MHOMASB Chapter 6

TL: Hua

Night always arrives earlier in the Lower City than in the Upper City.

The neon lights here are both piercing and ambiguous. Dilapidated metal structures intertwine with brand-new virtual projections like savagely growing vines, tangling filth and prosperity together.

Led by an attendant, Shaikh Roanne walked through a long corridor as the damp scent of strong spirits rushed toward him.

From the outside, this place looked no different from an ordinary nightclub—the front hall featured a decadent dance floor and private booths bathed in charming, sultry lights. The silhouettes of Alphas and Omegas were entangled, and the music was loud enough to make one’s eardrums go numb.

But as one ventured deeper, a different world revealed itself.

A heavy, soundproof door was pulled open, and the atmosphere tightened abruptly.

An octagonal cage made of stitched steel was bathed in cold laser lights. The audience was whipped into a frenzy, with roars and the sounds of betting rising and falling in succession. Blood mixed with sweat dripped onto the ground, giving off an intense and brutal aura.

Separated from the fighting ring by a layer of one-way transparent glass were private boxes reserved for a select few guests.

The leather sofas were spacious, and the bar displayed famous spirits from various galaxies. The central holographic projection screen could be switched at any time to show betting odds or preview the next “special program.”

“Shaikh!” As soon as he entered, a pair of hands hooked around his shoulders. The newcomer had messy red hair and eyes sparkling with excitement. “Did you really call that Omega from the Ji family over?”

Shaikh Roanne arched an eyebrow. Although his face was full of smiles, his eyes held a swirling, gloomy scrutiny. “Yeah. Are you very interested in him?”

“How is that possible?!” The red-haired youth’s voice spiked instantly, as if he were desperately trying to clear his name for fear of being misunderstood.

But sensing Shaikh’s gaze, he felt he was making too much of a fuss. He let out a disdainful scoff, picked up a glass, and took a sip. “I just think… a country bumpkin from a garbage planet is both stupid and boring. Aside from shivering all over in fear, he’s got nothing interesting about him. Why do you like bringing him along every time you come out?”

Shaikh’s gaze swept over the snake tank placed in front of the leather sofa. Several exotic pythons lay submerged and quiet, their scales glinting with a surreal luster under the lights. Their eyes were a vivid crimson, and their flickering tongues carried a sense of danger.

A hint of a smile flickered in the depths of Shaikh’s eyes as he took a drink handed to him by someone else, taking a sip.

He could almost imagine what Ji Xuan would look like when he appeared here—

Long eyelashes trembling with fear, breathing ragged, teeth gritted as he helplessly and pitifully searched for cover, yet finding no way out.

Just thinking about that image made one’s blood boil.

He licked his teeth and gave a wicked grin. “But shivering all over is exactly what makes him fun.”

“Besides, he bit me when he first presented; I haven’t gotten my revenge yet.”

Another person joked, “What, you want your ‘Mephisto’ to give him a bite back?”

Shaikh lifted the lid of the snake tank and casually tossed in a feeder fish. Several pythons lunged forward, tearing the bait apart in an instant.

“How can you be so malicious?” He said with a half-smile. “Think of how scared my ‘brother’ would be.”

The red-haired youth stared at Shaikh, who was currently playing with the pythons, thinking to himself: you are the most malicious one here.

He was about to say something more when his peripheral vision caught a figure suddenly appearing at the top of the stairs through the one-way screen.

The person had a cold, pale face and deep, dark eyes. His entire aura was completely out of place here, looking like he had accidentally wandered into this turbid, noisy wasteland.

He walked down the corridor at an unhurried pace, his back naturally straight and his posture extremely elegant. As the dim light swept across his features, which looked as if they were drawn with fine brushstrokes, the red-haired youth’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he unconsciously held his breath.

Beauties under the lamp look thrice as fair.

The ancient Earthlings truly did not lie.

The red-haired youth stared so intently that he didn’t even notice he had finished his drink.

“What are you looking at?” Others in the box noticed something was wrong and provocatively nudged his thigh.

Another person teased, “What else could it be? He probably spotted some Omega.”

Several Alphas leaning on the sofas followed his gaze.

“Where?”

“Tsk, most of the Omegas here are familiar faces. Could there be some new stock today?”

The red-haired youth’s heart tightened as he watched the person draw closer. The man’s pace was neither panicked nor timid. His pure white attire made him look incredibly conspicuous in the dim, neon-drenched corridor.

It was like a piece of cold, sharp jade had suddenly fallen into the mud.

