Chapter 15: The Alpha-Hating Beta

The live stream viewers had eyes like hawks. When they caught sight of Yu Sui’s expression, they started hyping things up even more fiercely.

[Xiao Sui’s melting down.]

[Straight alphas wouldn’t mind these jokes. The more you dodge, the more it’s true.]

[Homophobes are the deepest in the closet. You know who you are.]

Seeing how everyone had turned him into a running joke, Yu Sui couldn’t stay calm any longer. He stared at the relentlessly spamming ID and shot back, “Don’t talk nonsense! I’m straight!”

As he spoke, he gripped the back of the sofa with both hands and leaned forward, looking for all the world like he was about to pick a fight.

But from the viewers’ perspective, that posture made it seem like he was draped right over Shen Anliu’s head.

[Calling himself straight while getting all up close to Xiao Liu. Oh yeah, ‘straight guy’ is just your cover story.]

[You know the drill.]

Another barrage of comments flooded the screen.

Yu Sui hadn’t expected his attempt to pull aggro and get hate would backfire so spectacularly.

He really didn’t want to get shipped with a guy, so he straightened up immediately.

The stool was too tall, and it had no backrest.

The sudden motion threw Yu Sui off balance. The stool legs scraped harshly across the floor with a piercing screech.

He tilted backward uncontrollably, reaching for the sofa but only brushing its edge.

His little face went deathly pale, but the expected pain never came.

He Baiyan saw him about to topple and lunged, grabbing Yu Sui’s clothes in a frantic scramble. He leaped down from the stool, his other hand swiftly scooping around Yu Sui’s waist.

Because he was so tall with such long legs, he ended up slamming one knee into the floor. The thud made everyone’s legs ache just hearing it.

He Baiyan’s brows knitted tight, his palms slick with sweat.

The live stream viewers were on the edge of their seats, dying of anxiety. To make matters worse, the sofa blocked the camera’s view of the two of them—they couldn’t see a thing.

Yu Sui’s clothes were a wrinkled mess. He Baiyan’s grip was iron-strong, leaving Yu Sui’s waist sore where the large hand had clamped down and his back uncomfortable where the fabric bunched up.

The other three jumped in alarm. Jiang Nianxing stood and circled behind the sofa, only to see their captain down on one knee, cradling Yu Sui.

The man clutched the fabric at Yu Sui’s collar. His shirt had ridden up, exposing a slender, pale strip of waist. From the side, it was faintly red—finger marks, glaringly obvious.

“Aren’t you going to let go?” Jiang Nianxing found himself increasingly irritated by the sight of He Baiyan.

Something flickered in He Baiyan’s eyes. He helped Yu Sui sit up properly. “You okay?”

Only then did Yu Sui recover his composure. He opened his mouth to say thanks, but the System cut him off. [Don’t forget to pull aggro. Bite the hand that feeds you—make the netizens hate you more.]

He swallowed the “thanks” and scowled instead. “You’re disgusting. Why’d you grab my waist?”

He Baiyan’s eyes narrowed at those words.

Yu Sui sensed the danger and froze, but he stubbornly lifted his chin, eyes full of defiance. “You could’ve just grabbed my arm.”

He figured his teammates would call him ungrateful for that.

“Exactly.” But Jiang Nianxing stepped forward and pried them apart, grilling He Baiyan. “Yu Sui’s waist is covered in your fingerprints. You did that on purpose, didn’t you?”

Yu Sui had just gotten to his feet when he heard that. He stared at Jiang Nianxing, his expression twisting unpleasantly. “Don’t say stuff that’s so open to misinterpretation.”

“It is what it is.” Jiang Nianxing’s gaze flicked from the wrinkled shirt exposing skin at Yu Sui’s chest to the now-covered waist, his face deadly serious. “He was holding onto you and wouldn’t let go. That’s totally taking advantage, right?”

The live stream chat exploded.

[Holy shit, am I allowed to hear this?]

[Captain He was seriously panicked there. No way there’s nothing going on.]

[Grabbing waists? This captain, tsk tsk…]

[Fingerprints? Real or fake? Lemme see!]

[The one above wants a look? Me too.]

[Xiao Jiang, that’s your focus? Jealous much?]

[Why does their dynamic feel so weird?]

[Damn that sofa! What the hell happened?]

[This has to be staged, right?]

[Look at Yu Sui’s alpha-phobia though. You can’t fake that.]

Jiang Nianxing fixated on the fingerprints.

Lu Jinxia rubbed his temples. This idiot—didn’t he remember they were live?

He stepped in to interrupt. “Don’t forget we’re streaming.”

He emphasized “streaming” heavily.

Jiang Nianxing stiffened, his ears turning beet red with embarrassment.

Shen Anliu had wanted to check too, but everything happened so fast. Stuck in the middle with a table in front and teammates on both sides, he could only stand and turn around.

“Captain, your grip’s too strong.” Seeing Yu Sui wincing and rubbing his waist like it hurt bad, Shen Anliu voiced his first real gripe with He Baiyan.

Yu Sui nearly lost it at that. “Shen Anliu, shut it!”

Lu Jinxia slapped a hand to his forehead, speechless at his teammates…

Seeing Shen Anliu siding with him fired Jiang Nianxing up. He chimed in from the side, railing against the captain’s rough handling.

He Baiyan ignored their accusations. “Go get it treated.”

He grabbed Yu Sui’s arm. “Didn’t you say I hurt you? Let me put some medicine on it.”

“You…” Yu Sui felt like this wasn’t about medicine—it was about punishment.

“You!” Jiang Nianxing hadn’t expected the captain to be so overbearing. He started to chase after them but got yanked back by Lu Jinxia.

“What the hell?” Jiang Nianxing snapped, annoyed.

