Chapter 10: Fuck, Are You Tired of Living and Trying to Find Me a…
Yu Shi had already forgotten that the needle was still involved. His gaze was colder than ever before.
Like two sharp arrows, they almost pierced right through Xie Ren.
He pushed away the hand holding the cotton swab and said coldly, “If you’re so curious, you can be my opponent in the Simulated Battlefield. I’ll let you smell enough.”
Xie Ren pretended to shiver and smiled sheepishly. “So fierce. But fighting with pheromones on the battlefield puts Omegas at a disadvantage.”
“Who’s at a disadvantage is yet to be determined.”
Yu Shi huffed heavily and stormed off, clutching his arm.
Xie Ren sat down on the chair and said loudly, “Instructor Yu, aren’t you curious about my pheromones? Stay and take a whiff; I guarantee you won’t be disappointed.”
With his back to him, Yu Shi didn’t even turn his head as he raised a middle finger.
Xie Ren let out a muffled laugh, his shoulders trembling slightly.
Suddenly, he was jabbed by a surgical IV needle and instantly yelped in pain. “Hiss, can’t you be gentler! Wait, what are you stabbing me with?”
Dr. Chen pulled out the thick needle and threw it away expressionlessly. “Sorry, wrong needle.”
“…” Xie Ren clenched his fist. “You did that on purpose. Can’t even distinguish needles—wasted your PhD.”
Dr. Chen: “PhDs are human too; humans make mistakes. Was that your instructor just now? Why is he also preparing blood?”
“None of your damn business,” Xie Ren grunted.
“When you asked me to stick him just now, why didn’t you say it was none of my damn business?” Dr. Chen stuck him again properly. “I noticed his health doesn’t seem very good. Remind him to get a checkup when he has time.”
Xie Ren frowned. “Speak clearly. What do you mean, health isn’t good?”
“His pheromone concentration is too low,” Dr. Chen said.
“You noticed it just now, too. The pheromone content in his blood is negligible; you can hardly smell it without instruments. Everyone’s pheromone capacity has an initial value. This value decreases with age, accidental injury, or genetic mutation, dropping from 100%. Generally speaking, falling below 50% leads to major diseases.”
He finished drawing blood and pulled out the needle. “And this instructor… I estimate his pheromone capacity is less than 70%.”
Xie Ren ignored the needle hole in his arm, brows knitting tightly. “Stop spouting nonsense. He’s only twenty-four; it can’t be that low.”
Dr. Chen shrugged. “Take it as me being alarmist then. My eyes aren’t instruments; I can’t measure capacity accurately. Just a friendly reminder. But anyway, since you hate him, it doesn’t matter if you tell him or not… Press it yourself. Am I your servant?”
Xie Ren took the cotton swab dazedly, staring at Yu Shi’s receding back, his expression growing heavy.
After the blood draw, it was physical training as usual. The Alphas gathered on the playground. Xie Ren formed the team and supervised training absent-mindedly.
Today was the 400-meter obstacle course. While pacing and timing with a stopwatch, the communicator clipped to his waist suddenly rang.
He usually didn’t carry a communicator during training, but he hadn’t put it back after the blood draw today. He hung up without looking, but the other side seemed relentless and called again.
Xie Ren glanced at the screen and saw it was a military line. Impatiently, he answered, “What is it?”
The person on the other end paused, then hurriedly said, “Commander Xie, hello. I am Staff Officer Tang Tianhao from the Logistics Department. I was the one who picked you up from the starship last time…”
“Get to the point,” Xie Ren interrupted.
Tang Tianhao said, “Uh, right right right. It’s like this: tonight, several chiefs from K9 are coming to Kowa City and need your assistance with the reception. Would you…”
“I don’t care about that. Is your Logistics Department just for show?” Xie Ren pressed the stopwatch and said to Zhao Yi, “1 minute 50 seconds. Failed. Go back and run it again.”
Zhao Yi wailed, “Boss, you misread the watch! I just ran 1 minute 30 yesterday; how could I conjure up an extra 20 seconds? I clearly saw you…”
Xie Ren stared at him coldly. He immediately shut up and doubled back to the starting line, while the brothers behind him wailed in despair.
