Chapter 24 Deliberate

Chapter 24: On Purpose

After seeing off the two brothers, Andrew and Eveka, Ji Anzhi went back to his meal.

Lu Yan, who knew Eveka was a total bro-con, couldn't help but comment after they left, "That Eveka has been doting on his brother since they were in elementary school. Now he's even willing to shell out credits for Andrew. Man, that's the life!"

Jian Fuxu said flatly, "Just say you're jealous."

Lu Yan pouted, refusing to admit it. "Who's jealous? I have two older brothers!"

Qi Yanshen calmly added, "Those two brothers of yours have beaten you half to death more than once."

Lu Yan: "..."

Damn!

Lu Yan muttered under his breath, unwilling to concede, "Hmph, I won't argue with you eldest children about what's so great about having older brothers. You wouldn't understand..."

Hearing Lu Yan's grumbling, Ji Anzhi thought, *Well, it shows you have older brothers. The two without are way more mature.*

After finishing their meal, since all four of them had afternoon classes, they killed an hour resting in the cafeteria before heading to their respective classrooms.

...

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Sunday

Ji Anzhi still woke up at 6:30 a.m. He hadn't been working out much in the past two months, so after a quick bite, he went to the training room on the first floor to exercise.

The military academy sometimes held live combat drills with real insectoids. Everyone in the school was expected to participate. If his stamina gave out in a dangerous situation, there was a real possibility of death.

Ji Anzhi went downstairs. The second floor was deserted; Jian Fuxu was probably still engrossed in his research. Lu Yan had declared yesterday that he would sleep in today, and Qi Yanshen was probably also going to sleep in. He figured a glass of milk and some bread would suffice for his own breakfast.

After a simple breakfast, Ji Anzhi began his training on the first floor. Since it had been so long since he'd done any proper training, the sudden exertion left him exhausted in less than an hour. He leaned against the wall for support, panting heavily.

After catching his breath, Ji Anzhi rested for ten minutes before starting a slow jog to build his endurance.

After running for an hour and a half, feeling he was about to hit his physical limit, Ji Anzhi finally stopped, doubled over, hands on his knees, trembling.

His stamina had declined significantly recently.

Indeed, a beta's physical strength couldn't compare to an alpha's...

Once he'd caught his breath again, Ji Anzhi sat down to massage his muscles. He planned to buy some muscle repair gel in the trading city later so he wouldn't be sore tomorrow.

After the massage, Ji Anzhi returned to his room to shower and changed into clothes he had designed himself: a dark ink-colored shirt with a subtle auspicious cloud pattern, paired with a jade snow pine brooch. The trousers followed a suit pant style but were made of softer fabric.

Putting on a hat and mask, Ji Anzhi took Xiaoxue and headed to the trading city.

The trading city on Sunday was packed, with at least two thousand people in the temporary trading area alone, and it was still morning.

The military academy didn't require uniforms on Sundays, so many wore casual clothes. Ji Anzhi didn't stand out among them.

During his previous visit, the temporary trading area had been sparsely populated. Today, with so many people, Ji Anzhi decided to let Xiaoxue have a good look around.

The stalls in the temporary trading area were as orderly as those in the permanent area, not crowded, but the items for sale were all over the map. Besides Energy Crystals and potions, there were all sorts of food, animals, small components—you name it.

However, they all had one thing in common: the stock was limited for every item.

Ji Anzhi guessed these were likely personal rewards from missions. Besides the mission deliverables, anything else obtained during the mission belonged to the individual as a personal reward.

Ji Anzhi strolled leisurely, seeing many things he had never encountered or even heard of, which slowed his pace further.

The stall owner was an alpha female. Seeing the kitten in Ji Anzhi's arms jump onto her stall to sniff some fruits, she chuckled and gave the kitten a stroke.

"Is this your cat?"

Her voice was clear and pleasant, and her eyes held a gentle smile as she looked at Ji Anzhi.

Ji Anzhi apologized, "I'm sorry, I'll take her away immediately. I've caused you trouble."

As he spoke, he reached out to grab Xiaoxue.

For some reason, the usually obedient Xiaoxue was particularly mischievous today. She dodged Ji Anzhi's hand and continued sniffing the fruits. When Ji Anzhi tried to grab her forcefully, she scratched him.

"Ouch!"

Ji Anzhi covered the scratch on the back of his hand—three four-to-five-centimeter-long marks, not deep but painful.

Seeing Ji Anzhi was scratched, the girl quickly took out a disinfectant spray from her Space Bracelet and handed it to him.

"Are you okay?"

