SCOM - Chapter 1
Chapter 1
At the Federal First Military Academy, the school year had just begun. The new students wore bright smiles, their eyes shining with anticipation for the campus life ahead. They walked with their heads held high and chests puffed out, their steady, determined steps a testament to their unwavering ambition.
—Those who hail from the First Military Academy are all sharp blades of the Federation.
“Another wave of naive rookies.”
“Another batch of wolf cubs here to steal our meals!”
A few upperclassmen huddled together, their uniforms sloppily worn, were handing out leaflets while watching this batch of fresh-faced new students, feeling both pity and indignation.
“Soon they’ll know that after coming here, they’re all just punching bags and stepping stones for others.”
“Hey, has anyone differentiated recently?”
“Didn’t everyone who was supposed to differentiate do it last year?”
In the Federation, the peak period for pheromone differentiation was between the ages of seventeen and eighteen. During this time, students would differentiate into Alphas, Betas, or Omegas. Traditionally, Alphas possessed the strongest combat abilities, while Omegas were weaker in combat but more meticulous. As for Betas, they were average in all aspects. Of course, with technological advancements, the differences between the three had gradually narrowed, and history had seen many outstanding Omega and Beta leaders comparable to Alphas.
Generally, the higher the talent, the earlier the differentiation. However, a considerable number of students only fully differentiated after entering the military academy. Therefore, new students had mixed classes in their first year and could only choose specialized elective courses in their second year.
“Aren’t there still a few…”
“Ji Yuezhi!”
“He finally differentiated?” The upperclassman, still holding a stack of leaflets, didn’t notice his companion's voice had long since vanished. He was still lamenting, “If he doesn’t differentiate soon…”
Tap—tap.
Black military boots made a crisp sound on the gray-and-white marbled floor before coming to a stop. The exceptionally clean surface of the boots, under the sunlight, even faintly reflected the gradually stiffening face of the guy holding the leaflets.
The leaflet guy slowly raised his head and looked at the military academy student opposite him: the other person had a tall, slender figure and a straight back, his entire bearing like a sword ready to pierce the heavens. His choppy bangs half-covered his forehead, partially obscuring his eyebrows. A pair of dark, narrow eyes held a hint of coldness, and a yellow wheat sheaf badge was fastened to the left breast of his uniform.
That was the exclusive badge of the Disciplinary Committee.
“Ji… Ji…” The leaflet guy’s face went pale on the spot. He subconsciously dropped the leaflets on the ground and fumbled to straighten his uniform.
“Improper attire, deduct 2 points.” Ji Yuezhi lowered his eyes to the scattered leaflets on the ground and said without a trace of emotion, “Littering, deduct 2 points.”
The leaflet guy finally managed to straighten his uniform, immediately squatted down to pick up the leaflets, and looked up with a bitter expression, “I… I’m picking them up now. Can you not deduct the points?”
Each semester, every student started with twenty points. Once their points reached zero, they faced expulsion. The reasons for point deductions at the First Military Academy were varied, with the bulk of the power held by the teachers and the Disciplinary Committee. And the head of the Disciplinary Committee was Ji Yuezhi.
The female Alpha behind Ji Yuezhi raised her optical computer, scanned the leaflet guy’s face, and upon hearing his words, sneered, “Have you ever seen the Disciplinary Committee deduct points and then give them back? If you don’t want to lose points, then follow the academy handbook properly.”
The leaflet guy resentfully finished picking up the leaflets and stood up, only to see a message on his wrist-mounted optical computer informing him of a 4-point deduction. His heart ached, but when he noticed that members of the Disciplinary Committee had silently appeared all around, he started to feel a sense of schadenfreude. After all, so many people were getting points deducted along with him. By the time he fully came to his senses, Ji Yuezhi was already gone.
The First Military Academy was the best academy in the entire Federation. All the best and brightest gathered here; it was the cradle of countless Federation leaders. Every student who got in was outstanding. This also created a problem: the students of the First Military Academy were extremely unruly. To solve this problem, the school specially established the Disciplinary Committee. Without exception, the students who could join were the most outstanding of the bunch.
