Chapter 16

Jiang Lu, a chatterbox with a lightning-fast mouth, was trying hard to take a breath, but once he started, he got carried away and inhaled with all his might. Hearing Qin Su, his mouth moved faster than his brain, and he blurted out in public:

"Pheromones!"

His voice rang out loud and clear. Qin Su wasn't the only one who heard him; so did the students hurrying to class just in time.

The word "pheromones" usually appeared in novels and comics. Suddenly hearing someone shout something so outrageous in real life, the students took a moment from their rush to give Jiang Lu a series of hesitant looks.

Students A, B, C and D: "..."

Tsk, showing off his XP in full public view? That took courage. Was there no one in this world whose opinion Jiang Lu cared about?

They could stay up all night memorizing memes and still never match Jiang Lu's natural talent for absurdity.

But the target of Jiang Lu's "outrageous remark" was Qin Su, the campus celebrity whose photo had been posted on the confession wall as soon as he enrolled, turning countless students into repeaters of "W-w-where is justice? Where are morals? Where's his address? What's his contact information?"

Thanks to Qin Su, Jiang Lu, his roommate, was also familiar to many students who had taken electives with him.

The students: "..."

It was only human.

Well... even taking the broadest possible view, Jiang Lu had only stated a fact and said what they didn't dare say to Qin Su. What had he done wrong?

"..."

The word "pheromones" made Qin Su's heart skip a beat, but it quickly returned to normal.

Fortunately for Qin Su, class was about to start. Everyone only glanced at them in passing, too afraid of losing participation points for being late to slow down.

Under the students' burning gazes, Jiang Lu got a thorough taste of what it meant to be so embarrassed he wanted the ground to swallow him up. He glanced guiltily at Qin Su, who was still walking toward the classroom beside him.

"Um..." Jiang Lu apologized awkwardly in a low voice. "Sorry."

Quite a few students in their major read Interstellar Legend. He never should have listened when they said Qin Su didn't attend morning classes, was frequently absent from the dorm, and had recently withdrawn from the teachers' projects. His behavior was so unusual that they wondered if he might be in the comic's world.

After gossiping, the students had all asked Jiang Lu to sniff Qin Su the next time he saw him, to see whether he had the unique pheromone scent belonging to "Qin Su" in the Interstellar Legend comic.

Jiang Lu didn't know what body wash Qin Su used, but apart from the crisp scent left by his shower, he hadn't smelled anything.

"It's fine."

Qin Su's expression didn't change, and his voice remained perfectly calm, without a trace of guilt.

The "pheromone" perfume he had used once in the comic world only produced a brief burst lasting five seconds. After that, it would rapidly break down and disappear along with the Cold Blast Bomb.

Besides, he had already showered when he returned to the apartment to change clothes.

There was no way Jiang Lu could smell any of the "pheromone" perfume he had used in the comic world on him.

Qin Su also understood perfectly well that Jiang Lu had always loved the Interstellar Legend comic. He and "Qin Su" in the comic were the same person to begin with, so apart from the difference between two and three dimensions, they had more similarities than not. And as his roommate, Jiang Lu had often failed to see him return to the dorm at night ever since "Qin Su" appeared in the comic.

It was perfectly normal for him to have suspicions.

But—

So what? No matter how suspicious Jiang Lu became, suspicion was all it could be. He had no concrete evidence.

"...Thanks."

Jiang Lu's anxious heart gradually settled. Qin Su's calm reaction was clearly proof that he had nothing to hide.

He had believed the nonsense his classmates fed him!

After hearing Jiang Lu's scandalous words, the students couldn't resist whispering to their companions as they hurried along.

"That's Qin Su for you. He's really so emotionally stable. No matter what kind of fuss Jiang Lu kicks up, he never seems surprised."

"That's because Qin Su obviously doesn't understand his roommate's XP but respects it, and he thinks what Jiang Lu said has nothing to do with him. If he doesn't care, why would he be surprised? I seriously suspect Qin Su doesn't read comics or novels at all, doesn't know about ABO fiction, and has no idea what Jiang Lu meant by 'pheromones.'"

"Agreed. Qin Su has nothing but studying on his mind. How could he possibly know?"

Qin Su, whose hearing was excellent: "..."

