SCOM - Chapter 50
Chapter 50
“After breakfast, we should head back to school.” Zuo Luohuan placed the breakfast on the table. Her feet shifted slightly, habitually wanting to go and lead him over, but she restrained herself.
It had only been a few days, yet it had already become a habit.
Zuo Luohuan’s hand, which had been about to reach out for him, was instead clasped behind her back.
Ji Yuezhi was waiting for the Alpha to come and take his hand, but she never did. After a moment, he remembered that their temporary mark was gone.
Each lost in their own thoughts, they finished their breakfast in silence.
Because the time it took for a temporary mark to fade was uncertain, Ji Xixiu hadn't sent anyone to pick them up. Zuo Luohuan drove, taking Ji Yuezhi back to school with her.
It was raining outside. As soon as the car stopped at the school gate, Zuo Luohuan told Ji Yuezhi to wait, then unbuckled her seatbelt, opened the door, and went to the trunk to get two black umbrellas.
“Go on in.” Zuo Luohuan opened one umbrella, then opened the car door on Ji Yuezhi’s side. After he got out, she handed the umbrella to him.
Ji Yuezhi glanced down at the other umbrella in her hand before turning to leave.
“Wait.” Zuo Luohuan suddenly grabbed Ji Yuezhi’s arm. When he turned around, she said in a low, serious voice, “About the temporary mark… I’m sorry.”
Before temporarily marking him in the infirmary, Zuo Luohuan had said she would apologize to him once he was lucid.
She just hadn't expected that the person in a state of heat at the time hadn't heard her words clearly at all.
Hearing Zuo Luohuan’s words now, a chill ran through Ji Yuezhi’s blood. A sense of gloom settled in his heart, and it took him a moment to speak. “It was just a temporary mark. There’s no need to apologize.”
It was just a temporary mark…
Hearing Ji Yuezhi say this, Zuo Luohuan couldn't help but feel a sense of ‘of course,’ while simultaneously suppressing the other emotions that were beginning to sprout in her heart.
The rain grew heavier, pounding on the black surface of the umbrella before slowly sliding off and dripping onto the ground.
“The rain is heavy. You should go inside.” Zuo Luohuan took the initiative to step out from under his umbrella. Without opening the other one, she quickly walked around the front of the car and got back into the driver’s seat.
Ji Yuezhi pressed his lips together and turned away, his fingers gripping the black umbrella handle so tightly that he felt he might lose his strength.
Zuo Luohuan watched him walk through the school gates before driving to the underground parking garage.
For the past few days, the entire capital had been under lockdown. Following various leads, authorities had arrested quite a few people.
The Gashiro’s sneak attack on the First Military Academy could be described as a complete failure. One could only wonder if the Gashiro who came up with this plan would die of anger.
“This just goes to show that plans can never keep up with changes. Who would have known that An Yingjing wouldn't be sleeping in the middle of the night?” The moment Jiang Hong saw Zuo Luohuan, he grabbed her and started chattering away. “If they had actually managed to attack An Yingjing, the Gashiro’s plan would have been half successful.”
Zuo Luohuan toyed with the soft blade in her hand and said casually, “If the Gashiro had infiltrated the cafeteria, their plan wouldn't have failed.”
“The cafeteria?” Jiang Hong thought for a moment. “We all eat in the cafeteria. If they had poisoned the food, we’d all be done for.”
Zuo Luohuan put away the soft blade. “That’s why the cafeteria was the one place they didn't manage to infiltrate.”
The inspection procedures for the cafeteria were numerous, with a level of strictness comparable to the Scavenger Army’s standards. They adhered to the principle of thoroughly investigating any abnormality.
“Speaking of which, why haven’t you and Captain Ji been at school these past few days?” Jiang Hong suddenly asked.
He had initially thought Zuo Luohuan and Ji Yuezhi were taken by the school to report the situation to the Military Committee, but the Jiang family’s information network had received no related news. Jiang Hong hadn't specifically looked into it, as Zuo Luohuan disliked him prying into her whereabouts for no reason.
