Tong Xiao and the others knew Pei Yao had spent the New Year with him in District 67, so none of them dared to say another word in the group chat.
Mu Chenxing was worried inside, but there was no need to show it in front of these kids. So, he took the initiative to change the subject a few times, asking about their return trips and whether they’d bring back any local souvenirs.
Tong Xiao and the rest weren’t fools. They played along, cracking jokes and sharing a few hilarious stories from their holiday antics.
It actually helped Mu Chenxing relax a bit.
He wasn’t some naive kid. Pei Yao’s situation was most likely political infighting.
With Pei Yao’s status, those words—”no platform dares to run his scandals”—were still fresh in his mind. Yet the black PR had been trending online for a full day and night, and he hadn’t found time to deal with it… That alone suggested he was too busy to split himself right now.
A mighty Admiral—what kind of trouble could tie him down like that?
Mu Chenxing couldn’t guess.
He worried for two straight days. With Tong Xiao and the others due back tomorrow, Pei Yao still hadn’t made a move.
Mu Chenxing returned from training and wiped down Tong Xiao and the others’ beds and cabinets. Exhausted, he showered and crashed into bed.
Just as he started drifting off, his wristband buzzed.
He jolted awake instantly.
Pei Yao: Baby, you were looking for me? Did you miss me?~~
Mu Chenxing: “…”
Those flirty wavy tildes suggested he was fine.
He rolled over and went back to sleep.
The next morning, the 7:30 alarm rang right on time.
Mu Chenxing lay in bed for two seconds before opening his wristband.
Around 3 a.m.?
He fired off a quick message: Why aren’t you sleeping in the middle of the night?
He sent it and got up to wash up.
Pei Yao’s reply popped up immediately: [Pitiful.jpg]
Mu Chenxing paused: You haven’t rested?
Pei Yao: Nearly 50 hours without shutting my eyes. I need little star’s kisses for comfort [sausage-lips-pout.jpg]
Mu Chenxing: …What happened?
Mu Chenxing: It’s fine if you can’t say.
Pei Yao: Massive Star Beast Tide at the outer border of the X Star System.
Mu Chenxing: !!
Mu Chenxing: Is it okay to tell me critical military intel like this?
Pei Yao: No worries. The reassignment notice is about to drop.
Mu Chenxing instantly caught his implication: You’re heading back to the border?
Pei Yao: Yeah.
The chat went silent for a while.
A few minutes later, two messages dropped at once—
Pei Yao: Baby
Mu Chenxing: Stay safe
Pei Yao: ??
Pei Yao: That’s all you have to say?
Mu Chenxing rubbed his face and asked: No time to meet up?
Pei Yao: .
Pei Yao: Baby’s so smart
Pei Yao: I’m already at the spaceport, boarding the ship.
Mu Chenxing: Won’t be back anytime soon?
Pei Yao: Situation’s complicated.
Pei Yao: Whether I can return depends on what happens next.
That probably meant he couldn’t come back.
It was normal for Pei Yao to get urgently recalled during leave.
But he’d just rotated back to Central Star for duty—and only half a year in.
For him to get pulled back suddenly, either the border crisis was dire, or—
A pre-war loss of a general.
Mu Chenxing shuddered.
Carrying that worry, he replied: Go on then. I’ll come find you after I graduate.
Pei Yao started spamming the chat with kissy emojis and all sorts of flirty nonsense, back to his usual shameless self.
Mu Chenxing remembered the trending topic from the past couple days and quickly asked about it.
Pei Yao: Someone just doesn’t want me back at the border. No big deal.
Mu Chenxing: …With war looming, they’re still playing power games?
Pei Yao: Baby, power grabs don’t wait for a good day and time.
Mu Chenxing: If the border wasn’t critical, they wouldn’t call you back. Why smear you at a time like this?
Pei Yao: They didn’t expect things to blow up this bad when they started stirring shit.
