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HOYSE CHAPTER 3
Chapter 3 – Ten Bottles of Erguotou, Please
Betas are listed in the encyclopedias right alongside Alphas and Omegas, with entries on definitions, reproduction, gender traits, and so on.
But that is about it. Outside formal writeups, very few places go into detail.
It is enough to see that AO are the traffic kings of this world.
Rong Jing searched for a long while before finding a reasonably objective article.
Betas make up the largest share of the population and are the backbone that keeps society running. You find them in every industry. Because they are not affected by pheromones, they can take on work that A and O cannot. Plenty of outstanding talents rise from among them.
Rong Jing felt a natural fondness for Betas. They do not have an Alpha’s susceptible periods with all the emotional and physical spikes, and they do not have an Omega’s heat, the infamous walking aphrodisiac phase. They are most like the people from his original world. In his view, not being driven around by pheromones is a massive plus. He could not imagine what kind of mess he would be during a susceptibility episode.
Even after getting the gist and people-watching by the roadside for a long time, he was still a little gender-blind.
No one walks around with a label on their forehead. You have to judge for yourself.
Could everyone here really tell with perfect accuracy? He got his answer soon enough.
People in this world rely on long-term experience and guesswork too, and they still mess up. Here are a few pulled comments from a popular forum:
- You can go up and ask, if you are not afraid of getting your a** beat. (If you guess wrong.)
- Most of the time you can tell. AO traits are obvious. But I messed up once. I thought an Alpha was a Beta and nearly got killed. Alphas are so hot-tempered now. He looked scrawny, how is that my fault?
- It is metaphysics. You just have to vibe with it.
So to summarize, if you drop into this world: first check the traits, then trust your gut and… guess.
After the fifth mosquito bite, Rong Jing decided to call it a day. As he expected, the second phone call came.
This was someone the original owner could not afford to offend. The background noise was a foreign language conversation, probably the voice of the caller’s interpreter-secretary from the memories. The voice itself was rigid, carrying that distinctly Alpha overbearing tone. “It’s me. I have three more meetings. I will make this short. Aunt Han should have told you. I will not repeat it. Be back tomorrow night.”
When Rong Jing did not answer, the voice grew stern. “There is a limit to being willful. Do not push it so far that everyone loses face.”
By title, he was this body’s eldest brother, Xie Ling. “Aunt Han” was the original owner’s mother, Han Lianmei.
Xie Ling always spoke in absolutes, with unshakable authority. Even through a phone, the pressure could rouse the violent Alpha genes in another Alpha. The tension erupted at once. People near Rong Jing felt a hand around their throats and quickly gave him a wide berth.
In truth, even as anger stirred, Rong Jing’s face stayed calm.
He thought of the disgusting reason the original owner had run away and said slowly, “Since that matter has no resolution yet, you are not afraid I will come back and do something worse than an animal?”
There was a pause. Whether because the sarcasm left him at a loss, or because he was surprised at Rong Jing’s attitude, no one could tell. In the past, the original owner had mostly been silent. This kind of biting tone was rare.
After a while he said, “You are, in the end, one of the Xie's family.”
The original owner might not have heard the deeper meaning there, but Rong Jing did. He did not say he believed Rong Jing, and he did not pick a side either. In the Xie family, that alone was already rare.
The original owner feared Xie Ling. In his eyes, Xie Ling and the stepfather were both unreasonable walls you could not go against. But people are complicated. What you see is not always the truth.
He would use the original memories as a reference, but he preferred to see with his own eyes.
“You are all not afraid, so why should I be afraid? So…” Rong Jing knew that if he refused again, the conversation would turn ugly. “I will come back.”
Xie Ling seemed satisfied. His tone eased slightly. “Your cards are unfrozen. Go buy appropriate clothes.”
The stepfather had frozen the original owner’s cards. Who knew what method Xie Ling used to convince that stubborn middle-aged Alpha. “It is just a meal. I need new clothes for that?”
