With some force, Gu Chengayan pressed Geng Nuo down beneath the table, forcing him to kneel between his legs. Geng Nuo’s nose was practically pressed against Gu Chengayan’s bathrobe, and his head was pinned down so firmly that he couldn’t move an inch.
Gu Chengayan pulled open the bathrobe’s belt. Geng Nuo’s cheeks and lips were pressed intimately against him, instantly arousing him as he coaxed in a low voice, “Come on, eat something else.”
“No… Mmph!”
Though Geng Nuo couldn’t catch the scent of an Alpha’s pheromones, he couldn’t ignore the masculine presence right before his very eyes, making it nearly impossible to breathe. He finally understood that once Gu Chengayan spoke, he would not stop until he achieved his goal, giving him no room for refusal. Whether he wanted to eat or not, he had to eat.
To spare himself a bit of hardship, Geng Nuo forced himself to be as docile as possible, parting his lips slightly just as the other desired.
Yet the man insisted on pushing his luck.
From above came the sound of cutlery clinking together. Gu Chengayan was cutting his steak, leisurely forking a piece of beef without rushing to eat it. Instead, he stroked Geng Nuo’s head and told him, “If you haven’t finished eating by the time I finish my meal, I’m going to have to feed you some more wine.”
At that exact moment, Geng Nuo genuinely wanted to spit out what was in his mouth and shout at him: Give me the wine! Can I perform a bottle-chugging trick for you instead?!
Then, the next second, Gu Chengayan gave his rear a light kick with the tip of his shoe and added meaningfully, “Using this place.”
Geng Nuo: “”
He gave his all to resign himself to his fate, and resigned himself to giving his all.
Whether his technique was truly that terrible or the general had too much stamina, it genuinely ended just a second before Gu Chengayan put down his cutlery.
Geng Nuo’s cheeks were flushed red, and his mouth was so sore he could barely close it.
“Such terrible technique.”
He was hauled up by the arm and dragged back onto Gu Chengayan’s lap. Geng Nuo’s eye rims were red, and his lips were red—red to a crystal-clear degree. Before his breathing could steady, with remnants still lingering in his mouth that he could neither spit out nor swallow, he pressed his lips together and looked at Gu Chengayan with tear-filled eyes, praying for an early pardon so he could go rinse his mouth.
The general’s mood remained unchanged, his breathing entirely steady without the slightest fluctuation. Pinching the boy’s chin, his gaze swept over him inch by inch, making it impossible to tell whether he was satisfied with Geng Nuo’s service. After a moment, he uttered an ambiguous remark: “You didn’t eat it all.”
A chill instantly ran down Geng Nuo’s spine, dreading what new torment awaited him.
Fortunately, Gu Chengayan merely picked up the soup bowl on the table, scooped a spoonful, and brought it to his lips. Geng Nuo looked at the milky-white soup, then at Gu Chengayan, who waited for him with great patience.
Lowering his gaze with fluttering eyelashes, Geng Nuo opened his mouth and took a small sip.
It was a sweet cream of mushroom soup, with bits of fungi he couldn’t identify mixed inside. After finishing a spoonful, Geng Nuo smacked his lips unconsciously and licked them, left wanting more. Thus, Gu Chengayan fed him spoonful by spoonful until the soup bowl was completely empty.
The sound of the spoon clattering against the plate marked the end of the meal, and only then did Geng Nuo realize this was what he meant by eating it all clean.
And wasn’t it just? Everything had been eaten clean and swallowed down! Not a single trace of any fishy aftertaste remained in his mouth! Only the flavor of the cream of mushroom soup was left!
Pressing his lips together in resentment, his eyes brimming with grievance—though daring not to voice his anger—he hastily fixed his facial expression before the other could notice.
Acting like a coward and pretending nothing had happened.
Gu Chengayan patted his waist twice. “Go rinse your mouth.”
Geng Nuo leaped off his lap and fled at high speed.
When he emerged from the restroom, the leftover dishes on the table had already been cleared away. Gu Chengayan was sitting in a recliner by the floor-to-ceiling window. Seeing that Gu Chengayan had his back to him, Geng Nuo was more than eager to make himself invisible, treading as lightly as possible as he made his way toward the living room.
As if he had eyes on the back of his head, Gu Chengayan didn’t even turn around as he dropped a single word: “Come here.”
Tonight the cloud cover was heavy, the moon hidden so seamlessly that not a shred of light reached the ground. On moonless nights, an artificial moon would light up the sky over the Imperial Capital, casting down pristine moonlight that bathed the man by the window.
Gu Chengayan’s bathrobe was neatly tied, which slightly eased Geng Nuo’s anxiety.
The recliner only had room for one person, so General Gu patted his own thigh, signaling Geng Nuo to sit up.
Geng Nuo hesitated for a moment. He was somewhat afraid.
