Pei Wu was not a man of many words.
On the contrary, he was reticent most of the time.
When he took on the responsibility of supporting his family, he was only as old as Pei Guang was now.
He had a thin, frail build and was malnourished.
At first, he could only walk a little farther behind those scavenging teams to pick up scraps.
Later on, he gradually dared to enter the ruins of the old city.
There were times when he wanted to cry, but crying could not solve any problems.
Wiping away his tears, he gritted his teeth and carried the burden through.
Later on, he not only managed to support himself, but he also took very good care of his younger brother.
Such experiences destined that he would not easily voice his inner thoughts.
A declaration like that was even less likely to be spoken aloud to anyone else.
He had grown accustomed to making his own decisions and carrying them out himself.
If Shi Xu had said these words to someone else, it might have resulted in an out-of-character moment.
However, since the person listening to him now was Pei Wu’s only living relative, it certainly did not count as out-of-character.
It was just that Pei Wu protected his younger brother a bit too well.
With his older brother shielding him from the wind and rain, Pei Guang mistakenly believed that it never rained in this world.
He was somewhat naive and was far from realizing the cruelty of life.
Shi Xu did not mind helping Pei Wu take care of his younger brother, but he did mind Pei Guang taking his sacrifices for granted.
He ought to know how much his older brother had sacrificed for him.
Even if he could not become a helpful asset in the future, he must not become the knife that stabbed Pei Wu in the back.
“If things go smoothly, I’ll be back by evening. Eat your breakfast, go to school obediently, and your brother will bring you a sweet roll.”
“Ge,” Pei Guang clenched his fists, “stop worrying about me. Just take care of yourself.”
“Alright.”
Pei Guang froze, as if he had never expected such an answer, and opened his eyes wide.
That expression was gentle as always, with a trace of a smile twinkling in his pupils.
Brother is so handsome.
Pei Guang also grinned.
“Still smiling,” Pei Wu gave him a flick on the forehead. “Are you an idiot? You are my only family. How could your brother not care about you?”
“Hehe, Brother, you’re the best to me.”
“However,” Pei Wu’s expression turned cold, “when I get back tonight, I want you to explain what is going on with your dropping grades and fighting with your classmates.”
The smile vanished instantly, and Pei Guang pulled a long face. “Ge,”
“Calling me Ge won’t help. You have the whole day to think about whether you want to make a frank confession or make up some story to lie to me.”
“Ge! I would never lie to you.”
“That would be best.”
Seeing the hand reach out toward him, Pei Guang shrunk his neck slightly.
His brother had already differentiated into an Alpha, his physical strength was rapidly increasing, and his grip strength had doubled. Being hit must really hurt.
The anticipated pain did not arrive. Instead, that warm hand rubbed his head. “I’m heading out.”
“Mn!” Pei Guang tilted his head up and smiled, his little face chasing after Pei Wu’s retreating figure like a sunflower.
Such a strong and gentle Alpha was his brother!
It is so great to have a brother.
He was going to go brag to his classmates!
The moment the door closed, the smile vanished from Shi Xu’s face.
Pei Wu looked cold and aloof, but in reality, he was the gentlest person of all.
Toward the people around him, his heart was soft to a fault.
Yet later on, the one who plunged him into even deeper despair was precisely this very same younger brother.
That was two years after he had been forcibly transformed into an Omega. During that period, Pei Wu fought against the instincts of his heat cycle while seizing every opportunity to resist and escape.
He was smart and resilient, but his luck was just a bit lacking, and he was dragged back right on the verge of escaping every single time.
Time and time again, despair could not extinguish the thought of running away that burned in his heart.
Mu Yuanshan grew angrier with each attempt and tormented him more viciously each time.
He even threw him into a pile of Alphas, turning him into a public Omega for an entire night.
Yet, Pei Wu never once degraded himself or submitted.
