Chapter 149: The Dilemma

Chapter 149: Predicament

Liang Xu held onto the resume, for a moment even forgetting to release it.

Shi Lv turned his head slightly. "Mr. Liang?"

Liang Xu's fingertips trembled faintly, though his expression remained composed. He nodded at Shi Lv with a smile and affirmed, "A very well-done resume."

Shi Lv shook his hand. "Thank you."

He didn’t take the compliment seriously.

A man like Liang Xu probably praised every resume that came his way—even if it was written like trash, he’d still call it "well-done." But praise aside, it wouldn’t stop him from tossing it into the trash afterward.

Their hands met briefly before separating, and Shi Lv stood up to leave.

Only after Shi Lv had stepped out of the door did Liang Xu finally ease the tension in his body beneath his suit.

Just now, he had caught an unusual scent in the air.

The scent of bamboo leaves and moss after rain.

That was Shi Lv’s pheromones.

The crookedly applied suppressant patch on Shi Lv’s neck had allowed traces of his pheromones to escape, faintly lingering on the resume.

To most people, such a faint trace of pheromones would be negligible. But to Liang Xu, it was like a spark hitting dry kindling or cold water hitting boiling oil—he instantly held his breath.

—This young man’s pheromones were eighty percent similar to the sample injected into his gland.

Liang Xu had once despised the scent of Ye Xuan’s pheromones—slick, oily, clammy, and cold, like moldy walls and floors during humid weather, or huddled brown rats in rain-soaked sewers, stinking of rot and decay.

But this young man was different. His scent was also reminiscent of rain, yet it was the rain of a forest—fresh and purifying, evoking the image of a mountain stream swelling after rainfall, or moss thriving on rain-slicked stones.

Similar, yet distinct.

This was exactly what Liang Xu needed.

By now, the last applicant had turned in their resume and left the hall. The secretary gathered all the documents and reached for the one in Liang Xu’s hand. "President Liang, I’ll take that."

"Oh, just a moment—" Liang Xu adjusted his glasses and smiled gently again. "This resume is rather interesting. I’d like to review it further."

He casually pulled back the paper.

The secretary was slightly puzzled. Though C University was one of the best in the Federation, the students were still rookies—their achievements were barely more than child’s play to someone like Liang Xu. What could possibly be worth lingering over?

With that thought, the secretary peeked sideways and caught the name on the resume.

—Shi Lv, fourth-year Economics major at C University.

The resume itself was nothing special, nothing particularly noteworthy. The only anomaly was the photo in the top-right corner.

It was a slightly youthful photo—blue background, white shirt. The person in the picture had sharp features, thin lips, and a calm smile. Even under the secretary’s critical eye, it was undeniable that this was a very handsome young man.

Then he checked the gender.

—ALPHA.

Their CEO had kept an ALPHA’s resume.

*

Shi Lv was at his wit's end.

C University was one of the top schools in the country, and accordingly, its campus was vast. After following the map for what felt like ages, he finally managed to distinguish the general locations of the cafeteria and teaching buildings.

At mealtime, he quietly swiped his meal card at the top-up machine. The machine beeped and announced, "Balance: thirty-six cents. Would you like to recharge?"

Shi Lv: "..."

Thirty-six cents? Couldn't even buy a damn scallion.

Perfect. Not only were dozens of credit cards overdue, but he didn’t even have money for food.

He sat down on a flowerbed and tried to find someone in his phone contacts who might offer help. However, the original owner’s social circle was downright weird, with names like "Brother Zhang," "Brother Li," and "Brother Wang," screamed 'sketchy'. Hesitating for a moment, Shi Lv decided against randomly calling these "brothers."

Beyond that, there were only a few long-uncontacted classmates. Scrolling to the bottom of the contact list, his finger paused slightly.

The note for this number read: "Mom."

Yet, there was no contact for a father in the entire phone.

Shi Lv’s finger hovered over the last entry, but he still wasn’t about to dial.

He wasn’t about to face the original owner’s family.

But as he turned off the screen, his finger accidentally tapped the call button.

Panicking, Shi Lv tried to hang up, but the next second, a cold electronic voice sounded.

"Hello, the number you have dialed is not in service. Please check the number and try again. Sorry, The number you dialed—"

"..."

Shi Lv dropped the phone to his side.

Just his fucking luck.

It was dinner time. Young men and women walked arm in arm into the cafeteria, chatting and laughing, their plaid skirts swaying gracefully in the air. Meanwhile, Shi Lv sat alone on the edge of the flowerbed, clutching his meal card with its pathetic thirty-six cent balance.

He rummaged through his wallet, swiped a few dollars from his last remaining credit card into the meal card, bought a wrap, and ate it in a corner of the cafeteria before leaving with a folder in hand.

This folder had been thrust at him by Headphones when he left. Inside were dozens of printed resumes. Coincidentally, it was the campus job fair, and many companies had set up temporary booths in the square. Besides full-time positions, there were also daily-paid odd jobs and work-study opportunities, with recruiters handing out flyers to passing students. Of course, compared to New Leaf Group, which held its recruitment session in the auditorium under a dozen spotlights, these booths looked downright pathetic.

The immediate priority for Shi Lv was to keep himself fed.

The pile of maxed-out credit cards couldn’t be repaid anytime soon, so there was no rush on that front. But taking on some work-study projects seemed like a decent idea.

Shi Lv circled the bulletin board. His current situation was awkward—he was supposedly in the physics department but had no degree, and while he was now in finance, he was clueless about it. For the moment, he wasn’t sure what to do. Thinking about his debt and the thirty-six cent meal card, he paused for a moment before heading toward a corner.

