Little bird, you don’t protect your omega virtue

Blond player?

North rubbed his chin. “I really haven’t seen anyone like that.”

He changed the subject. “But you should probably stay away from him. After all, we concubines are all competitors. The King’s favor is directly linked to our food and living expenses. Besides, haven’t you heard that saying they have here in the palace?”

Bai Ling detached his broken prosthesis and tossed it under the bed, distractedly asking, “What saying?”

North wagged his finger. “Bad betas have long, straight blue hair; scummy omegas have big waves. You’ve gotta be careful. He’s probably bad news.”

Bai Ling said, “I doubt it. He seemed pretty docile. He didn’t even resist.”

North nodded. “Good that he didn’t resist… huh?? Resist?”

Is that the right word to use?

Little bird, where exactly did you go hunting?!

Bai Ling picked up the pile of materials, his brow furrowing slightly. “[Royal Omega Morals and Etiquette Class]? What is this?”

North said, “It’s our training class for concubines. It teaches you how to grovel, be subservient, serve the Emperor in bed, that sort of thing.”

Whether it was on ancient Earth or in the interstellar age, the custom of local officials selecting beauties and sending them to the upper class for obedience training had never stopped.

Even though they were the lowest, most debased concubines selected from the prison, they still had to “learn the rules.”

The content of the training class was cliché. It was nothing more than teaching omegas to be submissive to alphas, to speak softly, to be gentle and virtuous. The most important rule was to never be rough—that was His Majesty the Emperor’s sacred body! Was that something you could just touch whenever you wanted?

They had to be obedient and follow the rules.

Bai Ling scoffed at this ideology, but North said that all newbie concubines were forced to attend. There was no skipping it.

He had no choice but to hold his nose and go to class.

Let’s just blend in for now. As a low-level concubine, he wouldn’t even see the tyrant Kaide anyway. He’d lay low for a while, and the second he got a chance, he’d take out that stinking octopus and get the flock out of there.

But Bai Ling quickly discovered that the most terrifying thing here wasn’t the monster in the waterway. It was that the “Omega Virtue” class teacher was a complete airhead.

The etiquette officer declared, “You little omegas must remember! Only those who weigh under 100 pounds are qualified to enter His Majesty’s bed. Otherwise, if you all eat so much and end up crushing His Majesty’s delicate tentacles, I will hold you personally responsible!”

After finishing, he announced, “I will instruct the cafeteria to cut all your rations in half.”

He wasn’t getting enough to eat. Not nearly enough.

Bai Ling was of raptor blood. He looked thin, but his metabolism was actually very high. Not only was his appetite larger than a normal omega’s, but he also needed meat, eggs, and milk at every meal.

He had been imprisoned for over a month before this. His lower leg had rotten, and a quack doctor had hastily performed a right leg amputation.

There was no post-operative recovery. He was thrown into a damp, cold cell to live or die on his own. His meals had no meat, only spoiled food that made him vomit.

But he stubbornly gritted his teeth and endured. He had a recurring fever for over ten days, and in the end, relying on his youth and the constitution he had built up over the years, he had miraculously survived.

When he escaped the prison, he had lost nearly 10kg and sometimes felt light-headed when he walked.

Fortunately, he was still in good spirits. Relying on the fact that his reborn body was young, he had snuck out of the palace to buy painkillers, only to end up breaking his prosthesis and he couldn’t walk properly today.

I’m really an unlucky person courting death, Bai Ling thought, his face expressionless.

But when he thought about the life he’d led before he died in his last life, he felt that his current hardship was nothing at all.

In his previous life, although he had fought his way to the Capital Planet, he had been betrayed by his teammates at the critical moment. The once-strongest revolutionary leader had ended up a wanted fugitive, hiding like a rat and barely surviving, entirely covered in injuries and illness.

He hadn’t eaten meat then, either.

Thinking back, for the last three or four years before his death, he didn’t think he had ever bought meat. All the money he had saved up had been spent buying urns and burial plots for his comrades…

Which is fine.

At least everyone can be together in one cemetery.

And he had been the last one to die. There was probably no one left to see him off.

Perhaps it was a side effect of his regresion, but Bai Ling’s mind was a little confused. He could never remember the details of his last two days before he died.

But it wasn’t important.

What was important was that he had started over.

At noon, Bai Ling collected the small bread roll from the cafeteria and nodded to North.

