Geng Nuo returned home, and two little boys who barely reached his waist darted out from the corner like lightning.
“Heave-ho! My little darlings!” Geng Nuo caught the two of them with practiced ease, swung them in an arc through the air using the momentum, and once he was standing straight, set them right back down. Without missing a beat in his stride, he headed straight into the house.
“Brother!” The younger brothers were displeased with Geng Nuo’s perfunctory greeting.
“Nuo Nuo is back? Come right inside,” Geng Father called out from within the room.
The very first thing Geng Nuo did upon entering was urge Geng Father, who was dragging a sickly body, to go rest immediately. “Stop bustling about, Father. I have something to tell you.” Raising his eyes to glance at the roof, he saw that another hole had formed somewhere. Geng Father followed his line of sight with a sigh of resignation, “The parts we patched with waterproof paper before weathered away too quickly.”
Their family of four lived in a dilapidated stone house where the wind whistled through or the rain leaked in every single day. Most families in the village had rebuilt multistory brick houses in recent years, and their family had originally planned to do the same, setting the timeline right after the younger brothers were born. Never did they expect that as soon as the children arrived, both turned out to be Betas. Geng Nuo’s other father, an Alpha, could not comprehend how an Alpha and an Omega could produce three children who were all Betas, and had cruelly abandoned the father and his three sons just like that.
Geng Father had been left with chronic ailments after childbirth, and a short time ago, cancerous lesions had been discovered. Forget rebuilding a house, they were buried up to their necks in debt.
What made it most suffocating was that they had originally thought the Alpha father had simply despised Geng Father for only giving birth to Betas. Later, they discovered he had been secretly gambling and had accumulated massive debts outside. Now that he had run off, the debt collectors were demanding that their family pay up.
Geng Nuo, who had just turned of age, was left to shoulder the heavy burden of the household.
He comforted his father, saying that later he would go find Old Dingtou, the village specialist in fixing leaky roofs, to come over and do a complete restoration.
Geng Father worriedly muttered, “That is going to cost a lot of money.”
That reminded Geng Nuo that he had not gotten to the main point yet. He simply summarized the situation to his father. “Although I can only come home once a month, the pay is high enough. I am going to contact a medical pod later so you can start treatment right away. I will use the rest of the money to pay off a portion of the debt, just to keep them from harassing you during this time. Don’t worry, Father. With this job, we will be able to pay off our debts in no time.”
Geng Father was pleasantly surprised, repeatedly asking, “Is it really true?”
Of course it was true. Seeing the flush of health return to his father’s face from excitement, Geng Nuo felt exceptionally happy as well.
First, he gave Old Dingtou the money to renovate the entire roof, telling him to come help fix it later. Then he strolled over to the village chief’s house to help inspect and repair the village’s large machinery. He didn’t ask for any reward, he simply asked the chief and the villagers to keep an eye on his family while he was away, especially guarding against that group of debt collectors. After that, he bought each of his younger brothers a hot dog stick, a treat usually saved only for the Lunar New Year. In return, he received handmade necklaces from his endlessly grateful brothers: each had folded a paper star, placed it inside a thumb-sized glass bottle, and strung it on colorful cord. It looked exceptionally pretty.
Deeply moved, Geng Nuo seized the opportunity to ship them off to their uncle’s house.
Amidst his younger brothers’ howling wails and weeping, Geng Nuo pushed and pulled with his uncle for five rounds before finally shoving the living allowance into his uncle’s hands.
With his father undergoing treatment and unable to care for the two young boys, this was the only desperate measure he could take.
He promised to come pick them up once a month, and as soon as their father recovered, he would let them come home. For these days, he had to impose on their uncle.
After ten minutes of coaxing, Geng Nuo’s patience ran out, and he coldly dropped the line, “If you do not behave, I will have General Gu Chengyan come arrest the lot of you.” The brothers stopped crying with a hiccup.
Leaving his uncle’s house, he went to contact the medical pod. Calling it a medical pod was a stretch, it was miles away from the kind used by the high-ranking lords on the Imperial Star. What they were able to get their hands on were discarded pieces of junk, who knew how many generations removed from the ones tossed out by those people. By rights, they should have been decommissioned and destroyed, but people with connections would seize the opportunity to bring these abandoned medical pods back and rent out their usage rights at exorbitant prices.
