SCOM - Chapter 26
Chapter 26
The low, laughing voice drifted into his ears with the early autumn breeze, like a small hook gently scratching his heart.
Ji Yuezhi stood with his back to Zuo Luohuan, his eyelashes instinctively fluttering. His fingertips curled into his palm as he pulled away, putting distance between them. Only then did he speak: "They left."
"You should get some rest too." Zuo Luohuan tapped her optical computer, indicating it was getting late. "See you tomorrow."
Ji Yuezhi wanted to respond, but before he could speak, Zuo Luohuan had already turned decisively, leaving only her back for him to see.
Always like this. For so many years, he could only watch her back, as if the distance between them could never be closed.
Ji Yuezhi lowered his eyes, turned around, his fringe falling across his forehead. He should be content; now she would say 'see you tomorrow' to him.
...
On Monday morning, the school officially released the list for the Federal Military Academy Drill: Zuo Luohuan, Ji Yuezhi, Jiang Hong, Guan Xue, Qian Mao, Yan Yan, Ding Wuming.
Five second-year students, two first-year freshmen.
Along with the list came the training schedule. The instructors hadn't rested much overnight, quickly arranging the schedule and sending it to the seven, informing them of evening and weekend joint training sessions.
Zuo Luohuan woke up, opened her optical computer, and saw the densely packed training schedule. Fortunately, the training only lasted about half a month until the military drill began.
She closed the optical computer, opened her wardrobe, stood there looking for a long time, then turned to pick up the jacket she had washed the night before. The new jacket was indeed the exact same size as the old one.
But trading old for new... felt like she had taken advantage.
Today, Zuo Luohuan only had one interest course, held in the Warship Department building, not much of a burden. However, training started at 7:30 PM.
The first day's training was a pheromone confrontation lesson. Since it didn't involve physical activity, Qian Mao, still recovering, was literally carried over for training.
When the others arrived, they saw Qian Mao lying half-dead on a gurney, hooked up to an IV drip.
"Bro, stay strong!" Jiang Hong patted Qian Mao's shoulder, giving him a thumbs-up in praise.
Qian Mao: "..." He didn't want to be strong; he just wanted to die.
"Good evening. Today's class has no technical content, just stay indoors for two hours." Only Instructor Bai Feng was present. He looked at the seven students. "Alphas, Omegas, form two teams."
Guan Xue raised her hand. "Instructor, what about Betas?"
Bai Feng pondered for a moment. "Betas, it's up to you. You can join the Omega team or the Alpha team."
"So casual?" Guan Xue felt discriminated against.
Bai Feng suddenly tilted his head, as if someone was speaking to him remotely. A minute later, he changed his mind. "Betas form a separate team. Three teams in total."
The Alphas were the most numerous: Zuo Luohuan, Jiang Hong, Yan Yan, and Ding Wuming. Ji Yuezhi and Qian Mao were the Omegas, leaving Guan Xue as the lone Beta.
They formed three teams and entered three separate rooms. The rooms were empty, containing nothing but several ventilation ducts.
Jiang Hong sat down on the floor as soon as he entered, looking up at Zuo Luohuan. "Are they going to release pheromones later? Honestly, this probably won't affect you much."
Zuo Luohuan also sat down. "Probably."
The four Alphas sat against the walls. Soon, Omega pheromones began flooding from the vents, filled with alluring temptation.
"S-rank Omega pheromones." Jiang Hong sniffed, looking at Yan Yan opposite, whose face was already flushed. "Hey, newbie, haven't you done this kind of anti-pheromone training before?"
Yan Yan covered his nose, his voice muffled. "No."
He wasn't adapting well to such high concentrations of Omega pheromones, struggling against his instincts. Ding Wuming beside him was only slightly better off.
"You can focus your mind elsewhere, try thinking about other things," Jiang Hong kindly advised.
Nearby, Zuo Luohuan sat with her eyes closed, silent. She always performed well in anti-pheromone training, but she never liked having someone else's pheromones invade her personal space.
Whether Alpha or Omega, their pheromones were... unpleasant.
In the other room releasing Alpha pheromones, Qian Mao lay there while Ji Yuezhi stood in a corner.
"Uh, Classmate Ji..." Qian Mao struggled to lift his head. "Could you, could you pull my gurney further away? This vent is right in my face, it's, it's uncomfortable!"
A patient, still running a fever, subjected to this horrifying torture. Simply terrifying!
Qian Mao couldn't help shedding tears of sorrow inwardly.
Ji Yuezhi stepped forward, pulled him to the center of the room, then returned to his corner. This spot was mostly a blind spot for the surveillance camera, only capturing his lower body.
Alpha pheromones always carried violent oppression, completely unreasonable. For Omegas, they were a potent aphrodisiac, causing weakness in the legs and body heat.
The Alpha pheromones released in the room smelled of dry wood, thick and persistent, becoming pungent over time.
Qian Mao lay on the gurney, whimpering lifelessly, "Help! Help! I feel like I'm going into heat, sob sob sob."
"Have we met before?" Ji Yuezhi suddenly asked.
Qian Mao choked as if strangled. "N-No, right?"
"You were the one throwing flyers at the school gate on the first day," Ji Yuezhi recalled.
Qian Mao: "...Haha, Classmate Ji, you have such a good memory!"
