Little Pink Starfish

“You’ve remembered everything.”

Su Liang spoke calmly.

Hearing Lu Zhizhao mutter on and on in front of him about “last life” and “this life”, Su Liang let out a sigh. He didn’t deny that he had indeed lived through everything once before.

Lu Zhizhao said, “Yeah, just like you.”

He sighed too.

“We were both given a brand new chance at life. Do you know how rare that is? But you betrayed me.” His voice turned sharp, then quickly softened again. “But it doesn’t matter… I don’t mind.”

He stared at Su Liang with such intensity it made Su Liang’s stomach churn.

“I really love you… you have no idea, how deeply I loved you…”

Lu Zhizhao murmured in Su Liang’s ear with obsessive madness, recounting everything from his past life—everything that happened after Su Liang died.

How he had stayed by Su Liang’s corpse with everything he had, fought the world, even risked his own life to bring him back…

He was so lonely, so desperate, endlessly remorseful and yet full of unrepentant love.

But Su Liang never gave him any response.

—

Two days later, Su Liang’s eyes snapped open in the cabin—the sound of the ship’s engine had changed, and the gravity felt subtly different.

“We’ve finally arrived?”

He murmured.

Just as he’d suspected, not long after, he heard those detestable footsteps again.

The metal door opened. Lu Zhizhao came close and wrapped his arms around the limp Su Liang, who was still strapped into the seat and powerless from the drugs.

“We’re here.”

He said excitedly.

Su Liang lowered his eyes without replying, though a thoughtful glint flashed through his gaze.

Over these two days, judging from the engine sounds, the ship had gone through at least three jumps.

As they passed through the corridor bridge, Su Liang turned his head and looked out at the starry sky for a long time—until Lu Zhizhao let out a low, eerie laugh above him.

“No point looking. You’ll never know where you are.”

After a pause, Lu Zhizhao added, “And he definitely won’t be able to follow us here.”

He was confident about this.

Truth be told, Ning Tangsheng was incredibly clever.

After taking over the “Farm”, he paid a heavy price to hide its core deep in the old battlefield between the Earth Alliance and the Canaanites.

In his previous life, when he had no way out, Lu Zhizhao had heard rumors about the Farm’s hidden base. He once thought about finding it and spending the rest of his days there, but he never did—until the day he died.

Now he finally understood why he had never found it.

Because even the most reckless space pirates wouldn’t come near this place.

The region was a natural asteroid belt, ravaged by decades of war, riddled with space fractures and scattered warship debris. Electromagnetic storms, rogue mini black holes, and ancient jamming tech still howled in the void. No navigation systems worked here. Anyone who entered would be lost forever—unless they had a guiding “breadcrumb trail”.

The Farm’s encrypted signal, sent every ten minutes, had guided Lu Zhizhao’s ship to the core.

This place was codenamed “Eden.”

The docking craft let out a deafening roar. After complicated identity verification and passing through the Canaanites’ ancient auto-defense systems, they finally entered Eden.

It was an artificial planet—small, precise. But even a glance revealed it was a masterpiece of the Canaanites.

Its surface was riddled with craters and ridges, with jagged high-powered laser turrets and plasma launchers poking out like a diseased growth. This so-called Eden looked more like a magnified virus.

Su Liang stared at the screen, face pale and expression grim.

But clearly, to the man beside him, this place was a paradise.

“You’ll love it here,” Lu Zhizhao said gently.

He looked down only to find Su Liang’s expression tight, his gaze darting everywhere, clearly tense.

“Don’t be afraid, it’s all for our protection.”

Lu Zhizhao thought Su Liang would stay silent like the past two days. But surprisingly, he spoke, voice low:

“All this… it’s Canaanite tech?”

Yes, this was once the Canaanites’ most secret stronghold. The emperor had hidden this trump card, and in the end—

Lu Zhizhao’s smile froze.

Su Liang raised his head and looked at him. “Yeah, and before the Canaanite emperor ever got the chance to use it, he was killed by my husband. That’s why this place stayed hidden in a dimensional rift until you and scum like the Ning family came to repurpose it, right?”

Lu Zhizhao’s lips stiffened. He scrambled to change the subject.

Soon, the ship landed in the docking bay. The airlock opened, and Lu Zhizhao escorted Su Liang step by step across the gangway.

At the end stood a young man in gold-rimmed glasses, watching them.

Su Liang slowly raised his head and looked toward him—it was indeed Ning Tangsheng.

A disturbing smile crept across Ning Tangsheng’s lips as he walked quickly toward them. But his first greeting wasn’t to his so-called “partner”, but to Su Liang.

“Serpent Lord’s Consort.”

He stared directly at Su Liang, stressing the title.

“What an honor it is to see you here.”

The memories from the “Nameless” period surged through Su Liang’s mind.

He bit down hard to stop himself from snapping in rage, but even so, he couldn’t fully suppress his disgust.

Ning Tangsheng drank in Su Liang’s expression with quiet delight. So what if Su Liang was a Sigma, so what if Lu Taipan was obsessed with him?

He still ended up in his hands.

His glands too.

“You don’t look well.”

Ning Tangsheng’s voice was filled with twisted joy.

If only his gaze wasn’t dripping with lust, he might’ve seemed like a decent person.

“Hopefully you’ll adjust quickly. The surgery will happen in a few hours.”

He tapped his personal terminal, projecting a countdown in the air—clearly just for Su Liang to see.

