want to admit it, but he truly didn’t dare to go to the night market.

The residual pheromones in the air were dissipating, and Su Zheyan stood at the edge of the capsule, looking in the direction of the city. He stared for a long time before turning back into the capsule.

It was quiet inside the capsule, and as he tidied up the mess, he comforted himself.

It was just a robot after all, and he didn’t need to take such a big risk for an antique toy. The robot was alive, and if it wanted to come back, who knows, it might be able to find its way back on its own.

Su Zheyan remained calm and rearranged the interior of the capsule.

His gaze fell on the last item, which was the princess bed he had just assembled this morning, but now it was shattered.

He placed the bed back on the bookshelf, lifted the pink blanket, and found it empty. There was nothing inside.

Tonight was so quiet, and he suddenly felt a bit lonely.

Su Zheyan reminisced about the scenes of their time together these past few days.

The robot would sleep on his chest every night and was afraid to be alone at home. It always wanted to go out with him during the day. It was evident that this little thing had a timid nature and couldn’t be separated from its owner. Being suddenly taken away, it must be terrified and crying uncontrollably.

Crying outside wouldn’t garner any comfort from anyone. If the robot ran out of power while crying, would it die?

Su Zheyan suppressed the peculiar feelings in his heart. What did the life or death of a tin toy have to do with him?

…

The nights on Desolate Star were far livelier than the daytime. Monsters roamed outside the city walls, while the city itself was brightly lit.

The night market was filled with criminals who had no outlet for their energy. Along the streets, many vendors shouted loudly, selling things they had stolen or snatched.

Since being brought into the city, Chu Shici was casually thrown into a box. There were other things placed on top of him, making it impossible for him to escape.

Everyone had left, and it was quiet outside.

He had spent the whole afternoon playing against the system until 9 p.m., when he once again heard voices.

The voices were familiar, the same alphas from before.

Listening to their conversation, it seemed like they had gathered a group of 30 people. However, most of them were still wandering around the night market. They agreed to disperse at 2 a.m. and then gather in the wilderness to capture a beta. If the beta looked good, they would all play together. If not, they would sell it directly and split the coins.

Once everyone had left, Chu Shici tugged at the cover above him but couldn’t push it open, no matter how hard he tried.

He became frantic, spinning in circles. “This is bad, this is bad! Yan-ge looks so good, he can’t fall into the hands of these people.”

The system leisurely sipped its tea. [I’ve already told you it’s a wholesome story, not a smutty one. Why are you panicking?]

“Even with 30 of them? Can my Yan-ge handle it?”

[The protagonist’s overall combat power is off the charts. He’s quite formidable.]

Hearing the system’s words, he breathed a sigh of relief. Indeed, a protagonist in a wholesome story didn’t need him to worry.

The system asked Chu Shici about his plans. After thinking for a moment, Chu Shici said, “I plan to sneak back. I’ve been memorizing the route since I arrived. As long as I get a chance, I can fly back to Yan-ge.”

[Do you think he will come to rescue you?]

Chu Shici hesitated a bit and replied, “There are so many alphas here, and he only has 25 vitality points. Can he take the risk to come and save me?”

[True.]

Although he said that, he still had a small glimmer of hope that the male lead would come to rescue him.

That hope disappeared completely when Chu Shici was taken to participate in the night market.

He lay on the stall with the other goods, watching the horrifying scenes on the street, wishing for the male lead to come quickly.

The stall owner was busy organizing the stolen merchandise on the stall, shouting loudly, “Robot dolls, princess dress-up kits, figurines, all kinds of toys for sale! Just give money!”

Next to him was a slingshot game booth, where the owner had made slingshots. An alpha was tied up in a spread-eagle position on the wall, struggling desperately. Five coins for ten shots, and there were corresponding prizes displayed on the shelf.

As soon as Chu Shici was placed on the stall, the owner of the slingshot shop bought him for seven coins. The stall owner stuffed him into the prize shelf, and not far away, there was a list of rewards.

A third prize for drawing blood, a second prize for blinding an eye, and a first prize for killing.

After watching a few rounds, Chu Shici was on the verge of tears.

The system comforted him, [It’s okay. According to the setting, alphas exiled to Desolate Star aren’t good people. At the very least, they have killed a dozen or so people to be sent here.]