“I had some things to take care of.”
“You and Captain Ji had things to take care of together?”
Zuo Luohuan shot him a glance and asked coolly, “What’s it to you?”
“Nothing!” Jiang Hong immediately raised his hands and changed the subject. “The second stage of the military exercise has been postponed to next Thursday. The day after tomorrow, the school will hold a funeral for the cadets who were sacrificed.”
During the days Zuo Luohuan was away from school, the students from other academies, especially An Yingjing, had received condolences from various parties in the capital. He had received so many nutritional supplements that his hands were tired, though Luo Shaoyuan from the Northern Military Academy had managed to fleece him of a good portion.
Her reason was that she was the first to rush over and save An Yingjing, and had even been injured in the process.
“Basically everyone on our team has gone to see him these past few days,” Jiang Hong said, looking at Zuo Luohuan. “Only you and the Captain haven’t gone.”
“He didn’t die, did he?” She hadn’t paid attention to An Yingjing’s condition that night, but Qian Mao had mentioned it.
“He didn’t die, but the incident did happen at our First Military Academy,” Jiang Hong said. “Out of courtesy, we should still go see him.”
Ji Yuezhi would probably go see An Yingjing in the afternoon. Zuo Luohuan stood up. “I’ll go tonight.”
In fact, when Zuo Luohuan went to visit An Yingjing at seven that evening, Ji Yuezhi hadn't come.
As soon as she entered, she saw An Yingjing sitting on the bed eating. At first glance, he didn't look gaunt at all; in fact, his face seemed rounder.
“Hey, you’re here.” An Yingjing looked up and saw the empty-handed Zuo Luohuan, his tone dripping with sarcasm. “Why didn’t you bring a gift?”
With the exception of Ji Yuezhi, Zuo Luohuan’s feelings toward Omegas were less substantial than a rock blocking the road. She pulled over a nearby chair and sat down, saying nonchalantly, “A gift? Who’s that? I don’t know anyone by that name.”
“You…” An Yingjing’s mouth twitched. He snatched a basket of fruit back from Luo Shaoyuan’s hands. “Why haven’t I seen your captain?”
Tsk, tsk, the two of them disappeared for so many days. He had never seen a temporary mark have such a strong effect. Anyone who didn't know better would think they were mating, going through a heat cycle.
Luo Shaoyuan wiped an apple on her clothes, took a large bite, and asked Zuo Luohuan, “Is Ji Yuezhi back? I still haven’t thanked him for what happened that night.”
“Can’t you just send a message?” Zuo Luohuan said coldly. “Do you have to thank him in person? I don’t recall you being so polite before.”
A piece of apple got stuck in Luo Shaoyuan’s throat. It took her a while to recover before she regained her senses. “Zuo Luohuan, are you on something? I just want to thank Ji Yuezhi. What are you snapping at me for?”
Zuo Luohuan stared at her expressionlessly, her fingers twitching. She really wanted to fight the Alpha across from her.
As someone who had figured out most of the truth, An Yingjing pulled Luo Shaoyuan back and stuffed a bunch of grapes into her hand. Alphas and their damn habits. Just a temporary mark on an Omega, and they get all possessive.
Zuo Luohuan had come to make a perfunctory appearance, and with that done, she stood up to leave.
Luo Shaoyuan couldn’t hold back and continued to curse behind her, the gist of it being that she would get her revenge in the second round.
“The person who wiped out your entire Northern Military Academy team in the first round is sitting right next to you,” Zuo Luohuan said, turning her head with a smile as a kind reminder.
Luo Shaoyuan froze instantly. She looked at the half-eaten bunch of grapes in her hand, then turned to look at An Yingjing on the bed. Suddenly, she found it hard to swallow.
An Yingjing: “…”
The moment she walked out of his room, all expression vanished from Zuo Luohuan’s face. When no one was around, this was her true self.
But as Zuo Luohuan descended a flight of stairs and encountered Ji Yuezhi coming up, her expression clearly faltered.
