Chapter Text
Chapter 1
The rain persisted, streaming down his face and turning pink where it met the ground. Tham Ngoc lay on the cold ground, feeling life being drained from his body. The dusk was too pale, he could no longer see clearly, only a vague tall figure walking toward him. An unremarkable face, slightly fair skin, narrow eyes looking at him arrogantly, full lips uttering words that made him want to punch that face: "How pitiful."
How unlikable!
Minh Hi watched Tham Ngoc sink into unconsciousness, his eyes surveying the tragic scene. Had he not arrived in time, it seemed the last descendant of the Tham family would have gone to heaven to reunite with his ancestors. From ancient times to now, above the character 'beauty' lies a blade, and how true that has always been.
Nguyen Lap stood beside him, quietly speaking: "Senior Colonel, how should we handle this?"
The gunfire outside had stopped, it seemed the people from Black Leopard Society had retreated. He directed carefully: "Save those who need saving. Confiscate all goods for the state."
Kill two birds with one stone. What could be better?
Nguyen Lap immediately carried out the order. Soldiers, under the guidance of the military doctors, lifted Tham Ngoc onto a stretcher. Nguyen Lap also took the opportunity to get a better look at what the one praised as a genius in the world of weapon design looked like. Not a bad face, and an S-rank alpha at that, a pity, just not very smart.
These matters required no attention from Minh Hi; he had settled into the specialized vehicle and once again opened his inbox. Emails had become more common than ever lately, making reports much easier. His inbox could be considered one of the most secure in country P. A lengthy report made his vision swim, but reports were still far more bearable than people.
A phone ring pulled Minh Hi away from the report, prompting him to answer with quiet ease: [Father, is something the matter?]
Minh Hung asked with worry: [How did it go, Tieu Hi (*), are you hurt? Did those Black Leopard Society thugs line up nicely for you to catch?]
Minh Hi nearly laughed out loud. As if Black Leopard Society would stand still for him to catch. But his alpha father always worried excessively whenever he took action. When it came to his father's worry, Minh Hi always knew how to put him at ease: [How could they possibly lay a hand on me. Father, rest assured, it was a complete success. And as a bonus, I've caught myself a golden turtle.]
Minh Hung, hearing his son's healthy, slightly triumphant voice, was finally able to ease his mind, and found this 'golden turtle' quite intriguing: [So Tieu Hi is about to strike it rich?]
Minh Hi thought of Tham Ngoc, couldn't help but agree with his father's phrasing: [More or less.]
Tham Ngoc was now the decision-maker of the Tham family - one of the three great arms-dealing families at the top of country P, alongside the Hoa family and Tieu family. Each family had its own strength, the Hoa family was very strong with its transportation network, leading in 'buying and reselling' sourcing from arms-dealing organizations worldwide and supplying clients both at home and abroad. The Tieu family's strength lay in exclusive supply sources and a wide distribution network. The Tham family was known for genius.
Tham Ngoc's father, Tham Huyen was a weapon design genius whose AF86, a pistol-sized firearm capable of firing 8 rounds in rapid succession with a magazine swap speed of around 1.5 seconds, remains a legend in the small arms world to this day. Tham Huyen died young, but the Tham family gave rise to a Tham Ngoc, continuing to maintain their unique standing in the arms trade. Though the weapons the Tham family sold were both exclusive and expensive. But given their overwhelming superiority, buyers were countless, not only from country P, but from other nations as well.
The Tham family's income was anything but poor.
Minh Hi recalled the unconscious face caked in mud and blood, and allowed a satisfied smile to cross his face. With Tham Ngoc's design capabilities, plus the Hoa family's buying and reselling power, it would indeed be a perfect complement for the arms trade if the Tham and Hoa families allied. Fortunately that alliance had not come to be, and the opportunity had also been handed right to Minh Hi.
A pity that a compatibility rate above 90% didn't help at all, isn't it, Tham Ngoc?
The specialized vehicle came to a steady stop at the military headquarters, which also served as the Third Corps headquarters. Beneath the military headquarters were three separate headquarters belonging to three different corps.
Drawing lessons from historical coups, the military of country P was divided under the leadership of three Generals. Minh Hung - Minh Hi's father - was one of those three Generals. Despite the many creative measures to divide military power, in practice, actual power did not rest in the hands of the prime minister. The three Generals had tacitly agreed to keep authority in the hands of the military.
