Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Li Yang pressed a hand to his forehead, desperately wishing Ying Xi would rein in his smile.

Only then did he notice most of the classroom was discreetly observing them, likely due to Ying Xi’s unusual demeanor.

Most students figured someone usually expressionless—a veritable poker face—smiling so warmly had to be a ruse!

The already odd atmosphere grew even more taut, like an arrow drawn to full tension, ready to fly at any moment.

"Class is starting." The bell rang, but seeing the person still unmoving in his seat, Wen Yun had to gently tap the desk as a reminder.

Ying Xi’s smile didn’t falter. "Yes, class is starting."

Wen Yun thought he hadn’t been clear enough. "Class is starting. You should return to your own seat."

Ying Xi remained still, completely absorbed in his own world.

Wen Yun scratched his head, his certainty wavering as he asked hesitantly, "Isn’t this my seat?"

Ying Xi's smile instantly froze.

Wen Yun immediately stood up. "Ah, I was just thinking this spot is too close to the door and uncomfortable. Let’s switch seats."

With that, he quickly gathered his belongings, moved to Ying Xi’s seat, and placed Ying Xi’s few items in front of him. "There, no need to thank me."

Ying Xi: "Thank you."

The words were for Wen Yun, but his gaze remained fixed on Li Yang beside him.

Wen Yun still found it strange, looking back at them repeatedly, utterly bewildered.

The vibe between them was too peculiar, as if their private relationship had improved.

Could they be dating…?

Sitting alone, Wen Yun secretly observed them for a while, growing more convinced.

Ying Xi looked like someone deeply in love, straight out of a romance drama.

Li Yang, on the other hand, showed little—his reaction was subdued, though his interactions with Ying Xi seemed more intimate and natural than before.

"Class monitor, you’re back?" He Shi was delayed during the first period and rushed into the classroom late, immediately spotting Li Yang and hurrying over.

"Class monitor, why weren’t you in class yesterday? I thought you didn’t want to come to school because of me."

His tone was tinged with hurt, his eyes and expression full of caution and nervousness. Clearly, he’d misunderstood, thinking Li Yang had skipped school because of his proposal.

Li Yang explained, "I had some matters to attend to."

"What matters?" He Shi asked casually.

The next second, Ying Xi shot him a sharp, knife-like glare.

His voice was cool, but he deliberately emphasized: "Family… matters."

"Oh, oh, oh." He Shi didn’t realize this "family matter" was not what he assumed. He nodded, sensing Ying Xi’s hostility, and had to retreat.

What could he say? He just wanted to be friends with the class monitor.

But if Ying Xi truly liked Li Yang, given his personality, even friendship would be difficult.

He Shi sat down, lost in thought.

Jiang Su took one look at him and felt an itch to provoke him, deliberately kicking his chair. Before he could revel in it, He Shi picked up a book and slammed it hard against his head.

The merciless blow made him yelp in pain, clutching his head and hopping around like a bellowing gorilla.

He Shi expressionlessly tossed the book aside and fastidiously pulled out a disinfectant wipe to clean his hands.

"See that?" Ying Xi, having witnessed the scene, leaned slightly closer to Li Yang. "He’s just putting on an act in front of you."

"An act?" Li Yang asked, puzzled, not sensing any pretense from He Shi.

"Acting shy, acting well-behaved," Ying Xi said calmly.

Wasn’t that just more like him?

Li Yang glanced at Ying Xi. "You seem to be acting too."

The young man replied earnestly, "I’m genuine. He’s the one acting."

No one was better at acting than Ying Xi.

One moment, he might be cold-faced; the next, he could break into a smile that didn't match his usual image or demeanor.

This sudden shift was what others feared most, as no one could ever truly fathom his thoughts.

Li Yang said nothing, lowering his head to work on his problems.

Ying Xi was writing something in his notebook, the pen scratching incessantly against the paper. Li Yang felt a sense of déjà vu and couldn’t help but glance over.

He quickly regretted his habit of idly looking around.

At some point, Ying Xi had bought a pink pen and was meticulously coloring in the heart shape he’d drawn between their names last time.

Li Yang’s eyelid twitched uncontrollably. He had to press a hand against it to force it still. "Ying Xi, don’t be so childish."

"What counts as not childish?" Ying Xi put down his pen, ready for a serious discussion. "I’ve never been in a relationship."

"..." That question stumped Li Yang.

He hadn’t been in a relationship either, never confessed to anyone, and never been confessed to.

Ying Xi was the first to confess to him.

Ying Xi changed the question: "Have you ever pursued someone?"

Li Yang straightened his back and, for some reason, blurted out a lie: "Yes, I have."

Ying Xi responded, "Who?"

His tone sounded indifferent at first, but the jealousy woven within was palpable, requiring no special effort to detect.

Li Yang deflected, "Haven’t you ever pursued someone?"

"No," Ying Xi said, staring directly at him. "You’re the first."

