ALSACW – Chapter 135

Waste Star.

The blond beta man—perhaps he should be called by his name, Andrew Howard.

After Andrew returned to his camp, the look of anger and humiliation on his face dissolved as if washed away. Though a faint ember of rage still smoldered, it did nothing to diminish his overarching coldness and madness.

These two contradictory emotions wove together an outcome that would shape the very future of the Empire.

The Third Prince Consort was right. The Howard family’s connection to the imperial family had once been their sharpest tool for dominating the beta aristocracy. But now, as a three-way compromise between alphas, betas, and omegas was being reached, their royal background had become a source of suspicion—especially for their own allies.

And this was even before the Hall family bloodline in their veins had been discovered.

Otherwise, with the Howard family’s power and status, they couldn’t even secure a single major command post on the starship. If they hadn’t argued their case forcefully, they might have been conveniently shuffled off to the laughable departments of starship maintenance and logistics.

And just as the Third Prince Consort had said, at such a tense moment, the Howard family’s true background was indeed easy to uncover.

After all, to be frank, while the emergence of the Howard family was intended to plant a spy among the beta families, it had initially stemmed from familial affection.

What crime had the innocent child committed? Born of the same alpha and omega parents, the alpha and omega children were adored, treated as the glory and jewels of the Empire, and raised in high esteem. The beta, however, could only be sent away on a dark, unknown night to the poorest and most chaotic place in the entire empire.

A moment of hesitation from their closest kin saved the fate of the Hall family’s beta children. They were secretly placed in the home of a down-and-out beta noble family.

Later, for the sake of both surveillance and protection, the imperial family began to support the Howard family under the pretext of a marriage alliance.

And so, a shadow began to grow and strengthen in the darkness.

Time can change many things. The royal betas within the Howard family initially understood the imperial family’s difficult position. That agreement dictated that the Hall family’s betas could never step into the light. Grateful for their improved fate, they became the imperial family’s black glove in the Empire.

If an alpha were to target an omega, they would easily be accused of having ulterior motives.

But if a harmless beta were to point out the various faults of omegas, the matter would have a chance of being seriously discussed.

With the Howard family’s help, the imperial family’s strategy of suppressing omegas became increasingly effective.

At the same time, the fact that the Howard family could only survive by relying on the imperial family made the royals feel very secure. They didn’t have to worry about the Howards doing anything to harm them.

But the most important quality in a subordinate is loyalty.

Yet loyalty sometimes doesn’t depend on the subordinate. If the superior changes, the nature of that loyalty naturally changes with them. But what has been done cannot be undone.

Thus, with the Howard family’s covert influence and the imperial family’s inherent bias toward alphas, not a single omega emperor appeared in the Empire for a full hundred years.

The Howard family’s position was thus solidified.

But they were, after all, a family composed of betas.

Even if their royal parents were an alpha and an omega, one must not forget that their very birth was an accident that had to be discarded.

And in this damned, disgusting world, it was only considered physiologically normal for an alpha and an omega to bond with each other.

As for AB or OB pairings, they were even more ridiculed than AA or OO pairings. At least AA and OO had a hint of counter-cultural rebellion, and one could even boast about the purity of a spiritual love. But to fall in love with a beta—who had no pheromones, no glands, and was dull, bland, and plain—was something that would earn you nothing but mockery.

Betas living in the Empire were like the Howard family to the imperial family.

They occupied so much space, yet they could only exist like shadows.

Ah, yes. They had developed a rebellious heart.

How could they not develop a rebellious heart?

They watched the throne slip through their fingers time and time again, yet they were forever fated only to serve it.

How could they possibly not develop a rebellious heart?

What’s more, they also had fear.

Their glory and their lives were entirely in the hands of the imperial family. Every head of the Howard family had to be a direct relative of the reigning emperor. This wasn’t for any political consideration; it was pure contempt.

If a beta wasn’t closely related to the emperor, they were not qualified to become the emperor’s confidant by virtue of their mere beta status.

Behind this contempt lay the frustrated and premature deaths of many of the Howard family’s geniuses.

Of course, they were still glorious.

But between the glory of a fighting cock and the glory of a warhorse lay the unignorable chasm of dignity.

And this incident was undoubtedly the fuse.

The imperial family was now trying to take away even their glory as fighting cocks.

They no longer had any room to survive.

They could either become the fallen Howard family, a recycling bin for the imperial family’s betas, or, in the imperial family’s attempt to cover up its scandal, return to their original fate—to be cast down to the very bottom of society.

