As soon as Yú Chén’s voice fell, Yún Xún Lán’s pupils dilated.

The sunlight outside the window continued to shift, casting a dazzling golden hue that flickered across the man’s irises, like a comet blazing through the atmosphere. It traversed the silent universe, tearing apart the constraints of time, and ultimately crashed into Yún Xún Lán’s heart, which had been barren and still like a desolate star, causing it to once again burst into a fierce rhythm.

“Thump, thump—”

Yún Xún Lán could clearly hear the chaotic and disordered heartbeat resonating within his chest, a sensation he had never experienced before.

“How is your heart rate soaring to 180?” the system exclaimed. “Isn’t this what they call love at first sight?”

Yún Xún Lán sighed, “Yes, I think perhaps meeting a destined partner feels something like this.”

What does it mean to have a destined partner?

When an alpha encounters an omega whose pheromone compatibility is 100%, that’s what they call a destined partner. There exists a fateful attraction between destined partners, causing them to ignite a love as intense as thunder and fire upon meeting—however, this situation is limited to alpha and omega pairings.

Yún Xún Lán and Yú Chén were both alphas, so there was no compatibility to speak of, and it was impossible for them to be each other’s destined partners. Yet, at this moment, Yún Xún Lán felt that Yú Chén had a kind of attraction to him that was comparable to that of a destined partner.

Just then, the voice of the AI housekeeper chimed in at an inopportune moment: “The smart bracelet has detected that your heart rate is too fast. Would you like me to call a doctor? If there is no response within ten seconds, it will be considered default. Ten, nine, eight…”

“No need,” Yún Xún Lán interrupted the AI housekeeper, his voice brimming with barely concealed excitement.

He took a deep breath to calm his racing heart and then asked the system, “Xiao Ju, was what Yú Chén just said an insult to me?”

“Of course it was! How could it not be? He wasn’t just insulting you; anyone who is a person falls within the scope of his insults. Luckily, I’m not human,” the system reminisced about Yú Chén’s words, lingering on them, “I’ve never seen someone so arrogant. Who was he a general for? How dare he be so brazen, not afraid of being beaten to death.”

Yún Xún Lán replied, “He’ll soon be my subordinate. I will protect him from being beaten by others.”

The system felt something was off: “Wait, isn’t he the one chosen to protect you?”

Yún Xún Lán interrupted the system, speaking softly, “I never trust others; I only trust you. Xiao Ju, with you and me joining forces, we are invincible. Why do we need to rely on others for protection?”

Hearing Yún Xún Lán say this, the system felt quite pleased: “That’s right, I am the invincible scholar…”

Yún Xún Lán interrupted the system again: “So, I’ve completed my daily task for today, right?”

“Strictly speaking, you can’t count it as face-to-face since what you saw was just his holographic projection. But today is your birthday…” The system was flattered by Yún Xún Lán’s words, feeling great, “In any case, this won’t be counted again.”

After saying that, the system urged Yún Xún Lán, “Don’t talk to me for now; hurry up and choose him! We absolutely cannot miss out on such talent!”

Yún Xún Lán felt the system’s reasoning was quite valid.

Because as long as he kept Yú Chén by his side as a tool to complete the system’s daily tasks, then from now on, his future would be summed up in six words: invincible means loneliness!

Perhaps at first, his feelings towards Yú Chén weren’t dislike, but rather too much like, which led to an extreme aversion to wanting to “kill” Yú Chén.

Sure enough, now that Yún Xún Lán looked at Yú Chén again, he found that everything about him was perfect, and he couldn’t pick out a single flaw.

Yún Xún Lán sincerely thanked the system: “You’re right about everything, thank you, Xiao Ju.”

The system replied, “Let me emphasize again, I am the invincible scholar…”

“Housekeeper, give me all the information on Yú Chén.”

Yún Xún Lán had no interest in what the system had to say; he didn’t even want to watch the remaining thirty alpha interview live streams.

