Chapter 31: Dropping the Mask in Front of the Protagonist Shou; How can he be so Sharp… part 1
“Shen Shiyue, I…” Jiang Chenyan’s throat tightened. The words reached his lips but took a turn, his fingertips unconsciously curling up. “My pheromone grade is also fake.”
He held his breath and stared at Shen Shiyue’s face, even softening his breathing by a few points, afraid of missing any reaction from the other. But Shen Shiyue only lowered his eyes and smiled. That smile washed through the depths of his eyes, carrying a bit of clear gentleness: “Looking at it this way, we really are alike, exactly the same.”
Jiang Chenyan didn’t see that Shen Shiyue’s hand hanging by his side quietly clenched, and the corners of his mouth unconsciously turned up.
He thought that Jiang Chenyan could be considered as having opened his heart to him.
“Do you… understand what I mean?” Jiang Chenyan’s voice trembled. He didn’t dare to speak further. The pheromone grade was fake, the identity was fake, even the Alpha status was fake. How was he supposed to say the words “I am actually an Omega”?
Right at this moment, the cold mechanical voice of the system suddenly sounded in his mind:
[It’s better not to tell him.]
“Why?”
[I’m afraid the protagonist Shou won’t be able to accept it. Since things have reached this point, you should understand what I mean, right?]
If the protagonist Shou found out Jiang Chenyan was an Omega, there was no guarantee he wouldn’t have a total breakdown. It instinctively believed that the protagonist Shou’s true identity was an Omega, so it was normal to be attracted to Jiang Chenyan’s Alpha identity. If the other person suddenly turned into an Omega, who could accept that?
The system had learned about the ABO world. What was the difference between this and changing genders?
Jiang Chenyan thought for a moment. “Actually, I don’t know how to tell him either. Then should I keep it hidden for a bit longer?”
[Keep it hidden for now.]
It suspended itself in the consciousness space, its data streams losing their rhythm.
On one side was the rigid requirement in the task instructions to “separate the protagonist Shou from key figures,” and on the other side was watching the protagonist Shou look at Jiang Chenyan with a nearly burning concern that couldn’t be hidden in his eyes… It truly didn’t have the heart to strike the protagonist Shou.
The system only felt that its core program was about to twist into a knot. Should it or should it not tell Jiang Chenyan that the protagonist Shou had long since developed “crooked thoughts” about him?
It wanted to separate them, yet didn’t want to separate them. It was worried to death.
After thinking for a moment, the system finally reached a conclusion: it could hide it from Jiang Chenyan for now. It swore to interfere as little as possible in the host’s affairs; what stage they developed to later had nothing to do with it.
Silence is golden. It would just keep silent from now on.
Once this thought became clear, the entanglement that had previously twisted into a dead knot vanished instantly. The system let out a convulsive “He-he” laugh, which sounded intermittently in Jiang Chenyan’s mind.
Jiang Chenyan abruptly paused his movements, his brows furrowing. “?”
Did the system get water in its circuits? What kind of fit was it throwing?
Jiang Chenyan looked up at Shen Shiyue beside him, his gaze lingering briefly on the other’s features before he silently lowered his head.
People familiar with him knew what this movement meant: a guilty conscience.
He didn’t know what he was feeling guilty about either…
Seeing him like this, Shen Shiyue smiled lightly. “Is there nothing else to say?”
“Not for now…” Jiang Chenyan’s voice was as light as a feather. He paused before hesitantly adding, “I’ll tell you when I want to speak.”
Shen Shiyue nodded: “Okay.”
Some things didn’t necessarily have to be laid out in the open. A tacit blank space between each other could instead better protect the current balance.
Just like some things he never dared to tell Jiang Chenyan.
Ling Yi was piloting the skiff. Ji Xuan and Du Er sat on the side seats, accompanying Jiang Chenyan and Shen Shiyue in conversation. “To be honest, during the time you were out of contact, we were truly scared to death. Our hearts were hanging, just afraid you wouldn’t come back.”
Hearing this, Jiang Chenyan laughed. “Aren’t we back safe and sound? And for this mission, we even took second place.”
They had stubbornly eliminated many people and pushed Mu Sian down.
Ji Xuan nodded. Indeed, not only were they not eliminated, they even squeezed into the top rankings.
Night fell slowly, and the sky outside the window was dotted with fine stars, rippling with a gentle glow.
Everything had settled. With only two days left before exiting the simulator, there probably wouldn’t be anyone else tripping them up in secret.
In these two days, they devoted themselves entirely to maintaining their ranking and farming points, not daring to relax in the slightest.
Ji Xuan said he had never dared to think in his life that he could achieve a second-place result.
On the day they exited the simulator, Jiang Chenyan looked at the population statistics displayed on his terminal and only then realized that one-third of the people had been eliminated.
The survivors high-fived and hugged each other, their cheers rising one after another in the hall.
In the crowd, Mu Sian only curled his lips, revealing a very faint smile. But that smile didn’t reach the depths of his eyes at all; his dark brown pupils were full of an unerasable chill.
