LABMY CH73

“The teacher’s coming, the teacher’s coming.”

The classroom erupted into chaos as everyone turned to look at the back door. Lu Qianyun quickly turned his head, swiftly retracted the knife, and obediently stood up, even sneaking a quick wipe of the blood on the blade with his sleeve.

Seeing this, the teacher’s expression softened slightly, but he still scolded angrily, “Lu Qianyun, are you itching for trouble?”

“Pointing a knife at your classmate—have all the things you’ve learned been fed to the dogs?”

“When you get to the battlefield, are you planning to aim your gun at your comrades?”

The teacher’s surname was Wang, an ordinary name with an even more ordinary background and mediocre talent. He only managed to secure a position at the First Imperial Academy through flattery and connections. Normally, when facing an SSS-ranked Alpha like Lu Qianyun, he was always cautious and obsequious.

But now, looking at Lu Qianyun, who stood silently with his head down, the bandages on the back of his neck still visible, Teacher Wang felt an inexplicable sense of twisted satisfaction.

So what if he was a genius? Without his gland, he was nothing now—no, he was far beneath even an ordinary person.

In this world where Alphas dominated, Omegas were treasured, and Betas formed the lowest and largest class of society, an Alpha who had lost their gland was even less than a Beta.

The loss of the gland meant a severe decline in physical abilities and the complete destruction of one’s mental sea. An Alpha without a gland could no longer sense any mental energy, nor could they be comforted by an Omega’s pheromones. Madness was not uncommon in such cases.

Moreover, rumor had it that the Lu family had already abandoned Lu Qianyun and cast him out.

This feeling of stepping on a former prodigy and crushing him underfoot filled Teacher Wang with a sickening pleasure. He sneered coldly and spat out malicious words:

“Oh, right. I almost forgot. Our genius Lu had his gland removed. Can’t even step onto the battlefield now, can he?”

At the back of the classroom, Jian Yuanbai, who had been silently observing, suddenly felt a wave of irritation. He stepped forward and said, “Since when can street thugs become teachers at the Imperial Academy?”

The obvious provocation made Teacher Wang immediately turn around. “Who are you?”

“You… Why are you here?” Lu Qianyun asked at the same time.

Jian Yuanbai ignored them and smirked, “Weren’t you quite eloquent just now? Why aren’t you talking now? Afraid of the teacher?”

Lu Qianyun’s face instantly flushed red. He lowered his head and avoided Jian Yuanbai’s gaze, feeling both ashamed and awkward.

In truth, he hadn’t paid much attention to what Teacher Wang had said. Whether it was putting away the knife or obediently standing still, it was all because he had caught sight of Jian Yuanbai standing at the back door.

During the entire scolding, the only thing running through Lu Qianyun’s mind was: Did Jian Yuanbai see that?

Jian Yuanbai, unaware of Lu Qianyun’s thoughts, reached out and brushed his thumb across Lu Qianyun’s pale cheek, wiping away a smudge of blood. He teased, “What happened? Our little dragon can’t talk now?”

“Wasn’t there a saying? ‘A trapped dragon in shallow waters doesn’t mean stray dogs can bark at it.’ So, why is our dragon staying silent now that the dog is barking?”

Stop talking…

Lu Qianyun’s face burned with embarrassment. Unable to bear it any longer, he stepped forward, grabbed the hem of Jian Yuanbai’s shirt, and gently bumped his forehead against Jian Yuanbai’s chest. His voice trembled with shame as he pleaded, “Stop talking… please…”

If Jian Yuanbai hadn’t been there, Lu Qianyun could have kept a straight face and said those arrogant lines without flinching.

But now… not only had Jian Yuanbai witnessed the whole scene, but he even repeated those words out loud.

This wasn’t just humiliation—it was public execution.

Lu Qianyun’s pale skin flushed from his face to the tips of his ears, the redness making him stand out even more.

The stark contrast between the ruthless Lu Qianyun, who had just threatened someone with a knife, and the current shy and flustered version of him was simply too much for the onlookers to process.

Everyone in the classroom couldn’t help but steal glances at him. The more they looked, the redder Lu Qianyun’s face became.

Jian Yuanbai held back a laugh, reminding himself that he had stepped in to defend Lu Qianyun. However, he couldn’t resist lowering his head and whispering in Lu Qianyun’s ear,

“I thought you wouldn’t get embarrassed after saying such bold things earlier.”