“Tsk,” someone let out a flirtatious whistle. “That’s a pretty thing. Looks like your taste is a bit more high-class than Shaikh’s, Zephyr. Haha!”

“Go on, help me find out who that is…”

Before he could finish, the person walked straight toward them.

Zephyr’s eyes widened instantly.

The noise in the box was vacuumed out in a heartbeat. Everyone instinctively fell silent, leaving only the soft clink of glasses hitting the table and the hissing of the pythons slowly flicking their tongues.

The metal door was pushed open by the attendant outside, and Shaikh finally looked up.

The dim light spilled in through the gap in the door, casting a long, slender shadow.

Ji Xuan was not wearing his training uniform. Instead, he had changed into a pure white casual suit. The fabric had a heavy drape that traced the ambiguous lines from his shoulders to his legs, and the thin chain belt at his waist emphasized a beautiful curve. His long hair was loosely braided into a scorpion tail, hanging quietly over his left shoulder.

Due to the nightclub’s entry requirements, a very thin suppressor was fastened around his slender neck, fueling the endless fantasies of the Alphas present.

A pair of cold, peach blossom eyes swept over the crowd in the box.

In the air, the Alphas’ pheromones began to stir restlessly.

Shaikh Roanne coldly suppressed those agitated auras. When his gaze met Ji Xuan’s, his face returned to its previous nonchalance.

As he spoke, the end of his sentence trailed upward slightly: “Brother, you’ve finally arrived. I’ve been waiting for you for a long time; I thought you were going to stand me up.”

The box was deathly silent. Everyone realized that the person before them wasn’t just some nameless Omega.

He was the “plaything” Shaikh Roanne had been looking forward to for a long time.

Zephyr’s knuckles turned white from gripping his glass too hard. He had originally intended to use a joke to cover his racing heart, but when Ji Xuan’s gaze drifted indifferently over him, he felt his heart was suddenly seized, and his breathing stopped for a moment.

“…Heh.”

Sensing his companion’s loss of composure, Shaikh gave a mocking laugh. He turned back to Ji Xuan, who was observing the interior of the box, and said flippantly, “Brother, your entrance tonight was quite high-profile. It looks like you’ve charmed my friend here right out of his mind.”

Ji Xuan did not rush to respond.

He slowly walked into the box.

Disturbed by the unfamiliar scent, the pythons in the tank raised their blood-red vertical pupils in unison, their tongues flicking to scent the air.

On the leather sofas, the Alphas sat in various leaning postures. Some examined him with naked interest, while others narrowed their eyes, their faces full of unconcealed agitation and curiosity.

The liquid in the glasses reflected a deep crimson hue under the lights, looking like blood.

The holographic screen continued to flash betting odds silently, but no one was paying attention to it anymore.

Ji Xuan passed the snake tank containing several pythons without any expression.

Then, he arrogantly sat down in the seat that originally belonged to Shaikh.

His slender fingers rested casually on the armrest of the sofa, and a few ambiguous tattooed lines were faintly visible on his fair wrist bone.

“Didn’t you say you had something fun to show me?” He crossed his legs, his voice low and cool, sounding exceptionally distinct in the quiet environment. “I’m here. It’s time for you and your friends to present your treasures.”

The faces of the Alphas present instantly turned sour.

One of them spoke up directly with a sneer: “Shaikh, it looks like this one you brought isn’t as much of a ‘shiverer’ as you said?”

Shaikh Roanne did not get angry but laughed instead. He swirled the glass in his hand, the amber liquid sloshing slowly against the glass walls.

“Don’t be in such a hurry,” his voice was gentle yet mischievous. “The night is still long. Shouldn’t good things be appreciated slowly?”

Ji Xuan tilted his head, looking at him with great interest.

“Since Brother wants to see something, why don’t we play something exciting?” He reached out and tapped the edge of the snake tank. Several pythons raised their heads simultaneously, their blood-red pupils glinting with an enchanting light under the lamps.

“Snake betting.” Someone’s eyes sparked with excitement as they licked their molars. “It’s always roulette. Today, why don’t we let them choose for themselves and see who they want to crawl onto? Whoever can keep them on their body for ten minutes wins.”

Zephyr asked, “What does the winner get?”

“What else could it be?” The man shot a meaningful glance at Ji Xuan. “Pick a reward from anyone present—anything you want.”

As the words fell, the temperature in the air climbed abruptly. The Alphas instantly became restless.

Shaikh laughed lazily, his fingertip tapping the rim of his glass. “Very interesting. Brother, what do you think?”

Ji Xuan arched an eyebrow, a half-smile playing on his lips. “I don’t mind.”

