SCOM - Chapter 18
Chapter 18
When she received Jiang Hong's message, Zuo Luohuan had just come out of a private clinic. She looked at the message and casually replied: 【I don't know, but I know you got his schedule wrong.】
The widely circulated schedule for Ji Yuezhi listed his last two elective courses on Thursday, but supposedly no one saw him yesterday.
Jiang Hong: 【...Let's not dwell on the past. Guess what he chose. I guarantee you'll never guess!】
Zuo Luohuan's interest was slightly piqued. She replied: 【Did he choose a course with an A-rank instructor?】
To skip an S-rank course and choose one of the remaining A-rank courses on Friday could only mean that Ji Yuezhi was interested in those particular instructors.
Jiang Hong didn't send another message. Instead, he called her directly. When Zuo Luohuan answered, she saw his face, a mixture of excitement and lingering bewilderment.
"I knew you wouldn't be able to guess!" Jiang Hong's camera panned around, pointing first at Room 606, then at Room 612. "Flower Arranging and Flexibility Yoga. Ji Yuezhi attended both of these classes this afternoon! Isn't that ridiculous?!"
Hearing this, Zuo Luohuan was momentarily stunned. She replayed Jiang Hong's words in her mind, making sure she hadn't misheard. "What on earth is Flexibility Yoga?"
Her first reaction upon hearing the names of the two courses was that the combat department had developed new electives, but Jiang Hong's reaction suggested it wasn't that simple.
"It's just yoga, a course from the Omega academies before equal rights," Jiang Hong said, looking constipated. "And he's doing flower arranging! The kind with real flowers and vases! You really can't blame me for messing up this time. Who could have imagined Ji Yuezhi would choose these two courses?"
The phrases "pre-equal rights" and "Omega academy" appearing together often carried a certain connotation, leading one's thoughts in a particular direction. But that connotation should have absolutely nothing to do with Ji Yuezhi.
Zuo Luohuan unconsciously recalled the night of the coming-of-age ceremony, how she had half-carried Ji Yuezhi by the waist and laid him on the bed. She looked down at her hands, and for a fleeting moment, it felt as if the soft, warm touch still lingered there.
On the other side of the optical computer, Jiang Hong was still racking his brain for Ji Yuezhi's motive. "Usually, the military cadets who are stiff enough to need this class aren't very skilled fighters, and they're mostly Alphas and some rigid Betas. His skills aren't bad at all; he's nowhere near stiff enough to need this course."
"He doesn't need it," Zuo Luohuan agreed with Jiang Hong.
"Huh?" Jiang Hong looked at Zuo Luohuan, baffled. He felt there was something strange about the way she said, 'doesn't need it.'
"It's nothing." Zuo Luohuan snapped back to her usual nonchalant self. "No need to fixate on someone else's electives. I'm hanging up."
"Wait, hey..." Jiang Hong stared at the disconnected optical computer, scratching his head. He felt that Zuo Luohuan wasn't acting like herself today.
If even Jiang Hong was this shocked, it went without saying how the other military cadets who found out later would react.
For the Flexibility Yoga class, to protect the privacy of the students attending, photos were forbidden, and the classroom curtains were kept drawn year-round, making it impossible to see anything from the outside.
The other students at the academy only found out what Ji Yuezhi's final elective was after the students in that class had finished.
As a result, everyone was discussing it the entire weekend. Every student at the First Military Academy knew that Ji Yuezhi had chosen the Flexibility Yoga course.
【???】
【What is yoga? Why did Ji Yuezhi choose this kind of class, plus Flower Arranging? What is he trying to do?】
【Ji Yuezhi must have a reason for doing things. It can't be as simple as it looks on the surface.】
【Huh? I heard there used to be some kind of jiu-jitsu that could be used to strangle enemies in a fight. Does this yoga class teach moves like that?】
【I think so. Senior Ji must have chosen the yoga class to study this jiu-jitsu thing.】
【To the person above, a friendly reminder, it's not called 'some kind of jiu-jitsu'.】
【Wow, then I'll choose this class next time! Learn jiu-jitsu, strangle my opponents!】
【...Bullshit. I took this class last year. What jiu-jitsu? Strangle? More like strangle yourself!】
【Exactly! My legs almost got twisted off every time! And the instructor would step on my legs and not let go, boohoohoo.】
【I studied for a year and learned nothing but how to do the splits faster. And I'm forced to take it again this semester. Tragic.】
【So many people have taken the yoga class? Isn't this the most unpopular class in the school?】
Shocked as they were, the military cadets all discussed Ji Yuezhi's reasons for his choice. Almost everyone believed he had some profound motive for his actions. Some members of his fan club even decided to choose the Flexibility Yoga course next year to experience it for themselves.
No one considered that the person in question had simply chosen the yoga class for its original purpose.
Ji Yuezhi neither knew nor cared what others were thinking. As soon as he entered the classroom, he found the changing room, set the flowers aside, and changed into his training clothes before heading out.
The instructor was a dance teacher hired from another university who came once a week to teach a class. He was a typical Omega with excellent flexibility.
After waiting for everyone to arrive and change into their training clothes, the teacher went through the roster to get to know the students. The flexibility of different secondary genders varied, and he needed to know in advance to formulate a course plan.
The Omega teacher called out names while going around to press on the students' shoulders, waists, and legs, recording the information on his optical computer.
"Ji Yuezhi..." The teacher looked at the information in his hand and hesitated for a moment before asking, "Are you an Omega?"