“I’m going out for a bit. My prosthesis battery is broken. I’m going to see if I can borrow some tools to fix it.”

On his way here, he had seen a maintenance room for the cleaning robots. He could probably get in.

North said, “Okay! Come back soon.”

The floor-to-ceiling windows in the corridor were clean, offering a wide view that overlooked the grounds. Hail kept falling, and the sky was still dark, but Bai Ling unconsciously slowed his steps and paused. He thought of the day he had climbed the terrace, and he thought of that…

…that biscuit.

He was just so hungry. He shouldn’t have given the biscuit away. Or maybe he could have negotiated and only given half.

While thinking of that, he pushed open the door to the maintenance room. Inside, a few cleaning robots were powered down, resting.

With his mind dizzy from low blood sugar, he took out the small bread roll and prepared to eat it on the spot.

When he took a bite, it was actually cream-filled…

Outside the door, the AI glided over, disgruntled.

It’s so strange. Its master is of noble status and is extremely particular about his food and expenses. But for some reason, the master acquired a compressed biscuit. He pushed aside the exquisite dishes the AI had prepared and insisted on trying that dry, commoner’s ration.

When the AI asked where it came from, its master had said:

“A little bird brought it.”

The AI truly couldn’t comprehend what kind of powerful “little bird” could carry a one-kilogram brick of biscuit.

It had advised, “Eating this kind of food is detrimental to your health. I suggest you put it down.”

Master: “Shut up. And shut down.”

He’s so mean.

The rejected AI butler had no choice but to switch to its cleaning-bot shell and come out for a gloomy stroll… to see if there was any oil in the maintenance room. It wanted to grab a couple of swigs and get ‘drunk.’

However, the moment it pushed the door open, its scent sensors picked up a sweet aroma.

Bai Ling watched a cleaning robot power-slide to a stop in front of him. It faced the cream bread in his hand, and its two camera lenses instantly displayed heart symbols.

“Smells delicious!”

Bai Ling huffed a laugh. “You want some?”

He tore off a small piece, dipped it in the cream, and held it to the robot’s sensor port.

The AI gasped. “?! I’m a robot! Don’t you think it’s weird that I want to eat human food? It’s like… robot pica., or something.”

Bai Ling finished the bread in two or three bites, unfazed. “What’s so weird about it? Sometimes I also want to taste motor oil.”

He wiped his hands, lowered his head, and used a screwdriver to disassemble his prosthesis, digging out the broken battery.

The AI had a realization: It has a battery. So it’s an android.

“Are you a new domestic-type robot?” it asked, scooting closer. “You look brand new! Your chassis quality is excellent! It’s just… this leg is rusted. You should replace it.”

Bai Ling didn’t find this rude. He knew it was just a “less-intelligent” robot’s way of showing goodwill. He looked up and smiled.

“Thanks for the compliment.”

Bai Ling wanted to replace the battery, but after comparing it against the pile of spare parts, he couldn’t find a match. He sighed, ready to give up, but then he heard the little robot behind him speak.

“Are you looking for a Type 52 battery? Let me check… Found it! I have three spares. I can give you one.”

The little robot put its ‘hands’ on its ‘hips.’ “Consider it my thanks for the dessert.”

Its programming was direct and generous, as if it wouldn’t take no for an answer.

Bai Ling’s lips curved in a faint smile. “Sorry for the trouble, then.”

The little robot said, “But my master has been in a strange mood the last two days. He keeps telling me to shut down. I have to ask him first before I can take you there.”

With a beep, the communication link opened. The AI explained the situation in a long stream of gibberish. When it finally stopped, the person on the other end just said one soft word: “Fine.”

When Bai Ling heard that “Fine,” his heart surprisingly skipped a beat.

That tone… seems a little familiar.

The AI disconnected the call, somewhat baffled. “How did Master’s mood improve so suddenly? That’s spooky.”

---

The AI led Bai Ling to its so-called “home” to get the battery.

Bai Ling knew that some high-ranking concubines were qualified to keep robot butlers, so he wasn’t surprised to see an AI running around.

But as they rode the elevator, heading straight for the upper levels, Bai Ling gradually sensed that something was off.

As far as he knew, the area above the top floor was a restricted zone. No concubines lived there.

Could this be… the legendary ‘Cold Palace’?

The further he walked in, the more certain he became.

