Self-service is ready

The pas de deux finally entered its final phase. Having tested each other’s depths, they began an invasion as fierce as a storm.

The friction between their bodies was so tight that not even a finger could be wedged between them. Every collision traced the curves of the other’s body through the thin fabric, piecing together the extension and rise and fall of their muscles in a rapidly spinning mind.

Yu Chen’s breathing grew slightly ragged, carrying a faint hint of imperial dominance. “You are a soldier; it is difficult for you to have a deep grasp of political affairs. Perhaps you don’t realize how deep-rooted those people’s influence is. To use a metaphor: they are like grease stains soaked into a plastic container, no matter how much detergent you use, you can never wash them clean.”

Bai Ling: “Then throw the container away and buy a new one.”

Yu Chen’s pupils shuddered. He instinctively wanted to see the young man’s face, but his vision was dim. He could only taste a spine-chilling decisiveness in the Peregrine Falcon’s fierce panting.

This bird wanted to kill all the forces, seen and unseen, and carry out a thorough purge, a total blood transfusion for the Empire.

Bai Ling tilted his head, his voice tinged with contempt. “And don’t tell me I don’t understand. I can see it clearly from the failure of your later years.”

“Time gave you a hundred years, and you tried everything, but in the end, you can only stand here,” Bai Ling lifted his leg and maliciously stepped on the merman’s foot. “Being questioned by an omega decades or centuries younger than you, with your tail stepped on. Isn’t that right?”

Yu Chen suddenly clamped a hand around his neck and clenched it.

This really struck the old man’s sore spot.

With his neck being squeezed and his breathing labored, Bai Ling still managed a contemptuous huff. “Old man, you’re old. You’re afraid. You don’t dare try a new path… You’re habitually cautious, making every plan, and you’ve lost the… ferocity of your youth.”

“The person who defied the whole world and openly shouted at the Interstellar Alliance that he wanted to ‘put all alphas on chains’… where did he go?”

The hand suddenly released. Fresh air rushed into his throat, making Bai Ling cough involuntarily.

Yu Chen pulled him back, pinning him in his arms, stroking his feathers with harsh but restrained movements. He said slowly:

“I have thought about overthrowing everything and starting over, and I have made long-term preparations for it. But there has never been a suitable opportunity.”

Or rather, from his perspective, it was a dead game that could never be won.

What others found hard to imagine was that even a Monarch could be restricted at every turn. Like a King on a chessboard, being the center of power, he had to stay in the rear at all times to stabilize the situation.

He couldn’t easily abandon his subjects to go to the battlefield and fight the enemy himself. Thus, he had always needed a General, a force that would never defect to the greater nobility.

A silent understanding led Bai Ling to think of a chess game as well.

Not only that, he remembered a sentence Yu Chen had used during a previous match: Starting with a sacrifice, no Queen.

Bai Ling used his elbow to push away the alpha’s chest. He turned off the radio button and walked toward the exit of the greenhouse with a steady stride.

He caught a glimpse in his peripheral vision and knew the old man was following him. He didn’t bother hiding, simply bracing his hands and hopping onto a table.

“Want to know why you lost? Because you abandoned us.”

“Us?”

“Us. The common folk. The working class.”

As Bai Ling spoke, he propped his prosthetic leg up on the table, the seam of his jeans pulled taut across his thigh. He grabbed a cucumber from a plate and bit it off with a crisp crunch.

Hearing that sharp sound, Yu Chen’s brow twitched imperceptibly, his expression turning thoughtful.

“Don’t underestimate us, old man,” Bai Ling chewed the cucumber and used the remaining half to point at him coldly. “It’s not only purebloods who are born noble and destined for greatness. Us lowly bastards at the bottom can do it too.”

Yu Chen couldn’t help but imagine his current appearance.

An exquisite, almost inorganic face, set with cold eyes; the corner of his mouth slightly curled in a look of disdain and defiance. Able to return to calmness immediately after a fierce confrontation, always grasping the key point of the topic, using both coercion and persuasion to convince him…

Seeing the big picture through the small details.

This bird-like demeanor really had a hint of a future leader’s style, carefree yet decisive.

Yu Chen suddenly said: “Then, prove it to me.”

The chewing stopped abruptly. The bird asked airily, “Prove what? Prove that I have the ability to run away at light speed after getting rid of Kaide? Or that I can raise a cheap and useful army for you?”

Yu Chen pulled out a chair and sat down, interlacing his fingers and resting his elbows on the table. He straightforwardly said:

“Which method you use is for you to figure out. I am only responsible for the final inspection. Don’t forget, I am your legal sponsor. 40 billion is not a small sum; even for me, a full risk assessment must be conducted.”

This hypocrite… why did he suddenly relent?

Bai Ling glanced at him, unable to stop himself from cursing inwardly.

But after the cursing, the corners of his mouth quietly tilted up. What did this mean? It meant that arguing with the old man worked! You had to make him clearly understand your bottom line, and claw control away from his fingers bit by bit.

Bai Ling distinguished clearly: emotionally, he could indulge and rely on the other person. But professionally, he wanted to be a peer, an ally standing on equal ground.

The balance between the two was hard to find.

But he believed he and this merman would continue to work it out. As long as adults could sit down and talk properly, even the most heated argument counted as an active exposure of the problem.

Yu Chen turned his eyes slightly, already thinking of something else. “Does your neck still hurt?”

Bai Ling couldn’t be bothered to hold a grudge. “It doesn’t.”

It was only a threatening squeeze to begin with. Since he dared to pluck an old lion’s whiskers, he had long been prepared to be pounced on.

Yu Chen said, “You should be more honest with me.”

As if he couldn’t take it anymore, Bai Ling took a vicious bite of the cucumber and said impatiently, “Then what do you want me to say? Say that you pinched me and it hurt like hell, so you have to lift your shirt and let me play with your abs unconditionally for two hours?”

The merman loosened his belt, pulled his shirt tail out, and flipped it up, revealing clearly defined, chocolate-block abs:

“Self-service is ready.”

Bai Ling: ?

Fine. He happened to have a taste for this!

This old alpha is getting on the right track; they can keep seeing each other.

Author’s Note:

Little Bird: (Fierce chewing of cucumber) (Angry) I’ll bite you to death, you bad thing.

Old Merman: (Enjoying it) (Hypocritically dignified) The child has quite good teeth.

Translator’s note:
that’s why I like this novel, most novels that have an ML with a higher standing they always buy everything for MC, armies and supplies included. does mc have a golden finger? kinda (with ml’s background), but would he have succeeded in this lifetime without ml? i’m absolutely sure he would. they bicker and they fight, but in the end ML always respects MC’s autonomy