Chapter 18: You Seem to Like Him a Little

Ji Laili turned around and saw an unfamiliar Alpha behind him. The sudden action startled him, and he looked at the person in confusion.

There was no sign of Shen Yu. His light-colored pupils swept across the surrounding Alphas, momentarily dazed.

Was it… just an illusion?

“Before entering, you will have a heart rate monitor attached to your right wrist. If you feel like you’re losing control, press it immediately. Don’t try to act tough and cause trouble.”

Instructor Aige’s voice pulled Ji Laili back to reality. He apologized to the Alpha behind him and turned his attention back to the instructor.

He couldn’t just assume every gaze on him belonged to the protagonist.

That would make Shen Yu seem like some kind of stalker.

Shaking off his wandering thoughts, Ji Laili refocused on the instructor.

After finishing the safety instructions, Instructor Aige signaled for the patrol team to distribute the wristbands.

Another instructor was in charge of the pheromone resistance training, while Aige was responsible for handling any incidents afterward.

The enclosed training room was the same inorganic, silver-white color inside and out. There was hardly any equipment inside—except for the four spray devices mounted in the upper corners.

Their black, sleek bodies resembled long-barreled cannons, with four openings at the top.

A closer look revealed a faint silver-white glint flashing across them, pointed down menacingly at the group of Alphas.

The new instructor was stern and spoke concisely.

“Form two teams—Alphas and Betas, stand separately.”

At his words, the Alphas around Ji Laili instinctively stepped away, leaving a gap about an arm’s length wide.

Seeing this, other Alphas naturally joined in, forming a complete Alpha team.

Ji Laili didn’t notice at first. When he stepped into the Alpha lineup, an Alpha behind him reminded him in confusion:

“The Beta team is over there.”

Ji Laili: “?”

How could you be so sure?

“What’s going on?”

Noticing the commotion, the instructor walked over, glanced at the tall and muscular Alphas, then at Ji Laili, who stood alone at the edge.

“The Beta team is over there.”

Ji Laili: “…Instructor, I’m an Alpha.”

The instructor paused, his normally taciturn face revealing an expression full of disbelief.

Instead of looking at Ji Laili, he turned to the nearby Alphas, waiting for their confirmation.

Why aren’t you asking the person involved? Why are you looking at the Alphas instead?!

In the end, it took two companions to vouch for him before the team assignment could proceed smoothly.

Ji Laili was exhausted.

---

Inside the surveillance room of the training facility, Instructor Aige burst into laughter, his tone dripping with mockery.

“I already knew this batch of freshmen weren’t too bright, but I didn’t expect them to be this dumb. Isn’t it obvious?”

Aige sneered. “Who would mistake this kid for a Beta?”

Sure, Ji Laili was a little scheming and quite capable—enough to make it into the top three troublemakers. His face wasn’t as rough as a typical Alpha’s, and he lacked their usual arrogance.

But Aige knew!

It was all just a disguise!

Noticing the gazes from others in the surveillance room, Aige scoffed. “This is what you call ‘playing dumb to outsmart the tiger’.”

He hadn’t fallen for it last time, and he wouldn’t fall for it this time either.

“Only idiots would be fooled so easily. How can they not tell the difference between an Alpha and a Beta?”

As soon as he finished speaking, a chilling gaze landed on him.

Shen Yu stared at him with an unreadable expression. “You seem to know a lot about him?”

Aige turned and met Shen Yu’s pale, cold profile, the harsh white light of the room casting eerie shadows across his face.

A sudden chill crept up Aige’s spine.

Raising a hand, he waved at the overhead light, as if trying to dispel the unsettling atmosphere.

“What the hell is wrong with this lighting? The military academy is as stingy as ever. The surveillance room feels like a damn morgue.”

After complaining, he recalled Shen Yu’s question. “You mean Ji Laili?”

“I know a little about him. The kid’s got some tricks up his sleeve.”

“But he can’t fool me.” Aige crossed his arms, looking smug.

“Tricks?” Shen Yu repeated the word, a strange feeling rising in his chest. “Is that so? I never noticed.”

Ji Laili always smiled brightly at him, carefree and happy. Aside from their less-than-ideal first meeting, when Ji Laili had leveraged the situation to propose a partnership, they hadn’t interacted much.

As Aige said, he had been watching him from the shadows.

Shen Yu couldn’t understand his own thoughts.

Ji Laili was a different kind of Alpha—he didn’t seem like an Alpha at all.

Every Alpha he had ever known shared a baseline of arrogance, conceit, and an overinflated sense of superiority.

They always believed they were in control, always chasing after the best, always seeking to stand at the top.

He couldn’t deny it—he had been like that too.

Only after differentiating as an Omega did he realize how foolish and arrogant Alphas truly were.

Especially when they succumbed to their desires.

But Ji Laili was different.

The more Shen Yu watched him, the more he realized just how different he was.

How could Aige claim to understand him?

Had he been watching Ji Laili too?

Why?

And why had he seen a side of Ji Laili that Shen Yu hadn’t?

Why wasn’t he the one to notice it first?

No. Impossible.

Shen Yu had been watching him far longer than Aige. He was lying.

A crack formed in Shen Yu’s cold, indifferent exterior. Dark thoughts poured in, impatient and insidious.

Murderous intent, jealousy, unwillingness—emotions he couldn’t quite name swirled together.

Like a dragon guarding its treasure, he had been careful, wary of traps, keeping his distance yet always watching.

Yet someone else had discovered him.

Despite all his caution, despite keeping his distance—another had already seen him.

In that moment, Shen Yu wanted to kill.

His dark eyes, like a ghost in the night, silently wrapped around the oblivious Aige.

But at the instructor’s teasing words, he fled.

“Xiao Shen, I’ve noticed you’ve been paying a lot of attention to that kid lately.”

“I heard you hate Alphas, but from what I see…”

Aige stroked his chin, raising a brow playfully. “You kinda like him, don’t you?”

Shen Yu froze, his fingers curling inward.

His eyes remained cool and indifferent. “You’d best not joke about that.”

Aige was intrigued. “First time I’ve seen you take a joke so seriously. You used to just roll your eyes at me.”

Shen Yu had never cared before—barely acknowledged him.

Aige let it slide and turned his attention back to the training session.

“Ten seconds until the first pheromone release.”

But after waiting a full minute, he still hadn’t received a response.

Frowning, he turned to look—only to see Shen Yu with his head slightly lowered, distracted.

Huh. Today was full of rare occurrences.

With no assistant, Aige had to signal the instructor below himself.

At the same time, the silent instructor relayed the message to the students.

“Ten seconds remaining. Prepare yourselves.”

Lei Po, growing impatient, grumbled, “Ten more seconds? Can’t they hurry up?”

“What, eager to go into heat?” Zhai Yifei scoffed.

“Zhai Yifei, you’d better hope I never get my hands on your embarrassing moments.”

Before the two could argue further, Ji Laili gently comforted Lei Po. “Ten seconds isn’t too long.”

“Po-ge, I’ll count down for you.”

Softly, Ji Laili began counting.

“10… 9… 8… 7… 6…”

He suddenly stopped.

A flash of confusion crossed his eyes.

Before Lei Po could ask, Ji Laili abruptly tilted his head back.

Lei Po yanked him down in alarm. “Damn, the pheromones are about to spray, and you’re sticking your nose up?!”

“What happened?”

“…Nothing.” Ji Laili shook his head.

But before he could say more, the ten-second countdown ended.

White gas burst from the black cannons above.

Omega pheromones flooded the air.

And Ji Laili remembered the system’s notification from seconds ago.

[Protagonist’s Corruption Value -10]