Lu Qianyun clenched the hem of Jian Yuanbai’s shirt tightly and secretly pinched his waist.

Of course he was embarrassed. He was dying of shame.

That kind of arrogant talk was only effective in the heat of the moment. The more he thought about it afterward, the more cringe-inducing it became.

He wasn’t made of steel, after all.

“Don’t… call me…”

“…Little dragon…”

Lu Qianyun gritted his teeth and forced out the words, one syllable at a time.

The two of them, lost in their own world, completely ignored the growing rage on Teacher Wang’s face.

A useless Alpha who had lost his gland… Did Lu Qianyun really think he was still that top-tier Alpha everyone once revered?

How dare he ignore him like this?

Where did he get the nerve?

This blatant disregard reminded Teacher Wang of how he used to fawn over Lu Qianyun in the past. For a teacher to flatter a student was utterly humiliating. But now, Lu Qianyun had lost his gland. Why shouldn’t he stomp him underfoot?

The more Teacher Wang thought about it, the darker his expression became. However, he hadn’t yet figured out who this unexpected man was, so he held back his anger and interrupted their conversation with a tone that was anything but friendly:

“And you, who exactly are you to Lu Qianyun?”

Jian Yuanbai paused for two seconds and replied, “You could say… half a guardian.”

Half a guardian?

Teacher Wang suddenly recalled that after the Lu family abandoned Lu Qianyun, they had thrown him to some distant relative who had no real connection to the family. On the surface, it was for “care and supervision,” but in reality, it was to prevent the mentally unstable Lu Qianyun from harming the true heir, Lu Qianshan.

Discarded like trash, stripped of any value.

As for this man in front of him—despite wearing a military uniform, the rank insignia on his shoulder only represented a low-ranking officer. Though Teacher Wang was just a teacher, as a member of the Imperial Academy, he couldn’t afford to offend even a low-ranking officer from the military.

“Lu Qianyun openly attacked a fellow student in class. Since you’re his guardian, come with me.”

Jian Yuanbai pointed to the A-rank Alpha who had already gotten up from the floor and was clutching his neck. “And him? He’s also part of this, isn’t he?”

Teacher Wang’s expression darkened. “He’s the victim. He should be heading to the infirmary.”

With that, he turned to leave and shouted, “Lu Qianyun, get over here!”

At the same time, he released his pheromones.

Among Alphas, releasing pheromones was an invisible form of suppression. The intensity of the pheromones directly reflected the Alpha’s emotional state.

If the pheromones carried hostility, a higher-ranked Alpha’s pheromones could make lower-ranked Alphas feel intense pressure, discomfort, or even splitting headaches if the gap in rank was significant.

In this classroom, the only one who would feel such pain was Lu Qianyun—an Alpha who had lost his gland.

Sure enough, the blush that had just colored Lu Qianyun’s face from embarrassment drained away. He clenched his fists tightly to keep himself steady.

The fact that Teacher Wang could teach at the Imperial Academy meant his control over his pheromones and mental energy was far superior to ordinary students. Correspondingly, the damage he inflicted on Lu Qianyun was also much greater.

Seeing that Lu Qianyun could still stand his ground and maintain his composure, Teacher Wang sneered and was about to intensify the release of his pheromones—

When suddenly, a hand reached out and gripped Teacher Wang’s face, slamming his head against the cold, hard wall.

“Wh-What are you doing?!”

Teacher Wang’s face twisted in shock and anger as he glared at the man in front of him.

Jian Yuanbai’s large hand was like steel, pressing firmly against his face. No matter how hard Teacher Wang struggled, he couldn’t move an inch. Jian Yuanbai’s fingers tightened around Teacher Wang’s temples, slowly increasing the pressure.

Jian Yuanbai tilted his head slightly and spoke in an almost gentle tone:

“As a teacher, shouldn’t you know how to properly control your pheromones?”

His tone was calm, but the force in his hand made Teacher Wang feel as if his skull was about to be crushed.

Through Jian Yuanbai’s fingers, Teacher Wang could barely see those sharp, icy eyes.

“You… you… you…”

Jian Yuanbai’s grip tightened further as he softly said, “Hmm?”

He hadn’t even released his own pheromones, yet the sheer pressure from his presence left the surrounding students frozen in place, unsure whether to intervene.

Unable to withstand the pressure, Teacher Wang was forced to retract his pheromones.

“Let… go,” he said through gritted teeth.

