MVCFO CH54

10.

By evening, Lin Xiangqi’s unit had finished the second phase of their training.

The instructor gave them an hour to rest—time to eat, wash up, or take a quick nap if needed. This would be their last chance for any free time.

They were told to report back to the training field promptly at 7 p.m. for night drills.

The instructor made it clear: tonight’s training would include all first-year cadets. For some units, the intensity would be dialed down and made more fun. But for technical-specialty recruits like them, the training was already relatively easy during the day, so the evening drills would only increase in difficulty. They were told to prepare mentally.

Most of the Omegas looked anxious and uneasy—but Lin Xiangqi was secretly happy.

If all the new students trained together, didn’t that mean he’d get to see Lu Cong?

They had only managed a rushed meeting at noon, and hadn’t had a single chance to talk all afternoon. Lin Xiangqi had grown up glued to Lu Cong’s side—this kind of separation already felt far too long. He was looking forward to the night training.

Once dismissed, everyone rushed to wash up. But Qi Mingyi grabbed Lin Xiangqi excitedly and said, “I found him! I found out who the rank-breaking Alpha is!”

“Wow, you’re amazing,” Lin Xiangqi said distractedly, offering half-hearted praise as he tried to run off.

He was drenched in sweat and desperate for a shower. He couldn’t care less about that Alpha—impressive or not, even if the guy might become a future rival to Lu Cong. What mattered now was snatching one of the ten private washrooms before they were gone.

Qi Mingyi grabbed the corner of his shirt. “Hold on! Why are you in such a rush—this is huge news!”

Lin Xiangqi replied, “That Alpha isn’t going anywhere. You can tell me later. Right now, I need to get a washroom. I’m not using the public bath.”

Qi Mingyi still wouldn’t let go. He raised his eyebrows meaningfully. “Trust me, this is more important than a shower. Remember Luo Fu?”

Lin Xiangqi nodded. “Don’t tell me… it’s him?”

Qi Mingyi: “No way. If it were him, I’d have found out earlier.”

Lin Xiangqi grew impatient watching more and more people head toward the dorms. “Then what is it?”

“Don’t rush. Let me explain,” Qi Mingyi said. “Something happened in Luo Fu’s unit at noon. A bunch of them had pheromone imbalances and ended up in the medical center. Luo Fu used the opportunity to contact me and gave me a name—asked me to look into this person.”

He paused deliberately, trying to pique Lin Xiangqi’s curiosity.

But Lin Xiangqi just said, “If you take another dramatic pause, I’m leaving.”

Qi Mingyi gave up. He really wanted to share this bombshell, but it wasn’t something he could sum up in a sentence—and clearly Lin Xiangqi was too distracted to focus.

“It’s not that I don’t want to just tell you—but this person’s info is really classified. I couldn’t even get their background before the military system flagged me. Honestly, this doesn’t even concern you. If you’re not interested, it’s safer if I just don’t tell you. But if you are—and if you’ve got the guts—I’ll tell you everything.”

Qi Mingyi studied Lin Xiangqi’s face, looking for even a flicker of gossip-loving excitement—but all he saw was an intense longing for the washroom.

He could only sigh. “How about this: you go shower. I’ll meet up with Luo Fu while you’re gone. When you’re done, if you’re sure you want in on this, come find us at this spot—”

11.

Luckily, most people were so hungry they rushed off to the dining hall, leaving the washrooms still available.

Lin Xiangqi took a quick, refreshing shower and returned to his dorm to change into a clean training uniform. Only then did he have the peace of mind to think about that mysterious Alpha Qi Mingyi had mentioned.

Truth be told, Lin Xiangqi had never been that interested in gossip.

This time, if not for the need to understand Lu Cong’s potential rivals—know yourself and your enemy—he wouldn’t have bothered digging around about another Alpha in secret.

He checked the time. Still half an hour before training. That gave him enough time to find Qi Mingyi and Luo Fu.

But Qi Mingyi’s warning lingered in his mind—if that Alpha’s file was so classified, digging into it privately could be a serious breach.

Lin Xiangqi wasn’t sure whether learning a single name was worth risking disciplinary action.

