Chapter 4: Wishing to Swallow Him Alive, Xie Huaijin’s Expression was so Gloomy…
Xie Huaijin’s expression was so gloomy it could drip water. Those eyes looked as if they wished to swallow Jiang Chenyan alive.
Jiang Chenyan forced a smile, the corners of his eyes still holding a trace of unfladed awkwardness. “I said there was water on the floor, and my foot slipped… do you believe me?”
Xie Huaijin’s gaze grew colder and colder, his tone laced with ice: “A slip of the foot, is it? I see you are indeed cunning.”
Jiang Chenyan opened his mouth, but it only turned into an almost inaudible sigh. “…”
This “slip of the foot” (jiǎo huá) was not that “cunning” (jiǎo huá).
“I see the two of you did this on purpose.” Xie Huaijin’s gaze, like a chilled blade, scraped back and forth over Jiang Chenyan and Shen Shiyue. “If one person spills food on me, maybe it could be considered an accident. If two people do it, could it still be considered normal?” His voice grew colder. “Furthermore, you two know each other.”
Xie Huaijin raised his hand to grab Shen Shiyue’s collar. Shen Shiyue’s brow furrowed sharply, and almost the instant the other moved, he spun his body, dodging with a side-step so fast it was a blur.
The movement was clean and swift, making even the students secretly glancing over gasp softly in amazement.
No one dared to publicly strip Xie Huaijin of his face. An evil fire rushed straight to his head, and he vented all his anger onto Jiang Chenyan, who was standing closer.
With astonishing force, he grabbed Jiang Chenyan by the collar and yanked him up. Jiang Chenyan’s body swayed, and he nearly stumbled to the ground.
Barely steadying himself, Jiang Chenyan backhandedly gripped Xie Huaijin’s wrist. His fingertips were as cold as ice, and his voice carried suppressed anger: “What are you doing?”
At this, the surrounding students collectively sucked in a breath of cold air, their whispers spreading like a tide: “Provoking Young Master Xie, this guy is probably done for…”
“Running into this kind of thing on the very first day of school, quickly take a picture and post it on the forum.”
…
Their eyes met, silently clashing, the air seemingly frozen. Xie Huaijin stared intently at Jiang Chenyan’s eyes, the sense of familiarity in that gaze growing stronger, like something churning in his mind.
Suddenly, a blurry face cleared up in his head. A sinister smile hooked the corner of Xie Huaijin’s mouth. His large palm abruptly clamped over most of Jiang Chenyan’s face, the force carrying an irresistible oppressive weight: “No wonder… so it was you.”
Jiang Chenyan frowned deeply, his cheeks hurting from the grip. “What do you mean?”
Xie Huaijin sneered coldly and suddenly leaned in close to Jiang Chenyan’s ear, gritting out viciously word by word: “The, guy, who, wore, the, mask.”
Jiang Chenyan’s pupils contracted, and his eyes instantly turned cold, freezing over. The system’s clamoring rang in his head: [Host, Gong 1 recognized you.]
“Yeah, it was bound to happen sooner or later. It seems he isn’t entirely blind.”
System: “…”
Vaguely, he heard Shen Shiyue call out his name, “No need to hold back so much.”
The meaning couldn’t be clearer. The trouble had already come knocking; there was no need to suffer grievances just to keep the peace.
He withdrew his gaze, suppressing the waves in his heart, thinking that if the matter could be dropped, it should be. He tried to explain to Xie Huaijin with as much patience as he could muster: “Young Master Xie, this truly wasn’t on purpose. As for an apology, I will definitely apologize today. I’m sorry.”
“You think an apology is enough?” Xie Huaijin’s voice was freezing, his gaze sweeping over Jiang Chenyan’s face. Without the mask, the exposed face was surprisingly handsome, with refined features and pale lips, but his tone of voice just sparked an inexplicable, nameless rage.
“You messed with me, and you think you can just get away?”
Jiang Chenyan, “…”
Xie Huaijin was exactly as described in the book. Growing up in a privileged background surrounded by stars, his hostile aura couldn’t be hidden at all.
