Jun Lin’s breath caught. One arm wrapped tightly around her while his other hand pressed against the back of her head, deepening the kiss with an urgency and a fierce reluctance to hold back.
Sui Ning felt as if her mouth no longer belonged to her. She kept it firmly shut, yet it wouldn’t stay closed. Her head grew dizzy, her heart pounded like drums in her ears, and she even forgot how to breathe…
After he left, she sat cross-legged on the sofa hugging a pillow, silently screaming. Girls, in this interstellar era, she’d finally gotten a taste of something good!
Having expended a great deal of Mental Power, Sui Ning crawled back into bed and caught up on some sleep. When Zhang Yunwei and Bo Yuqiao called her to the dining hall in the morning, she was listless.
“What’s wrong? Did your Squadron Leader Jun Lin drain you badly?” Zhang Yunwei asked with a suggestive smile.
Sui Ning’s face flushed slightly. As a Female, that remark was basically saying she couldn’t keep up!
“No way, I just stayed up too late playing games,” she insisted, shaking her head in denial.
The two Females just smiled knowingly and said nothing. They’d been there before—dual-player games, they understood.
Just as she left the dormitory building, the dormitory management robot called out to her, “Respected Female Sui Ning, you have a package. Please collect it!”
Sui Ning pressed her lips together, her heart skipping a beat.
Before the apocalypse, she had been the beloved little princess of two families, receiving so many deliveries every day her hands got tired, especially around holidays and her birthdays.
How blissful life was back then. After the apocalypse came, her days turned so bleak—comparison truly is the thief of joy.
Now she could receive packages again, and the feeling of going from merely surviving to truly living was indescribably sweet.
She said her thanks, and the moment she took the package, a message from Bo Zhou arrived.
[Give Me a Carrot]: Suisu, I didn’t know what you like, so I just bought some things online at random.
Inside the box was a Spatial Ring with one hundred square meters of space, stuffed full and neatly organized—clothes, snacks, all kinds of fun gadgets, a Pedal Flyer, a Star Car, and more!
[Speaking Up for Zhonghua in the Interstellar Era]: Thank you, Bo Zhou. I love it.
She also sent a delighted bunny emoji with a smile on her lips.
On his return journey, Bo Zhou’s lips curved slightly. Just reading those few words, he felt his little Wife-Lord was sweet and soft, and he replied with a picture of a bunny offering a carrot.
But the moment he recalled the message he’d seen after returning to camp last night, a red glow flickered in his pitch-black eyes. Gathering supplies could wait—no time was too late for that. But his Wife-Lord being bullied, and being lured away by a certain fox? That made his Beast temper very displeased…
Today was the last day of freshman registration, and that afternoon they were notified to watch a livestreamed meeting.
The principal was an elegant, intellectual unicorn Female named Yalin. Her long white hair was impeccably pinned up at the back of her head, she wore a light purple subtly shimmering suit, and silver-framed glasses rested on the bridge of her nose.
After a brief welcome speech came a report on this year’s admissions, an introduction to Temple Academy’s history, its rules and regulations, various points of attention, and the academic schedule.
The entire interstellar civilization had a population of over sixty billion. Among ordinary Beastmen, the Female-to-male ratio was a mere one to twenty. Females possessed exceptional fertility, and this ratio had remained stable for thousands of years.
Through genetic intervention, one in ten Beastmen awakened Special Abilities, but the ratio among the awakened stretched to one to two hundred.
When awakened Females and males paired, their fertility was low, but the offspring they produced were blessed by the Beast God, with aptitude far surpassing those conceived through genetic intervention.
“…Among the Females who awakened this interstellar year at age eighteen, there are 1.78 million, but only the 135,000 outstanding Females here present have Mental Power of C- or above, meeting the admission requirements… Based on your different Mental Power Levels, classes are divided as follows: forty S-Classes of twenty students each; 360 A-Classes of thirty students each; 650 B-Classes of fifty students each; and 910 C-Classes of one hundred students each…”
Within each class, Females were assigned to different sections according to their Mental Power Level and awakening time.
For example, Sui Ning was a C+, and since her level had just undergone a change registration, she was assigned to Class C160; the next class reshuffle would be a year later.
“…As per tradition, new students will undergo one month of militarized training, with squad leaders from the Central Star Guard serving as your instructors…
Military training not only strengthens everyone’s physical fitness to better adapt to intensive study, but also prepares you for assisting your Beast Husbands on gathering trips and missions in the future, as well as completing battlefield logistics work…”
At this, Sui Ning perked up. Someone tempered by a brutal apocalypse found it hard to adjust to times of peace—she carried a fierce, battle-hungry spirit in her bones.
Sui Ning had learned one truth in the apocalypse: rely on people and they run, lean on mountains and they crumble. Only oneself is most reliable. Only by constantly growing stronger would she feel secure—especially in this unfamiliar Interstellar Beast World!
The dormitory robots distributed clothing dorm by dorm according to each Female’s height and weight: jungle-series army-green camouflage combat uniforms, paired with black berets and leather boots.
【Temple Academy】: New students, please dress in your uniforms and gather downstairs. We will travel together by vehicle to the training grounds for closed-door military training! (Note: Beast Husbands are not permitted to accompany you. During training, Optical Brains, Spatial Devices, and other equipment will be confiscated.)
Even though the dormitory had decent soundproofing, Sui Ning could still hear the wails of Females throughout the entire building.
They had all been pampered and raised, hardly having endured hardship. Now, not only had they left home to study here, they also had to temporarily leave their Beast Husbands and train independently.
Sui Ning got dressed, sent messages to Jun Lin and Bo Zhou respectively, then called Zhang Yunwei and Bo Yuqiao to head downstairs.
“Ahhh, what era is this? Why do they still force us to go to school and attend military training?” Zhang Yunwei clung to Sui Ning’s arm.
The smile on Bo Yuqiao’s face had also faded. Pouting, she sighed, “I heard that those who fail the military training assessment will be kept for further training and only allowed to return once they pass—some might even be eliminated!”
She was right on that dangerous line.
Sui Ning wasn’t the least bit intimidated. Smiling, she put an arm around each of them. “If we suffer a little now, we’ll have more chances to survive later.
Besides, every bit of training improves our physical fitness and Mental Power.
To obtain more S-Rank Beast Husbands in the future, are you sure you don’t want to work hard?”
That bait was potent enough. The two young Females immediately perked up, full of fighting spirit, rolling up their sleeves as they whispered:
“Work hard, of course we must! If I have an S-Rank Beast Husband, then after internships and graduation, I can follow my Beast Husbands to gather on celestial bodies with abundant resources.”
“Right, and we’ll be more likely to be assigned to the post-war service zones, where the benefits are great…”
Sui Ning chuckled softly and said, “See? Grin and bear it for a month or so, and our future lives will rise to a whole new level.
This isn’t suffering at all—it’s a whetstone!”
Once on the vehicle, many of the Females were riding transportation on their own for the first time. They were so excited that they greeted classmates left and right, front and back.
Within moments, they had all gotten to know each other.
“So you’re Sui Ning?”
Everyone was curious about Sui Ning, who had dominated the forum rankings yesterday, and they all craned their necks to look at her.
Sui Ning nodded, fully expecting them to attack her, just like the haters on the forum, mocking her ordinary looks and low Mental Power, saying she wasn’t worthy of Jun Lin.
But that little Female cupped her cheeks and said enviously, “Sui Ning, your luck is just amazing! You’ve made us C-level Mental Power sisters proud!”