Chapter 12

"N-no problem." Jiang Lu looked visibly surprised.

Not only had none of the things he had expected happened, but the response he had gotten was also completely unexpected.

Faced with his "crazy" words, Qin Su had neither called him a "lunatic" nor shown the slightest trace of ridicule in his eyes.

He had simply accepted them calmly and openly.

It was as if he were saying, "I don't understand, but I respect your preferences and will take them seriously."

Qin Su's response instantly calmed Jiang Lu, who had been worrying about this and that.

It was worth it.

The thought flashed through Jiang Lu's mind, and he heard Qin Su's voice again.

"It was the least I could do."

Qin Su then asked, "Is there anything else you want to say?" He couldn't afford to linger too long.

"No, that's all!" Jiang Lu quickly shook his head.

"Mm." Qin Su bid Jiang Lu farewell. "Then... see you next time."

"See you!" Qin Su was always busy and often didn't return to the dorm. As soon as Jiang Lu heard that, he understood that Qin Su meant he was going somewhere else instead of returning to the dorm.

Qin Su nodded slightly, then turned and strode toward the apartment.

Because of the time he had lost just now, Qin Su walked a little faster than usual.

"Hahaha—"

"I have to say, Jiang Lu, you're hilarious. I nearly died laughing. I held it in so hard my stomach still hurts, hahaha..."

"That's how it is. That's how all two-dimensional fans are."

The classmates who had secretly watched Qin Su walk away from inside the classroom and had been struggling to hold back their laughter ever since hearing Jiang Lu's words practically burst into good-natured laughter as soon as he was gone, each trying to pat Jiang Lu on the shoulder.

"..."

Jiang Lu belatedly realized that when he had said all those things to Qin Su, he seemed to have spoken so loudly that it would have been hard for his classmates not to hear.

His face instantly turned bright red, and he covered it in embarrassment. "Aah, please stop talking about it!"

By comparison, Qin Su was really nice not to have laughed at his weird ideas just now, and to have thanked him instead.

"But then again, Jiang Lu, you're really brave. How did you dare say those things to Qin Su? When we first heard you, we were all shocked back there."

Many classmates nodded in agreement.

"What surprised us even more was that, faced with words that were practically incoherent and made us worry about your mental state, Qin Su actually thanked you for the reminder with a straight face. Really... he handled it so gracefully. But then again, considering it was Qin Su... that was exactly how he would react."

Although Qin Su was always so hard for them to figure out, he was well-mannered.

Even though he looked like every strand of his hair radiated an air that warned people not to mess with him, and his IQ was far above theirs, he diligently attended classes with them, completed group assignments, and helped out with their mentors' research projects for credits. He had never shown any sign of looking down on any of them. Of course, all of that was on the premise that they had never provoked Qin Su.

Nobody would probably believe it if they told them that Qin Su was younger than they were, but... they believed that no matter who met Qin Su in person, the thought would never occur to them, and no one would dare look down on him for being young.

It wasn't that Qin Su looked mature. Rather, his overall bearing and presence made people completely overlook his age. In fact, whenever Qin Su was around, they all became cautious without needing to say a word.

Jiang Lu wasn't the only one following the Interstellar Legend comic. The content that had shocked Jiang Lu had shocked them too, but they hadn't dared say anything.

That was why they had reacted so strongly when Jiang Lu said those things. But with Qin Su present, they had tried hard to hold it in, not even daring to laugh until he left.

"You were the one who made that post and then deleted it, weren't you? The way it was written was exactly like you."

The overlapping voices of his classmates made Jiang Lu want the ground to swallow him up even more.

It was bad enough that his classmates had watched him say those "chuunibyou" things to Qin Su, but they had also figured out he was the one who made the post.

He was... so embarrassed.

"Dear classmates, how about I treat you all to milk tea and we put this behind us?" Jiang Lu looked at them pitifully.

His classmates burst into laughter again.

"No need for milk tea."

"It's hot out, so let's have ice cream instead~"

Jiang Lu breathed a sigh of relief. This was finally behind him. Next time... he would never act so chuunibyou again. Not everyone indulged him as much as Qin Su and his classmates did.

The apartment.

Jiang Cheng heard the sound of the fingerprint lock opening and quickly got up to greet him. "Young Master Qin."

"Assistant Jiang." After changing his shoes, Qin Su invited Jiang Cheng to join him as he headed upstairs. "Sorry for the trouble, Assistant Jiang, but could you come up for a moment?"

"All right." Obeying the commands of anyone in the Qin family immediately had become an instinctive habit for Jiang Cheng.

A few minutes later, after Jiang Cheng had smelled each of the fragrance samples arranged neatly on the rack at Qin Su's invitation, he heard Qin Su speak again.

"Assistant Jiang, which vial gives you the 'coldest' impression?"