“I have gathered all known information about Major Yú Chén for you. Please check.”

Thanks to the rapid development of technology and the special privileges granted by his royal status, within three seconds, the smart housekeeper pulled up what Yún Xún Lán wanted—a detailed record of Yú Chén’s life trajectory over twenty-seven years.

From the information, Yún Xún Lán learned that Yú Chén was an orphan. He was born on planet K-79, originally having a happy and wealthy family. Unfortunately, when he was eight years old, K-79 was invaded by the Serweir Zerg, and the number of survivors on the entire planet was few. Yú Chén lost all his relatives in this disaster, but because his parents left behind a substantial inheritance, he managed to live quite well even alone.

With good grades, he entered the Anluos Military Academy after graduating from high school. At twenty-two, he was awarded the rank of lieutenant as the chief mecha engineer of the Mecha Academy. That same year, he joined the Beidou Kaiyang Corps, where he achieved remarkable military accomplishments and was promoted to major within just five years.

“Doesn’t like to eat scallions, but loves cilantro, a heavy sweet tooth, favorite color is blue, hobbies include collecting heavy motorcycles…”

Yún Xún Lán recited the information about Yú Chén’s preferences word for word, diligently noting every detail.

The system asked, “What are you remembering this for?”

Yún Xún Lán replied, “To make Yú Chén infatuated with me, wanting to be by my side every day.”

The system was even more confused: “He doesn’t need to be infatuated with you; he can’t leave you because he is already your guard. What you need to do now is to feed him the scallions he hates the most every day, so he hates you, and curses you daily. That way, we won’t have to worry about completing daily tasks anymore.”

Yún Xún Lán shook his head: “No, the minimum service period for royal guards is ten years. After ten years, he can freely choose whether to stay by my side. And you saw the selection live stream just now; with his personality, once he hates me, he will leave as soon as his ten years of service are up. But I can’t let him go; I need him to want to stay by my side even after his service period is over.”

“Then he definitely can’t run away,” the system realized, but soon had another confusion, “But once he becomes infatuated with you, he won’t curse you anymore.”

Yún Xún Lán smiled lightly: “He will. He is now my person, and he has to do what I say, so—”

“I will have him and all the selected alpha guards stand in front of me every day and repeat everything they said in response to the last interview question.”

After figuring out the trick behind this, the system froze for nearly half a minute before finally speaking in a daze: “Damn… are you trying to exploit a bug?”

If Yún Xún Lán were to randomly find someone to curse him every day, over time, anyone would notice something was off.

But if he approached it from a different angle—Yún Xún Lán, as the superior of the alpha guards, wanting to hear the loyal declarations that “moved” him during their interview, what’s wrong with that?

Nothing at all; no one would suspect Yún Xún Lán’s true motives.

As for whether Yú Chén might get beaten up for being too arrogant while repeating those words… that was beyond Yún Xún Lán’s consideration.

After all, those words originally came from Yú Chén’s own mouth, and no one was forcing him.

Yún Xún Lán would at most consider reimbursing Yú Chén’s medical expenses, as this could be considered “work-related injury.”

The system also came to terms with it: “Alright, for the sake of our invincible ambitions, I’m willing to let you exploit this bug. But how are you going to make Yú Chén infatuated with you? You’re not an omega or beta; he won’t fall in love with you. He’s not like those other alpha guards who would sacrifice their lives for you; he probably just wants to turn you into a dog that can only kneel and beg for mercy.”

Yún Xún Lán said: “…Xiao Ju, Yú Chén said ‘anyone.’ He wants to do anyone, not just me. Can you please not say things that could lead to misunderstandings?”

The system insisted: “It’s the same; you’re also a person, so he wants to do you too. I’m not wrong. Unless you’re not human.”

