TL: Hua
“Move a bit faster! That’s the only way we can seize the resources in the warehouse first while everyone else is busy fighting it out in the central zone.”
Zhou Lin urged while looking back.
Ji Xuan gave a soft “Mm,” but his pace remained unhurried.
Although he was becoming familiar with the method of controlling his body with mental power, it was his first time using it, after all, so there was some clunkiness.
Hearing the “thud-thud” sounds behind him, Zhou Lin looked back with a mix of disdain and smugness, intentionally widening his stride.
He’s just an Omega in the end. Such pathetic physical stamina and clumsy movements have no business being in the Combat Department, Zhou Lin thought contemptuously.
When they reached the warehouse, he would show him just how big the gap between them was. Once he avenged Lance, he could threaten this guy, who could barely walk without dragging his feet, into dropping out voluntarily, saving everyone from having him as dead weight in future assessments.
The sound of the wind was muffled by the foliage, occasionally punctuated by strange noises.
They pushed through a thicket of shrubs; the mud beneath their feet gradually hardened, and the humidity in the air began to thin.
Before long, a gray-white warehouse came into view at the edge of the horizon, its walls covered with mottled cracks, as if it could collapse at any moment. The doors and windows were ajar, and behind the hazy glass was a dark, deep void, making it impossible to see what was inside.
“When I enter the warehouse later, follow my lead. Don’t you dare mess up, or I won’t share a single resource with you—do you hear me?”
Ji Xuan glanced up at him, his eyes deep, the corners of his mouth curving into an indiscernible arc. “Alright.”
It sounded like casual dismissal, yet it carried a trace of something inexplicable.
Zhou Lin rubbed his itchy ear, feeling a momentary hesitation.
But he quickly brushed those messy thoughts aside.
He was more impatient to see the moment Ji Xuan walked into the trap.
The excitement in Zhou Lin’s eyes was impossible to suppress. Taking advantage of the fact that Ji Xuan couldn’t see his mouth, he tested a whistle that mimicked a bird’s call.
Then, they pushed open the warehouse door. With a creak, the sound of sheet metal grinding against hinges was piercing and ear-grating.
The temperature dropped instantly, a chill wrapping around them as if something were holding its breath, watching them from the shadows.
Zhou Lin ignored the abnormality. His heart raced; he was almost trembling with excitement for the upcoming luring the enemy into the trap” scenario.
Following the plan agreed upon with his companions, he led Ji Xuan toward the center of the warehouse.
BANG!
The warehouse door slammed shut.
It was the signal to act!
Zhou Lin put on an act of reassurance: “Don’t be afraid! Find cover first; I can protect you!”
However, in the next instant, with a “whoosh,” a strong gust of wind suddenly swept in!
A flash of cold light tore through the shadows, aiming straight for Zhou Lin’s neck. Before he even had time to resist, he was struck heavily and sent flying, his body hitting a square pillar in the warehouse with a dull thud.
Dust cascaded down.
“With this little skill, who do you think you’re protecting?”
Pei Yingye walked toward Zhou Lin, twirling his military knife, a proud and mocking smirk on his face. “Sorry, you’re late. Your companions have already been sent out of the game by me.”
Before Zhou Lin could recover from the heavy blow, his throat tightened under the overwhelming pressure of Alpha mental power, and his vision began to blur.
“Thanks to you lot, I’ve been forced to lose a teammate, and my training score has taken a significant blow.” Pei Yingye gradually closed in on Zhou Lin. After the military knife spun a cold, glittering circle, he pressed it ruthlessly against the other’s neck. “Didn’t you have a teammate too? Call him out.”
“…” Zhou Lin’s pupils contracted, his face turning a sickly shade of blue-white as cold sweat beaded on his forehead.
How did I have the rotten luck to run into this plague god!
Hiding behind some abandoned machinery not far away, Ji Xuan also instantly pieced together what had happened.
Presumably, Zhou Lin and his cronies had planned to strike him here, but their luck was poor, and they had been wiped out by this man instead.
“I’ll give you two choices. One: I will send you on your way directly and go find your fleeing teammate myself.” Pei Yingye’s voice paused as he ground his teeth before continuing. “Two: You voluntarily give me his location. In return, I can let you live a little longer.”
In the Combat Department’s simulated training, the scoring mechanism was simple: get the most kills or survive the longest.
From Ji Xuan’s angle, he couldn’t see the face of Pei Yingye, who had his back turned, but judging by the previous attack, this person’s strength was not to be underestimated.
Zhou Lin couldn’t escape, so he would likely choose to sell him out.
Ji Xuan gripped a rusted steel plate he had just pried off the machinery. He saw Pei Yingye press the knife down further; blood began to seep from Zhou Lin’s skin.
“Pei, Pei Yingye, wait…” Zhou Lin winced and said, “I’ll give it to you. Let me find the coordinates.”
Pei Yingye’s grip on the knife loosened.
Just as Zhou Lin pulled up his interface and was about to sync the location to Pei Yingye, a cold light flashed from the shadows of the warehouse.
Thwack! The steel plate in Ji Xuan’s hand flew out, plunging straight into Zhou Lin’s chest.
Zhou Lin screamed in agony as he was forced out of the game, and his entire body vanished instantly in the light and shadow.
Pei Yingye spun toward the direction the steel plate had come from, but before he could even react, the person had arrived before him like lightning, thrusting another piece of steel plate straight at him!
Clang! Pei Yingye spun and parried with a backhand, his military knife catching Ji Xuan’s steel plate. Seeing that the strike didn’t land, Ji Xuan didn’t linger; he immediately threw a kick.
“Such a ruthless hand? I haven’t even said what I’d do to you, and you killed him that fast?”
