GBROTAH CH18

“Notice: Tonight at 8 PM, everyone must attend the lecture in the school auditorium. No one is allowed to be absent. Class committees will take attendance on-site.”

Xie Yuanxing saw this message on his phone at 7:20 PM. Not long after, a knock came at his dorm room door. Gao Yufei cautiously poked his head in. Seeing only Xie Yuanxing inside, he visibly relaxed, pushed the door open, and walked straight in, “Did you see the notice from the instructor? Let’s go, it’s time for the lecture.”

“I’m still in my susceptible period. I can’t even get leave from the instructor. They told me to get an inhibitor shot and still attend this lecture. Damn, what’s so good about two hours of nonsense?”

Fang Zhi followed behind him, patting his shoulder, “Rough luck.”

“But this is just the beginning. When you enter society and start working, it doesn’t matter if you’re an Alpha in your susceptible period or an Omega in heat. You’ll have to gulp down inhibitors like water and tough it out at your workstation.”

Gao Yufei wailed, “Advanced medicine is truly great; it’s also increased the efficiency of us workhorses. Decades ago, Alphas didn’t have to work during their susceptible period.”

“I still envy you Betas; you don’t have all these troubles.”

Fang Zhi: “Alphas have stronger physical constitutions, lower chances of getting sick, abundant energy, and powerful Alphas only need four hours of sleep a day to maintain high-intensity operations. Plus, there are policy biases towards them – you’re not mentioning any of that.”

“Oh, and generally longer lifespans,” he said, looking at Xie Yuanxing, “Are you ready? Shall we go?” Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the unfinished bento box on Xie Yuanxing’s desk.

Xie Yuanxing nodded, his attitude natural: “You go ahead. I’m not ready yet.” He wasn’t particularly used to always walking with the other two, but the professors in A University’s School of Engineering seemed to have a fondness for assigning homework and tasks to groups of three based on dorm rooms. Whether they liked it or not, the three people living in the mixed dorm slowly became familiar with each other. Among them, Gao Yufei was outgoing and enthusiastic. Whenever there was an attendance-based activity and the class committee confirmed attendance by dorm, they would ask Gao Yufei if their group was complete. It seemed, invisibly, Gao Yufei had become their unofficial dorm leader, even though they didn’t live in the same room.

Gao Yufei’s gaze swept the entire dorm. The only extra stool, clearly Shen Bianye’s, he didn’t dare pull over to sit on. Instead, he simply walked over to Xie Yuanxing, “Still eating? We’ll wait for you. We still have a bit of time anyway.”

“If we go now, we’ll just be standing around waiting.”

Compared to Fang Zhi’s peripheral observation, he directly leaned closer. The next second, a national expletive slipped out, “Holy crap, since when did the cafeteria have such well-packaged takeout boxes?”

“They even included a bowl of soup. It looks clear and plain. What kind of soup is this?”

Xie Yuanxing shook his head, “I don’t know, mushroom soup?”

Gao Yufei: “Just mushrooms? Can it be good?”

Xie Yuanxing: “It might also be chicken soup, but they only gave me one piece of chicken, which I ate.”

“Even without meat, it’s very tasty, very fresh.”

Gao Yufei laughed and shook his head, complaining, “Well, that’s no good. Only one piece of meat, that’s too stingy.”

Fang Zhi beside him awkwardly forced a smile, thinking, What mushroom soup? It’s clearly matsutake.

He couldn’t help but glance at Shen Bianye’s spot, saying nothing. The two were engrossed in their discussion and completely oblivious. Xie Yuanxing was uncomfortable eating while being stared at, and used to being frugal, so he quickly finished his meal, packed up the container, and said, “Let’s go.”

It wasn’t even 8 PM, and the entrance to the auditorium was already packed. Class committees were taking attendance everywhere.

In the front rows of the steps leading into the auditorium stood student council members maintaining order and organizing the event.

Everyone was standing, except for Shen Bianye, who sat like a lord in a corner, carrying a chair he’d found somewhere. One foot on the ground, the other on the chair frame, his long, straight legs were a prominent sight to anyone looking his way.

He was already in the corner, but the gazes directed at him didn’t lessen, whether it was due to his outstanding physique, his handsome face, or simply because he was Shen Bianye.

Despite so many people looking at him, he looked at no one, head bowed, playing on his phone.

Buzz.

Xie Yuanxing’s phone vibrated.

X: “What are you doing now? Have you eaten?”

Xie Yuanxing pursed his lips, “Yes, I’m at the school auditorium entrance.”

The person playing on his phone suddenly looked up, his gaze cutting through the dense crowd, accurately locking onto Xie Yuanxing. The corner of his lips, which instinctively wanted to curve upwards, flattened when he saw the people next to Xie Yuanxing. His face darkened, and he seemed particularly displeased as he retracted his gaze.

Shen Bianye said to the vice-president who was taking attendance for the various classes, “I’m leaving.” The vice-president quickly responded, not forgetting to thank him, “Thanks to you today. Next time, remember to treat us to bubble tea.”

Shen Bianye hummed and left. Neither of them found any logical problem with the exchange; it was clearly business as usual.

