TuxedoTranslations

Chapter 105

“Who marries whom…?” Xia Tong was immediately thrown into confusion again. “Is there a difference between me marrying you and you marrying me?”

“Of course there is!” Lin Mingfei’s temple veins throbbed. “Since when does an Omega marry an Alpha?!”

“Then why can’t an Omega marry an Alpha?” Xia Tong’s curiosity flared up, pressing on persistently.

“Uh, well…”

Lin Mingfei was actually stumped.

Yeah… why can’t an Omega marry an Alpha?

While he was dazed, his hands kept moving, finishing reassembling Debon. This time, the robot finally had its head where its head should be—and its bottom where its bottom should be.

Once powered on, the robot’s LED eyes blinked, and it suddenly spoke in a croaky voice:

“When an Alpha marries an Omega, it means he will become your protector. Correspondingly, when an Omega marries an Alpha, it means you will become his supportive partner. Alpha and Omega complement each other—strength and softness, yin and yang. The conventions of marriage have formed over centuries; they’re merely habits.”

“Ohhh, I see.” Xia Tong nodded, enlightened. “So it’s not that an Omega can’t marry an Alpha—it’s just that people are used to saying it that way, so no one bothers to change it, right?”

“The one who marries typically invests more financial and social resources, and that role is usually taken by Alphas with broader social standing,” Debon continued matter-of-factly.

“Yeah, that’s right,” Lin Mingfei finally snapped back to himself and nodded. “The one being married has it easier—they just wait at home to be picked up. And during the process, they can even set up all kinds of obstacles for the one coming to marry them. If the suitor doesn’t meet their expectations, they might not even be allowed through the door.”

“Wow! Then it sounds like the one being married is more impressive!” Xia Tong clapped, then frowned thoughtfully, tapping his chin. “But if the one who marries is usually an Alpha with more resources… what about an Alpha with no money and no support?”

Debon answered bluntly:

“That kind of Alpha doesn’t deserve a wife.”

Lin Mingfei: “.”

Xia Tong nodded thoughtfully, satisfied with the conclusion.

Meanwhile, Lin Mingfei let out a long breath, a thin layer of sweat forming on his forehead, like he had just survived a disaster.

“Thanks for that—nice save,” he said sincerely, patting Debon’s round head. “Let’s get along from now on. Don’t worry, I won’t call you an artificial idiot anymore—”

Sitting on his lap, Debon’s LED eyes blinked twice as it quickly cut in:

“Call me Dad.”

Lin Mingfei: “????”

---

Christmas Day, from the perspective of busy working people, passed in the blink of an eye.

Shi Ya, Zhou Yanjun, and Bo Yu all returned to the base punctually at 9 a.m. the morning after Christmas.

A day off counted as rest for them. Refreshed, they threw themselves back into training. The first thing they did was review the scrimmages they had played against Saber-Tooth Tiger before the holiday.

The review process was extremely tedious—especially the final match they lost. It was a mess of mistakes, as if their mentality had collapsed and they didn’t even want to play anymore. Lin Mingfei, completely emotionless, replayed the same errors over and over until they were so ashamed they wished they could dig a hole and hide in it.

Overall, aside from Xia Tong—who remained carefree—the rest of the seasoned team members suffered through the session. Just as Lin Mingfei was wrapping up with his laser pointer, Xia Tong suddenly felt left out and hurriedly stood up, leaning on the table.

“What about me? What about me?”

“You?” Lin Mingfei paused. “You actually…”

“You didn’t make any big mistakes!” Shi Ya said with a smile, resting his chin on his folded hands.

“Yeah, we’re all terrified of getting roasted by Zero. You dodged it this time, shorty—why aren’t you satisfied?” Zhou Yanjun said with a pout.

“But I… I can’t be perfect! I must’ve made mistakes!” Xia Tong protested anxiously. “You can’t just ignore them! Why are you all being so lenient with me?!”

When he said the two words “indulging” and “enabling,” he was so serious about it, his cheeks puffed up like a little steamed bun, that the several Alphas around him couldn’t help laughing instead.

Lin Mingfei awkwardly tapped his forehead with the laser pointer and said softly, “If you really insist on saying you made some kind of serious mistake… it would probably be that one moment in the first round, when the beast’s roar in Ice Valley blew you off course.”

“But that wasn’t your fault alone,” Shi Ya said. “Zero’s tactical arrangements were the problem.”

“No, no, I still have some responsibility!” Xia Tong said firmly. “If I hadn’t been so easy to blow away, then wouldn’t we have avoided all those troubles afterward?”

The Alphas were completely caught off guard by this sudden bout of self-reflection.

“That may be true, but…” Bo Yu said quietly. “You being blown away wasn’t really something you could control. It was an objective factor.”

“Yeah. Omegas are naturally lighter and more delicate,” Zhou Yanjun added.