He really did know about that.

Not only did he know, he was forced to experience it firsthand in the early hours of every morning.

After his two afternoon classes, Qin Su, who had a great deal of knowledge to absorb and wished he could stretch every hour into twenty-four, left school without stopping and headed for the apartment.

"Well? Well?!"

"Did you smell it?"

Even though they were in the same classroom, the students had tacitly kept their distance from Qin Su and pinned their hopes on Jiang Lu. The moment Qin Su disappeared from sight, they crowded around Jiang Lu, their expectant eyes sparkling with excitement for gossip.

"...Qin Su didn't have any of the pheromone scent you guessed he would! You're all liars. You made it sound so convincing and made me embarrass myself in front of everyone." Jiang Lu covered his face.

"Huh?"

The students were baffled.

A few seconds later, after Jiang Lu recounted what had happened, the students learned about his recent "performance art" and doubled over laughing.

"Hahaha, what a sad story."

"That's Jiang Lu for you. You've always been good at being absurd."

Only someone like Jiang Lu, who, to put it nicely, was younger than them, single-mindedly devoted to studying and simple by nature, or, to put it bluntly, was one-track-minded, could avoid overthinking and act more freely around Qin Su than they did.

Otherwise, when the dorms were reassigned, the other student wouldn't have been too afraid to room with Qin Su and intimidated whenever he saw him, prompting him to ask a teacher to switch rooms. Jiang Lu had taken his place as Qin Su's roommate and actually gone through with it.

Although Qin Su ate at the cafeteria most of the time and his food was no different from theirs, there was something different about him at a glance. Besides, after Jiang Lu and two others in their class had recently gotten the chance to visit D&S and learn there, their homeroom teacher had told the students who attended to thank Qin Su.

All the signs indicated that Qin Su's family was no ordinary one.

Judging by Qin Su's attitude toward Jiang Lu, if Jiang Lu maintained his current attitude toward studying, he probably wouldn't have to worry about internships or job offers in the future.

The boy who had once switched dorms with Jiang Lu had privately expressed his regret many times, but there was no medicine for regret in this world.

Their laughter made Jiang Lu even more embarrassed. "The main thing is, I didn't expect Qin Su to suddenly speak to me."

He hadn't reacted in time and had answered on instinct.

"Hahaha, all right." One student patted Jiang Lu on the shoulder. "Come on, we'll buy you ice cream to soothe your frightened soul."

Jiang Lu's family wasn't well-off, and when he received his scholarship, he had treated them to ice cream. When the classmates joked around and treated one another, they mostly bought two-yuan ice creams with a buy-three-get-one-free deal, so Jiang Lu wouldn't overthink it.

"Huh?" Jiang Lu was a little surprised that they had dropped the subject so quickly. "You're not hung up on whether Qin Su is 'Alpha Qin Su' from the comic anymore?"

"Although I didn't smell any pheromones on Qin Su today, none of his clothes from head to toe resembled what 'Qin Su' wore in the comic, and he wasn't wearing a pheromone-blocking patch, but..."

Jiang Lu said earnestly, "I don't know why, but whenever I see Qin Su, I can't help seeing 'Qin Su' from Interstellar Legend! Have I gotten obsessed with the comic?"

The students exchanged looks. "..."

That was Jiang Lu for you. They had dared to say it, and Jiang Lu had actually dared to believe it. But... none of them could talk; they saw the resemblance too.

But reality was reality, after all, and it could never overlap with a comic. To keep Jiang Lu from getting in any deeper, they nodded against their consciences.

"That's probably it."

"Yeah, Jiang Lu, you should read less of it."

"Maybe you could stop for a while and go back to it later. Then the feeling won't be so strong."

Jiang Lu: ...Really?

Then he would give it a try. He couldn't go on like this, after all. Although Qin Su didn't mind his bizarre remarks, he couldn't take advantage of that and make Qin Su feel troubled.

Back at the apartment, Qin Su saw a new set of clothes Assistant Jiang had delivered. He glanced it over, and after making sure there were no problems, he opened a document on his laptop and briefly wrote down the characteristics of the bugs.

As he typed, he recalled exactly where they had appeared in his projected Optical Brain interface.

