Chapter 23

Then again, from another perspective, precisely because he couldn't sense anything... he was effectively invincible when everyone else was at the mercy of high-level pheromones.

Even so, he needed to understand them. He didn't dare slack off and leave the matter alone.

After all, if an Alpha or Omega experienced a pheromone abnormality on the battlefield, he needed to be able to make an accurate judgment and prevent the pheromones from interfering with whatever was happening.

He couldn't sense them himself, so...

He could only observe how the natives perceived them.

With that in mind, while he was still out of the comic's view, Qin Su took a deep breath and mentally prepared himself to "pay full attention while secretly watching other people's facial expressions and body language" during the coming class.

It was almost time.

Qin Su found the miniature "diffuser" among his freshly pressed clothes and carefully stuck it to the inside of his upper arm, where his clothing would cover it.

As he moved, his muscles naturally squeezed the "diffuser." Not only could its contents remove any smell of sweat caused by exercise, but modifications also allowed it to release "cold air."

Once he stopped moving, the "diffuser" would stop working too.

When Qin Su was a child, he hadn't understood why his parents had people develop something like this.

When he was three and his sister was six, their dad had secretly complained to their mom that the two of them had so much energy every day that it would be a waste not to train them. When he had people start giving them simple training, Qin Su understood.

Wearing the diffusers, his sister and he could add whatever fragrance they wanted and still smell that way after a full day of roughhousing.

Even training could be done in style.

In this world, only Betas and Alphas and Omegas whose glands were damaged and could no longer release pheromones used perfume.

With a pheromone-blocking patch on, Qin Su hadn't added any fragrance, lest someone smell something else on him and grow suspicious. He only used its "cold air."

According to the stereotype, a big shot had to be "cool" even while running. It didn't matter if he couldn't do it naturally; he would be cool "manually."

Although he was certain the instructions meant he couldn't possibly put his Combat Suit on wrong, Qin Su secured the diffuser and, before leaving, looked down at himself and carefully checked his reflection in the metal wall. Only after making sure nothing was amiss did he open the changing room door.

Plenty of people arrived at the training grounds right on time, so Qin Su wasn't surprised to see many of his classmates when he pushed the door open.

But when his classmates saw him, they visibly froze for a moment before looking down at their own clothes. Qin Su kept walking out, puzzled.

If he hadn't made a point of checking before leaving, he might have suspected something was wrong with his clothes and turned back to the changing room.

It was a small gesture, but in Qin Su's view, someone who couldn't even "confidently manage" what he wore would still undermine his persona.

While he was still some distance from the changing room door, Qin Su considered the system's description of Kayshir Yasfry.

The basic physical training instructor for class 6 of the twenty-sixth cohort was a female Alpha with chestnut hair and eyes named Kayshir Yasfry.

Remembering that he had missed the morning classes, Qin Su deliberately softened his footsteps and adopted a more cautious and serious attitude.

This instructor valued a serious, hardworking attitude more than individual physical ability. From the moment she appeared and her class began, she wanted her students to give her and her training sessions one hundred and twenty percent and follow her orders.

Whatever status the students held elsewhere, her word was the only command on the training grounds.

As long as they did their best, even if the final results fell short, their evaluations wouldn't be too low.

If they ultimately couldn't remain at the military academy and were asked to leave, a reasonably good record would help them get into another school quickly and even help to some extent when they looked for work in the future.

At that moment, Kayshir Yasfry was watching one of the time displays found throughout the training grounds.

Forty-three seconds remained until exactly two o'clock.

Yet two students had still not returned to formation. One was Qin Su, the prominent freshman of the twenty-sixth cohort with a mysterious background; the other... was an Alpha from one of the deeply interconnected families that held enormous influence and resources across many planets.

Qin Su had skipped every morning class without exception. From the other two instructors who had taught him, she had learned some things about him.

In any case, whoever it was, such a lack of punctuality was absolutely unacceptable in her eyes.

Lateness had to be punished.

Now there were only thirty seconds left...

Before Kaixier finished the countdown in her head, she saw a change in the way the students not far in front of her, and even those from other classes, were looking behind her.