He pulled out his phone to message Lu Cong for advice. But when he opened their chat, he saw that the message he’d sent half an hour ago was still unread.

Still in extended training, he thought.

After a moment’s hesitation, he decided not to take action for now. Even if that Alpha was amazing, he probably wouldn’t stay hidden for long.

But then, his phone rang—Qi Mingyi was calling.

Lin Xiangqi was just about to indulge his curiosity when, to his surprise, Qi Mingyi’s panicked voice came through:
“Xiao Lin! Your Alpha’s in the Combat Command unit, right? You need to get over here now—something’s happening!”

Lin Xiangqi felt a chill run down his spine. Before he could even process it, he was already sprinting out the door with the phone pressed to his ear. “What’s going on? What happened?”

It was noisy on Qi Mingyi’s end—he could hear pained groans and chaos in the background.

As a Beta, Qi Mingyi was especially sensitive to pheromones and was already nauseated. He had to pause for breath every few words:
“…Luo Fu told me earlier that their whole unit got wrecked by that Alpha at noon. Some of the stronger, high-grade Alphas were pissed and decided to challenge him during break.”

“Look, it’s normal for Alphas to challenge each other with pheromones when they don’t get along. But the problem is, the guy they challenged didn’t seem interested at all—he tried to walk away. Then someone released a ton of pheromones to provoke him into fighting.”

“I was just hiding nearby, wanting to see what that Alpha looked like—and then I got slammed by this brutal wave of pheromones. I nearly blacked out. When I came to, I realized Luo Fu had jumped in, too—can you believe it? Knowing full well the guy’s stronger, and they still couldn’t help but test him… ugh, I need to move back, this smell is awful.”

“I’m telling you—if your Alpha’s involved, you need to come now. These dumb jocks are blocking the guy from going to dinner, and he’s this close to snapping.”

Qi Mingyi’s tone was full of exasperation. Even as a Beta who couldn’t fully smell pheromones, the physical effect was still overwhelming. The worse he felt, the more annoyed he was with those hot-headed Alphas. “Maybe this is that ‘Alpha instinct to fight’ nonsense—but I swear, someone’s getting wrecked tonight. I just hope it’s not your Alpha.”

The more Lin Xiangqi listened, the more something felt off. He hesitated, then asked, “Qi Mingyi… that Alpha—this ‘rank-breaking’ one—what’s his name?”

Qi Mingyi had assumed Lin Xiangqi would be worried about Lu Cong. He didn’t expect him to ask about someone else.

At this point, though, there was no point hiding anything. Once word spread that Combat Command cadets had challenged a particular Alpha, anyone with inside knowledge would quickly figure it out.

So Qi Mingyi answered directly:

“His name is Lu Cong.”

12.

Lu Cong knew that among high-level Alphas, there had always been a sort of unspoken “tradition” of pheromone challenges.

In essence, it was just a matter of pride: equally matched Alphas refusing to bow to one another. And since test data never quite captured the full power of released pheromones, the only way to compare was to clash head-on.

At noon, Lu Cong had casually suppressed the entire field with his pheromones. To the self-proclaimed strong Alphas, that had been a massive slap in the face.

But they didn’t take it as a defeat. They convinced themselves he only succeeded because they were in a weakened, imbalanced state at the time.

So as soon as the instructor dismissed them, they blocked Lu Cong’s path and insisted on a rematch—while everyone was in full control. If he could still overpower them, they said, they’d concede.

But to Lu Cong, such a “victory” meant nothing.

First, because his pheromones were far too aggressive. Unless absolutely necessary, he avoided using them.

Second—and more importantly—he had zero interest in earning the respect of a bunch of Alphas he’d met less than 24 hours ago.

What mattered far more… was seeing Lin Xiangqi again after being apart all afternoon.

If he could get a nice, long kiss, that would be even better.

“Lu Cong, why won’t you respond? Are you scared to compete?”

Lu Cong glanced at the person speaking and replied blandly, “No time.”

The other laughed in disbelief. “It’s just releasing pheromones—it won’t take long. Saying you don’t have time just proves you’re not confident.”

