Chen Yunfeng fixed his gaze and saw Xie Qing’s strikingly handsome face. He immediately sprang up, standing face-to-face.
“Tch, you scared the hell out of me.”
Once exposed, Chen Yunfeng stopped putting up a front. He said whatever was on his mind, too lazy to keep maintaining any persona.
The moment he sprang up, Xie Qing took a step back; otherwise, he was certain the two of them would have collided.
His understanding of Chen Yunfeng grew by one more trait.
Hot-headed and boisterous.
Along with a three-minute attention span.
By this time, Chen Yunfeng had already leaned over to collect his test sheets and various health index reports.
Completely forgetting what he had just asked.
Xie Qing found it awkward either answering or not answering.
Because it wasn’t really an illness to begin with, and the doctor’s plan was very simple.
One word: wait.
Once the time comes, differentiation will happen naturally.
As he was leaving, the doctor gave a parting instruction: “Try your best to find that highly compatible Alpha to prompt you into entering the pseudo-differentiation period.”
“When the day of your actual differentiation arrives, his comforting pheromones can alleviate your pain.”
For as long as he could remember, the one thing Chen Yunfeng feared least was physical pain.
He had no interest in tracking down that unknown Alpha.
Besides, according to what the doctor said, among all the Alphas he had contact with in the past fourteen days, only a few had ever released pheromones.
The first wave consisted of the three people who cornered Xie Wang in the alley.
The second wave was that foul-mouthed Alpha in the restroom whose mouth smelled like it had been soaking in a toilet bowl.
If any of them had a high compatibility with Chen Yunfeng, it would have been enough to make him too miserable to eat for three days.
He completely ignored the fact that there was still another person present, Xie Qing, who had driven him home.
Just to be safe, the doctor had prescribed suppressants and blockers in advance, reminding him to carry them with him every day as much as possible.
It wasn’t until Chen Yunfeng returned home carrying a plastic bag that he realized it was already dark.
He originally planned to live-stream for five hours, but it had to be compressed to just two.
During that time, the wealthy Xie Wang even came by to drop a few gifts, warming up the live-stream room.
He also cordially inquired in the stream about when Chen Yunfeng would be returning.
Just as a match ended, Chen Yunfeng was surprised to find that someone had already changed their ID.
Feng You Wei Wang Gei Me Do (Give it to me, Feng-you-wei-wang).
It was so straightforward that it was impossible for Chen Yunfeng not to understand.
He couldn’t fathom it, and he wanted to tell this overly excited CP fan:
Two Omegas are not going to result in anything.
Besides, to him, Xie Wang was just a wealthy, foolish kid, not a potential romantic prospect.
It was just that Chen Yunfeng, living as a Beta for almost 18 years, could hardly accept being a late bloomer himself.
Let alone whether his fans could accept it.
After mulling it over, Chen Yunfeng decided to wait for an opportunity to bring it up later.
He didn’t talk much today; feeling somewhat absent-minded, he even made a couple of mistakes.
The live-stream barrage didn’t hold back either, immediately starting to roast him.
Chen Yunfeng’s fans belonged to the “business is business” category, meaning they could fool around, but they couldn’t play poorly.
[Yo, what’s wrong? Got chewed out last night, so now you’re putting on an act today?]
[Are you even capable? You wilt just because those morons cursed at you a couple of times? My great-grandmother would spit on your skills.]
[Is the poster’s great-grandmother really that long-lived?]
[Not really long-lived, just got brought back to life by Brother Feng’s terrible gameplay.]
During a black-screen interval, Chen Yunfeng took a moment to reply:
“I got so angry last night I pulled my hand tendons, just got them reattached this afternoon, still not used to it.”
“Keep the insults creative; this is old news already. You guys have one more game’s worth of time, I need to get back to school.”
Barrage: Just a single 6.
The bickering in the live-stream room turned out to be surprisingly harmonious.
When ending the stream, Chen Yunfeng thanked the top-ranking fans. Midway through saying the second syllable of “bye-bye,” the stream was already cut off.
The barrage hadn’t even processed it yet.
[Every single time! Anyone would think you’re rushing to your own funeral.]
[Brother Feng: Playing too badly, currently pulling tendons, please do not cue.]
The night breeze was no longer stiflingly hot. Chen Yunfeng walked lazily along the road.
