The ring was put to good use that very evening, and Chu Hui proved through personal experience just how practical its measuring function was—though it did cost him the ability to get out of bed the next morning.
Never again. He was done being a slut.
But damn, it felt so good.
He lay face-down on the bed, caught in contradiction for a long while, but the moment Liang Qiao returned, he immediately clung to her, sprawling his limbs across her body before tilting his head up for a kiss—a series of movements so fluid and practiced that it was clearly a routine repeated countless times.
After they finished kissing, her hand slid down from his waist to his hips beneath the blanket, seemingly checking on him. Sensing her intent, Chu Hui lifted his leg and pressed his foot against hers. "Don't—don't touch—I won't be able to hold back again."
"Your Heat cycle really is coming soon," Liang Qiao said, having just checked the time—about a week or two away. "Last time you used a suppressant?"
"Yeah, I'm so pitiful," he said, magnifying any hint of grievance whenever he had the chance with her. "And you won't be here next Monday. What am I supposed to do?"
Liang Qiao pondered for a moment, then said tentatively, "I'm free tomorrow. How about…"
The interval and duration of an Omega's Heat cycle vary from person to person, generally occurring about four times a year. If exposed to an alpha's pheromones around the expected time, the Heat can easily be triggered early—a perfectly normal pattern in AO bonding that causes no disruption.
Chu Hui's Heat typically lasted three to four days. Based on the current timeline, if it started tomorrow, it should be resolved before Monday.
She expected Chu Hui to agree without much hesitation, but after thinking it over, he said, "No. If you leave right after my Heat ends, I'll be miserable alone. I'd rather just take the suppressant."
Their first Heat together after getting together had been exactly like that—inexperienced as they were, they'd gone at it like wild animals. Before Chu Hui could even recover, Liang Qiao had to leave for an emergency training session.
For days afterward, he felt as though all his strength had been drained. A nameless helplessness and desolation hung over him like dark clouds. He'd tear up at the slightest thing, couldn't bring himself to attend any classes, and simply lay at home for four or five days straight.
Even now, he could still taste that anxious, bitter feeling. He silently tightened his arms around her and said, "Don't bully me."
Liang Qiao said nothing. Her hand slid up to the nape of his neck, where beneath a thin suppressant patch lay his gland—swollen and warm from his earlier arousal—nestling obediently against her palm with his movements.
"Wait for me to come back," she said, then paused and added, "And don't play with yourself too much while I'm gone."
"I don't!" Chu Hui protested. "I'm busy too, you know?"
Liang Qiao glanced at him. "Then what about those photos and videos I received…"
"You watched them all?" Far from feeling embarrassed, Chu Hui beamed at her. "Did they look good? I tried so many angles to make sure you could see everything clearly."
"…"
“When did you watch them?” Those videos had been like stones thrown into the sea, eliciting no response at all. Chu Hui had assumed she never even clicked on them, and as time passed, he forgot about them entirely. Now that she brought them up, he naturally wasn’t about to let it go, saying, “Did you secretly watch them at night alone in your sleep pod? Did you happen to think of me a little while you were at it?”
“…No such thing.”
“Don’t be shy,” Chu Hui grinned even wider, saying, “If you’d told me earlier you didn’t want me playing around on my own, I’d have written ‘Liang Qiao’s exclusive property’ on my body before leaving. Once I saw that, I wouldn’t dare mess around.”
Liang Qiao was at a loss for words, so she simply applied pressure with her hands and silently pressed him into her embrace.
He laughed so hard his chest vibrated, then wrapped his arms around her neck and kissed her, lingering in her arms to chat for a while longer.
After about ten-odd minutes, his voice grew softer and softer, quickly dissolving into even breathing. Liang Qiao held him quietly, trying to fall asleep herself but failing after a while. Gazing at the small patch of dim nothingness before her, she slowly raised her other hand.
The ring between her fingers caught a faint glint of silver light with her movement. She stared at it, a strange feeling welling up in her chest.
It had been this long already.
Before coming to Landu, she had never imagined she’d have moments like this—a lover, a ring. Even though Chu Hui had handed it to her so naturally and casually, she could feel the surging emotion flowing between them like water. Now, in the silent depths of the night, she bent down to feel beneath the surface, and discovered that besides the endless tide of her heart, there was also a trace of bewilderment whose origin she couldn’t place.