Opportunity favored the prepared. He didn't know when he would display his Optical Brain in the comic world, but he had to be ready at all times.

At nine that night, Qin Su figured the banquet Assistant Jiang had mentioned was over and called Qin Dai.

"Qin Su?"

The call connected quickly, and a familiar voice reached Qin Su's ears.

"Sis." Qin Su got straight to the point. "Starting tomorrow and lasting until the end of this twenty-three-day event, I think I need another complete and thorough course of special training."

Although they didn't yet know what kind of bugs they would be fighting, war was never a joke. He had to be fully prepared.

Naturally, training had to be arranged as well.

Although they had privately practiced everything from taekwondo, karate, judo, sanda, boxing, kickboxing and combat fighting since childhood, this was his first time going to war. He also wasn't any of the six genders in the comic world, and he didn't know whether the "ABO" elements would provide any bonuses in a war against the Zerg.

He couldn't feel at ease, so he could only work hard to stack "buffs" on himself.

Although... he still didn't really understand why their parents, who came and went without a trace, had insisted they learn all this.

Qin Dai said, "All right. Send your requirements and class schedule to Assistant Jiang. He'll make the arrangements."

"Okay." By the time Qin Su finished speaking, Assistant Jiang had already received a message.

After settling the matter of his "combat power," the two chatted for a while. Then Qin Dai seemed to remember something and said slowly, "Wait... haven't we forgotten something?"

"Hm?" Qin Su didn't understand.

A moment later, Qin Dai slapped the table. "Qin Su, haven't we gone a while without hearing from Mom and Dad?!"

Qin Su recalled the last time their parents had contacted them and said slowly, "...Eighteen days."

"How many times has this happened now?" Qin Dai sighed. "Didn't they say themselves that they'd check in every ten days?"

This wasn't the first time it had happened, and Qin Su answered smoothly by reflex. "The 168th time."

Qin Su's heart couldn't help tightening. Although this was normal for their parents, as their children, they couldn't avoid worrying.

What country were they visiting that they could so often take ten days or half a month to reply to their usual everyday messages? They were clearly even less normal than he was.

Hearing the number, Qin Dai's DNA stirred. "One-six-eight, fortune all the way. Hiss... that's pretty auspicious. It's just that eighteen isn't such a good number, but... it magically cancels out with the eighteen levels of hell, so that evens things out. Wait a moment; I'll do a divination for Mom and Dad."

"...Okay."

After answering, Qin Su seemed to remember something. He opened the drawer beneath the black desk that held his laptop and stared at the copper coins and tarot cards inside for two seconds before taking out the coins.

He would take them with him first and secretly do a divination before going into battle.

Before long, Qin Su heard Qin Dai muttering on the other end of the phone, now about tarot cards, now about Da Liu Ren divination. Then came the sound of copper coins falling to the floor.

"..."

His sister was as knowledgeable and talented as ever. Thanks to her, he had learned a little himself from watching her.

After a while, Qin Dai's voice came again. "All set!"

"Don't worry. The reading shows things taking a turn for the better and the crisis resolving itself. We should hear from Mom and Dad in a few days."

"Okay," Qin Su answered, becoming even more determined to bring back something from the battlefield with technology clearly more advanced than anything in the real world.

All fear and danger came from insufficient firepower. What if something he brought back could piece their "broken" family together?

At the same time, in the comic world, it was nine in the morning.

The first class for the twenty-sixth intake's comprehensive class six was about to begin.

[Ahhh, we're finally going to see boss S again! Only heaven knows how hard the wait has been]

[Look at baby Muzhi's gaze, he's watching the classroom door too. He looks like he wants to tell "boss 1" to wait and see (hehe). Sure enough, baby Muzhi can lose to anyone except Wenyuan]

[Has a strange competitive streak kicked in?]

[Meanwhile, nobody cares that Wenyuan didn't come to class today. I think it's because of what "boss 1" said yesterday. What do you think?]

[Definitely! Didn't you see Wenyuan turn to stone as soon as Qin Su spoke yesterday? Hahaha]

[Ew~ so is it possible the plague god will catch feelings from now on?]

