Chapter 30

Chapter 30

Zhixing Tower, Lounge #1.

"Shouldn't you be in the study hall right now?"

At the sound from the door, Cui Suifu, who was sitting on the sofa, glanced up briefly before looking back down at his terminal, casually asking.

The black-haired Alpha who had just entered paused, not expecting to find him there. He glanced at Cui Suifu's restless expression and replied calmly, "Aren't you usually on campus at this time?"

The person lying on the sofa checked his terminal about every five seconds. His defiant, handsome brows were slightly furrowed with dissatisfaction, assuming a somewhat fierce look.

Pei Ruji glanced at his screen—

It was frozen on a chat dialog. The contact name Cui Suifu had saved for the person on the other end was: [Little Beauty].

The messages Cui Suifu had sent filled the screen, and the other party hadn't replied yet.

Pei Ruji lost interest and averted his gaze. He sat down on a single sofa nearby, casually took out his earphones and put them on.

"You caused such a big stir at NO3; weren't you placed in confinement?"

Cui Suifu looked up, "So you've heard?"

Pei Ruji said, not without sarcasm, "It's all over the upper echelons. They say the second prince of Lottelance wrecked his beloved yacht 'Xuan Yi' all to make a beauty smile. After causing a scene at NO3, he openly showed up at a banquet hosted by NO3 with a mysterious long-haired man, acting intimate, as if deeply in love. Oh, and by the way, because of you, NO3 has been closed down for another month."

Cui Suifu didn't take it to heart; he had stirred up plenty of trouble since he was young. "Oh, I figured you'd seen it on the forums."

He commented, "I quite like this rumor."

Pei Ruji wasn't on the forums. Among the F4, only Cui Suifu was active online, and he used his real name publicly.

Cui Suifu had recently created an anonymous alt account. However, since SM was linked to student ID verification and Cui Suifu's alt had a record of being banned by Qian Chunyan a few days ago, netizens were all aware of his new alt—they just pretended not to know.

They only frantically boosted the views and click rates on posts the prince made, like "What to do if I accidentally said something bad about the person I like" or "How to pursue an Alpha as an Alpha," but refrained from commenting.

Cui Suifu glanced at the chat dialog—no reply.

He looked again—still no reply.

Cui Suifu slumped back onto the sofa, his usually bright black eyes filled with confusion.

"I went for a check-up."

Cui Suifu said, "The doctor said I'm in perfect health."

"—No toxins, no hypnosis."

"But if he doesn't reply to my messages, I feel like I'm going to die."

"..."

Pei Ruji paused and politely asked, "Did the check-up skip the neurology exam?"

"..."

Cui Suifu hurled his terminal right at Pei Ruji's face.

Pei Ruji nimbly dodged it and was about to continue mocking when he saw the red-haired Alpha bolt upright from the sofa.

Cui Suifu sprang up like a wolf, his messy red hair revealing sharp, blade-like black eyes beneath. His gaze was fixed directly on Pei Ruji—dead serious.

Pei Ruji's casual expression darkened.

The two stared at each other.

After a long silence.

Cui Suifu spoke first.

"Pei Ruji."

"I like him."

Cui Suifu's gaze was filled with an almost stubborn intensity. "You know who I'm talking about."

He enunciated each word clearly, "I really, really like him."

—He and Pei Ruji weren't just ordinary long-time friends. They were partners who had experienced life and death together, who could still trust each other with their backs in the treacherous world of fame and fortune.

This statement could be interpreted in many ways, but the overall attitude it conveyed was—

He didn't want any unpleasant scenes to arise because of this.

From his angle, he couldn't quite see Pei Ruji's face clearly, only those blood-red vortex-like eyes.

Pei Ruji said, "I know."

His response was neither fast nor slow, his dark red pupils showing almost no ripple, yet the air still grew subtly tense.

Neither of them looked away first.

He's a good person.

What do you dislike about him?

...

When the person you like doesn't get along with your good friend, perhaps you should at least try to explain on their behalf.