In short, the Disciplinary Committee was made up of the school’s best fighters.
“So what if I don’t wear it? When I’m on the battlefield, do you think I need a uniform to win?”
A piercing voice suddenly erupted at the school gate, causing everyone around to subconsciously look over. The leaflet guy was among them. He stood on his tiptoes and peered for a long time, only to see a tall military academy student trying to walk onto campus without a uniform, with a member of the Disciplinary Committee standing opposite him.
“Well now, this must be a freshman troublemaker. What guts!” The leaflet guy clicked his tongue in amazement. They too had once been so young and ignorant.
Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, the military student’s temper flared, and he finally attacked the Disciplinary Committee member directly. The upperclassman from the Disciplinary Committee hadn’t expected anyone to dare attack him and subconsciously retreated, a move that immediately put him at a disadvantage.
The surroundings immediately erupted in an uproar. If one looked closely, they would notice that the ones gasping were all upperclassmen.
This freshman was so arrogant, but he really had some skill. Within a few moves, he had actually managed to faintly suppress the Disciplinary Committee upperclassman. He even released his pheromones—a heavy scent of charcoal fire belonging to an Alpha—directly attacking and suppressing everyone present. He had already differentiated!
To be able to differentiate early and be so brazen, this freshman probably had a significant background.
“Is this all the strength you have even with a uniform on?” the freshman sneered. He dodged the upperclassman’s chokehold and kicked viciously at his chest, not holding back at all.
Smack!
A black shadow flashed by, and the freshman’s leg was brutally kicked, breaking with a sickening, scalp-numbing crack.
The leaflet guy looked at the tall, slender back, couldn’t help but cover his eyes with his hands, and let out a pained sigh, “Oh, my God, that leg must be broken.” Then he quietly peeked through the gaps between his fingers, watching the aftermath with schadenfreude.
The freshman’s face twisted as he looked at the other person who had arrived. “Two against one? I’ll take you…”
Before he could finish his sentence, a hand forcefully pressed his neck down, slamming him against a nearby pillar. The freshman, who had held the upper hand against the Disciplinary Committee upperclassman, was now completely powerless. He felt the world spin, having never been so humiliated. He clenched his jaw, formed his arm into a blade, and swung it sharply at the person behind him. However, contrary to his expectations, before his attack could land, the other person had already closed the distance, seized his hand, and bent it outwards with force.
Crack—
The sound of a bone breaking, enough to set one’s teeth on edge, rang out again.
With an arm and a leg broken, the freshman had lost half his combat ability. Ji Yuezhi kicked him over, sending him flying out of the school gate, then slowly walked over. His brows furrowed as he said coldly, “Entering the school without a uniform, deduct 5 points. Releasing pheromones on campus without reason, 10 points.”
His gaze swept over the Disciplinary Committee student who stepped forward to deduct the points—the same upperclassman who had fought the freshman. “Ineffective enforcement, deduct 5 points.”
“Yes, sir!” The Disciplinary Committee student deducted his own points without hesitation.
By now, the leaflet guy had lowered his hands. His eyes shone as he stared at Ji Yuezhi outside the gate. As expected of the person who, as an undifferentiated first-year, had successfully ‘usurped the throne,’ kicking a top-ten ranked Alpha upperclassman out of the Disciplinary Committee head position and completely reorganizing the committee.
The leaflet guy suddenly buried his head in his device and added a comment to a thread on the school’s anonymous forum: Got 4 points deducted by the head of the Disciplinary Committee today~
Within a minute, dozens of replies appeared, a neat row of them: Catching the good luck!
Nowadays, getting points personally deducted by the head of the Disciplinary Committee was secretly considered a symbol of good luck at the First Military Academy. A few points could be earned back in class or a competition, but it wasn't every day that Ji Yuezhi came out to do inspections.
Ji Yuezhi didn’t know what the people around him were thinking. He looked down, carefully smoothing the wrinkles on his cuffs, when his peripheral vision suddenly caught something.
Another strange commotion arose from the surroundings. The leaflet guy squeezed two steps closer to the gate and couldn’t help but suck in a sharp breath. Damn, it really is the first day of school. All the big shots are gathering.