Yet he dared not keep the other waiting too long. After turning it over in his mind, Geng Nuo simply feigned ignorance, kneeling at Gu Chengayan’s feet like an obedient pet, resting both hands on his thighs with his chin propped upon them. He looked up at General Gu with utmost caution, but the man merely glanced at him and looked away without any particular reaction.
Geng Nuo breathed a sigh of relief.
The VIP suite used to host General Gu was located on the topmost floor of the club. Viewed from this height, the perpetually lit gardens were brilliantly colorful, with lights missing not a single corner. In the distance, the trees didn’t look as tall as they did from the ground, yet the edge of the forest remained out of sight. The patrol mechs were carrying out their duties by circling the buildings diligently.
Suddenly, a firework shot up from the edge of the forest.
Perhaps there was some celebration in the main city tonight, as fireworks gradually began to bloom one after another.
Geng Nuo shifted, straightening up to peer into the distance. It was too far away; viewed from here, they were reduced to the size of a fingernail, blooming weakly like splashes of water. As for the sound, needless to say, it couldn’t be heard at all. Even so, Geng Nuo stared at them with rapt attention.
A moment later, the fireworks faded away, leaving everything in stillness.
Sensing a deep gaze fixed upon him, Geng Nuo turned to look at Gu Chengayan. Gu Chengayan was looking at him too, the two of them exchanging a silent gaze. A moment later, Geng Nuo pressed back against Gu Chengayan’s legs.
That night passed in absolute silence.
For the first time in a long while, Gu Chengayan experienced a pleasant sense of tranquility.
Geng Nuo calculated the latest patrol rotation frequency and the approximate depth of the forest.
From that day onward, Geng Nuo officially became General Gu’s exclusive server. Unaware of whether General Gu, as an imperial general, had a busy schedule on weekdays, Geng Nuo only knew he seemed quite idle lately, practically moving into the club and stuffing several changes of private clothes into the wardrobe.
Hearing that he had just returned from a business trip, he was likely on leave now. The Mad Shark welcomed him with lavish hospitality, offering top-tier services and all sorts of decadent forms of entertainment that Geng Nuo had never heard of nor seen before—to think high society played so wildly.
Geng Nuo also became familiar faces with the other three young Alphas. Though four had arrived together in his memory, only three remained now.
Reportedly, they were all his subordinates, and their names were quite amusing as well: Wei Hai, Wei Lu, and Wei Kong.
How miserable, having to accompany their superior even during vacation.
Yet none were as miserable as him.
Geng Nuo had calculated that Gu Chengayan spent very little time actually sleeping at night, resting lightly and briefly—likely a common aftereffect of military campaigns. Most of the time, Geng Nuo would pass out halfway through. Once, when he got up in the middle of the night to use the restroom, the slightest sound woke General Gu right up; the vigilant, ruthless look in his eyes at the time scared Geng Nuo so badly he tumbled right off the bed, not daring to get back on for the rest of the half-night and instead curling up on the sofa.
To his surprise, when he woke up the next morning, he was back in bed.
However, by nightfall, seemingly afraid he would wake up again and disturb him, the general ruthlessly ensured he slept soundly until dawn.
Geng Nuo: “”
Whenever a new day dawned, Gu Chengayan could always wake up on time, full of energy. All the exhaustion and soreness belonged entirely to Geng Nuo himself, making him start to doubt his life choices.
At the moment, Gu Chengayan was standing in front of the wardrobe getting dressed, while Geng Nuo sat miserably on the floor with a bird’s nest of hair, draped loosely in a quilt.
Don’t ask why he was on the floor.
He merely wanted to get out of bed.
He had no idea how he ended up sitting on the floor.
And managed to drag the quilt down with him.
Hearing the commotion, Gu Chengayan looked back and chuckled derisively, as if watching a joke.
Geng Nuo fumed in silence—after all, just moments ago, the general had thoughtfully called him up to eat breakfast.
Gu Chengayan’s waist, back, and thigh muscles were powerful and well-toned, whereas every single place beneath Geng Nuo’s quilt that differed in skin tone from natural flesh was aching faintly. Geng Nuo looked down, pulled back the quilt to inspect his own weak, noodle-like thin arms and legs along with his unified expanse of abdominal muscles, and felt his soul leave his body.
He knew there was a massive physical gap between Alphas and Betas, but why was it this huge?
It was simply unfair. Last night, he had even slept a little longer than Gu Chengayan…
“Where on earth do bumpkins from lower-class planets get the habit of eating breakfast? Hmph, eating breakfast, how refined—we just chew on some beans dipped in steamed buns to scrape by, and you call this breakfast… Sob, I want to sleep!” Geng Nuo whimpered and whined against the edge of the bed.
Gu Chengayan walked over, hauled him up, and tossed him onto the bed. “What are you mumbling about? Wasn’t it you who made a fuss about coming out with me?”
Right, right. When Gu Chengayan went off to amuse himself elsewhere without bringing him along, Geng Nuo couldn’t even step out of this room. He needed to gather intelligence and study escape routes; he couldn’t stay locked up here forever. The previous night, refusing to pass out, Geng Nuo had whispered a request during Gu Chengayan’s peak enjoyment, asking the man to take him along.