Ji Xuan accepted the compliment and replied, “Otherwise? Should I wait for you to put a knife to my neck too?”
Following that, he used the force of Pei Yingye blocking his leg to spring upward. His legs instantly coiled around the latter’s neck, his whole body entwining like a python.
Due to the loss of balance, both men crashed to the ground.
Dust billowed from the floor.
Pei Yingye coughed a few times, his left hand gripping Ji Xuan’s thigh while his tactical boots kicked out, trying to break free from the restraint.
A physical manifestation of mental power surged out like an overwhelming tide. Ji Xuan’s head throbbed from the shock; without time to think, he mimicked the action, thrusting his own mental power out to intertwine with Pei Yingye’s.
If Pei Yingye’s mental power was like gunpowder smoke, Ji Xuan’s was more like a frost-covered blade, powerful to a degree that absolutely did not belong to an Omega.
“If we had met in the central zone, I would have respected you. It’s just a pity that you and those people… Wait, what is this?!”
A crisp, cool scent of pheromones mingled with the mental power. The primal instincts of an Alpha immediately began to stir.
Pei Yingye turned his head toward Ji Xuan in disbelief, the somber air between his brows growing heavier.
Where did this Omega pheromone come from?!
This bastard actually dared to cheat so blatantly!
However, it was this split second of distraction that gave Ji Xuan his opening.
The steel plate pierced upward into Pei Yingye’s body. As he was forcibly eliminated, the last thing he heard was Ji Xuan’s teasing remark: “Well, what can you do? We’ve already met right here.”
—
Twenty minutes later.
Pei Yingye snapped his eyes open and yanked off the sensory equipment.
He didn’t even wait to hear the AI announce the training results; with a sharp whoosh, he pulled open the pod door and leaped down from the steps.
His tactical boots hit the floor with an angry clack-clack sound.
The Alphas who had just crawled out of their simulation pods didn’t expect to run into this scene.
Pei Yingye’s features were sharp and hard, giving him a very aggressive appearance, especially when he lowered his brows in anger, his piercing eyes exerting a palpable sense of pressure. Coupled with his 190 cm height, broad shoulders, and narrow waist, he carried a natural, fierce air of a rogue.
“Wait, wasn’t Old Pei first this time?”
“No… Oh boy, his ‘top place’ syndrome is acting up again.”
“Brother Pei, don’t be in such a rush! It’s just one simulation. If it comes down to it, just win it back next time!”
“Ugh, it’s all because of those stupid random teammates. I did very poorly this time!”
Pei Yingye followed his memory to Zhou Lin’s pod.
The latter was currently whispering something to his companions with a sour expression.
Seeing Pei Yingye approach, the group fell silent. The scene of him taking them all down five-to-one in the warehouse was still vivid in their minds; the Alphas couldn’t quite maintain their composure and awkwardly looked away, not daring to meet his eyes.
Only Pei Yingye’s teammate, whom he had also personally sent away, stepped forward amidst the shoving and pushing of the others and tentatively asked, “Brother Pei, is something the matter?”
Pei Yingye shot him a glance before fixing his eyes on Zhou Lin, asking through gritted teeth, “Who was the person who teamed up with you during the training?”
Zhou Lin froze, not expecting him to come over to ask that.
The Alphas looked at each other in confusion.
Unless there was a live broadcast, eliminated members could not see what happened afterward. After being taken out by Pei Yingye, they had stayed outside discussing how to handle Lance’s questioning or planning their next move; they had no idea what had transpired between Pei Yingye and Ji Xuan.
Zhou Lin asked suspiciously, “Why are you looking for him?”
Another Alpha followed up with a hint of delight: “Did he piss you off too?”
Pei Yingye stared at them coldly.
Zhou Lin swallowed hard. Sensing that Pei Yingye was in a foul mood and had no intention of explaining the details, he simply pointed toward Ji Xuan’s simulation pod.
Pei Yingye retracted his gaze and stomped toward that direction aggressively.
“…Is Ji Xuan finished?”
“If Pei Yingye teaches him a lesson, can we go to Lance and claim credit for it?”
Ji Xuan had just emerged from the simulation pod.
The pod door closed silently behind him. He stepped forward casually and landed softly, like a nimble deer.
Having leaned against the pod for too long, his long hair, which he had tied up, had become a little messy. He was undoing the hair tie to smooth it out and re-tie it when a set of hurried footsteps approached.
He didn’t even look up before he felt the aggressive pressure of an Alpha.
It seemed like someone coming to settle a score.
“That person just now, the one who played dirty by releasing Omega pheromones…”
Ji Xuan looked up, meeting a pair of misty blue eyes.
All of Pei Yingye’s prepared interrogation came to a screeching halt in that instant.
The combat uniforms at Mars Military Academy were either black or white, but because the training for the Combat Department was so heavy, no one in their right mind would choose the easily soiled white.
The young man before him was the sole exception.
Two buttons at the collar of his silver-white uniform were casually undone, the well-tailored fabric hugging his slender yet powerful back, not to mention those long, straight legs that had nearly choked Pei Yingye to death.
Beyond that, he possessed a remarkably heart-stirring face. Even his thin cheeks didn’t diminish the splendor of his eyes in the slightest. The contrast between his ink-black hair and pale skin created a high-impact, vivid visual.
Pei Yingye’s Adam’s apple bobbed uncontrollably.
Ji Xuan’s gaze slid over the small mole in the center of the other man’s Adam’s apple. With a half-smile, he said, “It was my first time using mental power. I didn’t control it well.”
The air stagnated for several seconds.
All that chaotic anger vanished into thin air. After a long while, Pei Yingye exhaled, staring intently at Ji Xuan, and said, word by word, “…Forget it. Don’t let it happen again.”
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