Chapter 22

Qin Su had never expected the protagonist group to ask about his whereabouts in conversation. In his mind, they were acquaintances at most, who would exchange greetings and go their separate ways.

But now that the subject had come up, he had no reason not to answer.

From the look of him, Samuel was clearly making casual conversation out of habit, not deliberately probing into his whereabouts. At least... Qin Su didn't think he detected any malice in Samuel's expression or tone.

"It's fine."

Qin Su, who hadn't done anything to feel guilty about for the time being, answered without hesitation. "Home."

Just when He Muzhi thought Qin Su definitely wouldn't answer, he heard Qin Su's calm voice, its tone completely flat and not at all an "angry tone."

Whether it was true or not, the important thing was that Qin Su... had answered them!

"...Haha."

After a moment of surprise, He Muzhi recovered. To keep any further unexpected conversation from making Qin Su think they were pushing their luck, he hurried to end this brief "encounter on a narrow path." Sensibly taking the initiative, he said, "I see... Samuel and I just came from the training grounds."

Having returned the courtesy by telling Qin Su where they had just come from, He Muzhi quickly added, "Then we won't keep you, Qin Su."

Although Qin Su was distant and aloof, he had shown excellent manners since they became "acquainted," sparing Samuel the embarrassment of being ignored.

But the more he behaved like this, the more puzzled He Muzhi was about why Qin Su had looked at them when they first met.

"Mm-hmm!"

Noticing the students gathered not far from them, Samuel finally realized that his little conversational combo wasn't suitable for someone who attracted as much attention as Qin Su. He nodded vigorously in agreement, not daring to say anything else out of turn.

Qin Su had already shown the "potted plant" to the protagonists, and he could see that the bullet comments had noticed it too. With his goal achieved, he took the opportunity to sweep his gaze over the two of them and say quietly, "Goodbye."

"Goodbye."

"Goodbye..."

He Muzhi and Samuel spoke in unison.

The two soon saw Qin Su step around them and head in the opposite direction.

As they passed each other, He Muzhi couldn't smell anything on Qin Su beyond a chilly aura, since he was wearing a Pheromone Blocker Patch.

He did, however, catch a faint fragrance with the dampness of air after rain.

The scent made He Muzhi, whose attention had been entirely on Qin Su, abruptly turn his head.

Only then did he notice that Qin Su was carrying something in the crook of his arm.

Even under the bright lights, the velvety rose in Qin Su's arm remained a deep, rich black, trembling slightly with each step he took.

His tall, straight figure, the trench coat, and the rose of an unknown variety resting casually at an angle in his arm, black yet dazzlingly vivid, made for an exceptionally eye-catching sight.

"Muzhi, thank you." He hadn't thought it through just now. "Good thing Qin Su didn't mind."

He Muzhi said, "There's no need for that between us."

[Home? Really?]

[A trench coat, a rose, and a handsome guy with a cold face. This image isn't just elegant and unattainable; it has a kind of "at home" feeling too. The atmosphere is incredible. He's so handsome I'm losing it!]

[If I'd said that, it would definitely be a lie. When a stranger asks about me, my mouth has already made something up before my brain catches up (shrug)]

[Boss 1 is wearing a trench coat, so he's clearly just come back from going out. Boss 1 told our little angel Samuel the truth. Taking ten thousand steps back, how does that not mean Samuel has a place in Boss 1's heart!]

[As expected of a shipping scholar, you really know how to ship. But you've taken way too many steps back]

[Am I the only one curious about the name of that rose? It's so elegantly, exquisitely black! I want to grow it (from someone whose flower-growing genes have awakened). I want its data within one minute! (kneels and begs)]

[Black Baccara? No, no, no, its black is nowhere near as beautiful as the one in Boss 1's hand. Even Black Ship Lily is blacker than Black Baccara in high temperatures, but the one Boss 1 has is several times blacker than Black Ship Lily, yet its contours are still so distinct, so regal and dazzling. Does a rose like this really exist?]