The streetlights cast a shifting radiance, spilling onto him in segments.
With one hand in his pocket, Chen Yunfeng kept rubbing the two small bottles inside.
He couldn’t say he was completely disgusted by it; it just felt uncomfortable.
His thoughts drifted, landing on Xie Qing.
During that restroom showdown, when Xie Qing was rummaging through his pockets, he really looked like Doraemon.
He hadn’t expected that he, too, would soon need to keep these items stocked in his pockets.
Freedom was gone.
Ah!
Thinking about this, Chen Yunfeng let out a deep sigh.
The doctor said the pre-differentiation stage would make one feel tired; he didn’t know if his current state was just psychological.
He couldn’t summon up any energy.
Especially after returning to the dorm and learning the news that morning military training would start bright and early the next day.
He felt even more exhausted.
Physically and mentally drained.
Military training schedules were quite regular, with meals at fixed times, though the training intensity wasn’t too high.
In the words of the counselor: “Don’t worry, the military training at our school has always been a breeze.”
The prerequisite, of course, was which instructor you got assigned.
Take the neighboring platoon’s instructor, for instance, who specifically led them to stand at attention under the shade of trees.
Whenever he got bored, he would take them to challenge other platoons in singing contests.
Their days were exceptionally pleasant.
Xie Wang was one of those lucky ones, returning to the dorm every day looking radiant and full of energy.
Unfortunately, Chen Yunfeng was not.
The instructor for his platoon was an Alpha over 190 cm tall with a face as dark as charcoal.
His catchphrase every day: “Extra training for an hour! Ten laps around the playground! One hour of standing at attention!”
Ordinarily, this kind of physical torment would be a piece of cake for Chen Yunfeng.
But times were different now.
For the past few days, he had been feeling extremely unwell.
The back of his neck kept aching, not just aching, but sore, and sometimes even feeling scalding hot.
A kind of subtle, smoldering heat.
It made him continuously think he had heatstroke, leading him to chug Huoxiang Zhengqi liquid wildly.
Chen Yunfeng was caught in a contradictory phase; he didn’t want to experience this death-by-a-thousand-cuts feeling anymore.
Part of him thought it would be better to just hurry up and differentiate already.
Another part of him thought how great it would be if he never differentiated at all.
Perhaps because his thoughts were too numerous and tangled.
On the night before the military training review performance:
Chen Yunfeng was streaming mobile games on the balcony as usual. Playing an assassin, he was just about to take down an enemy with a full combo when a sharp pain struck.
A sharp pain struck the back of his neck, and his vision instantly blurred.
Tinnitus, nausea, and cold sweat soaking the hair at the nape of his neck.
In his earphones came his teammates’ cordial greetings, but he no longer had the bandwidth to care.
Pain had taken the central stage.
Relying on his remaining consciousness and blurred vision, he slid open the balcony door.
The three people inside were also playing games and instantly stopped what they were doing the moment the balcony door slid open.
Xie Wang was the first to react.
He hurriedly got out of bed, took out his own blocker, and sprayed a spray toward Chen Yunfeng, whose hair was slightly damp and curled at the ends.
“Brother Feng, are you about to differentiate?” Xie Wang asked worriedly, stepping forward to steady him. “Your pheromones are leaking.”
Pei Jie was frantically searching for the counselor’s contact information, knowing that differentiation was no trivial matter.
Generally, a quiet environment was required; Omegas were very fragile during differentiation, and it was best to have someone by their side.
Right now, the best method was to quickly send Chen Yunfeng home.
Jin Ruizhen, as the sole remaining Beta in the dorm, couldn’t smell any pheromones at all. He just stared blankly and asked, “I can tell Brother Feng is having a really hard time, but I’m still confused.”
“Brother Feng is actually an Omega?”
“And why is he only differentiating now? Aren’t people supposed to differentiate between the ages of 14 and 16?”
Pei Jie, who was right in the middle of preparing to make a call, took a deep, heavy sniff of the air.
Gentle, non-aggressive, and actually rather pleasant, smelling of tea scent!
He belatedly yelled out, “Holy crap! Brother Feng, you’re an Omega!”
The next second, heads popped out from neighboring dormitories one after another in response.
“Brother Feng? That Chen Yunfeng who looks more like an Alpha than an Alpha?”
“He’s differentiating?”
“He’s differentiating into an Omega?!”