Chapter 114

Chapter 114

Shen Geng's heart was filled with a sour, bitter pang as he couldn’t help but wonder—who was the person Bai Xingshu liked in his heart? What were they like?

Even as these thoughts swirled in his mind, Shen Geng managed to multitask, replying to messages one by one on Bai Xingshu’s device.

Then, while replying, a private message suddenly popped up.

Lin Lie: You’re not Bai Xingshu, are you?

Shen Geng stared at the message window for a long moment before switching over to reply.

Bai Xingshu: It’s Shen Geng.

Short, direct, and brimming with a claim of possession.

It was only then that Lin Lie realized which class Bai Xingshu had gone to: "..."

Lin Lie began typing a lengthy reply, only to hesitate and delete it all after realizing Bai Xingshu would see it once he got his device back.

Now there were two bitter hearts.

Meanwhile, Bai Xingshu, utterly carefree despite having caused this scene without lifting a finger, was in high spirits.

He chatted with the Combat Command Department, guiding them on pacing.

Often, when people worked together and kept busy, they forgot their exhaustion. The rest of the journey went by smoothly, everyone so occupied that they didn’t even notice when evening arrived.

They even reached the training camp—their designated rest area—more precisely than originally estimated.

Since it was a training camp, there were, of course, training arrangements.

But considering the students’ fatigue after the long march, the exercises were kept simple, with most only practicing target shooting.

More specialized departments were assigned maintenance duties for the camp’s facilities.

Being a temporary camp, the setup was minimal, with everything regularly maintained, making the workload relatively easy.

As for Bai Xingshu, who had it even easier, he naturally took the opportunity to step away from the Combat Command Department. After a quick word, he went off to find his classmates in other departments.

Shen Geng knew exactly what Bai Xingshu’s real goal was.

Having already interacted with the two single elite Alphas in the Combat Command Department, Bai Xingshu was now off to seek out other single elite Alphas in different faculties.

Sometimes, Shen Geng wondered if Bai Xingshu had planned this entire cooperation arrangement during the march just to make it easier for himself to visit all departments and meet the scattered elite Alphas across the school.

The current situation was just too perfect for Bai Xingshu.

But that would be an unfair accusation.

Though Bai Xingshu was dedicated to his tasks, he wouldn’t go so far as to resort to such elaborate schemes.

It was only after the plan was already in motion, while passing by other classes, that the system began excitedly reporting—he had just walked past another elite Alpha, one recently out of a relationship, another newly single.

The system’s barrage of gossip flooded Bai Xingshu with information, practically pushing him to choose someone and start a romance immediately.

That was when Bai Xingshu started thinking—maybe he could use this operation to visit all departments.

So in Bai Xingshu's eyes, this current convenient situation is entirely the result of his good deeds being rewarded!

As for the members of the Combat Department, they simply saw Bai Xingshu actually coming to visit them and asking about their current situation.

—Had they been bullied in other classes? Had they gotten into any conflicts? Did they need someone else to come over instead?

Heartwarming.

Whether it was the students from Combat Department's S-Class or other classes, they were all completely overwhelmed with emotion.

Wow.

Their Combat Department actually had such a gentle and considerate beauty!

And the S-Class members were even more moved.

So their Deputy Squad Leader could speak while living up to his gorgeous appearance after all!!

If only their Deputy Squad Leader could speak to them this sweetly all the time!

Bai Xingshu: "..."

He felt the urge to [do something].

But in front of other departments, Bai Xingshu would at least save some face for his classmates.

Once the initial excitement passed, everyone naturally took the time to introduce Bai Xingshu to students from other classes.

—Though everyone already knew who he was.

As a near-legendary figure in the school, coupled with his stunning looks and friendly manner, nearly everyone wanted to chat with him for a bit.

With both sides eager to talk, Bai Xingshu easily succeeded in interacting with every single Elite Alpha among the freshmen at Capital Military University.

Not all Elite Alphas were outstanding.

Some had questionable character (to put it nicely), some were arrogant and dismissive, and some were so socially inept they avoided interaction altogether. After all, noble birth didn’t exempt anyone from the flaws common to humanity.

Of course, most of the Elite Alphas Bai Xingshu encountered had some shortcomings but were still respectable or even impressive in terms of character and ability.

This was largely because this was Capital Military University.

For Elite Alphas who chose to come here, there might be various considerations or external factors, but they all had at least some measure of determination.

After all, their privileged status wouldn’t spare them from intense training—if anything, it often earned them extra drills.

Here, everyone would eventually face the battlefield, danger, and possibly sacrifice.