Others seized the chance to provoke him too: “Exactly. If you refuse the challenge, it means your suppression at noon was just a fluke.”

They assumed Lu Cong would argue back and try to prove his strength—surely he would make a move.

After all, Alphas were like that—brimming with excess energy, competitive to the core. They admired strength, wanted to be the strongest, and were always itching to prove themselves.

But Lu Cong’s reaction surprised them.

He was far too calm. Without any change in expression, he replied flatly, “Yeah, it was just luck.”
Then he turned to leave.

The group: “……”

The more indifferent he was, the more it felt like he was looking down on them.

Someone hot-tempered in the crowd suddenly released their pheromones, blocking Lu Cong’s path. “If I don’t get a fight with you today, I’ll go crazy. If you won’t use pheromones, let’s settle it with fists!”

Before the sentence was finished, he’d already thrown a punch.

Lu Cong frowned slightly and dodged. When the man struck again, Lu Cong grabbed his shoulder and arm, easily neutralizing the attack. He asked, calm and unhurried, “You really want to fight?”

“Yes!” The other Alpha, despite being pinned, didn’t feel humiliated—instead, he grew more excited. “We have to settle this!”

Lu Cong did some quick mental math—this might actually be faster than continuing to argue—so he nodded. “Wait a moment.”

No one knew what he wanted to wait for, but they obediently stood still and watched.

Then they saw Lu Cong remove a plain silver ring from his finger and carefully place it into his pants pocket.

It was only at that moment that anyone noticed he’d been wearing a ring at all.

Their first reaction was: This Alpha is kind of vain—still wearing jewelry during training.

No one thought deeper about the ring. After all, most of the cadets at military school were young—Lu Cong was especially young—so who would assume it was a wedding ring?

By the time they realized how much that ring meant to Lu Cong, it was already too late.

13.

At first, Lu Cong had planned to finish the fight quickly without using his pheromones.

These people had already experienced gland disruption at noon. A second round of pheromone impact might trigger a more severe reaction. Beating them physically was ideal; if that didn’t work, then he’d use pheromones as a last resort.

But things changed within minutes.

One Alpha who had already been knocked down got back up again, and while Lu Cong’s guard was down, launched a sneak attack.

The move wasn’t exactly honorable—but the desire to win overrode reason.

The result was obvious. He was pinned again by Lu Cong.

But this time, Lu Cong didn’t let him off so easily.

“The ring,” Lu Cong said coldly, his face dark and eyes sharp. The gentleness from earlier was completely gone.

The Alpha frozen beneath him blinked. “…What?”

In the next second, Lu Cong’s hand was around his throat, squeezing hard. The man could barely breathe and instinctively tried to fight back by releasing his pheromones.

But he was instantly crushed under the weight of Lu Cong’s.

Around them, the other onlookers reeled.

“That’s his pheromone!”

“Cough—cough—!”

“God, is that even human?!”

“Wait… this is even stronger than it was at noon!”

“He… he’s actually angry now.”

Lu Cong swept his eyes over the surrounding group, his face like still water—cold and expressionless.

He regretted it.

He should have ended things immediately. Then this mess wouldn’t have happened, and he wouldn’t have lost his wedding ring in the chaos.

The training field was large, and the crowd had made things worse.

There was no way to know where the ring had fallen.

So even more intense and brutal pheromones surged outward—fueled by an Alpha’s uncontainable fury.

If he couldn’t find it… then he might as well give these idiots what they wanted.

14.

Lin Xiangqi almost got lost—but then he smelled a familiar pheromone scent in the air.

In that moment, his heart thundered in his chest.

Crap.

Someone pissed off Lu Cong.

Lin Xiangqi was very familiar with Lu Cong’s pheromones. He often leaned close to sniff his glands, just for the comfort of it. So he could immediately detect the emotional shift from the subtle changes in scent.

Right now, Lu Cong was very upset.

This was Lu Cong—the good boy who had never lost his temper in public since they were kids!

What had those Alphas done to make Lu Cong this angry?

Following the scent, Lin Xiangqi hurried toward the scene.

