Falling into the Abyss

After Vasilev took over the Forbidden City, he reformed many of the governing systems. As a result, there were fewer self-sufficient jobs in the city, and most people were assigned to help some enterprises produce parts or handmade products. Although most of the factories were now fully automated, the handicrafts made by the Earth Union were sought after in other planetary states. In fact, the rich people who bought these goods in the other planetary states were not aware that most of these handicrafts were made by the criminals in the Forbidden City.

Vasilev’s reforms brought many benefits to the Forbidden City, so the guards’ salaries increased, and many guards who did not support Vasilev also defected. But at the same time, with fewer people supporting the city’s internal operations, everyone’s workload had doubled. Everyone had a fixed amount of tasks every day, and if they couldn’t finish them before dinner, they couldn’t even eat.

Ethan had been reassigned to the garbage station. He sorted the stinky garbage produced daily, moving the trash to a fixed place for burning and burying. They didn’t even have the most basic gas masks. They only had a simple cloth towel on their faces, which could not stop the pungent stench from rushing into their nose. Every day, they carried countless bags of heavy garbage until late at night, when their hands and feet shook.

Ethan couldn’t finish his task on time for the first few days. He usually stayed in the dump with several other Betas and Omegas who were obviously not good at physical work, and he didn’t go back until the curfew. However, he did not dare to rest when he went back. If he saw another Alpha in Tito’s room discussing things with him, he had to hide in the bathroom, only going back when there was no one there. If Tito was making love with some Omega in his harem, he might have to sit on the toilet all night and sleep against the cubicle wall. On weekdays, he would hide from Tito if he could, but when he couldn’t, he would inevitably get a beating. Then, he would serve tea and water to the other like a slave, head to the bathroom to get some foot water, and sometimes he would have to massage the other. If Tito didn’t feel comfortable, he would get another beating.

Several Alphas amongst Tito’s men always looked up and down at him with the kind of gaze that made his hairs stand on end, as though they were peeling his clothes off through the air. One Alpha among them, named Black Falcon, was particularly interested in him. One day, Tito had locked the door when Ethan came back, and he heard moans and pants coming from inside. Ethan had no choice but to go to the bathroom to wait. Still, he didn’t think that just as he entered the bathroom, a man suddenly barged in from the back and pushed him in, before turning around and locking the door.

Before Ethan could get up, he felt his collar being grabbed as he was pressed against the washstand, and a rough and powerful hand pulled on his pants rudely. Ethan struggled, tugging at his pants and shouting as the hot breath sprayed on his neck. Black Falcon bit his earlobe and said, “Don’t move, let me have a good time!”

Ethan forced himself to calm down and said, “If you don’t want to die, then let me go now!”

“Ha! You’re rather stubborn!” In the end, the other party was much stronger than him, and he pulled off his trousers. Ethan quickly clamped his legs together and clutched onto the edge of his underwear, struggling and wriggling crazily. For a moment, Black Falcon really couldn’t keep his hold on him. The Alpha was so angry that he pressed his head down and hit it against the mirror, which broke his glasses and cut his forehead. Ethan only felt that red covered his vision, and there was a strong taste of blood in his mouth.

Maybe he had made too much noise, and the toilet door was knocked hard. Ethan heard another of Tito’s men angrily shouting, “Blackie! Boss told you to come out quickly! Otherwise, you’ll have to bear the consequences!”

Black Falcon, of course, was still afraid of Tito, so he could only curse, kicking Ethan’s stomach a few times before he let him go.

Since then, Ethan had become increasingly anxious. He didn’t dare to sleep too deeply, and any little disturbance would wake him up. After a period of time, his cheeks were deeply sunken, and the blue and purple under his eyes became more and more obvious. His entire person had a sick appearance.

At the same time, Ethan was trying to find out the situation in the east area. One of the people he worked with at the dump was a red-haired Beta who took care of cleaning the sewer, so he often had the opportunity to meet people from the east area. Ethan did a lot of work for that Beta, so he got the following news.

