Fu Siheng calmed down after returning to his room, deciding he had overreacted a bit.
He had never been in a proper relationship, but he understood one fundamental truth: you only care deeply about the person you truly love. Yet, that past relationship of his felt like little more than child’s play. The only reason he still harbored a grudge was simply because it was the first time he’d ever been dumped and over such an absurd reason, no type.
With that thought, he steadied himself. Whatever their relationship used to be, they were now superior and subordinate. If Yan Xun tried any more over-the-line behavior, he’d take him down himself, and nobody would say a word against him.
By the next morning, formal classes were about to begin.
Dressed in his dark blue training uniform and holding his lesson plan, Fu Siheng walked into the Command Academy building.
“Good morning, Instructor Fu,” a fellow instructor from the same office greeted him.
Ever since yesterday’s morning training incident, both instructors had treated him with utmost politeness. They greeted him warmly and invited him along for morning tea, their sudden eagerness to get on his good side glaringly obvious.
Previously, the two hadn’t been particularly fond of him. First, because of the incident at the meeting; second, because they had heard this parachute-in instructor was just a connected insider who was actually all water and no substance. But after witnessing his performance in yesterday’s sparring match, both veterans who had spent years moving in military academy circles could tell at a glance that he was far from being a fraud. Consequently, their attitudes did a complete 180-degree flip.
“Let’s head over to the training hall together later, Instructor Fu,” the Class 1 instructor said.
Fu Siheng was never one to sweat the small stuff, so he simply gave an affirmative grunt and asked, “I noticed some people from the Research Institute moving things downstairs just now. Are they joining us?”
The Class 2 instructor replied, “The Research Institute just brought in a new batch of mechs, and they look pretty impressive. Their director said they’d check them out with us today and let the students test them out. The ‘Excellence Project’ evaluations start in a few days, and rumor has it they’ll be using this exact batch of mechs.”
“That’s probably just the Command Academy’s perk. After all, a huge portion of the Research Institute’s staff graduated from here,” the Class 1 instructor chuckled.
He wasn’t wrong. Most researchers were promoted directly out of the Command Academy, which meant whenever good supplies rolled in, they made sure to include the Command Academy a favoritism that had often drawn complaints from the other academies.
The three of them grabbed their lesson plans and headed downstairs, only to spot Yan Xun outside the entrance, directing the students as they moved equipment.
Yan Xun wore his military cap, a tight black tank top that hugged his frame, and matching fingerless tactical gloves.
Seeing them approach, he hooked the corner of his lips into a smirk and snapped a sharp salute. His shoulders and arms were thick, well-proportioned, and his posture was textbook-perfect.
Nearby, an omega holding a water flask couldn’t stop sneaking glances at him, silently covering her mouth as she giggled.
“Good morning, instructors. I’m just here to help fetch the components you’ll need this morning,” Yan Xun said, flashing a smile directly at Fu Siheng.
The Class 1 instructor, who already knew him, happily stepped up and patted his arm. “You always think of everything. I was just about to send some students over to help.”
“Don’t worry about it. From now on, the heavy lifting for the Command Academy is on us. We spend most of our time training together anyway,” Yan Xun replied smoothly, though his eyes remained glued to Fu Siheng.
He had tossed and turned for half the night, feeling a restless itch all over his body.
Across the room, Yi Fengbei had been rolling around with him. The towering, six-foot-plus brute had clutched his blanket and whimpered, “I made Instructor Fu mad! What do I do, what do I do?! Is he going to think I’m a total weirdo from now on? God, I swear I only spar like that occasionally…”
Yan Xun had stared up at the ceiling with his hands locked behind his head, reminding him, “You sparred twice this week. Watch your health.”
Yi Fengbei: “Waaaah, stop mocking me! You’re an accomplice too…he’s definitely mad at you as well.”
At that, Yan Xun had let out a low sigh.
Hidden within that single sigh were far too many emotions that Yi Fengbei could never understand.
Ever since he saw him again, Yan Xun had kept reminding himself to keep his distance. But the heart was notoriously unruly; the harder you tried not to think about someone, the more madly obsessed you became.
The moment he couldn’t stop himself from chiming in during the meeting room briefing, he knew he was done for.
Once again, falling into the exact same trap.
Fu Siheng didn’t look at him, simply walking past them. As he passed Yan Xun, his pace paused for a fraction of a second. The Class 2 instructor noticed and immediately fell into step beside him.
Yan Xun’s expression turned thoughtful, as if he had caught that brief, fleeting hesitation.
Stepping out of the academic building, the glaring rays of the star poured down like a waterfall, causing the temperature to spike instantly.
The heatwave felt suffocating.
Fu Siheng stopped by the entrance, prompting the Class 2 instructor to ask, “What’s wrong?”
He waved a hand dismissively, though his inner suspicion only deepened.
Just now, as he passed Yan Xun, he had covertly taken a subtle sniff of the air yet he hadn’t caught a single trace of last night’s scent.
Not even a hint.
He let out a breath, trying to convince himself it must have just been body wash. What kind of alpha uses a body wash that fragrant anyway?
Inside the training hall.
The air conditioning blocked out the blistering outdoor heat. The Research Institute and the Command Academy stood in two separate groups, chatting noisily.
Two departments from the Research Institute had come today: the Command Department and the Mech Manufacturing Department, as the other departments had no need for such subjects. The Command side consisted entirely of alphas, while the Mech Manufacturing side had only a dozen or so students almost all of whom were omegas, creating a stark contrast.