Tang Tianhao stammered, “Commander Xie, please don’t hang up yet. This situation is special… The Commissar specifically named you for the reception, saying Marshal Xie wants to see you, and specially asked me to call you.”
Xie Ren clicked his tongue in annoyance. “Address.”
“Offshore Hotel, 199 Zhongxing Road. By the way, there is… one more thing I want to ask you.”
“Say it all in one breath. Don’t squeeze it out like toothpaste. Is the Logistics Department so wordy now? Who is your Commissar? If you can’t speak clearly, put him on.”
Tang Tianhao didn’t expect him to be so aggressive and hurriedly sped up. “According to past protocol, for receiving leaders of this level, we would invite Omegas from the Art Troupe to accompany them. But I’m a bit unsure of Marshal Xie’s preferences, so I wanted to ask your advice.”
He asked cautiously, “In your opinion, what type of Omega does he like?”
Xie Ren felt like he had heard the biggest joke in the world and laughed out of sheer anger.
The Alphas rushed to the finish line one by one, only to see him stop the timer, put one hand on his hip, and walk to the side.
“What did you say your name was?” Xie Ren asked.
Tang Tianhao stated his full name blankly. Xie Ren gritted his teeth. “You know who Xie Chengfeng is to me, right? Fuck, are you tired of living and trying to find me a stepmother? Get lost!”
The other end went silent in fear. Xie Ren hung up decisively and dialed the switchboard, connecting to the Logistics Department Commissar.
A few seconds later, a familiar voice came through.
“Yo, nephew. Is it New Year’s today? You actually called me voluntarily.”
“Uncle, so the new Commissar is you,” Xie Ren mocked. “With the Logistics atmosphere corrupted like this, I thought someone with the same name was ruining your reputation.”
The Commissar seemed used to his sarcasm and didn’t get angry, asking cheerfully, “Who provoked you? Little firecracker.”
Xie Ren said roguishly, “No one provoked me. I’m running Summer Training recently and need a logistics guy. I want to borrow someone from you—named Tang Tianhao.”
The Commissar understood immediately. “Ouch, so Staff Officer Tang hit the muzzle of the gun. Blame me; I shouldn’t have let him notify you. He manages procurement; what does he know about wartime logistics? Aren’t you going to work him to death? If you really need people, I’ll transfer someone from the field army for you.”
“No, I want him. Will you transfer him or not?”
The Commissar sighed. “Fine, fine, fine. As long as you show up on time tonight, whatever you say goes. You’ve been stubborn since you were a kid, and still so stubborn now. I think you just lack an Omega who can tame you. You’ll settle down once you get married.”
“Keep dreaming. I won’t marry young,” Xie Ren sneered. “Besides, you and my dad didn’t settle down after getting married either.”
With that, he casually hung up on the Commissar and turned back to continue training.
The afternoon heat was intense. The blazing sun scorched the equipment on the playground, and the dazzling light pierced through the glass curtain wall, making people dizzy.
Li Yang closed the office curtains and brought Yu Shi an iced lemon tea he had just picked up from the school gate.
On Yu Shi’s screen was a dismantled robot dog. Li Yang drank his lemon tea and said, “I remember this model was developed by the Second Institute. Last year, they even made these dogs do the Yangge dance on a show.”
The Sundial Weapons Manufacturing Base had five research institutes under it. The First Institute focused on heavy land weapons, including mechs and tanks. The Second Institute developed unmanned combat and air weapons. The Third Institute was responsible for thermal weapons and nanotechnology research. The Fourth Institute handled aircraft carriers and naval warships. The Fifth Institute had not yet been publicly revealed.
“The Third Institute participated in the project this year as well.” Yu Shi looked at the screen intently. “According to the data, if officially put into use, it’s estimated to reduce battlefield casualties by 60%.”
Li Yang shook his head with a bitter smile. “The words sound pretty, but in practice, it’s a different story. These things are hard to control. Xie Ren just brought back a few scrapped robot dogs from Zone 9.”
“How were they scrapped?”
“I read their report this time. The desert area has nuclear radiation zones. The robot dogs have internal self-destruct prevention mechanisms, so they retreated immediately upon encountering danger. In the end, it was Xie Ren who put on a protective suit and went in to complete the mission.”
Yu Shi immediately asked, “What level of protective suit?”
