Ning Xi and Song Yize stood with their backs to the bustling corridor.

The summer evening breeze carried a lingering heat. The sky wasn’t completely dark but a deep, faintly glowing purple. Clouds stretched across like thin gauze, with stars flickering in and out of sight.

Past the teaching building was the school’s No. 1 track and field. Having just finished their exams, some restless students had gone for a stroll on the field, while others walked back to their dorms in groups. A few couples sat secretly in the stands, deep in conversation.

Yet, Song Yize was here, on the corridor platform, rolling dice with an Omega.

He felt like he must’ve been incredibly bored to agree to such a ridiculous request.

Ning Xi had borrowed four dice from a Beta in their class, then took a paper cup and covered them.

There was something he needed to confirm.

If this novel’s male protagonist, Song Yize, actually had a protagonist’s halo or not.

Or why couldn’t he rub off on his protagonist’s halo?

In Ning Xi’s view, rolling dice was the best way to determine whether someone had good luck.

Although it sounded absurd and brain dead, they were at school, and the campus was under lockdown. Thus, rolling dice was one of the few feasible methods he could think of.

Ning Xi said to Song Yize, “Let’s roll the dice and see who gets the higher number.”

Song Yize had no idea how to respond. No one had ever come to him after an exam just to roll dice.

Ning Xi gripped the paper cup, pressing it tightly against the table. The dice clattered against the cup’s walls with a muffled sound. He shook it for a long time before stopping, taking a deep breath, and solemnly lifting the cup.

Four 1s.

Ning Xi was speechless.

In utter resignation, he handed the cup along with the dice to Song Yize and said, “Your turn.”

Although Song Yize had no idea what Ning Xi was up to, he still cooperated, taking the cup, shaking it twice, and opening it.

Four 6s.

Ning Xi: “…”

Seeing the aggrieved expression on Ning Xi’s face, Song Yize’s lips slowly curled into a smile.

The boy’s voice was clear and crisp, dissolving into the night. “Again?”

“No s***.” Ning Xi grabbed the cup again and said, “Again.”

Three 1s and one 2.

He passed it to Song Yize.

Four 6s.

Ning Xi felt that he couldn’t carry on like this. He refused to believe in this evil. Sure, he had transmigrated into this novel, but was such blatant favoritism really necessary?

“Again.” Unwilling to accept defeat, Ning Xi rolled countless more times, but his dice never landed on anything higher than a 3.

Ah, what the hell ah.

Song Yize was obviously right beside him, so why wasn’t any of that luck rubbing off on him?

Ning Xi felt aggrieved.

Did this mean he was doomed to be sabotaged by endless unexpected disasters in this book?

Song Yize lifted his gaze, looking at the clearly troubled Ning Xi.

He showed no sense of caution about being around an Alpha. His half-lowered eyes fell over the four dice, and his collar was slightly undone, revealing a fair neck. He sat there, lazy and unguarded.　　

His bone structure was remarkably appealing—his facial contours were delicate and smooth, with no excess or unnecessary features.

So when Song Yize noticed the obvious bruise and scrape on Ning Xi’s brow bone, he instinctively reached out.

He slowly lifted the hair from Ning Xi’s forehead, exposing the injured area.

Ning Xi hadn’t reacted yet when he saw Song Yize lightly holding his hair. His expression was cool and composed, and his eyes were a pale shade.

“Does it hurt?”

His voice was calm and steady, unhurried. Yet, under the faint noise of cicadas chirping in the night, it carried a trace of warmth and concern.

The injury had come from when a light fell during the exam.

Ning Xi hadn’t expected him to notice, let alone ask, so he was momentarily caught off guard. “Ah… it’s fine.”

Song Yize brushed Ning Xi’s hair aside a little more. Ning Xi unconsciously tilted his head in response to the movement.

He frowned slightly. “It’s broken skin, and it’s bruised. Do you really not feel pain?”

That sense of grievance welled up in Ning Xi again.

He rarely felt wronged. No matter where he was before, it always seemed like he had to hold back a lot of emotions.

But this Song Yize, he was clearly younger than him, just a high school didi, yet he always carried himself like an adult, making Ning Xi feel inexplicably aggrieved.

“It’s nothing…” Ning Xi turned his head away, his gaze dimming slightly. He didn’t look at Song Yize and instead started fiddling with the dice on the table.

What exactly was off? Which part hadn’t triggered properly ah?

Still, that brief touch just now seemed to ease the soreness in his neck a little.

The smell of ebony and citrus was really comforting.

Ai, wait a second.

Touch.

Ning Xi suddenly realized something and snapped his head toward Song Yize.

Could the trigger to turning his luck around was to make physical contact with Song Yize?

Ning Xi placed the dice under the cup again, gave it a shake, and checked the results—two 1s, a 2, and a 3. No improvement.

Then if…

He turned to Song Yize and said, “Lend me your hand for a moment.”

Song Yize: “?”

He had never heard such an unreasonable request before. How could an Omega say something like that to an Alpha?

Just as he was about to refuse, Ning Xi suddenly grabbed Song Yize’s hand that was hanging below.

He intertwined their fingers, Ning Xi’s fingers slipping between his and locking tightly.

He doesn’t know if it was because of the cold, Ning Xi’s hand was ice-cold, forming a stark contrast with the stifling summer heat.

The boy’s fingers were slender and well-defined, smooth and fair. The moment their hands clasped, Song Yize felt that cool peppermint white tea scent seeping in through his fingertips, making the once-chilled spot grow even hotter.