“It’s not tears of sympathy. I’m crying out of fear.”

[Coincidentally, I’m also crying out of fear.]

Because the people nearby were too terrifying, Chu Shici didn’t dare to make a sound while crying.

The stall owner was applying medicine to the man on the wall, hoping to keep him alive longer and earn more money. His gaze happened to fall on the new prize shelf not far away and suddenly noticed something was amiss.

There were two bright black lines on the robot’s face, indicating that its eyes were leaking oil.

The stall owner took out a cloth and wiped it, but the robot continued to drip oil.

Unable to figure out what went wrong, he simply placed the robot and the battery side by side and announced, “Special offer! Buy a battery and get a matching robot toy for free!”

Chu Shici: …

Suddenly, he felt even sadder.

In the midst of his sadness, the stall owner and a passerby bargaining with him got into a fight. They stabbed each other with knives, splattering blood all over the onlookers’ faces.

Several hot-tempered alphas joined the brawl, causing a moment of chaos.

Taking advantage of the situation, Chu Shici slipped away, stealing three batteries before leaving.

Holding the batteries in his arms, his wheels spun rapidly under his feet. He moved like an agile little mouse, navigating through the crowd of people in the midst of the chaos.

He couldn’t take it anymore; he wanted to go home and find Yan-ge.

From somewhere above, a severed hand fell and landed right beside Chu Shici’s feet. He was startled, his heart pounding, and quickly turned his head to dart into a nearby alley.

The alley was dimly lit, and Chu Shici quietly made his way along the wall.

Several alphas were chatting inside the alley, oblivious to the small palm-sized robot.

Carefully bypassing them, Chu Shici listened to the sounds around him.

A man handed a bottle of nutrient solution to his companion.

“At noon, I heard from the delivery person that Eternal Life Technology has developed a ‘beta to AO transformation technology.’ It allows the exiled criminals who disguised their gender to join the military to leave this place by choosing to transform into alphas. In the future, if other betas are found violating the rules by joining the military, they can also choose to undergo a gender transformation to escape punishment.”

“Are they granting amnesty to all betas?”

“Only those who violated the rules by joining the military. It doesn’t apply to those who committed murder or rape.”

His companion clicked his tongue, “There weren’t many betas sent here in the first place, and in a few more years, it’ll be all about alphas. Eternal Life Technology really does all kinds of business. I heard they even developed some kind of artificial baby-making technology before, so that even AA and OO can have offspring.”

“Gene incubation technology.”

“Yeah, they create babies entirely through instruments and incubation chambers. If you ask me, it’s not flesh that came out of a mother’s womb, so what’s the difference from creating artificial humans? They’re just a bunch of crap.”

While they were conversing, Chu Shici had already sneaked up to the last person’s feet.

Just as he was about to successfully escape, the person suddenly changed his stance and accidentally bumped into Chu Shici, causing him to fall down.

The man murmured, “Seems like I kicked something.”

He looked down and said, “It’s a toy? Didn’t expect to find some money here.”

Chu Shici darted up, holding the batteries, and turned around, rushing back to the main street.

Behind him, several men shouted, “It’s a robot, and he took three batteries! Catch him!”

The main street was in chaos, and Chu Shici swiftly maneuvered through the crowd.

After running for who knows how long, just when he was about to reach his limit, a pair of black military boots suddenly blocked his path.

Before Chu Shici could react, his small form was caught by a cool hand and gently stuffed into a pocket.

“If you manage to lose yourself again, I won’t want you anymore.”

Hearing the familiar voice, Chu Shici’s eyes brightened. He was about to peek out, but a finger forcefully pushed him back down.

As they approached the city gate, someone stopped Su Zheyan, saying, “Why don’t you have any pheromones? Are you a beta?”

Su Zheyan’s tone was cold. “I’m not.”

“You really are a beta! Quick, there’s a b…”

Taking advantage of the commotion, Chu Shici poked his head out and happened to see Su Zheyan swiftly dispatching an alpha with his knife.

Su Zheyan felt someone tugging on his finger, so he opened his pocket and looked down. The mud-covered robot had a face filled with admiration as it gazed at him.

Su Zheyan narrowed his eyes and sneered, “Look at what I’m doing, you filthy thing.”

【Vitality +3, Current vitality: 28/100】