The current elimination was just an appetizer. When it came to the finals, he would definitely not give up his position like this time.
The wind rolled with fine air currents and brushed past, lifting the fragmented hair on Jiang Chenyan’s forehead and revealing a startlingly bright light in his eyes.
He was like a vigorously burning fire, exceptionally dazzling in the crowd.
Standing not far away, Mu Sian watched. A dark thought suddenly sprang up in his heart: if such a dazzling person fell from the altar one day, what would he look like?
Forced to sink into the mire, struggling in desire…
Once this thought cropped up, it grew uncontrollably. He hadn’t even noticed that his fingertips had quietly clenched, and the chill in his eyes deepened by a few more points.
Jiang Chenyan truly was a different person.
…
The school representatives formally announced the successful conclusion of the first round of the competition and expressed warm congratulations to the top three teams. Applause rose from below like a tide.
Among all the teams, the one Jiang Chenyan was in undoubtedly received the highest level of discussion. From their prominent performance during the mission to unexpectedly clinching second place, the heat of the topic only increased.
Because the topic discussion remained high, it gave several people the illusion of it being “lonely at the top.”
In this subtle atmosphere, Ji Xuan had heavier things on his mind. His father had sent a message, hoping he could return home once this week.
He must have heard about his ranking as well.
Jiang Chenyan saw his hesitation. When looking for him privately, he asked directly: “What are you thinking?”
Ji Xuan lowered his eyes. Beneath the surging emotions was a complexity difficult to voice: “He is my father after all. No matter what, I should go back and see.”
He knew it was because he had become useful that the family had called him back. “Jiang Chenyan, I previously always hoped to get the recognition of my father and family, so I worked desperately hard. But when this day arrived, I wasn’t happy.”
Jiang Chenyan didn’t know how to comfort him for a moment and only spoke after some deliberation. “No matter what the final choice is, each of us still has to live for ourselves, don’t we?”
Hearing this, Ji Xuan was stunned for a moment, then a smile of relief slowly pulled at the corners of his mouth. He responded softly: “Thank you, Jiang Chenyan.”
What Jiang Chenyan didn’t say was that he had also been sought out by his parents. Just after the first round of the competition ended, Father Jiang and Mother Jiang had directly found him. The two of them had very complex expressions, as if they had a bellyful of words to say, but the words just took a turn at their lips.
In the end, they didn’t mention any extra matters, only patted Jiang Chenyan’s shoulder. The movement carried a hint of inexplicable expectation and instruction: “Compete well from here on.”
You see, weren’t these living examples right in front of him?
When you hadn’t achieved results before, even your relatives stayed away from you, afraid you wouldn’t make it. But when you truly became strong and gained a firm foothold, not only did your parents’ attitude change, but even the people around you would give you a bit more recognition.
Only by becoming strong yourself can you make the people around you take the initiative to approach you, truly receiving respect and the confidence you deserve.
…
The several of them were quite happy these few days and simply went to a bar to celebrate. Ling Yi seemed to have an exceptional preference for this place. When asked, he only explained with a smile: “I just like the liveliness here; it’s more comfortable than staying in a quiet place.”
Jiang Chenyan didn’t care much about the environment. Instead, he exceptionally liked the specialty cocktails here.
The amber liquid swayed with fragmented light against the glass. It had a sweet fruit fragrance upon entering the mouth, but the aftertaste hidden within carried a slightly tipsy intensity.
He sat by the bar, holding his glass and savoring it slowly. His gaze fell on the crowd swaying to the music on the dance floor, and the corners of his mouth turned up.
It was indeed lively.
Shen Shiyue sat right next to Jiang Chenyan, his fingertips resting on the rim of his glass. Occasionally, he would clink glasses with Jiang Chenyan, accompanying him as he slowly savored the wine.
Jiang Chenyan suddenly remembered that the first time he came to the bar, he had run into Jiang Xuan-shen, his elder brother in name.
The strange thing was, according to Kai Lan, Jiang Xuan-shen had been following his competition. But after this round ended, he had searched for several rounds in the crowd and hadn’t seen a shadow of Jiang Xuan-shen.
Jiang Chenyan didn’t think more about this matter. Assuming Jiang Xuan-shen was busy with matters at hand, he tossed the thought to the back of his mind and continued drinking.
After playing for a while, Shen Shiyue got up to go to the restroom. Jiang Chenyan felt a bit stuffy staying in the bar, so he thought of going outside to smoke a cigarette before coming back.
He walked to the ventilation area at the entrance, fished out a cigarette and a lighter from his pocket, and skillfully clicked it open with his fingertips. The blue light reflected on his knuckles. The moment the cigarette lit, a wisp of light smoke slowly drifted into the night sky.
The smoke curled around his fingertips, blurring his handsome features. In the short few minutes at the entrance, several people had already come up to hit on him, but they were all rejected by him.
It wasn’t until the cigarette butt burned to the end that he looked down and pressed it out with his finger pad.
A very cold voice fell from above his head, “When did you learn to smoke and drink?”
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