No one spoke; for a moment, everyone was frozen by this terrifying thought.
They were all just a group of seventeen- or eighteen-year-olds, hardly anyone had ever seen a scene like this before.
Jiang Yue already felt unbearably nauseous, and when she looked at her other roommates, she saw that each of them looked pale and sickly.
Jiang Sen hugged himself, trembling. “I’ll go contact the instructor and see what we should do. I feel awful right now… like my whole body is crawling with tiny insects.”
Bai Wang shuddered violently and immediately covered Jiang Sen’s mouth. He had a mild case of trypophobia, and among the six of them, his expression was the most strained.
Kuri rubbed at the goosebumps on his arms and asked them, “Can any of you still sleep?”
Everyone shook their heads in unison. Kuri continued, “Honestly, don’t you feel like this year’s been especially uneasy? Sure, the Zergs and mutated species are always causing trouble, but this is the Federal Military Academy, how is it supposed to be like a sieve?”
Jiang Yue said weakly, “It’s actually not hard to figure out, the students at the Federal Military Academy are the flowers of the future. If you destroy the flowers, the future supply of high-quality recruits will be cut off, and only a few veterans will be left holding things together.”
Harsh-sounding but not wrong, there was truth to that.
Xiang Sui said, “That still doesn’t make sense. The brainworms that control the Zergs are in our hands. If we kill the brainworms, wouldn’t the whole Zerg race be finished? So why would the Zergs be causing all this trouble?”
Xi Boyu said, “To vent their anger.”
Xiang Sui blinked. “That’s possible.”
Jiang Sen began worrying again. “The Zergs are too strong… I really hope we can develop quickly. I’m not asking to surpass them, just to be on equal footing would be enough.”
At that moment, Instructor Fu Yan received another message from Jiang Sen.
A minute later, his expression changed drastically. He contacted the principal of the Federal Military Academy and then coordinated with the SWAT team and the bio-warriors to head to Blue Whale District, Apartment No. 2.
Inside the Blue Whale Apartment, six trembling Alphas had finished dressing and stood in the hallway, waiting for the counselor.
At that moment, a clattering racket of banging and crashing came from upstairs.
The Alphas were all easily irritated; quarreling was practically a daily occurrence for them.
Jiang Yue let out a dry laugh, trying to ease her own tension with a bit of dark humor. She nudged Xi Boyu with her arm and said, “Do you think the steel and concrete in this building could get eaten through by those things? What if those two fighting Alphas break through the floor?”
Xi Boyu knew that his female Alpha roommate always had strange thoughts running through her head.
He glanced at Jiang Yue and said calmly, “There’s a certain possibility.”
No sooner had the words left her mouth than there was a sudden plop—the hallway ceiling gave way, and the two Alphas grappling above tumbled down through the hole.
But that wasn’t the real shock. The real horror was the mass of pale pink, thread-like strands spilling down through the hole in clumps.
In the blink of an eye, the two struggling Alphas were completely engulfed by the writhing strands.
The threads shimmered with a soft, pearly glow. The instant they touched the Alphas’ bodies, they seemed to come alive, burrowing into the two Alphas as if infused with their own sinister vitality.
Xiang Sui: “Sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-shit!!!!”
Jiang Yue: “A-a-a-a-a-a-aah!!!!”
Bai Wang: “Yue~Yue~Yue~”1retching sound
Jiang Sen: “Run! A-a-a-aah!”
Kuli: “Oh my godddddd!”
Among the chorus of screaming, only Xi Boyu stayed relatively calm. He grabbed the leaping Jiang Yue and shouted, “Don’t panic! Go grab the flamethrower!”
Jiang Yue dashed into the dormitory and came out with the flamethrower. She flipped the switch and aimed it at the two, her voice trembling with urgency. “But… what about them?”
Xi Boyu swore loudly. “Could you be any more indecisive?!”
