Beast-people were not an alien race, but a branch of humanity.
Over six thousand years ago, ancient Earth’s environment deteriorated. Under the leadership of the three great nations, humanity began the era of interstellar great voyages, seeking new habitats in the boundless universe.
Twenty colonization fleets set off in twenty different directions in the universe.
One of them encountered extremely harsh environments. To adapt, they were forced onto the path of biochemical transformation fusing animal genes.
Eventually forming the beast-people race.
After long ages passed, the beast-people race faced total genetic collapse.
Just then, they picked up historical beacons left by other colonization fleets in the universe. Following the beacons, they found another branch of humanity—the branch Jiang Cheng belonged to.
Humans and beast-people fought a war lasting several years. The beast-people were utterly defeated.
Considering the two races’ shared origin from Earth, human society accepted the beast-people’s remnants.
Accepted them, yes—but how could they possibly be treated equally?
Discrimination was everywhere. Discrimination against beast-people was similar to that against sub-humans. Some people even especially discriminated against beast-people.
“Moli’s” human form in the “world” was completely an ordinary human appearance.
But in reality, “Moli’s” true appearance had very prominent beast features—ears, tail, and retractable sharp claws on hands and feet.
The most criticized and despised trait of beast-people was that they refused to wear shoes.
Almost all beast-people walked barefoot.
This was considered by humans to be an animalistic, degenerated trait. A sign that they refused to integrate into civilized society.
And therefore, beast-people didn’t deserve to be human.
As a defeated race, beast-people lived very difficultly in human society.
The security guard mocked: “Look at him—genes modified like this. Is he selling himself to men or to women?”
“Moli’s” eyes showed a look of humiliation.
He had thirty percent cat-race genes. His cat features were very prominent in appearance. And because his looks were handsome, he was often sized up with colored eyes.
As if he was born to be some kind of plaything.
The security guard laughed and raised the electric baton again, swinging it down hard.
But this strike hit air.
The cat-type young man could lightly dodge attacks.
The security guard, embarrassed into anger, swung the baton repeatedly, but every strike missed. Couldn’t touch “Moli” at all.
A faint “zzt”—light cut through the air. Moli collapsed to the ground.
Another security guard held a laser gun. Not lethal, but able to incapacitate.
The security guards all laughed.
No matter how impressive a beast-person was, could they fight heat weapons?
The first security guard, furious, grabbed the electric baton and walked over, wanting to teach this beast-person kid a lesson.
Black leather shoes clacking, electric baton raised high, ready to swing down viciously on the beast-person’s back!
At this moment, Moli raised his eyes.
Who’s the plaything.
Agile speed, sharp senses.
Can tread barefoot over flames. Skin can withstand electric shocks and lasers.
Born hunting skills.
A scout!
A vanguard!
A warrior!
Amid exclamations, mutation struck in an instant!
Human eyes simply couldn’t see the beast-person’s movements—too fast.
By the time they saw clearly, that security guard was already restrained.
“Moli” transformed one hand into sharp claws, the keen nails pressed against the guard’s throat: “Nobody move—!”
The security guards shouted harshly: “You’re crazy! Let him go!”
“Stealing is stealing! Physical harm and stealing are not the same level of crime!”
“Let him go now!”
“I’m not here to steal!” “Moli” cleared his name. “I came to…”
Then he discovered he couldn’t explain clearly.
It was actually about the same as stealing.
So he didn’t say it.
He held the security guard hostage and retreated, all the way to the service desk—this was the rest hall where everyone had stayed before leaving during the day.
He’d seen very clearly—everyone who exited the liquid chamber and came here had to scan their personal terminal.
Meaning this place’s computer should have everyone’s personal information.
“Cui Haiyang” had said the customer service computers in these public rest halls didn’t contain anything confidential and were easy to crack.
“Cui Haiyang” had given him the cracking tools.
“Cui Haiyang” was clearly a repeat offender. But everyone was scraping by at the bottom—no one looked down on anyone.
“Zhao Yi” didn’t quite want “Gao Yuxuan” getting close to “Cui Haiyang,” because “Gao Yuxuan” was still young.
His family wasn’t that bad off either.
The university student and high school student were just here for odd jobs. They were different from these people scraping by—they still had a future to look forward to.
“Moli” pulled a small black flat box from his pocket and slapped it onto the service desk with a “smack.”
The computer activated. Light screens unfolded above the service desk.
No need for Moli to operate—”Cui Haiyang” had already written the program.
Today only their one project had large-scale personnel movement. The program automatically began searching the personnel movement records for women matching the criteria.
Photos flashed by rapidly.
“Moli’s” pupils vibrated at high speed.
Images too fast for ordinary people to see clearly—his eyes saw them perfectly.
The hostage security guard tried to struggle. The beast-person’s sharp claws pierced the skin of his neck. Blood flowed out.
The guard was so frightened he didn’t dare move again.
The other security guards raised laser guns, confronting the beast-person, not daring to act rashly either. Clearly the laser guns effective on ordinary people had little effect on the beast-person before them.
One guard quietly cursed another: “What’s with the security system? Why hasn’t it activated?”
Human security guards were just decoration. Real security of course relied on sophisticated high technology.
But technology was in human hands.
In the distant universe, Uncle Jiang controlled everything from afar.
He quietly glanced at Jiang Cheng’s profile.
Jiang Cheng watched everything happening in the light screen with crossed arms, giving no instructions.
