Chapter 4

After hearing Ruan Xi's words, Zhou Yao's anger didn't subside in the slightest — instead, it burned even fiercer.

He glared fiercely at Ruan Tang and sneered: "Misgivings? What misgivings could he possibly have? If he had any, he would have run away long ago when that civilian Alpha offered to take him away…"

"Would he still be standing here?"

Ridiculous — he had already planned everything: if Ruan Tang showed even a trace of reluctance toward this engagement, he would find a way to help him escape.

He never expected that he, who harbored such expectations for an Omega like this, would become a complete and utter joke…

Hearing this, Ruan Tang found it utterly ridiculous.

"Brother Zhou, don't be like this!" Ruan Xi first looked at Zhou Yao, then carefully at Ruan Tang, immediately trying to mediate: "Fifth Brother, I know there must be some misunderstanding. You should explain quickly to Brother Zhou."

He put on an air of concern for Ruan Tang.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yao fell silent and looked at Ruan Tang, as if planning to give him a way out, reluctantly willing to lend an ear to his explanation.

Ruan Tang knew exactly what Zhou Yao's attitude meant, and he knew what Zhou Yao wanted to hear him say — but he simply refused to say it.

He chose to turn around and walk away without looking back.

Treating him as a substitute for Ruan Xi, tossing him a few scraps of pathetic pity, and expecting him to bow down in submission… That was Zhou Yao's plan.

But *he*, Ruan Tang, didn't need that…

Even if it meant marrying a madman, he would never admit defeat!

He had done nothing wrong, and he would never bow his head to these people.

"Xiao Xi, you're too kind-hearted and think too well of people. That's not how he is! Look, just look at his attitude!" Seeing that Ruan Tang dared to defy him so forcefully, Zhou Yao's face grew even uglier, and he sneered at Ruan Tang with even more contempt: "I think, if you give him a chance to climb up, an Omega like him would be willing to marry not just some disfigured, crippled madman, but even some old geezer in his seventies or eighties!"

He had already softened like this, so why did Ruan Tang, the one who had done wrong, why did he have the right to be so defiant, so stubborn in front of him!

He was already willing to forgive him.

"Brother Zhou…" Ruan Xi wanted to persuade him further.

"You're absolutely right. An Omega like me craves power and status, and I'll stop at nothing to achieve my goals… I'd follow any Alpha." Ruan Tang suddenly smiled. "We ended our engagement long ago. My affairs need not trouble you, Young Master Zhou."

"Otherwise, I might misunderstand that Young Master Zhou still has lingering feelings for me." He always knew exactly what would infuriate Zhou Yao the most.

He normally couldn't be bothered with these idiots, but if they came to him, he couldn't be blamed for slapping them down without mercy.

Sure enough, upon hearing Ruan Tang's words, Zhou Yao immediately looked as if he had suffered some great humiliation. His face turned livid, and glaring at Ruan Tang, he ground out through clenched teeth: "Who still has lingering feelings for you? Don't flatter yourself! I'm just afraid that once you cling to that madman, you'll come back to harm Xiao Xi again."

How could he possibly still have feelings for Ruan Tang?

Ruan Tang had expected this, and his expression remained calm: "Well then — when the time comes, we'll each have to rely on our own abilities."

He didn't want to be at odds with others, but he was no pushover either.

If Ruan Xi came to provoke him, he couldn't blame him for retaliating.

"With you? Do you really think that by marrying that madman, you can make him do whatever you say? I'm afraid you won't even know how you die when the time comes!" Zhou Yao was indeed driven mad by him, completely losing his reason.

But Ruan Tang didn't want to waste any more time with them.

He turned and walked away without looking back.

"Ruan Tang, don't always be like this! If you keep this up, you'll drive everyone around you away sooner or later!" At this moment, Wen Run, Ruan Tang's former close friend who had remained silent until now, suddenly spoke up, looking at Ruan Tang's retreating back.

He didn't understand how Ruan Tang had suddenly become so repulsive.

He found this unfamiliar version of him truly frightening.

Why couldn't he try to coexist peacefully with Xiao Xi?

Did he have to make himself so utterly isolated and abandoned?

Ruan Tang let out a cold laugh: "Do you think I have anyone left by my side now?"

Everyone around him had long been taken away by Ruan Xi.

"Even if you dislike us and insist on cutting ties because of Xiao Xi… isn't Major Lu Yang, who was willing to take you away today, a good person? I can tell he was sincere with you… Why won't you give him a chance?" Wen Run tried to move Ruan Tang with an emotional appeal.

To save his not-good-enough friend: "You used to say that what you wanted most was someone who treated you sincerely. Now that such a person has appeared, why do you refuse him?"

"If I don't refuse him, do you expect me to break off the engagement and elope with him? Wen Run!" Ruan Tang showed a sarcastic smile, sneering: "My engagement to Duke Auston is already settled. If I ran away with him… don't tell me you don't know what the consequences would be?"