Qin Su, who hadn't yet left the protagonists' sight and could still see the bullet comments, was speechless.

It's a newly cultivated variety, Cremella, but... to keep anyone from discovering it in the real world, I bought it out.

He didn't know about the Comic World, but the remaining Cremella plants and cultivation data in the real world wouldn't be leaked.

"The picture is so beautiful, every frame is a masterpiece! But... what's Qin Su holding?"

"Judging by the shape... flowers? Damn it, we're too far away to see clearly. Let's get closer!"

"Come on!"

"Oh my god, it's a rose I don't recognize, but you can tell at a glance it's top quality, and it's planted in luxurious soil! Nick, isn't your mom a flower research expert? Hurry and send her the pictures you took so she can identify it."

"Wait... I'll ask my mom, but if it's in Qin Su's hands, it definitely can't be cheap."

As Qin Su "paraded through the streets," no one else approached him to speak after He Muzhi and Samuel had done so at the start.

But...

Though the students were too intimidated, that didn't stop them from quietly drawing strength from their numbers and "gathering" outside Qin Su's personal space, assuming he wouldn't notice them, and silently studying him from head to toe all the way home.

The trip from the landing point to his dormitory didn't take Qin Su long, but there were so many people watching along the way that the forum was full of photos of him, the rose in his arm, and its soil, both of which looked expensive, from almost every angle.

On the forum, people were either marveling at Qin Su being as aloof and handsome as ever, or tracking down every article of clothing and accessory he wore and the variety of rose he carried, while guessing which planet the soil came from based on its color.

The brief "confrontation" between Qin Su and He Muzhi and Samuel naturally became one of the less popular Qin Su-related topics.

But since it concerned "He Muzhi," no matter how little attention it attracted, He Wenyuan could still pick out the photos of He Muzhi from the dazzling array.

He Wenyuan was speechless.

Qin Su was such a coldhearted, heartless person, yet he had stopped for He Muzhi. Only a fool would believe he wasn't interested in He Muzhi... and, including them at a stretch, the other three good-for-nothings!

"Qin Su..." Staring at Qin Su in the photo, his gaze deep as he watched He Muzhi with a cold, restrained expression, He Wenyuan nearly ground his back teeth to pieces over those two words.

[...I can't blame the plague god for reading too much into it. The main thing is, this photo... really does look too suggestive. It's easy to get the wrong idea, but does this count as "the plague god himself ships Boss 1 and He Muzhi" in another sense?]

[That's a hell of a joke]

[I'm on board. Just imagine: an elegant, coldly handsome big shot casually holding an expensive rose in one hand, looking down as their eyes meet. His gaze seems indifferent and icy, but in truth it's suppressing an extreme □□□□□□ for the person before him]

[Hiss... that description is wild. I'm eating it up!]

[Our Boss 1's gaze is as cold as an iceberg, and you devils still think there are sparks in his eyes? Sparks from what? Sharpening knives? Or will cockroaches come dance at your place tonight?]

[I mean, don't Samuel's dewy pink eyes, the kind that would look lovingly at a dog, deserve a mention?]

[Samuel: Hello? Where are your manners?]

[Even the □□ have come out. So much filth. I'm carrying Baby 1 away, no thanks, and "attendants, bring me my peachwood sword! Today I shall run you all through!"]

Seeing these bullet comments, Qin Su was speechless.

Sometimes, he really wanted to throw a handful of glutinous rice at He Wenyuan.

As for the viewers... he'd count them as kind.

After all, they were the ones providing him with life points.

The train reached its destination and the doors opened. Qin Su drew his thoughts and attention away from the bullet comments and stepped into the hexagonal honeycomb dormitory.

Once all the prying eyes were blocked out, Qin Su put down the "fashion accessory" he had carried to attract countless gazes, stir up plenty of attention, and gain lots of favorability points and bullet comments. He then stretched his aching arm.

His arm wasn't sore from the potted plant weighing less than fifty jin. That little weight was nothing to him, as he had long been accustomed to weighted training.

