At 11 PM, a light drizzle was falling. Rong Xuanyu finally arrived at the single-soldier dormitory, just barely making it before curfew.
Lianbang Junxiao had dozens of academic disciplines and was famously known as the "Empire's Reserve Legion." Among its three largest branches were the Jijia Danbing, the Jijia Weixiushi, and the Commanders.
The most sought-after of all were the Jijia Danbing, who dominated the battlefield.
Originally, the original owner's abilities didn't qualify her to pass the entrance exam for Lianbang Junxiao and become a Jijia Danbing, but she'd gotten incredibly lucky—she'd happened to catch the local special program that capitalists had promised to secure votes during the council member elections.
Thanks to the regional policy advantage, the original owner had soared from a backwater hole straight to the top.
But what kind of place was Shangjing?
It was where the elite gathered, where the most iconic beauties of the entire galaxy congregated. One could say that with the original owner's background, she couldn't even find a way to work as a gigolo.
Faced with a social status gap as vast as a natural moat, and having been repeatedly ostracized upon enrollment due to her lack of ability, the original owner's psyche became extremely unbalanced under the pressure. She became obsessed with finding shortcuts.
Ever since she'd enrolled, she'd skipped classes all day, arrived late and left early, frequented high-society banquets and parties, and put on a full display of gold-digging behavior. Anyone who saw her would say she had terrible table manners.
Rong Xuanyu couldn't help but sigh—it truly fit the saying, "Shangjing's wealth dazzles the eyes."
The Female Alpha slowed her steps, stood before the apartment door, and carefully compared the metal room number plate against the original owner's memories. After confirming it was correct, she knocked politely.
"Huh? Come in—"
The person inside clearly hadn't gone to sleep yet. Rong Xuanyu pushed the door open, and the cheerful atmosphere inside abruptly came to a halt.
The tall, straight-backed Female Alpha nodded politely while discreetly sizing up the room with her peripheral vision.
There were three male Alphas in total. Based on the original owner's memories, Rong Xuanyu recognized the red-haired one sitting on the bed playing games as Chen Jiafeng. He had a striking foreign look with deep-set eyes and a high nose bridge, slightly darker skin, and a fiery temper. He spoke bluntly and habitually liked to mock the original owner as a "phoenix A."
The pale-skinned one sitting properly at the desk was Li Guanqi. He had a refined, scholarly appearance—warm and courteous, the kind of friendly face everyone felt drawn to.
But from what Rong Xuanyu knew, this guy was a white-bread stuffed with black filling. He specialized in the kind of ruthless schemes where he pulled the strings without dirtying his own hands. He was the brain of their three-person clique and had caused the original owner no small amount of trouble.
The last one was the "good guy" role the original owner had liked most. A tall, robust male Alpha wearing a dark blue apron was watering the potted plants, then wiping things down with a towel—as virtuous and diligent as a snail girl from folklore.
Hearing someone enter, he immediately raised a smile to greet them. He got halfway through a "hey" before realizing it was Rong Xuanyu. His friendly expression froze, and he touched his nose before going back to cleaning.
Knowing the original owner had terrible relationships with people, Rong Xuanyu didn't take it as being treated coldly or ostracized.
Rong Xuanyu drew a clear line: she was herself, and the original owner was the original owner. Smart people never paid for others' behavior.
The Female Alpha ignored the subtle tension in the air, greeted them calmly, and without waiting for any response, walked straight to her bunk. She unpacked a new set of toiletries, picked up her basin, and headed out.
The moment the door clicked shut, a burst of shouting erupted from the bedroom. Rong Xuanyu released the door handle and pressed her lips together in a small smile. Young people really were full of energy.
But her pleasant mood didn't last long. The further she walked toward the end of the hallway, the more her expression cracked. She swallowed hard, feeling like she was about to fall apart.
A group of Alphas who had just finished bathing came walking toward her. They strolled in a crowd, and regardless of gender, they were all bare-chested and carefree, delivering an enormous shock to Rong Xuanyu's worldview.
In the current civic education system, Alpha, Beta, and Omega were the primary sexual characteristics, while male and female were secondary. The primary characteristics were the mainstream standard for defining gender, and by comparison, the secondary ones mattered far less.
Building 23 housed all the freshman Alphas from the combat department. Men and women shared the same dormitory and used a single public bathhouse. Looking out across the space, it was a sea of bare skin—truly a spectacular sight.
Rong Xuanyu was deeply shaken: she accepted it, but she did not understand it.
Not only that, as the group of Alphas brushed past her, they stirred up a breeze carrying a chaotic, hodgepodge of smells.
Like rich roses, blood-rust metallic notes, sour green plum juice mixed with strong vodka—in short, it smelled like a drain that hadn't been cleaned in generations.
Rong Xuanyu didn't react in time and was hit by the wave of scent. She immediately furrowed her brows, held her breath, and strode past quickly.
She didn't know that the moment she left, a breakdown erupted behind her. A burly Alpha with rippling muscles grabbed his companion by the collar and shook him wildly.
"What does she mean by that? Huh? Tell me what she means! Does my pheromone smell that bad?"
"She's as skinny as a little chick—can she even take one punch from me?!"
Someone patted his arm and said meaningfully, "Don't you think she looks familiar?"
“Huh? She… she’s a female Alpha!” The Alpha’s eyes grew brighter and brighter, and his boulder-sized fists knocked against each other eagerly, producing a dull, grating sound that set one’s teeth on edge.
Everyone exchanged glances, and the hallway suddenly erupted in a burst of malicious laughter.
If what had come before was merely the displeasure of being slighted, what remained now was pure, unadulterated malice.
Far away in the washroom, Rong Xuanyu had no idea she’d inadvertently stirred up more trouble. Even if she had known, she wouldn’t have cared—after all, it was the original owner’s mess, and she could wash her hands of it with a clear conscience.
The lean, straight-backed female Alpha stood alone before the bathhouse, having spent a long time psyching herself up to no avail. This was simply too much of a challenge to her worldview.
If she didn’t go in soon, the power would be cut and the lights would go out. Rong Xuanyu took a deep breath, lowered her head to play blind, and steeled herself to charge in.
Fortunately, it was late enough that the bathhouse was nearly empty. She’d barely had a second to feel relieved when she ran into the “bird-flasher” guy around the corner.
Rong Xuanyu nearly had her soul leave her body. She numbly averted her gaze, pretending she was still alive.
As it turned out, a person who gets tormented enough becomes indestructible.
She walked straight to the innermost stall, calmly picked up the soap issued uniformly by the school, and washed her hair, face, body, and the newly equipped “big bird” accessory.
The whole routine took less than five minutes. Rong Xuanyu headed back toward the dormitory while scrubbing her hair, her expression growing stranger with every step.
Rong Xuanyu: …So this is what it feels like before you take your clothes off?
Just as she was questioning her very existence, a guy walked past, whistling at her and sighing in a tone that sounded distinctly sour:
“Hey, there’s no omega here for you to pick up. It’s pitch black out—if you’re not gonna put that thing away, who exactly are you swinging it around for?”
With that, he left, but not without glancing back to shoot her one more dagger-eyed look.
“…” Rong Xuanyu slowly lowered her gaze along his line of sight, landing on the unmistakably prominent area between her legs.
Is that you, little bird? So you needed a home too, huh.