The Only Ultimate Alpha in the Universe - Chapter 6

Several hours passed. In the room, a mechanical clock ticked steadily.

After an unknown amount of time, Landis drifted back to consciousness. The room was already empty; he was the only one left, slumped on the sofa.

The splitting headache that had plagued his brain had vanished, replaced by a sense of calm. The mental state that had been tortured by pollution for months felt as though it had been washed clean by a cool spring.

Subconsciously, Landis summoned Black Flame. The sleek black lion squatted obediently at his feet, arching its large head to nudge his knee. It licked his palm pleasingly, and its dark gold vertical pupils were clear and bright.

It was as if the ferocity of the previous night, when it had bared its fangs and longed to swallow its master whole, had never existed.

Wait, last night?

Suddenly, a series of blurred images flashed before his eyes like a spinning lantern. His memory was chaotic and fragmented: a mental entity spiraling into an uncontrollable frenzy, a violent struggle, an ambiguous and sweet scent, an uncontrollable impulse, and primal desire.

The messy, intermittent frames twisted and intertwined. In the end, only a hazy silhouette remained etched in his mind.

Good God, what had he done?!

Landis sat bolt upright on the sofa in shock, his entire body stiffening. The military jacket draped over him slid off, immediately exposing a bare chest covered in bruises and marks.

A state of mental frenzy was like a drunken blackout; he could no longer remember the specific details of what had happened. He had originally rushed here to forcibly retract his mental entity. Somehow, the moment he saw that fellow named Xiao Sa, his suppressed rationality snapped, and brutal animality took the upper hand.

As a dignified Admiral of the Empire, he had actually attempted to assault a foreign refugee, a seriously injured patient who had just been rescued from star pirates, no less.

Landis’s face flushed between shades of dark and pale. He could hardly face the humiliating reality of the situation.

He glanced at Black Flame and grabbed it by the scruff of its neck. “Last night, did I actually do something to that guy? And where did he go?!”

The black lion tilted its head at its master and gestured with its two front paws. Although it could not speak human words, its thoughts could be transmitted directly into its master’s mind without hindrance.

“Headache, smelled good, pounced, licked, happy.”

Watching Black Flame reminiscently stick out its long tongue to lick its nose, Landis’s face contorted. He propped his elbow on his knee and covered his forehead. His head was beginning to ache again.

The area around the sofa was a disaster, a wretched sight filled with the remains of a violent struggle. It was easy to imagine how brutal he had been while out of control, and how desperately that man must have resisted.

Had he really taken advantage of someone in such a state and done that to him?

With a cold face, Landis summoned a guard. “Where is the person who was detained here yesterday?”

The guard took a startled peek at the room. “Didn’t you want to interrogate him alone yesterday, Sir? You ordered us and the other patrols to stay far away and not approach.”

Landis: “…” (Silent pause)

He had indeed used the opportunity to escape.

Landis closed his eyes tightly. When he opened them again, he had regained his usual stern coldness. “Immediately send men to search every corner of the warship. Find him. This is outer space and he is injured; he couldn’t have run out of the ship.”

The guard immediately took the order and left.

A moment later, his adjutant, Carlo, hurried over. “Sir, so you were here.”

Landis fastened the top button of his collar and rubbed his brow. “What happened?”

Carlo appeared not to notice the mess around them and said, “We just received word from Military Headquarters. We are required to accelerate our return to the Central Star immediately.” He paused, then added, “Supposedly, it is a decree from the Royal Family.”

Landis’s expression remained calm. “Understood.”

Carlo looked at Black Flame’s mental state and asked cautiously, “Sir, it seems you don’t need the inhibitors today? Why, what is that on the back of your neck?”

From his angle, he could just see two dark red marks on the back of Landis’s neck.

Landis’s eyes flickered. He subconsciously touched the skin that had been bitten yesterday. Suddenly, a burning sting flared up, and the residual memory of extreme stimulation swept back instantly.

He gave Carlo an indecipherable look, unable to speak about the beastly acts he might have committed. After a long silence, he dropped a stiff sentence: “That guy named Xiao Sa escaped yesterday.”

Carlo froze. “Ah?”

While he had hoped Xiao Sa could help the Admiral’s condition, he never expected this situation. From that one sentence, his mind was already filling in a hundred thousand words of melodramatic drama.

Landis said indifferently, “I’ve ordered a search. He will be found soon.”

Carlo hesitated. “But we were docked at a nearby supply planet for several hours last night. I’m afraid.”

