Chapter 20 Picking the Soft Persimmon

Chapter 20: Picking the Soft Persimmon

Seeing that no one spoke up, the Dean continued, "Since you have nothing to say, I'll do the talking then~"

"All second, third, and fourth years, attention. Everyone's total points will be deducted by thirty percent. It's settled."

With a few casual sentences, he deducted nearly ten million points from the combined total of the second, third, and fourth years...

Especially the chiefs, who typically had at least a hundred thousand points or more each—this deduction cost them nearly sixty thousand points at once.

Among them, third-year students like Ye Qiming and his group felt a sense of relief, grateful they had bought the Mech Energy Tank last night. In their excitement, they had also purchased a bunch of items from the official store, which lessened today's hit somewhat. Otherwise, they'd be back at the mission center desperately scrambling for points again...

The upperclassmen didn't argue with the Dean and obediently accepted the penalty. The next second, deduction notifications popped up on the internal network of every upperclassman's smart device, causing some penny-pinchers to uncontrollably gasp in shock.

My... my points... [crying]

After deducting the points, the Dean was in a great mood. Finally, the tasks in the mission hall wouldn't pile up and stagnate anymore. How wonderful!

In his cheerful state, the subsequent closing ceremony proceeded very quickly. After a few words, he announced that everyone could go eat or return to their dorms to rest, reminding them to log into the internal network tonight to select courses and check their messages for class assignments.

The group of big shots in the viewing stands remained silent throughout, as if they were merely here to observe. In fact, before Lin Dusheng took over as Dean, those who came from this group would also say a few words from the speaker's podium. Since he became Dean, the big shots had simply been going through the motions as background figures.

But the big shots didn't mind. Their main purpose in coming was originally to observe this year's promising newcomers at the military academy and estimate which students they might want to recruit later.

Now, with fewer speaking formalities, everyone was quite pleased.

The Dean and the group of big shots left the stage first, though many headed straight for the chiefs' seats. Some were there because their own juniors were among them, while others wanted to establish early connections and goodwill with these promising seedlings.

Qi Lan and Lu Zechuan, for instance, were just there to see their own children.

Seeing his mother approach, Qi Yanshen stood up and greeted her, "Mother."

Qi Lan nodded, praising her child's excellence, "Well done, but remember to take care of your health."

Qi Yanshen nodded in acknowledgment.

Meanwhile, Jian Fuxu was still utterly absorbed in the data, leaving Lu Zechuan standing before him speechless.

Lu Zechuan helplessly patted Jian Fuxu's shoulder to bring him back to reality.

Disturbed, Jian Fuxu looked up displeased, only to see Lu Zechuan standing before him. He stood up and addressed him, "Hello, Uncle Lu."

Lu Zechuan chuckled, "Still the same as ever. You were very impressive today. General Jian will be over the moon again for ages."

Mentioning his parents softened Jian Fuxu's expression, and he nodded with a rare, gentle smile.

It was at this moment that Lu Yan, having just collected his student handbook, ran up. Seeing his father, he immediately rushed over and hugged Lu Zechuan's arm.

"Father!"

"Ow! Father, why did you hit me?"

Looking at his son's teary eyes, Lu Zechuan felt both exasperated and disappointed, "You're an alpha. Can't you be a bit steadier like Xiao Xu and Yan Shen? You don't act like an alpha at all, day in and day out!"

Lu Yan pouted. He called it being sunny and cheerful. Besides, if he were like Qi Yanshen and Jian Fuxu, wouldn't the atmosphere become terribly oppressive?

But Lu Yan still replied along with his father's words, "I know."

Seeing Lu Yan's perfunctory attitude, Lu Zechuan was furious. However, considering they were in a public setting where he couldn't embarrass his child, he held back his anger and remained silent, threatening Lu Yan with his eyes.

Lu Yan was quite accustomed to this. He pulled Lu Zechuan over to Ji Anzhi and introduced his father to him.