At his wits’ end, Mu Yuanshan gradually reined in his previous attitude of contempt, coming to both hate and love him.
He hated that Pei Wu refused to yield even after being tortured to this extent.
He hated his unyielding spirit, hating that even when gang-raped, Pei Wu was unwilling to surrender to him.
What one cannot obtain is always stirring.
In the end, Mu Yuanshan actually developed a shred of genuine sincerity.
Yet for a man like him, what did sincerity even amount to?
Taming Pei Wu had already become his obsession.
Mu Yuanshan’s final scheme was to engineer a situation where Pei Guang caught sight of his older brother being brutally abused.
That look of disbelief had indeed pierced Pei Wu’s heart.
Pei Guang was Pei Wu’s soft underbelly.
And that soft underbelly ruthlessly stabbed right into his heart.
[That was the first time over all these years that Pei Wu begged for mercy. “Don’t look.”]
[His gaze was no longer numb, and his body twitched as he tried to curl up into a ball.]
[“Don’t look.”]
[Mu Yuanshan grabbed him by the hair, hoisted him up, and kicked him hard in the abdomen.]
[Pain numbed him, and his limbs hung down limply. His soft body was forcibly exposed before someone else’s eyes.]
[Years of imprisonment had made his skin exceptionally fair.]
[His entire person presented an unhealthy paleness, yet the effects of the drugs and pheromones made the sexual characteristics of an Omega on his body exceptionally plump and lush.]
[Secondary development, muscle atrophy, his whole body soft and limp.]
[His physical strength could not even match that of an ordinary Omega.]
[At this moment, in front of his younger brother, he wanted to escape, wanted to cover himself.]
[But his hands were pinned behind his back by Mu Yuanshan, forcing his chest to arch forward passively.]
[His pink nipples trembled slightly, and under the squeeze of Mu Yuanshan’s large hand, white milky fluid even oozed out.]
[A rich milky fragrance filled the air.]
[Mu Yuanshan looked with satisfaction at the profound despair on Pei Wu’s face.]
[Break him down, and then rebuild him.]
[Mu Yuanshan did not need a stubborn slave.]
[“Originally, you could have maintained your image in front of your younger brother. Who told you not to obey?” He slapped Pei Wu’s face with sharp, crisp smacks. “I gave you a chance, but you couldn’t make use of it.”]
[“Don’t touch him!”]
[Pei Guang’s eyes split with fury, but he was held firmly in place by two tall Alphas.]
[“Watch closely,” Mu Yuanshan said while thrusting into him. “Your brother’s body is universally acknowledged as top-notch.”]
[“Ge!” Pei Guang roared, his eyes burning red with rage.]
[But how could Mu Yuanshan have brought him here without any preparation?]
[He threw a glance at the people beside him, and someone immediately stepped forward with a syringe and gave Pei Guang an injection.]
[“How do you think you became an Alpha?”]
[“And how did you move from the slums to the base center?”]
[“All of these were exchanged for through his body.”]
[Pei Guang looked at him in disbelief. “Ge! It’s not like that, right?”]
[“Say something! It’s not like that, right?!”]
[“My brother is proud and heroic. How could he be a cheap whore kneeling beneath someone else?”]
[“A cheap whore?” Mu Yuanshan laughed heartily. “Look at that, this is your younger brother. Have you seen the look in his eyes?”]
[There was disgust and contempt in that gaze, deeply piercing Pei Wu’s heart.]
[“He called you a cheap whore,” Mu Yuanshan bit his ear, puffing warm, damp air directly into it.]
[“You’ve been holding on all this time for the sake of someone like this. I really feel it wasn’t worth it for you.”]
[Pei Wu’s chest heaved violently, yet he remained completely silent.]
[“Not enough yet,” Mu Yuanshan’s eyes turned deep and dark.]
[He had to completely shatter him!]
[“Let him go.”]
[Having said that, Mu Yuanshan also pulled out.]
[“The good show is about to begin.”]