Back when he had taken an interest in the protagonist shou, he had harbored a desire to play with him, but his methods were consistently ruthless, pushing the person almost into a corner every time.
But… if an apology was useless… a trace of coldness flashed through Jiang Chenyan’s eyes. Since he had already provoked him, there was no need to endure anymore.
He had disliked this protagonist gong from the very start.
Jiang Chenyan didn’t waste any more words. He suddenly raised his foot and kicked hard toward Xie Huaijin. Xie Huaijin reacted extremely fast, instinctively stepping sideways to dodge. The force of his grip loosened, and Jiang Chenyan successfully broke free. Using this momentary opening, he rapidly retreated, pulling several meters away from Xie Huaijin, staring at him with cold eyes.
This sudden action left everyone around dumbfounded, frozen in place.
“I’ve already apologized. I thought Young Master Xie wasn’t a petty person, but it turns out I was completely wrong.”
Jiang Chenyan’s voice wasn’t loud, but it carried blatant sarcasm, jabbing like a fine needle when least expected.
Hearing this, the surrounding crowd let out another unified gasp of cold air, not even daring to breathe loudly. Were these words they were supposed to hear? This year’s freshmen were not ordinary, truly not ordinary.
Shen Shiyue hadn’t said another word from beginning to end, merely stepping silently closer to Jiang Chenyan, standing steadily side by side with him.
Xie Huaijin’s face was dark, the veins on his forehead throbbing prominently against his pale skin. The air pressure around him was so low that no one dared approach.
His lackeys stuttered, “Young Master Xie…”
“Scram!”
Only one thought remained in the crowd’s minds: We’re doomed.
Xie Huaijin’s Alpha pheromones erupted without warning, carrying a biting aggressiveness that swept through the entire space.
Lower-level Alphas, unable to withstand the oppressive pressure, felt their legs give out and collapsed to the floor.
“I’m going to faint…”
“It hurts so much… why did my parents send me to military school, wuwuwu…”
“Your parents definitely made a mistake sending you to military school.”
“…”
Jiang Chenyan quietly took another step back. Under the indiscriminate bombardment of the Alpha pheromones, the hidden gland at the back of his neck suddenly transmitted a subtle wave of heat.
An SS-level pheromone suppression—even ordinary Alphas couldn’t bear it. Many Alphas were already showing pained expressions, clearly affected.
Jiang Chenyan cursed softly: “Maniac.”
At first, the pheromones were somewhat manageable, but as time dragged on, he started to sense something was wrong. His body was actually having a rejection reaction, his stomach churning violently.
Shen Shiyue quickly caught him. “What’s wrong?”
Jiang Chenyan shook his head, looking at the person beside him with a raised brow: “How come you’re perfectly fine?” Was he forcing himself? Just not showing it?
He drew a conclusion: “Maybe the pheromones smell too awful, and I’m having a rejection reaction.”
Shen Shiyue, “…”
Being so bluntly told his pheromones were disgusting—this was a first for Xie Huaijin. It accurately pierced his pride, and his already gloomy face turned completely black as a pot.
The Alphas on the floor suffered miserably.
Bro, bro, please stop talking.
The cafeteria was already in total chaos.
“What are you all doing?”
A voice as cold as ice suddenly rang out: “Xie Huaijin, retract your pheromones.”
Qi Bai stood at the entrance with a dark expression, his sharp gaze sweeping over the chaotic scene before finally locking onto Jiang Chenyan and Shen Shiyue. His eyes were deep and emotionless.
Xie Huaijin naturally knew that releasing pheromones in a public area violated school rules. Now that Qi Bai had stepped in, he had to give him some face, so he reined in his pheromones.
Qi Bai’s gaze fell on Xie Huaijin’s stain-covered uniform, his eyes darkening. “What happened?”
“As you can see, I was messed up by two blind fools.”
Qi Bai glanced coldly at Jiang Chenyan and Shen Shiyue, motioning for them to explain.
Shen Shiyue said flatly, “Senior Qi, we accidentally spilled our food on Classmate Xie, but we have already apologized. However, Classmate Xie doesn’t seem to accept it and won’t let it go.”
