Chapter 17

Chapter 17

The twin blushes on Ansel’s cheeks slowly diffused like ink blooming in water, staining the corners of his eyes crimson and casting a reddish hue over Huainan’s vision as well.

At this moment, the alpha, with a delicate omega in her arms, truly wished to bestow upon herself the glorious title of "Liu Xiahui, the paragon of chastity." Yet even the greatest endurance has its limits. After barely managing to calm Senior Ansel, a tormented Huainan took three quick steps, scooped up Torr, and turned to flee.

Inside the hover vehicle, as the castle behind them faded further into the distance, Huainan’s gaze remained fixed on one spot, her mind in utter disarray.

If any other omega dared approach her like that, she would have watched them fall flat on their face! If not for… if not for…

Fine. Huainan couldn’t help but cover her face—she did have a bit of a soft spot for Senior Ansel…

"Big sis, are you dating Senior Ansel?"

"Huh?!" Huainan stared at Torr, feeling as though all her dignity as an older sister had vanished into thin air.

"What’s wrong?" Torr seemed puzzled by her reaction. He pulled her hand away, his calm, star-like eyes meeting hers, clearly reflecting her current expression. "Back on the scrap planet, everyone used to—"

Huainan immediately clamped a hand over her dear little brother’s mouth and pulled him into a tight hug. "Good Torr, nothing like that! If your sister ever starts dating someone, I promise I’ll tell you. But for now…"

[Beep—] Just as she was trying to find the right words, her terminal chimed.

She glanced down at the screen—it was a file sent by Ansel. Opening it, she found a list of schools available for enrollment at various levels, practically giving her free rein to choose.

Pinching Torr’s cheek and savoring the softness beneath her fingers, Huainan’s eyes wandered. At least this could serve as a distraction—Senior Ansel’s matter could be left to fate for now…

Returning to the dormitory with lingering frustration, she wasn’t surprised to find her roommate absent. Taking Torr to her room, she prepared to carefully go through the school options.

Sitting on the bed, each holding a nutrition pouch, they projected details about teachers, campus culture, teaching environments, and more before them, quickly scanning through the information. Thanks to Senior Ansel’s detailed notes and filtering, they soon settled on a school.

Most of its students were mid-tier citizens, relatively mild-mannered, and—most importantly—Torr liked it too.

After placing orders for necessary supplies, it was nearly time for their afternoon nap. Ever since their lives had stabilized, Huainan had been working to adjust Torr’s sleep routine.

Once the child was sound asleep, another message appeared on her terminal—the interference device she had ordered earlier had arrived and would be delivered in five minutes.

She had placed the order on the Dark Net the previous night: an information shielding analyzer, commonly known as an interference device, meant to help her move undetected at school.

After skimming the instructions, Huainan quietly opened another terminal and logged into the Dark Net.

Her consciousness crossed the virtual space, and the moment she steadied herself, her display flooded with dozens of messages—half from the hothead she’d met last time. The rest were anonymous inquiries asking whether she could engrave fifth-tier runes.

Seeing so many people bidding frantically, Huainan felt she had indeed chosen a profitable trade.

With only two days left before the official start of school, she found a quiet place to contact the hothead.

Opening the communication interface, she noticed the guy was blunt and brazen, making no effort to hide his identity. His avatar, however, was a field of red flowers—utterly incongruous with his rough image—with delicate petals and clearly defined veins.

Huainan pulled up the model, expanding the holographic projection to actual size before her.

She manipulated the model, noting that the weapon consisted of three parts: a broad head, the shaft, and a sharp tip. According to the data, the frame was forged from meteoric alloy—quite heavy. But still…

Huainan circled it, stroking her chin. Though it lacked spikes, the thing bore some resemblance to a spiked mace. Did people in the interstellar age still use such weapons?

She decided to send a comms request to discuss the details.

The moment the connection established, the other party came online immediately and shouted at her.

"Long Aotian! Where the hell have you been these past few days?!"

"I’ve been waiting for you forever!"

His familiar temper snapped Huainan back. "I’ve been busy! And who the hell are you calling 'your old man'?!'

"I’m my own damn old man! Can’t I call myself that if I want?!"

They bickered back and forth until Huainan finally gave in first.

Rubbing her face, she gave up arguing—it all felt absurdly petty. "Stop yelling and let’s get down to business. Who designed this thing for you?"

On the other end, Taber seemed to be slurping something loudly before wiping his mouth and replying, "Ha! This stuff’s great—what’d you say?"

"Who designed this weapon for you?" Huainan repeated.

"Nobody! Old Jerry said it’s an ancestral relic!"

Great. Something passed down from the Spring and Autumn period all the way to Galactic Year 3900. That was ancient.

Huainan didn’t press further. Instead, she quickly rendered densely packed metal barbs along the weapon’s head, elongated the tip, and left space for energy crystal sockets—all within ten minutes.

She then dragged the updated schematic into the message box and sent it over with a note: "I’ve seen something similar before. How about adding spikes for extra lethality? Also, what’s your load capacity? I’ll adjust accordingly."

"Hey! That looks awesome! I love it!" Taber pounded the table in excitement. "Add ’em! I’ll get Old Jerry to do it right away!"

