Chapter 8

Chapter 8

It was already evening after the afternoon classes, and Lan Yexing returned to the dormitory building.

Jiang Xiaozhou was not in the dormitory; he seemed to have gone home. However, Jian Si was waiting for him on the balcony just outside the French window.

Jian Si's expression was as innocent and lovely as ever: "Your roommate was still here when I arrived, so he let me in."

Lan Yexing nodded and said indifferently, "Come in and sit." He then sat down by the bed, offering the chair.

Jian Si walked in and straddled the chair, resting his forearms on the backrest as he looked at him. "You were discharged so early? Are you feeling better?"

Lan Yexing subconsciously moved his right shoulder. "It's nothing serious now." It just hurt a bit when touched.

Jian Si smiled. "That's good."

After a moment of silence, the lovely mask on Jian Si's face gradually faded. He looked earnestly at Lan Yexing. "Xiao Xing, do you think that fire was my doing?"

A powerful pheromone ability can indeed cause mental power users to lose control. His family's mental power, like Yuan Ping's family, is pheromone-based, and his ability has indeed reached that level.

Now, many people in the school are saying that he was behind it, orchestrating Li Xin's loss of mental power that caused the fire, allowing the Jian family to profit.

So, would Lan Yexing believe it?

Lan Yexing looked at him quietly, then honestly said, "I suspected it." After an incident occurs, no one wouldn't suspect the ultimate beneficiary.

Jian Si chuckled. "So honest, Xiao Xing." After a pause, he also spoke frankly: "My family did indeed fuel the public opinion for profit afterward, but whether you believe it or not, I want to say that I didn't do such a thing."

"I don't have such low moral standards."

Perhaps when he grows to his father's level, he would do anything for family interests, but at least for now, he hasn't reached that point.

Jian Si: "I did want to deal with my cousin's illegitimate son, but I have countless more direct methods that would never involve you."

"When I recognized you in class, I also suspected you, tested you, and thought about investigating you. But that evening when I called out to you, I had already decided that no matter what your background was, I wanted to try and be friends with you."

It was the first time he'd been so honest with someone he had known for less than three days.

But now, would Lan Yexing believe him?

After a long silence, beautiful fragmented light flickered in Lan Yexing's light-colored eyes. He extended his hand decisively. "I believe you."

Jian Si's pupils contracted, then his azure eyes curved as he grasped Lan Yexing's hand.

After resolving his concerns, Jian Si bid farewell to Lan Yexing. But as he reached the door, as if remembering something, he turned back to him. "Xiao Xing, all the Yuan family members inherit the genes of lunatics; they can do anything. Yuan Ping, whom you met in the restaurant, is even more insane and illogical. You must be careful of him and the club he founded."

Lan Yexing nodded, then asked, "What exactly is the Paradise Club?"

During class that afternoon, he tried asking some unfamiliar classmates. Although it was just a campus club, the ordinary students all seemed tight-lipped and dared not say much, making it impossible to find anything out.

A cold glint flashed in Jian Si's eyes. "It's just a trashy group that gathers disreputable hooligans from inside and outside the school. They have no bottom line." And Yuan Ping's pheromone-based mental power could also reach that level...

Lan Yexing lowered his eyes, noting it down, and said very sincerely, "Thank you."

...

After Jian Si left, Lan Yexing simply packed a few things and returned home.

No matter what the future held, Lan Yexing always chose to live in the present. He temporarily put aside school matters and began to enjoy his two-day holiday.

Familiarizing himself with the cat, cooking and eating well, napping on the sofa, watching TV shows and movies from this world and discussing them with the system, gazing at the clear starry sky from the balcony at night, transcribing the notes Qiao You lent him before bed, and meticulously recording details of school events in another notebook...

Turning to the 'Qiao You' page, he put a question mark in the mental power column.

The system had mentioned before that Qiao You was an orphan from a prominent family with close ties to the royal family, raised by the family's old butler. According to mental power inheritance theory, he should also possess mental power.

However, the system did not know what his mental power was.

He had subtly inquired at school, but no one knew. Qiao You seemed to have never used his mental power in front of others.

Lan Yexing stared at the question mark for a long time before closing the notebook. Then he washed up and went to bed, thus quietly and pleasantly spending the first day of his holiday.

The next morning, the white cat had become slightly bolder. When Lan Yexing was in the living room, it would cautiously curl up in the corner of the sofa to rest, gradually marking comfortable spots with its scent.

When Lan Yexing sat on the sofa, it began to walk over with its fluffy short legs and rub against his fingertips, as if greeting its cohabitant.

Lan Yexing smiled gently and opened a can of wet food for it. After the cat finished eating contentedly and elegantly licked its paws, he scooped it up and took it to the same pet hospital for vaccinations.

There, he once again encountered the owner of the corgi he had seen before.

The elderly neighbor was still elegantly and properly dressed. While the corgi was undergoing its annual physical examination, he happily exchanged names with the young man he had a good impression of and began to chat. "What's your beloved pet's name?"

Lan Yexing blinked. "Furball?" That's what he had been calling it yesterday.

The old man smiled as he looked at the well-behaved little cat getting its vaccine, praising, "What a good-natured and beautiful little one."

Lan Yexing's eyes curved as he looked at it gently. "I think so too." After a pause, he asked, "What's the corgi's name?"

The old man: "Lychee. Because my young master loves to eat lychees."

With that, he looked at Lan Yexing with even more affection. "How wonderful, university students on holiday should enjoy life with their pets." A hint of relief slowly crept onto his face. "My young master went to a nearby bookstore to buy books and will come to pick us up later. You two are from the same school; I'll introduce you then."

