YPSSS Chapter 31

When Xie Ji received Shi Yi’s call, he was playing basketball with a few members of the school team in the gymnasium.

The Military Engineering Department’s basketball team had an open spot this year. The team captain had asked Xie Ji several times to join, but he hadn’t agreed. He only said that he could play with them when he was free.

It was rare for Shi Yi to call him even once a year. Xie Ji wiped off his sweat and answered the phone lazily.

“What is it?”

“Have you checked the group chat?” Shi Yi’s tone was calm, but his words came quickly. “Senior Xia got into a fight.”

Xie Ji’s hand paused mid-wipe.

No matter how he listened at it, that statement sounded strange.

Anyone who knew Xia Shiruan even slightly would first question if this was true.

But Xie Ji only froze for a second before standing up, his knuckles white around the phone. “With who?”

Shi Yi hesitated. “An Alpha from their department. You know him. His name is Chen Jiu.”

Xie Ji’s expression darkened.

He had heard of that idiot who kept his brain in his pants.¹

What’s worse was that this guy’s father knew Xie Mingcheng, so Xie Ji had met him a few times while in S City.

In Chen Rongxin’s words, this person was “compared to our Yi-jie, this guy’s a naive elementary schooler.”

The next second, Xie Ji hung up. He hastily wiped the sweat from his forehead, threw his shirt over his shoulder, and sprinted out on his long legs.

The basketball team captain hadn’t finished speaking and chased after him a few steps, calling out, “Are you coming back in two weeks?”

Xie Ji didn’t even look back.

In fact, what Xia Shiruan did barely qualified as a fight.

He just forcefully smashed a thick hardcover book into Chen Jiu’s face.

The strength difference between an Alpha and Omega was too great. Chen Jiu didn’t expect it, didn’t anticipate that he would strike first. Although he could have easily dodged, that moment of surprise meant his cheek got slightly grazed by the hard book cover.

Chen Jiu tilted his head and turned to look at him, eyebrows raised even higher.

“Could you move?” Xia Shiruan’s face was ugly, his chest heaving noticeably.

Chen Jiu didn’t speak.

The person in front of him was quite different from the dull, rigid Xia Shiruan in the rumors, but that made things more interesting.

He smiled and raised his hand to pat Xia Shiruan’s hair, but what greeted him was a second book flying at his face.

This time, Chen Jiu didn’t let the book touch a single hair. He steadily caught the spine with one hand, then immediately snatched it away and tossed it aside.

The heavy book landed on the wooden floor with a dull thud.

Chen Jiu said, “Why are you throwing things at me?”

The other three guys also noticed something was wrong and exchanged glances.

How did a simple flirting turn into this?

They were in the library, which wasn’t exactly a hidden space. Soon other students coming to study noticed the commotion.

One of them who walked in glanced their way and hesitantly asked, “What are you guys doing?”

“Get lost,” Chen Jiu turned around, a visible scratch marking his cheek.

Chen Jiu’s body blocked Xia Shiruan from view.

The newcomer couldn’t see who the other person was, only noticed Chen Jiu’s nasty expression. They flinched and quickly left.

When Xie Ji ran all the way there, the library was already in chaos.

Liu Yutong happened to be in the library and heard about the commotion on the third floor. He immediately came and took Xia Shiruan away.

Xia Shiruan’s condition didn’t seem right. His breathing was rapid, his face pale, and cold sweat was beading on his forehead. Liu Yutong didn’t dare take chances and rushed him to the clinic.

Omegas were delicate creatures, and in a school like Science University, they were practically protected species.

Blocking an Omega in the hallway and getting physical was a big deal. One of the main figures involved was Xia Shiruan, who had recently been gaining a lot of attention, and the other was Chen Jiu, who had been controversial since he entered the university. The situation escalated quickly.

“Fuck, I swear to God.” One of the three Alphas who shared a table with Chen Jiu was at his wit’s end. He never expected such a crowd of onlookers. He said, “We were all right there. Jiu-ge never laid a hand on him. He just asked if they could be friends, and he got hit…”

“Honestly, that Xia Shiruan’s not right in the head,” the Alpha finished defending Chen Jiu, then took a jab at Xia Shiruan. “Normal Omegas don’t act like that. He presented too late, so his personality is a bit… extreme.”

Some onlookers couldn’t stand it anymore and interrupted, “That’s enough. Keep talking and it’ll sound like four weak Alphas got bullied by one Omega. How does that look?”

Others agreed.

While Science University had plenty of Alpha supremacists, it was impossible not to in such a school, it didn’t mean most people would consider this situation normal.

It was quite embarrassing for Alphas.

Chen Jiu leaned against the bookshelf, rubbing his temples with one hand, feeling a headache coming on.

When the library’s wooden door was pulled open, everyone looked in that direction.

Someone in the crowd quickly recognized him and whispered in surprise, “The Military Engineering freshman, why is he here…”

Chen Jiu glanced up.

He knew Xie Ji. The military second generation born with a silver spoon, the only son of that Xie Mingcheng his father always mentioned.

Their eyes met briefly.

The moment Xie Ji saw the wound on Chen Jiu’s cheek, blood rushed to his head.

