Chapter 44: Professor, “I Didn’t Lie to You” — Never Mind Omegas Pretending to be Alphas, There’s Even Dragging…
Ariel’s temples throbbed with a sharp pain, each pulse feeling like a fine needle pricking him. He gritted his teeth and squeezed out a sentence: “Even if you died, he wouldn’t.”
Jiang Chenyan fell silent, the rest of his words clogging his throat. “…”
Those words were a bit harsh; they didn’t exactly sit well with him.
His brow furrowed as he took half a step back, deliberately maintaining a half-arm’s distance from Ariel.
In a daze, he suddenly realized he had missed a key point.
How could he have forgotten Professor Ariel?
Kai Lan had crossed the sea of stars to reach Planet Jinchen; anyone could guess he was there for him.
The moment he arrived at the Alliance branch on Planet Jinchen, Kai Lan had followed. Not only did he come, but something happened—he had “died” alongside an Omega who looked remarkably like Jiang Chenyan.
Outsiders might be fooled by this “double death” scenario, but Ariel certainly wouldn’t be. He was sharp as a mirror; ten to one, he knew the Omega by Kai Lan’s side was Jiang Chenyan himself.
Thinking of this, Jiang Chenyan felt a rare flash of panic. How should he explain? Ariel likely already suspected his identity.
Ariel stared straight at him, his tone cold enough to freeze. “I’ll ask one more time. Where is he?”
“I really don’t know.” Jiang Chenyan’s voice held a trace of tension that was hard to detect.
This was the truth.
Kai Lan had left cleanly and efficiently, without giving him a single shred of information.
“Refusing the toast only to drink the forfeit,” Ariel scoffed, leaning his head on his hand as the veins on his forehead pulsed with rage. “You mother… It’s one thing for an Omega to pretend to be an Alpha, but you even dragged Kai Lan into this muddy water.”
Jiang Chenyan was speechless, feeling the very air grow heavy around him.
As expected, he’d guessed right…
The Professor was not only certain he was that Omega, but he had also point-blank exposed his secondary gender without hesitation.
His brain worked at high speed, his fingernails digging into his palms to force himself to stay calm. “Professor, you’re overthinking it. I’m not an Omega.”
Ariel: “…”
“But I admit, Kai Lan and I were indeed involved in that auction. He got pulled in because of me…” He paused deliberately at this point. Since Kai Lan hadn’t revealed to Ariel that he was still alive, Jiang Chenyan naturally wouldn’t talk too much. “However, the news of his death—I didn’t lie to you about that.”
“As for that SS-grade Omega, it couldn’t possibly be me. But I did see him; that person looked almost exactly like me. I was stunned at the time too.” He paced his words steadily, breaking down the information to lower the other man’s suspicion. “It was just a different division of labor. He was responsible for the front-line photography and evidence, while I was responsible for behind-the-scenes assistance. I was also very sad to hear that he and Kai Lan had met with an accident.”
As he spoke, he almost started to believe it himself, as if those half-true details were the original facts.
Ariel continued to stare at him expressionlessly, his eyes as deep as an abyss. Jiang Chenyan felt uneasy, unable to tell if the other believed him or had seen through his act long ago.
But Ariel just wouldn’t speak. He stayed there, staring at him motionless. The silence was like a dense, airtight net, wrapping tighter and tighter around Jiang Chenyan until he could barely breathe.
Jiang Chenyan finally couldn’t help but break the silence. “Professor, what’s wrong?”
Even a single facial expression would be better than this agonizing suspense.
A faint sneer escaped Ariel’s throat. “Heh…”
“Did he teach you this trick?”
Jiang Chenyan was stunned for a moment, his brow furrowing. “What?”
Complex emotions surged in the depths of Ariel’s eyes, and he didn’t answer directly. “Are the two of you actually that childish?” He paused, his gaze landing on Jiang Chenyan’s face as he spoke word by word, “You two little liars.”
“That rhetoric isn’t bad.” Ariel’s expression was terrifyingly cold as he stepped forward, the pressure around him so low it was suffocating.
Jiang Chenyan froze in place. He had never seen Ariel like this. The usual calm was gone from his eyes, replaced only by a bone-chilling frost.
“It seems you’ve lied to me quite a bit, Jiang Chenyan.” Ariel bit down hard on the last few words, like a precision blade slicing open the disguise Jiang Chenyan was struggling to maintain.
Jiang Chenyan’s fingernails dug into his flesh.
There was no warmth in Ariel’s eyes. “I know you’re smart, but your intelligence has been used in the wrong place. You shouldn’t have used it on me.”
