Eno stepped into the experimental cabin on time at six o’clock, and Viktor was already waiting for him inside, leading him directly to a small closed kitchen in the living area on the second floor.
It was a small but well-equipped kitchen, with an almost shiny array of Federation-made pots and pans and a wide range of ingredients. Viktor made an elegant gesture of invitation and sat down at the table, saying cheerfully: “It’s been a long time since I’ve eaten your cooking.”
Eno’s fingers clenched into fists and dropped again. In the past, Ivan hadn’t been home much, and although he wasn’t close to Ivan, he knew that his father was a very powerful scientist and had always held an admiration for him, so naturally he longed for his father’s praise. Ever since he learned to cook, he would cook one or two dishes for Ivan every time he came home, and then keep his eyes open the whole time to carefully observe Ivan’s expression when he took a bite of his food, even if Ivan didn’t praise him, as long as he took two more bites of his cooking, he will be happy.
But it was all a lie, these fleeting memories of his happiness were a dreamlike bubble, and when they were punctured, there was nothing left but bitter hatred.
After much deliberation, Eno took the chicken out of the fridge, grabbed a handful of goji berries1also known as wolfberry and stewed them in a pot, then stir-fried a few nutritious dishes in a quick pan and set the table. Eno’s creed in life since his release from prison was to have fun in time, no matter how hard it was, he can’t let himself suffer, not to mention the fact that he had a baby in his belly that needed to be taken care of at the right time.
Unaware of his thoughts, Viktor picked up his chopsticks and stuffed his mouth with a mouthful of bright red, oily fried meat, saying: “This is what I’ve been thinking about for years.”
Eno, holding a bowl of fast-heating white rice and slowly stuffing it into his mouth, mocked: “Can’t tell that you’re so affectionate.”
Viktor narrowed his eyes in enjoyment and sighed: “With a beautiful, gentle wife and two lovely children, he’s a real winner in life. You’d miss it too if you lived that life for nineteen years.”
Eno said coldly, “That’s also a life you’ve plagiarised, and it will never be yours.”
Viktor tsked and said impatiently: “Shut up. You just need to be a prop for me to remember my past, understand? Why are there so many words?”
The paranoia and violence of the Inhuman’s character was evident in this moment, and Eno did not speak again, quietly eating from his bowl.
Viktor didn’t ask him to do anything else after the meal, so Eno ate a little and slunk back to his resting compartment, covered up and curled up on the narrow single bed. He’d had a pretty good meal today, and the baby in his belly, which had been quiet, seemed to be rejuvenated and kept demanding passionate interaction with him. The whole base was heated by a central heater, and Eno pulled the quilt over himself and wrapped himself completely in it, still feeling cold. The pregnant Omega was more sensitive than usual and needed the Alpha’s undivided attention and nourishment more than usual, and his Alpha was doing who knows what at this time of year.
He missed Martin so much and wondered if Martin was thinking about him. Would he be lonely without himself tussling with him all day, or would he feel like life was finally clearing up?
He thought with some bitterness about the scenario of him kicking down the door and cursing in case Martin had found another lover, and finally amused himself by rolling over and falling into a tired sleep.
Six days later, the door-opening day at the base.
A young female Inhuman wearing a funny little yellow duck apron and heavy make-up led a group of Inhuman children with no names but numbers, inching their way towards the base from across the vast snow line against the howling winds. These children will be acclimated at the base, then embedded with improved genes, go mad, broken or survive a thousand hardships to die as a warrior in battle.
The ending was pretty much the same anyway, the Inhumans never cared about useless children and they didn’t have that many resources to feed these blood sucking, non-working clansmen. The leading female Inhuman gave the children behind her a rather emotional glance, had the youngsters line up neatly in front of the base and then did a head count, verified that they were correct and then took out her pass and waved it at the camera on the iron gate.
The gate opened and a couple of black-clad Inhuman guards came out to take them to the examination area for a medical check-up. The female Inhuman tilted her head curiously on the way to look around the base and was immediately greeted by the guards with a stern voice: “What are you doing?”
The woman’s eyes immediately shrank and she stumbled: “Ne…never been here before, just looking.”
“Where are your documents?”
The woman pulled a black leather case from her pocket and handed it over. Lina, with the ability to keep a small amount of liquid at a constant body temperature for a certain period of time, a psychic ability of little use other than warming formula for a child, could only come to be a foster mother.
The guard gave a contemptuous laugh and tossed the papers back: “Don’t look around, or you’ll lose your job. Go on.”
Lina responded obsequiously, hunching her shoulders pitifully and walking off at the end of the line.
Eno took his usual walk through the activity area. He had spent the last few days going through all the places on the base that he had permission to go, big and small, and was so bored the rest of the day that he simply went back to the fountain and read a couple of picture books to 588 when he was bored. Sometimes Viktor would come over to see him and ask him if he liked children.
