A Beta from the countryside (01)

[Please select the type of role you wish to play.]

The intermittent mechanical voice roused Xue Ci from his slumber. He struggled to open his eyes, but only managed to make his eyelashes flutter faintly.

[Your body has been detected as deceased in a car accident. You now have the opportunity to complete tasks in exchange for life points.]

This time, Xue Ci woke up completely. He weakly lifted his eyes, revealing pale, watery irises.

Then he lowered his head.

Clearly, he needed some time to come to terms with the fact that he had died.

The system balls around him quieted their electrical buzzing. They could sense his low spirits, but none dared approach to comfort him, because he looked so fragile.

His skin was so pale it was almost translucent, like a small, soft, delicate ball of snow that would melt at the slightest touch.

But fortune favored the bold.

With a buzz-

Xue Ci sensed a round, grayish-white ball appear before his eyes. It rubbed against his cheek as if acting cute, then floated back in front of him.

It was fluffy.

Xue Ci reached out and stroked it without thinking.

[Would you be interested in choosing system no. 11, the Honest Person System?]

Xue Ci listened attentively. The moment his hand was about to leave the system ball, its round body rubbed against him again, desperately trying to win him over.

It was a little like a puppy afraid of being abandoned.

He carefully raised his hand and gently stroked it again. Without hesitation, he said, "Okay."

11 was so excited it nearly flew into the air. Afraid he might change his mind, it immediately selected a world.

[Host, you're a beginner, so 11 specially chose an easy world for you. All you need to do is play a Beta in an ABO world, harbor an unrequited crush on the Alpha you're engaged to, and give up in heartbreak!]

Xue Ci lowered his eyes and first learned about the ABO setting. Then he carefully read through the information 11 had given him.

The Beta he was playing had lived in the countryside since childhood and had no parents.

His relatives were unwilling to raise him, so they told him to take the marriage agreement their elders had made and go find the Gu Family.

Although it was called a marriage agreement, it was really just a handwritten letter. His relatives had long since planned it out: if the Gu Family acknowledged the engagement, they would use the opportunity to attach themselves to a powerful family. If not, they would cut contact and move away, ridding themselves of this burden.

The protagonist, Gu Xu, was an arrogant, aloof Alpha who thought arranged marriages were feudal relics. Since neither party had even been born when the engagement was made, he certainly didn't accept it.

The Gu Family elders, however, pitied him. Seeing that he had nowhere to go, they let him stay with the family temporarily and even secured him a place at an elite academy.

Everything about the bustling big city was unfamiliar to him, and he lived cautiously. Gu Xu excelled in every respect, and his occasional kindness made him fall in love with him. But his attempts to pursue him were clumsy and inappropriate. Later, he also developed skin hunger and couldn't control his behavior, so Gu Xu mistook him for a frivolous person.

Disliked by the person he loved and out of place at the elite academy, he grew increasingly insecure. In the end, he dropped out and returned to his hometown in the countryside.

Xue Ci stared thoughtfully at the information.

It was just a story about an honest person whose unrequited crush made him a stumbling block for the protagonist.

It seemed pretty simple, and he didn't need any experience pursuing someone. Xue Ci's only worry disappeared, and he felt very confident about his first job. "I understand."

The other balls were furious! They all sent electrical warnings to 11-

"What kind of Xia Yuhe plot is this?"

"Does it make sense for someone this pretty to have an unrequited crush?"

"So acting like a dog gets you a host. Noted."

Amid the outcry, one voice said something different: "I heard there's been an uninvited guest around lately, someone with a powerful spirit, traveling back and forth between small worlds like he's looking for someone. He might be a pervert. Your host is so pretty, so be careful!"

But 11 had already switched off the call and was floating beside its host, acting cute and shameless.

It hadn't noticed the last line of the assessment form, either-

[Warning: You have a constitution that makes you extremely prone to attracting perverts.]

[Host, you're on the bus to the Gu Family home now. Our first objective is to find the Gu Family and stay there!]

With three stops to go, Xue Ci picked up his backpack and offered his seat to someone else.

He went to the rear door and saw himself reflected in the glass. It was his own face, but his hair was a little long, getting in his eyes and making him feel stuffy.

With great tact, 11 conjured a hair tie.

Xue Ci raised his arms and gathered the pale strands that had been sticking to his cheeks, tying them into a little tuft at the back of his head.

Everyone on the bus couldn't help looking at the fair-skinned, strikingly beautiful young man.

Xue Ci soon got off the bus.

The Gu Family lived in a villa district in the city, where security was tight and facial recognition was required to enter.

While he was puzzling over how to get in, a group of boys in sports jerseys suddenly arrived at the entrance. One of them, who had dark skin, said, "Let's buy a drink before we go back!"