Andrew took a device out of his briefcase. He remained motionless for a long time.

Finally, he closed his eyes.

And pressed a red button on it.

Imperial Capital Star.

The Howard Family Estate.

In the family conference room, all the younger generation and key figures of the Howard family were gathered.

They stared at the device on the table.

They had been doing this for five days, yet they remained as focused as they were on the first day.

Suddenly, the device lit up with a red glow.

The conference room was already quiet, but at this moment, it was as if even the sounds of breathing and heartbeats had vanished, like being in the vacuum of space.

“By Andrew’s order, execute Plan A,” a middle-aged woman sitting at the head of the table said grimly. “Inform Mr. Yun Xuan and remind him to act according to the agreement.”

She stood up, turned to face the hundreds of tense and excited faces, and declared, “The glory of the Howard family truly begins today.”

“Is there really such a thing as glory?” Yun Xuan asked, feigning confusion as he fed a pastry to Yun Chuji.

The person he asked couldn’t answer immediately, as she was chewing the pastry in her mouth.

Of course, it seemed he didn’t want her to answer anyway. He quickly answered his own question: “Of course not. In the end, it’s all about self-interest. Dogs like the Howard family, who bite the hand that feeds them, are not uncommon. They start out eating mud, but once you give them a bone, they want meat. Give them meat, and they want something else. Greed is endless. They always classify what they want as what they deserve.”

“And the gap between those two is far greater than the gap between betas and AOs.”

Just then, Yun Chuji finally swallowed the pastry. She turned her head to take a sip of water placed beside her. She was still tied up like a giant radish, able to move only her fingers and neck.

After drinking the water, Yun Chuji said lightly, “I thought Elder Brother preferred betas.”

“Hmm, how should I put it?” Yun Xuan picked up another piece of pastry and placed it in Yun Chuji’s mouth, explaining in a gentle voice, “I do find betas more pleasing to the eye.”

“But as you know, betas can give birth to alphas and omegas, and alphas and omegas can give birth to betas. So, in the end, they’re all cut from the same cloth—unclean in their bloodlines.”

Yun Chuji chewed the pastry in her mouth silently. The cloud-flake cake, once her favorite, now seemed overly sweet and cloying. After eating a few pieces, she even felt a faint wave of nausea.

Yun Chuji lifted her gaze and looked at the gently smiling young man before her.

The same went for the person she once respected.

This was the third day Yun Chuji had spent with Yun Xuan, and the third day of her disappearance.

It wasn’t that Yun Chuji didn’t know Yun Xuan’s mental state had problems, but she had never imagined it would be this severe. If she had to describe it, it was as if Yun Xuan had walked to the dark side of his own humanity.

For him, all light had died with their transmigration. His life, his ambitions, his value, and his meaning had all been shattered again and again.

And so, he intended to make everyone else feel that same shattering.

Yun Chuji swallowed the pastry and said earnestly, “Elder Brother, stop this.”

“It’s not too late. If you just tell Her Majesty the Empress and intercept the Howard family’s fleet, none of this will happen. No one will have to die.”

Yun Xuan raised his hand to summon an AI and had it wipe Yun Chuji’s mouth clean.

“I can’t stop.” Yun Xuan said softly. “The Howard family has been preparing for a long time. They’ve been procreating for a hundred years; even for betas, that’s enough time to produce a massive family. If we stop this main branch on the Imperial Capital Star, there are still countless other branches. And once their goal is exposed, it will only lead everything more inevitably toward war.”

“Chuniang, why would you think I would leave myself a way out?”

“I can’t find him.” Tang Jianshen forced out the words.

“There’s no trace of Yun Xuan logging into the star-net. He’s hidden himself completely. He’s using an internal local network and hasn’t made any external contact at all.”

“Are you sure he has some other scheme? I get the feeling he’s just targeting Yun Chuji.”

Tang Jianxi was silent for a long time. She clutched her heart, but felt no sense of panic coming from it. Logically, with their high compatibility rate, she should have been able to easily sense her partner’s intense emotions.

So why was Yun Chuji so calm?

Tang Jianxi raised her head, her eyes looking as if a piece of them were missing. With that vacant gaze, she said to Tang Jianshen, “Stop searching. We’ll wait for news from her.”

But… would there be any news?

Tang Jianshen started to speak, then stopped, finally letting out a sigh.

Forget it. I’ll keep looking.