Exiting Professor Zhang’s office, Tong Xiao and the other two buzzed with excitement, chattering endlessly about Admiral Pei Yao.
“I enrolled in the Military Academy because of Admiral Pei in the first place.”
“Me too!! He’s so handsome!! He makes me think all the Alphas at our Military Academy are that hot!”
“Exactly. If I can’t hook up with Admiral Pei, at least snag a top-tier Alpha from the same school!!”
Mu Chenxing: “……Get a grip, you guys are only 18!!”
“If I could hook up with Admiral Pei at 18, I’d drop out and get married right now.”
“Me too!!”
“As if anyone wouldn’t! He’s the youngest admiral in history!”
Mu Chenxing rolled his eyes: “Have you done this week’s homework? And you’re already thinking about guys!”
The three roommates:
“That’s no ordinary guy! That’s Admiral Pei!”
“Admiral Pei is the man among men!”
“He’s the guy who charged straight at the Iron Armored Beast Insect Mother single-handedly—how can you lump him in with other men!”
Mu Chenxing: “……”
Total defeat.
“Fine, fine, Admiral Pei is the best.”
Xia Weizhen hugged his arm: “Xingxing, you’ll come watch Admiral Pei with us then, right?”
Mu Chenxing sighed helplessly: “Yes, yes, yes. We’ll go, we’ll watch!”
Xia Weizhen beamed and announced to everyone: “Then we’ll go shopping together this weekend.”
Mu Chenxing blinked in confusion: “Shopping for what?”
Xia Weizhen took it for granted: “To buy some makeup, obviously. How can we meet an admiral without dressing up?”
Tao Xirui: “I don’t have any makeup either. I wanna buy some too!”
Tong Xiao frowned, though: “I heard the admiral doesn’t like Omegas wearing makeup. Let’s skip that and stock up on face masks to pamper our skin, maybe trim our hair too.”
Xia Weizhen: “Whoa, almost forgot. Then let’s all get haircuts this week.”
Tao Xirui: “Count me in!” He brushed his bangs. “My hair’s gotten long anyway.”
Mu Chenxing touched his own bangs, which hung over his eyes, about to speak when Xia Weizhen cut in: “Come with us, Xingxing. I’ll treat you to dinner tomorrow and cover your haircut.” He sounded a bit shy. “As a little thank-you.”
He meant the thing with Xu Zhicheng.
Tong Xiao: “Ooh, with a sugar daddy—don’t hold back, Xingxing. Xia Xia’s loaded!”
Tao Xirui lit up too: “I wanna eat the roast meat at Yongan Ji!”
Xia Weizhen waved generously: “Done!”
Tao Xirui and Tong Xiao cheered instantly.
Mu Chenxing blinked, accepting the kindness.
He’d checked his account—plenty of money left. At his daily spending in school, it could last another three to five months at least.
But he still hadn’t contacted any “family,” and he had no idea who in his contacts counted as “family.”
More importantly, none of his “family” had reached out to him.
In this limbo, he didn’t dare splurge. Freeloading was the way to go.
Gotta figure out how to make more cash too…
……
Saturday.
Once Xia Weizhen finished class, the four changed into casual clothes and headed out the school gates.
Mu Chenxing learned they had to scan their wristbands to exit.
Considering Omega physiques, plus all the cameras blanketing streets back in his old country, he figured it was for safety—easy to pinpoint locations in emergencies.
They crossed several major roads after leaving. Mu Chenxing was stunned.
Vehicles zipped through the air in staggered layers, while ground-level public transit resembled high-speed train cars. Occasionally, massive hovercars descended from the sky, ferrying passengers.
Pedestrians bustled about in all sorts of outfits, but most wore their Military Academy uniforms—made it feel like they were still on campus at first glance. Super safe vibe.
Mu Chenxing also spotted wall-mounted boxes every so often along the roadsides, stocked with tubes of some kind of potion.
The school had a few too, but he hadn’t thought much of it.
Seeing them everywhere now made him wonder.
This interstellar era doesn’t have addictive drugs or something going mainstream, right? Or drinks? But drinks wouldn’t blanket the streets like this—and I haven’t seen anyone use them.
He frowned slightly and probed indirectly: “Don’t those things expire?”
Tong Xiao: “Nope, street office folks update them regularly.”
Xia Weizhen: “How could they expire? A bad Suppressant could kill someone.”
Tao Xirui: “Still, these convenience boxes don’t get much use.”
Tong Xiao: “Of course not, but one time it saves you is worth it. Especially for Omegas—if one has an incident, every official in the district gets demoted from top to bottom.”
Tao Xirui: “True that.”
Suppressants, huh.
Mu Chenxing had learned a ton about gender stuff lately, especially the Susceptible Periods and Heat Periods that Alphas and Omegas both dealt with. Normal physiology, managed under community or district oversight—no big issues.
But if things went wrong or an accident hit, a quick-grab Suppressant was the best fix for a Pheromone flare-up.
From all these setups, Omega life seemed pretty secure. That day must’ve been a rare glitch.
Just wish the cops had been faster.
High-tech era and they still dragged their feet?
Lost in random thoughts, Mu Chenxing boarded a hovercar that descended with his roommates, heading straight for the famed Yongan Ji.
Xia Weizhen and Tao Xirui had been before, but even Tong Xiao hadn’t tried it.
Mu Chenxing asked curiously: “Xiaoxiao, why didn’t you go before?”