Of course, most families still could not afford them.
To Geng Nuo, his father and brothers were his everything. Even if he could not afford it, he had to use it, he would just work hard to earn the money.
On the way home, passing an open space at the entrance of the village, a few swaggering Alpha youths were gathered together. Geng Nuo waved at one of the Alpha boys, prompting the rest to exchange knowing, suggestive smirks and winks. Someone even thrust their hips back and forth in an obscene gesture.
“Hunter’s little bride has arrived,” they teased.
Geng Nuo hurled a brick at them and then said to Hunter, “I need you to do me a favor.”
His friends dispersed with jeers and laughter, and only then did Hunter come over, looking reluctant.
“Speak. My commission is very high.”
“Shameless. I didn’t even charge you when I helped plow your fields last month.”
“That was done by a machine, not by you.”
“I built the machine.”
“Fine, fine, you’re the boss. What is it?”
Geng Nuo was a bit displeased. Hunter wasn’t very reliable either, but he couldn’t find anyone else to help.
“It is like this…”
What kind of results a first-time experience with a medical pod treatment could achieve remained to be seen. On the morning of his departure, both Geng Father and Geng Nuo were a bit nervous. During breakfast, Geng Nuo gave the old, battered radio a hearty slap, attempting to use the broadcast to ease the tension.
A news report stuttered out from inside.
The first news item featured a host using an exaggerated tone to recount recent rumors about an ancient, mysterious virus appearing in the Imperial Capital. Geng Nuo found it too inauspicious and quickly switched to the next channel.
The second news item featured a host’s standard, emotionless voice reporting that Imperial General Gu Chengyan and Lord Wright had a clash on Welcome Avenue yesterday, resulting in General Gu executing Lord Wright on the street. According to reports, there were hundreds of onlookers at the scene…
Insane. Even more inauspicious. Geng Nuo simply pulled out the batteries, refusing to hear another second.
After arranging his father’s first treatment session, Geng Nuo calculated the subsequent treatment costs and debts, feeling a heavy weight in his heart.
“The rest of the money is in this card. When my salary is issued, I will deposit the funds into it. If walking far is difficult, have Hunter help you withdraw the money,” Geng Nuo instructed his father.
The backward planet of Helsing did not allow everyone to have an optical computer like the Imperial Capital, even depositing and withdrawing money required a trip to a dedicated bank some distance away. Geng Nuo was worried his father’s body wouldn’t hold up. Hunter had grown up with Geng Nuo, although he was idle all day, most of the time he was still willing to help out.
Three days flashed by in an instant. Bringing only the necklace handmade by his brothers and a black canvas bag, he set off.
Arriving at the third alley of Laura Linni Avenue, the airship sent to pick him up was already parked there early.
Half an hour later, he reached his destination.
The airship parked in front of a club. Pix was outside in the garden holding a briefing for the Alpha guards. Seeing Geng Nuo step down, he gave him a fresh, scrutinizing look from head to toe.
“Not bad,” he evaluated.
Pix casually hooked a finger at him, shifting to a more meaningful tone. “Beta boy from the countryside, welcome to the heaven of gluttony and money-burning, Shark Club. Come on, let me show you what high society is truly like.”
Geng Nuo obediently followed behind him, thinking to himself that he didn’t care what high society was like, twenty thousand galactic credits a month, here he came.
Shark Club was an establishment integrating business, leisure, and entertainment, specifically serving imperial nobles, political dignitaries, and various wealthy magnates. Pulling out even a single person at random would reveal a heavyweight figure throughout the galaxy. Consequently, the requirements for service staff were exceptionally high, and information regarding all VIP clients had to be kept strictly confidential.
Pix briefly outlined a few things to Geng Nuo and had him sign a contract in triplicate. Geng Nuo had never seen a working contract before and found it quite novel, but before he could flip through it twice, Pix interrupted him.
“Hurry up, I have things to do later.” He pointed casually at a passing baby-faced young man, telling him to show Geng Nuo around and get him familiar with the environment.