"This is my father; Father, this is my roommate, a really amazing beta!"

After the morning's challenges, Lu Yan knew his father definitely knew about Ji Anzhi, but the proper formalities still had to be observed. It was a matter of attitude towards others.

Lu Zechuan looked at the refined and scholarly, harmless-looking Ji Anzhi before him, whose eyes resembled a little white rabbit's. He extended his hand, smiling, "Hello, I'm Lu Yan's father, Lu Zechuan."

Ji Anzhi looked at the tall, imposing man before him. The visual disparity gave him a sense of intimidation. Even though this Commander wore his isolation ring properly, not leaking a trace of pheromones, the aura of a superior and the scent of blood from the battlefield subtly filled Ji Anzhi with fear.

Suppressing the nervous discomfort in his heart, Ji Anzhi stood up and shook the man's hand, his voice as gentle as ever, his eyes curving into a smile.

"Hello, I'm Lu Yan's roommate, Ji Anzhi."

Seeing Ji Anzhi's poised and respectful demeanor, Lu Zechuan's eyes held appreciation and admiration.

He had just come down from the speaker's podium and wasn't wearing the First Military Academy uniform. With a little thought, one should guess his status was among the nation's top brass. Looking it up later would reveal his identity.

Lu Zechuan believed the chiefs of First Military Academy couldn't possibly lack this level of discernment. Moreover, he had seen Ji Anzhi's file earlier when arranging dorm rooms through the backdoor—he was merely the descendant of a minor noble from a small country.

In such generally mediocre, even backward countries compared to the Federation, ABO discrimination was usually severe. His life within a noble family should have been a constant struggle, or at the very least, not much better.

To remain so composed and self-possessed under such circumstances was indeed extraordinary.

Lu Zechuan took out a small gift box from his Space Bracelet and handed it to Ji Anzhi, "Since it's our first meeting, consider this a gift. I hope you'll get along well in the future and support each other."

Ji Anzhi was alarmed and quickly waved his hands in refusal.

Accepting a gift from a Commander was out of the question. In such a public setting, if he were misunderstood as aligning with the Eighth Legion, it would mean big trouble.

Seeing Ji Anzhi's reaction, Jian Fuxu took the gift from Lu Zechuan's hand and explained, "I'll give it to him when we return to the dorm."

Lu Zechuan also realized he seemed to be forcing Ji Anzhi to take sides, so he obligingly handed the gift box to Jian Fuxu. After all, as long as the goodwill was delivered in the end, who gave it didn't matter too much.

At this moment, Qi Yanshen also introduced his mother to Ji Anzhi, "This is my mother, Qi Lan; Mother, this is the roommate I mentioned before, Ji Anzhi."

Qi Lan's face remained stony, but her eyes held a soft warmth, "Hello, this is our first meeting. I'm Qi Yanshen's mother."

Having dealt with General Lu earlier, Ji Anzhi handled this encounter with even more composure, "Nice to meet you, hello."

Qi Lan was also very satisfied with this child. She just wondered how long it would take for him to come to the Third Legion. Their Star Chart Department had been swamped lately, with complaint letters piling up by the dozens due to the immense frustration...

But Qi Lan also knew she couldn't rush things. Scaring him off would be counterproductive.

Later, the group chatted for a bit more, praising the three except for Lu Yan, which made Lu Yan's mouth pout so much it could almost reach outer space.

Others who had originally intended to extend olive branches to Ji Anzhi saw this and silently retracted their intentions.

Competing face-to-face with the Third Legion and the Eighth Legion for talent?

A joke!

Last month's incident where General Qi had someone poached from her unit still hadn't cooled down. They certainly didn't want to court disaster now. They'd find opportunities later.

Thus, without Ji Anzhi's knowledge, Qi Lan and Lu Zechuan helped him ward off quite a bit of trouble.

As Federation Legion Commanders, Qi Lan and Lu Zechuan, even though on leave today, still had many matters requiring their attention and decisions. So after chatting for a while, the two left.