Ji Anzhi took the spray, used it, and returned it.

"I'm fine, sorry."

He looked helplessly at Xiaoxue, who was still weaving through the pile of fruits on the stall.

The girl didn't insist he take the cat away. "She might have caught a scent she likes. Let's wait and see what she wants."

A few seconds later, Xiaoxue seemed to have made up her mind. She hugged one deep purple fruit, about the size of her head, pawing at it as if trying to break open the shell. Unable to do so, she resorted to gnawing on it with her teeth.

Ji Anzhi pointed to the fruit Xiaoxue was holding and asked the girl for the price.

"This fruit grows on a planet in the border star region of the Milky Way. I found it by accident and don't know if it's edible. If the little one likes it, how about two hundred credits?"

Ji Anzhi felt the price was a bit high but still within a reasonable range. Given Xiaoxue's determined stance, he reluctantly transferred two hundred credits.

The girl's smile widened, and she threw in an extra fruit as a bonus. Ji Anzhi accepted it with a dry laugh.

Carrying Xiaoxue, who refused to let go of the fruit, he left. On the way, he tapped her nose and chided, "Getting bold, aren't you? Look, you drew blood."

Xiaoxue ignored the scratch on Ji Anzhi's hand, continuing to hug the fruit and trying her best to break through its hard outer shell.

Annoyed, Ji Anzhi gave her a flick on the forehead, making her hiss in pain.

Ji Anzhi laughed heartily and continued browsing the temporary trading area with her in his arms.

Some stalls had particularly strange items. One featured a bright golden metal piece that seemed to glow from within.

Ji Anzhi approached to inquire. The stall owner, an alpha male, said it was a metal from a planet near the Sagittarius Arm. He didn't know its use, but the metal had strong reflective properties. Their Energy Cannon blast had bounced off it, so they chipped off a small piece and brought it back.

Ji Anzhi listened with some skepticism and asked the price for the fist-sized metal chunk. The seller said fifteen hundred credits. Ji Anzhi turned to look at the next stall.

Seeing Ji Anzhi about to leave, the alpha male immediately lowered the price.

"One thousand! Just one thousand!"

Ji Anzhi walked back and stated his bottom line. "Six hundred credits. That's the price only because this material isn't available on the market. Not a credit more."

The alpha thought 600 points would do. This metal hadn't sold for a week, and he was in a hurry to finish up and meet his omega.

"Deal!"

After paying 600 points, Ji Anzhi picked up the metal block and continued to look around. He could just test the metal's description back home.

Anyway, he now had tens of thousands of points, and he hadn't spent much. If it was fake, he'd just consider the 600 points a lesson learned.

He didn't find anything else he liked after that, so Ji Anzhi went to the official store to buy some natural food, healing agents, and other items.

After finishing his purchases and checking out, it was already noon.

Returning to the dorm, Qi Yanshen and his two roommates were waiting on the second floor for lunch. Seeing Ji Anzhi come back from outside, they reminded him that the food would be ready soon.

Ji Anzhi nodded, placing Xiaoxue on the living room sofa. After all, her eyes were only on that Guoguo now, so she wouldn't run around.

As soon as he finished putting the fruits and snacks he bought into the refrigerator, he turned around to see Xiaoxue with her fur puffed up, biting Qi Yanshen's pant leg, her claws pulling threads from his trousers.

Qi Yanshen calmly watched Xiaoxue grabbing his pant leg, seemingly unfazed.

Ji Anzhi hurried over to get Xiaoxue to let go. Once she did, Xiaoxue was hissing threateningly, and Ji Anzhi struggled for a while to pry her claws off.

Ji Anzhi repeatedly apologized, "Sorry, sorry, are you okay?"

Qi Yanshen coughed, looking a bit guilty. "It's fine. I accidentally stepped on the fruit she was holding just now. Sorry."

Ji Anzhi looked down and indeed saw the fruit rolling on the floor. He casually said, "It's fine, we're even," then picked up the fruit, washed it, dried it, and handed it to the angry Xiaoxue.

Seeing the fruit that had just been stepped on by a human now clean and appearing before her, Xiaoxue slowly smoothed her fur and continued gnawing on the fruit.

However, she glanced at Qi Yanshen every few minutes afterward, as if afraid he would step on her Guoguo again.

Seeing that Xiaoxue was finally no longer angry and puffed up, Qi Yanshen sighed in relief. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the three scratch marks on the back of Ji Anzhi's hand and asked with concern, "Does your hand hurt?"

Ji Anzhi blanked for a second, not reacting at first, then remembered his hand had been scratched by Xiaoxue that morning.