Xue Ci's eyes lit up, and he planned to slip in among them.

He had never done anything bad like this before, so he was a little nervous. His fingers tightened around his backpack strap, and several red marks soon appeared.

After the boys came out of the convenience store, Xue Ci quietly followed at the very back of the group.

The tall boys completely concealed him.

Xue Ci made it into the residential district before the gate closed.

"Why does it suddenly smell so good? Whose pheromones are leaking?"

"No way. None of our pheromones smell like that."

"It's more like an Omega's pheromones."

The scent was coming from behind them.

It was hard to say exactly what it smelled like. It was pleasant and faint, sweet and misty.

Xin Yue stopped walking.

Soon, he felt someone bump into his back, followed by a very quiet breath.

He turned around to see a pretty Omega looking up at him, the tip of his nose unnaturally red and his eyes damp. The scent was spreading from him.

Xin Yue's first thought was-

He had hurt him in the collision.

Xue Ci was a little bewildered when he heard "Sorry." He hadn't expected an apology after he was the one who had bumped into someone.

It seemed the other person was very polite.

Looking up, he saw that he had a friendly face, too.

At least, he looked friendlier than the equally tall boy beside him, who gave off a chilly air.

"I'm fine." The villa district was so large, and Xue Ci had finally found someone he could talk to, so he decided to ask him for help without a second thought. "Do you live here?"

The Omega's voice brought Xin Yue back to his senses. "Yeah."

He bent down slightly. "Are you here to find someone?"

Xue Ci nodded. "Do you know Gu Xu?"

As soon as he finished speaking, he noticed a subtle expression appear on the other boy's face.

Could it be...

Soon, he saw the boy pat the scowling one beside him. "This is him."

Xue Ci: "..."

He shifted his gaze to the side.

The Alpha was tall and straight-backed, wearing a black short-sleeved shirt under his number seven jersey. His brows were sharp, and his dark eyes were cold and indifferent. He naturally gave off an air that warned strangers to keep away.

Xue Ci tilted his head back until his neck ached.

"You followed him all the way home!" someone suddenly jeered, giving a whistle. "You're an Omega, right? What school do you go to? How old are you?"

A group gathered around him, and their eyes all turned to Xue Ci at once, leaving him at a loss.

Fortunately, Gu Xu interrupted in time.

The boy's voice was as aloof as his appearance, and he was sparing with words. "What is it?"

Xue Ci pursed his lips, then closed his mouth again. Realizing that what he had to do was somewhat similar to Xia Yuhe going to acknowledge her father, he was too embarrassed to speak.

Feeling a little awkward, he said quietly to Gu Xu, "Can we talk alone?"

As soon as they heard that, everyone understood what was going on.

Why did such a pretty Omega have to be interested in someone as insensitive as Gu Xu?

What a shame!

Gu Xu slowly raised his eyelids.

He wasn't very interested in romance and was just about to refuse when he met the Omega's gaze, fixed directly on him.

He looked very well-behaved, not like the type to pursue someone, yet he had followed him home just to see him.

He was even deliberately releasing pheromones at him.

Releasing pheromones at an Alpha was no different from seducing him.

Gu Xu should have coldly refused, but for some reason, when the words reached his lips, he couldn't say them.

Forget it.

It would be even more troublesome if he cried after being rejected in front of so many people.

"What did you say?" Gu Xu stared at the so-called engagement agreement in his hand, his expression colder than before.

When the Omega handed him a piece of paper, he had guessed it was something like a love letter, but he hadn't expected this... His gaze returned to Xue Ci.

He looked so well-behaved and quiet, but who would have thought he was this bold-

He had actually written an engagement agreement himself.

Was he trying to skip dating and go straight to marrying him?

Gu Xu's lips curled slightly, and his tone was a little cold. "So you want to be my wife?"

"..."

Xue Ci didn't hear the mockery in his voice. He just hadn't expected Gu Xu to speak so directly.

That wasn't wrong, so he nodded solemnly.

The Omega's serious expression stunned Gu Xu. An inexplicable restlessness rose from his back and spread to his neck and face. The heat made his arm tense slightly, and the paper in his hand crumpled with it.

Xue Ci drew a distressed breath.

If the agreement was damaged, the rest of the plot wouldn't be able to proceed.

He leaned forward and reminded him quietly, "Don't grip it so hard..."

Gu Xu loosened his grip without thinking, averted his gaze awkwardly, and handed the paper back.

Xue Ci carefully took it and put it away. Then he looked up again, wanting to see what the protagonist thought.

Gu Xu clearly didn't believe in an engagement agreement made by their elders. People were free to choose their own partners these days, so why would anyone still have an old-fashioned childhood engagement? Besides, he had never heard his family mention it.