The lights above the staircase were on, and the orderly footsteps of the patrol team could occasionally be heard from outside. Zuo Luohuan stood on the last step at the top of the landing, while Ji Yuezhi was on the highest step just below it. Both turned their faces to look at each other.
“Here to see An Yingjing,” Zuo Luohuan said, taking the initiative to walk down and ask.
“Yes.” Ji Yuezhi walked up, and they stood on the same landing.
He had returned to his usual cool and aloof demeanor, but Zuo Luohuan remembered the Ji Yuezhi of the past few days, who had looked at her obediently with moist, beautiful eyes.
After replying, Ji Yuezhi was about to move past Zuo Luohuan, but she reached out and blocked him. He looked up at her quietly.
Zuo Luohuan had only extended her hand subconsciously. By the time she came to her senses after stopping him, it was too late. She randomly found something to say: “Captain, don’t lose in next week’s exercise.”
“You’re on our team too,” Ji Yuezhi said, his brow slightly furrowed.
Zuo Luohuan withdrew her hand and smiled nonchalantly, reverting to her usual state. “…Right, you’re correct.”
They had nothing more to say and parted ways. Ji Yuezhi, however, was quite satisfied. He had managed to see her before she left.
The temporary mark had just disappeared, and he had spent the entire day without the comfort of an Alpha’s pheromones. It wasn't pleasant. Knowing that Zuo Luohuan would choose to come at night, he had deliberately chosen this time to visit An Yingjing.
He had already done so much; what was one more calculation?
The school funeral arrived as scheduled. Everyone stood solemnly in their neat military uniforms, listening to the principal deliver the eulogy.
From the day they entered the military academy, they knew that a day of sacrifice might come for them. They just never expected it to come so soon.
The three cadets had fought against the Gashiro until their deaths.
The Omega cadet who had survived, pulled back from the brink of death, stood at the very front, her eyes red, shedding silent tears.
The images from that night were still deeply etched in her mind, replaying in her dreams, never forgotten.
From discovering the anomaly, to her senior holding back the Gashiro so she could go for help, the wind whistling past her ears, she had only one thought in her mind: Inside the Alpha building were Zuo Luohuan and many other powerful people. If she could just press the alarm, she would succeed. But she didn't make it in time. She had only reached the front of the Alpha building when the pursuing Gashiro caught her and dragged her into the bushes. She could only do her best to release a massive amount of her pheromones, hoping an Alpha would notice something was wrong. Under normal circumstances, releasing such a large amount of pheromones from her glands in a short time brought immense pain.
Yet, all that pain was nothing compared to the agony of the Gashiro’s scimitar cutting her neck from behind. She struggled desperately. The survival techniques her senior had taught her surfaced clearly in her mind at that moment, and she used them.
She had waited until an Alpha noticed the anomaly, and she had waited for rescue. But her senior had waited for nothing. Before she died, she didn't even know if she had successfully pressed the alarm.
The Omega cadet lost control of her emotions, swaying precariously at the front.
Ji Yuezhi, who had been watching from behind, stepped forward and supported her. “Can you hold on?”
The Omega cadet turned to look at Ji Yuezhi. It was the Head of their Disciplinary Committee, who had commanded the southern cadets to rendezvous with the northern ones that night, and then went to rescue the students from other schools.
“Senior Ji…” the Omega cadet asked in a daze, “What was my senior thinking before she died?”
“I don’t know, but the people of the First Military Academy are not just sharp blades that pierce the enemy, but also thick shields that protect their comrades,” Ji Yuezhi said calmly. “You are still alive, and you successfully alerted others. That is the best tribute to her.”
The Omega cadet finally broke down and cried. “It’s because I was useless. I couldn’t stop that Gashiro.”
“You’re just a freshman.” Ji Yuezhi handed her a tissue.
No one was surprised by the Omega cadet’s crying. For anyone who had their throat cut and watched the senior protecting them die, it was a miracle she had held on for this long.
ahh the emotions😥, I'm tearing up
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