Chapter 33

Chapter 33

"What are you doing here!" The thin, sallow youth widened his eyes, his face filled with terror.

Yi Ye hooked his arm around the other's neck without any courtesy: "Long time no see, senior! Why are you so nervous? But I didn’t expect to see you here too—that’s great, I finally ran into a colleague."

"You... you got invited to the committee!?"

The thin, sallow youth began to tremble slightly. He had heard all about Yi Ye and Kaiser teaming up to ace the freshman assessment and take first place. Now, Yi Ye was even on the committee. If Yi Ye found out he was the one who dumped that trash on his bed, he'd be dead meat!

"Nah, I'm just here to do some odd jobs." Yi Ye glanced up and down at the youth's attire, "You're here for the same thing, right?"

"..."

The thin, sallow youth asked skeptically: "You're not a formal member?"

Yi Ye just shook his head.

The thin, sallow youth sighed in relief, then asked him: "So, did you come with Kaiser?"

Yi Ye nodded, noticing the youth's unease. His eyes flickered, then he put on a sorrowful face and started complaining about Kaiser's "violent behavior."

"Thanks for the heads-up that day, senior, or I would've been beaten to a pulp by Kaiser on my first night in the dorm. Even though I busted my ass for him afterwards—making the bed, folding quilts, doing laundry, cooking—you have no idea how hard it is to deal with Kaiser. I often can't sleep until two or three in the morning, scared he'll punch me to death in his sleep."

The thin, sallow youth listened, stunned, "You're thanking me? Don't you know about the trash that day..."

"Hmm, what about the trash?" Yi Ye's gaze was innocent.

"...Nothing, nothing! We're all students at the Imperial Honor Military Academy; helping each other out is just what we do." He laughed awkwardly, slipping out from under Yi Ye's arm. But he still didn't fully trust Yi Ye and casually asked him a bunch of questions, including details about the freshman assessment. He believed that details could reveal the truth, but when Yi Ye talked about how he couldn't sleep during exams, always getting beaten up by Kaiser until he was covered in bruises, his face full of genuine emotion, almost crying...

He bought it.

This was as real as it gets.

Looks like Yi Ye's really suffering under Kaiser.

The youth suddenly felt a little sorry for him.

"Hang in there, just four more years to go." He empathized, patting Yi Ye's shoulder, then picked up the broom from the ground and handed it to him, "Here, take my broom. Let's get to work."

Yi Ye took the broom, sincerely saying, "Thanks, senior!"

The area they needed to clean was only the first-floor hall of the villa and the garden outside. The second floor was off-limits to non-formal members, which just lightened Yi Ye's workload. He half-heartedly swept the fallen leaves off the steps in front of the villa, and while no one else had arrived yet, subtly inquired about the situation here from the thin, sallow youth.

The youth's name was Roger, a second-year Alpha student. He had been a member of the Honor Committee for a year, coming here every Sunday on time to clean, and usually running errands for the formal members of the committee.

Not counting Bai Chuan and others, there were a total of 21 members in the committee, among which only 4 were S-level honor students, but they were mostly out on missions, rarely staying on campus. Those few that Yi Ye had seen in the library before were actually A-level students.

"So currently, the only S-level on campus is the crown prince, Peide?"

Roger said yes, but the crown prince had not participated in any committee activities since his injury, and he hadn't seen him in person for a long time.

Yi Ye tried to learn more about the crown prince from him. Roger spoke highly of him, saying that although the crown prince was the crown prince of the empire, he was the most amiable and friendly person in the entire committee, even someone as insignificant as him had received a smile from him.

This matched Yi Ye's impression of the crown prince. During the plot, Peide Huang didn't have much screen time and appeared late, but he remembered that the other was a normal person.

...

Just as Yi Ye and Roger were chatting, a bell suddenly rang.

Roger's face suddenly tensed up, and he frantically stashed the mop, rag, and bucket in the bushes. He straightened his clothes with lightning speed, spat twice to slick back his floppy bangs, and then sprinted toward the door at full speed.

Yi Ye was momentarily stunned by Roger's sudden burst of speed and quickly strode after him.

By the time Yi Ye caught up, Roger was already bowing at a perfect 90-degree angle, his voice booming and completely unlike that of a scrawny, sallow-faced old geezer.

"Good day, seniors! I've already cleaned the entire villa!"

"Yeah, yeah," a brown-haired youth said impatiently, picking at his ear. "You always say the same thing. Can't you think of anything else?"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Senior Kappel. I'll definitely do better next time," Roger repeatedly apologized.

"What a pain," Kappel muttered, glancing ahead. When he noticed Yi Ye, he let out a low hum but didn't say anything else.

Yi Ye stepped aside to let them pass into the villa, then turned back to look at the still-bowing "old geezer."

...This guy really has a knack for being a corporate drone.

Before Yi Ye could wait for Bai Chuan and the others, he followed Roger into the villa to stand by. Several top-tier students of the Imperial Honor Military Academy were gathered around the sofa in the hall. Kappel wiped the tabletop, frowned, and asked who had cleaned it.

Yi Ye had only been responsible for mopping the floor and clearing the leaves outside, so the table wasn't his responsibility. Just as he was about to speak, Roger hurriedly apologized, "I'm so sorry! Next time, I'll make sure to keep an eye on Yi Ye!"