[??? What filthy thing snuck in here? Taking our boss 1 away, no thanks (heh heh)]

The four of them were still hung up on what Qin Su had said yesterday. He Muzhi, who had been assigned to the same class as Qin Su, had become the hope of the other three, who had been assigned elsewhere. Carrying his friends' expectations, He Muzhi was determined to show Qin Su what he could do and prove that the four of them were better than that lunatic He Wenyuan with his bizarre thought process.

In the Zerg Research Course classroom, the students had grown accustomed to Qin Su arriving just on time, so they weren't surprised not to see him there.

There was one minute left before class. Judging by the few times Qin Su had appeared before them and the "habit" he had displayed, he should arrive just as class began.

With only five seconds left, the students stared eagerly at the classroom door. When they saw their subject teacher, Zhou Kaiyu, enter instead of Qin Su, clear disappointment appeared on their faces.

Wait, could Qin Su be late too?

Then something happened that puzzled them. Zhou Kaiyu showed no sign of anything amiss and announced the start of class.

"???"

Wait, he was starting just like that? Had the teacher not noticed someone was missing?

Although the class was large, with a full five hundred students, Qin Su's presence and ability to draw attention were extraordinary. Wherever he appeared, no one could ignore him.

Besides, judging by the popularity of posts about Qin Su on the military school forum, he was a celebrity at the Fourth Military School. According to reliable rumors, even the principal had specifically looked at his entrance data.

They didn't believe the teacher didn't know "Qin Su" was in their class.

"Teacher." Raymond stood and raised his voice, asking because he didn't understand. "I have a question."

Standing at the front, Zhou Kaiyu looked over at Raymond. "What question?"

"May I ask..." Under his classmates' expectant gazes, Raymond said, "Where is Qin Su?"

Although He Muzhi hadn't spoken, after Raymond asked the question he cared about, he fixed his gaze on Zhou Kaiyu at the front.

[Yeah!!! Where's our boss 1? He's a whole person!]

[Thank you, Raymond, for speaking for me]

[Raymond has such a way with words. I hereby appoint him minister of speaking for us, for now]

[What am I supposed to watch without Qin Su?]

In the real world, Jiang Lu, who had finally caught up with the comic as soon as it updated, nodded vigorously. "Exactly!"

After saying that, Jiang Lu secretly glanced at Qin Su's currently empty bed, the same question as the students in the comic's twenty-sixth intake, comprehensive class six, crossing his mind:

Where's Qin Su?!

Of course, Jiang Lu meant both Qin Su in the comic and Qin Su in real life.

The curiosity on both sides of the screen was soon satisfied.

Zhou Kaiyu answered truthfully, "For certain special reasons, Qin Su is temporarily unable to attend morning classes."

After speaking, Zhou Kaiyu saw the students' clearly dissatisfied expressions and added, "Of course, there's no need to ask me what those special reasons are, because I don't know either. I only received a notice to that effect."

With that one sentence, he cut off the students' questions.

"All right." Zhou Kaiyu opened his Optical Brain. "Settle down and look here."

Everyone could only hold back their many questions and force themselves to focus on studying.

"Huh? Teacher, wasn't this supposed to be the Zerg Research Course? Why is it all text? Where are the pictures?"

That single remark stirred up a wave of responses. The bugs were censored to ninety-nine percent whenever they appeared on StarNet, and everyone wanted to see the true appearance of the enemies that had invaded and destroyed their homes.

"That's right, Teacher Zhou. We came to military school to fight them. How can we do that without seeing pictures?"

"Shouldn't you learn some Zerg history first?" Zhou Kaiyu interrupted his students' clamor, sounding helpless. "Besides, the vomit cleaners are broken. They won't be fixed until this afternoon."

"Until the vomit cleaners are fixed, you won't get a chance to see the bugs."

Sure enough, they had never encountered bugs before and had no idea that not only did they come in every imaginable form of ugliness, but they also caused severe mental contamination. Without preparation, looking at them would make people physically sick.

Apart from those with extensive experience facing the Zerg, only Alphas and Omegas whose mental power was strong enough and whose pheromone level was at least A-rank could suppress their normal physiological reactions and resist the mental contamination upon seeing those bugs for the first time.

They really were a bunch of fearless little brats who didn't stop to think. If the bugs' appearances had been within the general public's mental tolerance, they wouldn't have been classified as "gory and horrific" and censored to protect citizens' mental health.