It was said that Samuel had been taken back to the Forbidden City, but after his identity as an Omega was exposed, the situation was not optimistic. It was said that it was a mess in the east area. Samuel’s men had become the laughingstocks of the Alphas since the group of Alphas had been obedient to an Omega’s orders for so many years. If such things spread outside the Forbidden City, they might be used as propaganda materials by the Omega’s rights activists. Many Alphas felt that they couldn’t accept getting cheated. Some of them tried to block Samuel in an alleyway and plot against him to recover their Alpha dignity. However, after a bloody battle, Samuel withstood the siege of the four Alphas. Although he was beaten to the point of vomiting blood, the four Alphas had it even worse. Two of them had their ribs broken by him, one had his hand dislocated, and the last one had his two front teeth broken.

Schneider was also taken to the Forbidden City two days ago, and rumors said that it caused a riot.

However, because Schneider was popular among the guards, many guards took care of him, and they stopped the chaos in time. Schneider was also transferred to Samuel’s bedroom.

Vasilev deliberately revealed the result of Schneider’s trial and said that a nonhuman was willing to testify in court that he had an affair with Samuel and that the two people covered up the evidence of being an Omega for each other. So now, everyone knew that Samuel had an affair with Schneider.

Two Omegas being together, even if one of them was actually intersex, was considered a deviant and disgusting behavior for most conservative citizens and nonhumans of the Earth Union. Not only Alphas, but many Omegas in the Forbidden City also pointed out how abnormal they were. They were isolated from the nonhumans, and some Alphas even made trouble for them several times without any reason. Even the people who distributed the food deliberately gave the two expired foods. All in all, their current situation was very bad.

Ethan inquired here and there, but he didn’t hear how Typhoeus was implicated. It was even said that he was now arranged to work in the warehouse, which was an idle job that gave plenty of money.

According to Vasiliev’s character, Typhoeus would never be so free. That was, unless he really was the traitor Ethan that suspected had betrayed Samuel and Schneider.

Ethan didn’t want to believe it, but now it seemed that he had no choice but to do so. He didn’t know when Typhoeus was bribed. Perhaps it was after he was assigned to the team led by Vasilev on Pales? Maybe Vasilev promised that as long as he betrayed Samuel, he would get benefits. Maybe it was Vasilev’s violence that threatened Typhoeus. Maybe Typhoeus was too afraid and had just wanted to protect himself, so he had to betray a friend.

Ethan tried to understand why he did it from the perspective of Typhoeus, but he still felt very disappointed and heartbroken.

The Typhoeus he knew would never do such a thing. Although he knew that everyone in the Forbidden City was in constant danger, and everyone would change after spending a long time in this terrifying and arduous environment, when it really happened around him and in front of his eyes, it still caused a bitter taste in his throat. He found it hard to accept.

However, when he thought about it, didn’t he change himself as well? He had killed so many people, but now he was able to live like it didn’t matter. When his personal safety was threatened, his first thought was to use his evil power to kill people.

He didn’t know when he changed, but he was no longer his law-abiding, cowardly, and kind self. Instead, the dark thoughts in his mind became denser and denser and may have begun to influence his behavior.

The Forbidden City had changed everyone.

Ethan was very worried about Samuel and Schneider’s situation. He decided to find a way to meet them in the east area no matter what he had to do. However, there were now many robot policemen monitoring them in all of their workplaces and living spaces. The monitoring program was set so that they could only appear in three places every day: their residence, the canteen, and their workplace. Any attempt to set foot in another location would result in them being targeted and attacked by the robot policemen unless it was specially approved. Therefore, it was very difficult for him to slip away.

Ethan turned to an organization for help——The Lord Grace’s Association.

Although the entire Forbidden City was now in a state of panic, it seemed that the Lord Grace’s Association had not been affected. It was even allowed to hold meetings of worship twice a day in some idle places. Ethan guessed that Chen Zeng and Vasilev reached a consensus he didn’t know about. Maybe Vasilev wanted to control the Forbidden City by controlling the Lord Grace’s Association.