Gu Chengayan had agreed.
Bending when necessary and straightening when possible, Geng Nuo replied, “I said I’m changing clothes right now to accompany Your Excellency for breakfast.” He nimbly scrambled to the other side to hunt for his clothes.
After finishing the meal, the group headed to the golf course to play. Geng Nuo was assigned the role of caddy, running back and forth with the golf bag, handing clubs, picking up balls, and reading the line. Naturally, when big shots entertained themselves, someone had to handle these trivial chores.
Pixiu was dying to serve General Gu personally, but since he had to accompany them in the game and take turns praising Gu Chengayan with endless flattery, he could only continuously shoot winks at Geng Nuo, urging him to be sharp with his service.
With his waist aching and legs weak, Geng Nuo didn’t dare slack off at first, but later on, Pixiu’s winks stopped working on him altogether.
He was about to drop dead from exhaustion.
Standing a couple of paces away from General Gu, he openly loafed on the job. Leaning half his body’s weight onto a golf club planted into the turf, he couldn’t even be bothered to pick up the hit balls anymore, simply handing them out from the basket as they came, standing on tiptoe and stretching his arms—operating under the core philosophy of “moving as little as possible.”
Once the balls in the basket ran out, Geng Nuo achieved his goal. Just as another server drove a golf cart over, he sneaked up to negotiate with the guy about driving it for a while, then returned to report with a straight face that he was heading off to retrieve golf balls.
Oh!
God, this vehicle was truly spacious, comfortable, and wonderful to sit in! Look at how blue the sky was, how green the grass, and how refreshing the breeze… Geng Nuo thought with intoxication: It would be even better if I could lie down.
Contentment brings lasting happiness.
Geng Nuo comforted himself; being able to rest while scoping out the perimeter terrain of the golf course was already a great deal.
Yet before his butt could even warm the seat, Gu Chengayan suddenly announced he was done playing and wanted to switch venues to play billiards.
Geng Nuo turned his head back slowly, his eyes filled with accusation and disbelief.
How could he do this…
In the distance, Pixiu was shooting winks at him again. Gritting his teeth, Geng Nuo had no choice but to crawl down from the vehicle, dragging his trembling arms and legs to follow along.
Oh, and General Gu had also added—
“It’s not that far, let’s walk over.”
Geng Nuo genuinely wanted to drop to his knees right then and there.
Spare me.
After taking a couple of steps, Gu Chengayan felt something was missing beside him, so he halted and looked back to see Geng Nuo looking like a lifeless corpse drained of all energy.
The moment he stopped, everyone else stopped with him, turning in unison to stare at Geng Nuo.
Geng Nuo…
Geng Nuo thought: Do whatever you want with me, kill me or carve me up, I’m too tired to care anymore.
“Walking so slowly, are you expecting me to wait for you?” Gu Chengayan asked indifferently, with no reading of joy or anger in his tone. Geng Nuo’s skin tightened instantly as he scrambled over to his side, ingratiatingly clutching at his sleeve.
Gu Chengayan still stood motionless, seemingly with no intention of letting him off the hook just like that. Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Geng Nuo looked anxious, wanting to hold the man’s hand yet not daring to.
Pixiu hurried forward to smooth things over. “General Gu, this kid is new and doesn’t know the rules. We’ve got plenty of obedient ones here; shall I pick out a few fresh ones for you?”
Geng Nuo flared up instantly.
The bastard looked like he was helping him, but in reality, he was trying to kick him out and replace him with one of his own people by Gu Chengayan’s side. If that happened, he would lose his utility value, and the agreement used to buy time earlier could be discarded with a single sentence.
Did they take him for a fool?!
No matter what, since the general hadn’t killed him and had even brought him along, he was safe. Right now, his precious time for studying escape routes relied entirely on having the other as a cover. Once Gu Chengayan switched to someone else before he was ready, he would be completely at Pixiu’s mercy.
To keep Gu Chengayan from speaking, Geng Nuo threw caution to the wind, throwing his arms around the man’s arm, lifting his face, and whispering a plea: “My waist hurts, I have no strength, I wasn’t walking slowly on purpose.”
General Gu cast a condescending glance down at him. Viewed from his height, Geng Nuo—already a head shorter than him—appeared even smaller. His upper body was pressed entirely against the man’s arm, radiating body heat right through the sleeve, with a hand resting directly against his exposed abdomen.
His pitiful, clothed appearance carried an even greater allure than being unclothed.
Withdrawing his gaze, Gu Chengayan raised a hand and pulled his arm free.
Geng Nuo’s heart turned ice-cold, his fingertips trailing after the sleeve, still wanting to grab it.
The next second, Gu Chengayan’s hand firmly steadied his waist.
“Forget it,” the man said, sounding somewhat disgusted. “This one will have to do.”
With tear-filled eyes, Geng Nuo silently cursed a colorful profanity in his heart.