His jaw was clenched tight, his expression clearly off, as the crowd’s discussion grew louder.

Only one thought remained in Xie Ji’s mind: This bastard touched him.

Because Xie Ji had seen a similar scene before. At that time, a much younger Xia Shiruan had shrunk away, crying “go away.”

That was his instinctive reaction when he truly hated and feared something.

Too much time had passed, and Xie Ji could no longer recall what triggered that incident, but that single scene kept replaying in his mind.

At first, it was anger, rage, hatred, then it turned to confusion, and finally nothing but an inexplicable ache remained.

The young Xie Ji had spent a long time working through those feelings, and even longer distinguishing between the instinctive impulses of early presentation and other emotions.

Later, Xie Ji admitted that his puberty had indeed come rather early.

But some damage was already done and irreversible. Xie Ji could only try to let the memory fade, hoping that at least Xia Shiruan wouldn’t remember hating him.

Today, some idiot had ruined everything.

Xie Ji’s temples throbbed, his eyes red.

Everyone present had used scent blockers, but they all caught the bitter scent that suddenly filled the air.

“Damn, what’s that smell?” someone muttered, looking shocked.

They were all Alphas and knew what that scent meant, but that’s exactly why they couldn’t believe it.

It definitely wasn’t a pleasant smell. It was bitter and agitating.

Especially agitating to Alphas.

Some Alphas couldn’t stand it, loosening their collars as they bolted outside for air.

The next second, under everyone’s stares, Xie Ji stepped forward, pushed through the crowd, bent down to grab Chen Jiu’s collar, and forcefully dragged him from the table’s edge to the floor.

“Fuck, what the hell!” Chen Jiu was caught off guard and cursed, “Xie Ji, why the fuck are you grabbing me?”

The answer was a fist to his face.

The veins on Xie Ji’s hand stood out as he landed the punch with full force, holding nothing back.

Chen Jiu couldn’t dodge in time and took the hit square on his right cheekbone, which immediately turned red.

Chen Jiu’s face snapped to the side, and he was stunned by the pain.

After a moment, he touched his cheek in disbelief, his temple twitching. He gritted his teeth and glared at Xie Ji, spat out a curse, and threw a punch back.

The onlookers were all stunned, and only after they recovered did some try to break up the fight.

No one understood why these two suddenly started fighting, or where this Military Engineering junior had even come from.

The books and pens on the table were completely wrecked. The destructive power of two Alphas fighting this seriously wasn’t something that could be easily contained.

The chaos in the library escalated, and someone had already run to get campus security.

At the campus clinic.

“Doctor, is Xia Shiruan… okay?” Liu Yutong asked from the side.

Although Liu Yutong was an Alpha in his twenties, he’d never dated anyone or seen what an Omega’s heat was like.

The school doctor’s words “This young man’s heat cycle is irregular” scared him immediately. He thought it was something serious.

The school doctor was a Beta in his sixties with rather conservative and rigid thinking.

From the moment he saw an Omega being carried in pale-faced by an Alpha, he hadn’t shown Liu Yutong a friendly face and barely answered his questions.

The campus clinic had limited medical facilities, and Xia Shiruan’s condition was particularly unusual. The doctor could only give him a suppressant injection first, saying, “It’s temporarily suppressed.”

Liu Yutong responded with a dumb “Oh,” then quickly asked, “So he’s fine now?”

The doctor paused and glared at Liu Yutong.

Liu Yutong stared back with a blank expression.

“His presentation was already late, and his heat cycles are unstable. These are all controlled by medical suppressants,” the doctor sighed, putting his hands in his pockets and drawled, “His hormones are out of balance. Add to that this young man’s recent emotional distress, and with this trigger, his heat came early.”

Liu Yutong didn’t understand all this talk about hormonal and emotional distress.

He only caught the words about early heat, so he asked, “Oh, so it is serious?”

The doctor thought this tall young man must have something wrong with his head. How did he even get into Science University? He shook his head and said, “What do you mean serious? What do you mean fine? If there’s no life-threatening danger, then it’s fine?”

Liu Yutong shook his head vigorously.

“Right now, he’s fine because the suppressants are working! But long term, his body will definitely develop problems. As for what problems, whether big or small, I can’t say.”

“Huh??” Liu Yutong stammered, “Then- then what should we do?”

The school doctor was really fed up with Liu Yutong’s thick-headedness. After explaining so much, he apparently did not understand a single word.

“You’re an Alpha, he’s an Omega. After you mark him, the Omega will have the protection of Alpha pheromones, and this won’t happen again,” the doctor said matter-of-factly.

Liu Yutong choked on his own spit in horror.

Wait, didn’t this old man have some misunderstanding?

“Cough- cough…” Liu Yutong coughed with a red face for a while before he could get his tongue straight. “Doctor, you must have misunderstood, he and I aren’t…”

We aren’t in the kind of relationship where I could mark him!

Before he could finish, the clinic door was pushed open.

A slightly hoarse, deep male voice came through, “Is Xia Shiruan in here?”

Author’s Note:
Liu Yutong: No no no no no no