ALSACW – Chapter 138

Yun Xuan was locked up.

Personally guarded by the Royal Guard, he was currently in a state where he couldn’t die but also couldn’t escape.

The Empress and the cabinet members held a meeting overnight. All members of the Howard family who hadn’t left were captured.

However, it was too late.

The next day, the Howard family declared war on the Empire on behalf of the betas. Their demand was simple and arrogant: for the Empire to cede two planets to them.

In other words, they were seeking independence.

In other words, they were insane.

This was the perception of most people in the Empire.

To be more precise, it was the perception of most alphas and omegas.

Why were the betas causing trouble?

Was anyone oppressing them? Apparently not.

Was anyone discriminating against them? That was even more baseless.

No one had ever openly criticized betas the way they said omegas were incapable or unworthy. The impression of betas had always been a fixed perception: they were naturally meant to be this way—to serve as an unfeeling, unaware backdrop, like an AI, in a world bustling with ABO scents.

But sometimes, actions were more real than perceptions.

The number of betas heading to Qinglan Star increased.

When the Empire urgently suspended all routes to Qinglan Star, the betas’ movements quieted down. But this silent suppression made many alphas and omegas subconsciously become wary of the betas around them.

Their casual glances were interpreted as signs of a desire to plunder, and the atmosphere in the Empire grew tense.

Just then, the Howard family added fuel to the fire of the heated situation: they publicly revealed their connection to the imperial family.

And they revealed the unspeakable, secret treaty from the Activation War to the public: betas could not become the emperor.

Betas also could not become leaders of any kind.

The evolution had begun, and it had to continue.

Now, the silence became even more unsettling.

Betas didn’t march or give speeches like omegas, nor did they resort to direct violence like alphas. Their resistance was as moderate and rational as their gender itself.

They chose to strike.

At this point, the starship handover, which should have proceeded, came to an abrupt halt. Neither the alphas nor the omegas wanted an act intended for peace to become the fuse that intensified the war.

But this move undoubtedly pushed the beta military toward the Howard family.

But there was no other way. It was better to subject the beta military to a test of loyalty than to let them be tested by power and desire. At least the former wouldn’t cost them a starship.

The atmosphere on the Waste Star grew fraught overnight.

The Empire was even more so. People were already beginning to question whether they truly needed a royal family to lead them in this era, wondering what this ancient system brought besides amplifying prejudice.

Meanwhile, Yun Chuji was still in her rut.

This rut was the result of her deliberately taking medication to induce it before she went to see Yun Xuan.

Therefore, this rut was both ill-timed and intense.

Because of this, Yun Chuji and Tang Jianxi missed many events that could be considered historic for the Empire.

When the Imperial Guard arrested all the members of the Howard family, Yun Chuji and Tang Jianxi were kissing.

When the Howard family declared war, Yun Chuji was injecting her pheromones into Tang Jianxi’s glands for the third time.

When the three factions of the Empire—alpha, beta, and omega—began to subtly oppose one another, Yun Chuji was holding Tang Jianxi in the bathroom, bathing her. She clung to Tang Jianxi like a vine; or rather, she had turned Tang Jianxi into a vine that clung to her. Their optical computers were flashing incessantly.

When the Howard family announced their Hall family bloodline, Yun Chuji had Tang Jianxi’s legs propped on her shoulders.

When the betas went on strike, Yun Chuji was holding Tang Jianxi, sleeping.

So much so that when the rut ended, the wounds on Yun Chuji’s body from her mindless fight with the AI hadn’t yet healed, and now there were many new marks from their “fairy fight.”

While the entire Empire was being scorched by the fires of war and hatred, Yun Chuji and Tang Jianxi were immersed in an endless, humid rainy season.

But eventually, they had to emerge from the burrow Yun Xuan had so carefully crafted for them and face the outside world, which was gradually becoming a scene of devastation.

All the high-ranking generals of the beta legion were detained on the Waste Star, but the troops left there were not the entirety of the beta forces; they were merely the horn of a great beast.

The Howard family had operated for many years, winning over many like-minded officers and soldiers.

Now, the Empire’s main army was already heading to Qinglan Star, and Golden Phoenix Star had also brought one of its starships.

The situation was becoming increasingly difficult to manage.

Yun Chuji and Tang Jianxi first went to see Tang Jianshen. Clarence was there too. Ever since the Empress had exposed his secret plans, and with the betas’ reactions growing more intense, he had been staying with Tang Jianshen. He had a premonition that his chance to atone for his mistakes lay with this group from the Tang family—mainly because he couldn’t get involved in any other opportunities for redemption at the moment.