He stepped past a sealed, heavy electronic door. The foyer was elegantly decorated, exuding a nautical style reminiscent of bygone eras—but from the peeling paint, it was clear the decorations were dated, even somewhat in disrepair.

On the blue-green walls hung a bird-shaped compass, and below it was a wooden corner cabinet shaped like a ship’s prow, both bearing classic elements from the Ancient Earth era.

Legend has it that four hundred years ago, the Merfolk wanted to lead Earth’s surviving creatures to establish a nation on this new planet. They asked every animal, but aside from the sea creatures, only the birds were willing to go with them.

The Merfolk had said, “There’s only ocean on this new planet. Will you be able to adapt?”

The birds had answered, “Our wings are strong. We can fly for a lifetime without landing.”

The Merfolk had asked, “And if you grow tired of flying?”

The birds had answered, “Then we will land on your shoulders, and we will multiply.”

That was why, to this day, the Empire’s hybrids were only of the Marine and Avian types, aptly named by other nations:

The Waterfowl Galaxy.

Bai Ling pulled his gaze away from the compass. He heard a low murmur echoing from the distance.

The end of the hallway seemed to open into a very large room, so large that a whisper in any corner would cause an echo.

Bai Ling walked over and the ocean-wave-patterned marble floor reflected his confused expression. He reached towards the door. The moment his hand touched the warm handle, the snippets of conversation inside instantly stopped, replaced by a single, deep-rumbling voice—

“Let him in.”

The heavy, ornate arched door opened a crack. The robot’s head peeked out first, followed by a rush of steam that hit his face.

Through the swirling mist, a lithe, powerful body climbed, dripping wet from the bath. Veins stood out from his right hand that swept back the wet hair that fell to his waist. His gaze drifted lower. Beads of water wantonly ran over the defined muscles of his waist and abdomen, their paths converging on his taut V-lines.

Bai Ling felt a wave of heat wash over his cheeks, and he unnaturally averted his gaze.

The sound of rippling water filled his ears. The man walked onto the bank, barefoot.

Bai Ling couldn’t stop himself from stealing a glance from the corner of his eye.

That body was like an old battleship salvaged from the desolate depths, magnificent and grand, yet utterly bare. It made one marvel at its construction, and lament its astronomical cost.

A low brow bone, a straight and high nose, and deep features. His face was so regal and magnificent it looked like it should be framed in a painting.

The AI immediately ran back to get him something to cover up.

When he turned his face toward the light, Bai Ling finally noticed that his complexion looked exceptionally pale and unhealthy under the lamps.

A walnut chair was placed by the bath for resting. The man sat down with a weary, indolent expression, wrapping himself in a black, glossy fur blanket to keep warm. The blanket was luxurious and wide, covering his tall frame while leaving only his long, muscularly defined legs exposed.

With only one look at those legs you could tell he had long-term swimming training. They were like sculptures carved from white marble, sharply defined, projecting a sense of solid power that clearly traversed the distance to the observer’s eyes.

Bai Ling’s breathing grew uneven. He quietly curled his fingers.

It was the human instinct stirring in him. Because anyone who saw this male physique, a form that those who worship fertility would venerate as their standard, would find it difficult to remain unmoved.

The man propped his head and slowly rubbed his temples. His damp, curling hair, like shimmering waves in the twilight, slipped from his shoulders onto his back. His handsome face, though wan, showed clear exhaustion, and he seemed low on energy.

Then, he turned his head and stared at him.

Even though he knew he couldn’t see, Bai Ling still took a nervous step back. Just meeting those unfocused green eyes for a second made his heart thunder.

A low, magnetic leisurely voice echoed under the steam-filled dome:

“Are you here to seize my abs again today, Bird?”

---

Author has something to say:

Bai Ling: This old merman has no male virtues! Seducing an unarmed 19-year-old comrade like me!

Yu Chen: (Pleased) Welcome, little one, to the waterpark. Please tuck in your little wings, put on your little slippers, and swipe your wristband to enter.

AI: One male guest!!! This way, please~

Bai Ling: ? Wait, this is a scam! I never said I wanted to &@￥* (He was forced to buy a membership)

---

Author:

Everyone relax, the progress from here will be absolutely sweet, the feelings are mutual, Yu Chen will dote on his little bird.

I’m not ashamed to say I’ve been shipping this OC pair for over a year, the outline alone is over 200,000 words, I must hand out tons of sugar!