Landis was stunned. Before he could speak, a guard rushed back to report: “Sir, a logistics soldier was found unconscious in a warehouse container. A section of the surveillance footage was damaged. The patrol didn’t find the man on the ship, but other footage caught a highly suspicious figure entering a transport ship. The nearby scanners were sabotaged.”

A suffocating silence followed. The guard suddenly felt a chill down his spine. For a prisoner to successfully escape from a Third Legion warship, if word got out, it would be an absolute laughingstock. The guards on duty last night were in deep trouble for dereliction of duty.

Landis’s thin lips were pressed tight, but he said nothing more, only nodding coldly. “I see.”

The guard left quickly, feeling as if he had been granted a reprieve.

Landis’s ice-blue eyes fixed on Carlo. “You, immediately send someone back to the planet where we docked. You must find that man named Xiao Sa. Report to me the moment he is located.”

Looking at Landis’s expression, Carlo didn’t dare ask what had happened between them.

That planet was so large, and the man didn’t even have a formal identity. How were they supposed to find him? If the guy was smart and hopped onto another ship as a stowaway, finding him in the vast universe would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Carlo smiled bitterly in his heart, but as an excellent subordinate, he nodded. “Yes, Sir.”

The Aurora Empire was divided into four major districts: East, West, South, and North. The planet Xiao Sa landed on was named Zhiyang, a lower-class planet located on the edge of the North District.

The planet was scorching hot. For more than half the year, it suffered through intense heat. The planet’s rulers had spent a fortune building a temperature-controlled dome, completely isolating the Central District from the chaotic outer areas into two different worlds.

The Central District was where the rich and noble lived; it was clean, safe, and cool as spring. The other areas were sweltering and lawless.

By the time Xiao Sa successfully escaped the warship, left the spaceport, and hitched a ride on a giant cargo truck to this neighborhood, it was already dawn.

The Lorraine District was a notorious gathering place for gangs. Street fights were a daily occurrence, and thugs outnumbered civilians.

Xiao Sa was still wearing the uniform of a Third Legion logistics soldier. The material was fine and flexible, excellent at blocking heat, and it adjusted to fit the wearer’s body, easily outlining his broad shoulders and narrow waist.

Even though the insignia on his arm was deliberately covered, his entire temperament was completely out of place with the residents of this district.

The sun in the Starry Sea was white. By nine in the morning, it began to show its power.

Xiao Sa walked unhurriedly down the street, silently observing this strange society, the unfamiliar script, and the foreign people. He squinted up at the platinum star overhead, feeling a lingering sense of strangeness; the color of the sun here was different from his home planet.

The people were strange, too.

Xiao Sa subconsciously touched his lip. The spot where that blonde freak officer had bitten him was healing, leaving a slight itching sensation.

What Alpha hadn’t fantasized about a romantic first kiss with their destined partner when they were young? He never expected that at twenty-four, before he could encounter his own Omega, he would suffer such a Waterloo.

Come to think of it, the other guy was neither an Omega nor a Beta. Just one bite shouldn’t be a big deal, right? Surely it wouldn’t count as a mark.

Xiao Sa shook his head. He needed to stop thinking about nonsense. His priority was to find a place to stay, overcome the language barrier, and solve the problem of food and lodging.

The technological civilization of the Starry Sea wasn’t much different from his former country. However, in the slums, terminal devices like Optical Brains were still too expensive for most poor people to afford.

As he thought, he walked into an empty alley. Although the person behind him was trying to step lightly, to an Alpha with sharp senses, the sound was far too loud.

“Hey, kid. This is Ross Club territory. Don’t you know the rules? Hand over anything valuable!”

“?” Xiao Sa turned around lazily, casting a casual glance at the group of shifty-looking thugs behind him.

Though he didn’t know what they were saying, it probably wasn’t anything nice. Looking at their thin arms and legs, they probably wouldn’t survive one of his punches. For the sake of their health, Xiao Sa decided to ignore them and walk away.

“Hey! You brat! You dare run?!” Xiao Sa’s dismissive gaze instantly enraged the thugs.

A sharp whistle blew. Ten more people emerged from various corners of the previously empty street, most holding electric batons that crackled with blue-violet arcs.

With his path blocked front and back, Xiao Sa sighed softly and shook his head. He lifted a long leg encased in a black military boot and stepped lightly onto the ledge of a dumpster, pointing a finger downward.

“Want me to give you a send-off?”

At this moment, the universal human gesture of mockery transcended the language barrier.