The two students continued screaming for help as the thread-like strands burrowed into their ears, eyes, nostrils, and mouths. The threads that fed on their flesh grew rapidly. Their skin stretched until it became nearly translucent, and the delicate strands transformed into an even more beautiful, soft pink, piercing through their skin to emerge from various points on their faces.
The two Alphas’ bodies quickly withered, leaving behind only thin sheets of skin. The mass of thread-like strands emitted a pale, dreamlike glow. With each flicker of the glow, concentric, transparent ripples appeared in the surrounding space.
Jiang Yue heard a piercing, shrill scream.
She couldn’t hesitate any longer!
Closing her eyes, Jiang Yue shouted and unleashed the flamethrower at the two.
The scorching flames roared like a fire dragon, and the intense heat quickly reduced the two Alphas to charred, humanoid piles. The hallway was soon filled with the acrid smell of burning flesh.
Some Alphas, hearing the commotion, ran out of their dorms. Just as they were about to help, the apartment’s PA system suddenly crackled to life, and Director Fu Yan’s voice echoed through the entire Blue Whale District, Apartment No. 2.
“All cadets, put on your protective suits and remain completely still! No movement! No movement! Remain completely still! Remain completely still! Remain completely still!”
For a moment, every cadet in Apartment No. 2 quietly donned their protective suits, moving carefully, and then sat silently on the floor.
The thread-like strands couldn’t withstand the heat and quickly turned to ash under the flames.
Xiang Sui cursed, “What the hell is this? Absolutely disgusting.”
The clumps of threads that had fallen were reduced to ashes by Jiang Yue, while the remaining strands recoiled into the walls, fearing the heat.
Jiang Yue stood there, holding the flamethrower, staring blankly at the two students she had burned to charred remains.
After a while, she threw her arms around Xi Boyu’s neck, pressing herself against him and crying uncontrollably.
“I… I killed them.”
Xi Boyu patted her on the back. “Were you just going to wait for them to turn into Zergs and crawl toward you?”
Jiang Yue buried her face in his shoulder, sobbing. “Can’t you comfort me just a little? Not every Alpha is calm and strong like you!”
Xi Boyu was 182 cm tall, and Jiang Yue was 188.6 cm. Thanks to the excellent food at the Federal Military Academy, she had grown a bit taller, now 188.9 cm.
A little bird leaning on someone is endearing; a big bird leaning on someone just makes you want to laugh.
After living together for so many days, the roommates no longer seemed as glamorous or mysterious as they did when first met. Instead, they’d all become goofy and ridiculous in each other’s eyes.
The only one whose persona hadn’t completely crumbled was Xi Boyu, but even his aloof aura had faded by half. At least Jiang Yue now felt safe enough to bury her tears on his shoulder.
Just as Jiang Yue was crying her eyes out, Director Fu Yan arrived in full force with the SWAT team and the bio-warriors.
The students grabbed their few belongings and evacuated the apartment. Thank goodness, it was still early in the semester, so everyone didn’t have much stuff yet.
The students of Building 2 stood on the playground, staring at the sky in disbelief.
There was no other choice. Everyone would have to sleep on the ground in the playground for the night, and another full-scale decontamination would have to be carried out.
Northern summers weren’t that hot, and the nighttime breeze brought a faint, pleasant coolness.
After the inspection and decontamination, Jiang Yue was still sobbing, sitting there in a gloomy daze.
Between wiping her tears, she said, “I’m never eating barbecue again. Not in this life. I’ve seen those two Alphas, they were from Class Three, and they even borrowed gloves from me during anatomy class.”
She babbled on, “But now they’ve turned into two piles of charred bodies… their parents must be so heartbroken.”
Xiang Sui handed her a tissue, and Jiang Yue, wiping her nose, weakly collapsed onto Xi Boyu.
Xi Boyu tried to push her off.
He couldn’t move her.
A nearly 1.9-meter-tall human-sized sticky mass was indeed a lot to handle.
