Chapter 9

When Chi Xun returned to the Lower District, it was already four in the afternoon.

As soon as she stepped into the area, she could feel the heat radiating from the ground beneath her feet, and the air was tinged with a sharp, unpleasant odor. Yet, she still felt a strange sense of coming home. Turning off the navigation, she recognized every crooked little path beneath her feet.

Originally, Chi Xun had intended to report to the police station first, but both she and her brother had been undocumented residents. She had heard her brother mention when they were five that their parents worked in an illegal factory and had died together in an accidental explosion. She had lost all her memories in that traumatic event.

She remembered nothing.

Not even her own name, her parents’ faces, or the existence of her elder brother—nothing at all.

Later, her brother Chi Xun took someone to help her get official documents and identity papers and raised her on his own.

So Chi Xun dared not take any risks.

If there was any flaw in her documents, or if the loan shark syndicate discovered she had reported to the police, she wouldn’t just lose Chi Xun; she would become a burden to him.

For now, she had to focus on what was in front of her—first to buy some properly sized chest binders to avoid exposure within the group.

She went to the same wholesale market as before, located at the end of a narrow lane beside a garbage transfer station.

The sun was leaning westward, and the sunlight was still scorching.

Chi Xun climbed the increasingly steep road, pulling up her collar to fan herself with a cool breeze. Shielding her eyes from the sun with one hand, she squinted toward the nearby garbage station, where many people pushed makeshift carts or carried baskets, scavenging—or rather, “treasure hunting.”

Items discarded as garbage in the Upper District became treasures once tossed carelessly into the slums.

When Chi Xun was a child, she had also held her nose to search for “treasures” there. One glance, and she was captivated by a single ballet shoe—pink, with a smooth texture, and long, slender satin ribbons like those only a princess would wear.

It took her half a day to find its pair, which had a small seam opening at the heel—perhaps the very reason the wealthy had discarded it.

That afternoon, when Chi Xun was called for dinner by Chi Xun but was nowhere to be found, and he came searching at home, she was just slipping on those ballet shoes, which were much too large for her feet, proudly directing a group of smaller children to act as her backup dancers.

He didn’t even take off his apron, quietly watching her bounce and laugh under the sunset.

After she finished dancing and the crowd dispersed, Chi Xun came over with a tissue to wipe the dirt off her face and hands from rummaging through the trash.

She still remembered his gentle voice asking—

“Is our little Xun wanting to learn ballet now?”

Chi Xun looked down at the incongruous pink ballet shoes on her feet and nodded earnestly.

From then on, Chi Xun began the routine of leaving early and returning late, and she never missed a single ballet class.

“Sixteen federal credits.”

Money exchanged hands, goods were handed over.

Chi Xun grabbed the plastic bag given to her, which contained four chest binders she had chosen. She didn’t leave immediately after buying them but continued browsing the market.

The shop owner saw her searching the shelves as if looking for something else and tactfully followed up. “Anything else you want? I have it all here.”

Such items wouldn’t be displayed openly, so after hesitating briefly, Chi Xun turned back and made a vague arc gesture.

“Like… Alpha stuff.”

“Bite guards?” the owner asked.

Chi Xun shook her head, placing her hand between her legs, blushing as she made a rectangular gesture.

The woman burst out laughing at her clumsy miming, leaning against the shelf, laughing until she could barely stand. “Why would you want that? Are you a Beta? Or an Omega?”

“Beta,” Chi Xun whispered.

The woman asked casually, of course not wanting to lose a potential sale. She beckoned, “Follow me.”

Chi Xun quickly followed her up the spiral iron staircase to a second-floor storeroom. The woman knelt down and opened a cardboard box, asking, “What color do you want?”

“You can choose colors?”

“Of course.” The woman arched an eyebrow, stood, and turned on the light.

The sudden brightness startled Chi Xun. Once her eyes adjusted, she saw the box was filled with the items in question, making her blush and quickly look away.

“Most of the buyers here are Beta wives who just married an Omega husband—marital fun, you know,” the woman said, appraising Chi Xun’s modest height, which was not an advantage in the mate market. “Are you newlywed too?”

Chi Xun had never heard of such a pairing before. Nervously, she touched her nose and replied, “I guess… so.”

“Go on.”

An object flew at her in a parabola.

Chi Xun easily caught it and examined it. “So tiny.”

“Most Alphas’ are even smaller than this, and some look good but don’t work well.”

The woman folded her arms and chuckled, then came over to teach her. “Press the button on the side when you need it... See, normally keep it off and use the elastic band to wear it around your waist.”

It was indeed retractable—very advanced.

Chi Xun raised it, scrutinizing it more. Even in operation mode, it was more compact than the shadow under the belly of that wild peacock during training.

But since it was something she would never use anyway, size didn’t matter.

In this, perhaps the future Xie Shisheng shared her feelings.

“There’s a high-end version too. Want to see?”

Chi Xun guessed that would be more expensive and quickly declined. “No, no, this one is enough. How much is it?”