"Ah, young master should make more friends like you—"

Before he could finish, the wind chimes at the hospital entrance jingled. The staff, thinking it was a pet owner, were about to say something with a polite smile, but then froze: three rough-looking young men had arrived.

Most of them were alphas.

They wore black masks, heads bowed, hands in their pockets, and despite the staff's attempts to stop them, they roamed the lobby, searching for something. Finally, they strode towards Lan Yexing and the old man, pulling something from their pockets—

Several flashes of cold light, almost instantaneous, as they all lunged at Lan Yexing and the old man, gripping daggers!

No one expected anyone to commit such an act in broad daylight in the city center. The hospital instantly descended into chaos, screams, automatic alarms, and the terrified growls of pet dogs blending into a cacophony. Everyone was desperately trying to run out.

"Zzzzz—la!"

Lan Yexing, reacting swiftly, used the system's electric shock function to incapacitate one person.

Another's dagger was about to stab the old man.

The next moment, he shielded the elderly man, who had instinctively collapsed to the ground in fright, eyes closed, desperately clutching his chest, almost gasping for breath.

"Zzzzz—la!"

Lan Yexing shielded the old man behind him completely. He looked coldly at the alpha, who was a head taller than him. The iron dagger struck his arm, which was protected by electricity; the blade was isolated by the current, and the person holding the dagger also convulsed and fell down from the electric shock.

But precisely because of the time lag between human contact and current adhesion, the third person took the opportunity to pounce fiercely, stabbing at Lan Yexing—

Lan Yexing's eyes widened suddenly—he actually had time to dodge, but if he did, the knife would stab the old man behind him...

The wind chimes at the door rang urgently, as if someone had walked in with heavy steps.

The next moment, Lan Yexing heard the sound of dripping blood.

The cold, glinting blade tip was less than three centimeters from his right eyeball.

The tall, slender golden-haired young man stood there, his right arm extended, his hand gripping the blade, completely blocking the tip from piercing Lan Yexing's eyeball.

Lan Yexing's pupils contracted.

Bright red blood dripped continuously. Qiao You slowly turned his head, completely shedding his smiling mask, and looked expressionlessly at the alpha holding the knife. A terrifying pressure emanated from him, and his emerald eyes were filled with cold, dark shadows, hinting at murderous intent.

With a crisp 'thump,' before Lan Yexing could even see the movement, the alpha was already disarmed of his dagger by the young man twisting his wrist. After a bone-chilling sound of bones breaking, the young man's long leg brutally kicked the opponent's abdomen.

The alpha screamed and fell to the ground, quickly rolling his eyes and fainting from excessive pain.

Qiao You looked at the opponent with a cold expression, as if looking at a dead man.

Lan Yexing came to his senses and quickly took out a clean handkerchief, striding forward. He naturally took the young man's hand and pressed the handkerchief firmly on the young man's wound to stop the bleeding.

The terrifying darkness in Qiao You's eyes had not yet dissipated. Feeling the young man's movements and warm fingers, his expression paused.

Just then, the old man gasped and struggled to open his eyes. Qiao You almost instinctively quickly withdrew his hand, hiding it along with the handkerchief behind his back.

His voice was low and hoarse: "His medicine is in his right pocket."

Lan Yexing glanced at him, then stepped forward decisively, took the pills from the old man's pocket, and fed them to him.

The old man recovered and looked worriedly at the golden-haired young man and Lan Yexing. "Whose blood is on the ground? Young master, Lan, are either of you hurt?"

Qiao You lied expressionlessly: "The person on the ground's."

Only then did the old man breathe a sigh of relief.

Just then, the police finally arrived. Qiao You comforted the old man and put him and the corgi into a taxi home.

Lan Yexing entrusted his spare house key and the vaccinated Furball to the old man, asking him to put Furball in his living room.

Afterward, he accompanied Qiao You to the nearest clinic to bandage his wound, and then they went to the nearby police station to make a statement.

After all the procedures were completed, the afternoon had passed, and dusk was approaching.

They walked out of the police station together, side by side on the street where the lights had already come on. Lan Yexing smelled a cool lime scent. He turned to look, and the young man's brilliant golden hair was lifted by the evening breeze. His features were impeccably handsome, but his beautiful emerald eyes still held a lingering shadow of cold, dark, and violent aura.

He still hadn't put on that perfect smiling mask.

Lan Yexing retracted his gaze: this was his second private encounter with Qiao You outside of a mission.

The first time was in the burning warehouse.

And both times, Qiao You had helped him.

Lan Yexing looked at the evening stars in the sky, blinked, and said, "Why don't you stay at my place tonight?"

Qiao You paused in his steps, raising an eyebrow to look at him.

Lan Yexing pointed out, "You don't want your family to see the injury on your hand, and you probably don't want to go back to school looking like this, do you? And it's inconvenient for you to change the dressing on your hand yourself."

"So come to my place. You can stay for one night. We'll go back to school together tomorrow."

Fearing the other person might worry about other things, Lan Yexing shrugged. "Anyway, we're both male betas, so there won't be any inconvenience."

The genders in this world were all messed up. Even in an all-boys school, many Alphas and Omegas would pursue and obsess over Qiao You, even though they were all male. He had always understood this as an attraction between different genders. That's why he always felt awkward being roommates with Jiang Xiaozhou and tried to be a gentleman with Jian Si.

But with completely the same gender, there shouldn't be any issues in that regard, right? Qiao You should be at ease now.

Lan Yexing looked at the golden-haired young man with an extremely clear and candid expression, waiting for his answer.

Upon hearing this, Qiao You looked at the young man with an extremely subtle expression for a long time, then finally uttered in a low, slightly hoarse voice: "...Then I shall impose."