Covering the back of his hand, he smiled calmly. "It doesn't hurt anymore. I'll use a healing agent when I go back to my room later."

Qi Yanshen nodded, taking out a box of ointment from his Space Bracelet.

"This was developed by my dad. It has good repair effects, doesn't harm the body, and leaves no scars. I'm giving it to you as an apology for accidentally stepping on Xiaoxue's Guoguo."

Although Ji Anzhi didn't know who Qi Yanshen's father was, he was definitely someone important. Moreover, he still remembered clearly the miserable state of that alpha who picked a fight with Lu Yan last time.

Ji Anzhi pretended to be embarrassed and politely declined, "Xiaoxue also tore your pant leg, so it's not necessary."

Qi Yanshen didn't move, his attitude clear.

After a pause, Ji Anzhi finally had to accept the ointment. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it."

Jian Fuxu and Lu Yan, watching from the side, showed disdain in their eyes.

Who was it that immediately stood up and stepped on the fruit when Xiaoxue accidentally dropped it? Who would have thought Qi Yanshen could be so calculating one day?

And Qi Yanshen even threatened the two of us when Ji Anzhi wasn't looking!?

I can't even look!

The two inwardly complained, but on the surface, they had their bro's back and didn't expose Qi Yanshen's behavior.

After the meal, when Ji Anzhi went upstairs, Jian Fuxu and Lu Yan looked at Qi Yanshen with eyes that said—so you're that kind of person!

Qi Yanshen calmly ignored them.

Turning to Jian Fuxu, he asked, "How's the research on those three Energy Tanks going?"

Mentioning the three Energy Tanks made Jian Fuxu feel defeated. "Still can't crack the self-destruct program. It explodes as soon as the program is touched."

"But there's a new discovery. Besides the regular original parts, I also found several self-modified parts. Those self-modified parts are very small; I only observed them after prying open a needle-sized hole in the casing."

"The metal of those parts isn't one commonly used in the Federation. It's very likely they were modified by foreigners."

"Foreigners?!"

Qi Yanshen and Lu Yan exclaimed in surprise, then lowered their voices remembering Ji Anzhi was upstairs.

Qi Yanshen rubbed his chin. If they were really foreigners, even if the Federation found them, it wouldn't be easy to win them over. One misstep could let other countries take advantage.

Lu Yan then asked, "So, are you planning to continue researching?"

Jian Fuxu pointed out his leave request form. "Yes. The research that can be done without triggering the self-destruct program has probably been completed by both the research institute and me, but useful findings are few. I plan to apply for a week's use of the blast-proof chamber to disassemble it for observation."

Lu Yan worriedly tried to stop him. "But 5000 units of energy would probably blow up the entire blast-proof chamber area, right? Not to mention you'd be researching up close?"

Jian Fuxu replied calmly to Lu Yan's concern, "You can't make an omelet without breaking eggs."

Qi Yanshen didn't say anything but handed Jian Fuxu a pure white, faintly glowing small buckle from his pheromone isolation bracelet.

Seeing this, Lu Yan also handed over an identical buckle from his own bracelet.

Seeing the Insect Crystal Shields from the two, Jian Fuxu softly said "thank you" and took them, attaching them to his pheromone isolation bracelet. His bracelet was now so ornate that if he wore it out, people might think it belonged to an omega.

Lu Yan waved his hand casually. "No need to thank. Just remember to come out exactly as you went in. If you dare come back missing an arm or a leg, I'll release pheromones in front of you every day."

Qi Yanshen also said, "Be careful. Uncle Jian and Auntie only have you as their only son. Don't make them worry."

Jian Fuxu softly acknowledged, indicating he knew his limits and would be careful.

No need to say more. After a few more reminders, Qi Yanshen took Lu Yan downstairs to train, while Jian Fuxu went out to the academic affairs office for final approval.

As soon as they entered the first-floor training room, the two smelled a faint mint scent.

Lu Yan sniffed carefully, puzzled. "Why is there a mint smell? Did the system spray mint air freshener when cleaning the pheromones?"

Qi Yanshen also found it strange but didn't think much of it. After all, the mint scent was very faint; if they weren't both S-class alphas, they probably wouldn't have noticed it.

He casually replied, "Maybe. Never mind, let's train."

Lu Yan obediently didn't dwell on it and focused on training.

Upstairs, Ji Anzhi, who was studying the Guoguo that Xiaoxue was holding, never expected that the pheromone scent he couldn't even smell would be detected by Qi Yanshen and Lu Yan and mistaken for mint air freshener.