Nor would high-definition images and detailed data on them have been available only through official channels on the various planets, with illegal channels being the only other way to obtain them.

Only the soldiers who had to face and fight them needed to work at getting used to their appearances.

"Ah..."

"Is it really necessary to be this careful?"

"Exactly. Just tell those useless betas not to look. We're Alphas. Do we need to be so careful?"

"Hey, complain all you want, but why diss us betas?"

The teacher's words drew a chorus of complaints from the students.

But Zhou Kaiyu acted as though he hadn't heard and simply continued teaching.

For now, he didn't tell these naive students that pictures were only an appetizer. They would only truly learn how terrifying the bugs were once they had been on a battlefield.

Otherwise, the Federation would not have established military academies specifically to eradicate the Zerg, continuously training new soldiers to replace the veterans.

As Zhou Kaiyu opened a document on his Optical Brain, the same text appeared on the Optical Brain in front of each student, each with its own colorful background skin.

Although He Muzhi was disappointed that he hadn't seen Qin Su, he quickly adjusted his mindset and studied diligently.

He and his father had once suffered an accident during a jump and strayed into a Zerg habitat. He had seen it with his own eyes: a Shui Pi, finger-sized, eyeless, red all over and dripping slime, baring its hideous, sharp teeth as it made faint cracking sounds and burrowed out of a living person's skull, bursting the brains apart. The sight had made his scalp tingle, and even now it made him so sick his teeth ached; therefore, he didn't think the teacher was exaggerating.

They had seen neither Qin Su nor what the bugs rumored to have claimed countless soldiers' lives looked like, and the text before them was dry and dull. Some students couldn't resist whispering among themselves to pass the time during what was, for them, a boring lesson:

"Come to think of it, have you noticed that Qin Su hasn't shown up in the mornings at all? I suspect he isn't even at school in the mornings."

He Muzhi, who was listening in on the gossip, agreed silently.

The earliest he had seen Qin Su was as early as it got; there had been no earlier time.

"If he's not at school, where is he? Surely he isn't leaving school to do something nobody knows about?"

"Actually, don't dismiss it. If it's Qin Su, what wouldn't be possible?"

"Then the question is, what could be more important than military academy business?"

"If you've got the guts, ask him."

"...On second thought, forget it."

"Hey, if I asked for leave and skipped morning classes too, would they let me?"

"Why don't you try?"

Two in the afternoon.

As the students trickled into the classroom, they saw the "vomit" processors on the sides of the chair armrests, their heights freely adjustable.

Most students paid the vomit processors no mind, instead staring eagerly at the door.

According to the teacher, Qin Su would be coming that afternoon.

When they saw Qin Su appear in the classroom, the students felt a happy sense of, He really came.

Under everyone's burning gazes, Qin Su chose a seat in the middle and not far from the protagonist, He Muzhi, and sat down with an indifferent expression.

He had deliberately timed his arrival, so class began the moment after he sat down, and the teacher appeared at the classroom entrance.

Upon entering, Zhou Kaiyu immediately sensed that the atmosphere was completely different from that morning. With five hundred people in one class, even quiet conversation made for a clamor, yet now it was so silent one could hear a pin drop.

And the cause of it all... Zhou Kaiyu's gaze fell on Qin Su.

Qin Su met Zhou Kaiyu's gaze expressionlessly, then gave a slight, polite nod. He had already looked through Zhou Kaiyu's information and knew he was the teacher for the Zerg Research Course, so he wasn't surprised to see him.

Zhou Kaiyu: "..."

Polite, but distant.

He didn't know why Qin Su was allowed to skip morning classes, but aside from a special group of students from powerful families on various planets who had come not to fight on the battlefield but to "gild themselves," Qin Su was the only one granted the exception of skipping morning classes from the very start of school—and even now, no one could uncover anything about his background.

And yet... everything Qin Su had done since arriving at the Fourth Military Academy, along with the powerful aura he gave off that crushed everyone indiscriminately, told everyone one thing: Qin Su absolutely couldn't be here just to gild himself.

In any case, Zhou Kaiyu was looking forward to seeing whether Qin Su could maintain his current calm, indifferent expression when he came face-to-face with "terror" shortly.