“Lin Xi,” several Alphas stood in the back row, looking at each other, their faces flushed with embarrassment.
These were the students who had requested a week off due to “injury.”
Lin Xi, who was reading an English newspaper, looked up. She didn’t have much of an impression of them.
“We came to apologize to you. We… we weren’t injured because of you. Actually, we weren’t injured at all.” Fortunately, most of the other students had already left, otherwise, being seen like this would have been too shameful.
Even so, when they arrived today, they were questioned by many classmates. A punctured eardrum would take at least a month to heal, yet that student’s hearing seemed perfectly normal.
“We were forced. If we didn’t do this… we would have ended up genuinely hurt.”
A genuine injury, an injury that was faked but allowed them to take time off school, and extra pocket money from Lin Yucheng, who would also handle the diagnosis—the choice was obvious.
They had been caught red-handed by the Little Tigers playing games at an internet café.
“Can you forgive us?”
“Not sincere at all,” You Tian leaned against the door, picking his ear.
“They’re saving face,” Gao Lan chuckled.
“Why didn’t they save face when they were lying?”
Zhong Xiu remained silent because she saw Lin Xi nod. Those Alphas ran off with their backpacks, looking visibly relieved, as if a heavy burden had been lifted.
Yet, they hadn’t even uttered a single “I’m sorry.”
“That was hard work, Zhong Xiu, writing that post all night,” Gao Lan admired her greatly.
“Exactly, exactly, it was so well written,” You Tian gave her a thumbs-up.
“I just clarified the sequence of events. You guys helped with everything. Thank you.”
“We’re friends, no need to be polite. Just help me hook up with Omegas later,” You Tian winked at her, trying to put his arm around her shoulder.
“Don’t drag Zhong Xiu into your schemes to corrupt Omegas.” Gao Lan pushed his ‘pig trotters’ away.
Omegas were far less wary of Betas than Alphas, so You Tian was always trying to get Zhong Xiu to help him spy on the Omegas in the next class.
“I’ll treat you to BBQ next time,” Zhong Xiu didn’t give him a chance.
“Aish, boring.”
Lin Xi looked out the window at the three people messing around, her gaze finally settling on Zhong Xiu’s smile.
She never thought she would open a school forum post one day. She always felt those things were meaningless and knew the apologies from those students weren’t sincere.
But as she walked among the crowd and the secretive whispers disappeared, returning things to normal, she suddenly realized that no matter how much she told herself not to care about others’ opinions, she ultimately did.
This was her social circle. Even maintaining superficial peace made her feel much better.
— Unsatisfactory things happen every day in life. How can you blame all of it on one person.
— If that’s the case, then can I say that the sun will rise tomorrow because she exists.
Lin Xi turned her head to look out the window. It was six in the afternoon, and the sunlight was still blinding. She suddenly thought of something, took out her phone from her backpack, and opened the weather forecast. Sure enough, it displayed:
C City, Air quality excellent, Southeast wind 2, UV index 9, and most importantly—
Today’s weather: Cloudy turning to clear.
…
Monday morning’s flag-raising ceremony was routine. All students at the Experimental Middle School stood in the field according to grade and class, listening to the principal’s eternally unchanging cliché summary.
The weather was excellent: clear morning mist, cloudless sky, and gentle breezes slowly blowing past.
The third-year students stood on the easternmost side, everyone bowing their heads, holding lecture notes for different subjects, embodying the spirit of making every second count. They were determined to master the skill of ‘rolling until the end’ before entering society. Any student without study materials would be tapped on the head by their homeroom teacher.
Interspersed by arts and science classes, Lin Xi and Shen Zhiqiu stood at the front of Science Class 1 and Arts Class 1, respectively, ready to speak as student representatives shortly.
It wasn’t that all Omegas were in the arts classes and all Alphas were in the science classes, although Zhong Xiu’s physics teacher certainly wished it were so.
Due to the numbers opting for each subject, the odd-numbered science classes were Alpha classes, and the even-numbered ones were Omega classes. The arts classes were the opposite. Betas were scattered throughout all classes.
Alphas and Omegas were separated during classes to prevent Alphas from suddenly releasing pheromones or Omegas from entering heat. High school students couldn’t fully control their pheromones, which could easily cause chaos.
Zhong Xiu was certainly not short among Beta girls, but because her class was exclusively Alphas and Beta boys, she was the sole female Beta standing in the first row, right behind Lin Xi, holding a condensed booklet of science notes.
In this brief time, standing crammed together with the principal’s beautiful voice ringing in their ears, under poor atmospheric, geographical, and human conditions, how much knowledge could genuinely enter their brains?
Zhong Xiu didn’t need to turn around to know what was happening behind her. Which Alpha in her class wasn’t secretly looking at the Omegas next door? This was one of the few opportunities for AOs to get close. Teenage hormones were buzzing, like the N-S poles of magnets; no one could stop them.
“All of you, pay attention and read your books! If you don’t work hard now, you won’t get into a good university. What Omega will want to be with you then? Go ask the Omegas next door!”
Old Tang, holding a thin bamboo cane, patrolled the gap between the two classes like a radar, ready to whack any Alpha caught looking at an Omega.
The Omegas next door probably wanted to answer, but the Arts class homeroom teacher was equally formidable. Every school in every grade seemed to have one female teacher dubbed the ‘Mistress of Extermination.’ The Omega Mistress of Extermination was currently standing at the end of Arts Class 1, glaring and taking names.
Zhong Xiu especially sympathized with the Omegas in Arts Class 1. To their right were the Alphas from Science Class 1, and to their left were the Alphas from Arts Class 2. They didn’t even dare turn their heads for fear of being summoned to the Mistress of Extermination’s office for ‘tea’ after the ceremony.
This only fueled the Alphas’ sense of righteousness. They would rather bend than break, determined to look even if they were hit, just to earn a smile from the Omegas next door. Alphas were constantly getting whacked on the butt, howling in pain for the sake of a moment’s flirtation.
The only AO pair in the entire field who could converse freely were Lin Xi and Shen Zhiqiu, standing at the very front.
Before Lin Xi differentiated, the two often stood close, chatting occasionally, and no teacher ever bothered them. Now that Lin Xi had differentiated, the Mistress of Extermination was also keeping an eye on her, afraid Lin Xi would snatch away her star student.
“Teacher Lu, you don’t need to worry. You know Lin Xi; she won’t date early, and it’s even less likely she’d casually mark an Omega.”
Old Tang’s voice rang out from behind. Zhong Xiu felt a wave of guilt. He was perhaps too confident; it hadn’t even been a week since his niece was bitten.
“I don’t care about that. She is an Alpha,” the Mistress of Extermination gave Old Tang no quarter. In her eyes, all Alphas were floods and beasts, villains who would disrupt Omegas’ focus on studies and block their promising futures.
Fortunately, Old Tang was a Beta; otherwise, he might have been chased far away by her too.
“I heard your class is getting a transfer student next month, a top-tier Omega?”