Jian Yuanbai released his hand, as if nothing had happened, and asked calmly, “Now, can this Alpha come with us to the office? After all, shouldn’t we fairly restore the truth of what happened?”

His gaze shifted to the A-rank Alpha with the neck wound. Jian Yuanbai’s eyes lingered on the shallow scratch and he added, “That injury doesn’t seem severe enough to warrant a trip to the infirmary, does it?”

In the end, Jian Yuanbai, Lu Qianyun, Teacher Wang, and the A-rank Alpha all headed to the principal’s office.

On the way, Lu Qianyun quietly tugged at the corner of Jian Yuanbai’s shirt and whispered, “Bringing him along won’t help. I was the one who struck first.”

Jian Yuanbai asked, “What did he do to provoke you?”

Lu Qianyun lowered his voice, “…He released his pheromones to provoke me.”

Jian Yuanbai raised an eyebrow. “Then that’s his fault. Why would bringing him be useless?”

Lu Qianyun replied in frustration, “The Imperial Academy doesn’t care about that. They only care about who made the first move. Especially in the mecha department.”

In this academy, filled with elite Alphas, being suppressed by another’s pheromones was considered a sign of weakness. The school wouldn’t interfere, especially within the mecha department.

Jian Yuanbai understood but said, “It’s not entirely useless. At least he has to stand here and get scolded with you.”

By “getting scolded,” he meant listening to the principal’s endless lecture.

As Lu Qianyun predicted, the principal didn’t care about the pheromone provocation, nor would the A-rank Alpha admit to it.

The principal glanced at Lu Qianyun with a mix of pity and disdain before delivering his final verdict:

“You’ve lost your gland, and now you’ve resorted to attacking your classmates. I’m afraid you’ll have to withdraw from the academy.”

Jian Yuanbai’s expression darkened. “Losing his gland doesn’t disqualify him from transferring to another department.”

“And as for attacking a classmate…” Jian Yuanbai sneered, “As the principal of the Imperial Academy, surely you understand that the aggressive release of an A-rank Alpha’s pheromones is already a form of attack against an Alpha who has lost their gland. It further damages his already broken mental sea.”

“By that logic, wasn’t this Alpha the one who struck first?”

Currently, the Empire’s research on the mental sea, mental power, and pheromones is still far from complete. Studies involving the human brain and glands progress slowly and with great difficulty. It is still impossible to distinguish between mental power and pheromones, so they are simply treated as one and the same.

From this perspective, it could indeed be argued that the Alpha had attacked Lu Qianyun with mental power first.

However, the principal remained unmoved. “In the Imperial Academy, an Alpha who has lost their gland has no suitable field of study. Even the programs available to Betas require exceptional physical fitness.”

“Moreover, if any random release of pheromones can harm Lu Qianyun, doesn’t that just prove he is no longer fit to stay here?”

Jian Yuanbai casually leaned back in his chair, fingers intertwined, adopting a relaxed negotiation posture.

“If I remember correctly,” he said, “the Empire’s laws clearly prohibit Alphas from releasing pheromones with coercive or aggressive intent in public settings.”

“Are you saying that the regulations of the First Imperial Academy override the laws of the Empire?”

The principal’s expression stiffened slightly. He clearly didn’t want to get into a legal battle, but he cut straight to the point, “There’s no need for further discussion. The academy cannot keep a student who has lost their gland. If Lu Qianyun refuses to withdraw voluntarily, we will have no choice but to expel him.”

Lu Qianyun tugged at Jian Yuanbai’s sleeve and whispered, “Let’s go.”

Having regained his memories, Lu Qianyun naturally knew the storyline of this world. Being expelled was part of the original plot, and he had no intention of changing it.

As for Jian Yuanbai’s amnesia, Lu Qianyun had a vague guess—it was likely related to the deviation from the original plot and the failure to follow the script in the previous world.

That was why Lu Qianyun had been meticulously following the plot and saying the right lines.

What he couldn’t understand was why, despite regaining his memories, he was still here.

Jian Yuanbai placed his large hand over Lu Qianyun’s, gently patting it. His deep voice carried an inexplicable reassurance: “Don’t worry.”

Lu Qianyun blinked in confusion. Don’t worry about what?

Jian Yuanbai turned to the principal and extended his hand, speaking calmly, “Let me reintroduce myself. My name is Jian Yuanbai.”

“I’ll donate a building to the academy. In exchange, I want my kid to stay enrolled.”

