Li Xiao and Song Jin’s secret marriage had stunned everyone, catching the entire Meng family off guard. As the assessment teams prepared to set off again, Meng Jian convened an emergency meeting with his subordinates, including Meng Zai.

They had expected Li Xiao to make a major move upon returning to the capital, and in reality, the Meng family had indeed suffered a significant loss at his hands. Meng Jian’s handover transition had been shelved, and Meng Zai’s transfer had failed. Regardless of how the transition went, they were stuck in the Nanming constellation for the next eight years, which was a heavy blow to their future plans.

Li Xiao had only been back for a few days, yet every step he took was malicious, aimed squarely at the Meng family’s throat. To that end, Meng Jian had prepared a series of countermeasures, one of which was to ensure Li Xiao “accidentally” died in Shengya. It would solve the Li Xiao problem while simultaneously pressuring Shengya, setting the stage for his next moves.

But now, Li Xiao had gotten married quietly. The target was not only a Shengya native but also an Alpha, which left everyone completely baffled. The Meng family’s emergency meeting lasted for three hours, but they failed to make any sense of the logic behind Li Xiao’s behavior.

“Hiss… what exactly is he trying to do?”

“He’s only in his teens, maybe he just fell in love?”

“Normal people don’t get married after knowing someone for only a few days, do they?”

“What are you thinking? If he were that naive, would we need to be here discussing it?”

Meng Zai held a cigarette, exhaling a puff of white mist with a heavy expression: “If we can’t figure out his intentions, we can’t make any moves.”

Across the round table, an old man in a General’s uniform sat in the virtual screen, facing away from the camera. “What capability does an abandoned pawn who just reached adulthood and has no power or influence have?”

Meng Zai crushed his cigarette butt: “He’s not that simple. We cannot be careless; I am the best example of that.”

The General let out a disdainful snort from his nose: “Do you really think it was Li Xiao who caused your transfer to fail?”

Meng Zai looked at him: “What do you mean by that?”

General: “His Majesty has been moving frequently with the Yi family in private these past few years, don’t you understand yet? Li Xiao might just be an excuse; he’s just using the situation to his advantage.”

At the head of the table, Meng Jian listened to their conversation, deep in thought, though he didn’t quite agree. “If His Majesty were already biased toward the Yi family, he would have directly terminated the transition, not just suspended it.”

General: “The Yi family has been hiding with their tails between their legs for years, without making any political achievements. Even if His Majesty wants to keep them in the Tianjiang constellation, it will take some effort.”

Meng Jian shook his head: “His Majesty is still wavering. He is suspicious by nature and doesn’t trust the Yi family that easily.”

“That’s true.” The General seemed to think of something and laughed again, “Li Xiao’s incident back then is the best example.”

Meng Jian: “It was a crisis and a turning point. If he didn’t have this personality, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

“But Li Xiao is completely different from His Majesty. If we underestimate him, we’ll suffer a huge loss at his hands.” Meng Zai said unhappily, “There are so many of us, yet we can’t see through an eighteen-year-old kid.”

Unable to understand the enemy’s thoughts or their next move, they felt lost. After listening to the table discuss for a long time, Meng Jian remained silent for a long time. “Everyone else stay put for now. Let’s pry off one Yi family pawn first to test their reaction.”

At the Tianqi Q303 exam hall, Li Xiao had no idea the Meng family was on high alert because of his fake marriage. At this moment, his mind was completely occupied with how to negotiate with Song Yu. To get a promise from Song Yu, he had to provide chips of corresponding value, but the chip from his previous life was already gone.

After much thought, Li Xiao’s attention finally locked onto Qi Ge. Qi Ge was likely related to the Bique tribe, and his pheromones were suspected of being able to control others. Song Jin’s snatching of the Bique blood was also highly likely related to this. If he could provide the information Song Yu wanted, he could remain invincible in this negotiation with very little chance of winning.

The mountain road the second day was harder than the first. The excavator had become a total burden, and Song Jin gave the order to abandon it at the foot of the mountain.

[The team performed exceptionally well in the material transport mission. System score: 9.6. Average instructor team score: 9.9. Additional points awarded: +90.]

Seeing the system prompt, Qian Can chuckled: “Look, look at how useful the excavator I picked was—it even added points.”

Jiang Hao: “You said it was a dead weight yesterday.”

