This bird was still quite smug.

 

Thank you NyxVervaine for the ko-fi donation!

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In accordance with the previous promise, after the space jump, the tyrant Kaide had to be released.

 

The release point was set in a neutral zone between the Empire and the Federation, called the “Northwest Interstellar Freight Trade Market,” also known as the “Interstellar Ghost Market.”

 

It sounded mysterious, but it was really just a place to sell things. Especially meat, vegetables, fruits—ship after ship brought them in, with buyers lining up from Gate 1 all the way to Gate 999, twenty-four hours a day, making it a veritable city that never slept.

 

The reason for such prosperity was simple—

 

No high tariffs, and quality goods at low prices.

 

The Federation didn’t have many planets, but it excelled in pasture conditions, making it highly suitable for livestock and farming. Thus, 80% of these fresh foods came from the Federation, with the Empire as their destination.

 

However, even cheap veal, once it reached the Capital, would be marked up layer by layer, eventually ending up on shelves as a luxury that ordinary people could only gaze at longingly.

 

Who was to blame?

 

Blame those noble parasites.

 

Eye of Horus was scheduled to dock for five and a half hours. After two consecutive days of flight, everyone’s bones felt lazy—they absolutely had to go down and look around.

 

Bai Ling didn’t stop them, but he was also worried about unnecessary complications, so he had them split into groups and go out at staggered times, to avoid clustering together and drawing attention.

 

He returned to his quarters to get a jacket.

 

The moment he opened the door, he saw a robust back, half-bare. A greenish-blue striped silk-cotton shirt ran from the fingertips all the way up to the shoulders, covering the sexy seventh —a pity, really.

 

Bai Ling didn’t make a sound. He simply crossed his arms and leaned against the doorframe to enjoy the view.

 

The man tugged at his collar, slipping his hand inside and sweeping up all that abundant golden hair. As the ends of his hair swayed, as if sensing something, he looked back over his shoulder. His features were dignified and elegant, adding a touch of restraint to this intimate scene.

 

Like pulling a horse back from the brink of a cliff.

 

Also like looking at erotic paintings in the Metropolitan Museum, knowing full well there were people all around, yet feeling a secret surge within.

 

Unfortunately, Bai Ling’s gaze was too direct, and the subject of the painting saw through it in an instant.

 

“Come over for a hug?” Yu Chen raised an eyebrow.

 

Bai Ling certainly wasn’t going to be polite with him. He pounced straight into the wardrobe, rumpling the freshly ironed shirt and disrupting that air of detachment.

 

“What a temper…” Yu Chen laughed, gave his ass a pat, and indulged him as he clamped his prosthetic legs around him, hanging on.

 

The old man straightened his waist, braced his arm against the compartment panel, and stood up from the floor-to-ceiling wardrobe. Hangers clattered to the ground, but Bai Ling paid no mind—he just clung to his neck, burying his face in the golden hair, taking small, shallow breaths.

 

Like a hummingbird diving headfirst into nectar.

 

Before long, he was dizzy and had completely forgotten why he’d come.

 

Yu Chen pinched Bai Ling’s chin and examined him carefully: “You’ve been a bit excited when you see me lately?”

 

“No, I haven’t.” A warm, nasal reply.

 

“Yes, you have.”

 

It was the same when he’d come to pick him up before. Like a little dog seeing a meaty bone, rushing over starving for a few bites, tail practically pointing to the sky.

 

Bai Ling’s head was hazy and hot. He made an excuse for himself: “They sent me to negotiate with you.”

 

The old man knew the routine well and asked, feigning ignorance: “Mm, what benefits are you preparing to trade?”

 

The other’s core strength was good. He could hold him without effort. But after maintaining the position for a while, Bai Ling inexplicably felt his lower back ache. He relaxed his thighs and slid down, his body tipping forward like a boneless bird, resting on the male’s shoulder and saying:

 

“Your bath is out of water. Since you’re so dehydrated, why not let me moisturize your scales…”

 

Before he could finish, his forehead was tapped by a long finger.