She’d already looked at the file before.
The file showed “Moli” was one of the people who’d gone to the service desk asking about her.
He’d even nearly gotten into a conflict with the service desk. It was “Cui Haiyang” who’d stopped him.
Then he and “Cui Haiyang” both left on the last ship.
The same ship “Song Jingshuo,” “Zhao Yi,” and “Gao Yuxuan” had boarded.
She’d watched him leave.
Fine—she could admit it now. Actually, at that time, she’d been a bit angry.
The service desk of course wouldn’t give them any information. Not anyone else’s either, let alone Jiang Cheng’s.
But others giving up was one thing—how could this guy give up so easily?
Who was it that was obsessed with physical intimacy with her, always insisting on clinging and hugging when no one was around? Who was it that murmured beneath her, saying he’d be loyal to her for life?
Who said he was willing to fight to the death for her?
How could he give up and leave on a ship so easily?
Jiang Cheng had been selected from so many embryos to be incubated and given targeted training.
She wasn’t just born with a golden spoon—she was practically born with a diamond spoon.
The life of a top billionaire was something ordinary people couldn’t even dream of. But where there were gains, there were losses. Jiang Cheng was destined never to possess what ordinary people could easily have.
Besides Uncle Jiang, there were only two kinds of people around Jiang Cheng.
One kind: people employed by her.
The other kind: people who came before her for benefit.
In the eyes of all these people, they only saw the identity of “Jiang Family Consortium’s current operations executor.”
They all came for this identity.
No one came for Jiang Cheng herself.
Jiang Cheng had been raised by a quantum cloud. From childhood she knew why she was born and what she was to do when she grew up.
From childhood she understood the meaning of money and power, understood the basic desires of human nature.
In the real world, she was destined to face everyone only as the “Executor.”
Even those loyal to her or trying hard to please her—what they aimed at was also this identity.
No one followed her closely, never leaving, because she was Jiang Cheng.
Except these people in the “world.”
And among these people in the “world,” “Moli” was the first.
The first to interact with her.
The first to form a deep bond with her.
Her intimacy with him even surpassed that with “Song Jingshuo” and “Li Jiangbing.”
Uncle Jiang said: “This kid was the big bug in the ‘world.’”
Uncle Jiang originally hadn’t needed to adjust the “world” so many times.
Not giving Jiang Cheng powerful combat ability was itself the greatest difficulty setting in the virtual world.
In a world where the weak were preyed upon after a large-scale disaster, how could a woman without powerful combat ability break the situation if she wanted to become a leader?
The difficulty shot up immediately.
But there happened to be a beast-person with very blurred boundaries and definitions who’d exploited a bug.
In the “world,” though Jiang Cheng herself didn’t have powerful combat ability, she held the strongest combat power in her hands.
“Moli” escorted and protected her the whole way, causing the difficulty to plummet.
Forcing Uncle Jiang to recalculate the data and carefully adjust the balance.
Jiang Cheng of course understood this.
She curved her lips: “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.”
She immediately caught herself—what had she just said.
Those smuggled private goods—they’d forcibly poured them into her head.
Jiang Cheng became annoyed again.
Uncle Jiang said with gratification: “It’s been so long since I’ve seen the Executor smile.”
Jiang Cheng: “…”
Jiang Cheng raised a finger: “One day…”
“There won’t be that day.” Uncle Jiang calmly told her. “This sentence is written into my base code. Except for her personally, no one can delete or modify it.”
Jiang Cheng pinched the bridge of her nose: “Why was Great-Grandmother so obsessed with that line? What special meaning does it have?”
The taste of an old lady several generations back was truly too strange.
From childhood to adulthood, she’d nearly heard it until she wanted to vomit.
No idea what sick sense of humor.
—
In the hall, the information on the light screen ran rapidly, finally stopping.
Nothing. “Moli” saw many familiar people, but not the one he was looking for.
“Moli” gritted his teeth, his nails extending longer, piercing into the security guard’s neck skin, making him scream in pain: “Don’t—don’t!”
“Moli” said harshly: “Find me a person. She also participated in the project that ended yesterday. Young woman. N-no, forget age and gender—go find this person from the project data. In the virtual world she was called Jiang Cheng!”
She—riding on him, her whole body’s skin glowing.
She needed him!
She needed him!
Because of her, his life had meaning for existence!
If in reality she no longer needed him, at least tell him to his face.
He wouldn’t pester.
She only needed to tell him to his face she didn’t need him, and he would turn and leave.
“Calm down. We don’t have permission to access experiment data. That data is at the research center.” The security guard said. “But all participants in that project yesterday checked in here. This is the only exit. Whether they needed to leave or were joining other projects, they all had to pass through here. Everyone’s records are here.”
“If it’s not in the records, then it doesn’t exist.”
“Moli’s” expression changed.
He shouted harshly: “Where did you lock her up!”
Killing intent rose from his body.
Jiang Cheng felt her heart ache a little.
A normal person—who would immediately jump to “locked up”?
Unless he’d experienced it himself.
For example, a beast-person born on a wealthy person’s private planet.
A beast-person who, from childhood, wore gravity shackles that limited his combat power.
A beast-person born to be a private plaything.
A beast-person who escaped after nine deaths and one life.
In this country, the wealthy were the financiers behind the politicians.
The wealthy did as they pleased.
When scandals broke, so many politicians and rich people had been to that planet—not one received legal punishment.
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