Minh Hi was originally an omega who joined the military simply to find an easy job like recording figures or managing supplies. Minh Hung could not bear to let his precious little omega face the storm of blood and fire, let alone suffer hardship. But all of Minh Hung's plans collapsed after incident 246. From then on Minh Hi was forced to step into the light, to fight harder, more ruthlessly, crawling step by step up to the position of Senior Colonel. And in a future anyone with eyes could see coming, Minh Hi would continue climbing toward the position of General.
Becoming a General was inevitable. For now Minh Hung was still alive, still a General, no one dared touch Minh Hi. But everyone grows old and frail eventually, Minh Hung would be no different. When that time came, Minh Hi had to be capable and powerful enough to protect the Minh family, to protect his aging father. And so he could only strive forward each day up the ladder of prestige.
The military was the harshest world for an omega.
An alpha could easily pass a physical test that an omega had to struggle through grueling training just to reach a barely acceptable level. Alphas had aggressive pheromone, omegas did not, so while alphas learned to attack others, omegas had to learn to endure those aggressive pheromone and overcome them. Rut made alphas violent and powerful, while heat only made omegas weak and soft.
Physical difference was merely the basic hardship that God created.
No hardship was greater than ‘the human heart’.
From the day Minh Hi stepped one foot into power, he had come to understand that deeply.
"Minh Hi, I heard you went on a mission, were you hurt? Did it go smoothly?" the voice that made Minh Hi want to hurry back to his office forced him to stop, and begin searching his memory for who this person was. With great effort he recalled it was the third son of General Lam, Lam Diec Van.
Nothing impressive about his appearance, far too ordinary compared to Tham Ngoc, and not even as tall. In his opinion it was not that his memory was too poor, but that there was simply nothing worth remembering.
Minh Hi answered seriously: "I'm fine. I was simply carrying out a mission, nothing to worry about."
Lam Diec Van had pursued Minh Hi for so long only to receive a few distant words. Wasn't an omega supposed to be soft and say things like 'I got hurt' or 'Oh, it was so frightening!'? Minh Hi was calm as though a military mission was just a trip to buy vegetables at the market. Those who had never seen what that bloodshed looked like would never understand the psychological crisis it brought, and for that very reason Lam Diec Van could not comprehend the composure of an omega like Minh Hi.
Lam Diec Van, standing before Minh Hi, felt himself running out of words and, flustered, changed the subject: "General Minh must have been very worried about you. I was too! Even though you're fortunately fine this time, I still feel you shouldn't take risks like that."
No risks? Without risks how could there be military merit? Minh Hi was not an alpha, to climb high he could only use military merit as his stepping stone. Alphas who were born considered 'naturally suited' for the military always had such shallow thinking.
He had heard these arguments many times. Heard them to the point of boredom.
Minh Hi answered bluntly: "What you feel is not what I feel. I only do what a soldier should do."
Lam Diec Van's gentle face was about to crack, the strained smile unable to hide his embarrassment: "But ... it's still very dangerous. I was very worried."
Minh Hi responded politely, without missing a beat: "Thank you for your concern. But there's no need."
Lam Diec Van ended the few exchanges with Minh Hi having gained nothing, and left the Third Corps headquarters in irritation. The specialized vehicle rolled quietly along while Lam Diec Van was still venting his displeasure to the person beside him: "Minh Hi, who does he think he is? Just an omega, and yet chasing after military merit, fighting battles, not a shred of gentleness or softness - don't even dream of finding an alpha. If not for the Third Corps as a dowry, who would bother looking twice at an omega like that!"
Listening to Lam Diec Van's tiresome complaints, Lam Diec Chuong still calmly advised: "Having the Third Corps is enough. When Minh Hi is no longer of value, you can do whatever you want. Wanting more omegas would be no trouble at all."
Lam Diec Van sulked, crossing his arms and leaning back against the soft seat.
Lam Diec Chuong added: "Omegas all like flowers, I'll help you order flowers in advance, bring them as a gift every day, show sincerity."
Lam Diec Van did not feel such things would be effective: "That Minh Hi doesn't like flowers, he likes guns. If you arranged guns instead, that might actually work better."
Lam Diec Chuong adjusted his glasses: "It doesn't matter if Minh Hi doesn't like it, as long as everyone else sees it. When everyone thinks you genuinely love Minh Hi, Minh Hung will also waver. As long as Minh Hung judges you worthy of becoming Minh Hi's alpha, everything will be easier to handle."
Lam Diec Van was doubtful: "Really?"
Lam Diec Chuong nodded gently: "Really."
Though not entirely convinced of the outcome, Lam Diec Van had no other choice. Compared to having no ideas himself, at least Lam Diec Chuong's schemes could be put to use for now.
