CR CH1

Chapter 1: Secondary Differentiation

“Beep beep—”

The sharp alarm pierced through his chaotic dreams like a sharp blade. The young man huddled in bed shivered, instinctively propping himself up to quickly shut off the blue-glowing communication device on his wrist.

Traces of lingering grogginess and annoyance remained between his brows. His face was flushed, and a layer of fine sweat beaded on his forehead, making him look rather sickly.

Jiang Tianji slowly sat up, letting out a slightly impatient sigh through his nose before throwing off the blanket.

He had been inexplicably unlucky these past few days. Not a single thing had gone right, and on top of that, he was running a low-grade fever on and off. Jiang Tianji figured it was karma for acting tough and prioritizing style over warmth just because he was young. Today, he really couldn’t take it anymore and had taken a leave of absence to sleep in his dorm all morning.

Now covered in sweat, he felt sticky and incredibly uncomfortable.

—I should take a shower first.

Just then, the communication device lit up, projecting a virtual interface in front of his eyes.

It was two notification alerts from a social app.

• Liang Shaoqun: Are you awake yet?
• Liang Shaoqun: Old Man He from the Command Department heard you were sick and was worried sick. He’s sending medicine and making us run errands to bring you food. What does Young Master Jiang want to eat today?

Jiang Tianji stared at the “ya” at the end of the sentence, as if he could see Liang Shaoqun’s grinning, sarcastic face. He let out a scoff.

Despite feeling utterly miserable, Jiang Tianji forced himself to search the Star Network for a menu comparable to a grand imperial feast and sent it to Liang Shaoqun. Only after receiving a string of censored swear words in response did he get out of bed, completely satisfied.

As soon as his feet touched the floor, he swayed. A sharp, stinging pain radiated from the back of his neck, causing half of his brain to throb in tandem. He quickly reached out a hand to steady himself.

“Hiss… this is killing me.”

Jiang Tianji couldn’t help but mutter. After a brief hesitation, he dug out some clean clothes from the wardrobe and turned toward the bathroom.

The sound of running water masked the growing commotion outside the student dorms. Jiang Tianji caught a few scattered snippets and specifically turned off the shower to hear if it was an important broadcast.

A mechanical female voice echoed throughout the entire Federal Military Academy.

“Federal Military Academy Broadcasting Office. Attention all students and faculty: Unidentified, excessive Alpha pheromones have been detected in Dormitory Building B-1…”

Hearing the keywords “Alpha pheromones,” Jiang Tianji felt relieved and turned the showerhead back on.

After all, as a Beta who couldn’t sense pheromones, he had nothing to worry about.

But with his dizzy, heavy head, he completely failed to notice that the dormitory building mentioned in the broadcast wasn’t Building A or Building O, but Building B—the exact building he was in.

The broadcast outside continued.

“Federal Military Academy Broadcasting Office. Attention all students and faculty: Unidentified, excessive Alpha pheromones have been detected in Dormitory Building B-1. All unrelated personnel, please stay away from the cordoned area. Any students currently inside Dormitory B-1, please evacuate through the back doors and voluntarily submit to screening.”

After this broadcast repeated three times, the crowd outside went silent for a moment before bursting into an uproar.

“Did I hear that right? Why is there an Alpha in Dormitory B-1?”

“Yeah, didn’t all the Alphas leave for the basic military units ages ago?”

“No, isn’t the main point ‘unidentified, excessive Alpha pheromones’? Weren’t all our details logged into the system long ago? Is this guy an unregistered citizen…?”

Upon enrollment, everyone’s basic information was recorded. For Alphas and Omegas, two extra entries were required: pheromone and genetic profiles.

In the Federation, which was in desperate need of fresh blood, all Alphas were sent to combat bases during the early stages of their differentiation. Dominant Alphas would enter higher-level combat units for training, while the rest would join standard or logistics units.

The differentiation period typically occurred around age fifteen. After serving two years in the military, they could apply to stay in the force or return to school to complete their education. Meanwhile, the enrollment age for the Federal Military Academy was 19.

Therefore, the Alpha dormitories only housed military officers, teachers, or Alphas who had returned after completing their two years of service. They could basically control their pheromones with ease and were all regularly injected with stabilizers.

Occasionally, pheromone riot incidents still occurred, but the Federation’s system contained everyone’s data. Plus, every dorm had intelligent sensors that directly notified the military if any anomalies were detected.

These were all common occurrences. The reason for the current uproar was that specific phrase:

“Unidentified Alpha pheromones.”

This person was either an unregistered citizen completely off the Federation’s grid, or someone who hadn’t been logged in time.

The former was practically impossible. The residents of B-1 were freshmen who had enrolled as Betas this year.

Before the crowd could continue their bewildered guessing, a military hovercraft floated above the dormitory building.

A long ladder dropped straight into the laser-cordoned area, and a tall figure was the first to step out. The newcomer methodically pulled on a pair of tactical gloves. With waist-length silver-white hair, he instantly drew the vast majority of the gazes.

The crowd fell silent for a second, then people immediately turned their heads, grabbing their friends to confirm.

“No way! Am I seeing things?”

“Ling Kongmiao? In the flesh?!”