 

“Not now.”

 

Bai Ling rested his head on his shoulder, his slender brows knitting: “You’re getting off the ship?”

 

Yu Chen held him with one arm, took a couple of steps forward, and like handling a life-sized doll, pressed him into a single-seater sofa. Only after everything was properly arranged did he casually begin buttoning up:

 

“I’m going to buy meat. And need to pick up some fresh vegetables.”

 

What a strange conversation.

 

Bai Ling curled his lip. How bizarre—an emperor, personally going out to select meats and such.

 

Is this what an upper-class male’s quality life looked like?

 

He will make him lower-class.

 

Bai Ling stretched out his leg to hook at the ankle, but Yu Chen’s shin bone was too hard. He remained utterly unmoved.

 

Bai Ling ground his teeth, ready to bristle:

 

“I’ve already delivered myself all ready for you. Don’t turn down a toast only to drink a forfeit.”

 

Yu Chen paused in adjusting his cuff. He rested his hand on the back of the burgundy velvet sofa chair, leaning down with an overwhelming sense of pressure.

 

He narrowed his eyes: “How exactly did you ‘get ready’? Come clean, start to finish.”

 

Bai Ling deliberately looked away, unwilling to meet his eyes.

 

Yu Chen straightened up, his gaze cooling by two degrees. He knew this bird too well, the moment his feathers twitched, he could tell whether it was for cuddling or mating.

 

This anxious—definitely another case of…

 

Yu Chen grabbed his wrist, hoisted him up in an instant, and reached into his pocket. Sure enough, he pulled out a blister pack of zinc-coated tablets. With a snap, the pills were tossed onto the table beside them, bumping against a shallow fruit dish.

 

“Spit it out.” He ordered without mercy.

 

“What?” Bai Ling was a little flustered.

 

Yu Chen simply sat down, pinched the thin porcelain dish, tilted it, and longans and lychees scattered.

 

With his knuckle, he pushed the dish forward and looked up, instructing flatly: “Spit it here. I need to clearly see the shape of the pill.”

 

Just in case this bird pretended to comply and gave him the runaround.

 

“It’s not like… do you really have to react this much? It’s not poison.” Bai Ling’s fingertips trembled slightly as he stealthily shuffled back on his heels.

 

“I believe I warned you before. No more of these pills.”

 

His reproductive tract was already damaged, and randomly taking medication would only make things more disordered. If he didn’t take his body seriously, it needed to be corrected.

 

Strict education, preventing the female from developing bad habits from a young age—that was the guardian’s responsibility.

 

Yu Chen couldn’t let it slide.

 

“…I don’t want to.” A wave of heat spread from his lower abdomen throughout his body. Bai Ling trembled with shame. “Forcing me to spit out what’s in my stomach in front of you. What kind of behavior is that?”

 

So humiliating… It almost felt like laying his insides bare for examination.

 

His knuckles rapped the tabletop. Yu Chen pressed him: “Hurry up. My patience is limited.”

 

With the docking window so short, he needed to go out early to shop. Only by buying fresh, good-quality meat could he keep this bird fed.

 

Bai Ling’s expression wavered, his eyes darting around as a torrent of curses ran through his mind.

 

He was just considering whether to sweet-talk his way out of this first, when he saw the old beast stand up, remove his thumb ring as he walked, and set it gently on the table with a click. A sound that violently jolted Bai Ling’s nerves.

 

Bai Ling wanted to bolt immediately. His survival instinct had already carried him a meter away, but he still couldn’t escape the fate of being dragged back.

 

You can’t imagine how much of a bastard that fish was.

 

In an instant, he’d pinch open your cheeks, shove his thick knuckle to the back of your throat, and in that moment, you could even taste the whorls of his fingerprint.

 

Bai Ling’s lips and teeth trembled as his eyelids uncontrollably rolled upward, but what flashed through his mind at that moment wasn’t the finger—it was something else far worse.

 

And that merman had the nerve to sigh: “Just like catching a puppy eating something it shouldn’t.”