Yun Chuji’s injuries had been treated, and she finally looked presentable, but her demeanor was still cautious and timid, especially when facing Tang Jianxi.

She remembered her rut, and Tang Jianxi had previously sworn to deal with her. Believing she deserved it, she had preemptively prepared herself to accept any and all punishment.

It was Clarence’s first time seeing Tang Jianxi and the famous A-Virtue champion interacting privately, and he was quite amazed. His resentment over the Tang family’s omega being able to lead Spartacus to greater and greater success dissipated considerably.

A level of enlightenment like this when it came to choosing an alpha was decades ahead of the Empire.

“The war can no longer be stopped. Every reaction we make now is just proving the Howard family right.” Tang Jianshen looked at his sister, who had been out of contact for several days, and briefly explained the situation.

“Is there any news from Grandmother?”

Tang Jianshen shook his head. “But the omega military has already prepared for war.”

Then, he pressed his lips together and offered his opinion: “Things have reached a point where we can no longer get involved. This is a game for the higher-ups, and a result of history.”

All choices eventually receive their feedback. The Empire was unwilling to acknowledge the existence of betas, which led to the betas using independence to declare their existence. This wasn’t something so difficult to understand.

Yun Chuji knew this as well. During those three days of captivity, Yun Xuan had explained everything to her thoroughly. “But, in the end, we are all human.”

When it came to gender differences, no one’s was greater than the one between her and Yun Xuan and this era. But in reality, the differences in their worldviews were mostly caused by things other than gender.

How a person views their own gender, and how others view your gender, is the core of the gender conflict. But what’s even more central is whether or not to use various rules to divide people into different classes, and then distribute malice and goodwill according to these rigid rules.

Yun Xuan’s hatred was the resentment born from moving from a power structure that favored him to one that did not.

Yun Chuji’s love was the benevolence born from realizing the existence of chains after escaping them, and then resolving to break them.

She looked at this group of native Imperials and asked, “What do you think the betas’ demand is?”

The three of them, who had all left a deep mark on the development of modern omega rights, were silent for a moment, but they all gave the correct answer: “Respect.”

This was also what omegas sought.

“Then can’t the Empire give them respect? Is that such a difficult thing to do?”

Clarence frowned and said, “But this has nothing to do with the war. The Howard family doesn’t just want dignity for betas; that’s just a gimmick to incite war. What they really want is power. There aren’t that many moral principles behind this.”

Tang Jianxi understood Yun Chuji’s intention. At the same time, as a true gender egalitarian, she could see more clearly that what made this war inevitable was not just the betas’ unwillingness to accept their lot, but even more so, the disregard of alphas and omegas and their anger at feeling offended.

She said seriously to Tang Jianshen, “No, there is a part of the war we can participate in.”

Tang Jianshen had also guessed Tang Jianxi’s thoughts. It wasn’t that he didn’t know how to stabilize the situation; the matter wasn’t difficult, it was just that the gains wouldn’t outweigh the losses.

“The betas’ rebellion will make the people of the Empire reconsider the rights of omegas. Omegas can use the betas’ war to achieve their own victory.” He finally revealed the reason why the normally equality-advocating omega rights faction had suddenly fallen silent.

The war was started by alphas, because omegas had never been given the right to start a war.

In the hundred years that the Howards had been secretly developing, it was alpha power that had been flourishing.

Therefore, alphas should bear both the political and moral responsibility.

And omegas, in turn, could use this to prove their superiority.

As for the betas, without starships, they were destined to fail.

“But alphas didn’t have starships before, either.”

“How can betas compare to alphas?” Clarence blurted out. “Alphas rely on their physiological advantages. Betas have nothing.”

Yun Chuji lifted her face, which had three medical patches on it, and said faintly, “And after the war? Will betas be openly oppressed?”

“Will betas be content with this oppression?”

“This will only prolong the war indefinitely.” Yun Chuji’s voice was soft, filled with sorrow and confusion. “Are you saying you’d be willing to do this to your own beta friends, family, and lovers?”

What Yun Chuji could never understand was how people could be willing to raise a whip against those they lived with.

Tang Jianxi took Yun Chuji’s hand, rubbing her palm gently, then said solemnly to her brother, “I don’t want omegas to become a carbon copy of alphas.”

Tang Jianshen’s pupils contracted slightly, and then he gave a helpless smile. On his ice-like face, the smile created a kind of fractured beauty.

“I suppose I have no way of stopping you.”

“…Then it seems I can only help you handle things more beautifully.”