In the evening, snow fell again outside the cave.
“The snow won’t stop for a while, so we’ll stay in the cave tonight.” Cang Hai said and stuck the torch that he took back from the lion’s lair on the rock wall.
Xiao Yu glanced at the blood-stained torch; he remembered that he didn’t bring it with him when he escaped from the Lion’s Den, and there were no bloo*d stains on the torch at that time.
He vaguely had a guess in his heart: “Cang Hai, just now you asked me to stay in the cave and wait for you; what did you do during that time?”
Cang Hai was silent for a moment. “For convenience.”
“Oh.” Xiao Yu didn’t know if Cang Hai was still angry, so he didn’t dare to ask more.
However, going for convenience?
This kind of poor lie would only be believed by children.
Perhaps it was because of the unusual weather that the sky darkened, especially early.
Xiao Yu looked out of the cave, and the cold wind, mixed with drifting snow, was mercilessly wreaking havoc in all directions.
In such bad weather, having a place to stay was better than anything else.
He peeked at Cang Hai, whose expression was cold and hard, and seemed to have no intention of talking to him at all.
Even so, when the warmth of the firelight reflected on Cang Hai’s face, a kind of emotion that could be called dependence arose in his heart.
“Brother Hai, I was wrong; don’t be angry, okay?” Xiao Yu boldly hugged Cang Hai’s waist from behind.
This was a very ambiguous action; if he were to be in normal times, he wouldn’t dare do anything.
Perhaps it was the wind and snow outside the cave that made him more and more attached to the warmth of Cang Hai’s body, or perhaps it was the imminent destruction of the Desolate Star that made him realize that he couldn’t, or at least shouldn’t, waste his time on a cold wa*r.
[TN: cold w*ar: a state of extreme unfriendliness]
He muttered, “If you don’t say anything, I’ll take that as a yes.”
Cang Hai couldn’t do anything about the clingy little mermaid. “I’m not angry; you’re joking about the safety of your own life. What do I have to be angry about? If you die, I’ll still have one less burden to save me the trouble.”
Xiao Yu was relieved when he heard this. Cang Hai was obviously talking in anger. At this time, as long as he obediently listened to what the other party said, this storm would be over.
“Just forgive me; I promise I won’t take any more risks. If you tell me to go east, I won’t dare to go west. I’ll do whatever you tell me to do; I’ll do whatever you tell me to do; I’ll listen to you!” Xiao Yu curried favor.
Cang Hai patted the back of his hand that was wrapped around his waist and ordered, “Go clean up the ingredients.”
Xiao Yu rejoiced, “Yes!”
He carried out tonight’s ingredients from the basin Cang Hai had filled with meat.
He couldn’t tell what beat the pile of meat was from, the surface color was glossy, and it looked to be fresh and good meat.
Xiao Yu skillfully sliced the meat, sprinkled it with seasonings, and put part of it into the pot to stew, and part of it onto the iron plate to barbecue.
It was strange to say that after coming to the Desolate Planet for so long, neither he nor Cang Hai had eaten vegetables once, yet there were no problems with their intestines.
As he handled the ingredients, he threw the question to Cang Hai.
“A mermaid’s gut is different from a human’s; mermaids are naturally carnivores, while humans are omnivores.” Cang Hai said indifferently, “In addition, the meat of foreign beasts is rich in nutrients needed by the human body and can be absorbed well by the human body. That’s why the meat of exotic beasts is anywhere from ten to a hundred times more expensive than livestock meat, depending on the quality. Some precious beast meat can even be sold at sky-high prices.”
Xiao Yu instantly brightened up. “Then if we collect the beast meat, won’t we be able to make a huge profit?”
Cang Hai directly threw cold water in his face. “The prerequisite is that we can leave the Desolate Star safely.”
“Alas,” Xiao Yu deeply regretted, “the small amount of money that came to hand flew away.”
Cang Hai laughed. “You lack money?”
This little guy had never even seen what money looked like.
“Who would mind money?”
His trainer had taken him around to box in order to make money, and at that time he wondered, if he was rich enough, wouldn’t he not have to get up early and train every day?
He’d seen rich men who threw away thousands of yuan in the ring, and he’d also seen poor men who dumped their families and willingly went into octagonal cages for the amusement of others.
In the end, the difference in wealth created their very different lives.
Cang Hai shook his head and lost his smile; he hadn’t realized that Xiao Yu was a money fan.
“Wealth is indeed fascinating, but Xiao Yu, one cannot be a slave to wealth; there is always something that overrides wealth.” Cang Hai felt the need to teach the little mermaid a lesson: “Such as interest, such as love, such as life.”
He followed the lesson with, “Do you have any hobby? Or what are you interested in?”
Xiao Yu: “And what if I’m interested in money?”
Cang Hai laughed and cursed, “I won’t argue, but if you’re really interested in money, you’ll find ways to make money, which is equivalent to liking to earn money. It’s not impossible to treat earning money as a hobby.”
“That’s not right.” Xiao Yu scratched his head.