"I wasn’t talking about that kind of pursuit." The intense gaze forced Li Yang to change the subject.

Ying Xi understood, a gentle smile appearing in his eyes: "Hardly ever."

From childhood to adulthood, it had always been others chasing after him.

"Got it," Li Yang nodded, signaling him to stop staring. "Class is starting. Look ahead."

The new homeroom teacher had lasted nearly two months, hearing other teachers occasionally refer to this class as the "devil class," and had doubted it more than once.

Aside from the initial impression of being a gathering of lunatics, things had been relatively normal later on, though academic performance was lacking.

The good were excellent; the bad were abysmal, with both the top ten and bottom ten students in the grade concentrated in this class.

Originally, the homeroom teacher thought he could stay here for a long time—until halfway through this lesson, some unknown commotion erupted, and suddenly books began flying everywhere in the classroom.

The students went from varied expressions to clutching their desks in pain. The teacher guessed what was happening, grateful to be a Beta, and tried to intervene while running out to call for backup.

But the moment he stepped out, the chaotic classroom behind him fell silent.

Everyone froze, their gazes snapping to one spot.

The boy being stared at had a cold, sinister expression, his eyes icy, his pheromones saturating every corner, effortlessly suppressing everyone else's.

Though the teacher was a Beta, he could still sense the overwhelmingly powerful and dangerous aura emanating from the boy, and couldn't help but shiver.

It turned out they weren’t untamed—it was just that someone was holding them back.

The pheromones were released quickly and retracted just as fast, but Li Yang was stunned.

He hadn’t noticed earlier, but when he looked up and saw most of the class looking uncomfortable, he realized someone was releasing pheromones.

But strangely, he couldn’t smell any unpleasant scent, and then Ying Xi released his pheromones.

The faint mint scent started almost imperceptibly, growing stronger until it clung to Li Yang like a thin, sticky web.

That moment of eerie sensation was enough to make his body tremble, a strange, unfamiliar feeling creeping up his spine.

The mint scent rapidly diffused throughout his body. Though faint, it shouldn’t have been detectable at all.

Li Yang’s fingers slowly curled. He couldn’t understand why he couldn’t smell anyone else’s pheromones, yet he could only smell Ying Xi’s, and it was a normal scent at that.

A bad feeling gnawed at him as he stared blankly ahead.

"What’s wrong?" Ying Xi leaned closer, whispering.

Almost instinctively, Li Yang raised a hand to cup his face and push him away. "Don’t get so close to me."

His thoughts grew even more chaotic, the back of his neck feeling slightly warm, that mint scent now impossible to ignore.

Li Yang tried holding his breath, but he could still sense it.

Belatedly, he realized—it was a perception of the soul.

This was too strange.

Lost in thought, Li Yang kept his hand in place.

The act of pressing fingers against Ying Xi’s face didn’t faze him, but it made everyone else in the classroom gasp.

They couldn’t understand it.

But the class monitor truly lived up to his title, daring to lay hands on Ying Xi, an Alpha.

The silence around them was deafening, and the softness under his fingers made Li Yang pause. He turned his head slightly, meeting Ying Xi’s amused eyes through the gaps between his fingers, and immediately withdrew his hand.

"Sorry," he murmured, lips pressed tight. "I wasn’t paying attention."

"It’s fine," Ying Xi shook his head, a hint of lingering satisfaction in his smile.

Li Yang: "."

He was starting to think Ying Xi was veering into a disturbing path and resolved to keep his distance for now, needing to sort out his own issues.

＊

After school, Li Yang deliberately told Ying Xi he was going home alone and to leave first.

Then he took a taxi to the hospital for tests.

"No secondary gender differentiation," the doctor stated definitively, looking at the report.

Li Yang breathed a sigh of relief; he didn’t want any sudden secondary differentiation.

"Are you sure?" Li Yang asked, still uneasy. "Lately, I think I’ve been able to smell pheromones."

"Really?" The doctor’s eyes instantly lit up as if he’d discovered a rare treasure. "If that’s truly the case, young man, could you leave your contact information? We should keep in touch."

"No, it might not be pheromones," Li Yang stood up, afraid of being taken as a test subject. "Someone might have been wearing perfume. Maybe I misidentified it."

The doctor nodded in disappointment. "Ah, I see. I thought you might be a Beta showing signs of Omega traits."

"What if someone actually became like that?" Li Yang asked casually.

"They’d need retesting," the doctor said. "Omegas are generally identified through pheromone levels, scent glands, and reproductive organs. Betas have severe degradation in this regard, essentially lacking them. If a Beta undergoes mutation, they might undergo secondary differentiation into an Omega, or exist in a state between Beta and Omega."

Similar to what the last doctor had said, Li Yang listened carefully: "Would that be a problem?"

"Not a major problem," the doctor mused, propping his chin on his hand. "Actually, Betas aren’t without pheromones; their levels are just too low to be significant."