Mu Chenxing: …
Battlefields changed in the blink of an eye—two or three days could shift everything.
He asked again: What about the disciplinary notice?
Pei Yao: I did get into a group brawl after all [naughty.jpg]
Pei Yao: Gotta go through the motions.
Mu Chenxing: …
No need to debunk it?
Pei Yao: Reported it to the Chairman and Discipline Committee. Platforms will get hit with penalties. Debunking? Eh, forget it.
Mu Chenxing: …Why?
Pei Yao: I did hook up with a minor, after all.
Mu Chenxing: …
Mu Chenxing: How’d you make your report convincing then?
Pei Yao: Hotel has surveillance footage.
Mu Chenxing: …
Fair enough.
Pei Yao followed up with an address and a string of access codes: House is brand new, but looks like we won’t get to use it. When your dad comes over, you two crash there. Don’t let it sit empty.
Pei Yao: Such a shame about our little love nest! We could’ve done this and that, that and this in there…
Mu Chenxing: …
He skipped the last bit: Then I won’t hold back.
Pei Yao sent a flurry of kissy faces, then started laying out instructions.
Like how Chen Chuheng was heading back to the border too, and he’d asked Fu Mingyuan to look after Mu Chenxing—seek help if needed.
Mu Chenxing sat on his bed, quietly reading through the pile of instructions until the other side stopped.
Pei Yao: Boarding the ship now. Military vessel, full jump— no signal the whole way. Don’t worry if you can’t reach me.
Mu Chenxing: Got it. Stay safe.
Pei Yao sent a flying kiss emoji.
Chat ended.
Mu Chenxing sat on the bed in a daze for a bit, then got up to wash up.
Today was the last day of intensive training. School selections were in a few days to pick the top three reps for the Association event. They’d run baseline races today, gauge everyone’s level, plus lectures and briefings… He couldn’t skip.
Mu Chenxing rushed through washing up and changing. He was still running late.
He skipped breakfast altogether and bolted to the training grounds.
Wrap-up session, warm-ups—by the time baseline races started, it was nearly 11 a.m.
Mu Chenxing was glad it was just baselines. He stayed chill and took the field.
Groups of 50, projects flew by fast.
He bombed all four baseline tests—worse than semis.
The Alphas who’d trained with him probably got warnings from the teachers. Unless necessary, none talked to him during the session.
But after two weeks together, they had a sense of each other’s strength. And as the training camp’s only Omega, Mu Chenxing’s scores drew extra eyes.
Especially since his power and speed had skyrocketed during camp, pushing the Alphas to crank up the intensity and compete on the sly.
Results dropped. Teachers gawked—not just them, even the Alphas who didn’t like him much sensed something off.
“He was faster than me in training. How?”
“Stamina issue?”
“No way. His endurance’s no slouch.”
“Trains all day without slowing. Can’t be stamina.”
They buzzed with chatter. Mu Chenxing didn’t overthink it. He glanced at his scores, then calmly stepped aside to drink water, wipe sweat, and check his wristband—Tong Xiao and the others had landed at the spaceport. Probably back tonight.
A few Association Omegas arrived that afternoon.
“Chenxing.” The instructor approached. “Feeling off? Want a trip to the Medical Office?”
Mu Chenxing blinked, set down his water: “Teacher, I’m fine.”
Instructor: “But your speed and reactions were sluggish today.”
Mu Chenxing: “…I’m hungry.”
Instructor: “?”
Eavesdropping Alphas: “?”
Mu Chenxing flushed: “Slept in, skipped breakfast.”
An eighteen- or nineteen-year-old guy like him—no breakfast, on-site by 8, warm-ups at 9:30, racing at 11. Nonstop, his stomach was glued to his spine.
Plus, just baselines—no drive, shitty scores made sense.
“Don’t worry, Teacher. I’ll eat before the real matches.”
Instructor and Alphas: “…”
All their scheming, and it boiled down to this.