After gathering, in the shortest time possible, all kinds of fragrance ingredients associated with "extreme cold" or giving off "icy," "composed and dignified," "distinctive," and "weighty" scents, Qin Su had spent the past few days blending several fragrances under the video guidance of top digital perfumers.

For good luck, Qin Su had ultimately kept the six he was most satisfied with. Now he needed a second opinion, treating Assistant Jiang as a stand-in for the natives of the comic world and asking him how the fragrances made him feel.

Of course, although he had the guidance of his digital seniors and the finest ingredients, Qin Su had deliberately made it so that the scents of these six perfumes would not last very long.

The "pheromones" on him were fake, after all. The longer the natives of the comic world smelled them, the greater the chance of him being exposed.

Jiang Cheng couldn't quite understand why Qin Su, who had never shown any interest in perfumery before, had suddenly become so interested in blending and making perfume.

And the perfumes he was blending... were connected to a "chill."

That was far too specific.

Did Qin Su think the "chill" he gave off wasn't enough? Qin Su was setting the bar for himself far too high. What kind of occasion could possibly require Qin Su to treat it so seriously?

Curious as he was, Jiang Cheng knew better than to ask questions he shouldn't. After honestly pointing out one of the perfumes, he silently lit a candle in his heart for the guests at the occasion Qin Su was treating so seriously.

Seeing which perfume Jiang Cheng had pointed to, Qin Su nodded slightly. "I see. Thank you."

It seemed there was nothing wrong with his sense of smell. Jiang Cheng had chosen the same perfume he had in mind.

Hearing the words "thank you," Jiang Cheng immediately understood what they meant. "You're welcome. It was the least I could do." With that, Jiang Cheng tactfully withdrew on his own.

As he turned to leave, Jiang Cheng saw Qin Su stick a label marked "1" onto the perfume he had finally selected.

Jiang Cheng: "?"

Why was it "1"?

Weren't perfumes usually given names like "Mist After the Rain," "Wilderness Rose," or "Midnight Revelry"... names that sounded evocative and beautiful, sophisticated yet niche?

Sure enough, from top to bottom, not a single member of the Qin family had thoughts or a train of thought anyone could fathom.

After Jiang Cheng left, Qin Su divided the perfume into tiny containers that would dissolve under specific conditions.

With one hour remaining, the rush order for the clothes was finished. After the new clothes were washed and ironed, Jiang Cheng left with the others.

When only five minutes remained before he entered the comic world, Qin Su, uncertain where he would land, dressed fully and carried the things he needed on his person.

To test whether he could bring things other than those on his body into the comic world, he deliberately carried a black case with no logo. It looked exceptionally high-end and matched the outward characteristics of products from the interstellar era that Qin Su had seen in the comic world.

The familiar white light flashed. When Qin Su opened his eyes again, he found himself in the dorm he had been assigned in the comic world.

[New clothes again?!]

Looking at Qin Su, who had returned from the real world wearing a brand-new outfit whose every thread of fabric and every cut conveyed an air of luxury and understated depth, 777 cried out in shock while decisively adding another entry to its "Host Strategy Manual":

To win the great audience's favor and increase popularity, the host must never wear the same outfit twice when appearing! (Sketch.jpg)

Following it was a one-to-one reproduction by 777 of the outfit Qin Su was wearing at that moment.

For the sake of its host survival rate KPI, it was going all out.

"Mm."

Qin Su responded to the system, his gaze falling on his empty right hand.

His hand was empty, and the case had vanished. It had probably been left behind in the real world.

So he could only transport things he carried on his person to the comic world. In that case... did the same apply to objects from the comic world?

No, this wouldn't do.

It couldn't satisfy his original intention of bringing the comic world's "local specialties" back with him.

Judging by the weapons of the interstellar era he had seen at the entrance ceremony, although there were small and compact ones, the large weapons still had the greatest destructive power, based on the power they had displayed.

Qin Su thought of the "space" function displayed on the interface.

Clearly, judging by the system's playful addition to the interface—"You can't even store your own corpse right now"—the space could store things.

Given the system's usual pattern, whether it was "storing things" or opening the space in the real world, it would require countless life points, a price he couldn't afford now.

After a brief moment of thought, Qin Su set the matter aside for the time being.

The most important thing for him now was to increase his life points as much as possible.

Unable to do anything about the "problem" for now, Qin Su put it out of his mind and said to the system, "Exchange for an Alpha Pheromone Blocker Patch."

As soon as he finished speaking, a pheromone-blocking patch appeared in his hand.

But this time, to 777's surprise, Qin Su didn't place the pheromone-blocking patch over the "gland" on the back of his neck. Instead, he put it straight into his pocket.

Even more surprising to 777, Qin Su didn't leave the dorm and appear before the natives to gain favorability and earn life points. Instead, he simply sat down in a chair and continued asking it for data about this world to read.