Yi Ye: "............"

He took back his earlier thought—this guy was better suited to being a bootlicker!!

"How can you screw up even such a simple task?" Kappel said with an expression that suggested he had expected as much, making Yi Ye itch to throw his mop at Kappel's face. However, at that moment, Roger looked at him with guilt, his face pale and skeletal, as if he might keel over from rapid breathing at any second.

Yi Ye narrowed his eyes at him, suddenly struck by an idea, and chose not to argue.

Half an hour later, Kaiser and the others arrived one after another. Bai Chuan was the last to arrive, his expressionless face tightening in displeasure when he saw Yi Ye wearing an apron and a mask.

Yi Ye, however, didn't seem fazed at all and even waved cheerfully at him.

Kaiser glanced at their exchange and let out an annoyed grunt.

"Alright, now that everyone's here," the acting president, Elia, stood up, clapping his hands to signal Roger to shut the door.

In the hall, aside from Bai Chuan and the others, five committee members were present, all of whom Yi Ye had spotted in the library. They briefly introduced themselves, with Kaiser and Bush Meihua having previously met some of the committee members at various banquets, so they were somewhat familiar with each other.

The real outsiders here were Bai Chuan and Yi Ye, who was still clutching his mop.

Yi Ye listened as they began discussing internal committee matters, including introductions to other committee members. Students of the Imperial Honor Military Academy began taking on external missions starting in their third year, which was why most of the formal members weren't present.

Yi Ye wasn't paying much attention, absentmindedly swinging his mop handle, until he heard the keyword "Zerg," at which point he focused.

Acting President Elia brought up the recent Zerg invasion incident. After an investigation, it was found that seven people had died and 21 were injured. The captured Zerg had been transferred to a military base a few days prior for professional study. The red Zerg they had captured turned out to be a high-ranking male Zerg, but strangely, its intelligence level was lower than that of the Zerg the Empire had previously encountered. Its humanoid form was also underdeveloped, more like a semi-evolved creature somewhere between intermediate and advanced.

The school couldn't understand why the Zerg would send such a creature to invade, so many believed it was an "out-of-control" Zerg that had accidentally entered the school. This view was also shared by many within the committee.

Out of control...

Yi Ye recalled the silver-white Zerg he had seen that day. He didn't believe he had imagined it, but where had that Zerg gone after disappearing into thin air? Had it escaped the military academy?

His intuition told him that the appearance of the red Zerg might be related to the silver-white one, or perhaps it was meant to cover for it. Yi Ye had considered reporting this to the school, but Kaiser had told him that no surveillance equipment in the academy had captured the silver-white Zerg. In fact, Yi Ye was the only person in the entire Imperial Honor Military Academy who had seen that Zerg and was still alive.

Without solid evidence, his gut told him it was better to keep his mouth shut.

"One of the purposes of the committee is to maintain order within the military academy. I hope the three of you joining today will also keep this in mind," Senior Elia said, placing his hand over his chest and nodding solemnly towards them. "May the heart of the empire guide us with divine vision."

"Of course," Kaiser responded with the same gesture but quickly added, "But the committee hasn't given me a corresponding answer, has it?"

Elia: "What do you mean?"

Kaiser pointed towards Yi Ye, who was daydreaming: "Promote him to full membership."

"..." Yi Ye snapped back to reality to find everyone staring at him, "?"

"You're out of your mind! The committee has never allowed a Beta to become a full member, especially since his talents are not superior! I am the first to disagree!" Kappel immediately stood up to refute.

Elia also showed a troubled expression.

Kaiser crossed his legs and leaned back slightly: "What happened before is irrelevant to me. You should have seen his simulated battlefield clips. His reflexes are sharper than most of you here. If your committee values strength, he should appear as a full member, not... a glorified errand boy."

Yi Ye was initially pleased that Kaiser had praised him, but upon hearing the latter part, he felt bittersweet.

Bush Meihua also spoke up at this moment: "As much as I can't stand Kaiser, I have to agree with him today. Yi Ye is a trustworthy companion. It’d be a shame to lose him, and I would also find it hard to stay long in the committee."

"Bush?! You too..." Kappel widened his eyes in disbelief, not expecting even the infamous schemer Bush Meihua to back this Beta. What’s so special about this guy that even two top Alphas are vouching for him?

Aside from being easy on the eyes, what else does he even—

Kappel's pupils suddenly contracted, as if he had discovered some horrifying secret.

Are the three of them...? Oh my god, that’s disgusting!!!

Yi Ye watched Kappel’s face cycle through white, yellow, green, and finally a deep red, thinking to himself, "Wow."

"System, this guy’s face is like a mood ring on steroids."

"System: [Insert sarcastic remark here]."

Two of the three new members had already backed Yi Ye. The others' gazes naturally fell on Bai Chuan, who had remained silent the entire time. His expression was icy, and after a moment, he stood up and walked over to Yi Ye.

"Let's go."

Yi Ye tilted his head?

"This place isn’t worth our time," Bai Chuan said indifferently, pulling him towards the door.

Elia finally panicked, rushing forward to stop them: "Wait! We can still work something out!"