He felt that the people around Ruan Xi had laughable logic.

Was this marriage something he could escape from just because he wanted to?

If it weren't for the fact that Wen Run was his childhood friend, they had grown up together, and he had once treated him well, he wouldn't want to say another word to the current Wen Run.

"Fifth Brother, I knew you must have misgivings. If you don't want this, just say it… Brother Zhou, Mo Zhi, Wen Run and I will help you think of something. We won't let you marry that Bluebeard Duke…" Ruan Xi jumped in again, showing off his kindness.

Seeing this, Ruan Tang suddenly laughed.

Everyone in the Imperial Star knew what kind of person Duke Auston was: an utterly unreasonable madman through and through. If he first agreed to marry him and then inexplicably wanted to back out…

If he actually did that, whether the marriage was called off or not, that utterly insane Duke would likely hate him to the bone and regard him as a mortal enemy until death.

His good little brother came here to play the good guy, peddle his kindness… what a clever scheme indeed.

"What are you laughing at? It's only because Xi Xi is kind. Even after how you treated him, he's still willing to let bygones be bygones and help you… If you just say the word, I…" Zhou Yao didn't understand why Ruan Tang was laughing like that.

"Thank you for your kindness, but it's unnecessary." Ruan Tang glanced sideways at him, his smile growing even brighter: "I think Duke Auston and I are well-suited."

"I believe he will be the most suitable husband for me."

With those words, he turned and left without looking back…

"Ruan Tang, you'll regret this!" Wen Run watched him with worry, but didn't follow.

From behind came Zhou Yao's furious voice: "See, what did I tell you? He's exactly that kind of person! He and that Duke — one selfish and scheming, the other mad and perverse… truly a match made in heaven."

"Brother Zhou, don't say that about Fifth Brother…" And Ruan Xi's voice, dripping with false innocence.

Ruan Tang turned a deaf ear to all of it, leaving them far behind.

Within a few days, news spread throughout the Imperial Star that Ruan Tang had taken his mother and his full-blooded brother and sister out of the Ruan family, and by selling his marriage, had obtained a large fortune from his father.

Also circulating was Ruan Xi's kind attempt to help him annul the engagement, and Ruan Tang's rejection of that goodwill with the words: "I think Duke Auston and I are well-suited."

Originally, when news of Ruan Tang's engagement to Duke Auston spread in the Imperial Star, although Ruan Tang had a bad reputation, he was at least physically sound and the number one beauty of the Imperial Star. So while many despised him, they also felt that this beauty was unlucky and short-lived, sympathizing with him for having to marry such an Alpha.

But after these rumors circulated, not a single person pitied Ruan Tang anymore.

They only felt that Ruan Tang, with such a venomous heart and selling his marriage for profit, was a perfect match for a madman like Auston, and they should be bound together forever so as not to harm others.

They just wondered how many days Ruan Tang, this snake of a beauty, could survive under that pervert Auston.

Since he chose it himself, someone who seeks death doesn't deserve sympathy.

In the underground circles of the Imperial Star's nobility, people even openly started a betting pool on how long Ruan Tang would survive after marrying Auston…

"Ding! Congratulations, Host. Ruan Tang's Reputation Value -20, Host's Reputation Value +10. Current: Ruan Tang's Reputation Value -60, Host's Reputation Value 80. Keep it up, Host!"

As Ruan Tang's reputation grew worse, when the system's notification sounded in his mind, Ruan Xi, who usually appeared frail, was hiding in his own room. The gentle, kind, and delicate expression was gone from his face, replaced by a satisfied smile: "It seems my good big brother is really going to marry the villain this time… The protagonist marrying a villain who wants his life — what a fun thing that is…"

Ruan Xi had transmigrated into a book. The book he entered was called 'Sweet Pampering Life: Interstellar', and the protagonist was none other than Ruan Tang.

This book told the story of how the protagonist, Ruan Tang, relying on his halo, went from a pitiful child ignored by his father to a winner in life. In the end, he not only became a top-tier mecha design master in the interstellar world and cured his mother and siblings, but also won the admiration of several top Alphas, ultimately enjoying a sweet pampered life.

Ruan Xi really liked this novel and the several Alphas in it, but he deeply loathed the protagonist, Ruan Tang—

He even wrote several long, impassioned reviews criticizing the author for having twisted values, saying that Ruan Tang didn't deserve to be the protagonist, precisely because Ruan Tang had won the affection of so many excellent Alphas.

Just as he was cursing with great enthusiasm, he transmigrated into the book.

He became Ruan Xi, the clownish younger brother of the protagonist Ruan Tang in the book, and a system appeared in his mind, saying it wanted to cooperate with him to seize Ruan Tang's halo and help him replace Ruan Tang as the center of the world.

As long as the original protagonist Ruan Tang lost all his halo and his Divinity shattered, he could replace Ruan Tang as the protagonist and become the god ruling this world.