A glossy black car was parked outside the school. Its body was extremely streamlined, and the windows on one side were both rolled down. The person in the driver’s seat was Jiang Hong, the only son of the Jiang family. A second-year, he had broken into the top five of the First Military Academy’s Red List and the top three of the Alpha combat rankings in just one year.
However… everyone’s gaze unconsciously fell on the person in the back seat.
Her medium-length hair was casually tied back, with a few stray strands falling beside her ears. The lines of her face were sharp, and her features were so striking they were almost unforgettable. Her profile was turned towards the school gate, and it was unclear how long she had been watching. One hand rested out the window, a cigarette held between her fingertips. As if no one else was around, she flicked the ash, which drifted with the wind and landed inside the red line that marked the boundary of the First Military Academy.
It was Zuo Luohuan, the heir of the Zuo family, who had differentiated early into a top-tier Alpha at the age of fifteen. It was rumored that her pheromones could suppress every registered Alpha in the Federation, though she had never released them on campus.
At the school gate, Ji Yuezhi’s gaze fell on the ash. He turned on his heel and walked towards her.
Just then, Zuo Luohuan opened the car door, her own black military boots stepping onto the ground. She casually closed the door and leaned lazily against the car’s body, her uniform a mess with all the buttons undone. She lowered her head, raised the cigarette to her lips for a drag, and slowly exhaled a puff of white smoke.
Arrogant! So arrogant!
After witnessing the incident with the freshman, everyone was now staring at Zuo Luohuan and the approaching Ji Yuezhi, their hearts in their throats.
Were the two of them finally going to face off?
The Zuo and Ji families both belonged to the Federal Military Committee, leading different army groups—the Winter Army and the Seventeenth Army. The two families had long been in a state of opposition, competing for military resources, and the entire Federation knew they did not get along.
Ever since Zuo Luohuan and Ji Yuezhi enrolled together, many people had been looking forward to a confrontation between them. Unfortunately, one had long since differentiated into an Alpha but was rarely at school, while the other was about to turn eighteen and still hadn’t differentiated. As a result, for a whole year, they hadn’t just failed to face off; it seemed they had never even met.
Was this scene finally about to happen today?
Although Ji Yuezhi hadn’t differentiated, all signs indicated that he was bound to become a top-tier Alpha; it was only a matter of time. After all, there were always exceptions to the norm, and history had seen powerful figures who differentiated late.
Inside and outside the school, people were privately rubbing their hands together, waiting for a good show.
However, Ji Yuezhi suddenly stopped just before the red line. The breeze from his steps blew the small pile of ash back over the line, so it was no longer within the First Military Academy’s territory.
Zuo Luohuan took a final drag from her cigarette. Her brow furrowed and then relaxed in an instant. She blew out a smoke ring, casually flicked the cigarette butt into a nearby trash can, and met Ji Yuezhi’s dark eyes, asking nonchalantly, “Need something?”
“Improper attire is a 2-point deduction,” Ji Yuezhi said in a calm tone.
Zuo Luohuan let out a laugh. She lifted her military boot, hovering it just over the red line on the ground in a faintly provocative gesture. “I’m still outside the First Military Academy’s jurisdiction. Not your business, Classmate Ji.”
“Which is why I haven’t deducted any points yet,” Ji Yuezhi replied, not avoiding Zuo Luohuan’s gaze, his dark eyes filled with calm.
The atmosphere was incredibly tense. Just as the crowd thought a fight was finally about to break out, Zuo Luohuan straightened up and stood before Ji Yuezhi. They were of similar height. She stared into his eyes and, one by one, began to button her uniform.
A collective sigh of disappointment went through the crowd.
They instantly lost their enthusiasm for the spectacle. It seemed there would be no fight today.
Once her uniform was in order, Zuo Luohuan finally stepped over the red line. Just as she was about to collide with him, she turned her body to the side, her face brushing past his ear as she passed.
Ji Yuezhi paid no mind to this seemingly provocative detail. A sentence, nearly carried away by the wind and almost intimate, was all that reached his ears.
“Ji Yuezhi… why haven’t you differentiated yet?”
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