“Right now, we should hurry and send the students to the infirmary.” The crowd had gossiped to the point of collapsing; it was quite impressive. Jiang Chenyan’s face was pale; he also needed to go breathe some fresh air.
The bitterness wrapped in the coldness of Xie Huaijin’s pheromones was still lingering in his mind, like an unshakable foul odor churning his stomach. He just wanted to find a place to throw up thoroughly.
He remembered that Alphas and Omegas had a pheromone compatibility rating. A compatibility rating that was too low would indeed cause a rejection reaction.
A number of Student Council members followed behind Qi Bai, seemingly prepared for a situation.
“Take the fainted students to the infirmary.”
“Xie Huaijin, what you did today was indeed wrong. Come with me to the Academic Affairs Office to receive your punishment.”
“Sure.” Xie Huaijin smiled maliciously, his gaze sweeping over Jiang Chenyan and Shen Shiyue. “But these two have to come along.”
Shen Shiyue lifted his eyes, directly colliding with Xie Huaijin’s gaze. It was as if sparks crackled and exploded in the air. He instinctively tightened his grip on Jiang Chenyan’s wrist beside him, the force heavy enough that his fingertips turned slightly white.
Xie Huaijin’s malicious smile grew, his tone laced with undisguised mockery: “Your relationship is certainly quite good.”
He slowly walked up to Shen Shiyue, deliberately lowering his voice: “I wonder what this classmate’s name is?”
Shen Shiyue didn’t even lift an eyelid, too lazy to even spare him a glance, and simply turned his face away.
Xie Huaijin wasn’t angry, but his gaze was exceptionally cold, especially when looking at Jiang Chenyan.
Jiang Chenyan frowned deeply.
Xie Huaijin’s methods against the protagonist shou in the book were still vivid in his mind. Jiang Chenyan instinctively felt things were bad, and his look toward Xie Huaijin carried a bit more vigilance.
Could it be he’s already taken a liking to Shen Shiyue and wants to find trouble with him?
Xie Huaijin raised an eyebrow and said to Qi Bai, “Let’s go, don’t keep the teachers at the Academic Affairs Office waiting.”
Several teachers at the Academic Affairs Office were more or less connected to the Xie family, and even if they weren’t, they wouldn’t dare offend the sole heir of the Xie family. So what if they went? It would be nothing but recognizing reality and bringing humiliation upon themselves.
How could Jiang Chenyan and Shen Shiyue not see his intentions? But right now Qi Bai was still present, and a direct refusal would leave them open to criticism.
Jiang Chenyan discreetly tugged at the corner of Shen Shiyue’s shirt.
“What is it?”
Their eyes met, and Jiang Chenyan’s body suddenly leaned forward, collapsing to the side as if he had lost all strength. Shen Shiyue, quick-eyed and swift-handed, solidly caught him in his arms. The urgency in his voice was completely genuine: “Are you okay?”
Leaning in Shen’s embrace, Jiang Chenyan deliberately lowered his voice, acting so weak he could barely be heard, yet just loud enough for everyone around to catch it: “The Academic Affairs Office… I’m afraid I can’t go. Classmate Xie’s pheromones are too powerful. I-I, as a low-level Alpha, really can’t endure it…”
Xie Huaijin’s face instantly sank, the hostility in his eyes nearly overflowing.
“Who are you trying to fool?! Stop putting on an act here!”
“My re…flex arc is just a bit long.” Jiang Chenyan closed his eyes, ignoring everything else.
Shen Shiyue felt helpless. “I’ll take him to the infirmary.”
Carefully draping Jiang Chenyan’s arm over his own neck, half-supporting and half-carrying him, he looked up and nodded at Qi Bai, signaling their departure.
Qi Bai remained silent for a moment before giving a nearly imperceptible nod, tacitly agreeing.
After the two figures disappeared from the cafeteria entrance, Xie Huaijin suddenly sneered. He turned to look at Qi Bai, his tone holding a bit of amusement: “Did you recognize him? That guy wearing the mask earlier.”
Qi Bai withdrew his gaze, his fingertips gently rubbing together by his side. “Mm. He’s not someone easily dealt with.”
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