Tong Xiao shot him a look: “Unlike you, I’m not dazzled by hot guys. I just signed up for every elective trial at the start of term—couldn’t get away.”
Xia Weizhen added: “Yeah, that first month, he had classes from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day.”
Mu Chenxing: “……”
Terrifying humans like this.
After twenty-odd minutes of high-speed flight, they reached a district of towering skyscrapers linked by elevated walkways—like a massive interconnected mall.
The four twisted left and right, took elevators and bridges, finally arriving.
It looked no different from roadside spots, just varied colors and decor.
Mu Chenxing stayed quiet, playing tag-along.
Roommates sat, he sat. They ordered, he sipped tea. They asked his opinion, he shrugged—ingredients here were alien to him. Mountain hall shrimp? Nine-section worms? Ming sparrows? He’d never even heard of them, let alone tasted.
Since the original owner hadn’t hung with them much, the trio didn’t overthink it and ordered quickly.
While waiting, Tong Xiao asked Xia Weizhen: “That Xu Zhicheng hasn’t bugged you again, right?”
Xia Weizhen nodded: “Nope. But…”
He glanced at Mu Chenxing. “Heard he’s ramped up training lately, hitting the Gymnasium till midnight every night.”
Mu Chenxing got it: “Worried he’s gunning for a fight with me?”
Xia Weizhen nodded.
Mu Chenxing rolled up his sleeve, flexing his newly bulked-up biceps for him: “Let him come. I won’t lose points anyway, and if I get hurt, Professor Zhang’s got the good meds.”
The three roommates: “……”
Tong Xiao: “You’d actually fight—”
Someone approached with a plate: “Sorry to interrupt.”
The four looked over.
A tall guy with a square jaw smiled as he set down a plate of dim sum: “You ordered a lot, but you look new here, so I sent over a plate—don’t worry, it’s fresh off the line, we haven’t touched it.”
To prove it, he pointed at the serving robot. His eyes locked straight on Mu Chenxing. “See, the delivery bot’s still in sight.”
Mu Chenxing: “……”
Under his roommates’ mix of surprise and teasing stares, his hackles rose.
He furrowed his brow slightly, forcing politeness: “No thanks. Take it back.”
The square-jawed guy grinned wider: “Your voice is so nice… Fate brought us together. Dim sum’s cheap—call it making a friend.”
Leaning over the table, he stared right at Mu Chenxing: “I’m—”
“Sorry,” Mu Chenxing cut him off, feeling like something crawled over him, all prickly.
Face blank, he said: “You’re ruining our meal. Please leave.”
Faintly, he caught a scent—an unfamiliar, indescribable fragrance.
He didn’t notice Tong Xiao’s face darkening on his other side.
The square-jawed guy faltered, stepped back two paces, still smiling faintly: “I’m from Lianshang Meiye—”
“So?” Mu Chenxing felt a bit better physically, but pissed inside. He shoved back his chair and stood, glaring. “Take your dim sum and leave.”
Tong Xiao stood too, fuming: “Sir, whoever you are, using Pheromones to harass an Omega in public is rude.”
Mu Chenxing: “?”
That prickly feeling was his Pheromones?
The square-jawed guy glanced at Tong Xiao, then explained to Mu Chenxing: “Sorry, not on purpose. Your Alpha Pheromones attacked me first—that was just instinct.”
Before Mu Chenxing could reply, Tong Xiao yanked him behind him, glaring: “Don’t feed us that flimsy lie. Why would his Pheromones attack you if you hadn’t gotten close?”
The square-jawed guy raised his hands, backing up: “Sorry, sorry. I just thought he was cute. Wasn’t intentional.”
Tong Xiao eased a fraction.
Xia Weizhen and Tao Xirui hurried around the table too, flanking them and glaring in unison.
Mu Chenxing was even more annoyed. Cute my ass?!
He shoved past his roommates, crooking a finger at the guy: “What’s your name? Gimme your contact.”
Tong Xiao grabbed him, disapproving: “Xingxing.”
Mu Chenxing: “It’s fine.”
He opened his wristband. “C’mon, lemme eat first, then we’ll chat.”
The square-jawed guy perked up: “Sure!”
He whipped out his wristband to scan. “Name’s Lin Chuan. My company’s nearby—hit me up anytime.”
Mu Chenxing: “Added. You can go now.”
Lin Chuan’s eyes bored into him: “You haven’t told me your name.”
Mu Chenxing fake-smiled: “You’ll find out soon.”
Lin Chuan beamed uncontrollably: “Great, see you later.”
He left the dim sum, glancing back every step.
Tong Xiao fumed: “Why’d you add a creep like that? Pheromone-touting harassers are the worst.”
Xia Weizhen: “Yeah, jumping straight to Pheromones for a pickup? Gross.”
Tao Xirui: “That Alpha’s trash on sight. Ignore him.”
Mu Chenxing pointed nearby: “Food’s here. Eat up—I’m starving.”
They’d waited till noon after Xia Weizhen’s class, over an hour at least.
The three roommates: “Mu Chenxing!”
Mu Chenxing: “……I’m not into his type, for real.”
Tong Xiao, dead serious: “Then why add him?”
Mu Chenxing: “Lure him to some deserted spot—”
The three frowned in sync.
“Beat his ass.” Mu Chenxing eyed Lin Chuan a few tables over, flashing a fake smile under the guy’s stare, enunciating: “Beat him till he can’t fend for himself!”
The three roommates: “……”
