In the middle of the bustling plaza, the three of them stood rooted to the spot like complete idiots for what felt like half a day.
Every now and then, someone would bump into them. Seeing the three standing there stiffly without moving, passersby would mutter, “Idiots. What bad luck,” before walking away.
By the time the three finally came to their senses, they had completely forgotten how long they had been standing there.
Teresa was the first to recover. Her whole body gave a start. “We didn’t just mistake that person for someone else, did we?”
“Haha! It’s not like this is some big secret. She’s told us herself two or three times already. What’s so surprising about it?” Arnold said with an awkward laugh.
Yes, Teresa also found it unbelievable. This wasn’t something they had only just learned.
They had even witnessed something far more shocking—the time that lunatic had castrated herself in front of them and cut out her own glands.
So why were they surprised that she had kissed an Alpha, confirming the sexual orientation she had already openly declared?
It had to be because of Lancelot. They hadn’t wanted the kid to suddenly discover that the older sister he worshiped actually liked Alphas, and couldn’t bear to shock him, so they had kept silent.
Sure enough, when Lancelot heard Arnold’s words, his scalp went numb. “What? She told you that a long time ago?”
“What kind of relationship do you have with her? Why would she tell you something like that?”
Arnold forced himself to put on the calm, mature expression of an adult. “Didn’t she tell you too?”
“When? Where?”
“On the competition grounds! Didn’t she say it in front of Poseidon and Ares, and Medusa too? Back when she praised the Snake Woman for being pretty and got cursed out.”
Lancelot’s vision went black, and his body swayed twice.
If you dragged out everyone who had been there that day, who the hell would believe she had been serious?
She had obviously been joking, hadn’t she? Weren’t Alphas all creatures who liked showing off their abilities? Whether it was their physical abilities or that particular ability.
When two Alphas provoked each other and exchanged threats, it wasn’t unusual for one to humiliate the other by treating him like an Omega.
He had assumed his sister was merely using words to suppress the Alphas from the various military academies. Who would have thought it was actually true?
Lancelot shook his head. “No. This can’t happen. It shouldn’t be like this.”
He hurried after them, but after only a few steps, someone grabbed him by the arm.
Lancelot turned around to see Arnold and Teresa looking at him with indescribably complicated expressions.
“Forget it. What happens next isn’t really suitable for someone your age to watch. Besides, if you insist on seeing it, think about how embarrassed your sister will be if you catch her in the act.”
Putting himself in her shoes, if his younger siblings had caught him doing something scandalous, he probably would have been mortified for years.
Arnold and Teresa believed they were doing their companion a good turn by thinking of Pei Liang’s feelings.
But Lancelot refused to appreciate it. He flung their hands away and said angrily, “My sister is perfect. She shouldn’t be tainted by something like this.”
“It must be that blue-haired guy who seduced her. I know there are people with malicious intentions who use their looks to corrupt a warrior’s will.”
“And the other party is practically insulting her. Didn’t you see? No matter what, he should have found an Omega. He’s taking advantage of the fact that my sister has lived a chaste and disciplined life and hasn’t seen much of the world. Yet he actually found an Alpha to tempt her. The sheer malice is appalling.”
“Wait, isn’t that giving your sister exactly what she likes?” Arnold asked blankly.
“There’s something wrong with this ‘what she likes.’ How did my sister develop an interest in Alphas in the first place? Did she go through some kind of unimaginable trauma without me knowing? Did something happen that made her develop a fear of Omegas, or did some kind of stimulus cause her to become interested in Alphas?”
“I absolutely refuse to stand by and watch my sister fall into a conspiracy.”
At that moment, Lancelot’s prime suspect was the entire Pei family. He assumed that his sister must have endured some kind of twisted life in the Pei household, which had caused her to become this way.
His heart ached for her.
His unwavering attitude and unquestioning certainty somehow managed to convince Arnold and Teresa.
Previously, they had been too stunned by that lunatic’s gland-removal stunt. Whenever they recalled it, all they could think of was that horrifying, hair-raising scene.
They had never really stopped to consider why she had become like this.
The psychology courses they had taken all stated that because of pheromones, Alphas naturally felt rejection and competitiveness toward their own kind.