The future—such a long, long future.
At fifteen, she had owned nothing. What her parents had left her, besides a nearly nonexistent say in the organization, was only a meager sum of savings. Though education in most parts of the Federation was free, her livelihood and spirit still needed support—but clearly, no one had been able to give her that back then. The unexpected deaths of the six core members had been a devastating blow to an organization already teetering on the brink; they had been willing to devote their lives to a great ideal, but were powerless to care for an orphan.
It was from that period onward that she grew increasingly taciturn, gradually becoming accustomed to living alone.
Later, with the help of her mother’s colleague, she received a substantial grant that allowed her to continue her studies and her life. She spent half a year getting into Langria, then another half year earning money—combining the returns from nearly a hundred fights with her first-year scholarship, she pooled it all together and repaid her benefactor at the earliest opportunity.
During her first year at the academy, she shuttled constantly between the school and the lower districts, with no time to rest, no time to make friends, and no time to even acknowledge her own exhaustion. She was afraid that if she stopped, she’d never find the strength to go on; afraid that if she let her guard down, she’d be struck down. Back then, she had never thought about where she might go in the future, or where she might come to rest.
Now she had come to rest here.
Could she truly rest here?
Monday morning at eight o’clock, Liang Qiao and Pei Qiansu had agreed to report to the Union Security Agency together.
Landu's Union Security Agency building was located not far from the Twin Towers, only a 15-minute Skyrail ride away. Liang Qiao successfully rendezvoused with Pei Qiansu as she passed through Langria Platform 7. The latter walked through the crowd to her side as usual, but unusually, said nothing.
Unfortunately, silence was what Liang Qiao excelled at most—as long as others didn't speak, she would never initiate conversation. Pei Qiansu glanced at her every few seconds, hoping she would ask her something so that she could then unleash the barrage of questions she had lined up. However, until she nearly suffocated herself with pent-up frustration, the other party still showed no intention of speaking.
"…What exactly do you like about him?"
An abrupt question with no context, but it finally drew Liang Qiao's attention. She shifted her gaze slightly, looking at the other's eyes brimming with curiosity, somewhat bewildered, and said, "Huh?"
"Chu Hui!" Remembering they were in a public place, she kept her voice low, but her tone still carried confusion and disbelief. "How did you end up with him?"
Liang Qiao found it hard to explain this question and could only say, "…We just ended up together."
She closed her eyes in despair, then after a moment's respite, mustered her courage again, as if grasping at her last lifeline, and asked, "He pursued you, right?"
"Actually…" Liang Qiao was somewhat reluctant to shatter her expectations, but the truth was indeed so, so she had to be honest: "I confessed first."
"…" Pei Qiansu was momentarily speechless, pressing her lips tightly between her teeth before finally saying, "I hate you."
The line came to a stop. Liang Qiao stood up and said, "Don't mention it."
The two walked off the Skyrail.
Pei Qiansu asked again, "Have you told Wei Ting and the others?"
Liang Qiao said, "Wei Ting knows. Shang Xuefan and the others don't yet."
Pei Qiansu asked, "Are you going to tell them?"
"Let it happen naturally," Liang Qiao said. "He'll probably announce it to the world."
"…Forget it." Pei Qiansu forcibly suppressed the urge to curse and said, "Considering he gave me a car, I won't badmouth him."
Seeing that Liang Qiao remained silent, she asked again, "Are you sure I can accept it? This model isn't cheap." It was probably a year's salary after joining the Union Security Agency, a full four times her original budget. Moreover, from yesterday's communication, the two seemed to be getting along well, and she didn't want to bring up what might happen in the future, so she could only phrase it cautiously like this.
"It's fine," Liang Qiao said. "I'll pay him back."
"Oh—" Her tone carried a hint of teasing, thinking Liang Qiao meant compensation or giving in a relationship, and said, "I never would have guessed you'd be like this in a relationship."
Liang Qiao said nothing, once again falling into her practiced silence.
…
This time, on the same batch of the list as them, besides Sheng Fuzhou, there were also several other familiar classmates. The group met at the entrance of the Union Security Agency. The two arch-rivals rarely refrained from sniping at each other, merely ignoring one another, and after greeting the others, they walked in together. The armed guards at the entrance checked their identification one by one and directed them toward the security gate ahead.