Lam Diec Chuong smiled softly, his gentle face made all the more refined by a pair of glasses. The two brothers' faces were not so different, but Lam Diec Chuong was somewhat more delicate-featured, likely due to having different mothers. Or perhaps due to the difference between alpha and beta.
If not for Lam Diec Van being an alpha he would not have become the one General Lam used to pursue Minh Hi. A pity that Lam Diec Van seemed yet to realize that his very value lay in whether he could bring back the Third Corps or not.
༺ ❅ συικα ❅ ༻
"This time we directly clashed with the Tham family, and on top of that the military got involved. Our side suffered more than half in losses." the vice president of Black Leopard Society addressed the president with displeasure: "Can the Hoa family compensate for these losses?" there had been no word from the beginning about the military getting involved, leaving them with nothing gained, only losses.
One troublesome omega had brought nothing good at all.
Black Leopard Society president remained completely unmoved: "The Hoa family has guaranteed compensation, there is no need to worry."
No need to worry, my ass!
Forces take time to build, it was not as simple as stuffing people in and sending them out. They still needed training, needed to go through actual combat for experience. Compensation only laid the groundwork for that, it did not make it an immediate reality. With Black Leopard Society having suffered such damage to its vital foundation, how could it recover quickly, how could it hold its ground amid the fighting between societies.
This time they had even offended the military and Tham Ngoc didn't even die!
The vice president gritted his teeth and said furiously: "Things have come to this and you're still not worried? The military has powerful forces, if Tham Ngoc out of revenge designs a few more terrifying weapons to trade with the military, can Black Leopard Society withstand that? Peace now does not mean peace later."
The president was completely unmoved: "The military cannot act arbitrarily either. What restrains the military is the law, and we are not. Minh Hung can only step in this once to save that Tham boy."
Mobilizing troops, launching attacks all required 'legality.' So even if the military wanted to act it needed justification, it could not be arbitrary. This was also precisely why mobilizing troops was not simple. This time it could originally have been viewed as gangs eliminating each other, but the Minh family stepped in, and no one knew what tricks Minh Hung had used to legitimize this.
The vice president was nearly furious enough to suffer a heart attack: "The Third Corps can step in once and it can step in a second time. This time we only suffered losses of more than half our forces, next time how many forces do we have left to absorb such losses. Minh Hung doesn't even need to act himself, just one Minh Hi is enough."
Preserving half the forces was only because half the forces had not participated, not because they had retreated skillfully. The Third Corps could come up with a 'reason' to get involved this time and could just as well create a 'reason' to act again. Black Leopard Society was hardly a society of heroes, so finding a reason to launch a punitive campaign was no difficult task.
The president completely disagreed with this line of reasoning: "Nothing is ever so easy! This time was only the Third Corps getting lucky. An omega's luck only holds once."
The vice president raised his voice to such a level that someone a meter away could feel their ears ache: "Lucky? Do you think Minh Hi could have appeared there by luck?" There was no luck here whatsoever, everything required preparation, the justification had to be prepared, the deployment had to be prepared: "Do you know why Minh Hi of the Third Corps has become so prominent lately? Wiping out the entire Tri-Dragon Society, pacifying the rebels in the Southwest region. If those things relied on luck then why couldn't any of the other generals and officers accomplish them?"
The operation to completely wipe out the Tri-Dragon Society had the secret backing of General Truong, the pacification of the rebel forces in the Southwest region that had persisted for eight years. In name it was the Third Corps, while Minh Hung sat comfortably in the capital waiting for his son to return in triumph. Those who had called Minh Hi 'just an omega' were now resting peacefully beneath several layers of earth.
The president stood up abruptly, refusing to back down and raised his voice: "We simply had a moment of bad luck, is there any need to elevate the enemy and belittle our own side like that? The Third Corps is nothing to fear, just an omega riding on his father's coattails. The Minh family's heir already died in incident 246. The Third Corps will eventually fall to General Lam or General Truong. Right now General Lam has shown his intention to back the Hoa family, making us people with military backing as well. The Third Corps will no longer be able to move against us."
The vice president pointed out the key issue: "But we are the ones who suffered the most devastating losses."
The president corrected him: "That would be the Tham family."
In the fierce battle between the Tham family and Black Leopard Society, was it truly the Tham family that suffered the most?