Generally speaking, an Alpha who developed an interest in other Alphas either had some degree of innate personality abnormality or had experienced some kind of trauma.
They had never heard that Pei Liang was interested in Alphas before. In fact, she had once even tried to sexually harass Teresa’s younger sister.
Then, all of a sudden, she had started liking men. Her sexual orientation had changed so quickly that no one had believed it at first.
After hearing Lancelot’s explanation, the two of them really did become curious.
So they stopped trying to hold him back. Once Lancelot had left, Teresa and Arnold exchanged a glance.
Arnold said, “It’s not that I’m being nosy. I’m just worried that if things get out of hand, it’ll damage the academy’s reputation.”
Teresa nodded. “Exactly. As the top student, we still have certain responsibilities to shoulder even while we’re on leave.”
And so, the two of them happily convinced themselves that they had a perfectly legitimate reason. Then they immediately followed after him.
This time, Pei Liang and Hill hadn’t chosen the Imperial Hotel. They had gone to another place in the commercial district, one with a more elegant interior.
Since they had to be wary of Pei Liang, the three waited a long while before going in. As soon as they entered the lobby, they went straight to the front desk and asked for her room number.
Normally, out of respect for guest privacy, the hotel staff wouldn’t casually reveal a customer’s room number.
But the three of them happened to be contestants who had made a spectacular showing in the tournament.
The lobby was even replaying footage of their battles at that very moment. Anyone who followed the tournament at all knew that the three were Pei Liang’s close friends and younger brother.
Besides, Pei Liang had gone upstairs with an Alpha just before them. The receptionist instinctively assumed they were all Alphas and didn’t question their orientation. Seeing them come looking for her, the receptionist simply assumed they were a group of Alphas throwing a party.
So they told them the room number without hesitation.
The three squeezed into the elevator and rode up to Pei Liang’s floor. The closer they got, the more nervous they became.
Their palms were even beginning to sweat.
Lancelot heard Arnold muttering under his breath and snapped impatiently, “What are you mumbling about?”
Arnold answered instinctively, “What are we supposed to say when we go in?”
Lancelot said irritably, “Obviously, we’re catching her in the act.”
Teresa asked, “And in what capacity?”
The three fell silent.
Right. In what capacity?
Lancelot managed to force out, “Then… then let’s not make it sound so serious. We’ll just say we saw her enter a hotel with a stranger and followed her to check on things.”
“…”
It was still a pretty flimsy excuse, but considering how awkward the whole thing already was, there was no need to account for every detail.
When the three reached Pei Liang’s room, Lancelot was still trying to take a deep breath and knock.
Then Arnold, that idiot, kicked the door clean off its hinges.
A 3S-rank Alpha could easily break through ordinary civilian facilities.
Lancelot and Teresa stared at Arnold’s idiotic stunt, both completely dumbfounded.
Arnold, as if possessed, spat in their direction and said, “While you’re standing around thinking it over, the guy inside will notice something’s wrong and run away. At this rate, you two could catch someone cheating a hundred times and still never succeed.”
Lancelot and Teresa: “…”
What the hell? Why was he so good at this?
But the door was already broken down, so they had no choice but to charge in.
Lancelot rushed in first, and the three of them caught the two people on the bed red-handed.
Pei Liang was currently pinning the little wolfdog beneath the blankets when a tremendous crash came from the doorway. Three people then stormed in with murderous momentum.
She instinctively jolted, feeling a brief flash of guilt.
Then she came to her senses. What did she have to feel guilty about? She wasn’t cheating with someone else’s husband. She and the little wolfdog were in a “pure and proper” relationship.
There was no reason for her to feel guilty in front of anyone.
But the moment she saw who had come in, her scalp went numb.
“Lancelot? What are you doing here?”
Lancelot pointed at her furiously. “You left me home alone just so you could come out here and do this with an Alpha?”
Teresa and Arnold: “…”
Why did that sound so… wrong?
Pei Liang’s scalp prickled with embarrassment. Being caught by her own younger brother in a situation like this was humiliating. Even she wasn’t shameless enough to act indecently in front of a child.
So she argued, “What are you imagining? I came out to take care of something important.”
Arnold said coolly, “What kind of important business gets handled in bed?”