“Come this way, I will show you where you will be staying,” the baby-faced youth beckoned to him. “My name is He Fei. Are you an Omega too?”
“No, I am a Beta,” Geng Nuo said.
A trace of surprise flashed across He Fei’s face. “Betas are rare here.” Then he nodded understandingly. “It is fine. Some guests also like Beta or Alpha service, but this is my first time seeing a Beta like you. If you don’t say anything, guests will probably all think you are a pretty little O.”
Geng Nuo didn’t actually like people saying he looked like an Omega, but He Fei said that with his looks, he could definitely pull in a lot of tips. Geng Nuo figured that making money purely off your face in a big city wasn’t a bad thing, for the sake of money, a Beta’s bottom line could be lowered just a bit.
The two of them chatted as they walked along the corridor. Suddenly, a figure rushed out from a corner. Judging by his petite stature, he should have been an Omega, though his clothes were slightly different from He Fei’s. Upon seeing Geng Nuo, his eyes lit up with intense emotional agitation, and he lunged forward to grab Geng Nuo’s clothes, crying out in a breakdown, “Sir, please save me! Please save me! I really cannot take it anymore!”
Geng Nuo was somewhat flustered, he always grew soft-hearted when facing Omegas. Just as he was about to ask what trouble the other person had encountered, He Fei yanked the person away and shouted loudly behind them, “He is right here!”
Geng Nuo hurriedly grabbed He Fei’s hand. “What are you doing?”
Before he could get an answer, several men in black had already rushed out from the corner and dragged the Omega away without a word.
During the dragging, his mouth was forcefully covered, and Geng Nuo only caught sight of his resentful eyes.
Soon, the hallway returned to quiet.
Quiet to a terrifying degree.
Geng Nuo began to wonder what kind of place he had actually arrived at.
“Why? That person was clearly asking us for help,” he accused He Fei.
“Not asking us, asking you,” He Fei said.
Seeing that Geng Nuo didn’t understand, he explained further, “You just got here and haven’t had time to change clothes yet. He mistook you for a guest.”
“How funny. He was clearly in heat, yet he ran away from his distinguished guest and even tried to throw himself into another guest’s arms. These Omegas are truly delicate,” He Fei scoffed coldly. “Don’t mind him, those people will take him back properly.”
“What? He was in heat? Then why is he servicing guests? How does he service guests?” Geng Nuo was shocked.
“Well…” He Fei gave him an ambiguous smile. “How else do you think?”
Geng Nuo’s heart turned cold.
“Some guests are harder to serve, and he just happened to run into one,” He Fei comforted him. “You don’t have to worry. As long as we serve the guests diligently, nothing will happen. Not all guests like to torture people in bed. I met a guest once who was quick and straightforward, and just liked to stroke people’s… well, purely chat…”
“Wait, wait!” Geng Nuo’s brain short-circuited a bit. Struggling to untangle his tongue, he argued, “But I am not here to do that.”
He Fei blinked in surprise. “Are you joking? As long as the guest wants it, the servers here all do it. Shark Club’s tenet is to obey all of a guest’s demands. Otherwise, how did you think such a high-paying job was given out for nothing to ordinary people like us?”
Geng Nuo’s mind buzzed.
No way, being a Beta doesn’t mean having zero bottom line!
He brushed past He Fei and decisively went to find Pix.
“What on earth is this place? I am only here to be a server.”
In the luxuriously oversized office, Pix was sitting behind a wide desk with a cigar in his mouth, his feet propped up on the surface. He exhaled a ring of smoke and asked with a leisurely smile, “So fast? What did you see?”
Geng Nuo pressed his lips together and stared coldly at him.
Pix spread his hands. “Isn’t in-bed service a completely normal part of a server’s duties?”
“I want to leave. I am not doing this anymore,” Geng Nuo said earnestly.
Pix didn’t speak. He picked up a stack of documents and slapped them down in front of Geng Nuo, it was the contract he had just signed.
“Breach of contract penalty: four hundred million galactic credits.”
“What?!” Geng Nuo gasped sharply.