Eno turned the book over to a new page and said with a cool lift of his eyes: “Not bad, more comfortable than watching you.”
Viktor didn’t bother with him and with a twinkle in his eye, came up with another idea: “If you like it, I’ll give you this child as a cheap daughter.”
Eno was quite a sentimentalist, it wasn’t enough to cut him off from the Federation, he had to be given something to tie him to in order to make him stay willingly.
Eno’s hand reached for the picture book and looked up: “It’s not like I can have children.”
“That’s fine.” Viktor smirked, “Let me know which little handsome guy you fancy and you can take your pick from the base.”
Eno: “……” he coughed heavily and said frankly, “I think the hardware of the aristocrats might not work too well.”
Viktor’s amiable expression froze instantly, turning blue, purple, purple, and blue again, in short, it was amazing: “You this……”
“Sassy Omega.” Eno automatically filled in for him and said courteously, “Yes, that’s right. And I’ve always believed that a lack of satisfying sexual experience can be more detrimental to physical and mental health, especially if it leads to a short temper, something I know all too well. Can I ask if you can provide a vibrator at the base? Are there any requirements? Can I request an Alpha size?”
Viktor pointed a trembling finger at him and went ‘you you you’ for half a day before finally turning and leaving, leaving a back that said I’m angry from head to toe.
As soon as Viktor left, 588, who had been cowering in his arms and pretending not to exist, immediately poked her head out and asked curiously: “Eno Ge Ge, what is a vibrator?”
Eno looked to the sky: “……Children don’t need to know.”
588’s cute little face scrunched up bitterly, a few small dark brown freckles jumping on it as her cheeks puffed and puffed: “Okay then.”
“Good girl.” Eno rubbed her head, “Ge Ge will tell you the story of the evil dragon and the warrior. Once upon a time there was a kingdom and the princess of the kingdom was taken captive by an evil dragon……”
He hadn’t spoken more than two sentences before 588 asked him in rapid succession: “What did the forest look like? What did the evil dragon look like? With so much money, he can buy a lot of those princess dresses in the picture books, so why doesn’t the princess like him yet?”
Eno: “……” he finally sighed as if conceding defeat and picked up the picture book he had set aside again, “Ge Ge better read the picture book to you. The black snake in the swamp falls in love with the little girl who hunts……”
He read two more uninformative short stories to 588, his mood growing more and more irritable. He’d been at the base for half a month now, that electronic eye had long since run out of power and been disposed of by him, yet there was never any movement on Drake’s end.
The baby was almost five months old, its presence was getting better by the day, and there was no telling when the pregnancy was going to start showing. And he was missing Martin more and more, the absence of the Alpha was killing him, his whole body and mind was empty and he desperately wanted Martin to fill it. He’s not even happy to use a vibrator now that he’s been given one. Can a vibrator give him a kiss and a hug when he’s done? He just wanted Martin, he wanted his Alpha.
Eno really wanted to go home and couldn’t help but complain for the thousandth time in his mind that Drake was slow, knowing that the lives of hundreds of soldiers were at stake in such a raid and that Drake really couldn’t be reckless as a commander. There was a sudden clamour in the distance and Eno frowned as he looked up to see a woman running furiously towards him before stopping perfectly in front of him with a sharp brake, clutching the 588 in his arms.
Lina howled with emotion: “588, how many times have I told you not to run around! Come back to training with me!”
588 looked at Lina timidly, her “training” consisted of climbing onto the operating table, being injected with a bunch of strange potions, and then doing some combat moves she couldn’t understand according to the electronic voice. Her body hurt after each injection and she didn’t want to go. Her old foster mother seems to have been kicked out for some mistake, and Lina is her new foster mother, who is always reckless but kind to her, often letting her sneak out to find Eno, which makes her feel very close.
There was nothing Lina could do to stop her from doing her training, and 588 pouted and had no choice but to jump off Eno’s lap and stand beside Lina. Lina looked up from a crouch to see Eno and her face showed that crazy surprise again, “Are you that…that Eno? So pretty, oh my god there are people who look so ah-mazing, I didn’t see wrongly ba!”
She shouted very pompously and rushed up to hug Eno. Eno was unable to dodge and was eventually hugged by her, forcing him to inhale the messy smell of perfume all over his nose. Eno turned her head away in disgust when he heard a tiny voice in his ear: “We’ll take action in five hours, you stay in your room.”
The voice was as soft as if it were a gust of wind, not even a trailing note. Eno turned his head in dismay to see Lina already spinning madly around the square with 588 in her arms: “I hugged the beauty hahahahaha!!!”
Eno gathered his expression and walked away with the picture book in his arms with the look of ‘where did that lunatic come from, count me unlucky’. He didn’t look back even when he heard the guards’ reprimand of Lina distantly behind him on the way. Eno went back to his room with the joy of it finally being over, set his alarm for a long sleep, and when he woke up, packed his bags and went home to Martin to sleep again. Drake had told him earlier that a follow-up investigation into the Kersi family was already underway and that it was only a matter of time before they fell. And Drake had said that if they were successful, he could give Eno a meritorious report, so that he wouldn’t necessarily be sent back to prison, but might be able to earn a home sentence.
