Happiness deeply resented herself for shedding tears after just two or three sentences from Lionel. It made her appear weak. Fortunately, she fought back and didn't take it lying down as usual. Looking back at her previous retorts, she realized that they were flawed and spoken without much thought. If those who truly liked her had to accept her, then with so many fervent beasts in the world, she would really have to die.
Happiness opened the sea Forum and indeed saw a big picture hanging in the featured posts on the homepage. The title read, "When will Happiness bring out the condom? I'm dying of urgency!"
It was posted by a giant python beast, with a dense array of comments following. Happiness read through them one by one, all of them supporting the host without any opposing opinions. The forum moderator had already set up a sign-up section, preparing to select a lucky beast to mate with Happiness and broadcast the entire process live. Currently, there were already millions of sign-up posts.
Happiness felt a chill all over. Even if the netizens in the sea Forum were just fantasizing, self-entertaining, it was considered acceptable and legal in this world. There was no police force to restrain them, and no one was deleting the posts. Everyone felt it was only natural and looked forward to the video of the lucky beast and her on the bed. This was in line with social and moral norms, and no one felt it was a humiliation to women. It was not surprising since not even entering the breeding camp was already considered her luck.
Happiness abruptly closed her computer, feeling disgusted and helpless. The social structure determined the cultural positioning. In fact, she could understand these beasts from a different perspective. If there were only women left in the world and suddenly a man appeared, he would undoubtedly be pursued by everyone and become a sexual fantasy object. It seemed that the problem was really serious. If there was no way to solve it, it would become even more serious in the future. At that time, she should not even think about getting a stable job, entering the Academy of Sciences, or having a social status. It wouldn't be easy for her to live anonymously in some unknown corner, let alone the fact that Alexander and the others had their own careers. Would they accompany her in seclusion at such a young age? Even Happiness herself felt it was inappropriate. Moreover, she remembered the last time they used a DV camera and felt that they would not object to such things...
It seems that the matter of mating really needs to be put on the agenda. As for whether or not to publicly release the video, it depends on whether Fran's announcement of the study on female humanoid animals will cause any change in public opinion. If not, she can only bite the bullet and do it. Since she can't change this society and doesn't want to die, she can only adapt to it.
After thinking for a while, Happiness's mind was in a mess. She decided to stop thinking about everything and went to the bathroom to freshen up. After returning to the bedroom, a sudden sense of desolation rushed over her. There were no streets to stroll around, no interesting TV shows, and everything online catered to the beasts. There was no entertainment at all. Rarely going out to fish, she was even kidnapped by ancient beings. Who knows, she might even end up becoming a **. When can she live a carefree life?
Lying on the desk, Happiness heard the sound of rustling behind her. She was already familiar with this sound. She slowly turned her head and sure enough, Vincent had come in again. Her door was never locked.
"You can't be alone," Vincent said, "I'll protect you." He slid in front of Happiness's television, pushed the sofa aside, lifted the round carpet, and settled on the cold ground. It was clear that the other beasts were all busy at the moment, otherwise Vincent wouldn't have been sent to this heated room.
Vincent sat on his own tail ring, pressed the remote control to turn on the TV, switched to a channel playing an action movie, and watched with gusto. He had prepared in advance and had come here shirtless. Nevertheless, after watching for a while, tiny beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.
Evolved into a man, even if it was a python, he now had sweat glands.
Having someone accompany you is better. It can help distract some attention. Happiness looked at Vincent, who was swinging his tail tip in the heat, constantly sticking out snake signals. She felt a bit guilty and lowered the temperature by a few degrees. She then took a wet towel from the bathroom and, after some thought, grabbed a bottle of cold water from the mini fridge and placed it next to Vincent. Vincent picked it up and wiped it on himself. The temperature finally dropped a bit, and his whole snake felt a little cooler and more bearable.
Happiness took off her outer clothes and pants, wrapped herself in the blanket on the bed. Vincent was comfortable, but the temperature was a bit too cold for her. Only by wearing underwear in the bed could she feel warmer. Vincent gulped down the ice water, then ran to the bathroom to rinse his whole body with cold water, and finally came back, dripping wet, and sat in front of the TV. Happiness found it amusing and grabbed a magazine from the bedside table. She extended her arm to fan Vincent's back, trying to cool him down a bit. Cold-blooded creatures really love low temperatures. After fanning for a while, she herself got too cold and quickly hugged her arms to warm up.
Vincent twisted 180 degrees on his tail and said to Happiness, "You don't need like this."
Happiness nodded, placed a pillow behind her head, and watched TV with Vincent. At this moment, she didn't want to think about mating or who to mate with anymore.
Fortunately, Vincent couldn't go online and didn't know about any forums. Being alone with such a simple-minded python, Happiness thought it was quite nice, even if it was a bit cold. At least he wouldn't say things that made her feel ambiguous.
"Vincent."
"Ga?"
"Do you like Bern?"
Vincent replied without hesitation, "Like."
"Then, between Bern and me, which one do you prefer?"
"Can you catch fish?"
"Um, I can't."
Vincent said without hesitation, "Then I like Bern more. He can catch fish with me. "
Happiness let out a sigh of relief and a smile appeared on her face. She realized that her fear of snakes had almost completely disappeared under Vincent's healing presence.
The TV drama's plot was stupid, and Vincent's engrossed appearance was weak. Happiness found it uninteresting and yawned. She climbed onto the head of the bed and lay down, then said to Vincent, "Ah, Vincent, if it were in the past, February would be the time of Chinese New Year. My parents and grandparents were still around. It used to be so lively at my home during Chinese New Year. My mom would prepare a big table of food. There were many people in the house. The adults played mahjong, and we children watched TV and ate snacks. Because my house was the biggest, everyone came to my house, and my mom warmly entertained them."
Vincent responded to every sentence without really listening to what Happiness was saying. Happiness didn't mind and continued, 'Afterwards, my parents had an accident, and I was lucky to survive. During the first year of the Lunar New Year, my relatives were still very warm towards me. My aunt hugged me and said I was her own daughter. I was touched and cried at that time. But the following year, their attitude changed. Do you know why? Because we lost the lawsuit. My parents were held fully responsible for the traffic accident. The insurance company covered a part of it, but the rest had to be compensated with our new house. I moved to an old house and didn't receive any compensation. The pension from my parents' unit was very little. During the second year of the Lunar New Year, my aunt never hugged me again. I knew they were afraid that I would rely on them. Being a student requires a lot of money, and I understood that. Since then, I've had less contact with them, and later, no contact at all. Except for my mother's close friend, who took good care of me. She often bought groceries for me... Ah, you don't know, human society is also very complicated. I don't blame my aunt and the others. They are all working-class people. But my grandparents really disappointed me... You don't know, my grandfather and grandmother died when I was very young. If they were still alive, maybe things would be better, because my mom is an only child...'"
"Can you stop talking?!" Vincent impatiently interrupted, "You're being so annoying!"
Only Vincent found Happiness annoying. If it were any other beast, they would probably want to hear more about her thoughts and memories and would even hug her to comfort her. But Happiness didn't think Vincent was being disrespectful. On the contrary, she found him cute and smiled, saying, "Okay, I won't say anything."
Regardless, at least Alexander woke up. No matter what they would face in the future, they would be with her. There would be no obstacle they couldn't overcome. Happiness comforted herself, thinking that there wouldn't be anything more tragic than living alone a thousand years ago, lonely and helpless. Loneliness and helplessness were scarier than anything else!
Listening to the TV in the background, the image of Vincent's broad back slowly blurred, and Happiness closed her eyes, thinking that when she woke up, she would go see Alexander and Abyssyus...