“Is telling the truth really that hard?”
He let out a cold laugh. “Do you have to force my hand?”
Ariel raised his hand to adjust the gold-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose. The lenses reflected a cold light, which happened to land on Jiang Chenyan’s pale, forced-calm profile.
Jiang Chenyan instinctively took a step back, his heart sinking to the bottom. This situation had become a total mess.
F*ck.
He called out to the system in his mind: “There’s been a bit of an accident. Can you make the person in front of me lose his memory?”
The system’s voice sounded a bit cheerful:
[Are you dreaming, Host? I don’t know magic. But Host, it’s rare for you to actually seek me out! By the way, I’ve been developing a few mini-games lately. Would you like to play a round with me?]
“…Never mind.” Jiang Chenyan held his forehead and added irritably, “Go play by yourself.”
The system went silent instantly:
[…]
Stuck with such a slacker system, he had no other choice.
Jiang Chenyan bit the bullet and argued, “What I said just now was the truth, you—”
Before he could finish, Ariel was completely enraged, the veins on his forehead throbbing. “I’m going to report this right now! You, an Omega, snuck into the military academy—Kai Lan did it before, and now you’re doing it too. What do you think this place is? A game of house?”
Blinded by fury, Ariel turned to walk toward the door.
Jiang Chenyan panicked. Almost instinctively, he rushed forward and hugged him from behind, throwing all caution and dignity to the wind. “Professor, Professor—no, Brother, Brother! I was wrong, I was really wrong…”
He dragged the other man back. Ariel managed one difficult step forward before he couldn’t move anymore, as if a boulder were tied to him.
Jiang Chenyan: “Just give me one more chance.”
He held on tight, refusing to let go. “Am I not your disciple? Do you have the heart to see me kicked out of the military academy?”
“When you were lying to me, why didn’t you think about the fact that I’m your teacher?” Ariel’s chest felt tight with anger as he tried to shake him off. “Now you know how to panic? Where was this earlier?”
“I can really explain.” Jiang Chenyan’s brow furrowed. “Haven’t you wondered? Why would Kai Lan deliberately fake his death for no reason?”
Ariel fell into a rare silence.
After a long while, he said coldly, “Let go of me first. I’ll listen to your explanation.”
Jiang Chenyan’s fingertips trembled slightly. After a moment of hesitation, he slowly let go.
“I admit, I haven’t truly trusted you from the beginning.” He lowered his eyes. “But I had no choice. My identity is too special; I can’t easily trust the people around me, let alone a teacher at the military academy.”
“But to this day, I still don’t understand why Omegas have to just stay home and let their families arrange marriages. We have our own pursuits too; things we want to give our all for. I think Kai Lan feels exactly the same way I do.”
Ariel’s gaze landed on Jiang Chenyan, deep and unreadable. Jiang Chenyan still couldn’t guess what he was thinking, so he could only continue: “You should already be clear that I am an Omega, but whatever an Alpha can do, I can do just as well. People always say that the Interstellar era has achieved ABO equality, but what about Betas and Omegas? Do they really have the same rights as Alphas?”
“Does the Alliance Military Academy allow Omegas and Betas to take the same assessments? Betas aren’t affected by pheromones, and a small number enter the academy branches to study mecha, but it’s different for Omegas. Is this really fair?”
“That’s all I wanted to say.” Jiang Chenyan took a deep breath. Their mouths were clamped shut, denied even the right to scream. Within that illusion called “protection,” their edges were slowly worn away, struggling desperately but unable to escape, eventually reduced to being mere appendages of Alphas.
“Kai Lan said he wanted to do what he truly wanted to do. He didn’t tell you everything because, in the end, he was afraid you would stop him.”
He was indirectly telling Ariel that Kai Lan didn’t trust him.
Ariel’s expression was finally no longer a sheet of ice; it softened slightly. “I understand.”
He looked quietly at Jiang Chenyan. “I won’t interfere in your business anymore. But remember, this is the path you chose for yourself. No matter what happens in the future, you have to keep walking it.”
As he spoke, a trace of fatigue flashed through Ariel’s eyes, and his voice softened. “It’s the same for Kai Lan. This path was his own choice; others can’t stop him, and they can’t control him.”
He still spoke with a lingering trace of lingering anger: “That child… forget it. He was going to take this step sooner or later. As long as he’s alive.”
But only Ariel knew what he truly felt. The moment he had first seen the news of Kai Lan’s death, the panic and lingering fear he felt weren’t fake. Once Ariel calmed down, he realized the whole thing was full of holes.