Baselines wrapped, ending the holiday intensive for good.
At lunch, Mu Chenxing scarfed food, showered back at the dorm, changed, and headed to Chu Yuan and the crew—the Association Omegas. Those on the same route mostly arrived together.
Picked up a batch at 4 p.m., another at 7, group dinner, then last batch at 9 p.m.
From afternoon on, Mu Chenxing’s ears rang with the Omegas’ excited chirping—no room for worry.
Finally, after the last group settled and everyone headed to dorms for rest and showers, Mu Chenxing sat down. Tong Xiao and the other two unpacked while sharing holiday tales.
Near midnight, amid scattered luggage, the four sprawled out.
Of course, sleep was out of the question.
Lights off, they dove into late-night chatter. Inevitably, it circled to Mu Chenxing.
Xia Weizhen cracked first: “Xingxing, your boyfriend’s really… an Admiral?”
Mu Chenxing: “If he hasn’t been fired, yeah.”
Xia Weizhen: “Whoa, so unreal.”
Tong Xiao rolled over, dangling from his bunk, gossip-mode on: “How’d you snag him? Admiral Pei Yao’s infamous no-marriage guy—no scandals, not even rumors. Otherwise, a blurry back-shot 800 meters from the hotel wouldn’t have trended.”
Mu Chenxing deadpanned: “Who was calling it a house collapse two days ago?”
Tong Xiao insisted: “That was tabloid bullshit. Staff debunked it—said the Admiral’s group didn’t take any Omegas back.”
Tao Xirui nodded vigorously: “No Betas either.”
Mu Chenxing: “…When?”
Tong Xiao: “Yesterday. You miss it?”
“…Probably training.”
He wasn’t glued to socials—only saw trends when they pointed them out. The rest was beyond him.
Tao Xirui whispered: “You still haven’t spilled how you and Pei Yao connected.”
Tong Xiao and Xia Weizhen hooted along.
Mu Chenxing had leaned on his roommates back when shit hit the fan, so no point hiding. He told them how Pei Yao had coincidentally saved him.
The three:
“Oh my god, hero saves the beauty!”
“So romantic!”
“Isn’t this straight-up fate?”
Mu Chenxing: “…”
“If you didn’t hit the hotel, what’s the disciplinary notice?”
“Why didn’t the Admiral squash the trend?”
“How do you even date? Garrison Military District’s in District 18, right? Miles away.”
…
Questions poured.
Mu Chenxing answered a few, head spinning, then pivoted: “Got something to ask your help with.”
No chance for replies—he laid it out.
“Last semester, I signed our Association up for the Alliance Omega Growth Assistance Foundation aid program. Teacher Zhang’s the lead.”
Serious business!
Tong Xiao and the others hushed.
“A few days ago, they emailed—project passed initial review. Need supplemental docs and data: activity metrics, videos, all members’ physical stats…”
Dozens of items.
Tong Xiao: “…When was this Foundation founded? Never heard of it.”
He pulled up his Holo-Screen to search.
Xia Weizhen whistled: “This much paperwork?”
Tao Xirui: “Lots overlap with training camp data. Sure we can submit? Ask Teacher Zhang or Principal Fu first?”
Mu Chenxing, thick-skinned: “That’s why I need you guys. I’ve got matches, dating—worst scores too. Gotta study hard. You handle verifying these.”
Roommates: “…”
“We just dragged off interstellar flights—exhausted!”
“Is this guy for real? Enslaving roommates already?”
“I can’t even talk to Principal Fu…”
Mu Chenxing: “Oh, Pei Yao’s Falcon Squadron has a bunch of single Lt. Colonels and Majors…”
“I’ll handle it. This data’s nothing.”
“Friends help friends, right?”
“Principal Fu’s actually chill. I can try.”
In the dark dorm, lit only by streetlights through the window, Mu Chenxing’s grin gleamed bright.