What did any of this have to do with you? Pei Liang glanced at the dark-skinned man, but remembering that she had once coveted him too, she couldn’t bring herself to say it outright.
Instead, she said, “Actually, he’s my mecha mechanic. We were discussing mecha repairs and modifications in bed.”
“Right. Purely academic discussion. Nothing else.”
Arnold sneered. “Then I guess the two of you have excellent technique. You don’t even need a mecha to discuss mecha repairs—you can just use a human model.”
“And when you put your hand on him just now, were you simulating the degree of neural connection in a mecha through human body temperature?”
Arnold’s questions left Pei Liang speechless. Lancelot and Teresa felt inexplicably satisfied, but at the same time, the way they looked at Arnold changed.
What the hell? Where had this guy gotten that aura of a legitimate spouse?
Lancelot felt as though Arnold had stolen his lines, so he hurriedly added, “Exactly. Explain which step of mecha operation those movements were part of.”
Pei Liang was just about to speak when he cut her off.
“You stay quiet. The mecha mechanic will explain.”
Hill thought to himself, I’m a mecha mechanic, my ass. The only time in his life he had ever serviced a benefactor to her satisfaction was when he had pestered her into letting him take out her mecha so he could touch it himself.
Even so, Hill instinctively sensed the danger. His benefactor clearly cared a great deal about what these people thought of her.
He knew that Lancelot, the leader of the group, was the benefactor’s younger brother by blood. The other two were also easy to identify as contestants from the Imperial Military Academy.
But why were they reacting so strongly to his benefactor getting a room with someone?
Although it was bizarre for two Alphas to get a room together, from the moment they entered, their first concern hadn’t been to question his gender. They were accusing her of getting a room with someone, plain and simple.
Unlike other people, who might remain composed, Hill had an overwhelming need to hold on to his benefactor. Naturally, he was sensitive to everything.
Sensing the danger, Hill hurriedly shrank behind his benefactor. “Who are they? They’re terrifying.”
The three men: “…”
Fuck, you’re a tall, strapping Alpha yourself. What the hell are you pretending to be a delicate little flower for?
Do you really think you’re an Omega?
The three of them nearly vomited on the spot.
But, unfortunately, that bitch Pei Liang actually fell for it.
As if Hill had reminded her of something, her expression darkened. She waved the three men away.
“Shoo, shoo, shoo! Lancelot is one thing, but Arnold and Teresa, are you two so bored that you came here just to watch me make a fool of myself? Get out, get out!”
“I—”
The two of them felt inexplicably aggrieved and furious.
Hadn’t this woman said suggestive things to them back at school? And hadn’t she enjoyed getting handsy with them during sparring matches?
Now she was trying to dismiss them with that?
They were annoyed, but couldn’t find a way to argue back—or rather, they were too embarrassed to debate the matter openly.
Lancelot, however, had no such reservations.
He pointed at Hill and said, “Sister, who exactly is this person? Why are you involved with an Alpha?”
“And why would an Alpha do these things with you? How did you meet him? Is he from the military academy?”
Lancelot fired off question after question like a machine gun.
Pei Liang knew there was no way she could smooth things over today. The hotel staff had already come up because the outside door had been kicked in, and passing guests couldn’t help peeking inside.
She could only sigh and stand up. “Let’s go. We’ll talk after we get home.”
The group crammed into Pei Liang’s car with blank expressions. Originally, Pei Liang had only intended to bring Lancelot home.
But the little wolfdog looked so pitiful, as though his owner had just kicked him aside, that she felt she ought to comfort him as well.
Besides, she didn’t particularly like doing things outside. There was too little privacy. Sooner or later, she would have to bring the little wolfdog home to familiarize him with the place anyway.
Since Hill was coming, Teresa and Arnold naturally followed along too.
Pei Liang happened to want to have a talk with the two of them, so she didn’t refuse their company.
When they arrived at Pei Liang’s home, the five of them got out and entered the house. Then they stared at one another in silence.
Pei Liang had a splitting headache. She had only wanted to enjoy three carefree, pleasant days.
Still, as an adult, she instinctively took control of the situation.
It was about time for dinner anyway, so she had everyone sit at the dining table. “Wait here. I’ll make something to eat.”