But years of ingrained subconsciousness told Cui Suifu that letting it be was the right thing to do.

Possession and territorial marking were the instincts of a beast.

The emotion of "dislike" appearing in Pei Ruji was, in itself, quite subtle.

The red-haired Alpha still didn't say anything, biting his canine teeth.

He grinned, wild like an unrestrained wolf, then expressionlessly shifted his gaze away.

The atmosphere returned to normal.

Cui Suifu suddenly asked.

"Are you participating in this training camp?"

Pei Ruji glanced at him, "I always participate."

Cui Suifu: "..."

True.

He had things to do in the afternoon and didn't go to the assembly hall, missing another good chance to see Meng Shijiu. He could only browse through photos on the forum to get his fix.

Pei Ruji lowered his eyes. "You don’t want me to go?"

Cui Suifu said, "Not exactly."

His tone was unconvincing.

As friends with no secrets between them, it wasn’t hard for Pei Ruji to guess Cui Suifu’s unspoken thoughts.

What was he thinking? That he would develop an interest in Meng Shijiu? What, was Meng Shijiu some kind of heartthrob that everyone had to like him?

Pei Ruji’s voice was calm as he offered reassurance.

"I won’t like him."

Cui Suifu responded quickly this time: "Oh."

He obediently picked up his terminal from the floor and continued sending messages to [Little Beauty].

Everything returned to normal.

Pei Ruji’s headphones switched to the next song.

"...I don’t know you, yet I once dreamed of you..."

Just the intro.

Certain images—pink-white petals, the boy in the tree, those illusory, jade-green eyes—all surfaced before his eyes.

Pei Ruji abruptly closed his eyes, his voice turning cold. "Didn’t I already tell you to delete this song?"

The air around them suddenly grew damp—the scent of the black-haired Alpha’s pheromones.

The terminal responded: "Yes, Master."

The singing stopped abruptly.

Hearing the noise, Cui Suifu looked up thoughtfully.

"Your pheromone disorder seems to be getting worse."

Cui Suifu understood this long-standing condition of the seemingly rational and composed Alpha as something akin to a germaphobe developing a skin-hunger disorder, a sex-averse person turning into an incubus, or a carnivore converting to Buddhism... In short, it was a troublesome but not overly severe illness.

An illness hidden from the Pei family head for twenty years.

As soon as the words were spoken, Pei Ruji’s terminal also issued a warning: "Pheromone levels exceed normal range."

Pei Ruji’s normal pheromone range seemed different from that of a typical Alpha, much more sensitive.

As if he had repeated these words tens of thousands of times, Pei Ruji’s tone always carried a hint of boredom. "I know."

—Ever since meeting that Alpha, this symptom seemed to have worsened.

Starting from that first encounter—the violin piece that missed a note due to pheromone disruption, the petals outside the glass window knocked down by the fine raindrops condensed from pheromones—to the lab-induced rut... Whenever that person appeared, he was a constant reminder to Pei Ruji of how dangerous he was.

Cui Suifu probably couldn’t imagine that Pei Ruji wanted to stay away from Meng Shijiu far more than he thought.

—So on the third day of the training camp, when the two were assigned to the same group again, Pei Ruji failed for the first time to maintain his refined gentlemanly facade in front of everyone.

Even more unfortunately, this time, the silver-haired Alpha was no longer in rut—he flashed Pei Ruji a malicious smile visible only to him, picked up the gentlemanly mask Pei Ruji had discarded, and placed it on his own face.

...

But at this moment, Meng Shijiu was still contemplating life in the Mu Ying Twin Towers dormitory.

Meng Shijiu felt worn out for the first time since arriving in this ABO world.

It was also the first time he hadn’t returned to Frost's place and spent the night in the dorm.

Meng Shijiu was about to take a shower. See, now a little black cat, guarded the bathroom door, trying again to talk to its host.

See said, "Host..."

"I was wrong TAT"

See didn’t realize it hadn’t switched to its mechanical voice. No matter how it acted up or begged for forgiveness, all that came out were "meows." Meng Shijiu, who didn’t understand cat language, very naturally treated See as a real cat and ignored it.

