CH 13.1

Serbia (part 1)

Editor: MinMin 

At the Marshal’s mansion. 

Ryan skillfully jumped off the hover car and walked openly through the main gate.

The guard did not even move his eyes, as if his brain did not perceive the youth.

When Ryan completely disappeared from the corner of the stairs, the mental influence was lifted. The guard woke up with a jolt, looking around to see no one and scratching his head in confusion. 

He felt like someone had just walked by.

Ryan returned to the bedroom and opened the door softly and quietly.

The room was empty.

He closed the door as he entered, took off his shoes, and climbed into bed, picking up Chu Yuwen’s optical computer and clicking open the dress-up game.

Five billion clothes were enough for him to stay entertained until Chu Yuwen came back.

Ryan played for an hour and finally passed the ninth level.

Finally, a passing score.

Against the eight levels that Chu Yuwen beat, it was a score that did not fit with the previous ‘perfect’ scores. 

Obsessive-compulsive disorder made Ryan want to replace his passing score with a perfect score according to the system’s grading.

But when he saw the outfits he matched for maximum effect according to the clearance information, he immediately shut off the app.

What his eyes went through required some eye bleaching.

Ryan exited the game and began to browse through the Star Network. 

He was getting hungry at six o’clock in the evening.

Omega’s delicate stomach could not stand hunger.

Avery, the robot housekeeper, appeared in time. [Madam, it is time to go to the fourth floor for dinner! We will be serving Chinese food this evening.]

Esjc rtbkfv j ibbx bo lcafgfra yea delmxis rwbbatfv bea tlr fwbalbc jcv rtbbx tlr tfjv. “Rb, P kjca ab kjla obg wlrafg’r gfaegc ab fja abufatfg.” 

Avery: [(⊙o⊙)]

Ktlr regqglrfv fzqgfrrlbc wfjca atja la vlv cba xcbk tbk ab vfji klat atlr rlaejalbc.

It tried to persuade him: [But according to Lord Marshal’s instructions, he will be back late, and you need to eat, madam, or you will be hungry.]

Esjc olgwis rjlv, “Pa lr bxjs. P klii kjla obg wlrafg ab mbwf yjmx.” 

Avery was at a loss. [But, but…] It did not know what to say. Its program did not specify how it should deal with such an unexpected situation. Avery showed a sad look on its electronic display: [(T︿T)]

[I need to consult with Mr. Joel. Avery murmured. [Mr. Joel, what should I do? Madam will not eat dinner…] Avery rolled downstairs on its four wheels.

Ryan: “…”

I want to dismantle this robot. 

When they set up this robot’s program, instead of looking after a seventeen-year-old youth, did they program Avery to take care of a seven-month-old baby?

Ryan lowered his head and continued to browse through his optical computer.

Although he did not want to stay with Chu Yuwen at all, he must find a chance to get along with the other man. 

Chu Yuwen treated him more like a decoration object, a very suspicious person who needed to be placed at home and be looked after. Chu Yuwen was very gentle with him, but the time he spent with him in these two days was very little. Apart from spending half a day with him to visit the whole imperial capital at the beginning, the Marshal stopped paying attention to him. 

He was left at home alone like a pet. 

How could he cultivate their feelings when there was little to no contact? How could he attack the Marshal’s heart?

He had to create the illusion that he was very attached to Chu Yuwen and could not stomach food without his presence so that Chu Yuwen could have free time to spend with him.

Knock, knock— 

“Come in.”

The housekeeper, Joel, stood at the door and said gently, “Madam, you should eat dinner.”

Ryan repeated, “As I said, I want to wait until mister comes back.”

“Lord Marshal has already had dinner at the military.” Joel insisted.  

In a stubborn voice, Ryan lowered his head and said, “No problem; I just do not want to eat alone. I can wait.”

Joel politely said, “The servants can accompany you.”

Ryan was quite aggrieved. “But I just want mister.”

This soft and assertive attitude surprised Joel for a moment; the omega seemed to care about Lord Marshal. 

Could it be because of the estrus period?

Omegas have a natural attachment to the alpha that marks them. This omega had only been recently marked. This was his most sensitive and vulnerable period. He could not see his alpha. It was reasonable for him to become anxious.