Xiang Sui handed her a tissue while trying to comfort her: “This is just one of those unavoidable blows of fate. If you hadn’t burned them, they’d have ended up as food for those ghostly things anyway. They wouldn’t have found peace!”
Jiang Yue: “Waaah… I shouldn’t be at a military academy! Freshman year already like this… is life even allowed? Waaaah… why am I an Alpha? Why do I have to study at a military academy? Oh my god, I just want to go home!”
Xiang Sui: “You still have to study at the academy. Look, with your background, what other path do you have? In the future, you won’t even be able to pay the fertility guarantee if you marry, what Omega would marry you then?”
The “fertility guarantee fund”—also known as the bride price.
In ordinary families, an Omega is usually unable to work for two to three years after giving birth.
If an Omega’s annual salary is around 100,000 star coins, then the Alpha who marries them must prepare at least 300,000 as the fertility guarantee fund.
This was an established custom: Alphas don’t have a uterus, so if they want offspring, they can’t rely on just… one part of themselves.
Artificial womb technology was already very advanced, but extremely expensive, setting one up would cost at least 700,000.
If an Alpha wanted to buy high-quality eggs, it would be around 1.5 million, far beyond what an ordinary Alpha could afford.
After thinking it through, marriage was still the most practical solution. If an Alpha married an Omega, they’d only need to spend about 300,000 on the fertility guarantee fund and would gain a devoted household companion: one willing to bear their children, do the laundry, cook, and even take care of their physical needs.
This was the way most Alphas thought.
Of course, things weren’t entirely cold and transactional; marriage wasn’t just a one-off deal.
Thanks to pheromones, the rate of Alpha infidelity was very low. Most Alphas truly loved their Omegas. After marriage, they would willingly hand over nearly all of their income, keeping only a small amount in their pockets for cigarettes.
As long as their mind was sound and their character wasn’t problematic, most people did fairly well after marriage.
As an Alpha, Jiang Yue wasn’t yet at the age to think about marriage seriously.
But what if… what if she ended up liking an Omega in the future?
Setting aside the house and car, at the very least, she’d have to come up with the fertility guarantee fund.
Of the six roommates, Jiang Yue was the only one who was truly broke.
She grew even more sorrowful, leaning on Xi Boyu’s shoulder with pained sobs. “No… I don’t want to work hard anymore. I just want to live off my looks, find a beautiful, gentle Omega guy to support me!”
Xi Boyu stiffened, asking, “Can you have some shame?”
Jiang Yue wiped her tears and flopped onto him, playing dead.
Suddenly, her body convulsed, and she let out a dry, retching sound.
Xi Boyu teased her, “So you cried yourself to vomiting?”
Jiang Yue gave a dry retch and rubbed her throat. “There’s a weird taste in my throat.”
Jiang Sen handed her a piece of chewing gum, joking, “Still thinking about the burnt smell in the hallway, huh? Here, have a mint gum to clear your mouth.”
Jiang Yue took the chewing gum, but before she could even put it in her mouth, she let out another dry heave.
Along with her retching, a strange taste drifted from her mouth.
She knelt on the floor and vomited. With a sudden whaaa, she expelled a white, cotton-like mass the size of a rice dumpling, speckled with tiny flecks of glowing light.
This little thread-like ball had already been half digested, and everyone stared at it in utter confusion.
This was downright bizarre.
The six people of Dorm 2708 had witnessed with their own eyes those two Alphas being drained to nothing by this thing.
Jiang Yue was shocked.
Xi Boyu was frozen as well.
The other roommates were just as flustered and bewildered.
As a close contact, Jiang Yue had undergone a full medical examination and strict decontamination.
Yet here she was, vomiting this thing from her stomach.
It wasn’t that the medical staff were incompetent, this revealed an utterly inexplicable fact: Jiang Yue was able to digest this bizarre object.
It was an absurd reality. For Jiang Yue, it was probably no different from eating a bun, just normal consumption. How could any examination possibly detect a problem?
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Sam Williams On TYMIMA Chapter 152