TL: Hua

Chapter 66

During the League, fluctuations in contestant pheromones are common. Placing Alphas and Omegas in the same suite was a transparent attempt to hope something would happen to disrupt their competitive state.

But they didn’t dare make the scheme too obvious; the Omegas from the Medical and Mecha departments had been placed together. As for Ji Xuan, the Eagle receptionist on the other end of the screen played dumb the entire time. No matter what Shen Que said, they only had three excuses:

“Huh? How did that happen?”

“So sorry! Since no other school has an Omega from the Combat Department, we overlooked the list. It’s custom for Combat students to share a suite for training and communication; we were just thinking of everyone’s convenience.”

“The hotel is fully booked for the League. Maybe you can try adjusting internally? Or, if it’s an inconvenience, the students could just use a few extra suppressants. You can get more from the staff if you run low.”

In short, their attitude was, “We don’t understand, we’re sorry, and we’ll definitely do it again.”

It was incredibly underhanded.

To make matters worse, Shen Que actually went downstairs to confirm the situation himself. It turned out that besides the League contestants, the hotel was packed with important tourists who had come to watch the games; there truly were no vacant rooms. As for their own Omegas, they had been assigned the smallest suites available. Coordination was impossible, and adding extra people would have been stifling.

Ji Xuan wandered leisurely around the suite. Indoors, Pei Yingye was using his “older cousin authority” to fight Shaikh for the largest bedroom in the unit, while Shen Que was still outside, arguing the case on principle.

The cousins’ best-of-three games of rock-paper-scissors had reached match point. Neither side showed any sign of backing down. They were even preparing to use their mental power to settle the score. Several Alphas, who were watching the excitement, were cheering them on. Ji Xuan casually glanced at them and then walked straight out of the suite.

“Forget it,” Ji Xuan said, leaning against the doorframe and looking at Shen Que. “Since they arranged it this way, they definitely anticipated your reaction. Every possible exit will have been blocked, fair or otherwise.”

Hearing this, Shen Que turned to look at him, looking as though he wanted to say something but hesitated.

Ji Xuan beckoned with his finger and said, “Give me the biggest single room, and they can divide the rest among themselves. No objections?”

Shen Que was clearly caught off guard by the request and paused for a moment.

“But you…”

Ji Xuan countered, “Do you have any other ideas? Stop wasting time.”

Shen Que fell silent for a moment. Indeed, he couldn’t think of a better solution, so he handed over the key card.

“I’ll ask the Betas from the Mecha and Medical departments if they’re willing to swap over.”

Ji Xuan didn’t respond; he took the card and headed for the single room at the far end.

The suite had four rooms in total: two doubles and two singles. Lai Zhou and another Beta from the Mecha department were willing to swap with the two Alphas originally assigned to the suite, but the remaining Betas were hesitant. Although Betas cannot smell pheromones, they can still feel the physical pressure exerted by an Alpha; if something went wrong, they might not be able to control the situation.

In the end, Shen Que took the lead and moved in himself.

With the first prize taken by Ji Xuan, Pei Yingye and Shaikh had to settle for the next best thing, which was the remaining, slightly smaller single room. Unsurprisingly, Pei Yingye emerged victorious by a narrow margin and moved into the room next to Ji Xuan’s with a look of immense satisfaction.

Shaikh accepted the outcome quickly. He casually pushed open the door to the double room, eyed the two beds, and then looked at Shen Que, who had followed him in.

The two Betas had already made a significant “sacrifice.” Forcing them into a room with high-level Alphas would have been practically a death sentence for them. Whether for personal safety or for the sake of the competition, this was currently the best distribution.

“Looks like we’re roommates,” Shaikh said with a sinister smile. He pointed to the bed by the window. “I want this side. Any objections?”

Shen Que remained noncommittal.

—

Inside the Single Room

Ji Xuan leaned his suitcase against the wall without unpacking immediately. Mephisto, who had been sleeping throughout the journey, finally woke up. It slithered out of Ji Xuan’s sleeve and onto the soft bedding, raising its head curiously to inspect the new environment.

The bedroom featured a massive floor-to-ceiling window, offering a view of the other half of Eagle Military Academy, which had been elaborately decorated for the League.

Colorful flowers were piled high in front of the school gates. As soon as the sun set, rows of searchlights flicked on simultaneously. Behind the gates, a giant light screen began playing a highlight reel of the academy’s own students’ annual assessment. The editing skills were so superb that they were comparable to the top-rated action scenes from period dramas on StarNet.

Even from this distance, the glare from the screen reflected into the room. One could only imagine the sheer scale of the light pollution up close.