"I don't want to date, and I want to get married even less."

Showing a rare bit of patience, Gu Xu lowered his voice and warned him, "Hurry home."

He liked someone enough to offer to be his wife outright.

He was so foolish. He shouldn't get fooled in the future.

"My home is very far away." Afraid of being sent off, Xue Ci hurriedly explained, "I really didn't lie to you."

Gu Xu ignored him. The Alpha was tall and long-legged, and his strides were long. In just a few steps, he turned a corner and disappeared completely. The villa district was full of bushes, and every road looked much the same, like a maze.

Xue Ci couldn't keep up at all.

Soon, he realized he was lost.

Finding the Gu Family was his first task.

He was going to fail.

Xue Ci stood where he was, at a bit of a loss.

Drip-

Fine rain fell on his fair, soft cheeks, and a few drops dampened his hair.

11 took physical form and settled on Xue Ci's shoulder, reminding him, "Host, it's raining! There's an umbrella in your backpack."

Xue Ci found a tree to shelter under and took off his backpack. He had brought very little luggage with him from the countryside to Fog City, and it was all in this backpack. His documents and the engagement agreement were in the zippered inner compartment; aside from those, there were only a few changes of clothes.

The umbrella had been stuffed on the far right. It was an old one with a broken rib, but it could still keep the rain off.

Just as he was hesitating over whether to find somewhere nearby to stay for the night, he heard a meow.

He turned to the side and saw an orange cat crouching on the ground to his left.

The kitten's fur was wet, and its head drooped listlessly.

Xue Ci thought it would soon go find shelter, but it still hadn't left after he waited quite a while.

He carefully crouched down and tilted the umbrella to the left.

The kitten stayed quietly where it was and meowed at him again.

The umbrella was too small, and the fine rain dampened his right shoulder.

Xue Ci tucked 11, which had been sitting there, into his arms.

He was treating them equally.

"Why haven't you gone back yet?" From several meters away, Gu Xu, who had returned because he was worried the Omega might be abducted and trafficked, spoke sternly. "You-"

He froze, the rest of his words swallowed in his throat.

In the dim light, beneath the streetlamp and the fine rain, the person and the cat under the umbrella turned to look at him at the same time.

For a moment, Gu Xu thought he was looking at two cats.

Pretty stray cats, soaked by the rain, with pitiful eyes and heads tilted as if they wanted him to take them home.

At the sudden arrival, the orange cat quickly fled into the bushes. Xue Ci was a little disappointed, but Gu Xu's appearance was still a pleasant surprise. He answered honestly, "My home is very far away, and I don't know where to stay."

A stray kitten, left outside in the cold at night.

And a frail Omega, at that.

Gu Xu's expression was cold. "Follow me."

[Objective "Find the Gu Family" completed. You have received 50 points. Remaining tasks have yet to refresh.]

Xue Ci narrowed his eyes happily.

He looked up and saw that the Alpha beside him had no umbrella. He was about to tilt his small umbrella toward him, but the other refused.

"No need."

The umbrella was only so big. How could it cover two people? Or did he not want Gu Xu to get wet?

At the thought, Gu Xu's cheeks grew hot again. He realized that the Omega in front of him liked him enough to write him an engagement agreement.

A light rain pattered down, with no other sounds around them.

"You..." Gu Xu finally broke the silence, his tone a little stiff. "What made you think of writing something like that?"

Xue Ci was surprised. "?"

He corrected him. "I didn't write it. Our elders arranged it."

Realizing that Gu Xu really didn't know about the engagement agreement, he asked, "Do you want to ask your family?"

As he finished speaking, they arrived near the villa. Gu Xu looked at Xue Ci for a few seconds. Though still skeptical, he decided to believe him this once.

He had the butler take Xue Ci inside while he stood at the door and made a call.

The call was answered quickly.

He got straight to the point. He had expected Hu Shenglan to ask if he'd fried his brain, but her response took him by surprise. "Your grandfather mentioned it."

There really was such a thing as a childhood engagement?

Gu Xu could hardly believe it. Hearing Hu Shenglan grow more and more excited, as though she couldn't wait another second to meet the person involved, he swiftly nipped the arranged marriage in the bud. "I don't want to get married."

"What does that have to do with you?"

Gu Xu: "...?"

Gu Xu's brow twitched. He was about to say something when he heard Hu Shenglan speak in a slightly disdainful tone. "Our family has three Alphas, you know."

Author's note:

There are seven in the family in total (not really

I've brought my new wife to meet everyone, hehe. Hope you all enjoy the story! Finger hearts [yellow heart][yellow heart][yellow heart]

So far, four slices have appeared (the three brothers + Xin Yue). The most perverted one hasn't shown up yet. His surname is still Xie, and he still loves sending people text messages.