Despite knowing these risks, they still chose a military academy over a life of comfort and privilege, meaning most of them held noble ideals.

With such ideals in their hearts, even the worst among them rarely went completely bad.

—Of course, there were exceptions like Jiao Rong.

But to Bai Xingshu, none of this was particularly important. The most important thing was...

Who might be someone he might actually like.

He'd now met more than a dozen Elite Alphas listed by the system.

To be precise, it wasn’t just the high-society Alphas.

In just one evening, Bai Xingshu met around 200-300 people—whether they were from wealthy families or not, Alphas or Betas, he connected with them all.

He even met four or five of the rarest Omegas in the school.

Yet…

No chemistry.

Not a single one who made his heart race or gave him butterflies…

There weren’t any.

He pondered.

He fell silent.

Finally, he reached a conclusion.

[System, I think the problem lies with these people.] Without missing a beat, Bai Xingshu stated matter-of-factly to the system.

The system didn’t want to answer.

But responding to the host was hardwired into its instincts, so after a long silence, it reluctantly asked through gritted teeth: [What’s wrong with them?]

[I think they’re too young. I’m already twenty-four, and they all feel like little kids to me. It’s only natural that liking them would be difficult.] He explained logically.

As for Shen Geng or whatever…

Didn’t he confirm this later?

He didn’t feel compelled to get closer to Shen Geng.

So, most likely, it was just a quick hormonal rush in response to Shen Geng’s actions during a crisis—nothing significant.

—Though, in Bai Xingshu’s perception, the factory situation back then wasn’t even really a crisis.

But there was no need to explain that to the system.

After all, the system didn’t know that, when faced with Cheng Yunxi’s confession, Bai Xingshu had briefly thought of Shen Geng.

When it heard Bai Xingshu’s reasoning, the system: […]

Admittedly, his argument was pretty convincing.

But…

The system shot back: [In your twenty-four years during the apocalypse, you met so many people—did you ever like anyone?]

Bai Xingshu wasn’t its first host.

But he was definitely the first to make the system feel like it was going to short-circuit.

After making a deal with the original host, the system had internally prepared backup plans for handling a host who wouldn’t cooperate.

But it never expected a scenario where the host was actively doing tasks while constantly complicating things for himself.

Why did missions have to be about finding true love?!

[Is it possible that you're just asexual and don't like people at all?] The system tried to get its host back on track.

Bai Xingshu was shocked: [Didn’t you hear me tell Shen Geng this afternoon that I’ve had a crush before?]

The system: [?]

[Impossible. When I chose you, I checked your records! Your records show you’ve always been single!] The system’s voice was firm—no system would ever doubt its own data.

This time, it was Bai Xingshu’s turn to roll his eyes: [Crushing on someone isn’t the same as dating them.]

Recalling how Bai Xingshu had actively tried to date before but ended up getting dumped time and time again, the system: […]

Point taken…

But didn’t that mean it had no argument left to steer its host back?

Sensing the system’s frustration, Bai Xingshu cleared his throat and immediately began to comfort it: [Don’t worry, I always keep my word. I’ll definitely complete the mission.]

If he could catch feelings for one person, he could do it for a second.

Piece of cake!

This time, the system wasn’t fooled by Bai Xingshu’s sweet talk. It said tearfully: [Having feelings for someone isn’t something humans can control.]

No one understood this better than systems that assigned humans to complete missions.

There were hosts of revenge systems who fell for their enemies.

Hosts of rebellion systems who fell for the emperor.

And hosts tasked with matchmaking who ended up falling for the male or female lead.

Things got messy all the time.

The system vowed it would never believe a human’s lies again.

Especially when that human was named Bai Xingshu!

Bai Xingshu: […]

For once, Bai Xingshu was convinced by the system.

True.

If feelings could be controlled, there was no way he would’ve felt that spark toward Shen Geng.

Bai Xingshu scratched his head.

Since he couldn’t make himself like an elite Alpha, failing the mission would let down the original host, while randomly choosing an elite Alpha would betray both Shen Geng and that elite Alpha…

[Let’s meet halfway.] Bai Xingshu said.

[How about junior year? Originally, weren’t we supposed to go back to junior year to take down that jerk Alpha?]

[In two years, I’ll have met plenty of elite Alphas. If I still haven’t found someone I like, I’ll change tactics and find an elite Alpha who’d agree to a marriage of convenience. We’ll divorce after the mission is done.]

[How’s that?]

The system: […]

A minute later, a list of elite Alphas the system figured would agree to a marriage of convenience popped up in front of Bai Xingshu.

Bai Xingshu: […]

System, could you at least put up a little fight and have faith he’ll find true love?!