“Holy shit… holy shit! Ling Kongmiao? The Chief Commander of the Special Rescue Team? Why is he here!”

“Bro, smack me if you want, but can you not choke me?”

“Oh, oh, my bad, my bad…”

Everyone was familiar with Ling Kongmiao’s name. After all, that face was a regular on the Federation channels—a Chief Commander at merely twenty-two years old, and the top officer of the Special Rescue Team, the strongest combat force.

While the crowd was eagerly discussing this, a few boys were holding their food high in the air, struggling to inch forward.

“Excuse us, please make way.”

“Our kid is sick and waiting in the dorms, please cooperate and let us through, brothers and sisters.”

Liang Shaoqun shouted weakly. They had heard the broadcast from far away, and now that they couldn’t get into the dorms, they could only stand on their tiptoes to see if they could spot Jiang Tianji.

“Where is Little Tian? He’s not replying to our messages. Did he go to the back door?”

Luo Yang, standing behind him, wiped his sweat and stared at his communicator in confusion.

“I don’t know, and we can’t get to the back door either. Let’s just wait for his reply.”

Jiang Jun, holding both hands high for fear of spilling the soup on someone, replied with a bitter face.

“Alright, there are too many people ahead, we really can’t squeeze through. Let’s find an empty spot to put the food down first.”

Luo Yang said, and noticing Liang Shaoqun was still on his tiptoes looking, he asked in confusion,

“Brother Liang, what are you still looking at over there? You usually don’t show this much conscience.”

“Screw you.” Liang Shaoqun’s bright eyes were fixed on the tall figure that had already entered the dorms. “Didn’t you guys see? That’s Captain Ling! He’s too freaking handsome.”

“Are you running a fever too? What nonsense are you spouting?” Luo Yang, irritated by the crowding, retorted casually. “There are no big screens here, where would Captain Ling come from?”

“Damn it, it really is Captain Ling! Breaking news: after the previous ‘Blood’ project incident, the commanding officer of the basic unit was dismissed, and the Federation sent down Special Rescue Team One!”

Luo Yang’s face instantly changed. He took a step back, spun around, stood on his tiptoes, and craned his neck: “Where? Where is he!”

“He went inside. I just told you, but you didn’t believe me.”

Jiang Jun looked at him with disdain. Luo Yang immediately felt it was unfair and asked stubbornly,

“You saw him too?”

“Yeah, holy crap, he’s so tall. I felt that aura from a mile away. Ahhh—my dream of joining the Special Rescue Team is burning up again!” Jiang Jun suddenly yelled like a melodramatic teen.

“…”

–

While the atmosphere outside was blazing hot, a certain bathroom inside the nearby dormitory building was also steaming.

Someone raised a hand to turn off the showerhead and couldn’t help but let out a soft “tch,” his voice very hoarse.

“Why aren’t they back yet?”

It felt as if a ball of fire was churning inside his body. Jiang Tianji was dizzy, his throat and nasal passages were bone dry, and every breath tasted like rust.

At first, washing off the stickiness had felt refreshing, but soon after, his body began to ache and throb with pain.

Jiang Tianji finally realized he might not be dealing with a normal fever. Waves of sharp pain radiated from the back of his neck. Just as he reached back to touch it, he heard a loud bang from the dorm’s front door outside.

The anxiety in his heart dissipated significantly. He turned off the shower and called out weakly.

“Watch your man…”

The rest of the word awkwardly caught in his throat. Why did those footsteps sound so synchronized?

Jiang Tianji’s overheated brain was processing things too slowly. He stared dumbly at the door, and before he could gather his senses, the bathroom door was kicked open.

When a group of burly men burst through the door, relying entirely on male instinct, Jiang Tianji swiftly snatched the bath towel off to the side.

With no time to even unfold it, in his panic, he only managed to use the towel to cover his little brother.

Once he got a clear look at the row of beefy men.

His eyes widened, and he practically blurted out.

“Damn it, I’m calling the cops!”

Wait???

Isn’t this the Federal Military Academy?!

Is the security really this bad?

Compared to Student Jiang’s absolute panic, the armed squad members had much calmer gazes. They automatically split to the sides, as if making way for someone.

Unhurried footsteps approached. Ling Kongmiao cracked his knuckles and brought his long legs to a halt at the bathroom door. His gaze lingered on a certain stunned individual for a moment before he continued stepping into the room.

A rich wave of Alpha pheromones rushed out. The scent of lemons mixed with body wash filled almost the entire room. It wasn’t exactly a pleasant experience, yet a certain kid still looked completely out of the loop, staring in disbelief as if scared stupid.

Jiang Tianji maintained his stance, clutching the towel over his little brother. His eyes followed the white-haired beauty in front of him, looking incredibly comical.

The slowly approaching white-haired beauty gave a soft chuckle and shoved a badge right in his face.

“Hello, Federal Special Rescue. You’re being drafted.”

Jiang Tianji finally snapped out of it, looking as if the sky had just fallen on him.

“What??”

Before his voice even faded, Ling Kongmiao twitched a finger, and the armed squad swarmed forward.

A cry of sheer despair echoed throughout Dormitory Building B-1.

Just like that, he was hauled off to the military completely naked.