Qi Mingyi saw him coming and rushed over to grab him. “Don’t go over there! That Lu Cong is seriously pissed. Anyone who steps near the field is gonna get hurt! I just scanned the area—an instructor will probably be here in two minutes, just wait!”

“Let go—” Lin Xiangqi struggled, panicked as he looked at the chaos a hundred meters away. “I have to go—Lu Cong’s pheromones are everywhere. If the instructor shows up now, they’ll definitely get the wrong idea.”

Qi Mingyi froze, confused by that. “Why are you worried if he gets misunderstood? There’s surveillance footage. Once they check it, they’ll know what happened.”

Qi Mingyi felt sick from all the pheromones. If he weren’t so curious about Lu Cong’s strength, he would’ve left already.

Seeing Lin Xiangqi arrive, he worried the Omega might be affected by the intense pheromone field and tried to drag him away.

“By the way—what was that about earlier, on the phone? You suddenly said something about giving the phone to that Lu Cong? My battery died right then. What were you trying to do?”

Lin Xiangqi didn’t have time to explain. The pheromone pressure was rising fast. He glanced over and saw Lu Cong holding Luo Fu—his face cold and furious, clearly saying something.

Whatever had triggered Lu Cong’s emotional spiral, Lin Xiangqi was terrified the instructor would arrive and see only the worst.

In desperation, he shouted toward the training field: “Lu Cong! You—mmph?!”

Qi Mingyi panicked. “No no no! Are you crazy?!”

He clamped a hand over Lin Xiangqi’s mouth. “You’re worried about Luo Fu getting beat up? Relax—he can take it! That Lu Cong is not someone you can handle. Let’s just wait here—HEY HEY HEY!!”

Lin Xiangqi bit down on his hand. “Aren’t you a hacker? How did you not figure out Lu Cong is my Alpha?! Now get out of the way.”

Then he shoved him aside and sprinted toward the chaos.

“…Huh?”
Qi Mingyi stood frozen in place, completely dazed. He stayed like that for a long time before finally slapping himself to wake up.

Then he collapsed onto the ground. “Ah…!”

15.

The moment the little Omega came running, Luo Fu knew things were about to get worse.

Alpha-on-Alpha pheromone fights were common in the military. At worst, someone might get injured and need some rest. It wasn’t like anyone would die.

But it was different for Omegas.

To them, pheromones weren’t dangerous in an offensive sense—but they were dangerous in another way.

Luo Fu knew Lin Xiangqi was an S-class Omega. From what he’d heard, the higher the level, the more delicate the glands.

If exposed to Lu Cong’s overwhelming pheromones, he could easily be triggered into a heat.

Trying to prevent that, Luo Fu ignored his fear of Lu Cong’s pheromones and shouted, “Xiao Lin, get out of here!”

But Lin Xiangqi only glanced at him—and kept running straight toward Lu Cong. At the same moment, Lu Cong let go of Luo Fu and caught Lin Xiangqi in his arms.

In the next instant, the Omega’s warm, gentle pheromones spread out—soft and soothing, blending into Lu Cong’s aggressive ones.

The raging, bloodthirsty aura was immediately calmed by that sweet, mellow scent.

Everyone froze—Luo Fu and the other Alphas all stared in shock.

Finally freed from the torment of Lu Cong’s oppressive pheromones, they flushed red.

Who is that Omega? He smells so sweet… so good…

Ah. I get it now. He must be heaven’s gift to save us all.

Wait… why is the savior hugging the monster?

Wait a minute! Are they… kissing—?!

“Lu Cong, calm down. Calm down.”

Lin Xiangqi completely ignored the stares around them. He leaned up and gave Lu Cong a kiss full of soothing pheromones, making sure it stabilized him. Then he cupped Lu Cong’s face and met his dazed eyes.

“Can you hear my voice?”

“I can.” Lu Cong frowned, his expression lost and confused—something rare for him. “…I’m not out of control.”

“I know you’re not. They provoked you. This isn’t your fault.” Lin Xiangqi’s voice softened. He leaned closer and gently coaxed, “Now pull your pheromones back, okay? Let the instructors deal with them.”