He looked away, his tone deliberately distant. “What I mean is, your future affairs have nothing to do with me. I’m someone who loves burying my head in research; I dislike getting involved in these muddy waters the most.”
Jiang Chenyan nodded. “I’m clear on that. As long as you can keep our secret, that’s enough.”
Ariel frowned, the inexplicable annoyance in his heart still not quite dissipated. “Fine.”
Jiang Chenyan breathed a total sigh of relief. If he had known things could be resolved so smoothly, why had he wasted so much time being terrified?
The two finished their talk and walked out one after another.
Admiral Celeus was still waiting for them. He smiled and said it was rare for Ariel to visit, insisting on taking him on a tour.
“Would you like to visit the colosseum?” Admiral Celeus suggested enthusiastically, then turned to Jiang Chenyan’s group and waved. “You guys come along too; it’ll be lively.”
When Ji Xuan and the others heard they were going to the colosseum, they were instantly excited. Even Jiang Chenyan felt a bit curious. How would the beasts in an Interstellar novel differ from the creatures of his own era?
To the side, Shen Shiyue asked if he was okay. Jiang Chenyan shook his head. “Just a false alarm.”
The two walked side-by-side at the back of the group. As they walked, Jiang Chenyan suddenly paused, a question flashing through his mind. Among the people who had come to receive Professor Ariel, why were there no signs of Mu Sian or Xie Huaijin?
But a few of Xie Huaijin’s teammates were still there.
Maybe he was overthinking it; it probably wasn’t anything.
Jiang Chenyan continued walking with the group.
Soon, a giant colosseum came into view. Circular spectator stands surrounded the dueling arena below, giving the audience a clear view of everything.
In the arena, two massive beasts—several times larger than ordinary predators—were engaged in a struggle. They looked like a cross between a lion and a tiger, a species Jiang Chenyan had never seen before.
The two giant beasts were locked together, their sharp fangs biting hard into each other’s necks. Blood dripped down their fur, forming winding trails on the ground. The sounds of roaring and snapping bones intertwined, and a thick smell of blood wafted toward them. The scene was far too violent and bloody; ordinary people wouldn’t dare look directly at it.
Jiang Chenyan stared at the brutal slaughter in the arena, his brow furrowing deeper. How to put it? He didn’t quite like it. After a moment of hesitation, he simply looked away, choosing “out of sight, out of mind.”
Right then, Celeus smilingly ordered people to bring over a long table, which was laden with exquisite food and drinks. “This is a recently produced wine; please, everyone, try it while it’s fresh.”
Ariel glanced at the blood-stained slaughter in the arena, then at the food on the table, and couldn’t help but complain: “Who could eat this? Bloody beast fighting on one side and a banquet on the other—this is way too much.”
Perhaps affected by the atmosphere, Jiang Chenyan felt the dark red wine looked exactly like fresh blood, and even the steak on the plate seemed to carry a faint scent of gore. His stomach churned, and he almost vomited on the spot.
Ariel swirled the wine glass with his fingertips, the liquid tracing a dark red arc. He raised an eyebrow. “One bottle costs hundreds of thousands of Star Credits. I don’t believe for a second this is just some ‘newly produced wine’ for this kind of display.”
Wine worth hundreds of thousands of Credits—it was worth it even for just a sip.
He might as well try it.
Jiang Chenyan and the others frowned but took a sip, finding that it actually tasted surprisingly good.
“Alright, I won’t keep you restrained anymore. Feel free to wander around,” Admiral Celeus gestured for everyone to move freely. “Besides the beast fighting, there are many special creatures kept here. You can take a look if you’re interested.”
Everyone gradually left to wander, and they mostly drifted apart. Not long after, Jiang Chenyan was drawn to an exhibition area. Several strangely shaped creatures stood there; their upper bodies looked like open blue flowers, while their lower bodies were slender, jointed legs. Their entire bodies emitted a faint blue glow. They were beautiful, and Jiang Chenyan couldn’t help but look a few more times.
Suddenly, with a loud boom, the entire venue plunged into darkness. The power had gone out.
Jiang Chenyan: “What’s going on?”
Shen Shiyue felt his way closer. “I don’t know. Something isn’t right.”
Just as Jiang Chenyan was about to respond, someone lightly bumped his arm. He thought it was Shen Shiyue looking for him, but in the next second, a hand suddenly covered his mouth and nose.
“Mmph!” He struggled with all his might, but his body suddenly lost its strength, as if all energy had been drained away. He collapsed weakly.
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