Of the various emotions on their faces, being awestruck was the most obvious.

The only person likely to provoke that reaction was probably the freshman Qin Su.

She had heard his footsteps at the freshman entrance ceremony.

But...

With her keen hearing, ever since the students' gazes had changed, she hadn't heard any footsteps belonging to Qin Su among the many jumbled ones behind her.

Kaixier looked away from the time display and turned around.

When Kaixier looked in the same direction as the students in her class, her brows rose involuntarily.

She finally understood why the students had reacted as they had.

She was an Alpha herself. Because different pheromones affected the human body differently during development, Alphas were naturally taller and bigger than Betas and Omegas.

Qin Su's height of 1.9 meters wasn't uncommon among Alphas.

Quite a few Alphas who were 1.9 meters tall were among the students hurrying toward other classes at that moment.

But...

Everyone else of the same height faded into the background. Without doing anything special, simply "returning to formation" at a steady, ordinary pace, his every movement made the others pale in comparison.

If she hadn't deliberately compared them, when she turned and saw Qin Su, she wouldn't have noticed who else was around him at all; they would have been nothing but hurrying afterimages.

He wore a black, fitted half-sleeve top with a half-high neckline, and loose combat pants tucked into lace-up combat boots.

The training uniform was identically and uniformly made, yet on Qin Su, both its texture and cut made it look not only sharp and handsome but especially expensive.

What made Kaixier view him even more favorably was that Qin Su could have gone his own way like the other "special" students who treated the military academy as nothing more than a stepping stone and saw no need to take it seriously, yet he had unexpectedly followed the rules of the training grounds.

Under everyone's gaze, Qin Su maintained his unhurried pace, showing no sign of "panic" as he returned to his class's formation with an expressionless face.

There were only two adjacent empty spots in the front row. Without hesitation, Qin Su took the one on the very end.

Whether out of personal preference or consideration for his position, he didn't want to be sandwiched between two people.

Having successfully returned to his classmates just in time, Qin Su could not only feel their scorching gazes, which seemed ready to bore through him, but also detect the instructor's undisguised scrutiny.

A second after Qin Su returned to formation, Kaixier saw the clock tick over to the exact hour.

Kaixier: "..."

Sometimes she really wanted to ask how people whose entire beings radiated the aura of a "big shot who was no ordinary person" managed to have such a "pathological" fixation on and control over time as well.

Even though Qin Su had returned to their midst, his classmates' gazes continued to linger on him. Countless times they wanted to speak but stopped themselves, swallowing who knew how many excited words.

With Qin Su and the instructor right there, everyone held their words back so hard they were practically bursting out of their eyes.

As He Muzhi's gaze captured Qin Su and brought him before the comic's audience, the viewers gave voice to what the students of the Comic World wanted to say.

[!!! Black really is the best. Ordinary people look handsome in it as long as they don't mess up the outfit, but on a big shot with maxed-out charisma and an aura 2.8 meters tall, it's a classic among classics!]

[Look at those broad shoulders, those long legs with every step landing right on my heart, and that strong-looking waist—clearly a top-tier waist! Only he knows the pleasure of it (just kidding).]

[Nom nom nom nom nom nom...]

[Those arm muscles showing as he walks and the body lines outlined by that tight black top (pant, pant). I can't imagine how □□□□□ he'd look without it.]

[Seduction! Blatant seduction! (No objections accepted.)]

[Clothes bursting off! Clothes bursting off!!! Other comics have that classic scene, and we want it too!]

[Waaah, my hand hurts so much. I rode a shared bike to get an X-ray, and the doctor frowned and said there was something in my bones. Good grief, I leaned in for a look, and it turned out my love for our top baby had gone bone-deep. (Rose in mouth.)]

Qin Su, who had been passing the time reading the comments while waiting for the instructor to do something: "..."

Here was proof that AI couldn't replace humans: AI didn't have netizens' way with words.

Class had begun. Qin Su clearly had no particular feelings about being the center of everyone's attention, and his expression showed nothing unusual. Clearly, he was already used to being treated this way.