"As for weight, just double this number!"

Huainan whistled. This alpha could handle multiple tons with ease—crushing someone to death wouldn’t be a problem. "Got it. Send me the approved blueprint, and if there are no issues, I’ll begin work. Expect a reply in a week."

"A week?! That fast?!" Taber yelped into the terminal. "Don’t mess this up! I only have three batches of Grade-5 energy materials!"

Typically, clients prepared three batches of base materials for runecrafting—especially for melee weapons above third-tier, which required rune inscriptions to be viable. Otherwise, they might as well buy an energy gun.

Huainan thought, *Fast? I could finish this by noon.*

But she couldn’t say that outright. After researching the work of other runesmiths, she knew she needed to play it cool—yet he was complaining about speed?

"Scared? Then don’t hire me," Huainan shot back, her hands moving across the interface. "And if you keep calling yourself 'old man' around me, I won’t go easy on you!"

"Dang, you're picky! Old—I mean, I’m not actually your old man…" A burst of static came from Taber’s end before he finally grumbled and sent a hurried reply.

"Hey… I won't bother with you for now, 10 million credits transferred!… Let's see what kind of disaster you’ll pull off!"

"Later!"

With that, he immediately logged off.

Stranded alone, Huainan stared at the massive sum of credits that had just appeared in her system, taking a deep breath.

"Alright, time to hustle!"

***

Three days later, Huainan watched as Thor, dressed in a neat blue-collar uniform, walked into the clean, well-lit campus until he completely disappeared from sight.

While feeling a mix of wistful worry, there was also a quiet satisfaction in her heart.

Straightening her crisp white cuffs, she left as well—today was officially the first day of school.

Foster Federal University didn’t put on any flashy welcome events. After attending the usual welcome speech with all the other freshmen, Huainan followed the school’s navigation map and headed to Class 1 alone.

Today was a basic lecture, and the classroom wasn’t crowded. Most of the early arrivals were already familiar with each other, clustered in little cliques. Even though alphas instinctively resisted each other, wearing wristbands didn’t get in the way of their daily interactions.

However, the chatter died instantly the second Huainan stepped through the door, only returning to normal after a few seconds.

Such obvious alienation was something Huainan had expected, but compared to matters of life and death, she couldn’t care less about this minor issue.

During class, Huainan ignored the empty space around her, soaking up every scrap of basic knowledge the instructor explained. Whenever she caught her classmates glancing her way, she simply smiled back. If she was busy, she pretended not to notice.

Huainan’s attitude: *If I’m not bothered, then the awkwardness is on you.*

"Look, she writes with a pen—and I just saw her handwriting is pretty good." —Total omega vibes.

"Yeah, seems like those rumors weren’t just talk. I usually use thought-input so much that I’ve almost forgotten how to write. It feels so tiring and inconvenient." —No scent—beta for sure.

"And I feel like she’s got such a calm vibe, not at all as aggressive as other alphas!" —Omega!

"Right, right!" —Still an omega!

Sensing the omegas’ hushed whispers and the alphas’ restless pheromones, Huainan’s hand paused mid-stroke, nearly ruining the last stroke of her writing!

Writing by hand wasn’t for clout—she just wanted to reinforce her memory. Once she fully adapted, she’d switch to the more convenient mind-typing method.

But no matter what, this class made her feel like the world’s most awkward hostage. The moment the instructor left, Huainan bolted the second she could, escaping the classroom and heading to her next destination.

Throwing hands on day one? Hard pass.

Aside from the mandatory foundational courses, she had also enrolled in Historical Chronology (Ancient Literature Studies), Metal Smelting (Foundry College), and Runecrafting (Rune College). She was also dying to get into advanced technologies like mechs and starships, but those were only available in the second year. For now, the most she could take was exosuit operation, with the rest focusing on mental and physical training.

After all, only in the second year, when students strapped on their gold sashes, would they become official members of the school.

Entering Foundry College, Huainan was surprised to find the atmosphere completely different—no piercing stares or whispers, just the hurried footsteps and the tang of metal in the air.

During the lecture, the instructor gave Huainan an unexpected glance, seemingly surprised that this notorious student had chosen smelting. Ever since her exposure, the school had kept a close eye on her, though they’d kept a lid on it for various reasons.

While the instructors were impressed by her talent, what they valued more was her character and capability. So the school had suppressed external noise, wanting to see how this student would grow.

With that in mind, he began his lecture for the freshmen.

"Class, thousands of years ago, we had already begun using machinery to achieve more efficient smelting…"

Picking up her notebook, time bled away bit by bit under Huainan’s pen. Meanwhile, Thor’s school life gradually fell into a rhythm under everyone’s watchful eyes.

During this time, she also learned from the school about a completely new monster, nothing like the insectoids—the *Modora*.

Author’s Note:

"Liu Xiahui, the paragon of chastity"①—

Baidu Encyclopedia: "Liu Xiahui, the paragon of chastity." During the Spring and Autumn Period, Liu Xiahui of the State of Lu wrapped a freezing woman in his arms without any improper behavior. Used to describe a man’s moral integrity in relationships.

Thank you all so much for your support—I’ll keep working hard!