Calculating the relative losses, the forces the Tham family lost were indeed more than half of their own strength, but compared to the forces Black Leopard Society had lost it was only one third. The Tham family, relying on custom weapons designed by Tham Ngoc, had the advantage over the weapons Black Leopard Society was supplied with by the Hoa family. What good was it to sacrifice so many and still fail to kill Tham Ngoc, the very source of the Tham family's strength?
The president continued: "The Tham family has suffered grave damage to their vital foundation, they cannot do anything in the short term. Without selling weapons what can they do? The Hoa family and Tieu family will quickly carve up the Tham family's market share. The profits in that, we all have a share of."
The vice president looked at the president the way one looks at a fool in business.
The Tham family had never competed for market share, because they had no need to. What people needed to buy were their specially designed weapons, not large quantities at low prices. Put more simply, the Tham family sold at high prices and buyers still came. The Hoa family and Tieu family might seize the moment now, but if Tham Ngoc then put out a few groundbreaking designs, could they hold onto this market share? Every arms-dealing family had their own design team, but it was not without reason that the trait of 'unique and exceptional design' belonged to the Tham family. As long as Tham Ngoc could still design, no market of the Tham family's would be carved up. Tham Ngoc created the market.
If the president were not someone who had contributed to the society for many years, the son of the former president, the vice president felt he could not hold himself back from overthrowing him. If things continued like this, he feared that one day Black Leopard Society would be destroyed by foolish decisions.
The vice president pressed: "Is there even a life left to enjoy those profits?"
Tham Ngoc was young, but was famously known to repay every grudge without fail. Not to mention that the Tham family had suffered no small amount of losses this time. If he were Tham Ngoc, he would certainly ally with the Third Corps to take revenge.
The president was over forty years old, had fought and slashed his way through country P for too long, he was no impulsive newcomer just stepping out into the world. Having his decisions doubted, he complained with displeasure: "Just a young kid, what can he do? So what if he's an S-rank alpha? What can one person do? We have numbers."
The vice president shook his head: "Are the brothers in the society meant to be sacrificed like that?" how many people would it cost to take down one S-rank alpha?
A completely unequal exchange.
The president was completely unmoved: "No investment, no harvest. People like us, from the very beginning never knew whether they would live to see the next day. Uncle Ha, profit is the most real thing." Cowering from every direction, even afraid of a kid who had just come of age, carrying on like that and Black Leopard Society would survive on nothing but air.
"The president is not wrong." a charming voice rang out. A graceful beauty carrying a silk fan that covered half her face, revealing only a pair of eyes like spring water that stirred the heart, spoke softly: "The Hoa family will certainly not let the sacrifice of your brothers become meaningless. I guarantee that."
The vice president narrowed his eyes, looking at this omega with nothing but distaste no matter how he looked: "On what basis can we trust you?"
The beauty smiled, each word clear and deliberate, soft yet full of authority: "On the basis that I am Hoa Thanh."
Word had spread far and wide that Hoa Thanh and Tham Ngoc would make a pair, a perfect match of talent and beauty, a union destined by heaven. In the end it was exactly so. Truly no one quite understood what Hoa Thanh stood to gain from this. Finding an alpha better than Tham Ngoc was no easy matter either.
Hoa Thanh was merely a graceful omega, to have come this far there was certainly someone backing her. The vice president could not help but think of General Lam. Suddenly General Lam had begun having the Second Corps purchase weapons from the Hoa family, and Hoa Thanh had abandoned a good choice like Tham Ngoc, so there had to be a better option.
Meeting the vice president's probing gaze was the ice-cold stare of the guard beside Hoa Thanh, a female alpha, rumored to be named Han Tam. Her appearance and gaze were not so different from each other, both cold and expressionless. Han Tam carried a folder of documents and presented it: "This is the preliminary calculation of the funds the Hoa family will provide to Black Leopard Society. We hope Black Leopard Society understands the Hoa family's sincerity, and that this will be a lasting cooperation."
The vice president looked at the figures, and for a moment found it difficult to open his mouth and complain.
Hoa Thanh truly knew how to use money.
Those who sold their lives day by day like them had all known in advance how it would end. Who didn't die, people like them would die without anyone knowing, without gaining anything for their families. But the Hoa family used high compensation for their cheap, expendable lives, naturally people would follow. Using them as pawns to sacrifice, using money to appease.
Truly brilliant.
The president smiled as brightly as a sunflower, as though the half of his brothers who had fallen was a matter from centuries long past: "Of course we understand. We will certainly cooperate for the long term in the future." Cooperating with the Hoa family not only brought money but also weapons at low prices, what was there not to like?
Hoa Thanh's bright laughter rang out like a nightingale's song: "The president is truly a clever man."