The corner was unattended, filled with flashy posters advertising daily odd jobs, short-term tutoring, or library organizing gigs.

Shi Lv applied for a few mid-to-long-term physics tutoring positions and picked some short-term ones. Finally, his eyes locked onto one particular notice.

"Seeking a good-looking, well-spoken university Alpha to pose as a boyfriend/girlfriend for one day to meet parents and get out of setup dates. Payment: 800/day."

Eight hundred bucks? That was rent money!

Shi Lv felt his resolve crumbling.

In their ABO society, the Alpha/Omega divide was even stricter. Despite AO equality and advocacy for free love, if an Omega wanted to avoid blind dates or parental pressure, they might rent themselves an Alpha to play the part.

Shi Lv didn’t know this, but from his conversation with Earphone, he learned he was an alpha, and this job paid 800 a day.

With his good looks, excellent temperament, height well over 1.8 meters, slender build, and decent education, he was a great candidate to fake being a boyfriend to appease parents. Seeing Shi Lv actually start copying down the number, clearly about to call, 66 sternly warned, "Su Zhu, please cease this behavior immediately!"

The little system was about to faint.

It floated midair, smacked Su Zhu on the head, then hovered in front of the poster, barricading it with its body. "Please strictly adhere to the plot and await New Leaf Group's interview. Do not apply to other companies midway! And no weird side gigs!"

If Su Zhu got recognized by Elder Ye later and returned to the group, only to be exposed for working as a fake boyfriend—what would happen to the young heir’s image?

Shi Lv: "You think I want to?"

He was a perfectly fine college student, already a senior, just waiting to finish his thesis and go on a graduation trip. Then he woke up to eighteen maxed-out credit cards and a meal card with a pitiful 36 cents left. If he didn’t take on some odd jobs, how was he supposed to eat?

He grabbed the system and tossed it aside. "Move, you're blocking the number."

It could fly—it wasn’t gonna die from a fall.

66, dazed from the toss, stubbornly flew back and planted itself in front of the poster again, its tone severe. "Su Zhu, stop immediately and wait for New Leaf Group's interview!"

—Too late. Shi Lv had already saved the number in his phone.

He pocketed his phone, annoyed. "Seriously, do you really think Liang Xu would want me? That New Leaf would want me? Liang Xu probably already tossed my resume."

Shi Lv had interned before. When he handed his resume to Liang Xu, he took a glance—the original owner wasn’t some outstanding student. The lower half of the resume was mostly blank, and the projects listed were just filler class projects. A resume like that wouldn’t even get him into mid-tier companies, let alone an industry giant.

Besides, even if Liang Xu had a brain fart, the moment Shi Lv showed up clueless about Finance 101, he’d be rejected anyway.

66: "They’ll want you! They absolutely will!"

—How could they not? You’re the rich heir! And Liang Xu would never throw away your resume—he’s obsessed with your pheromones! Later, he’ll suffer under you, get tied to the headboard for steamy scenes, starved of pheromones till he’s begging, and even forced to cut out his scent gland and flee abroad!

But bound by restrictions, 66 couldn’t say any of that. It could only mechanically repeat, "Please cease immediately and await New Leaf Group's interview."

Shi Lv shrugged. "Fine, I’ll wait. If New Leaf interviews me, I’ll go, okay?"

Even so, he sighed inwardly. Where did this clueless system come from? Unless Liang Xu was brain-damaged or missing screws, why would he pick Shi Lv’s resume out of hundreds?

If this resume got him into New Leaf Group, Shi Lv would believe pigs could fly.

He dumped the seething little system on his shoulder. "Having a fallback isn’t bad. If I fail, at least there’s a safety net."

He needed to eat first.

Shi Lv felt zero guilt. Who didn’t spam applications these days? Some people sent out hundreds daily. He didn’t get why 66 was so worked up.

66: "..."

After emphasizing the main mission, it was silenced again, unable to explain that Shi Lv was actually a rich heir slumming it. All it could do was repeat in its robotic voice, "Su Zhu, be prepared for tonight’s call."

After applying around, Shi Lv returned to his dorm. Earphone, his party-animal roommate, wasn’t there, leaving him alone.

He placed the remaining resumes on his desk and flipped through the original owner’s textbooks. Midway, his phone rang.

66, slumped on the desk, instantly shot upright.

It watched as Shi Lv walked to the balcony and answered the call.

Shi Lv: "Yes, this is Shi Lv. I’m the one who sent the resume."

66 got cocky.

—See? I told you it would work out...

"Ah, no, I'm not from the physics department. I'm currently in the economics program, but please believe me, my physics skills are definitely no worse than the physics majors here. I can teach high school physics no problem, absolutely. Yes, yes. I'm easygoing—patient and not quick to anger. I should get along well with your child. Mm-hmm, I can do a trial lesson. Just name a time..."

66: "???"

At that moment, it keenly detected another call attempting to come through.

66: "!!!"

It rushed over, slapped the call to end it, and forcibly switched to the other line.

Shi Lv turned to glare at it, his eyes positively venomous.

Guiltily, 66 drifted away.

Shi Lv: "System, if I can't afford food tomorrow, I'm turning you into soup."

This gadget looked electronic—wonder if it's waterproof?

He picked up.

A pleasant female voice said: "Hello, Mr. Shi. Congratulations on passing the initial screening for our Investment Advisory Department. We'd like to schedule a group interview for this Saturday afternoon. Would that work for you?"