SCOM - Chapter 31
Chapter 31
The map consisted of several parts: a dense forest, a river, and the mountain they had just passed. The mountain path was roughly marked, so Ji Yuezhi could see where ambushes had been set up.
As for the destination village, the map only marked its name and a rough direction. When they came down from the mountain path, they saw a signpost pointing toward the destination village. The direction matched the map. After walking for so long, upon seeing an inhabited village, everyone naturally and subconsciously assumed they had reached the end.
Ji Yuezhi had a strange feeling ever since he entered, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it until an idea flashed through his mind: although the map pointed in this direction, it never specified the distance. What if this wasn't the real destination village?
Only then did he finally connect all the details.
The village had too many people. A normal farming village wouldn't need much manpower; a few machines could handle it. But this place was bustling with activity everywhere. Secondly, the houses he saw were too clean. There were no traces around the corners of the walls or the doorways, as if no one had ever gone inside. The capital is rainy in October. A village with fields would inevitably have some traces of mud. These people seemed more like they had appeared out of thin air and were only now active in the village.
The most crucial point was that if you looked closely at the crops in the fields along the way, you would notice they lacked vitality. It wasn't due to pests, nor were they withered and yellow. Combined with his other deductions, the only explanation was that they had been temporarily transplanted here.
At that moment, all the people in the village had surrounded them. Some were hunchbacked old men with white hair, whose legs trembled as they walked, but now their backs weren't hunched, their legs weren't shaking, and they had pulled out clubs from somewhere, swinging them with vigor.
The group, being gradually surrounded: "..."
"These people..." Jiang Hong swallowed hard. "They must be third or fourth-years."
"Oh, you figured it out, junior?" The closest 'old man' with white hair twirled a club in his hands and said with a grin, "The instructors said we get one point for every time we hit you with a club. I even brought two clubs!"
The instructors had actually issued a mission at the school. Jiang Hong's vision went dark. To get the Fierce Shield badge, this bunch of brutes would risk their lives to complete a mission. He could already imagine the scene of them being chased and beaten.
"If you hadn't tried to find the flag and just bypassed this place, we wouldn't have gotten any points." The white-haired old man ripped off his wig, smiling at Ding Wuming. "You're a freshman, right? This senior sister has to thank you little juniors for giving us this opportunity."
Ding Wuming's face turned ugly. He even forgot the pain in his thigh, subconsciously looking at his teammates with guilt.
"Instructors?" Guan Xue suddenly shouted, looking behind them as if she had seen Jia Hailan and the others.
Some of the third and fourth-year military students who had surrounded them fell for it and turned to look back.
"Go!" Zuo Luohuan made a split-second decision and whispered to the others.
She and Ji Yuezhi cleared a path in front. Yan Yan immediately hoisted Ding Wuming onto his shoulder and followed closely with Qian Mao. Guan Xue and Jiang Hong covered the rear.
Many of the third and fourth-year military students were old hands and hadn't been fooled at all. They swung their clubs at them. After all, when they accepted the mission, the instructors had said it was fine as long as they didn't kill them.
"Senior Sister, can you go a little easier?" Guan Xue negotiated while dodging. "Hitting so hard is tiring. You get points just for a hit anyway. If you save your strength, you can hit us more times."
"What you said makes a lot of sense," the senior sister said after some thought. "But hitting like this is very satisfying."
Guan Xue: "..." Screw you!
The group had already been on the move for a day and a night. Compared to this group of well-rested brutes, they were in a truly pathetic state.
"Yan Yan, put me down. You guys go on ahead," Ding Wuming said, feeling terrible. He never imagined this would be a fake village.
Zuo Luohuan dodged two swinging clubs and turned to give them an idea, "Actually, no need to put him down. Yan Yan can carry you and use you to block some of the clubs. You can't walk anyway, so taking a few more hits is no big deal."
"Junior, you're... so heartless!" A senior who had caught up to hit them heard this and couldn't help but feel a trace of pity for Ding Wuming.