After they departed, Qi Yanshen and the other three discussed returning to their dorm to eat. After all, given their current situation, going to the cafeteria would likely attract hostility and lead to getting beaten up...

So the four of them quickly returned to their dorm. As for those people along the way who wanted to offer olive branches or make friendly overtures, they were all coldly rejected by Jian Fuxu, who was leading the way.

Back in the dorm, the four of them waited together for the food to be ready. Ji Anzhi had originally planned to go upstairs and drink a nutrient solution, but Lu Yan was just too enthusiastic.

Praising how amazing he was with every sentence, Lu Yan managed to keep him there, even saying that he was loaded and from now on they should all eat together, since he’d foot the bill anyway.

Ji Anzhi was left speechless by Lu Yan's sheer audacity. He could guess that Lu Yan was wealthy, but hearing him say such things while treating money like dirt made him feel really, really jealous...

In the end, Ji Anzhi still couldn’t successfully refuse Lu Yan’s proposal and sat down to eat with them.

To get him to agree, Lu Yan even said it wasn’t exactly free—if anyone bullied him in the future, he’d get Ji Anzhi to back him up, and that would be his way of repaying the favor.

Ji Anzhi was both amused and exasperated. Lu Yan was the son of General Lu of the Federal Eighth Legion, with Qi Yanshen, the son of General Qi of the Federal Third Legion, and Jian Fuxu, the Federation’s Little Madman, as his close friends. Who would be foolish enough to bully him?

Even if someone were foolish enough to bully him, given the influence of those three families, it could easily be resolved—and even if not easily, it would definitely be resolved in the end.

But this gesture undoubtedly made Ji Anzhi gradually soften his stance, eventually agreeing to the proposal of eating together.

Just as the meal was almost ready, Jian Fuxu remembered that he seemed to have forgotten the gift Uncle Lu had prepared for Ji Anzhi. He took out the small gift box from his Space Bracelet and handed it to Ji Anzhi.

Ji Anzhi was taken aback, recalling that this seemed to be the welcome gift General Lu had prepared for him. At the time, he hadn’t accepted it for fear of being misunderstood as taking sides, and Jian Fuxu had said he’d give it to him later—he had almost forgotten about it.

Just as Ji Anzhi was about to refuse, Jian Fuxu spoke first: “Take it. It’s a gesture from Lu Yan’s father. I received one too back then, so don’t worry.”

The words of refusal stuck in his throat. Seeing Jian Fuxu’s expression that seemed to say, “If you don’t take it, I’ll just keep waiting,” Ji Anzhi hesitated for a moment before finally accepting the gift box.

He sincerely thanked him: “Please thank Uncle Lu for me later.”

Jian Fuxu: “Mm.”

Soon, the meal was ready, and the four of them went to the dining area to eat.

Smelling the long-lost aroma of natural food, Ji Anzhi couldn’t help but muse about how great it was to be rich!

Although he was quite wealthy himself now—with 39,000 credits deposited just this morning, plus the credits he had left before and the 800 credits from today’s military training, he had nearly 50,000 credits.

He was certain that among the first-year students, he was absolutely the one with the most credits—no doubt about it.

But he could only use these credits on the down-low. Ji Anzhi suddenly felt as if he were back in Suo'er, living a life where he had talent but couldn’t show it. However, relatively speaking, the situation with the credits was even more frustrating.

After a quiet lunch, everyone chatted for a while before returning to their rooms to log into the internal network.

Ji Anzhi and Jian Fuxu had already been on the military academy’s internal network, but Qi Yanshen and Lu Yan hadn’t yet. Today, they decided to log in early to check things out.

When Ji Anzhi returned to his room, Xiaoxue flew over and clung to his military trousers.

Fortunately, the fabric of the military trousers was of good quality, so Xiaoxue couldn’t snag or pull any threads. Otherwise, he’d have to buy new uniforms every month.