[“Tell me, can he resist the instincts of an Alpha?” Mu Yuanshan wrinkled his nose and meticulously covered his nose with a handkerchief.]
[“An Alpha’s first heat cycle is terribly fierce.”]
[Pei Wu’s heart gave a violent jolt, filled with disbelief.]
[Mu Yuanshan actually wanted to watch a brotherhood scene.]
[No, absolutely not!]
[They were family.]
[“Ge”]
[Catching the scent of the Omega’s pheromones in the air, Pei Guang instantly went into a trance.]
[The Alpha’s first heat cycle had been catalyzed out by the drug, raging and fierce, its domineering pheromones instantly flooding this enclosed space.]
[And everyone present was an Alpha, feeling nothing but disgust.]
[Only, the sole Omega present reacted violently.]
[A wave of pheromones belonging to an Omega also began to spread out.]
[Pei Wu’s pheromones were as cold and aloof as he was, resembling a persistent mist over high mountains, laced with wisps of floral fragrance.]
[They held an incomparable, irresistible attraction to Alphas.]
[“Ge,” Pei Guang choked out with a sob.]
[Pei Wu’s gland burned with heat as he half-knelt in place, saying in a soft voice, “Xiaoguang, hold on, get out of here.”]
[“From now on, just pretend you don’t have a brother like me.”]
[“Ge!”]
[Looking at the boneless, fragile Omega before him, Pei Guang thought of his brother as he used to be.]
[Tall, upright, standing as if he could prop up the heavens and earth.]
[As if nothing in the world could ever defeat him.]
[When he looked at his brother, it was like a blade of grass gazing up at towering mountains.]
[Like a pool of water reflecting the bright moon.]
[His brother’s gentleness.]
[His brother’s care and protection.]
[Everything about his brother filled him with longing and yearning.]
[Right now, the moon had fallen into the pool of water, and the towering mountain had sunk into a swamp.]
[His brother was right within arm’s reach, that petite body capable of being completely folded into an embrace.]
[Brother.]
[Brother!]
[“No! Xiaoguang, wake up!”]
[Pei Guang’s eyes split with fury as he grabbed his brother’s shoulders, his voice burning hot. “They can all have him, why can’t I?”]
[“Xiaoguang!”]
Shi Xu took a deep breath and massaged his temples.
He had a headache.
The version revised and deleted by the system was sent over very quickly.
It was visibly fragmented and much shorter in length.
One could easily imagine how many athletic sports segments the original text actually contained.
Yet even with just this little bit left, it was enough to give Shi Xu a headache.
The purity value, these three words sounded simple enough.
Putting them into practice, however, genuinely felt a bit overwhelming and left him with nowhere to start.
As a straight man, Shi Xu did not hold any prejudice against homosexuality, but he had never expected to be surrounded by homosexuals.
Shi Xu took a deep breath and stepped into the selection grounds.
Skipping the selection process could allow him to avoid the plot of running into Mu Yuanshan.
However, Shi Xu felt there was no need for that.
As a bottom-feeder of the base, the opportunity for selection was extremely precious.
He didn’t need to give up the opportunity Pei Wu had fought so hard to obtain just to avoid a piece of trash.
Soon, Shi Xu received his number tag from the registration point.
Over nine thousand numbers, and this wasn’t even the final headcount.
Yet in the end, only two thousand people would be able to become trainee soldiers.
The competition was exceptionally fierce.
The selection would take a whole day, featuring four hours of physical examinations in the morning. Anyone who failed to meet the standards would be directly eliminated.
After a one-hour break, the written test would begin at two o’clock, lasting for two hours.
One hour after the test concluded, the results would be announced.
Only those who were not eliminated could enter the final stage, the combat trials.
Contestants needed to find metal nameplates scattered throughout the training grounds and ensure they were not snatched away by others.
When the competition ended, anyone who still held a nameplate would officially become a trainee soldier.