Yún Xún Lán, who had been human in both lives: “…”

He didn’t want to argue with the system about this matter, so he awkwardly changed the subject: “In life, there are three kinds of love: familial love, friendship, and romantic love. I have no blood relation with Yú Chén, so there’s no familial love; we are both alphas, so there’s no romantic love; I just want to find a way to become good friends with him and develop a friendship.”

“Right, dating could lead to a breakup, and marriage could lead to divorce; it’s not secure,” the system agreed, “But if you become close friends, a brotherhood is worth more than anything; he will definitely have your back.”

“Exactly.”

Yún Xún Lán was still looking at the information related to Yú Chén when he noticed a link to Yú Chén’s publicly available star network account at the end of the document. He clicked on it, intending to learn more about Yú Chén before their official meeting.

As soon as he entered the homepage, Yún Xún Lán saw that Yú Chén had posted a new update three hours ago:

【Lán: Baby, I’ll take you home next time I have a break. [Image]】

Yú Chén’s star network nickname was simply “Lán,” which was the color of his eyes and also his favorite color. The accompanying image was a photo of a sleek, all-black heavy motorcycle—the Comet-S7, which had a landing price of 17 million star coins and was limited to 1,000 units across the entire galaxy, requiring a reservation to purchase.

Not many people followed Yú Chén’s star network account, and this update had only received a handful of likes—just over a dozen—after three hours. Yún Xún Lán calculated the timing; three hours ago was just before the royal guard selection interview phase.

The interview was about to start, yet Yú Chén was still surfing the net with his smart brain. It seemed he really wasn’t nervous at all about the interview. No wonder he could score full marks in “War Psychology”; his mindset was remarkably stable.

Yún Xún Lán quickly followed Yú Chén using his usual small account for surfing the star network and opened the comment section, preparing to leave a comment to attract Yú Chén and draw closer to him—why not use his main account?

If he used his main account, how would Yú Chén dare to chat sincerely with him?

He had to take it slow; once he got along well with Yú Chén, he would reveal his true identity at the right moment, so they could truly become close friends.

However, when Yún Xún Lán opened the comment section, he quickly saw that someone had already left a message, and Yú Chén had even replied to that person—

【Forever Protecting the Third Prince: You bought it, so what? But you shouldn’t post it. This kind of flaunting wealth is meaningless and only creates a bad social impact. Look at me, I’m so rich, yet I don’t flaunt anything.】

【Lán: ? Are you going to manage my life?】

【Forever Protecting the Third Prince: I’m not managing you; I just think it’s unnecessary to spend so much money on a plain two-wheeled motorcycle. You might as well donate the money like I do and make a small contribution to building a better society.】

【Lán: Fine, Fu Dog, I’ll donate some money for your cerebral palsy treatment so you won’t bark at me anymore. Get lost.】

The netizen named “Forever Protecting the Third Prince” seemed to have a nickname related to himself, but Yún Xún Lán didn’t know him. However, based on Yú Chén’s reply and the clue of the surname “Fu,” Yún Xún Lán immediately thought of someone he had seen not long ago.

That was the red-haired alpha who ranked second in the overall assessment and vowed to dedicate his life to himself: Fú Yánxī.

Yú Chén’s profile mentioned that he and Yú Chén were classmates at the Anluos Military Academy. The former was always second, while the latter was always first, so they had never gotten along and often fought during school. After graduation, they were assigned to different corps, which is why they stopped fighting.

But judging by the current situation, they hadn’t fought in reality; instead, they were now arguing online. Even after five years, neither of them respected the other. Fú Yánxī even had to take a jab at Yú Chén just before the royal guard selection interview began, which showed how deep their grudges ran.

If Yún Xún Lán wanted to be good friends with Yú Chén, he absolutely couldn’t argue with him like Fú Yánxī did. He had to unconditionally support, uphold, and agree with Yú Chén.

So, Yún Xún Lán immediately left a comment under Yú Chén’s update:

【New Fish Keeper: Your baby is great; I like it too. [Green Heart]】