If Lu Cong said he wasn’t out of control, then he wasn’t. But that didn’t mean he was calm.

Lin Xiangqi’s arrival had eased his rage, but his glands were still overactive. He had released too much pheromone too quickly—it wouldn’t be easy to rein it in.

“Yanyan,” Lu Cong murmured, his tall frame curling slightly as he pressed his face into the crook of Lin Xiangqi’s neck. “I lost the ring.”

It was his fault.

He could’ve taken care of those Alphas from the start—but he chose to waste time.

The little ring was gone. It was dark now. Finding it would be nearly impossible.

Lu Cong felt like he had made a terrible mistake.

Something unforgivable.

He kept repeating, “I’m sorry, Yanyan. I was wrong.”

“It’s okay. We can just buy another ring,” Lin Xiangqi said, patting his back. “Next time, I’ll buy it for you. Sound good?”

“But…” Lu Cong murmured, “That was our wedding ring.”

Lin Xiangqi whispered gently in his ear, “We’ve already registered our marriage. The ring we wear now is our wedding ring.”

Usually, it was Lin Xiangqi acting spoiled and Lu Cong patiently comforting him.
But when Lin Xiangqi wanted to comfort someone, he was no less skilled than Lu Cong.

Just that one soft sentence was enough to melt the tension in Lu Cong’s eyes.

The Alpha tightened his embrace, as if the world had entered a moment of perfect peace.
Nothing could make Lu Cong angry again, as long as his Omega was still looking at him with such love.

16.

When a group of instructors rushed to the scene, it wasn’t as bad as they had feared.

They had received word that Lu Cong’s pheromones had erupted violently—so intense it sounded like everyone around him was about to drop dead. Panicked, they had sprinted over in haste.

But at a glance, the situation looked… manageable.

Aside from Lu Cong himself, all the other Alphas were just sprawled out on the ground.

As long as Lu Cong hadn’t lost control, everything was salvageable.
In fact, letting these cocky young Alphas suffer a humiliating defeat might be a good lesson for them.

At military school, they would eventually train this pack of hot-blooded punks until they were too exhausted to challenge anyone again.

The instructors scolded them sternly but didn’t punish them right away.
From the looks of it, Lu Cong had already handled the matter thoroughly.
So, after a few harsh words, they were told to hurry up and get to dinner.

That the incident ended so easily came as a surprise to everyone.

After the instructors left, they realized it had all been thanks to the sudden appearance of that Omega.

Because of Lin Xiangqi’s pheromones, the tense air had been neutralized, and Lu Cong had calmed down. That had fooled the instructors into thinking the whole thing wasn’t very serious.

As they reflected—ashamed at how helpless they had been in front of Lu Cong—they also felt deeply grateful to Lin Xiangqi for stepping in.

They were just about to say something when Lin Xiangqi turned to them and spoke.

“Are you all alright?” he asked politely. “Do you need to go to the medical center?”

Lu Cong stood quietly beside him. Although his pheromones had withdrawn and his emotions had stabilized, it was clear he hadn’t fully let go of losing the ring. His cold expression toward them made it easy to imagine he’d resume the beating as soon as Lin Xiangqi walked away.

“W-We’re fine.”
“Glands are a little sore, but we can manage.”
“No worries. Alphas fighting and getting hurt isn’t a big deal. We don’t need a doctor!”

They still thought Lin Xiangqi was just being considerate.

Trying to look tough in front of an Omega, they stubbornly insisted they weren’t in pain.
In reality, they were trembling, their glands swollen, their insides aching all over.

But Lin Xiangqi simply nodded and said, “Good. Now let’s talk business.”

…Business?

“You all challenged Lu Cong of your own accord. He gave you a chance. And now it’s been proven that—even all of you together—can’t beat him. So,” he said with a sweet smile, “do you surrender?”

An inexplicable chill ran down everyone’s spines.

That jab landed squarely.

They had all quietly agreed not to talk about losing the fight. After all, if everyone lost, it wasn’t as embarrassing.

But Lin Xiangqi openly laid it all out, word for word.