After all checks were completed, they entered the tall building behind. This was not the Union Security Agency's main headquarters, but one of its offices in Landu, used only for handling simple matters.
They had come today not only to register and confirm their scores but also to draw lots to determine where they would go during their training evaluation period. If all went well, they would set out in about a week.
"Liang Qiao."
The registration room announced her name first. She walked in and stood at the center as light slowly swept over her from all directions, recording her basic physical data.
Appearance, fingerprints, pupils—then pheromone and blood samples were collected. Finally, everyone's information was fed into a random matching system, and the results began rapidly scrolling across the holographic screen at the front of the hall.
Three seconds later, each person's assigned region appeared next to their name, simultaneously synced to their Terminals.
"Liang Qiao, where are you?" Pei Qiansu leaned over to ask.
"Old Third District." Cangshan City in the old northern industrial zone, about a twelve-hour drive from Landu. Taking an Air-ship would cut that time by three-quarters. Further north and you'd be approaching the Forbidden Zone.
"That far!" Pei Qiansu frowned and lowered her voice. "That's a bit dangerous, isn't it? Even further north than where we're training."
"I'm in the old north too," someone nearby overheard their conversation and turned to look over, speaking with easy familiarity. "Where are you?"
Pei Qiansu answered for her: "Cangshan City."
"Me too."
Every year, the training evaluation period took place in different cities, with two people assigned to each city. According to the rules, the two of them should be the ones heading to the old north this year.
"Hello," the person extended a hand. "I'm Xi Yan, FMEA class of 3787."
FMEA—the College of Medicine and Extreme Adaptation—specialized in extreme environment adaptation and physical function recovery, and was one of the indispensable functional members of a complete combat unit. The only problem was that this college's graduation rate was as extreme as their specialty. When Pei Qiansu had been forming their team, she'd always wanted to recruit someone from this college, but every attempt had fallen through for one reason or another in the end.
Later, she'd heard it was because their coursework was extremely demanding, and no one would ever attempt the graduation assessment without being fully prepared.
Liang Qiao raised her hand and shook it. "Liang Qiao, College of Risk and Security."
"Oh, I know you," Xi Yan said with a bright smile. "My little sister's been wanting to pursue you for a while now. She's an Omega—so, what do you think? Interested?"
What an abrupt question.
Pei Qiansu considered herself plenty forward, but she hadn't expected to meet someone even more blunt than her here. She was practically staring wide-eyed at Xi Yan until Liang Qiao spoke up beside her: "Sorry, I have a boyfriend."
"Really? I hadn't heard that," Xi Yan asked. "That's not just an excuse to turn me down, is it?"
Liang Qiao said, "It's true."
Xi Yan said, "Alright, no problem then. Should we add each other's contact? We might end up working together someday."
Liang Qiao agreed, and together they raised their wrists. Two default-sized light screens materialized before their eyes, merged for a moment, then vanished.
While the group was talking, Sheng Fuzhou, standing not far away, was sending a message to Chu Hui, enjoying the drama with relish: "Guess who I just ran into at the Union Security Agency?"
The other party sent back a perfunctory question mark.
"There's a female Alpha who should be doing the evaluation period training with Liang Qiao this time."
"And then?"
"She said her Omega sister has been trying to pursue Liang Qiao, and asked if she'd consider it."
"?"
This question mark carried far more emotion than the last one, and a follow-up came quickly: "What did Liang Qiao say?"
He deliberately replied, "No idea, but the two of them have exchanged contact info now."
The moment Chu Hui read that line, she sat straight up in bed and said, "She's done for."
"Oh oh, you'd better make sure she's done for."
"I'm posting a Smoni right now to let everyone know she's my wife."
Sheng Fuzhou rolled her eyes and said, "So that's what 'done for' means? I thought it was called showing off."
"That too."
"Go die."
By the time the group came out of the Union Security Agency, Pei Qiansu had already spotted a post from Chu Hui on the school's Smoni public feed—a photo she'd never seen before, capturing the Alpha's profile as she looked back through the falling snow.
The blizzard backdrop really accentuated Liang Qiao's temperament, yet her eyes were remarkably gentle. The two contrasting sensations blended together, making the dissonance all the more captivating.
Unfortunately, Chu Hui's caption was utterly heart-wrenching—just two simple words: "Mine."
"*," Pei Qiansu couldn't help but curse, adding, "He really did announce it to the whole world."