Omegas are naturally more flexible than the other two secondary genders. At the First Military Academy, almost no Omega students took this course. For an Omega to be here, could it be that his body was even stiffer than an Alpha's? That would be tricky.
Ji Yuezhi nodded. "Yes."
The other students in the class looked on with shock and horror. Of course, they knew Ji Yuezhi was an Omega; after all, the school had been in an uproar the day he returned after his presentation. A perfectly good Alpha had suddenly presented as an Omega. And now he was here in their class. Being classmates with the head of the Disciplinary Committee meant they couldn't pull any tricks in the future. The slightest misstep would get them demerits. Terrifying!
The teacher went through the procedure and finally breathed a sigh of relief. "Don't worry, the course won't be too difficult for you." This student's body wasn't stiff at all. Why on earth was he taking a yoga class?
The class began with the splits. Unsurprisingly, most students couldn't do it and were howling in agony as the teacher stepped on them.
Ji Yuezhi adapted well. While the teacher was instructing the others, his mind began to wander.
Once presentation is successful, the secondary gender characteristics gradually become more pronounced. For example, an Omega's skin becomes smoother and their body more supple.
Ji Yuezhi was fundamentally different from other Omegas. He had almost presented several years ago but had forcefully suppressed it until now. No one knew what side effects there might be, and he didn't want to be any different from a normal Omega.
Ignoring other aspects, Ji Yuezhi hoped more than anything that in his life with the person he liked, he could become the kind of traditional, domestic, good Omega who could emit a sweet fragrance.
The Flexibility Yoga course was excellent. It was said that before the equal rights movement, it was used to train an Omega's flexibility and other aspects to ensure a harmonious life with the person they liked.
At this point, Ji Yuezhi was still unaware that the yoga at the First Military Academy was a course modified by the teacher to specifically improve stiff limbs, not the kind of exercise class that carried a certain connotation.
News always traveled fast in the capital's circles. When he returned home for the weekend, Ji Xixiu asked his son with a complex expression, "I heard you chose a course called Flexibility Yoga?"
"Yes."
"How is it?"
"Not very difficult." Ji Yuezhi paused before adding, "It's probably because it was the first class. They'll likely teach more in-depth material later on."
"...Is that so? I don't know much about that course," Ji Xixiu said after a moment of silence, changing the subject. "How are your main courses going?"
"Instructor Jia and Instructor Bai are just as you said, and the new Instructor He is very skilled." Ji Yuezhi mentioned the day He Yue had used the yu-93 model sniper light gun for instruction.
Ji Xixiu had more inside information. "That gun was developed by the Winter Army. Back then, they were in urgent need of a long-range, heavy-firepower sniper light gun and didn't care about the weight. It was popular for a while, but the failure rate was too high, and it wasn't suitable for other army groups, so it was eventually phased out by the Ministry of Finance."
The Winter Army was currently the most powerful military force among all the Federation's army groups. They were strong enough to ignore such details.
"By the way," Ji Xixiu remembered something. "What kind of injury did Zuo Luohuan sustain?"
Ji Yuezhi was taken aback. "What?"
"Has she shown any abnormalities at school? It might not necessarily be an injury," Ji Xixiu said. "The other day, I saw a trace report on her in the intelligence department. She's been in and out of a private clinic several times."
The Federation's intelligence department collected a vast array of information, and a small amount of irrelevant data would sometimes flow in, only to be filtered out during classification. As the Chairman's daughter, trace reports on Zuo Luohuan would occasionally appear and then be cleared.
Ji Xixiu had only paid attention to this piece of information about Zuo Luohuan because of his son.
"I haven't heard about her being injured." Ji Yuezhi lowered his eyes, but he recalled the faint scent of blood mixed in with her pheromones on the night of the coming-of-age ceremony. She had left the banquet halfway through. Where had she gone to get injured?
"Then she must have gone to a friend's place. She has plenty of shady friends." Ji Xixiu snorted. That Zuo Luohuan didn't associate much with her peers; she had loved to run around outside and meet all sorts of people since she was a child.
The father and son didn't talk for long before Ji Xixiu had to leave for the Military Committee to handle some affairs.
Alone at home, Ji Yuezhi began to look into any anomalies within the Federation on the night of the twenty-eighth. It didn't take long for him to find news about the Military Armaments Database building.
—An sl-9 light gun was stolen, suspected to have been daringly taken by black market personnel.
The time of the theft perfectly matched the time Zuo Luohuan left the party. Ji Yuezhi also found that He Yue had been among the guards on duty that day. She had shot and wounded the thief, who then used the sl-9 light gun to successfully evade her sniping.
Adding the scent of blood he had smelled that night, he could be almost certain that the person was Zuo Luohuan.
If Zuo Luohuan hadn't come over to give him a coming-of-age gift, Ji Yuezhi would never have guessed it was her.
Stealing an sl-9 light gun to sell it for a high price on the black market? Ji Yuezhi didn't believe it. She wasn't short on money; she must have had some other purpose.
Ji Yuezhi didn't dwell on Zuo Luohuan's motives. He only wanted to know one thing: she had been to the clinic several times in a row, so was her injury severe?
He hadn't noticed anything unusual during shooting class that day, but an image of Zuo Luohuan emerging from behind the rockery that morning flashed in his mind—her face was pale, and the fine strands of hair at her temples were damp.
While Ji Yuezhi was still wondering about the severity of her injury, on the other side, Jiang Hong had already found out exactly what tests Zuo Luohuan had undergone and what medicine she had received, and had rushed to the Zuo residence to confront her.
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