The soreness was entirely a normal reaction to the sudden, high-intensity training he had undergone in the real world not long ago.

He wasn't sure how the teacher would treat the students in the freshmen's basic physical training class after two this afternoon in the Comic World.

So during his recent training, he had the coach take him through a rough run of the exercises he had practiced before, based on his physical condition, to get a feel for them and keep his body from being unaccustomed to them during the afternoon class.

After loosening up his arm, Qin Su removed the separate "wrapping papers" completely and put the potted plant together. As he did, he remembered to tell the system, "List every rose variety in the Comic World with black on its petals, and every kind of soil closest in color to the soil I brought."

Along the way, the students had not only looked interested in the soil, but had also paid unusual attention to the rose.

He had to know why.

[Okay.]

Before long, Qin Su saw the information he needed listed on his skin.

After assembling the potted plant, Qin Su spent another half hour before finally finishing both lists from beginning to end.

Qin Su finally understood why the students had looked surprised when they saw the rose plant in his hands earlier.

No matter the world, scarcity determined value was an eternal truth.

With the buffs of money and Assistant Jiang's caution and obsessive tendencies, what had been prepared for him was the most perfect and expensive even by the standards of the real world.

As a result, in this world where soil was so scarce that even black soil could become an auction item, the soil he carried, with every grain carefully selected, was naturally unimaginably expensive in the eyes of the Comic World's natives.

Not to mention that Cremella couldn't be found in this world at all, and even compared with the rare and expensive black rose varieties that existed here, it didn't fall short in the slightest.

Besides, plenty of people owned the other black roses, but his was the only plant of its kind in this world.

In other words, he no longer had to worry about people in the Comic World digging up the same variety for comparison, nor did he have to worry about Cremella's value.

What was more, thanks to the attention generated by the potted plant, his life points had now risen to minutes and 59 seconds.

With the major concern on his mind resolved, there was still an hour and twenty minutes until the two o'clock class.

Although he couldn't die, Qin Su, who hadn't slept in a long time, still decided to sleep for an hour and ten minutes so he could face the unknown training exercises that afternoon fully rested.

Fourth Military School forum.

[Can someone explain? What grade are the soil and rose Qin Su brought back from home this time?][1][2][3][4][5][6]...hot

[0F: (image)(image)(image)...]

[1F: After I consulted my flower researcher mom, she sent me this price list for black roses (image). Note: the rose Qin Su brought is a variety my mom has never seen before, but its quality exceeds auction grade. In other words, it's very likely a luxury variety that isn't available to the public and is privately monopolized. In plain language, even money might not be enough to buy it (smile)]

[2F: This is a comparison chart of the soil Qin Su brought and every kind of soil I know, based on its appearance. Anyone with eyes can easily see from the pictures that the soil growing the rose is even more perfect and fertile than the highest-grade soil shown. When I showed my dad, he started accusing me of photoshopping it to fool him and is still at it, saying soil that perfect couldn't possibly exist in this world (exhausted).]

[3F: Got it. The decorative item Qin Su casually brought back from home costs a fortune.]

[4F: Wait, Optical Brain mommy, where have you brought me? Is this somewhere I'm worthy of clicking into?]

[5F: Delete this. I have a friend who's feeling a little uncomfortable]

[6F: Didn't someone in Class 6 say Qin Su mentioned in class that a certain bug could hide undetected in soil? Can we use this chance to bring soil prices down?]

[7F: Person above, prop your pillow up higher tonight. You can have anything in your dreams. Soil merchants across the planets would never allow that to happen]

[8F: Heaven has blessed me with vinegar. Just let me die of envy]

[9F: The words reached my lips and I swallowed them back down. I'm full, wonderful. Now I can even save on nutrient solution (not really)]

[112F: Makes wanting noises (starry eyes)(starry eyes)]

[113F: Dream on, person above!]