The gang members were furious. The Ross Club had been lawless here for years; they had never been insulted like this. They swarmed Xiao Sa with their weapons.

Fifteen minutes later.

They had charged with vigor and were now lying down in peace. Even their gazes had become clear.

Xiao Sa wiped the sweat from his forehead. One by one, he ordered the thugs to squat in a circle around the dumpster.

The defeated thugs held their heads in their hands and didn’t dare speak, facing the dumpster as if performing some strange trash-worship ritual.

Xiao Sa wasn’t polite with them. Since he was penniless, he rummaged through the group and picked the cleanest-looking wallet to put in his pocket. He also accepted a discontinued old-model Optical Brain as a “greeting gift,” along with a blank account without an ID.

He nodded with satisfaction. “I happened to need this. There truly are many good people in the world. Thanks, everyone.”

The small-time leader, forced to offer the “greeting gift,” was close to tears. “As long as you like it.”

As the sun climbed higher, the air became increasingly muggy. Perhaps because of the intense exercise and the fact that he hadn’t eaten, Xiao Sa felt his body becoming hollow. His heart rate quickened, and his palms were slick with sweat.

By the time he finished a meal nearby and began looking for a place to stay, the sun was directly overhead.

The scorching sunlight poured down, making the surrounding air feel viscous. When the solar rays hit his skin, he felt a faint, continuous stinging sensation.

“What’s going on?” Xiao Sa gradually realized something was wrong.

He looked up, squinting at the sky. The massive sun was like an incandescent disc, surrounded by a faint yellow halo. In his vision, it appeared as a strange mist, like tongues of fire.

“Strange, this feeling.”

Just as Xiao Sa was about to find a shaded spot to rest, he suddenly felt a violent heart palpitation.

“Thump, thump, thump.” His heart rate was abnormally fast. Xiao Sa’s face paled. He wiped his forehead to find it soaked in sweat; his limbs began to feel weak and hollow from the inside out.

How could this be? Was it because his previous injuries hadn’t healed? With his physical constitution, how could he get heatstroke after only half a day in the sun?

But he could sense that the sunlight here was exceptionally uncomfortable. He didn’t know what components it contained, but it felt as though his entire body was being rejected by something.

From the time his ship crashed and he was captured by pirates until now, he had always been inside a spacecraft. As an alien, this was the first time his body had been exposed to the sunlight of this strange star system.

Long ago, when his people decided to abandon their home planet and sail into the stars, they had considered the harmful rays brought by strange stars. Unfortunately, those defensive gears had likely been ground into cosmic dust by the interstellar storms.

Before he could think further, his head grew foggy. His steps felt like lead, and his heart pounded as if it would leap out of his chest. The needle-like stinging sensation on his skin became more pronounced.

Supporting himself with blurred vision, he managed to find a building that looked like a hospital and collapsed right at the entrance.

In the distant Central Star, the magnificent palace complex of the Aurora Empire stood on the central axis of the capital. The terminal for Hainuo, the central main brain that had assisted the Empire’s rule for centuries, was located in a secret control room deep underground.

A massive processing terminal stood in the center, surrounded by dozens of large holographic projections. In the center, protected by a special transparent glass wall, stood an oval-shaped bio-optical brain.

Within the core energy chamber, a brilliant purple diamond-shaped gemstone was embedded.

No one could see that within the most core, hidden area of the central main brain, a small segment of code that had not been activated for hundreds of years suddenly flickered with a stream of garbled data.

“Activating Special Grade Sequence Task.”

“Starting Special Grade Sequence Target Search, connecting all ports within range.”

“3208 abnormal suspected targets found within range, 1321, 89.”

The messy data stream gradually converged into the shape of a pair of eyes made of characters, which blinked quite vividly.

“Suspected First Sequence important target discovered. Secrecy level: Special Grade.”

Xiao Sa woke up in a hospital bed three days later.

At this moment, he was looking confusedly at a mental power test report handed to him by a nurse.

In the mental power level column of the report, there was a large capital “C.” It noted an inability to release a mental entity, and a special red annotation stated: Disabled.

“Sir, I know this is hard to take, but please, you must stay strong.”

The surrounding medical staff and patients looked at him with sympathy. Such a young, handsome man, how could he be disabled at such an age?

Xiao Sa: “???” What was with these people’s eyes?

Frowning, he toyed with the old-fashioned Optical Brain on his wrist, trying to find a reliable translation. The main interface of the Optical Brain lit up with a common AI greeting, written in a language he could actually understand:

“Hello, I am Hainuo. Welcome home.”

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