The principal froze for a moment, while Teacher Wang’s face turned pale. Even Lu Qianyun was too stunned to speak.

Jian Yuanbai.

The owner of the Empire’s largest mining star, one of the wealthiest men in the galaxy.

A few months ago, for some inexplicable reason, he had spent a fortune buying a small officer rank in the military, holding an idle position with no real responsibilities.

Because Jian Yuanbai kept a low profile and avoided socializing, the principal had only heard of him but never met him in person.

However, considering the Lu family’s influence and the fact that they had already abandoned Lu Qianyun, the principal hesitated between offending the Lu family and accepting the donation.

“This isn’t about money,” the principal replied stiffly. “The academy simply isn’t suitable for Lu Qianyun anymore.”

Jian Yuanbai remained calm. “Two buildings.”

Lu Qianyun inhaled sharply and quickly tried to stop him. “Uncle Jian!”

He was panicking.

“Mr. Jian, this really isn’t a matter of money,” the principal said, though his wavering tone betrayed his hesitation.

Jian Yuanbai didn’t even blink and raised the stakes: “Two buildings. Plus a fully equipped laboratory.”

Lu Qianyun couldn’t take it anymore. He forcefully turned Jian Yuanbai’s chair around and pinned him against the chair back, shouting, “Jian Yuanbai!”

Jian Yuanbai looked up innocently, “What’s wrong?”

“Don’t waste your money. You’re not short on cash, but I’m not short on places to study either. Let’s go.”

Jian Yuanbai’s tone remained steady. “You’re being stubborn. We’re about to win this.”

Lu Qianyun almost cried in frustration.

“I’m not being stubborn or angry! The Imperial Academy isn’t worth this much money. One day, they’ll beg me to come back, and I won’t even spare them a glance.”

Jian Yuanbai’s expression turned complicated as he finally gave up on the idea of buying Lu Qianyun’s way back into the academy.

He had forgotten—Lu Qianyun was destined to be the protagonist.

Arrogant words? Perhaps. But with Lu Qianyun’s abilities, they were destined to become reality.

Out of respect for Jian Yuanbai, the principal refrained from making further comments. Instead, he awkwardly offered, “Actually… there’s still the maintenance and repair department. It might be suitable for Lu Qianyun.”

Jian Yuanbai’s tone turned cold: “No, we’re leaving.”

Then he added, “But the buildings… I’ll still donate them.”

He turned to glance at Teacher Wang, who was standing awkwardly in the corner.

“My only condition is that this Teacher Wang makes a public apology to the entire school, admitting he is a morally corrupt teacher who abuses his position and uses pheromones to threaten students.”

He raised a single finger and playfully curled it, “I think… that’s worth half a building.”

Teacher Wang’s face turned deathly pale.

Fortunately, the principal outright rejected the demand.

“Apologies, but that’s impossible.”

Forcing a teacher to publicly admit misconduct would be a direct humiliation to the Imperial Academy itself.

The principal braced himself, expecting Jian Yuanbai to keep pushing.

Unexpectedly, Jian Yuanbai simply stood up and said, “Alright, then. Expect my lawyer to contact you soon.”

Before leaving, he glanced back at the principal and Teacher Wang with a faint smile.

“See you in court.”

Jian Yuanbai knew very well that the principal’s refusal was due to the pressure from the Lu family.

If the school didn’t expel Lu Qianyun, the Lu family wouldn’t have a valid reason to intervene. And with the Imperial Academy’s status, even the Lu family wouldn’t dare cause too much trouble.

But since Lu Qianyun was now deemed worthless, they were eager to kick him out to please the Lu family.

Jian Yuanbai had initially planned to let this slide, considering Lu Qianyun’s need to continue his studies here.

But now that Lu Qianyun no longer cared, there was no need to show mercy.

With a cold sneer, Jian Yuanbai raised his hand and gestured to Lu Qianyun, “Let’s go, Little Dragon.”

“Stop calling me that!!!”

As the two walked out of the principal’s office, Lu Qianyun’s embarrassed and frustrated voice echoed down the hallway.

Meanwhile, the A-rank Alpha, who had been completely ignored throughout the entire conversation, stood in stunned silence.

His mind was still stuck on one thought:

Two buildings… How much would that cost?

Then he glanced at the pale-faced Teacher Wang and couldn’t help but wonder:

Why didn’t he just apologize? I’d settle for half a classroom.