Having been scolded just for dreaming, Samuel hurried to explain:

[114F: Sorry, I was joking (bows ninety degrees)]

[115F: ...So soft. You're an Omega, right? Private chat? (beckons)]

[116F: What kind of creep is acting up? Reported. 112F, don't add them]

Samuel frowned. After replying "thank you" to 116F, he immediately entered the other person's Optical Brain and sent 115F's comment to all of his Optical Brain friends.

At ten to two in the afternoon, Qin Su woke up, washed, and put on his everyday clothes.

Because the students needed to undergo physical training, and as another way of getting them accustomed in advance to wearing a uniform on the battlefield, the school provided disposable training uniforms specifically for physical training classes.

After arriving at the training grounds, students scanned their IDs at a machine to collect their clothes, then changed in the changing rooms.

Of course, the rules didn't require every student to wear the disposable uniforms provided for training class.

But Qin Su thought that at a training ground where matching clothes were provided and the school clearly preferred students to wear them, "standing out from the crowd" would make his classmates uncomfortable and leave a bad impression on the viewers in front of their screens.

On his way to the training ground specified in the class group notice, Qin Su discovered that his life points had risen to minutes and 08 seconds, or 116 days.

With three minutes left before the train reached its destination, Qin Su, refreshed after more than an hour of rest, relaxed for once. While eliminating possible sources of his rising popularity points one by one, he decisively opened the forum aboard the interstellar train.

Although there were different training grounds, they were so spacious that several classes were usually assigned to the same one for basic physical training.

Qin Su wasn't surprised to encounter many students on the train and remained absorbed in the forum.

Having learned that Qin Su liked to arrive just on time and found out which training ground Class 6 had been assigned, the students assigned to the same place had engineered a "chance encounter" with him on the train.

Although... it was a one-sided encounter from a full three meters away.

Seeing that Qin Su was wearing everyday clothes that were clearly not a training uniform, everyone was a little surprised.

Judging by Qin Su's past appearances in public, when he had worn brand-new clothes from head to toe every time, they had subconsciously assumed that he would wear a unique training uniform this time too.

But the reality was beyond their expectations.

This meant Qin Su would soon be wearing exactly the same training uniform as them!

How was that not getting the same style as him?

At the thought, the students assigned to the same training ground as Qin Su had a faint look of anticipation in their eyes.

Qin Su, who was reading gossip about himself on the forum, suddenly discovered that his favorability among the natives had risen for no apparent reason. "?"

What had just happened?

The train arrived. Though Qin Su still had no idea what had happened, he left the train with his usual expression amid the students' heated, surreptitious gazes.

The moment Qin Su appeared at the training ground, he became the center of attention.

The previously noisy training ground even fell silent for a moment before growing lively again.

Countless machines that "spat out" disposable training uniforms lined the edges of the vast training ground.

No matter how many people there were, they wouldn't cause a bottleneck.

Qin Su seemed to be looking straight ahead, but as he walked toward the nearest uniform machine, he watched the other students use theirs out of the corner of his eye.

With what he had glimpsed to guide him, Qin Su smoothly retrieved a Combat Suit under everyone's watchful eyes and headed for the changing rooms, following the layout of the training ground he had already scanned.

As he walked, Qin Su noticed a few people who weren't wearing the standard training uniform frowning at him. They were between 180 and 188 centimeters tall on average and, judging by their height, were Alphas.

Qin Su was speechless.

I see. They don't like me.

That was normal. Qin Su amused himself inwardly, his face expressionless. He wasn't money, so naturally he couldn't make everyone like him.

He Muzhi silently watched the whole process of Qin Su collecting his training uniform and couldn't help thinking: sure enough, someone like Qin Su understood perfectly well what to do and what to wear on different occasions.