Ning Xi pulled Song Yize’s hand onto the cup and gave it a shake.

Two 5s, two 6s.

Seeing the improved numbers, Ning Xi’s eyes lit up.

Pushing his luck, he grabbed Song Yize’s wrist with his other hand and shook the dice again.

Four 6s.

Ning Xi’s eyes glowed.

He even continued shaking the dice a few more times with his fingers intertwined with Song Yize’s. Each time, the results were always high 5s and 6s.

So that’s how it was ah. That’s how it was.

So it was all about physical touch.

Ning Xi felt as if he had seen the light of hope. He clutched Song Yize’s hand tightly and exclaimed, “This is great!”

Song Yize silently watched as those beautiful hands firmly gripped his own, his ears growing a little warm.

Ning Xi’s hands weren’t as big as his, so when he held on like this, it looked like he was trying hard to wrap around his fingers. The gesture felt far too ambiguous.

This wasn’t how AO interactions were supposed to be.

“You…” Seeing that Ning Xi had no intention of letting go, Song Yize wanted to stop this inappropriate behavior immediately.

How could he be so clueless? He was already in his third year of high school, yet he still didn’t know that an Omega shouldn’t randomly hold an Alpha’s hand.

He really needed a proper lesson on physiology.

But Ning Xi suddenly let go of his hand.

Song Yize originally thought Ning Xi had finally remembered what he learned in physiology class and realized that this wasn’t appropriate.

What he didn’t expect was that the boy’s face broke into a bright smile. His skin had a soft glow under the dim corridor lights. Stretching his arms wide, he opened them in an exaggerated gesture, his voice carrying both warmth and amusement:

“Song Yize, come, give me a hug.”

–

The morning sunlight was perfect for reading.

The next day, after finishing the morning run and returning to the classroom, their class’s self-proclaimed little brother news reporter, student committee member Deng Xuhai, came rushing in with the latest intel from the office. “Breaking news, breaking news! The results from yesterday’s mock exam are out! The subject rankings and overall standings have all been released!”

“Ah—”

That “Ah” went through three different intonations, dragging out in a long, exaggerated wail, a perfect expression of dissatisfaction.

“Don’t teachers sleep?”

“I swear we just finished the exam last night ah, and they’ve already graded everything? Just how late did they stay up ah? What kind of godly speed was this?”

“I heard all the subject teachers pulled an all-nighter to mark the papers. The teachers are working harder than us—respect.”

Deng Xuhai continued, “And also—our class’s Song Yize, God Ze, that perverted science exam? He scored 295. He completely crushed the second-place scorer, who only got 274—a whole 21 points behind!”

The classroom erupted into even louder chaos.

“Holy s***, this f*****ng–is he even human?”

“Wasn’t that biology paper ridiculously hard? This mother***–how did he still score that high?”

“Can I have 195 ah. Help…”

Meanwhile, Song Yize sat at his desk, wearing headphones and working through competition problems.

After his conversation with Ning Xi yesterday, his entire worldview had been shaken.

He was indeed popular. He had been confessed to by quite a lot of people since he was a kid. There were girls who would stuff love letters into his desk, and even some little boys had tried to chase him by bringing snacks.

But Song Yize was so focused on his studies that he wasn’t interested in any of this.

Still, he had never met an Omega who so boldly and openly asked him for a hug.

Song Yize ruffled his head in annoyance and circled the formula in the last problem.

He couldn’t solve it.

“Hey, Ze-ge, let’s grab breakfast after morning reading. I want to get the xialongbao^[1]Soup Dumplings from the second floor,” Zhang Qiang turned around and said to Song Yize.

Song Yize’s pen didn’t pause as he casually responded, “Mm.”

“Oh, the class monitor is coming with us too. She hasn’t had those dumplings in a while.”

“Mm.”

Song Yize wrote out a long string of formulas, filling up most of his scratch paper, but the final result was still unsolvable.

Continuing any further would just be a waste of energy. Song Yize tossed his pen aside and took a deep breath.

At 7:30, the sky outside was already bright blue. The air conditioning wasn’t on yet, and the electric fan above was spinning, its sound was gradually drowned out by the sound of the morning reading.

Song Yize had been bent over his desk solving problems for so long that his neck felt sore. He tilted his head slightly, intending to check the time.

But the moment he turned, he noticed someone standing outside the door.

Ning Xi was at the entrance, peeking in with a wide grin. He even waved at Song Yize in greeting.

Song Yize: “…”

Why was he here? Didn’t he have morning reading?

It just so happened that the class bell rang at this time.

The students stood up in a swarm and rushed out of the classroom, for the sake of the breakfast they were longing for.

Zhang Qiang, hearing the bell, immediately turned back and hurriedly said, “Ze-ge, let’s go. If we don’t run now, we won’t get any xiaolongbao…”

But Song Yize was already on his feet, striding straight toward the back door.

Zhang Qiang: “?”

As Song Yize approached, seeing Ning Xi’s bright smile, the expression on Song Yize’s face grew three degrees colder.

Song Yize frowned, resting one hand on the doorframe. His cool voice carried a hint of irritation. “Why are you here? Did you skip morning reading?”

“I did not. I just came out a little early.” Ning Xi lifted his brows, his eyes sparkling with mischief.

He clasped his hands behind his back and leaned forward slightly, his gaze filled with amusement—so sweet it felt like honey could drip from it. “Yize, have breakfast with me.”