 

Bai Ling gagged and vomited. Yu Chen caught it with the dish. He hadn’t eaten much today, so all that came out was saliva. Hot, sticky clear fluid wrapped around a white pill with melted edges.

 

Yu Chen instructed the little robot to come over, collect the dish, and clean up.

 

Everything proceeded in an orderly manner.

 

Yu Chen told him: “If you want to do it in the future, I can take precautions.”

 

Bai Ling’s breath caught, and he reflexively dug his nails into his palm: “I don’t like that… I don’t want to have a barrier contact with you.”

 

He sounded a little wronged.

 

Yu Chen, always indulgent with him, coaxed: “There’s no real difference.”

 

Bai Ling bit his lip, his breathing uneven: “There is a difference!… Just think of it as me having psychological issues. I always have to distinguish you from them.”

 

The most moving words were simply—you are the most special.

 

Faced with such straightforwardness from his young lover, all that effortless composure turned into boundless indulgence.

 

Yu Chen was silent for a moment, quietly making a certain decision.

 

Imperial biotechnology was highly advanced. There were plenty of egg-prevention methods, not necessarily starting with the omega…

 

Seeing that he didn’t speak, Bai Ling hurriedly looked up at him.

 

The old man wiped his hands with a pocket handkerchief. A bit of a clean freak, but not much; mostly he just valued ceremonial rituals done in stages. Next, he pressed Bai Ling over his knee, loosened his trousers, and landed a smack on the bird’s ass.

 

The bird convulsed and fluttered, his upper body arching up only to be pressed back down by the palm of his hand.

 

“This is punishment.”

 

Then, he slipped his hand inside the waistband, following the curve, delving deeper. His elegant golden hair fell as his voice lowered beside Bai Ling’s ear:

 

“This is reward.”

 

He slowly curled his fingers.

 

A stick, then a carrot. The room was silent, only the faint wet sound was barely audible. Gradually, Bai Ling’s boots scraped and rubbed against the mahogany floor, whining and whimpering without cease.

 

Afterward, Bai Ling went to the weapons bay to look for a gun, his steps still a little unsteady.

 

Sava saw him and let out a wolf whistle: “How did the business deal go through, Captain?”

 

“Go through my ass,” Bai Ling said flatly, no filter whatsoever. “Got played.”

 

The Captain had just walked in and promptly backed right out again.

 

He began to question whether he should really be working in an environment full of omegas—after all, alphas and omegas were different.

 

Indeed, he was still more comfortable with alphas…

 

---

 

Since Yu Chen was going down to the market, Bai Ling naturally took on the security duty himself.

 

He strapped all kinds of weapons around his waist and attached micro-bombs to the joints of his prosthetics, as if he wanted to wear the entire arsenal on his body.

 

Yu Chen seemed to want to say something but held back, and finally said: “You have plenty of space in there.”

 

“Of course. Back when I was lying in the trenches, I used to hang a thermos in my prosthetic limb. The whole battalion watched me eat hot porridge.”

 

This bird was still quite smug.

 

Yu Chen mused to himself. This one had been scared into a nervous wreck by getting shot. He took the bulletproof vest Bai Ling tossed over, and for the first time, put it on regardless of whether it matched his outfit aesthetically.

 

The 16-layer anti-penetration vest made of ballistic nylon weighed six kilograms.

 

Heavy, as if filled with the bird’s worries.

 

Bai Ling hooked his arm through Yu Chen’s and walked into the passage. His cool voice echoed and rebounded through the space: “I’ll protect you.”

 

Resolute and booming, brimming with vitality.

 

Yu Chen watched him for a moment, half-lidded his gaze, and smiled. His little feather fluff had puffed up again.

 

Walking through the long connecting bridge, their view passed through rows of neatly aligned small square windows, and the form of the “Interstellar Ghost Market” gradually came into view.

 

Its main body was a mega-sized space station. As it continuously rotated, the artificial gravity it generated allowed people to walk on it as if on solid ground.