It took See a moment to realize and tried switching to the mechanical voice again.

"Host..."

The sound of water in the bathroom stopped. The familiar tone triggered certain memories. Meng Shijiu closed his eyes. "Change your voice."

Seeing that the host was finally responding, See promptly switched. This time, it was a gentle young man’s voice. "Host."

Meng Shijiu asked, "How many points are left?"

See retracted its paws from the door, sounding guilty. "...None."

Meng Shijiu walked out of the bathroom after showering, his gaze lowering to the little black cat on the carpet.

See’s silver eyes stared unblinkingly at him, like two bright stars in the night sky.

He grabbed the cat by the scruff of its neck, lifted the small cat, and placed it on the table.

Meng Shijiu’s expression was indifferent. He extended a snow-white fingertip and scratched under the kitten’s chin.

The snow-white skin contrasted sharply with the ink-black fur. The attached mist of water dampened a small patch of the dark color, the fluffy texture pressing against his cool fingertip.

He lazily tilted his face, his voice as faint as a drop of water dissolving into thick ink. "Mall."

The full image of the mall appeared in his mind. Meng Shijiu searched for a long time and found a potion that could suppress ruts.

—It required fifty points.

He should be able to save up enough points before the next rut, Meng Shijiu thought.

No, it would be best to complete the mission directly during the next rut, Meng Shijiu thought expressionlessly.

He lowered his damp eyelashes.

He needed to keep Ye Lingxi under close watch.

Meng Shijiu withdrew his hand. "I can’t keep a cat. Choose who you want to be raised by yourself."

See: ?

See: "Meow?!" No way!

See began frantically meowing, trying to use the cat's appearance to win its owner's pity, desperately pawing at Meng Shijiu's clothes.

Someone knocked on the dormitory door.

...

The blue-haired, blue-eyed Alpha didn't wait long before the door opened.

"—What's with the cat?" Before the irritable Zou Yun could finish, the annoyance in his eyes transformed into a different kind of agitation upon seeing the silver-haired Alpha.

The silver-haired Alpha had just showered and hadn't dried his hair, which was casually pulled back. His loose collar revealed delicate collarbones, his fair skin flushed a faint pink from the steam, his face unsmiling.

"Got it." Meng Shijiu frowned and blankly closed the door.

Zou Yun: "You..."

The tall Alpha instinctively braced his hand against the door, his eyes locked on the doorknob.

His skin was naturally dark, a honey-like complexion that contrasted sharply with Meng Shijiu's wrist; the impact was striking. Zou Yun had the fleeting illusion of their hands overlapping.

"You usually don't stay here...?" Zou Yun withdrew his hand stiffly, his face set.

Realizing his words revealed his usual attention toward the silver-haired Alpha, Zou Yun's voice trailed off, a mix of shame and annoyance making his expression quite a sight.

Meng Shijiu offered him a faint smile.

Though it was clearly insincere, Zou Yun was briefly stunned. He unconsciously swallowed, his gaze becoming evasive.

Meng Shijiu: "None. Of. Your. Damn. Business."

The smile vanished, and he moved to close the door.

Zou Yun's mind went blank, and he instinctively blocked the door with his hand.

Meng Shijiu didn't hold back. The door slammed shut hard on Zou Yun. A sharp pain shot through him, and the Alpha's face instantly turned ashen.

Under Meng Shijiu's gradually narrowing light-colored eyes, Zou Yun, ignoring the pain, blurted out: "—Didn't you want to know how I found out Zong Geman was an Omega pretending to be a Beta?"

The air fell silent for a few seconds.

Meng Shijiu: "You'd better not be making small talk."

Zou Yun stiffened his back under that gaze.

Remembering someone's past bravado, Meng Shijiu curled his lip: "Don't I need to beg you?"

Zou Yun: "..."

Zou Yun simply couldn't resist being a smartass; it was his nature: "Then beg."

*Bang.*

The door closed.

Zou Yun covered his face in agony.