"However, if a mutation truly occurs, there’s a rather tricky issue—if they experience something akin to an Omega’s heat, without specialized suppressants, it would be extremely troublesome and terrifying."

Li Yang’s mind briefly wandered. Surely that couldn’t be him…

He was set as a Beta, and with his cannon fodder status, such a mutation wouldn’t even be his turn.

After thanking the doctor, Li Yang left the hospital and immediately spotted a familiar black car parked by the roadside.

"Yangyang," Ying Xi called, running towards him, putting a hat on his head and wrapping a scarf around him, bundling him up tightly before saying, "It’s too cold; you’re dressed too lightly."

Li Yang’s mind was still reeling from the doctor’s words. He looked up blankly at Ying Xi, silent for a long moment.

His eyes, peeking from under the hat, were clear and bright, his long lashes fluttering gently, his pale cheeks tinged with a faint blush.

The interplay of white and red stirred a restless feeling in Ying Xi’s heart.

Ying Xi adjusted the hat, covering Li Yang’s eyes, and tightened the scarf again.

Until he couldn’t breathe, Li Yang realized his vision was completely obscured. He fumbled to untie the scarf. "I’m not cold."

Ying Xi looked down at him. "Are you feeling unwell? Why did you come to the hospital?"

"Why did you follow me?" Li Yang didn’t remove his hat, casually draping the scarf around Ying Xi’s neck. Noticing it was crooked and difficult to tie, he instinctively tiptoed and said to Ying Xi, "Bend down a little."

Ying Xi abruptly lowered his head.

Perhaps because his breathing was slightly constricted, Li Yang had long stopped thinking. Seeing this, he paused, "That’s too much."

This made it even harder to tie the scarf.

Ying Xi slowly raised his head until it reached the right height, his previously pursed lips suddenly curving upward.

Li Yang quickly tied the scarf and steadied himself. Only when their eyes met did he snap back to reality, recalling their intimate, couple-like behavior just moments ago, freezing on the spot.

Since when had he become so comfortable with Ying Xi, as if they were actually married?

This wasn’t right.

At this thought, Li Yang instinctively tugged at the tied scarf, wanting to pretend nothing had happened.

With a tug, Ying Xi unexpectedly stumbled into Li Yang’s arms.

A faint scent wafted to his nose. Ying Xi’s back stiffened, and he immediately put his hands behind him, afraid he might lose control and embrace Li Yang.

Ying Xi was too tall, and Li Yang, bearing the weight of two people, couldn’t stand steady, stumbling backward.

At the crucial moment, Ying Xi reached out and wrapped an arm around his waist.

This transformed what wasn’t originally an embrace into a full-blown hug.

Li Yang’s chin brushed against Ying Xi’s shoulder, his pupils trembling, his expression bewildered and helpless as he was held in Ying Xi’s arms. For a moment, he forgot all reactions, his brain completely crashing.

Once he was sure they were steady, Ying Xi withdrew his hand, finding the person in his arms stiff as a statue, completely still.

He couldn’t help but chuckle, his mood as bright as blooming fireworks.

"Li Yang, you’re so stiff."

The low, magnetic voice jolted the petrified Li Yang awake. He hastily retreated, leaving the warm embrace, struggling to steady his rapid breathing, bewildered at how the situation had escalated so quickly.

It was all the scarf’s fault, and his bewitched brain.

"Your hand," Ying Xi said, staring at the young man’s white-knuckled grip on the edge of the scarf.

Exposed to the cold air for too long and clenched too tightly, his slender fingers had turned a striking crimson.

Ying Xi’s gaze grew more focused.

Li Yang released the scarf and accidentally met the driver’s suggestive gaze. He felt as if he were walking on a row of sharp thorns, unable to move, his limbs utterly uncoordinated.

He lightly pinched his palm, struggling to control his trembling legs, and mumbled to Ying Xi, "Let’s go, back, home."

Without waiting for a response from the person behind him, Li Yang quickly got into the car, pulled off his hat, and patted his cheeks.

The crisp sound made the driver turn back in surprise, hesitating to speak.

Li Yang was no longer in the mood to care about anything else. His mind was replaying the scene of tying Ying Xi’s scarf in slow motion, tormenting him over and over.

It must be the cold weather, freezing his intelligence, otherwise, why would he have done something so strange?

Li Yang slowly exhaled, trying to rationalize it.

The car door opened, and the young man sat beside him.

Though there was ample space between them, Li Yang flinched like a startled bird, immediately shifting to the very edge, pressing himself against the car door. His wary, cautious demeanor puzzled Ying Xi.

"Did I do something wrong?" Ying Xi asked softly, instructing the driver to turn up the air conditioning. "Tell me, and I’ll fix it."

"No," Li Yang said, jaw clenched.

It was *he* who had done wrong, terribly wrong, as if possessed.