Chapter 15: It Must Be This Way

Shi Chan was directly sent to his bedroom by Xi Ming, who was holding him. Even though Shi Chan tried to be careful when getting off Xi Ming’s lap, there were unavoidable touches and rubs. The intense and hot sensation left Shi Chan’s face flushed for a long time.

It wasn’t until some time had passed after Xi Ming left that Shi Chan slowly calmed down. However, the lingering scent of alpha pheromones still surrounded his nose, and not only that—his body also felt it…

Thinking about it, Shi Chan’s face heated up again.

He quietly repeated the “Clear Mind Mantra” twice to stop thinking about what had just happened. Realizing his body was still sticky from sweat, Shi Chan took a shower. Afterward, his mood had mostly settled. He leaned back on the bed and picked up the Virtual Domain interface.

He had been busy with his marriage issues lately and hadn’t logged into the Virtual Domain for a while.

The Virtual Domain, a virtual star domain, allows users to log in via the interface, sending their consciousness to the virtual world, which simulates sensory experiences with 90% realism. It’s essentially a second world.

Shi Chan’s part-time job in the star network was found in the Virtual Domain, where he worked as a party theme designer. This job could be done both online and offline, but Shi Chan disliked the offline hassle and only took orders from the Virtual Domain.

The design process in the Virtual Domain was somewhat like the imagination of the legendary artist, but it wasn’t as simple as just creative freedom. The designs still had to meet safety standards, and there were many things to be cautious about during the process.

Despite the ability to endlessly revise designs, not everyone could create unique and beautiful work. Party theme designers were still quite popular in the star domain.

Moreover, since the cost in the virtual domain was significantly lower than in reality, the same budget could throw much larger and more luxurious parties in the star domain. Over the years, virtual domain parties had grown increasingly popular, and the number of orders in the star domain was often hundreds of times greater than in the real world.

Shi Chan had memories of the cultivation world, so his designs carried a sense of ancient charm and ethereal beauty. Over the years, he had built a reputation, and many customers who sought this style would specifically come to him. His pocket money came from this.

As soon as Shi Chan entered the Virtual Domain, he heard a few crisp sounds of coins colliding. It was the notification for his star currency payment.

Shi Chan smiled in satisfaction and closed the virtual screen. After dealing with the unread messages that had accumulated over the past few days, he declined all the orders and appointments, then posted a “Not Accepting Orders” notice on his homepage. He next went to the public data section and searched for information on cosmic radiation.

In addition to radiation, there were two other types of energy information within Xi Ming’s body that he needed to investigate. However, Shi Chan knew too little about them to start researching and decided to ask Xi Ming later for any clues.

Cosmic radiation had existed ever since humanity made its way into space. While a very few lucky individuals had their limits broken due to radiation, the vast majority of people lost their lives because of it.

For thousands of years, humanity had never stopped researching cosmic radiation, accumulating a vast amount of data. When Shi Chan searched for these keywords in the search engine, the number of results that came up was in the tens of thousands.

“So much…” Shi Chan murmured as he looked at the screen before clicking on the top link and rapidly browsing through it.

He spent the entire morning in the public data section, only logging out of the virtual domain just before noon.

After taking off the virtual interface, Shi Chan rubbed his eyes with a hand.

With the help of his spiritual sense, his reading speed was much faster than most, but even then, he had only gone through the first two pages of search results. He found descriptions of radiation examples, and noticed that they were different from the condition within Xi Ming’s body.

For now, Shi Chan decided to note down some basic knowledge of cosmic radiation, planning to analyze it in more detail later by combining it with Xi Ming’s physical condition.

He asked the robot for a glass of iced water and lazily leaned against the window, casually looking down.

The Xi family mansion was quite large, surrounded by many plants and trees. From Shi Chan’s view, he could vaguely see people working in the garden. Although there were quite a few people, they moved cautiously, and the atmosphere was quiet and oppressive.

Ding-dong—

It was the notification sound for a message. Shi Chan returned his gaze to the terminal, opened the message, and immediately heard Lan Ying’s voice in the room, full of excitement: “Chan Chan, do you have time tomorrow?”

Shi Chan thought about Xi Ming’s reaction when he had mentioned this earlier in the morning. He responded lazily to the terminal, “I’m free.”

Not long after, Lan Ying replied with obvious excitement in his tone: “That’s great! Let’s meet tomorrow at Food Street No. 76. There’s a new restaurant there. I’ve heard it’s really good! Let’s go try it together!”

Shi Chan smiled, narrowing his eyes. “Alright, we’ll contact each other tomorrow.”

After agreeing on the time and chatting about some other gossip from Capital Star, Lan Ying reluctantly ended the conversation as it neared lunch. Shi Chan laughed and said goodbye, finishing his iced water before handing the empty glass to the robot. He then headed for Xi Ming’s room and knocked on the door.

“Come in.” The person inside responded almost immediately, and as Shi Chan entered, Xi Ming glanced at him, saying, “You have permission to enter my room. You can come in directly next time.”

The door’s permission settings were customizable. Xi Ming used sensor-based doors, so as long as he was near a door, it would open automatically, making it convenient for him to enter and exit while in a wheelchair. Since Shi Chan had only been there for a day, nothing had been set up for him yet.

“Okay.” Shi Chan softly agreed, then walked to Xi Ming’s side. After a moment’s hesitation, he spoke, “There’s something I need to ask…”

Seeing Xi Ming look at him, Shi Chan held his gaze, but continued speaking, “It’s about your injuries. I’d like to know more about your physical condition and data to help treat your situation…”

“Treat?” Xi Ming’s expression darkened at the word, recalling his more unstable spiritual power this life.

Originally, he thought he could live another year or two, but now, because of the suddenly worsening spiritual power turmoil, his life expectancy was tied to omega’s ability to soothe his spiritual power. If there were ever a time when Shi Chan wasn’t around, or if the soothing failed, his life could end at any moment.

Being at the mercy of someone else was not a pleasant feeling. Xi Ming wasn’t used to it, nor did he like it. He turned to Shi Chan with a cold tone, “Why do you need that information?”

Shi Chan was too important to Xi Ming—it was a matter of life and death. But this “opportunity” to live was far too uncertain. He couldn’t and wouldn’t just place all his hopes on omega’s mercy and kindness.

Xi Ming couldn’t let anyone else know about this, not even Shi Chan. But he had to find some way to keep Shi Chan by his side.

Xi Ming’s thoughts were cold and dark. He must do this.