“You can cook?” Arnold asked in surprise.
He wasn’t the only one. Teresa and even Hill looked astonished as well.
The food processors of this era were so convenient, and offered such a wide variety of flavors, that even the most advanced models could prepare increasingly elaborate dishes in all sorts of styles.
Aside from professional chefs, few ordinary people knew how to cook, let alone wealthy Alphas.
Even an Omega learning culinary skills was considered praiseworthy.
Thus, although the people present came from different backgrounds, none of them besides Pei Liang knew how to cook.
Someone from the upper class like the original owner naturally wouldn’t eat food prepared by a machine. Her home had a dedicated chef, and the cooking still followed traditional, handmade methods. As a result, the open kitchen was stocked with all kinds of ingredients.
In this era, that was the kind of luxury only nobles and the wealthy could enjoy.
The others found it so fascinating that they unconsciously gathered around.
When they watched Pei Liang wash the rice, the four of them made enlightened noises.
“Ohhh.”
Then they watched her add water. Without using a measuring cup—or even taking a second look—she poured it straight into the steamer.
The four of them were dumbfounded.
“Wait, you’re just adding water like that? How do you know whether it’s the right amount? What if the rice turns out too soft?”
“I hate overcooked, mushy rice the most.”
There were, in fact, fully automatic rice cookers in the future. They could be connected to a rice hopper and a water pipe; all you had to do was select the cooking mode, specify the number of people and the desired amount of rice, and choose the texture you wanted. You didn’t even need to wash the rice.
Pei Liang simply didn’t use one. She preferred to control the heat herself and steam the rice to exactly the texture she liked.
Next came the meat and vegetables. Her practiced knife skills were so astonishing that the four sheltered young men spent the entire time marveling at her.
Then Lancelot realized something was off. “Why does the way you mince meat look so familiar?”
“Yeah, and the way you scrape everything that spills over the edge of the knife back onto the board looks familiar too.”
Then he fell silent. This was clearly the same technique his sister had used against the leeches and black threadworms in the rainforest.
Lancelot drew in a sharp breath. “Could it be that your martial arts mastery didn’t actually come from studying ancient texts? Could it have come from cooking—”
He had thought the idea was too absurd to be taken seriously. Even Lancelot himself had only been half-joking.
But Pei Liang nodded. “That’s right!”
The other four were instantly horrified. They stared at her, dumbfounded.
Pei Liang raised an eyebrow. “At the very least, if you want to learn my skills, knowing how to cook certainly won’t hurt.”
The path she followed now had been forged by her alone, and its foundation was the combination of culinary skill and martial arts.
Although she had since simplified and transformed the techniques until they were nearly unrecognizable, anyone who followed the path she had walked would undoubtedly find learning much easier.
The four of them fell into thought. Years after the arrival of the interstellar era, a sudden craze for culinary training would sweep through the entire population. That was something Pei Liang could never have anticipated.
Of course, all of that was still in the future.
Cooking equipment in the future was far more efficient.
Before long, Pei Liang had prepared a huge spread of food, enough to satisfy the appetites of several ravenous young Alphas.
The four of them took their seats at the table. Even though they had watched her prepare the dishes with their own eyes, they still found it hard to believe.
Everyone present except Hill came from a noble family. Naturally, their households employed top chefs recruited from all over the universe.
They had tasted the finest delicacies from countless planets, and they were hardly unfamiliar with Eastern cuisine.
In fact, although people of pure Eastern descent were rare in modern society, Eastern cuisine was still one of the most common culinary traditions around.
But they would all swear that even the finest Eastern chef in the entire interstellar world couldn’t produce food this enticing.
It wasn’t because the dishes looked extravagant or used rare ingredients. On the contrary, they appeared to be the most ordinary home-cooked fare.
Yet before the food had even reached the table, the tantalizing aromas had already awakened every dormant appetite, magnifying what had been mere hunger into ravenous desire.
They even pulled out their chairs and sat down without waiting, automatically distributing the bowls and chopsticks among themselves. Their eagerness was entirely at odds with their usual manners.
Then, once Pei Liang gave them permission, they immediately reached for the dishes they had been eyeing.