He seemed entirely unaware that he had been treated as a stake in the bet.

The Alphas in the room exchanged knowing smiles.

Shaikh snapped his fingers, and the attendant in the box opened the lid of the snake tank. A damp, fishy scent rushed out. The pythons slithered out of the box, their scales making a rustling sound as they brushed against the carpet.

Shaikh walked behind Ji Xuan, leaning down with his elbows propped on the back of the sofa. He whispered into Ji Xuan’s ear: “These are all treasures Zephyr scouted from various galaxies. That reddish-brown one is a Red Sand Boa from the Third Galaxy; it’s a fast hunter, best at sand-buried ambushes. The largest one is a green anaconda; its eyes have mostly degenerated, but they say it nearly strangled everyone on the starship during transit…”

Ji Xuan listened to Shaikh introduce the conditions of these pythons with tireless enthusiasm. His face showed no ripple of emotion; he simply stared fixedly at the cluster of snakes slithering across the floor.

One snake brushed past the shoe of an Alpha, eliciting a playful curse from him.

Another snake climbed onto a sofa, only to swerve in a different direction just as it approached Zephyr.

Shaikh tilted his head to observe Ji Xuan’s expression. Perhaps because the lights of the private box swept past at that moment, he finally found a glint of crystalline light in Ji Xuan’s eyes.

“Brother, you’re not about to cry, are you?”

Ji Xuan turned his head slowly. “If I cried, would it make you very happy?”

Shaikh licked the corner of his mouth and said excitedly, “How could that be? If Brother cried, I would feel extremely guilty.”

Ji Xuan let out a sneer and gave a cold evaluation: “Pretentious.”

Finally, a mutant python with an eerie pattern slithered directly toward Ji Xuan.

It slowly coiled around the leg of the sofa, its blood-red vertical pupils staring dead-set at Ji Xuan.

Zephyr’s heart hammered wildly. He couldn’t help but want to stand up, but his shoulder was pressed down by a companion. “Don’t spoil the fun.”

Just as everyone held their breath in anticipation, the mutant python suddenly abandoned its upward climb and retreated rapidly onto the carpet like a receding tide.

However, before they could sigh in disappointment, someone looked sharply toward the armrest of the sofa where Ji Xuan was sitting.

“…Who let Mephisto out!”

Cold, damp scales pressed against Ji Xuan’s skin. The light rippled across the snake’s body in a faint blue halo. It wasn’t large, barely two fingers wide, but the fangs revealed as its tongue flickered made no one dare to underestimate it.

The snake’s body coiled up Ji Xuan’s arm all the way to the top. Its flickering tongue probed the air barely an inch from the side of his neck, almost provocatively.

The sound of breathing in the box abruptly froze.

Shaikh knitted his brows. Mephisto was the most precious and most insidious piece in all his collections; aside from the time he bought it, he had never let Mephisto out again. The venom glands of a Secret Blue-Belly are difficult to remove, and no one on the capital planet has that kind of skill.

Who opened its cage?

“Ji Xuan,” Shaikh looked at Ji Xuan, who didn’t dare to move. Fearing that a sudden motion would lead to disaster, he was forced to speak a reminder: “Don’t be scared yet. Mephisto’s aggressive drive isn’t strong, provided you don’t startle it…”

To his surprise, in the next second, Ji Xuan raised his hand. His fingertips lightly hooked under the Secret Blue-Belly’s head, and he turned his head to meet its gaze.

The cuff of his suit slid down due to his movement, completely exposing the tattoo on his wrist—a slender snake entwined around a cluster of flowers, its head crushing the core of the stamen. The ink marks were exceptionally striking against his ice-white skin, appearing carnal and erotic.

Shaikh Roanne never knew Ji Xuan had such a tattoo on his body; he was dazed for a moment.

By the time he regained his senses, Mephisto had already followed Ji Xuan’s fingers to climb completely onto his wrist and the back of his hand.

“Good boy,” he said, his voice soft and gentle, carrying a hint of partiality. It was extremely pleasant to the ear.

Shaikh Roanne lost himself for an instant before belatedly realizing that this “good boy” was addressed to Mephisto.

The pad of Ji Xuan’s finger rubbed the scales on the snake’s head. This Secret Blue-Belly, which had always been tyrannical and brave in snake fights, actually became as well-behaved as a puppy.

Suddenly, Ji Xuan turned his head again. Just as he had tilted the snake’s head earlier, he lifted Shaikh’s chin to meet his gaze. In his peach blossom eyes was an affection and tenderness that was almost hair-raising.

“The snake is very beautiful. Give it to me.”

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