Generally, mech operation was an outdoor course, but today everyone had been gathered indoors.
Right in the middle of the cavernous, high-ceilinged hall stood a row of three-meter-tall light mechs, all draped in black cloth like a row of giant, silent sentinels.
With the instructors still running late, the alphas naturally began glancing over at the omegas, whispering among themselves.
“We’re supposed to pilot these later, right? What if someone’s pheromones leak out?”
“Those are combat pheromones, it doesn’t matter.”
“Don’t you know overexertion can cause sex pheromone leakage? I bet the instructors will enforce protective gear; standard mechs can’t block that stuff at all.”
“Hmph, it’d be even wilder if someone went into heat,” Zhao Zhifan sneered.
The person next to him looked horrified. “Well, we’re screwed then. We’d all be waiting for disciplinary action.”
Shi Yuanyang seemed to overhear them and glanced coldly in their direction.
Imperial Military Academy cracked down hard on these matters, strictly prohibiting on-campus relationships, private temporary marking, and similar behaviors.
There was a solid reason behind the rule. An omega could only receive a maximum of three temporary markings; within that limit, they could choose to have the mark washed away. But once a fourth occurred, whether they liked it or not, it became a permanent lifelong bond.
Both temporary and permanent marks interfered with each other’s pheromones. In other words, it affected one’s pheromone grading.
For instance, if an alpha’s mental capacity was originally S-rank, repeatedly marking a C-rank omega would drag down the alpha’s own mental rating while artificially boosting the omega’s.
Of course, such a scenario was mostly theoretical, because a C-rank omega could never withstand an S-rank mark in the first place.
At best, they would pass out on the spot; at worst, it could be fatal.
Most omegas at Imperial Military Academy carried injectable suppressants to prevent sudden ruts or heats from triggering alphas and causing them to lose control.
Normal alphas treated omegas with care and respect…though Zhao Zhifan was an exception. Coming from a rough background where his omega mother had run off early on, he held a deep, ingrained contempt for their kind.
Before setting his sights on Lin Yue, he had already marked three omegas, though the school administration had no idea.
After a long stretch of idle chatter, the instructors finally arrived fashionably late, accompanied by Yan Xun.
The Class 1 instructor raised a megaphone. “Quiet! Quiet down! Today, our three classes are joining the Research Institute for a joint session. The goal is to familiarize everyone with the operational specifics of the evaluation mechs.”
“Haven’t we been learning mech operation forever?” students began murmuring again.
“Yeah, we’ve been taking it since freshman year. Who doesn’t know how?”
Fu Siheng frowned, his voice dropping low. “Did nobody teach you to shut your mouths when someone else is talking?”
Whether due to the lingering shadow of yesterday’s morning training or not, the moment he spoke, the surrounding area fell dead silent…far more effective than any megaphone.
Standing in the crowd, Shi Yuanyang couldn’t help a grin. Now that was the proper attitude a student should have.
Yan Xun stepped up beside Fu Siheng and raised his voice. “There are quite a few people here today, so please keep the noise down as much as possible. I’ll be giving a live demonstration on how to pilot the evaluation mechs. Even though it’s all in the textbooks, due to the unique nature of these mechs, you must pay close attention to avoid injury.”
As Yan Xun walked over, a look of displeasure crossed Fu Siheng’s face. He felt an urge to step back, but held his ground, worried others might read into the reaction.
The Class 2 instructor chimed in, “Let’s have Yan Xun introduce these mechs to us first.”
The moment those words left his mouth, Fu Siheng felt Yan Xun’s gaze shift toward him.
With everyone watching, any move he made would inevitably draw attention.
Annoyance flared in Fu Siheng’s chest. He turned his head and shot a cold glare at the younger man.
Yan Xun merely offered a soft, knowing smile, lowering his voice to murmur, “Guess what they are.”
Fu Siheng froze, catching a flicker of playfulness and eager anticipation in those pitch-black eyes.
His mind raced through a few possibilities in an instant, realizing the other guy wasn’t just messing around.
A standard mech wouldn’t be delicate enough to require indoor handling, and given Yan Xun’s mention of potential danger, could it be…
Yan Xun stepped forward and raised a hand. The student standing beside the mech pulled away the black covering.
As the fabric slowly slided down, a row of pitch-black mechs was unveiled. The moment just a corner of them came into view, Fu Siheng’s eyes widened slightly.
It really was them…Eternity.
Crafted by the school’s vice president, head of the Mech Manufacturing Academy, and president of the Interstellar Mech Association, Nan Chen, the Eternity series was the ultimate white moonlight and red rose in the heart of every mech enthusiast.
The mechs possessed sleek, streamlined frames; nearly every curve and angle was designed as a lethal instrument of war. The training hall lights hit the armor without throwing back a single reflection. Standing tall and motionless, they looked like an elite squad of grim reapers waiting before the crowd.
Even Shi Yuanyang wore an expression of intense longing and awe. As a die-hard mech fanatic, he recognized them at a glance.
Yan Xun glanced back at Fu Siheng, and upon seeing the look of astonishment on his face, turned back satisfied and announced to the crowd, “This is the newly developed ‘Eternity-Nightwalker’ by President Nan. It stands at 2.88 meters tall and weighs approximately 4,219 kilograms…roughly half the weight of a standard training mech.”