“This kind of procedure can be painful, especially for high-level Omegas like you. So try to relax—your mental state and stamina will matter.”

At the word “surgery”, Su Liang’s brows furrowed.

“What surgery?”

His voice was tight.

Ning Tangsheng’s smile widened. He dramatically raised an eyebrow and looked at Lu Zhizhao.

“He didn’t tell you? Your… lover… wants to remove your gland,” he said gleefully, voice rising, “That way, you’ll become a Beta. Then the two of you can have your happy life together.”

He watched Su Liang’s expression turn deathly pale and drank in every second of it.

Su Liang turned to Lu Zhizhao.

“You want this man to forcibly remove my gland?”

His voice was hoarse.

His gaze sharp as an arrow.

Lu Zhizhao avoided his eyes, forcing a smile. “You’ll get used to it. You should know—even as a Beta, it’s not so bad, right?”

Then, trying to soften the blow, he added, “And I promise—it’s just a small surgery. It’ll be over quickly…”

Just then, he saw Su Liang close his eyes, face filled with pain.

“Xiao Liang?”

“Urgh—”

Su Liang turned his head and dry-heaved.

“What’s wrong? Where does it hurt—?”

“Don’t come near me.”

Su Liang looked like death, barely able to lift his head.

After a moment of ragged breathing, he looked toward Ning Tangsheng, who was watching the drama with delight.

“I don’t know what deal you made, but if you want me alive for that surgery, send a bionic to guard me.”

Su Liang said clearly, word by word.

“Don’t let Lu Zhizhao come near me again.”

“Xiao Liang, don’t be like this—”

“Oh? Our Serpent Lord’s Consort is that angry?” Ning Tangsheng asked with a smile, clearly enjoying the moment.

Su Liang looked at him, his disgust naked.

Backed into a corner, with surgery looming, humiliation and despair finally crept onto his stunningly beautiful face—something Ning Tangsheng had longed to see.

“Call it anger if you want. But mainly, I’m allergic to his pheromones.”

Lu Zhizhao froze.

“Xiao Liang, don’t be mad—just earlier, you still looked fine…” His voice trailed off as he saw the red welts forming under Su Liang’s clothes.

“You make me sick.” Su Liang stared at him and said coldly, “That’s why the allergy was triggered.”

—

Though Ning Tangsheng didn’t care for Su Liang’s well-being, he had to admit Su Liang had indeed suffered a serious allergic reaction from the intense emotional stress. Even the slightest contact with Lu Zhizhao triggered it.

After tests confirmed this, Su Liang got his request: a bionic guard.

After all, removing a Sigma’s gland wasn’t easy, and Ning Tangsheng didn’t want him to die of anaphylactic shock before the operation.

He had to get that gland.

“You better not try anything stupid.”

Ning Tangsheng fastened the restraints on Su Liang and sneered.

“This place is remote. I can only spare basic combat-grade bionics. That means if you move wrong, they might accidentally snap your arm—or leg.”

He glanced at the fragile youth cradled in the bionic’s arms.

To be safe, he’d drugged Su Liang again and tightly bound his limbs with black restraints. Without the bionic’s help, Su Liang couldn’t even turn over.

The pale, weak boy lowered his head as he was carried off to his “rest chamber”, awaiting tomorrow’s surgery.

Ning Tangsheng turned to see Lu Zhizhao still gazing longingly after Su Liang.

“You really do love him, huh?” he said, raising an eyebrow.

A madman’s love. No wonder Su Liang had such a severe trauma response.

Lu Zhizhao turned slowly, lips curved in a dreamy smile, completely lost in fantasy.

“You promised me the gland extraction wouldn’t hurt him. You’d better keep your word.”

His voice, though soft, carried a sinister edge.

Ning Tangsheng smiled brightly.

“Of course.”

But behind that smile, a chill flickered in his eyes.

Truthfully, Ning Tangsheng had no intention of honoring any deal.

He’d known for a long time—back before the Farm had even been exposed—that Su Liang was a Sigma.

The rarest, most perfect, and most powerful secondary gender.

And he had to have that gland.

But the Serpent’s Nest had ruthlessly crushed any attempts to touch Su Liang, even to probe his identity. If not for the cost of those failures, Ning Tangsheng might not have fled Planet One so quickly.

Fortunately…

The fool brought Su Liang right to his doorstep, saving him all the trouble.

Ning Tangsheng smiled, thinking: Things will end soon.

He glanced at the S-ranked Alpha beside him. Lu Zhizhao had shown surprising strength—but he was still a madman. And madmen are the most dangerous weapons—unpredictable, uncontrollable.

The best way to deal with such a threat was simple: eliminate it before it explodes.

---

[Once the surgery is over, I’ll have Ning Tangsheng killed.]

Lu Zhizhao was watching him too.

Now that they’d arrived in Eden, and Su Liang’s surgery was imminent, Ning Tangsheng’s usefulness was almost over.

Soon, Eden would be their home—his and Su Liang’s.

Ning Tangsheng was just… in the way.

After killing him, everything would fall into place. The rest of the workers in Eden would be easy to handle. As before, with enough force, low-ranked people always submitted.

“Pleasure doing business.”

“Pleasure indeed.”

The two exchanged smiles at the end of the bridge.

Meanwhile, in the bionic’s arms, the pale and seemingly terrified Su Liang slowly lifted his head.

In the cold corridor light of Eden, the boy’s eyes shone with a terrifying brilliance.