The interior of the academy resembled a bizarre, gaudy fashion show. Every path and road from the gate to the various training grounds was lined with fluttering banners. A musical fountain in the artificial lake splashed noisily, shifting through brilliant colors under the fading twilight and strategically placed spotlights.

After watching for just a few minutes, Ji Xuan felt his vision beginning to blur. He yanked the curtains shut. Hearing movement in the common area, he pushed open his door, only to see Lai Zhou’s roommate hurrying out of their room.

The Beta nodded shyly at him. “We’re going to study the architectural layout of Eagle Military Academy. Do you want to come along?”

Ji Xuan shook his head.

The Beta didn’t press him and scurried off excitedly, clutching his instruments.

Pei Yingye, who had gone downstairs to forage for food not long ago, sent Ji Xuan a message saying he planned to wander around the vicinity and asking if he wanted to join.

Ji Xuan had no interest in the gaudy light show and declined.

A short while later, Pei Yingye sent a photo of the hotel restaurant’s daily menu, along with a detailed list of ways to have a robot deliver food to the room.

Looking at the wall of text, Ji Xuan felt a bit dizzy. He replied: [I’m not an idiot.]

Based on the silence in the suite, it seemed Shaikh and Shen Que had also gone out.

Ji Xuan grabbed some clothes and headed to the bathroom in the corner of the suite. He wondered if all the rooms in the hotel shared this design; in terms of convenience, it was actually inferior to the student dorms at Mars Military Academy.

The only upside was that the bathroom was as large as a dorm room at the North Star Fortress, and the bathtub was equipped with the latest smart system. With nothing better to do, Ji Xuan simply lay in the tub for a long soak. Combined with a comedy projected by the smart system, he finally managed to wash away the exhaustion of the day’s long flight.

However, when he walked out of the bathroom with his hair only half-dry, he was greeted by a crowd of people sitting on the sofas and behind the bar.

The downside of the bathroom was its top-tier soundproofing.

But Ji Xuan felt a large part of the blame lay with the smart system; its taste in comedy was far superior to Pei Yingye’s, and the show had been so captivating it had caused him to uncharacteristically lower his guard.

Ji Xuan’s gaze swept inconspicuously over the people present. Aside from Lai Zhou and his roommate, who were studying the campus, and a few students from the Medical Department, almost everyone else was there.

The person sitting next to Shen Que whispered, “Ji Xuan is here. He didn’t go out.”

Shen Que, who had been leaning back on the sofa reviewing the competition rules, looked up. When his eyes met Ji Xuan’s, his movements faltered. A rare flash of stunned silence crossed his usually expressionless, cold face.

Ji Xuan was wearing a thin shirt, the collar left casually open to reveal a stretch of collarbone and neck so pale it was dazzling. It created a sharp, striking contrast with the jet-black hair scattered over his shoulders.

“Everyone is gathered here,” Ji Xuan said slowly, walking toward the sofa in his hotel slippers. “Did something happen?”

Perhaps due to the lingering steam from the bath, his eyes looked like they had been brushed with damp ink, his features appearing more vivid and arresting than usual.

On his face, the black is the ultimate black; white is the purest white. The colors were so distinct it looked like he had been sketched by a brush soaked in mist. He looked like a seductive spirit stepped straight out of an ancient supernatural story.

The Alphas and Betas, who had been noisily chatting, went silent instantly. For a moment, no one answered him.

A few seconds later, Shen Que snapped out of it. “The competition committee just released the events and rules for the preliminaries. They came over to discuss how to allocate the events.”

His gaze lingered on Ji Xuan’s face for a few seconds, his Adam’s apple bobbing involuntarily. “Sorry, I didn’t know you were showering.”

Ji Xuan raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

He walked toward one of the sofas, and the Alpha sitting there immediately scrambled to the side to make room for him. Just as Ji Xuan sat down, he saw Pei Yingye walking out of his bedroom. Pei Yingye froze mid-step, then immediately turned around and bolted back into his room.

Ji Xuan borrowed someone’s terminal and skimmed the text.

A large coat fell softly over his shoulders. Pei Yingye had returned and sat down silently on the arm of the sofa next to Ji Xuan.

He casually lifted the wet hair that was covered by his coat, his fingertips lightly brushing against Ji Xuan’s ear. After receiving a glance from the other, he moved his arm to the back of the sofa and casually draped it over his shoulder, forming a semi-enclosed posture.

Shen Que took all of this in. He took a sip of water to mask his ill-timed emotions. “For the individual events in the first half, we need to ensure we get high scores in every area of strength. Shaikh, you—”

“I want to participate in the second half,” Shaikh interrupted, having finished fiddling behind the bar. He sat down with a smile and handed one of the two specialty drinks he had made to Ji Xuan. “This strange relay race sounds much more interesting than the first half.”