Kaixier set aside the jumble of thoughts in her mind for the moment and glanced sternly at the empty spot. "It seems our Raymond is unhappy with this morning's class. This is only our second session, and he's already going to give his instructor a..."

Before Kaixier could finish, Raymond's voice and hurried footsteps came from behind her.

"Coming, coming! Instructor, I-I'm here!" Raymond raised a hand as he jogged over to show he had come to class.

Raymond had worn his own clothes to the morning classes. This was his first time wearing the training uniform supplied by the school.

At home, he was used to standing there like a "decoration" and waiting for someone to help him dress. On top of that, the training uniform was complicated and difficult to take off, and he had gone to the changing room later than the others. With all those buffs stacked together, he wasted quite a while and ended up late.

As Raymond spoke, he hurried to the front of his classmates. He had intended to join the formation, but when he saw the empty spot, he couldn't help glancing at Qin Su beside it. The fear of sitting next to Qin Su and being dominated by him at the freshman entrance ceremony came back to him.

"..."

The spot next to Q-Qin Su??? Raymond's feet froze.

Nobody had told him he'd face retribution for being late.

While Raymond stood frozen instead of "joining the formation," Kaixier's cool voice rang out.

"Raymond, you're late." Kaixier placed a hand on Raymond's shoulder and gave it a warning pat.

Raymond clearly hadn't worn the standard training uniform that morning, but now he looked like this... and when he looked at Qin Su, he thought he was being discreet, but his wariness and speculation were especially obvious to everyone else. Clearly, he was wearing the uniform because Qin Su was.

"Instructor, I'm sorry..." Raymond apologized in a low voice.

Whether going about their daily lives or making a jump to another planet for a vacation, children like them always had countless bodyguards around them. Apart from those in special circumstances or with strict families, most children had received only some basic training. In front of Kaixier, who had been on a battlefield, Raymond felt a heavy pressure on his shoulder from that pat.

"No need." Kaixier withdrew her hand from Raymond's shoulder and pointed to a spot beside her, in front of the students of class 6. "Sixty push-ups in one minute, as punishment for being eight seconds late," she ordered coldly.

"...Yes, Instructor."

At the thought that he would still have to stand in the empty spot next to Qin Su after his punishment, Raymond went, "..."

His heart went cold.

Swallowing a three-thousand-word complaint, Raymond glanced at Qin Su. If Qin Su weren't there, he would find a way to get out of the punishment.

But in front of Qin Su, he didn't want to do something that would displease him. After answering, he walked to the spot the instructor had indicated. No longer able to worry about losing face in front of a group of his playmates, he got down on the ground and assumed the position in front of everyone.

Qin Su: "?"

He wasn't the one who had handed out the punishment, so why did this classmate named Raymond keep looking at him?

And that Alpha named Anthony—how many times was he going to glare at him?

Qin Su really wanted to lock the two of them together, one on each side, so they would stop "tormenting" him and leaving him speechless.

Qin Su soon put the question out of his mind, because Raymond had started doing push-ups. He was one of Qin Su's samples for observing the natives' physical fitness.

"One, two..."

To make the students wary and keep them from being late again, Kaixier deliberately counted aloud.

The punishment really wasn't harsh; it was just a light penalty meant as a warning.

Without showing anything on his face, Qin Su lowered his eyes and silently timed Raymond too.

The minute passed quickly as Raymond's breathing grew increasingly rapid.

Fifty-five.

Qin Su repeated the number silently.

Although it wasn't as many as he could do in a minute, in the real world, being able to do fifty-five push-ups in one minute was excellent physical fitness for the vast majority of people.

Moreover, judging by Raymond's irregular breathing during the exercise and the condition of his muscles, which showed few signs of exercise, he clearly didn't have a habit of training regularly.

Without special training, he could casually do push-ups and still outperform most people in the real world.

Qin Su concluded that the natives of the Comic World not only lived longer than people in the real world, but A-rank Alphas were also physically stronger than them.

"..."

Envy twisted his face beyond recognition.