Fang Zhi watched him leave, then turned to Xie Yuanxing beside him, “Senior Shen seems to be here too. He’s leaving soon. Aren’t you going to say hello?”

Xie Yuanxing said blandly, “We’re just roommates. There’s nothing to say hello about.”

Gao Yufei, who had just returned from chatting with someone, joined the conversation, “Yeah, we’ll see him back at the dorm anyway. Speaking of which, Fang Zhi, aren’t you in the student council? Why aren’t you helping out?”

Fang Zhi smiled, not continuing the topic of Shen Bianye, “Different departments. Let’s not talk about that. It seems we can go in now. Let’s go.”

The auditorium was packed. There was still some time before the lecture officially began, and the hall gradually grew noisy, becoming a little too loud.

Shen Bianye, who had left the auditorium, returned to the quiet dorm room. He unlocked the door with his key and walked in. Instead of sitting down immediately, he went to the other person’s spot in the dorm.

In the trash can at his feet was a discarded bento box. Shen Bianye picked it up by the edge, saw that it was almost completely eaten, and then, satisfied, threw it back.

He was about to return to his own spot when he slowly caught a faint scent of restless pheromones. Very faint, a hint of sea salt. An Alpha, currently in their susceptible period, had lingered in this spot for a long time.

Shen Bianye’s pheromone disorder made his detection of pheromones uncontrollable; sometimes he was dull, sometimes very sensitive. When dull, he wouldn’t smell an Omega in heat right in front of him. When sensitive… like now.

The scent was really, really faint, probably a slight leakage after an inhibitor shot, so weak that it could be easily overlooked. Any normal Alpha wouldn’t smell this pheromone scent here, but Shen Bianye caught it, and it couldn’t be ignored.

Shen Bianye stopped at the strongest point of the scent, lowered his gaze to his feet, then slightly tilted his head to look beside him. Xie Yuanxing’s chair was reflected in his obscure eyes, as if he were thinking, or struggling.

A moment later, this struggle seemed to have reached a conclusion. He raised his hand, his movements so slow that time itself seemed to crawl. And yet, he was gradually measuring the distance between where he stood and Xie Yuanxing’s chair.

His long, distinctly jointed hand silently rested on the edge of the chair back, easily able to encompass the entire chair, along with the person sitting in it. It was a distance so close that, if he lowered his head, his breath could touch another’s.

Shen Bianye’s pheromones uncontrollably burst throughout the room. A blazing fire swept through the entire dorm, bringing a strong lingering scent of embers, intertwined with the scent of jealousy, spreading relentlessly.

His hand, hanging at his side, had tightened into a fist at some point, veins bulging on the back of his hand, knuckles clenched white. He wanted to go to the auditorium right now, drag the person back, rip open the clothes on the back of his neck, and check for any bite marks from some short-sighted stray dog.

Such impulsive thoughts crashed in his mind, in his blood. Shen Bianye was almost unable to restrain himself. He wanted to choke Xie Yuanxing’s neck and interrogate him about whether he smelled anyone else’s pheromones. He wanted to bite Xie Yuanxing’s neck, using pain to warn Xie Yuanxing to stay away from other Alphas in the future.

No, no, Xie Yuanxing is his baby.

Can’t scare the baby.

The man smiled oddly, completely unaware of one thing—

He had entered his susceptible period, purely out of jealousy.

Xie Yuanxing, sitting in the auditorium listening to the drowsy platitudes, felt his phone vibrate at an unusually rapid pace, as if someone was continuously sending him messages without a break. He picked up his phone and, for a moment, was startled by the overwhelming flood of messages.

X: “Can you tell me what you did before coming to the auditorium?”

X: “I share everything with you, but you tell me nothing. That’s not fair.”

X: “Are you there? Can you tell me?”

X: “Was someone looking for you then, that’s why you left me aside?”

X: “Who came looking for you? Was it your good friend?”

X: “Can your good friend be me? Can you ignore everyone else?”

X: “Are you there? Please reply to me.”

Xie Yuanxing put his phone on silent, turning off even the vibration, then replied: “It was a classmate who came to find me to go to the auditorium together.”

X replied quickly, almost instantly: “What classmate? Was it an Alpha? Alphas in their susceptible period are all brainless idiots. Don’t play with them.”

Xie Yuanxing agreed somewhat, replying: “Some Alphas in their susceptible period are indeed idiots.”

X: “Who was it? Was it the classmate who came to find you?”

Before Xie Yuanxing could figure out what to say, a torrential downpour of messages from the other side came.

X: “Was he in his susceptible period today?”

X: “When he came to find you, did he say anything, or do anything?”

X: “How long were you together? Were you very close?”

X: “Did he get close when he talked to you? Did he lower his head?”

X: “So close, did you smell his pheromones? Did you?”

X: “Why aren’t you talking? I want to know.”

X: “Tell me, please, tell me.”

X: “Did you smell his pheromones?”

X: “Tell me.”

X: “Baby.”

The phone paused briefly, only for half a minute, then a new message popped up.

X: “Please, baby.”