Utterly humiliating. Deeply awkward.

No one spoke.

Lin Xiangqi didn’t press. Instead, he tugged on Lu Cong’s sleeve and said, “They don’t seem convinced.”

Lu Cong lifted his eyes lazily and said in a low tone, “Not convinced?”

“Convinced!”
“We’re convinced, ge, please—don’t come near us again. Too much of your pheromones and I might actually drop dead—”
“Lu Cong, you really are strong. Losing to you is nothing to be ashamed of. I admit defeat—completely!”
“I’m super convinced. No need for another round, I swear!”

This time, everyone scrambled to respond, terrified that any delay might bring another suffocating blast of Alpha pheromones.

Lin Xiangqi beamed. “Great. In that case, I’m going to take Lu Cong to dinner.”

The Alphas nodded frantically: “Yes, yes, please—have a nice meal.”

“No rush.” Lin Xiangqi’s smile didn’t fade. He added, “Just now, you all kept challenging Lu Cong—and in the process, lost his ring. I expect that when we gather again after dinner, that ring will be in my hand.”

Everyone froze.

“…We didn’t notice where it fell—how are we supposed to find it?”

Lin Xiangqi tilted his head, all innocence: “That’s your problem.”

Someone asked tentatively, “Can we just buy him a new one to make up for it?”

Before Lin Xiangqi could reply, Lu Cong cut in coldly: “How about I break your legs and then set them again? Would that work for you?”

Everyone: “……”

The next second—total panic.
“WE’LL FIND IT! RIGHT NOW!”

Lin Xiangqi stole a glance at Lu Cong, knowing full well he was just playing along to scare them.
He stifled a laugh and added one last threat:

“Search properly. That was our wedding ring. If you can’t find it, you’re all in trouble.”

A deadly silence fell.

“Wedding ring?!”
“W-what?! WEDDING RING?!”
“GO! GO! MOVE! WHY’D IT HAVE TO BE THE WEDDING RING?!”
“Who’s got a phone? Use the flashlight—”
“Whose foot is that?! MOVE!”

Years later, people still remembered that moonless night on the dimly lit training field.

Hundreds of people on their hands and knees, crawling over the ground in search of a simple gold band.

And when they finally found it, that group of young Alphas—who hadn’t even known each other for 24 hours—cried and hugged each other in wild relief.

Waaahhh
Our lives were spared!

17.

Two months later, Lu Cong’s pheromone level was officially certified by the Alliance.

He became the first Alpha in history to exceed even the highest-ranked “Excellent” category.

In response, the Alliance restructured the pheromone classification system—abandoning vague terms like “Good” or “Average” and shifting to the more precise S-A-B-C system.

And Lu Cong, without question, was the only S+ Alpha.

No one at the military academy dared contest the result.

Especially not those hot-blooded Alphas who had once been flattened by Lu Cong’s pheromones.

In fact, they thought he should be rated S++.

Because the stronger Lu Cong was, the more justifiable it became that they had lost so badly.

Outside the academy, people projected enormous expectations onto Lu Cong.
Some began to idolize him—seeing him as the pinnacle of human evolution, something beyond normal—a kind of superhuman existence.

And where there was worship, there was also fear.

Many people felt uneasy around Lu Cong.
No matter how calm or gentle he appeared, they found themselves instinctively nervous—sweaty palms, trembling legs.
This became the default response to Lu Cong.

Except for one particular group—those same Alphas who had been in military school with him.

Years later, some of them revealed a story no one took seriously at the time:

“If you ever offend Commander Lu Cong, just track down that legendary Dr. Lin. Everything will be fine.
Because our commander… is a hopeless, lovesick fool.”

Everyone who heard that assumed it was pure jealousy, a smear campaign.

Online, under news stories about Lu Cong, the comments poured in:

【LOL. The strongest man in the Alliance is a lovesick fool? What are you smoking? Too much fanfiction!】
【Exactly. An Alpha like him was born to conquer the stars—not to revolve around some Omega.】

Then, a new account—its username just a string of numbers—replied:

【I don’t need to conquer the stars.
I love how my partner lets this world grow wild and free.】