The moment the food touched their tongues, it was no exaggeration to say that it was the most delicious thing they had ever tasted.
After trying her cooking, those arrogant top chefs back home would probably begin to question everything they had learned over the years.
Once they had sampled a little of everything, the Alphas began wolfing down the dishes with their rice.
And sure enough, the rice—cooked without ever using a measuring cup to precisely control the water—had turned out perfectly. It was soft yet firm, plump and rounded, with a rich rice fragrance that left them deeply satisfied.
“Damn, how did you manage this?” Arnold asked while fighting Lancelot for a piece of meat. “Are your eyes and sense of touch really that precise?”
It was classic warrior thinking.
Pei Liang considered it for a moment, then didn’t deny it. “Cooking gave me a high degree of precision in my movements.”
“Including that time you opened someone’s skull.” Pei Liang saw that Lancelot was about to ask and directly supplied the answer he wanted.
“Human heads are far more complicated than fish heads, but I’ve done things to fish heads, rabbit heads, pig heads, and the like that required no less precision than a craniotomy.”
“Besides, a craniotomy can be assisted by advanced instruments. Trying to use that kind of equipment while cooking would be ridiculous, so when it comes to cooking, everything depends on touch.”
“After doing it for long enough, you’ll discover that part of your fingers seem to have extended beyond your body. It’s an invisible force. You can sense it and use it to touch, probe, and even infuse with strength, producing an impact that affects the physical world.”
“That was the principle behind the battle in the rainforest.”
So she really had reached this level through cooking long before she ever began practicing martial arts. The two disciplines had simply led to the same destination by different routes, allowing her to forge her own path.
The others fell into deep thought. By this point, Arnold and Teresa had already watched a replay of the entire competition from home.
In particular, they had watched almost everything Pei Liang had encountered before meeting them. They had stayed up nearly all night going through it.
Seeing that the others’ attention had finally been drawn toward martial arts and food, Pei Liang quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
At least they had stopped harassing her for the moment. She could deal with each of them and smooth things over after the meal.
But Pei Liang had never imagined that these young men would have no sense of honor whatsoever.
Before she had even put down her bowl, Hill suddenly began to cry.
His sobs were quiet. His deep-blue eyes merely filled with tears, like crystalline moonlight on the verge of spilling over.
Pei Liang hurriedly asked, “What’s wrong? Can’t you handle spicy food?”
She remembered not making anything particularly spicy.
Hill lowered his head and blinked awkwardly. When he looked up again, the tip of his nose was faintly red. He resembled a little stray finally melted by its owner’s feeding—stubborn, yet pitiful.
He took a deep breath and shook his head. “No. I’ve just never eaten food this warm before.”
“Hey! What’s wrong with me? Sorry for dampening everyone’s mood. Don’t mind me.”
Pei Liang’s heart softened at once. Unlike the other three, Hill had grown up in the slums. He had been an orphan with no parents from a very young age.
Most of the food there consisted of simulated dishes made from synthetic nutritional powder in food processors.
Although the taste and appearance were replicated as closely as possible, everything ultimately tasted the same. Even most of the restaurants in that area relied on food processors.
To the three noble Alphas, this was nothing more than an ordinary meal. But to Hill, it might have been something he had never truly enjoyed in his entire life.
Pei Liang naturally felt especially sorry for him. She hurriedly put several more servings onto his plate. “Eat more. Next time, just tell me what you want, and I’ll make it for you.”
Her own little stray, after all, was her responsibility to worry about.
The other three silently shouted, What the hell is this guy?
They didn’t know why, but every word and action of his rubbed them the wrong way. Their fists were practically tightening on their own.
Just as Teresa and Arnold were feeling irritated, they heard Lancelot sigh.
They looked up to see the young man wearing a melancholy, pitiful expression, like a cat soaked through by the rain.
“After my father died, I never had anyone at home to cook for me again.”
Pei Liang immediately reached over and ruffled his hair. “There, there. Don’t be sad. For the next few days, tell Big Sis whatever you want to eat.”
Teresa: “…”
How were all of you so good at this?
Then she suddenly sensed that something was wrong. She hurriedly turned her head and looked over.
Fuck, Arnold, what is that look on your face? No—what are you about to say?
