SCOM - Chapter 44
Chapter 44
The south side students, remembering Qian Mao's instructions, retrieved light guns from the Weapons Development Department's room 404. Students from that department quickly assembled the parts, and a large group headed north to rendezvous. On the way, they encountered Gashro agents. Judging by their numbers, the agents clearly intended a midnight massacre of the southern students. However, this time, the Federal First Military Academy students were prepared. Armed with regular guns and a few light guns, they had the advantage and surprisingly made it through without much resistance.
The north side hadn't fallen into chaos either. The Alpha dormitory building's alarm had been the first to sound. With Jiang Hong and others taking charge, they'd already dispatched several groups to patrol and sweep through the north side, leaving no corner unchecked.
Finally, the Federal First Military Academy students successfully converged in the large plaza at the north-south junction.
"Is everyone here?" Jiang Hong went to the broadcasting station and instructed Yan Yan to take a headcount. After organizing the count by class and accounting for those who had left campus, Yan Yan discovered nearly three hundred students were missing.
"They went to the base station," someone in the crowd raised their hand. "They're from the Starship Department, specializing in information and communications. They said the signal near the school is blocked, so there must be a problem with the school's base station. They went to fix it."
Yan Yan glanced over and realized the missing students were all from the south side. They were unaware that Jiang Hong had already sent people there.
"Are all three hundred missing students senior Starship Department students?" Yan Yan asked.
"No, only about ten are. More than half of the others are from the Disciplinary Committee."
The Disciplinary Committee... That must be Classmate Ji's group. Yan Yan nodded and led his group to patrol around the plaza. He didn't pursue the three hundred missing students. Right now, they needed to focus on their own duties and trust the others.
After regrouping, the Federal First Military Academy students quickly realized something: no Gashro agents were coming from the north, only from the south.
Initially, they suspected it was a Gashro ploy to lull them into a false sense of security. But then Yan Yan recalled the emergency notification he'd received from Zuo Luohuan and the Alpha dormitory alarm. He belatedly realized that Zuo Luohuan had intercepted all the Gashro agents in the north.
Now, they just needed to hold out until the signal was restored and they could contact the instructors, or until Zuo Luohuan and Ji Yuezhi arrived.
…
Yan Yan's assumption was correct. Zuo Luohuan had single-handedly stopped all the Gashro agents in the north. The Gashro Empire was determined to eliminate the most elite students from the four military academies' two graduating classes. Zuo Luohuan even suspected that the near-fatal attack on the Omega, allowing him to release his pheromones as a warning, was also orchestrated by the Gashro agents.
Numerous agents, each highly skilled and employing lethal tactics, surrounded and attacked Zuo Luohuan.
Fighting back while retreating, Zuo Luohuan ran towards a building, stopping only when she reached the roof. After exchanging blows, she glanced down at a wound on her side and suddenly said, "I just got back from the war games. Haven't eaten or slept properly in ten days. I'm exhausted. So, right now… I'm really annoyed with you all."
The Gashro agents didn't quite understand her meaning. They simply continued their relentless assault with their curved blades.
Zuo Luohuan dodged a blade, removed a weighted wristband, and tossed it to the ground, creating a deep crater. Looking at the crater, she clicked her tongue. "What a waste."
She then removed the other wristband and hurled it at a Gashro agent. The agent instinctively swung his blade at the incoming object, only to have his blade snap in two with a clang. The wristband's strap broke, revealing a long, thin, black metal weight inside. It slammed into another agent, breaking his leg.
Unburdened by the weights, Zuo Luohuan's speed doubled. The Gashro agents were completely unprepared for the sudden surge in her power. They barely registered the flash of white light reflecting off her sleeves before losing consciousness. In just twenty minutes, she had eliminated them all.
Stepping over the bodies, Zuo Luohuan retrieved her wristbands and headed downstairs. Returning to the rooftop with a canister of alcohol, she piled the bodies together, doused them, and set them ablaze.
The rooftop erupted in a blinding light.
Holding her wristbands, Zuo Luohuan turned towards the area beyond the academy. Even without communication signals, the fire atop the tallest building in the Federal First Military Academy would be enough to alert those in the capital to the anomaly – assuming the Military Council hadn't been completely wiped out by the Gashro agents.
Casually descending the stairs, Zuo Luohuan passed a large cabinet in the hallway. She kicked open the bottom drawer, placed her wristbands inside, closed the cabinet, and returned to the stairwell, leaping down the railing.
After she left, the bottom of the drawer, seemingly unable to bear the weight, collapsed.
Zuo Luohuan continued north, drawing any Gashro agents she encountered to nearby rooftops and setting fires. After her first fire, Jiang Hong's boisterous voice boomed from the broadcast system, ensuring all remaining Gashro agents within the academy understood the origin of the rooftop fires.
Having cleared most of the northern section, Zuo Luohuan glanced towards the foreign student dormitory building, then turned and headed in that direction. I wonder how Ji Yuezhi is doing.