If he had the natives' physical fitness, he could hardly imagine how shocked his coaches would be when he returned.

Having reached that conclusion, Qin Su became even more cautious about the coming class.

"Whew..." Raymond, who had ultimately needed more than ten extra seconds to finish all sixty push-ups, heard the instructor's words, steadied his ragged breathing, and braced himself as he walked to the only empty spot.

When he took his place, Raymond couldn't help edging toward the classmate on his right. That classmate was very understanding of Raymond's behavior, and the two stood shoulder to shoulder, sympathizing with each other like fellow sufferers.

[I want to see Boss 1 do push-ups!]

[Su baby's back is so beautiful. It would be a shame not to make him do push-ups with a "weight" on it.]

Qin Su, who had reached a conclusion one second and seen the comments the next, felt his world collapse: "..."

Only people who were late got punished. Couldn't the netizens just talk? Why had they started cursing him too?!

Although Raymond stood five fingers' width away from Qin Su after "returning to formation," he found that his height, build, and even posture fell far short of Qin Su's.

Wouldn't the other students use him as a comparison? Raymond was suddenly struck by a feeling that he had a "hard life."

Qin Su, who noticed Raymond sneaking several more glances at him: "..."

He couldn't figure it out.

Having made an example of Raymond, Kaixier surveyed the training grounds. The other classes had already begun training.

Kaixier thought for a moment, swept her gaze over the track, and said, "Let's start with ten kilometers. Since this is your first run, we won't time you this time."

"Those who finish first can rest first, until the next training exercise begins."

Through the class group chat list, a ten-kilometer countdown appeared on each student's Optical Brain as soon as Kaixier finished speaking.

Qin Su, who had looked relaxed but had actually kept his body tense while waiting for the instructor to announce the class activities, felt his apprehension ease for the moment.

There were seven classes on the training grounds. Although they shared the same grounds, each class had a different training schedule.

Only class 7, like class 6, was starting with a run.

Raymond's punishment had taken some time, and class 7 had already set off.

Based on his observations of class 7, Qin Su temporarily relied on stereotypes of height and build to classify the tall, powerfully built natives as Alphas, the small and slender ones as Omegas, and those in between as Betas.

Using those categories, Qin Su found that the Alphas generally led the pack, with greater explosive power and speed than the Betas and Omegas, while the Betas outperformed the Omegas.

Judging by the condition of class 7, they clearly hadn't undergone systematic training before entering the military academy. More than ninety-nine percent of them were "newbies."

As for their speed...

They still ran faster than "newbies" in the real world.

Qin Su relaxed further after comparing his previous training data with the current data of the Alphas in class 7.

At his speed, with the advantage of having started training at least ten years earlier, a mere ten kilometers was nothing.

Even while maintaining his speed, he would still have time to continue observing the physical fitness data of his "samples" and judge from everyone's expressions "who had leaked pheromones."

"Begin!"

At Kaixier's command, the students, who only wanted to finish early and rest early, swarmed out and joined class 7.

The track was extremely wide, able to accommodate five thousand people running at once.

But...

Anthony fixed a brooding gaze on Qin Su's position and sped up. A few bumps and collisions were unavoidable while running, weren't they?

Because pheromones affected their bodies differently, the Alphas soon surged to the front.

Qin Su was among them.

Anthony, who had been preparing to trip Qin Su up during the run: "...?"

Wait, where had Qin Su, a whole grown man, gone in such a short time?!

He Muzhi had long noticed that something was off about the way Anthony looked at Qin Su. He had originally worried that Anthony might try something, but when he saw that Anthony couldn't even outrun him, he breathed a sigh of relief.

Qin Su wouldn't even take someone like Anthony, who couldn't beat He Muzhi, seriously.

In fact, he hadn't seen Qin Su give Anthony so much as a glance.

He Muzhi quickened his pace, putting all his strength into closing in on Qin Su.

When He Wenyuan saw Class 6 running too, he deliberately slowed down to wait for He Muzhi to catch up. But when he turned his head, he saw that He Muzhi's gaze was fixed on... Qin Su.