 

From the outside, the ring structure resembled a carousel at an amusement park. Of course, this was a “carousel” with a construction cost of 60 billion credits, not something the average person could afford to operate.

 

As for its true owner, opinions varied. Some guessed it was an interstellar smuggler, others suspected the Federation government. But no one knew that its real investor was actually the small interstellar nation of “Tuna.”

 

The Kingdom of Tuna was renowned for its high-grade sashimi—tuna, salmon, and the like. In terms of territory, Tuna ranked only ninth in the Interstellar Alliance, but in wealth, it held a steady third place, the third-largest economy after the Empire and the Federation.

 

Tuna was a kingdom, not an empire, so its ruler could only be called “King,” not “Emperor.”

 

At this very moment, the sole prince of Tuna was on a call with his father.

 

The Tuna King’s voice was aged and frail: “You’re saying you’ve matched with an omega at 92% compatibility? Excellent. Our Tuna clan has been suffering from dwindling offspring; we need the next generation to branch out. An omega with such high compatibility will surely carry your eggs easily. No matter what it costs, you must secure him.”

 

The Tuna royal family was somewhat akin to the Habsburgs of ancient Earth, obsessed with “blood purity.” For ten generations, they had intermarried with close blood relatives.

 

However, starting from the previous generation, the Tuna King’s children had begun dying one after another.

 

This generation was even worse. All the alpha princes born to the queen had died of illness. When it came down to it, only Lan Qi, a bastard son, was healthy.

 

The Tuna House truly had a throne to pass down, so of course they expected their son to marry a high-compatibility omega, produce plenty of eggs, and continue the noble bloodline of the Tuna clan.

 

Lan Qi always felt a little nervous around his biological father, whom he’d hardly met. Gripping his terminal, he said: “Rest assured, I will not fail your expectations—I will win him over.”

 

Just as they were about to disconnect, the Tuna King remembered something: “If the other party refuses, you can go to the Cyber Temple and seek a solution.”

 

Lan Qi was caught off guard: “Cyber Temple?”

 

“Mm. The Electronic Buddha. He’s the one who told me my time was short and that I should find you quickly to inherit the throne.” The Tuna King coughed weakly. “Our Tuna clan has donated a great deal of funding to him. He promised he would help us resolve our issue with offspring, so he’ll surely assist you.”

 

Take the money, eliminate the trouble.

But the Electronic Buddha was nothing more than an android, could he really be that miraculous?

 

Lan Qi was half-convinced, but still ordered his ship to change course and head for the Cyber Temple’s location—the Interstellar Ghost Market.

 

The moment he disembarked, he spotted a familiar figure. Fluffy white hair, a lean and sinewy build, a small section of mechanical prosthetic showing from the right pant leg. Even with a mask on, one could still catch a glimpse of that cool, striking beauty from the lines of his brows and eyes.

 

Lan Qi straightened his collar and confidently approached to greet him: “Hey, are you alone?”

 

Bai Ling took him for just another random alpha hitting on him and declined: “You’d better leave. I have an alpha.”

 

Lan Qi smiled casually. He knew that omegas like “Bai Ling” usually found an alpha to get by before marriage, and he didn’t mind that he had a companion now.

 

Because no matter how high-ranking an alpha was, in front of his 92% compatibility, they still wouldn’t measure up.

 

Wherever the compatibility lay, the omega’s heart would flow there.

 

Lan Qi was confident he could win “Bai Ling” over. He declared: “Where’s your alpha? I don’t mind competing with him.”

 

Bai Ling gave him a look of pity: “Behind you.”

 

The moment Lan Qi turned around, a tall, dark shadow loomed over his face.

---

The author has something to say:

 

Here it comes!

 

Lan Qi, that’s the Bluefin Tuna. Prisoner, that opponent from Birdie’s finals match.

 

Old man fish: (nuclear-grade kind smile) I heard someone wants to take my omega?

 

Little Bird: !!! Are we having a feast?

 

Little Hen: (bringing his own plastic bag) (expertly shaking it open) Let me say this first—I’m sitting at the kids’ table.