Ethan had to admit that Vasilev’s series of measures were very vigorous and to the point. Within a month, the Forbidden City was already operating under an iron fist. It was clear that life had become more difficult, but there were not even a few fights. Ethan speculated that Chen Zeng also played a huge role in this, such as persuading his followers to keep their peace and not cause trouble.

Because of this, Chen Zeng must have some privileges.

It was very easy to know who was a member of the Lord Grace’s Association in the west area. Those people always had a cross hung around their necks. Still, this cross was different from the Catholic Cross, and it was longer horizontally than vertically. There were five or six members of the Lord Grace’s Association in their garbage station, so Ethan began to get closer to them on purpose and helped them sort their garbage, winning a lot of favor from them. Therefore, when he mentioned that he would like to attend the usual weekly meeting between the east and west areas in the sewers, the other party readily agreed and gave him a similar necklace to hang around his neck that day so that the robot policemen would not shoot him.

On the day of the gathering, Ethan went down the pipelines. After all, he had worked in this place for a year and a half, so he knew the common pipes like his backyard. He made a few detours and managed to avoid the association’s believers. Therefore, he did not hear what the believers planned to do while listening to Chen Zeng’s sermon.

Ethan lifted the lid of the manhole and exited in the east area near the food store. It was a remote area, but there were still some robot policemen there. Ethan hid all the way and spent a lot of time heading back to where he used to live. However, after he entered the complex and stood in front of the original bedroom, he found that the dormitory had changed owner when he knocked on the door. The strange Beta looked at him in confusion before he angrily closed the door.

When Ethan turned his head, he saw that Typhoeus was standing a few steps away from him, looking at him with a complicated expression.

Ethan stared at him coldly through his glasses lenses, as though he was looking at a stranger.

“Ethan……” Typhoeus said, “Why are you here……”

Ethan did not want to say a word to him. “Where are they, Samuel and Schneider?”

Typhoeus pursed his lips as though he was hesitant to say. Finally, he muttered, “They are probably in the houses on the south side of 16th Street. I don’t know the exact address.”

Ethan walked right by him. As he passed by, he whispered to Typhoeus, “If anything happens to Samuel, I won’t spare you.”

The Omega’s body trembled for a moment, but in the end, he did not offer any explanation.

Ethan stuck to the walls and went through the narrow winding lanes like a thief. However, when he approached the 16th Street area mentioned by Typhoeus, he found something unusual.

The so-called street was not wide, and it could only accommodate a land and air vehicle. However, at this time of night during the curfew, the streets were full of people holding flashlights.

There were hundreds of them, surrounding a small building and shouting angrily. The robot policemen beside them stood still as though they were utterly blind.

Ethan walked around the back alley and looked around the corner of the building.

They were from the Lord Grace’s Association.

A sense of foreboding rose in Ethan’s heart, and he heard a burst of cheers and curses, accompanied by a lot of spitting. Then, when he fixed his eyes on the exit of the small building, he couldn’t help but suck in a breath of cold air.

Samuel and Schneider were tied up in all sorts of ways and pushed out by more than a dozen Alpha believers with jubilant faces. Their faces were bruised, and it was evident that they had fought back. When they appeared, the believers around them all cursed at them loudly, calling them shameless cheap bitches, spitting, and throwing things at them, as though they wanted to eat them alive. Those people, especially some of the Omegas, had expressions distorted by hatred. It was as though they didn’t hate two strangers who had nothing to do with them, but they hated them like enemies they bore a deep grudge against. The sight of the crowd filled with collective hatred caused a chill to run through his spine.

Ethan felt his eyes grow hot. What he was most afraid of was happening in front of his eyes.

The author has something to say:

(～￣▽￣)～

T/N: TT_______TT Honestly, Ethan is such a loyal friend.

Thank you MapleDokiDoki for your kofis , there will be two bonus chapters coming soon.

Also, I’ve picked up a new novel, if you like UFs, you can consider checking it out-Thriller Tour Group.