But he had just fallen into a sweet sleep when he was rudely shaken awake, Viktor standing in front of his bed frowning at him: “Why are you in bed so early?”
“There was nothing to do anyway, so I slept when I was sleepy ah.” Eno said matter-of-factly, “Is there something?”
“Give some more blood.” Viktor dragged him out of bed without a word, “Come on.”
Eno was once again dragged back into the clean but cold lab that smelled of sterile water. He sat on the recliner and watched as Viktor hung the blood bag above his head.
Eno recounted with a calm face: “You just had two bags drawn the day before yesterday.”
“There was an accident with the serum experiment.” Viktor said succinctly, “Give some more.”
Eno snorted lightly: “You don’t want it if I say no?”
“Just being polite, don’t take it seriously.” Viktor expressionlessly stuck blood collection needles in his needle-riddled arm: “Do as you’re told, and I’ll give you chicken soup tonight.”
Eno silently rolled his eyes: “Is our deal still on the table?”
“Of course.” Viktor squeezed his increasingly thin arm and watched the bright red blood flow a little into the blood collection bag, “Ask ba.”
“What is your relationship with the Kersis?”
Viktor said: “A partnership. The Omega and the Inhumans were on a united front at the start of the war of division, you should know that.”
“Yes.”
“The difference between Omega and Inhuman is only a matter of the degree of mental development of the brain. Every Omega has infinite possibilities, it’s just that the line between genius and reproductive machine can never be crossed by human hands, but it’s not hopeless. We have always had a group of Omega supporters eager to become our compatriots.”
“In return, the Inhumans supplied them with blood for research for a long time, but there was never any progress. Later, we were defeated and left the land where we lived in humiliation. After reaching a deeper cooperation with them. We had merely planted a nail, and greed caused it to rot and rust on its own.”
“How could the Kersi family have earned so much merit enjoying the honour and status of a hereditary title when their genetic level for generations was not even close to being good in the Alphas?” Viktor said with a sneer, “But the first head of the family was fortunate enough to marry an Omega who knew what she was doing – doing our bidding and swallowing with an open mouth the merits fed to her mouth could be done by the most mediocre of men, right?”
Victor didn’t know if it was because he imitated Ivan as a taciturn science and engineering straight A who had been holding back for nineteen years, talking so much and so slowly, and his tone was strangely arrogant and complacent, which sounded very uncomfortable. Eno listened patiently to what he said, and suddenly realised something: “You know a lot. Shouldn’t the dark thread be hidden very deep, so that it won’t be known to everyone.”
He straightened up slightly and looked directly at Viktor: “You’re in an unusual position among the Inhumans, right?”
Viktor didn’t seem surprised, and even smiled a little smugly: “You’re a little smarter than those stupid, incompetent Omegas out there, not bad for a kid that I paid so much money for a tutor to teach, I’m glad. I’m going to charge two bags of blood for this question oh.”
Eno’s taut spine relaxed momentarily and he lay back obliquely: “Whatever.”
Viktor happily replaced the new blood bags with a look that announced something big: “I am the Prince of the Inhumans, the younger brother of the Emperor, the most noble and gifted of the clan oh.”
Eno was thoughtfully silent for a long while, then suddenly looked up and gave him a broad and indulgent smile: “But you’ve used your one-time powers to copy everything about Ivan, including the vast majority of his genes. Otherwise you could have handed over the stolen research to a more professional researcher and continued to be your high and mighty prince, instead of living day in and day out in this icy hellhole, isn’t it?”
A bright red slap mark immediately appeared on his face as he finished speaking, and Victor looked at him sullenly, saying word for word: “You are really unlikable.”
“Heh.” Eno laughed indifferently, “It’s not like I care if you like me or not, as long as someone does.”
“Who would like you? That Alpha named Martin?” said Viktor as he manipulated the light brain on one hand twice, forcing the screen that popped up in front of Eno’s eyes.
It was a daily public notice of dead citizens of the Federation, and Martin’s name was listed, the cause of death being a drunken accidental fall, the very day Eno had gone out.
“He knew enough to choose a peaceful death himself without waiting for us to do anything.” Victor smiled and patted Eno’s cheek with a vindictive grin, “I was going to get enough serum before I did the next stage of your transformation, but you’ve pissed me off too much today.”
He pressed close to Eno’s ear and spat out words that were especially snake-like: “Desperate? Pain? Did you feel that rage again, the rage that wants to destroy everything?”
melon: Sorry guys, I wasn’t really sure about Nightingale’s primary gender until now because iirc she’s always been referred to as Nightingale and pronouns were never used. 😅 I will slowly go back and change all the ‘he’ to ‘she’.