Cang Hai appeared to be extraordinarily patient. “Think slowly; this is a subjective question with no standard answer.”
Hobby?
If Cang Hai asked him about the people he liked, then he would have a clear answer in his mind. But asking him about things he liked would be difficult for him.
He was a boxer in his last life, and he did have talent in boxing, but that didn’t mean he liked boxing.
In other words, boxing was his career, a means to make a living, but not something he loved.
He considered this for a long time, long enough for the meat and pork soup to simmer before he shook his head in bewilderment and said, “It doesn’t seem like it.”
Cang Hai said as he opened the pot, “If you really can’t think of one, then I’ll share one with you.”
Xiao Yu looked at him in surprise and asked, “Can love still be shared?”
“Of course,” Cang Hai said, taking a sip of the freshly flavored thick soup. “Love can not only be shared; it can also be passed on. Everyone has to understand one thing: what they really live for.”
Today’s topic was a bit deep.
Xiao Yu served himself a bowl of broth and drank it while recalling Cang Hai’s words.
He actually wasn’t much of an opinionated person; once he had ideas, but they were all rejected one by one by his trainer, and over time he stopped thinking so much about things other than boxing.
So when Cang Hai asked him what his hobbies were, he surprisingly couldn’t answer.
“Didn’t you say you’d share one with me? Why don’t you tell me?” Xiao Yu was quite curious to know what advice Cang Hai would give him.
Cang Hai said, “What do you think about being a mecha warrior?”
Xiao Yu froze. “Can an Omega also become a mecha warrior?”
According to the original setting, the Federation had issued a decree strictly prohibiting Omegas from engaging in any combat-related work, in the beautiful name of protecting the precious Omega.
But now that he had become an Omega, and looking at it from an Omega’s perspective, this decree was clearly depriving an Omega of their personal freedom.
Regardless of whether the Omega was in the military or in politics, the decree of the Federation ensured that the ones who held the power of speech were the Alpha, who would only act in the interest of their own group and could not possibly consider the thoughts of Omegas.
Xiao Yu didn’t have the ambition to change the general environment, so when he knew that he had differentiated into an Omega, he was mentally prepared for not being able to become a mecha warrior.
So much so that when Cang Hai slowly spat out two words, “It’s possible,” he was still in a bit of disbelief. “Really?”
Cang Hai nodded slightly. “I know of an inhibitor that can completely suppress the pheromones in your body and can even allow an Omega to pass through the rutting period safely without the need to be tagged.”
This statement sounded like a salesperson selling fake dru*gs on the roadside.
But because it was Cang Hai who said this, Xiao Yu unconditionally chose to believe it: “Then wouldn’t this inhibitor change…”
Xiao Yu wanted to say something; he wanted to say that it would change the status quo of the ABO world, but then he abruptly remembered that he was now just a mermaid who had never seen the world. If he really said that, there would be no way for him to explain where he came from.
So he changed his tone and said, “Change my situation?”
“It has always been the case that an Omega has to depend on an Alpha to survive; the general environment is such that many people forget that Omegas may not be inferior to Alphas in all aspects if they receive the same education as an Alpha. In order to control all the Omegas, the Federation has gone to great lengths to suppress the legitimate rights of an Omega and even tried to prevent the introduction of the perfect inhibitor.”
Cang Hai’s words set off huge waves in Xiao Yu’s heart.
He could guarantee that something similar hadn’t been depicted in the novel at all!
“I think that Omegas, and even Betas, should have the same rights as Alphas; what they need is fair competition, not a monopoly of the second gender.” Cang Hai said.
Xiao Yu was stunned; frankly speaking, he also felt a hint of defiance while reading the novel.
The major military schools of the Federation didn’t allow Omegas to enroll; there were still decrees to follow, but their enrollment criteria were limited to Alphas, which made many Betas who aspired to become mecha warriors give up their dreams.
Xiao Yu had read everything, but he hadn’t found a single word slamming this social system. Whether it was the male lead, Gu Xijiao, who was known as a scum, or those companions beside him who were bullied, all of them were essentially Alphas.
“Don’t think about it so much for now; the meat is getting cold.” Cang Hai skewered the roasted meat on the iron plate with chopsticks and handed it to Xiao Yu.
Xiao Yu thanked him, took the skewer, and bit into it. “The meat seems a bit different today.”
“Oh?” Cang Hai asked back, “What’s different?”
“It seems that the meat is more sinewy and thick.” Xiao Yu pondered, “Could it be that it is the meat of that dread wolf?”
Cang Hai was noncommittal: “If you think it is, then it is; no matter what kind of meat it is, it is delicious. If you have to think about what the meat looked like before you ate it, wouldn’t that be a bit unappetizing?”
True.
Xiao Yu rejected the distracting thoughts and ate the meat in big gulps.
At nightfall, Cang Hai, who should have been asleep, suddenly woke up and found a tube of reagent in his space ring.
He rolled Xiao Yu over and fumbled to find the back of Xiao Yu’s neck. The syringe pierced into the skin, and he slowly pushed the reagent in.