[Huh? Why aren't they new clothes? I got my hopes up for nothing. Don't dress like everyone else, the novelty's all gone]

[He should wear the same thing. It's a group activity with specially provided clothes. I actually think it's very nice of Boss 1 to do this]

[Look at it another way: Boss 1 taking a disposable training uniform means he has to undress and change. I'm a little excited to see whether they'll draw the changing scene (little yellow heart)]

[(little yellow heart)]

Looking at the screen full of little yellow hearts, Qin Su, who had instinctively kept himself from stopping in his tracks, slowly formed a question mark in his mind.

"...?"

This was a bullet-comment section, not an uninhabited zone!

Unless the protagonists and villains went into the changing room with him... Qin Su shuddered at the thought of an awkward scene mortifying enough to make someone die of embarrassment over and over again.

The image was too bizarre. He didn't dare imagine it.

As a prominent freshman who caused a stir of one size or another at the military academy almost every day, Qin Su drew a succession of comments as soon as he disappeared from view.

"Fuck, he didn't even look at us when he walked past. Does he look down on us?"

"...Anthony, is it possible he ignores everyone equally?" Raymond spoke the truth, and at the same time tried to comfort his hot-tempered companion.

Anthony: "...He's never worn the same clothes as everyone else before, but today he's dressed just like those useless Betas. He's obviously doing it on purpose!"

Raymond was speechless. "Whatever makes you happy."

He suspected Anthony disliked Qin Su because of the pink-haired Omega named He Wenyuan from the next class, who had once tried to turn him against Qin Su and was now very close to Anthony.

After the freshman entrance ceremony, he learned that the Omega's name was He Wenyuan.

After making an excuse to meet Xuan Jingxi and subtly probing her, he guessed her attitude toward He Wenyuan from the meaningful smile she gave him and the way she called He Wenyuan her "dear younger brother." Naturally, he also realized he had been manipulated, and he had no favorable impression of He Wenyuan.

After speaking, Raymond looked down at his own training clothes and those of the other students. After some thought, he parted ways with his companions, walked to the machine, took a set of disposable training clothes, and hurried into the changing room.

A wise man knew when to adapt. Joking and fooling around were one thing, but he knew perfectly well which side he should be on.

As a friend on the surface, all he could do was offer a small prayer that Anthony wouldn't do anything irrational during the upcoming training because of some Omega's provocation.

The other students who thought normally watched Qin Su because they were genuinely curious.

Just how strong was Qin Su, with his mysterious, powerful background and his seeming control over everything, in a class where ability could be seen with the naked eye and couldn't be faked at all?

[? Seriously? You're that stingy? You won't even let us see that? Then why did we get a huge high-definition picture of that disgusting, terrifying bug? I'm going to start making a fuss!]

[Qin Su gets to see it, so why can't we? Double standards over something like this? Can't handle it? (flips table)]

[I curse the author to have to lick yogurt lids for the rest of their life]

[That's really vicious]

The changing room.

Qin Su placed the clothes he had taken off on the mechanical arm provided in the changing room. By the time it had hung and neatly ironed them, he had finished changing into his training clothes two minutes faster than expected.

There were still two minutes before class began. He had seemingly picked a changing room at random, but had actually chosen one close to the assembly point. It took only one minute to get from the changing room to the designated assembly point for Class 6.

Qin Su kept track of the time in his head and had no intention of going out early and spending too long exposed to his classmates and the viewers.

There was no need to provide a size. After an ID scan, the machine would automatically scan the entire body and "spit out" the most suitable training clothes based on the measurements.

Even though there was no mirror in the changing room, Qin Su wasn't worried that the training clothes wouldn't fit and would affect his image in the viewers' minds later.

The only thing worrying him now was...

From his limited understanding of this world's ABO system, Alphas and Omegas without Pheromone Blocker Patches were far more likely to release pheromones during intense exercise than those wearing them.

Of the many students he had briefly glanced over earlier, only a few Alphas and Omegas besides him had been wearing Pheromone Blocker Patches.

Qin Su could imagine the smell of several different pheromones mingling throughout the training grounds during the upcoming session.

So the question was, as someone who could perceive neither the smell nor the oppressive sensation of pheromones, how was he supposed to tell whether his classmates had released any?