[Wait, aren't you going to hurry out?] Seeing that Qin Su had only 960 minutes of life left after exchanging for the Alpha Pheromone Blocker Patch, 777 reminded him, [A lot of people are looking for you right now! I suggest you appear in public immediately. You'll definitely earn more life points.]

Although the host's remaining life points could keep him alive for more than half a day, no host would complain about having too many life points, right?

"No."

With his eyes on the Optical Brain interface, Qin Su absorbed data about this world at a glance, coldly rejecting the system's suggestion.

He knew that after his data was exposed, the "?" marks in it would make many natives intensely curious about him. The system's words confirmed his guess.

He also knew the system was telling the truth.

But—

No.

Sometimes, he should fulfill the "audience's" expectations, but at other times, he had to keep them in suspense. The more they wanted to see him, the less he could appear. On the one hand, leaving them unsatisfied would make them unable to let it go; on the other, it would allow him to maintain his elusive, unfathomably mysterious persona.

The students in his class in the comic world were scheduled to meet officially at two in the afternoon. He would appear then.

Of course, he would only appear before his classmates.

The "pheromones" he displayed before his classmates also had to be spread by them, thereby arousing the other students' curiosity even more.

One person would tell ten, and ten would tell a hundred. The rumors would change considerably depending on the perspective from which they were told, and different versions would circulate.

Few people disliked gossip. At the Fourth Military Academy, at least among the freshmen, numerous rumors about him would soon be circulating.

The range of natives from whom he gained "favorability points" would be greater.

Qin Su wasn't worried about being watched by large crowds when he left the dorm later, either. He had timed it: it would take him five minutes to get from his dorm to the classroom where his class was meeting.

The vast majority of those waiting for him were freshmen. The school had scheduled the freshman class meetings at the same time. He needed to go to his class, and the other freshmen naturally needed to do the same.

As for the upper-year students... to preserve their dignity as "upper-year students," they would probably only watch from afar and wouldn't interfere with him.

[?]

It really was the eunuch worrying while the emperor remained unconcerned!

After turning down the system, Qin Su saw the words "Heat Period" and looked thoughtful.

According to the introduction to the ABO world system, aside from Betas, both Alphas and Omegas had a "Heat Period" every month, which generally lasted three to seven days.

The lower a person's pheromone level, the shorter their Heat Period; the higher their pheromone level, the longer it lasted.

During the Heat Period, both Omegas and Alphas experienced a massive surge of pheromones. For the first three days, they basically couldn't appear in public even if they had been injected with suppressants. On the following days, they could go about normally in public after receiving suppressants.

"The Heat Period, huh..."

To make the audience remember him and everything connected to him more readily, so that the number "1" would bring to mind "countless things" about him,

Qin Su immediately decided with pleasure to set the date his Heat Period would "strike"—

"Then let's start on the first."

[Huh? You're not really an Alpha!] Why was he even adding a Heat Period?

"It doesn't matter." Qin Su's tone was calm. He might not be one, but since he had decided to pretend to be an Alpha, he had to have everything an Alpha had.

If he was going to act, he had to play the part to the fullest.

Meanwhile, at the Fourth Military Academy.

Ever since "Qin Su's" entrance data had been exposed, interest in him had climbed again, not only among the freshmen but also among the upper-year students.

The military academy was vast, connected by countless intricately intertwined star rails, but no matter how large the school was, it couldn't hold back the students' curiosity about "Qin Su."

The students came out in full force, and students hoping to run into "Qin Su" could be found almost everywhere.

But—

During the past two days and more, which the Fourth Military Academy had originally set aside for the freshmen to familiarize themselves with their surroundings, they had seen neither Qin Su nor so much as his shadow.

Although someone had found out which dorm Qin Su lived in, each student's dorm could only be reached by that student using their own ID. They had no way to get to Qin Su's door and could only linger near his dorm, hoping for the moment he came out.

However... throughout those two days and more, Qin Su hadn't left the dorm at all.

No one knew whether Qin Su had actually been in the dorm during those two days and more.

As the time for the freshmen in each class to officially meet drew closer, the freshmen waiting for him gradually dispersed.

When Qin Su left his dorm and boarded the interstellar train using his ID, he was the only person inside.

Along the way, things were much as Qin Su had expected. The upper-year students watched from a distance and didn't appear in front of him.

The instant Qin Su arrived at the classroom entrance right on time, the classmates who had been waiting eagerly inside all turned their heads in unison.

Their gazes fell on Qin Su as one. The freshmen, who had been "craving" Qin Su for so long that they wished they could glue their eyes to him, soon noticed an obvious fact with their magnifying-glass eyes:

"Qin Su," he...

Wasn't wearing an Alpha Pheromone Blocker Patch!!!