Chapter 16: Alpha—A New White Phosphorus-Type Personality

“Huh?” Ji Laili pointed at himself, utterly confused. “What Beta? Are you talking about me?”

“Of course, it’s about you.” Lei Po confirmed, responding to Ji Laili’s surprised outburst. “The forum is talking about it in great detail. You haven’t seen it?”

It wasn’t that he hadn’t seen it—he didn’t even know there was a forum.

After arriving in this high-tech world, Ji Laili felt like a country bumpkin stepping into a big city for the first time, spending half a day excitedly fiddling with his star brain device.

Currently, his progress was self-taught. He had successfully learned how to use the star brain all by himself!

A glorious achievement, truly. He even learned how to play games.

Every day, he followed behind Dormmate #1, playing as a useless little noob who got carried, only capable of cheering:
“Bro, you’re amazing!”
“Bro, you’re so strong!”
“We won again? That was easy!”

Providing full emotional support, his dormmate basked in the praise and eagerly pulled him into another match.

Since the games were so fun, Ji Laili never even considered the second purpose of the star brain.

Feeling guilty, he rubbed his nose and averted his gaze. “I haven’t had the time to check…”

“What are you talking about?”

Zhai Yifei’s voice came from behind. He was rolling up the sleeves of his military uniform as he approached them, moving with a casual yet elegant demeanor.

Seeing him, Ji Laili repeated the conversation he had with Lei Po. As expected, after mocking Lei Po, Zhai Yifei immediately pulled up the forum on his star brain and showed Ji Laili.

Lei Po crossed his arms in dissatisfaction. “I could have shown him. Why are you butting in, Zhai Yifei?”

“Oh really? If he needed you, he wouldn’t have waited for me.” Zhai Yifei retorted.

What an arrogant young master. Lei Po couldn’t understand how Ji Laili ended up becoming friends with this guy—it was downright unlucky.

Meanwhile, Ji Laili was reading the forum.

The discussions were absurdly detailed.

For example, why did he have no scent of pheromones at all?

Or why didn’t he inherit an Alpha’s aggressive and impulsive nature?

They even used Shen Yu as an example to argue that Ji Laili couldn’t be an Alpha. The argument was so convincing that even Ji Laili started doubting his own gender.

Unable to help himself, he quietly asked the system for confirmation again, “Am I really an Alpha?”

He couldn’t be blamed for doubting—genetically speaking, he should have been a Beta in his past life.

System: […Please don’t doubt me.]

Ji Laili reassured it, “I’m not doubting you—I’m doubting myself. They’re making way too much sense.”

System: [Then you are doubting me.]

“Wow, didn’t know you had a little temper, huh?” Ji Laili chuckled, his eyes curving with amusement. “Alright, my bad. I totally trust you.”

After comforting the system, Ji Laili handed the star brain back to Zhai Yifei.

Zhai Yifei took it and, though inexperienced in comforting others, tried anyway. “Don’t be too upset. I’ll take care of it for you.”

Ji Laili wasn’t particularly angry, but his curiosity was piqued. “How?”

“When we have physical training later, I’ll single them out. You just need to release your pheromones once.”

Zhai Yifei smiled. “Solve the problem at its root. I’ll find out exactly who started this rumor. You just need to prove them wrong.”

The problem was… Ji Laili didn’t know how to release his pheromones.

If he admitted that, wouldn’t he sound like an idiot? Ji Laili wiped his face. “No need, that’s too much trouble. It’s not a big deal anyway.”

Lei Po raised an eyebrow. “He’s right—too much trouble.” He slapped Ji Laili’s shoulder.

“Just crush all these Alphas under your feet and make them cry for mercy.”

Lei Po tilted his head back proudly, his little tuft of hair bouncing. “I’ll fight with you!”

Ji Laili saw through him instantly. “Po-ge… you just want to fight, don’t you?”

Lei Po looked at him with an expression that said You get me. “It’s a win-win! They insulted your dignity—you have to teach them a lesson!”

“In—insulted my dignity?” Ji Laili was baffled. “Is it that serious?”

“Of course it is!” Lei Po let out a cold laugh. “They trampled on your personality, crushed your self-respect, and even dared to change your gender! Clearly, they don’t respect you at all!”

Ji Laili: “???”

He glanced at Zhai Yifei, only to see that, surprisingly, Zhai Yifei had also darkened his expression in agreement.

“He’s right.”

“You’re my friend, yet they’re still spreading rumors. That means they don’t respect you—or me.”

Zhai Yifei’s face remained cold, clearly displeased. “Completely disregarding us.”

“Damn right! Finally, you’re making sense.” Lei Po, full of enthusiasm, clenched his fists. “Time to wreck them!”

Ji Laili finally understood.

He handed Lei Po a water bottle.

Lei Po looked at it in confusion, only to see Ji Laili tapping the empty bottle. “Po-ge, drink more water.”

“…Try not to explode.”

Lei Po: “???”

Zhai Yifei’s lips curled slightly. He had a feeling this wasn’t a compliment—then, Ji Laili turned and handed him a bottle as well.

“Ge, you too. Drink more water.”

“You Alphas are severely dehydrated.”

Ji Laili let out a deep sigh.

Alphas—a new white phosphorus-type personality.

One spark and they explode.

Burning up over the most ridiculous things.

These past few days, Ji Laili had truly experienced it firsthand.

Though he didn’t care much about this whole “forced gender change” situation—at most, he found it amusing—his chance to prove his gender was coming soon.

The half-month-long physical training finally ended.

When Instructor Aige announced it, the new recruits felt like they had survived hell. They cheered so loudly that they nearly reverted back to cavemen.

Aige raised his hand to calm the overly enthusiastic Alphas. “Next, we begin a three-day anti-pheromone training.”

“For these three days, I suggest you activate your holographic recording. You might just capture a once-in-a-lifetime moment.”

Instructor Aige’s voice carried across the training field, reaching every single recruit.

“Freshmen—are you ready to witness your black history?”

Anti-pheromone training was a special tradition of the Federation’s First Military Academy.

Some called it a lifetime of blackmail material.

Because you never knew how you’d react under the influence of pheromones.

It was also the instructors’ favorite time of the year—where they got to laugh at the recruits.

Remembering last year’s events, Instructor Aige smirked wickedly.

That evil grin made the freshmen shudder, suddenly a little less excited about training ending.

Only Ji Laili’s expression twitched for a moment as he touched his nose in silence.