They had to endure two hours in a room filled with high-concentration pheromones. No matter what, it wouldn't be pleasant. Except for Guan Xue, alone in her room. Her room released both Alpha and Omega pheromones simultaneously, but her situation was much better; she basically felt nothing.
Ji Yuezhi disliked the pheromones in the room, not because he couldn't resist them – he even felt this level wasn't enough to truly tempt him – but simply because he disliked them.
He slowly buried his face in the collar of his jacket, sniffing the faint residual pheromones.
Last night, after discovering bloodstains on the jacket, he had washed it. After drying, not much pheromone remained, barely detectable unless held close.
As for the tear on the sleeve, he had the clothing department staff mend it when buying the new uniform yesterday; the repair was almost invisible.
This morning, after seeing the training schedule, he had temporarily switched into her jacket.
The faint, light pheromones made Ji Yuezhi feel as if enveloped in vast ice and snow. He didn't feel cold, only joy.
This was her pheromone.
Ji Yuezhi leaned against the corner, buried in the jacket collar, gently rubbing his face against it. The corners of his eyes gradually reddened. Not enough, he wanted more pheromones.
The faint pheromones were like the song of a siren in the deep sea, reminding Ji Yuezhi over and over, a secret temptation quietly born in his heart, stirring the deepest desires.
Ji Yuezhi pursed his lips, blinked his beautiful, misty eyes, reached out a hand, and pressed it against the wall.
—She was in the room next door.
In the next room, Zuo Luohuan, sitting against the wall, seemed to sense something. She turned her head sideways towards the wall behind her. Just as she was about to reach out and touch it, someone suddenly shouted.
"Hey, newbie, take it easy!" Jiang Hong flipped up, restraining Yan Yan's hands. "Hurting yourself too?"
This newbie was interesting. Probably his first time encountering such high-concentration, high-level Omega pheromones, unable to control his impulses, he actually started self-harming.
"Not much longer, twenty minutes left. Endure it," Jiang Hong restrained Yan Yan. "Don't let the pheromones control you."
Yan Yan's own pheromones had already leaked out, filling the room. He gritted his teeth, eyes red. "This place is too strange!"
"Just need more training," Jiang Hong said. Honestly, he was very uncomfortable too. The pheromone concentration in the room was too high. Not everyone was a freak like Zuo Luohuan, showing no reaction at all.
The closer it got to the end, the harder it became. Finally, Yan Yan knocked himself out against the wall.
"Ding Wuming, right? I remember you're also from the Disciplinary Committee." Jiang Hong spared a glance towards the other freshman. "Good endurance."
"This pheromone isn't that tempting for me," Ding Wuming said with a smile.
Finally, after the last twenty minutes passed, Bai Feng's voice sounded in all three rooms: [Two hours are up. Pheromone release has stopped. You may come out in ten minutes.]
The room's circulation system kicked in, quickly absorbing and clearing the pheromones, leaving only the occasional uncontrolled leakage from the occupants.
Ten minutes later, all three room doors opened.
"Newbie, wake up." Jiang Hong patted Yan Yan's face. "We should go out."
"Tell him to retract his pheromones before going out," Zuo Luohuan threw out the instruction and left the room.
As she came out, she bumped into Ji Yuezhi emerging from the room next door. He was still pushing Qian Mao.
"I'll push." Zuo Luohuan took over, looked down at Qian Mao's flushed face, still whimpering and struggling, and clicked her tongue. "So ugly."
Qian Mao: "???"
Hello? Verbally attacking a weak, injured Omega like him?
Seeing Qian Mao's indignant yet helpless expression, Zuo Luohuan's earlier displeasure from the unpleasant pheromones eased. Her gaze inadvertently swept past Ji Yuezhi beside her, her hand pushing the gurney pausing slightly: His... eye corners were slightly red.
Just because of the unfamiliar Alpha pheromones inside?
The curve of Zuo Luohuan's lips unknowingly disappeared. She silently pushed Qian Mao to stand before Instructor Bai Feng.
Ji Yuezhi gradually fell behind. Looking up at Zuo Luohuan's back, just induced by the opponent's pheromones, now being so close to her again, even his fingers felt weak.
Fortunately, everyone was in poor condition, barely concealing his abnormality.
"The two-hour pheromone confrontation lesson ends here." Bai Feng scanned the students lined up before him. "A few performed poorly. Next week, if it's like this again, I'll add penalty time. Alright, that's it. Dismissed for now. Remember to be on time for class tomorrow night."
Zuo Luohuan was the first to walk straight out, leaving everyone behind.
Jiang Hong commented from behind, "Every time she's covered in pheromones, her temper isn't great. Don't contact her tonight if you don't need to."
"Senior, we don't have Senior Sister Zuo's contact number yet," Ding Wuming said, supporting Yan Yan.
"Just a heads-up. This situation will definitely happen again in the future," Jiang Hong said seriously.
Ji Yuezhi walked slowly but had already exited the main door, not chatting with the others.
"Isn't that..." Guan Xue, who had almost fallen asleep in the room earlier, pushed Qian Mao, rubbed her eyes, happened to see Ji Yuezhi's disappearing back, suspecting she saw wrong.
Why did Ji Yuezhi's jacket back still have that small, water-drop-shaped burn mark?
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