“XR level. Don’t worry, the Falcon Regiment uses the highest grade protective suits provided by the Third Institute.”
Yu Shi fell silent. Li Yang continued, “Back in the Special Training Class, this kid was famous for risking his life. He fought to go to Zone 9 every time. Once, he took several bullets and almost didn’t make it. There were five people in the Special Training Class total; he and another person earned merits and entered the Falcon Regiment.”
Yu Shi was puzzled. “I haven’t heard anyone mention this class.”
“It’s been abolished now,” Li Yang said. “That was a class specifically for selecting personal guards. It only ran for three terms.”
“Then where did the other three who weren’t selected go?”
Li Yang’s expression changed. “Dead.”
Yu Shi was slightly surprised and didn’t speak for a long while.
After hesitating for a moment, Li Yang said, “The so-called Special Training Class was actually a Death Selection Camp. They only took classes at NDU for two years; the rest of the time was spent executing missions in Zone 9. Only those who survived could become members of the Falcon Regiment.”
“What kind of place is Zone 9? You can have your chopsticks blown away while eating, or step on a landmine while going to the toilet. How old were they then? Just nineteen or twenty. Peers were attending classes and dating, but they didn’t know if they would survive until tomorrow. Honestly, if I were those kids’ parents, I wouldn’t have sent them to the Special Training Class no matter what.”
Yu Shi asked, “Were their parents aware of these conditions?”
“Of course. Entering requires signing a military order, informing them of the immediate danger to life. Those who could sign that were mostly from struggling families, or families entirely dedicated to the military.”
Yu Shi understood. “They must give a high subsidy.”
“Correct. Ordinary classes get allowances based on service length every month. The Special Training Class gave this amount in a lump sum.” Li Yang held up ten fingers.
Yu Shi nodded. “One million. Indeed a lot.”
But not worth buying a life.
Looking at it this way, Xie Ren’s family must have been in difficulties; otherwise, parents wouldn’t send him to such a cruel place.
Surprisingly, a “killing machine” who walked out of a pile of corpses still acted like a childish youth in daily life, showing none of the violence or murderous aura one would expect.
Of course, it was also possible he hid it too deeply.
While Yu Shi was pondering, his communicator screen lit up.
[A: Come over.]
He glanced at it and stood up. “Brother Li, I have an appointment for dinner tonight. I’m off work now.”
“Okay. Where are you going for good food?”
“Over by Zhongxing Road.”
Yu Shi went back to the dorm to pick up some things, sending messages as he went downstairs.
Walking to the dormitory entrance, he heard a teasing voice from above.
“Instructor Yu, dressed so nicely to go to evening roll call?”
Yu Shi looked up and saw Xie Ren on the third-floor balcony.
Xie Ren leaned against the windowsill, looking down leisurely.
Yu Shi wore a thin white short-sleeved shirt. The fabric was soft and clung to his skin. The neckline was a cowl neck, sleeves covering half his forearms, a Patek Philippe on his wrist, and pant legs loosely half-covering his shoes.
This outfit was basic and casual, but on him, it had a relaxed, alluring charm—especially…
Looking down from the third floor, one could just see the collarbone beneath the cowl neck, and a flash of pink prominence.
Xie Ren felt his 20/20 vision seemed too good for its own good and unnaturally shifted his gaze.
Yu Shi didn’t know what this outfit had to do with “nice.” He said to him, “Assistant Xu will call roll for you guys tonight.”
Xie Ren frowned. “You’re going out? Do you have a date?”
Yu Shi nodded and turned to leave. Xie Ren said, “Wait, where are you going?”
Yu Shi was in a hurry and didn’t answer. Xie Ren said unwillingly, “Dr. Chen asked me to pass on a message to you. It’s very important. Will you listen?”
“Talk later. I’m going to be late.” Yu Shi didn’t look back.
Just two steps later, a loud bang came from behind him. Military boots stomped heavily on the concrete ground, kicking up flying dust and the heat of the summer night.
The next second, his arm was grabbed, and his body was forcibly spun around.
“Instructor Yu, answering irrelevantly is rude behavior.” Xie Ren stared into his eyes, saying unhappily.
Yu Shi’s pupils slowly dilated. He looked at him in disbelief, then at the balcony behind him, confirming that he had jumped from the third floor at the drop of a hat.
This lunatic!
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