Qian Can went over and draped an arm around Jiang Hao’s shoulder: “Xiao Jiang, big brother will teach you a principle today: don’t be too honest when walking in the world. Saying everything will only hurt you.”

Jiang Hao: “…”

The six of them followed the stream forward. With Qin Le planning the route, they had no need to worry about getting lost. Relying on the experience from the previous day and Li Xiao’s keen five senses, they successfully avoided swarms of insects and reached the valley where the destination was located at 3:00 PM that afternoon.

The valley was quite large, so they split up to find the place to fire the signal flare. Qian Can took Qin Le east, Jiang Hao took Da Bei west, and Li Xiao and Song Jin automatically paired up.

“Babe, come with big brother.” Song Jin signaled Li Xiao to go north.

Li Xiao followed leisurely: “We’re married, not sworn brothers.”

Song Jin turned his head to look at him: “So?”

Li Xiao: “If you really want to call me something, you can call me ‘Hubby’.”

Song Jin: “Why aren’t you calling me ‘Hubby’?”

Li Xiao: “You look so pretty, calling you ‘Hubby’ doesn’t quite fit.”

Song Jin: “Only children fuss over titles.”

Li Xiao: “Aren’t those who mind being treated like children the real children?”

Song Jin: “I’m older than you.”

The two bickered while searching for the signal flare. The others, who hadn’t walked far, were speechless. How did they start feeding us dog food already? Is there any way for us to live?

Before dark, they found two dilapidated thatched huts in the northwest corner and discovered a robot dressed like a refugee in one of them.

[Congratulations to everyone for reaching the finish line. Please proceed to the designated area to rest and wait for the second stage to begin.]

The six of them received a map on their score counters and followed the instructions to find the rest area halfway up the mountain. The mountain had been completely hollowed out, and the entrance was covered in thick vines; without the map, they would never have found it. The interior was laid out similarly to a warship’s lounge and was incredibly vast. Qian Can fumbled around the guidance area for a moment and exclaimed: “We are actually the first team to arrive!”

Qin Le: “Not surprising. Today went quite smoothly, and we took shortcuts after ditching the excavator.”

Qian Can shook his head: “We really won big.”

Song Jin didn’t care about winning or losing, but he couldn’t stand the sour smell on his body. Between the sweat from the journey and the rain from the day before, he felt like he had been pickled. After a quick shower, they encountered several teams that had just arrived on their way to the restaurant. Meng Tao and Zheng Lin were among them.

The students asked as soon as they saw them: “We heard you got married—is it true?!”

Seeing Li Xiao nod, the crowd exploded. This gossip was much more interesting than the assessment. Meng Tao walked up to Li Xiao and sized him up, his eyes filled with confusion: “You actually married an Alpha?”

Li Xiao looked sincere: “I forgot that you really hate AA romances. Sorry, I’m an eyesore to you.”

When he said this, the others couldn’t help but look at Meng Tao, their eyes carrying more than a little reproach. “What year is this? People still discriminate against sexual orientation?” someone muttered.

Meng Tao’s expression changed slightly: “When did I say I discriminate against AA relationships?! I just find it strange—how can you get married after knowing each other for only a few days!”

Li Xiao said sternly: “Falling in love with someone isn’t about how long you’ve known them.”

Zheng Lin, who was watching from the side, couldn’t help but interject: “Then after you return to the country, are you going to have a long-distance relationship?”

Li Xiao: “Falling in love with someone doesn’t care about the distance.”

Qian Can and the others: “…” You really are a hopeless romantic who listens to nothing.

Unable to test anything out, Meng Tao looked at Song Jin again: “Don’t you think it’s irresponsible to get married so casually?”

“I only need to be responsible to him—what does it have to do with an outsider like you?” Song Jin was already in a bad mood, and his tone was inevitably irritable. “Trying to pick a fight again? Forgot the pain once the wound has healed? Want another beating?”

The six of them walked through the crowd to the restaurant. Meng Tao and Zheng Lin exchanged looks, both completely bewildered. What is going on?! Only one night passed, and Li Xiao married someone from Shengya?!

By midnight, many teams had still not reached the finish line. In an empty corner of the rest area, Li Xiao and Song Jin sat on the steps of the emergency exit, opening the civil registry home page again.