“Han Aunt did not say? There is a banquet tomorrow night. It is the tenth wedding anniversary of Dad and Aunt Han.”
Rong Jing did not think a marriage where the mother served like a slave from old times deserved celebration. But obviously, the mother was the original owner’s soft spot. Inheriting this body meant there were responsibilities he had to carry on. The other side knew he could not refuse because of that.
He hung up and zoned out for a bit, thinking about the Xie family web and what role he played in it.
When he snapped back, he noticed something odd. The crowded plaza had a vacuum within a ten-meter radius of him. Everyone took a detour around him.
He looked baffled. What happened?
He gave the people around him an apologetic smile. He did not know what he had done, but their avoidance was clear enough, so he responded accordingly. This was the jungle law. To adapt to a world, you follow its rules.
His smile even looked a little goofy, making it impossible to connect the earlier oppressive aura to him.
The plaza was close to a big intersection. At the red light, cars stacked up.
In a silver-gray van, a young assistant spotted the strange scene and whispered, “Over there. Something’s happening.”
The exclamation drew the attention of the person resting beside him.
He looked out the window. They were near today’s event venue. He rubbed his temples, clearly exhausted. The shadow from the roof cut across his face. In the dimness, only his eyes were bright and sharp. He glanced at the tall Alpha in the square.
A clear, springwater voice flowed out, and even the air seemed to carry a unique fragrance. “That is an outburst aura.”
The assistant felt he had heard the term, but could not place it.
The man tapped his forehead and chuckled softly. “Told you to study your basics.”
Alphas are born with advantages in physique, cellular activity, and stamina. Those strengths come with side effects. When activity runs too high, emotions destabilize and systems overload. In a moment of furious anger, even an excellent Alpha’s normal cellular operations can be disrupted into chaos. Blood rushes to the brain, lowering oxygen saturation and elevating toxins and vascular pressure. People say anger makes your brain starved for oxygen. It is not just an illusion. For Alphas, thanks to cellular activity, it is even worse. They have to regulate themselves.
In ancient times, after reaching adulthood, Alphas took a class on controlling emotion, converting rage into qi and releasing it from the body to rebalance themselves. That release, however, is very unfriendly to other genders. After all, it is Alpha qi.
This regulation is called an outburst aura.
In the last half-century, you rarely see it.
The prerequisite is being excellent enough, which eliminates ninety percent of Alphas right away. With natural selection, Alphas with such superior genes are very rare. Only those who are near-perfect across the board can have cellular activity high enough to need an outburst.
Also, it takes exceptional mental discipline to convert and channel it.
The more exceptional the Alpha, the more he disliked them.
Because to him, they were beasts who exploited their advantages.
Rong Jing had no idea about any of this. He had not even sorted out the six genders yet. Complex theory was far beyond him. He just followed instinct.
All of a sudden his heart jolted, like a cold-blooded creature had stared at him for a moment.
He pressed a hand to his pounding chest and looked around. No one. He chalked it up to post-transmigration hallucinations.
Then his bladder chimed in. Too much coffee at the cat café.
Night had fully fallen. The city’s nightlife officially began.
Public restrooms took up too much space, so you rarely saw them by the road. His phone was at five percent. A quick search showed the nearest toilets were in a nearby mall.
As he approached, he found most exits blocked by a crowd.
Screams rose and fell. Many young people held fan signs. Must be a celebrity coming. He had seen scenes like this back in his old world. Only here, it was a six-gender carnival, bigger and rowdier. A bit much for an Earthling.
The original owner was a homebody who feared crowds. Rong Jing was fine, but the body’s leftover conditioning tightened his muscles anyway.
He took a few deep breaths. He was good at regulating himself.
Once calmer, he moved with the flow of people and followed the signs toward the bathrooms.
The first set he found was packed. Maybe because of the crowd, two Alphas started a fight before they even reached the door. Thus, security was rushing over.