After playing with Xiaoxue for a while, Ji Anzhi let the robot keep it company while he opened his smart device and logged into the main channel of the internal network.

As soon as he entered, the screen was filled with wails over the principal’s punishment.

“Red Slacker: Ah! I can’t go on! My credits!”

“Simplifier: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!! My 7,000 credits!!!!!”

“qaq: You think that's bad? I lost 20,000 credits [crying]”

“Oka: Aaaaaa!!! No way, I want to duel that old man, the principal! I’m so mad!!!”

“Seen Through Scumbag Alpha: As a first-year repeater in the history of First Military Academy because the fourth-years lost, all I can say is, why did all the geniuses have to gather together?!!!!!!!!!!”

“Soaring Eagle: Don’t even mention it. I need to calm down now. Repeating a year + extra training for a semester + a deduction of 24,000 credits—I absolutely hate the principal right now!”

“Mountain Spirit: I don’t just hate the principal now. I’ve gone insane enough to hate the fourth-years for losing, hate the first-years for being so strong, and even hate the person who made Old Man Lin the principal in the first place!!!”

“QNMD: +1!!! I’m going crazy too!”

“Genius 197: +2!!!”

“Rationality Above All: + ID number! This Alpha is going crazy!!! My credits!!!”

“qaq: Honestly, I can barely accept that madman Jian Fuxu beat the fourth-years. After hypnotizing myself, I can reluctantly accept at 100% that Qi Yanshen beat Rodell. But why did the Star Chart Department lose?!!!!!! And it was the opening match! Whenever I recall Old Man Lin’s smile at that moment, I just want to punch someone!”

“Theorist: That beta from the Star Chart Department is really strong. Anyone in the field would know that beta is no longer in the category of genius…”

“Red Slacker: So that means three geniuses appeared this year??!!!”

“Alphas Don’t Deserve Love: Isn’t it obvious? T﹏T”

“Hard: I heard those three are even in the same dorm. Birds of a feather really do flock together, huh? So annoying!!!”

“Canlarui: I already have thoughts of assassinating Old Man Lin, boohoo…”

“。。。: +1, already gone mad…”

“.......................”

Ji Anzhi: “…………”

It seemed the upperclassmen had indeed suffered a huge blow, to the point of wanting to assassinate the principal.

He felt it necessary to buy a few top-quality protective shields from the official store, just in case he was ambushed and needed to protect himself.

It seemed that because the podium blocked half the view in the morning and Qi Yanshen was taller than him, not many people had seen him leaning against Qi Yanshen and falling asleep.

But why were they calling the principal an old man?

Ji Anzhi sent a message in the main channel to ask.

“Zhu Yue: Is the principal very old?”

“Hard: Clearly a freshman. Feeling proud, huh? Let me tell you, this senior is very angry right now, so I refuse to answer!”

“zxcvbnm: Hah, this year’s freshmen are really outstanding. Why ask us repeaters?”

“qaq: Freshmen should learn to be self-reliant, so don’t ask us!!!”

“Laser Slash: Hah, make up for my deducted 11,039 credits, and I’ll tell you.”

“Red Slacker: +1 If you make up for mine, I’ll tell you too. Mine’s less than the person above—only 9,627 credits.”

Ji Anzhi: “…”

The hostility was really severe!

Ji Anzhi rubbed his nose. It wasn’t like the first-years wanted to cause all the upperclassmen to repeat a year, undergo extra training, and lose credits. If they wanted to blame someone, they should blame the principal. We’re not taking the fall.

Ji Anzhi waited for the upperclassmen in the main channel to finish venting before sending a message to show weakness.

"Zhu Yue: But we didn't want you to repeat a grade either. Shouldn't you hate the principal? So, can you explain why the principal is called 'old man'?"

"...: Not happening. Can't take him."

"Nan: +1. Agreed. Can't fight him. As an alpha, I can't attack an omega."

Ji Anzhi: ...

You really stick to the principle of bullying the weak.