The woman held out her fist, thumb and pinky extended.

“Six?”

“Sixty.”

Chi Xun: “...”

She racked her brains for any bargaining techniques she knew—pretending to walk away, waiting for the seller to pull her back, or finding flaws to haggle over. But when the words came out, they were dry and flat—

“Can it be cheaper?”

The woman squinted, “How much will you pay?”

“Fifty, is that okay?”

A moment of silence.

Chi Xun prepared to pay on her light device but heard the woman chuckle lightly. “Little sister, has no one ever taught you how to bargain?”

Chi Xun nodded slightly.

Chi Xun’s brother had never taught her, rarely even letting her go out shopping alone.

The woman looked at her oversized, ill-fitting men's clothes, the golden curls peeking from under her hat, and those extraordinarily clear and beautiful eyes, smiling, “Alright, I’ll sell it to you for thirty, but there’s a condition.”

Chi Xun was taken aback as the woman slowly walked around her, high heels clicking rhythmically on the floor.

Only then did she notice the countless black boxes on the shelves the woman had previously blocked. Some were heavily worn; others emitted a cold mist like freezers.

In that instant, Chi Xun recalled the cases of Beta disappearances and organ transplants in the slums.

She forced herself calm and asked, “What condition?”

Soon, a hand with a faint fragrance lightly touched the back of her neck, near her gland, teasingly hovering.

“Say ‘sister’ for me.”

Chi Xun: “??”

Is that all?

She pursed her lips, turned to meet the woman’s eyes, and said clearly, “Sister.”

The word was crisp, but the ending stretched out softly, as if she were used to coaxing someone at home.

The woman’s red lips curved into a smile, waving her hand, “Pay up.”

And so, Chi Xun spent thirty credits on what looked like a very realistic prop, bewildered.

The woman even kindly put it in a black bag to keep it discreet.

As Chi Xun checked out and left, she found inside the bag a lipstick-like item. Opening the cap and pressing it lightly, the lipstick vibrated softly in her hand.

Chi Xun realized too late what it was and blushed, hurriedly handing it back. “Sister, I didn’t buy this.”

“Just thought you were cute, a little gift.”

The woman returned to the counter and lit a cigarette. “That’s the good thing about us Betas. Our status may be low, but we have freedom of choice. Besides, if you divorce your Omega wife in the future and remarry an Alpha husband, right? Try both.”

Chi Xun still heard those words echoing in her ears when she got home.

She felt misunderstood—she had only bought the item to avoid exposure during the swimsuit portion.

But the woman’s words made sense.

This was the first time anyone had spoken to her like this. Even though Chi Xun was her biological brother, their genders differed, and some things were rarely discussed between siblings. She never asked about his love life.

She guessed Chi Xun must have dated before, which explained why he was adept at helping her braid hair and pick out clothes.

Chi Xun had her own secrets from Chi Xun.

For instance, secretly watching the boy next door, though the crush ended quietly when he moved away.

Or sneaking out at night with a flashlight to read comic books...

In the quiet of night, she turned pages carefully, biting her lip to muffle tiny sounds so as not to disturb Chi Xun sleeping just a wall away.

Then hiding the books and going barefoot to the balcony to wash her freshly changed clothes.

Passing by Chi Xun’s door, her heart raced so fiercely that even the cold water couldn’t cool the pounding.

In the dark, she couldn’t even locate the clothes rod and hung the clothes haphazardly.

Fortunately, every dawn before she left, she saw neatly hung clothes on the balcony. Day and night, the drying was the same.

After dance class at dusk, the dry clothes would be folded and returned to her wardrobe.

This routine repeated daily.

Chi Xun twisted the key and pushed open the door; the house was unchanged from when she left four days ago.

Windows and doors tightly shut, no dust settled.

She headed straight to Chi Xun’s room, but upon seeing the furnishings, she stood disappointed.

Her brother still hadn’t returned.

Maybe he was just caught up with something. After all, he had worked several days straight before.

Chi Xun could only soothe herself with this thought.

She gathered two sets of clothes and chest binders she hadn’t taken earlier, placed them together, then crouched by the coffee table to write a letter. After folding it, she prepared to leave it in Chi Xun’s room.

The desk was too conspicuous; the pillowcase too hidden.

After much thought, she pulled open the drawer of his bedside cabinet.

The drawer tilted, and something rolled out.

Three thick syringes, all used up, with no liquid left inside. The tubes were marked in bright red letters: Alpha-S.

Exactly like the suppressants Zhuang Qu gave her on the first day she joined the group.

Chi Xun raised her eyebrows, puzzled, but still took them out and threw them into the trash.

Just as she was about to put the letter in, she noticed a photo tucked face down in the drawer.

Expecting a group picture, she picked it up and realized it was a solo photo of herself.

In the picture, she wore a ballet dress, standing sideways while holding the barre, practicing alone.

“Just like an old father, recording everything,” Chi Xun muttered softly, stroking the photo.

But... it was a nice shot.

Hmph, it belonged to her now!