He tried for the second floor but got pushed back by the tide. The mixed scents of six genders were too chaotic. He really could not handle it. He glanced around at the glittering storefronts. Surely a mall this big had more than one restroom on the first floor.
At a nearby rest area, a few girls wearing fan headbands were handing out support merch. Seeing Rong Jing standing there like a lost lamb, two of them nudged each other and finally approached him together.
They greeted him with smiles and asked if he was here for RM Jewelry’s new collection launch.
Only then did Rong Jing notice the life-size standee by the seating area. Was that not the very same Gu Xi he had just looked up?
The familiar feeling surged again at the name.
The fog ahead felt like an itch under a cast. Maddening and unreachable.
Gu Xi was apparently the brand’s ambassador. The girls, seeing he did not deny it, exchanged excited looks and peppered him with questions about Gu Xi.
He had just read up on him, so he answered smoothly, then blinked. “Why are you quizzing me?”
“You do not even know the program? You did not come for Gu Xi?”
“Uh, no.” I just desperately need a bathroom.
“Then how do you know so much about him? You even remember his height and weight!” They did not believe him for a second. In their eyes, this Alpha was just shy. Tall and imposing on the outside, but introverted inside. Adorable. Thinking so, they generously handed him the two priciest freebies: a rhinestone bracelet and a baseball cap, both printed with Gu Xi’s face.
He meant to refuse, but one look at the 360-degree flawless face on the cap and… who could toss that?
Rong Jing was straight, but his taste worked fine. You do not refuse to appreciate beautiful things. To him, Gu Xi belonged to the category of even boys should protect themselves when they go out.
The bracelet was black leather with a Q-version charm of Gu Xi’s face. Rong Jing, going with the flow, buckled it on.
The girls pointed him toward the main stage. He could already hear the host’s pumped-up voice.
He was curious about Gu Xi too. If he had the chance, he wanted to see him in person. Maybe it would jog his memory. But biology was winning the war right now.
Blushing with embarrassment, he asked the girls if there was a bathroom that was less crowded.
They were mall regulars and knew of an internal restroom for VIPs. They pointed the way. It would not show up on public signage.
They even drew him a little map. He figured the girls must be VIPs themselves. Otherwise how could they know? A saying from the old internet popped into his head: these days if you are not loaded, you are almost embarrassed to be a fan.
He remembered forum posts saying Gu Xi never accepted expensive gifts from fans. Three cheers for good values.
Since it was a VIP restroom, it had the full VIP treatment. Six stalls were a must, with two nursing rooms and several lounges attached. The footprint was twice that of a regular bathroom. It was practically a mini apartment.
Rong Jing had seen plenty in his previous life. He made one brief comment and got down to business.
Worried he would pick the wrong door, he studied the icons above each stall carefully.
Having the knowledge was one thing. Doing it yourself was another. Forgive a foreigner for struggling to survive abroad.
He had just taken a step when someone hurried up behind him. Long legs in suit trousers, strides smooth and powerful. The person had something hidden up a sleeve, wore a cap and a black mask.
Maybe because he was in a rush, he collided with Rong Jing just as Rong Jing finally chose a stall.
A faint scent drifted over. Hm?
He couldn’t even name what it was, but every molecule carried a deadly kind of allure, like poppies blooming in the dark.
How to describe it? “Smells good” didn’t even come close. It hit straight at the body, instinctive and raw, a scent no Alpha could resist. Rong Jing was no exception. His body took a deeper breath all on its own, and his head went light.
That dizziness felt just like back in his old world, when he couldn’t escape those business dinners and downed a bottle of Erguotou.
Right now, though, it was like he’d downedusually around 56–65% alcohol by volume.
Far stronger than whiskey or vodka.
In this context, it’s a metaphor
for how overpowering and intoxicating the scent is. ten bottles of Erguotou
The extreme temptation seeped into the air, almost imperceptible, and his cells felt like they were being switched on. Blood shot through Rong Jing’s eyes in an instant.
Too damn intoxicating.
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