“Then why don’t you get blown away?” Xia Tong said indignantly. “And why doesn’t Little Bo get blown away?”

“We weigh more than you,” Zhou Yanjun said.

“Exactly!” Xia Tong exclaimed, clenching his little fist. The words “fiery determination” might as well have been carved into his forehead. “From now on!! I don’t want to be a light and delicate Omega anymore! I’m going to gain weight!! I’m going to get stronger!!”

Everyone: “……”

The others all looked at Lin Mingfei at the same time. Their expressions were remarkably unanimous: Please make this little lunatic come to his senses.

Lin Mingfei sighed silently. Although it wasn’t necessary, he couldn’t exactly say that Xia Tong’s conclusion was entirely wrong, either.

“Actually, what Xia Xiaotong said isn’t completely unreasonable.” He coughed and tried to smooth things over. “There’s nothing wrong with getting stronger and improving your physical fitness.”

“Exactly. It’s not like Xia Xiaotong is trying to become some kind of muscle-bound Barbie,” Shi Ya said with a laugh. “He just needs to eat a little more normally, exercise a little more, and do some extra strength training to put on a bit of muscle. Nothing wrong with that.”

“Exactly!” Xia Tong nodded furiously. “Starting tomorrow! I’m going to eat more meat! Exercise more! My goal is to gain five kilograms!”

---

Xia Xiaotong was a man of his word. In fact, he was probably the most determined person in the entire history of the Polaris club when it came to putting words into action. The very next morning at breakfast, he replaced his usual soy milk and steamed buns with steak and calcium-rich milk. As a result, the entire base was filled with the enticing aroma of black-pepper steak first thing in the morning.

“Whoa!” Zhou Yanjun practically followed the smell downstairs, looking utterly shocked. “You’re eating something this meaty first thing in the morning?!”

“I looked it up online! Steak is the best food for building muscle! It has lots of protein! So does milk!” Xia Tong speared a piece of steak and stuffed it into his mouth, chewing away noisily until his entire mouth was covered in black-pepper sauce.

The corner of Zhou Yanjun’s mouth twitched. Full of admiration, he gave him a thumbs-up. “Xia Xiaotong, are you trying to become Xia the Cow now? That’s freaking awesome.”

Xia Tong wolfed down the entire steak, then tipped his head back and drained a full glass of milk. He pushed himself up from the table, and before he could even say anything, he let out a huge burp.

“Burp— I-I’m going to train.” He held onto the edge of the table and staggered away, brushing past Zhou Yanjun.

Zhou Yanjun: “……”

He stared at Xia Tong’s retreating back in stunned silence for two seconds, then excitedly dashed into the kitchen and started rummaging through the refrigerator.

“Auntie Song, is there any steak left? I want some too!”

During the morning training session, Xia Tong really was full of energy. Every hop and jump seemed bursting with vitality, and he looked rather like a little calf that had suddenly possessed him. Before they knew it, the morning had flown by, and Lin Mingfei called everyone offline for lunch.

At lunch, Auntie Song made savory hamburger patties and slices of pork with garlic sauce. Lin Mingfei watched as Xia Tong kept piling meat into his bowl until there was a little mound of it sticking up above the rice.

“Are you really the same Xia Xiaotong who only ate boiled broccoli when you first arrived…?” Shi Ya was also a little stunned.

“Vegetables are full of fiber! I looked it up online! They fill up your stomach without making you gain weight! Then you just poop them all out!” Xia Tong mumbled through a mouthful of meat.

“You should still eat some vegetables. I’m worried your body won’t be able to handle eating nothing but meat.” Lin Mingfei frowned and put some greens into Xia Tong’s bowl, only for the little Omega to reject them outright.

“No! I need to get stronger as quickly as possible! Eating vegetables will slow down the rate at which I get stronger!”

Lin Mingfei: “……”

He rubbed his forehead for a while, vaguely feeling that things were heading in a bad direction. Xia Xiaotong might actually break himself at this rate.

Sure enough, his ominous premonition became reality the very next morning.

The four members of Polaris were gathered in the dining room eating breakfast, but even when they were nearly finished, there was still no sign of Xia Tong.

“Did the little shorty oversleep?” Zhou Yanjun wondered. “I always get sleepy when I’m full. He ate so much yesterday, so he probably overslept!”

Lin Mingfei frowned, got up from the table, and went upstairs to knock on Xia Tong’s bedroom door.

“Xia Xiaotong?” He knocked several times. “Wake up. Stop sleeping, all right? Can you hear me?”

After quite a while, a muffled sound finally came from inside. The little Omega said miserably, “I’m not sleeping!”

“Then what are you doing in there?” Lin Mingfei asked, startled.

“I…” Xia Tong hesitated for a long time before suddenly bursting into tears. “Waaah! I think I’ve got too much internal heat. I can’t poop! Waaaaah!”

Lin Mingfei: “……”

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