Zuo Luohuan ignored him and glanced sideways at Ji Yuezhi. "You take them and get out of here."
"You're staying behind?" Ji Yuezhi asked, blocking a swinging club with his arm.
Zuo Luohuan moved behind Qian Mao and said nonchalantly, "It's rare to run into so many seniors at once. It's a good opportunity to spar."
"Junior, you still have the mind to talk?" a nearby senior reminded her upon hearing this. "For you to take on so many of us alone is a bit fanciful."
More and more people were catching up from behind, about to surround them again. The most crucial thing was that they were all students from the same military academy; they couldn't bring themselves to use lethal force on each other.
Ji Yuezhi gave Zuo Luohuan a deep look, then finally grabbed Qian Mao's arm and continued running forward with him. Yan Yan gritted his teeth and followed. Only Zuo Luohuan remained behind to block the others.
As for Guan Xue and Jiang Hong, they had been swallowed by the crowd, unable to move. They could only crouch down and protect their heads while being beaten by the senior students.
Zuo Luohuan kicked a person beside her unconscious, snatched the long club from his hand, drew a line on the ground, and held the club horizontally in front of the pursuing crowd. "This side of the line is where you belong."
"Such big words, junior. Let's see you try."
They swarmed forward, intending to use their numbers to bully her and leave her no room to retaliate, but they had underestimated her agility. After they closed in, their clubs ended up getting tangled and were difficult to use because Zuo Luohuan moved too quickly.
However, in the chaos of clubs, someone was bound to land a hit.
"Senior." Zuo Luohuan was struck on the back by a club. She turned, grabbed the club with her hand, and said coldly, "You hit my wound."
If her military uniform jacket wasn't black, everyone would have seen a large patch of blood seeping through the back near her shoulder.
Zuo Luohuan glanced in the direction Ji Yuezhi had left. He was no longer in sight. She tilted her head, and her pheromones instantly erupted in the center of this empty, fake village.
Before anyone could react, the piercingly cold ice and snow pheromones pressed down on them, making even breathing a burden.
Among the third and fourth-year military students who had come, there was no shortage of S-class Alphas, but at this moment, they were no better off than the others, just as pathetic. Some Alphas who couldn't resist had already bent their knees and knelt.
Inside the tent, Kang Guang was stunned. Of course, he couldn't smell the pheromones from so far away, but from the reactions of the others on the surveillance video, he could figure out the reason.
"I've long heard that Zuo Luohuan's pheromones are formidable, but to think they've reached this level?" Kang Guang narrowed his eyes, a flash of interest in them. "Why has she been hiding it all this time, rarely releasing them?"
"She has already released them voluntarily twice this month," He Yue stated matter-of-factly. "Last time in the training arena, and this time. That doesn't count as hiding."
"True." Kang Guang touched the scar on his lip, lost in thought. "But I'd always heard she rarely released her pheromones before."
"Using pheromones at this time is indeed the most labor-saving method," Jia Hailan said. "Ji Yuezhi is already on the path to the real destination village. He should arrive in about an hour."
After the fake village, there were no more checkpoints.
"I think Zuo Luohuan's group will catch up soon," Bai Feng said, watching the students on the surveillance video. "Their performance in this training camp hasn't been that bad."
"The training time was too short," He Yue said. "I hope no major problems arise during the military academy's joint exercise."
Because Zuo Luohuan had suddenly released her pheromones, this group of people was caught off guard and severely suppressed. Guan Xue and Jiang Hong managed to get a chance to help each other up. Although they had protected their heads, their faces were still swollen, with blood at their noses and the corners of their mouths.
Not everyone was immobilized, but Zuo Luohuan walked over to Jiang Hong and Guan Xue and personally led them away.
【All units, cease pursuit.】
Just as some military students tried to chase after them, Jia Hailan pressed the communication button, and that sentence sounded in the earpieces of all the third and fourth-year students.