"..."

[Let me get this straight. Wendi is looking at He Muzhi, He Muzhi is looking at Boss 1, Anthony looked at Wendi, then turned his gaze to Boss 1, and Wendi, loving the house and its crow, also looked at Boss 1. What kind of messy relationship is this?]

[And Boss 1... isn't moved by anyone! Hahaha]

The track was circular, which made it convenient for Qin Su to run all the way around and thoroughly observe the data of every "sample."

Although to him it was "only ten kilometers," Qin Su knew full well that, besides the viewers in front of their screens, the natives on the scene were also silently watching his every move.

He was first, and he had to be first by a crushing margin over Class 7, which had started running before his class.

So, without compromising his observations, Qin Su ran at his fastest speed.

Immersed in his own world, Qin Su paid no attention to the bullet comments' gossip about a "multisided relationship." He was focused solely on "achieving his goal."

With everyone watching, Qin Su emerged like a dark horse on the vast track. During his second lap, he quickly passed the fastest Alpha in Class 7.

Valette Hayden had been sitting comfortably in first place in Class 7. Just as he was feeling smug, a cool, pleasant scent swept past his ear.

"???"

What had just gone past him?!

By the time he reacted and looked ahead, he saw that Qin Su from Class 6 had already pulled some distance ahead of him.

Valette had finally mustered all his strength to reach first place, hoping to use the opportunity to add a few more Omega friends after training. Now his dream was shattered, and his face darkened.

Since ancient times, only the person in first place had made a lasting impression and inspired admiration.

Now, who would remember him?

To make matters worse, the person who had passed him was the famous Alpha Qin Su, someone he couldn't afford to provoke.

Then he remembered how some idiot had hacked his Optical Brain and sent everyone the suggestive message, "So soft, is that an Omega? (beckons)," causing the people who felt "harassed by him" to curse eighteen generations of his ancestors to his face via 3D projection before deleting him from their Optical Brain contacts. Valette broke down.

Why was he so unlucky?!

Even in a crowd, when everyone else was swallowed up by it, Qin Su still stood out. Once people fixed their eyes on him, they found it hard to look away.

His posture, his strides, his breathing, the state of his body... all of it showed everyone watching Qin Su's every move the same fact:

Qin Su had definitely undergone systematic training.

It was one thing for him to run fast, but his breathing wasn't the slightest bit ragged. His posture was elegant, and every movement was unhurried. There wasn't even a hint of strain on his cold, stern face.

[That's right, our boss has to be top 1 wherever he goes.]

[As expected of a perfect 2D character!]

The students on the track had originally wanted to compete for superiority, but they grew more and more tired and lost their initial high spirits. Some even gave up trying altogether, watching everything Qin Su did as they ran.

"Did you smell it? When Qin Su from Class 6 ran past!"

"Smell what?" The person speaking sniffed. "There wasn't any smell."

"Of course there wasn't!" the person who answered said excitedly. "Not only was there no smell, there was even a cold aura!"

"Now that you mention it, there really was!"

Soon, the rumor that "Qin Su is ice-cold even when he runs" spread among the students whose minds weren't on running.

The teachers and students from other classes who were watching noticed the oddity on the track and wondered: What was going on?

On Qin Su's own fifth lap, he still hadn't noticed anything unusual about his classmates' complexions.

It seems that outside the susceptible period, pheromones can't easily leak out as long as it isn't deliberate.

With that thought, Qin Su began his sixth lap.

As time went on, everyone else on the track grew noticeably slower, apart from Qin Su.

When Qin Su had only one lap left before completing the ten-kilometer task, he caught up to He Muzhi.

And behind He Muzhi was He Wenyuan.

He Wenyuan had finally managed to catch up behind He Muzhi, only to discover that although He Muzhi had clearly reached his limit, he was still forcing himself to pull away from He Wenyuan and run toward Qin Su.

He Wenyuan, whose heart had been twisted and repressed for so long, broke down. The moment he lost control and gritted his teeth, non-native pheromones poured from his gland.

[Cat head]