It was past midnight. Li Xiao prepared to divorce. Insanity aside, since Song Jin had already agreed, there was no need for this fake marriage to continue; if it went wrong, it might anger Song Yu and ruin things. The Song family was such a massive clan, yet they couldn’t produce a single normal person. Heaven knew what Song Yu would do, and Li Xiao didn’t want any extra trouble.

“Does this count as using me and then dumping me?” Song Jin said lazily.

Li Xiao: “You don’t want to divorce? It doesn’t matter to me. If we don’t divorce, I’m going back to sleep.”

He stood up to leave, but Song Jin grabbed his wrist. “Since we’re here.” Song Jin looked at the screen and submitted the divorce application. If they argued again tonight, they wouldn’t be able to divorce again.

[Submitting divorce application—Audit passed—Starting marriage observation period quiz test.]

Song Jin clicked his tongue: “Why is there a quiz for a divorce?”

Li Xiao: “Are you asking me?”

This time, the camera on Song Jin’s terminal turned on automatically.

[Question: You and your partner are arguing and living apart. Your partner says to you, “It’s best if we live apart forever!” What does this mean? A. Want to live apart forever. B. Want to reconcile. C. Want to divorce.]

This was a public-facing question and didn’t require much thought.

Song Jin answered confidently: “A, want to live apart forever.”

Li Xiao couldn’t help but look sideways: “…” What exactly is going on in that little head of yours?

[Answer incorrect!]

Song Jin: “…?” It’s wrong?

[Question: You and your partner fought all night. Your partner says to you, “You treat that dog better than you treat me!” What does this mean? A. Accusing you of not treating them like a human. B. Hoping you will treat them better. C. Telling you to go live with the dog.]

Song Jin: “C.”

[Answer incorrect!]

Song Jin: “…??”

Li Xiao: “Kid, have you never been married? Don’t you even have life experience?”

Song Jin frowned and said coldly: “Usually when someone says that, isn’t the next sentence ‘Go live with the dog, I’m not playing along anymore’?”

Li Xiao: “…” Is that really the result of serious consideration?

[Question: Your partner sought out an Omega practitioner to channel their pheromones during their rut. You would: A. Understand, I do it often too. B. Break their dog legs. C. Break the Omega practitioner’s dog legs.]

Song Jin: “B, break his dog legs.”

Li Xiao covered his face: “…” My head hurts so much.

[Answer incorrect!]

[System determines you are currently mentally impaired. Please reconsider whether to divorce after thoroughly calming down. This application is rejected.]

“…You’re the one who’s mentally impaired.” Song Jin was so angry he immediately resubmitted, but there was a five-minute cooldown. “You do it! Hurry!”

Li Xiao helplessly submitted the application and successfully entered the quiz phase.

[Question: How many pets does your partner have, and what are they?]

Li Xiao: “…”

Song Jin: “…”

Li Xiao and Song Jin looked at each other and immediately received a system warning. They could only guess randomly: “Dogs, three.”

[Answer incorrect!]

[Question: How many family members does your partner have, and who are they?]

Li Xiao/Song Jin: “…”

Li Xiao: “…Next question.”

[Question: How many days is your partner’s rut cycle, and what are the symptoms?]

Li Xiao: “…Next question.”

[Quiz round ended. Divorce application rejected.]

The two alternated submitting applications, taking quizzes until after 1:00 AM. After Li Xiao guessed the final question, several lines of prompts appeared on the screen.

[Answer incorrect!]

[Too many failures, reached the limit. Given the short duration of the marriage, your knowledge of your partner is too low. A anti-marriage-fraud mechanism has been triggered. The marital relationship is temporarily locked. Please bring relevant documents to the relevant department to unlock it.]

Li Xiao: “…” Seriously?

Song Jin’s terminal vibrated, and he received a prompt from the civil registry system.

[If you registered for marriage under involuntary circumstances, please click the help button below, and we will have someone provide you with assistance.]

Li Xiao realized they thought he was a criminal kidnapping people.

Song Jin wouldn’t give up. He searched for relevant information online: to unlock a locked marriage, both parties had to attend offline training classes, receive psychological counseling, and pass an exam.

Which pervert made these rules?!

Li Xiao stood up, shoved his hands into his pockets, and walked away slowly: “Can’t divorce. Let’s just make do.”

Attending a training class was impossible—he couldn’t afford to lose that much face.

Song Jin: “…”