The training was nearing its end, and the instructors had a general idea of the seven individuals' performance within the team. There was no need to continue this siege.
"What rotten luck," Guan Xue said, wiping her badly swollen face. "What are the instructors thinking, setting up a fake destination?"
Jiang Hong walked with a limp. "Covering the rear is too difficult. A few more times like this, and I might not survive the semester."
Their heads were still buzzing, and they didn't notice that as soon as they were far from the fake village, Zuo Luohuan's pheromones instantly retracted. If not for the faint scent lingering on her clothes, they would have hardly realized that just a few minutes ago, she had released such potent pheromones.
"Will there be any more checkpoints ahead?" After a while, the two had recovered a bit. Guan Xue, her face swollen, asked Zuo Luohuan beside her indistinctly.
Zuo Luohuan rotated her wrist, glanced at the two of them struggling to catch their breath, and said faintly, "The time for this training session is almost up." It would be meaningless for the instructors to arrange anything else.
Because Guan Xue and Jiang Hong were walking with difficulty, the three of them hadn't yet reached the destination village when Ji Yuezhi's group had already arrived at the real flag platform and pulled down the flag.
"Is that them?!" Guan Xue saw a flyer in mid-air stop in front of them and became excited.
Sure enough, a moment later, the flyer's door opened from the inside, and Qian Mao came out, waving at them. "Over here, it's time for us to go back."
The seven of them regrouped. After Ji Yuezhi reached the destination and pulled the flag, a military flyer was waiting to take them back to the front of the dense forest, to prepare to return to the military academy.
"This is my first time on a flyer." As soon as Guan Xue got in, she started touching everything, practically drooling. Paired with her swollen face, it was a sight that was... hard to look at.
"After graduation, when you go to an army group, you can ride them until you puke." Jiang Hong's whole body ached, but he was still full of spirit when talking about inside information. "I heard everyone has to train to fly them every day. Some people have a fear of flying and can't get into the elite units."
Only the Federation's army groups possessed various types of flyers. Occasionally, the military academy could requisition a few, but they were basically nonexistent elsewhere.
All seven of them were injured. The arrow in Ding Wuming's leg had been removed, and a doctor on the flyer was treating his wound, occasionally letting out a few pained groans.
Ji Yuezhi leaned back in his seat with Zuo Luohuan sitting beside him. He could always smell the faint, familiar Alpha pheromones in the air. As time went on, the gland on the back of his neck grew increasingly sore and swollen.
He lowered his gaze to his hands, then stood up after a long moment to leave. Zuo Luohuan's long legs took up almost all the space in front of her.
Noticing Ji Yuezhi's movement, Zuo Luohuan looked up at him and shifted her legs to the side.
"Thanks."
Ji Yuezhi walked out quickly, but his calf still inevitably brushed against Zuo Luohuan's knee. Though it was only for an instant, the two thin layers of fabric couldn't prevent someone paying close attention from noticing the momentary touch.
For a second, he almost lost his footing, steadying himself by holding onto the back of the seat in front before managing to walk away normally.
Ji Yuezhi went to the doctor at the front, spoke a few quiet words, and a nurse beside him turned to get a packet of something for him.
Zuo Luohuan was tall, and her view was completely unobstructed by the seatback in front of her. She clearly saw what was in that packet.
Inhibitors specifically for Omegas.
She was stunned for a moment, then remembered the residual Alpha pheromones that might be on her. On the night of her coming-of-age ceremony, he had detected just a tiny amount of pheromones in her blood, let alone the massive amount she had released this time.
When mentally exhausted or injured, both Alphas and Omegas are extremely susceptible to the influence of pheromones.
Zuo Luohuan stood up and walked to the last row. "Guan Xue, let's switch seats."
After Ji Yuezhi finished taking the inhibitor at the front, what he saw was Zuo Luohuan's departing back. His fingertips tensed.
...She doesn't want to sit with me?
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