In reality, Ji Yuezhi hadn't engaged much in combat. Guan Xue, having fired her prized and only rocket, was furious that it hadn't achieved the desired effect. Carefully setting the rocket launcher aside, she gripped her gun, taking out a Gashro agent with each headshot.
"It's been over an hour. Has no one noticed something's wrong at the Federal First Military Academy?" An Yingjing, despite his pain, continued to talk to Ji Yuezhi.
Ji Yuezhi discreetly rubbed his scent gland, which, for some reason, felt swollen and warm.
An Yingjing surreptitiously glanced around. Luo Shaoyuan and Cha Lili had just descended the stairs and were standing far away on the first floor, likely avoiding his pheromones. He then turned back to see Ji Yuezhi touching the back of his neck.
Ignoring his own pain, An Yingjing leaned closer and winked at Ji Yuezhi. "Hey, what's up with you? I know higher-level Omegas are more sensitive to poppy pheromones, but you… do you have someone you like?" His pheromones would only induce a pleasant dream-like state in Alphas without a love interest. Omegas might find the scent appealing and feel momentarily dazed, but their scent glands wouldn't react.
Ji Yuezhi lowered his hand and gave An Yingjing a cold look. "Perhaps you should check on your teammates."
"Hey!" An Yingjing had more to say, but Ji Yuezhi's look made him forget everything. He could only call out as Ji Yuezhi walked away.
…
As Ji Yuezhi was finishing up, he was taken aback by Zuo Luohuan's sudden appearance. Seeing her dazed expression, his face turned icy. However, Zuo Luohuan's reaction wasn't as severe as last time. She recovered in less than a minute, covering her nose. "Such a strong scent. Is An Yingjing dead?"
Ji Yuezhi pursed his lips. "No."
Zuo Luohuan nodded absently. Sensing the other students were relatively calm, she studied Ji Yuezhi. "Are you injured?"
The scent gland on Ji Yuezhi's neck was now aching intensely, and his vision was blurring. He didn't even realize he was stumbling towards Zuo Luohuan. Even though An Yingjing's wounds were treated, the air was still thick with the scent of poppy. Perhaps it was Zuo Luohuan's sudden appearance, but he felt the icy scent around him growing stronger.
"I'll get some hemostatic gel," Zuo Luohuan said to Ji Yuezhi, glancing towards a nearby area.
She had a wound on her side, but given her pain tolerance, it wasn't an immediate concern. However, she remembered Ji Yuezhi's intense reaction to the faint scent of her blood from the night of his coming-of-age ceremony.
As Zuo Luohuan approached, Qian Mao was treating other students' injuries. "Do you have any hemostatic gel?"
Qian Mao looked up, relieved to see Zuo Luohuan, but then remembered something. "An Yingjing's pheromones are still here. Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. I won't have a second…" Zuo Luohuan abruptly turned towards Ji Yuezhi.
"Hemostatic gel." Qian Mao had found it and held it out to her.
"Give me inhibitors," Zuo Luohuan said, her expression devoid of emotion.
Qian Mao was confused. "Alpha inhibitors? We didn't bring many, and the foreign students used them all up."
"Omega inhibitors," Zuo Luohuan said, her voice strained.
"Didn't bring any. They're still in the infirmary," Qian Mao explained, startled by Zuo Luohuan's expression. "We came in a hurry. We didn't think we'd need Omega inhibitors."
Zuo Luohuan left Qian Mao with a curt instruction. "Continue bandaging them. I'm taking Ji Yuezhi to deal with something."
"Huh?" Qian Mao was bewildered.
Zuo Luohuan strode towards Ji Yuezhi, stopped in front of him, removed her ankle weights, tossed them aside, bent her knees slightly, and turned to him. "Get on."
Ji Yuezhi stared at Zuo Luohuan's back, dazed and confused.
"Ji Yuezhi," Zuo Luohuan said, her voice firm as she met his gaze. "Get on."
She could smell his pheromones, like a volcano on the verge of eruption.
Zuo Luohuan had a suspicion, but now wasn't the time to confirm it. She needed to get him to the infirmary.
Ji Yuezhi pressed his lips together, his scent gland throbbing painfully, his vision blurring. He didn't even register his own stumbling steps towards Zuo Luohuan.
With Ji Yuezhi on her back, Zuo Luohuan raced towards the nearest infirmary. Free from the ankle weights, she moved like a shadow.
Away from the other students, Ji Yuezhi's pheromones finally erupted like a long-dormant volcano.
Zuo Luohuan faltered. She smelled the familiar scent of iris, but far stronger than on the night of his coming-of-age ceremony – overwhelmingly sweet, almost cloying.
She kicked open the infirmary door, set him down, closed and locked the door, activated the air circulation system, and turned to search for Omega inhibitors. Suddenly, arms reached out from behind and embraced her.
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