Ji Xuan glanced at him. Shaikh raised his hands innocently. “Just a regular drink. Why don’t you try it, Brother?”

Ji Xuan didn’t take it. His eyes returned to the terminal screen.

The preliminaries were divided into two stages. The first half consisted entirely of individual events, similar to a sports meet, where the top sixteen of the thirty participating military academies would be selected to enter the second-half cooperative relay.

However, Eagle Military Academy had added plenty of gimmicks to increase the spectacle. Even the individual events were designed as high-stakes battle royales, testing each contestant’s personal abilities to the limit.

As for the second half, it was an evolved version of a relay race.

Four participating students would each need to complete a different task: Mecha, Shooting, Combat, and Timed Assembly. The venues for each event were located in four different corners of the academy. Upon completing a task, the contestant would receive a physical key that they had to deliver in person to the next venue before the next teammate could begin.

Furthermore, all contestants are required to remain on standby at their original event sites until the entire competition is finished.

Additionally, any League contestant not participating in the second-half relay is permitted to intercept contestants from other military academies during the race. Aside from the prohibition on causing physical harm to the contestants, there are no other restrictions.

“These rules are obviously designed to create chaos and points of discussion.” Pei Yingye leaned forward, his shoulder intimately pressed against Ji Xuan’s back.

His possessiveness was far too overt. Besides, nearly every student present had already seen the gossip about them on the forums; even if they hadn’t, any observant person could guess that the relationship between the two was anything but ordinary.

Except—

Someone stole a glance at Shen Que.

Chief, Team Leader… your head is starting to look a little green¹Wearing a green head or anything green related to the head in Chinese is slang meaning the person is being cheated on..

Shen Que ignored those fleeting, suggestive glances and forced himself to shift his focus from Ji Xuan to Shaikh. “The second half has a lot of variables; it requires extreme adaptability and the ability to handle pressure. Are you sure?”

Shaikh swirled the glass in his hand, the smile on his face never wavering. “The more chaotic it is, the more interesting it gets, doesn’t it? Besides… I suspect you’re still wondering whether or not to put Brother in the second half, aren’t you?”

“Chief, I think it’s very unethical to slip in personal agendas like this in such a serious setting, even though everyone here might genuinely think you’re the perfect candidate for the final event.”

After all, the timed assembly was comparable to a structured interview; no one knew what kind of tricky problems would be drawn until they were on the field. Aside from Shen Que, no one could guarantee a win in that round.

—Lai Zhou might have had the skill, but he was terrified of pressure and taking the blame; the moment he saw the rules, he had shouted in the group chat that he was sticking to the first half.

Hearing this, Pei Yingye sneered, “Since a certain person who ranked fifth in the assessment has volunteered, it wouldn’t make sense not to include me in the second half as well, would it?”

Shaikh replied nonchalantly, “Well, we have Brother to thank for being so powerful that he wiped out our entire team.”

Pei Yingye: “That doesn’t exactly sound like something to brag about.”

Shen Que, who had also been kicked out of the full-domain simulation by Ji Xuan: “…”

“That’s enough,” Shen Que said through gritted teeth, cutting off their conversation.

In truth, Pei Yingye had already been part of Shen Que’s original plan. He turned his gaze toward Ji Xuan. Since Shaikh had already exposed his thoughts, Shen Que didn’t bother explaining himself and went straight to asking for Ji Xuan’s opinion.

“What about you? Are there any events you want to participate in?”

Ji Xuan looked up from the terminal. “The second half is fine with me.”

For him, it didn’t matter what he participated in. However, nothing in the first half particularly interested him, while the rules for the second half did indeed look much more entertaining.

“In that case, we’ll have to trouble those participating in the first half to work a bit harder on the mid-route support,” Shen Que said, his gaze sweeping over the others. “Eagle has the home-court advantage. Aside from the official contestants, cover and support along the key delivery route are equally vital.”

The other students nodded one after another. “Understood.”

“We’ll discuss the specific arrangements for the second half once Lai Zhou brings back a detailed map. Since the competition hasn’t started yet, everyone can head out tomorrow to familiarize themselves with the routes on Eagle’s campus.”

With the plans settled, the group didn’t linger.

Ji Xuan handed the terminal back to its owner and stood up. He stuffed the coat that had slid down back into Pei Yingye’s arms and walked back to his room.

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  Wearing a green head or anything green related to the head in Chinese is slang meaning the person is being cheated on.