Joel bowed and informed him, “Understood. Lord Marshal will be back at about nine o’clock tonight.” He retired silently.

The room was quiet again. 

Ryan touched his complaining stomach and opened the food live stream on a live stream app. 

There are two sayings about quenching one’s thirst by thinking of plums and allaying one’s hunger by looking at a picture of a cake. Even if he could not eat the food, watching was enough to satisfy his craving.

In the interstellar age, live streaming remained popular. Some people stream about mech battles; some stream about singing and dancing; and some even stream about tearing zergs into pieces… There were many kinds of content and endless options, and eating live seemed to be the most popular one.

Especially for the people in the lower three districts of the middle three districts, who could only feed themselves with nutrition solutions to satisfy their hunger. It was a kind of enjoyment to see people in the upper three districts eating all kinds of food they had never seen before. 

People in the upper three districts were happy to share their luxurious lives. When they travel to other planets, they try out all kinds of space food, always take a picture and post it on the Star Network, or simply start live streaming. People in the other six districts would always view a glorious life that did not belong to them on the Star Network.

Wouldn’t they feel the unfairness? Of course, they would.

But the gap was too large. They could only accept their fates.

Some people seem to have been born to accept their ordinary backgrounds and mediocre fates, while others would never go down without a fight. 

They were all born as humans but never had the same choices.

Ryan clicked on a live stream hosted by a user called ‘Gun Gun the Eating Champion’ to see a fat middle-aged man, probably a rich businessman living in the Third District. In front of him were ten glistering roast suckling pigs. He tore off a piece of the shoulder and took a big mouthful, stuffing it into his mouth and chewing it. He was flushed from eating.

Ryan frowned slightly.

So wasteful.  

He quit the live stream and opened another one with the ID ‘Rhine the Imperial Young Lady’. The live stream showed a blonde girl wearing a vintage Victorian dress, sitting on the European-style sofa and drinking afternoon tea gracefully—although Ryan did not quite understand why afternoon tea was so late during the day, drinking afternoon tea was indeed a leisure time ancient European nobles indulge themselves in. 

The young lady demurely picked up a small piece of French bread with her fork. The size could be swallowed in one bite and was divided into ten pieces; it looked like she wished she could break it down into smaller pieces to show off her small stomach.

Ryan soon lost interest as he left the live stream.

So fake.  

Ryan found another one called ‘Nutritious Guru’. Inside, an unkempt man, probably from the Sixth District, was making a fool of himself by pouring different flavors of nutrient solutions into the same cup. “Watch, my dear viewers. What flavor will be created by mixing the watermelon, lemon, pepper, and mustard nutrient solutions? I will test it out for everyone.” As he said this, he tilted his head back and drank it all in one gulp. Soon, he was foaming at the mouth and collapsing to the ground in convulsions. “Deadly—”

Ryan watched without a hint of emotion. He knew that the nutrient solution had no taste at all, and the man’s performance was to get reactions from the viewers.

Sure enough, three seconds later, the man sat up again and said with a smile, “Did any viewer fall for that? If so, why not donate me a space yacht? Liking my stream is fine as well.”

An uneasy life that relied all on his acting.  

Ryan left in silence.

So vulgar. 

None of these eating livestreams looked as pleasing as Chu Yuwen enjoying Western food.

Ryan did not expect to enter a near-empty livestream. 

The live stream was very quiet, and the host hardly spoke. While the bullet scream was very enthusiastic as they were all sending [Host pogchamp], [Host is so handsome], [I found a precious xiao gege], [Thank god I clicked into this livestream]…

This was probably a new streamer. He had no fan base at all, so his popularity was bleak.

On the screen was a handsome young man with silver hair who was ruthlessly using a dagger to cut through the hard armor of a zerg corpse to reveal the white flesh inside.

He used a skewer of dead branches to string the meat, then grilled it over the fire. The snow-white zerg meat was soon roasted golden, and the fragrance seemed to float out of the screen. 

The bullet screen was screaming out for hardcore live eating.

This piqued Ryan’s interest.

How peculiar.