“Streaming.” Lu Jinxia gritted his teeth and swiftly hauled back Shen Anliu too, who was also ignoring the live and trying to follow.

His head was spinning and his stomach churning, but he couldn’t just let his teammates blow off work.

The viewers weren’t mad at the chaos—in fact, they were eating it up.

[Xiao Shen goes without saying. Eyes glued to his bro.]

[Did you see Yu Sui’s clothes? Total mess, heh…]

[Captain still holding hands. So possessive.]

[If alpha dominance means stuff like this, I’m here for it!]

[Xiao Jiang used to say he respected the captain. Character collapse today?]

[Hubby’s getting stolen—who stays chill?]

[Xiao Lu looks so out of place, LOL. Who gets his reminders?]

[Only our Xiao Lu seems actually straight.]

They settled back on the sofa. Lu Jinxia spotted that last comment and clenched his fingers, a weird guilt twisting in his gut.

He hid it well, though—the viewers didn’t notice.

The chat kept roasting Shen Anliu and Jiang Nianxing.

[Xiao Liu, step it up! Or hubby gets snatched by the captain.]

Shen Anliu saw it and flushed crimson. “You guys calling bro… bro… my wife?”

In a flash, he pictured their wedding scene.

Lu Jinxia caught his look and twitched. He changed the subject fast.

Jiang Nianxing saw netizens asking why he was so worked up—was it because he liked Yu Sui? He opened his mouth to deny it but couldn’t squeeze out a word.

“I… I’m just looking out for the new teammate.”

He Baiyan dragged Yu Sui to the changing room next door.

They had a teammate bonding segment coming up where they’d wear matching outfits.

The door clicked shut, and only then did He Baiyan release him.

Yu Sui eyed him warily. “What do you want?”

After all, he’d repaid kindness with ingratitude. The man had only helped during the stream for the team’s rep. Now, with no cameras, who knew what…

“Does your waist hurt bad?” He Baiyan asked.

Yu Sui didn’t dare answer. Admit it hurt, and maybe he’d make it worse? Deny it, and maybe he’d hurt him anyway?

He backed up until he pressed against the cabinet door. “We’ve got more stream later. Don’t try anything.”

“You think I’d do what, exactly?” He Baiyan blinked, a hint of amusement in his eyes.

Yu Sui saw he’d amused him and stuck out his neck defiantly.

“You scared I’ll expose you for assaulting a teammate?”

He Baiyan’s expression sobered.

That only confirmed Yu Sui’s suspicions.

“You think I want to beat you?” He Baiyan’s mood grew complicated. “Do I seem like that kind of guy to you?”

“Aren’t you?” Yu Sui shot back.

“I banged up my knee catching you, and you think that?” He Baiyan laughed bitterly this time.

“I…” Yu Sui faltered, but he wasn’t one for reason. “You weren’t really saving me. Just using me to look good.”

He Baiyan went quiet, his face cooling to indifference.

For some reason, that unnerved Yu Sui, but he pressed on with his self-sabotage.

“So what if you didn’t have ulterior motives?”

“I already told you—I hate you low-class alphas. Don’t stick to me!”

He turned to leave but got snagged by the arm after one step.

“You hate us alphas?” He Baiyan stared at him. “What about Shen Anliu? You hate him too?”

Yu Sui didn’t get why he’d bring that up.

[He cares about Shen Anliu,] the System explained. [The protagonist shou’s deliberate flirting before must’ve set him off. He’s worried you’ll go after Shen Anliu.]

[And me?]

[Time to fan the flames,] the System said.

“Got nothing to do with you.”

He twisted free without answering directly. Yu Sui still couldn’t force out the words that he liked guys.

He Baiyan’s heart sank. So he really did like Shen Anliu.

This was trouble.

He shoved down the sour twist in his chest. “Don’t like him.”

Yu Sui hadn’t expected such possessiveness—not even over who he liked. “My business is none of yours.”

Seeing the young man’s stubbornness, He Baiyan sighed. Talking sense now wouldn’t work.

His phone buzzed in his pocket—a staffer checking on them.

He Baiyan stepped over to the window to reply to his message.

Yu Sui opened the wardrobe and began changing his clothes.

[You should swap that shirt with Shen Anliu’s,] the System suggested. [He cares so much about the protagonist shou—he’ll spot the difference right away. And with just the two of you here, he’ll figure out it’s from you.]

“Isn’t this supposed to be Jiang Nianxing’s plot point?” Yu Sui asked.

[Who told him to slack off and let someone else snatch it?] the System replied. [The plot isn’t that rigid.]

Reassured, Yu Sui slipped on a fresh shirt. He didn’t bother buttoning it up and hurried over to Shen Anliu’s wardrobe.

He made a bit of deliberate noise before swapping the two white T-shirts.

These shirts were part of an interaction segment where the team members would sign each other’s clothes, a fun way to show their camaraderie.

Yu Sui’s heart thumped wildly in his chest. His nervous hands trembled as he worked, oblivious to the man watching him intently.

He Baiyan had just finished his reply when he heard the sounds. Worried that Yu Sui might clumsily hurt himself again, he glanced over—and caught the youth in his sneaky maneuver.

He watched as Yu Sui swapped the two white T-shirts, and He Baiyan’s brow furrowed.

If he hadn’t known in advance about Yu Sui’s shopping trip, he never would have thought twice about the action.

But why swap that shirt into Shen Anliu’s pile?

They’d be wearing these for the live stream soon, and the fabric was so flimsy it would rip with one good tug…

Didn’t Yu Sui like Shen Anliu?

Wait—Yu Sui hated Alphas. Even if he did have feelings for him, his mindset wouldn’t be normal. Was this his way of breaking Shen Anliu down, step by step, into some spineless lapdog?