Before being choked to death, Li Xiao grabbed Song Jin’s hand and pulled it away with some force. Looking at Jiang Hao with a calm expression, he asked, “Didn’t I say I didn’t want to be disturbed?”

Jiang Hao looked aggrieved: “I already said that, but Meng Tao and the others insisted on barging in.”

Having been named, Meng Tao met Li Xiao’s inquiring gaze and said indifferently, “He said you were so ill you couldn’t even get out of bed to wash your hair, so we had to come in and check on you.”

“Said something about not being able to wash your hair for three days.” Zheng Lin glanced at Li Xiao calmly, looking disappointed that he hadn’t seen a good show. “Doesn’t this look perfectly fine?”

The students watching from the sidelines: “…”

It wasn’t just “fine”; the beauty of someone confined to a sickbed was still hitting hard.

Li Xiao swept his peripheral vision over to the Danshi school doctor who had followed them in, smiling helplessly: “Xiao Jin helped me wash it for the past two days, but I’m much better today.”

Song Jin: “…”

Don’t go pinning random personas on me.

Everyone: “…?!”

Song Jin actually helped someone wash their hair?!

Meng Tao secretly signaled the school doctor to go over and perform the check-up. Li Xiao had been tested by the military academy’s own doctor three days ago, but he had deeply doubted the authenticity of that data; he felt the whole thing was a move to deal with Qi Ge. Li Xiao was a man of deep schemes and devious tricks—one could never let their guard down.

The Alpha school doctor placed the instruments he had brought by the bedside and reached out to open Li Xiao’s collar, only to be stopped by Song Jin.

The doctor paused slightly, smiling as he explained to Song Jin: “I need to test his pheromone stability, so I have to attach a testing chip to his gland.”

“Has this instrument been checked by the security department?” Seeing the doctor look over in confusion, Song Jin picked up the patch to examine it closely. “I heard there’s a type of nano-poison needle that can kill a person within three seconds of adhering to the skin.”

The doctor’s expression stiffened; he subconsciously glanced at Meng Tao: “I am a school doctor, not a killer. I’d be held responsible if a student died under my care.”

Song Jin raised his eyes to look at him, his tone indifferent and slow: “Your life isn’t worth much. What would you use to hold yourself responsible?”

The doctor’s eyebrow twitched; the smile on his face completely collapsed: “My point is, I couldn’t possibly want to harm him.”

Seeing this, Qian Can, who was eating a dessert, muttered softly: “Our academy’s own doctor has already checked him. Why call the Danshi doctor over? Are you that distrustful of us? Who notified them, anyway?”

“Let me check.” Qin Le logged into the student council management backend using his own terminal: “The applicant is—Meng Tao?”

All the military academy students watching looked at Meng Tao with complex emotions. Qian Can was right; doctors working at the military academy were highly skilled. Why go to the trouble of calling in a Danshi doctor, making it look as if the military academy was treating them unfairly? That was truly underhanded.

“Just when Meng Tao barged into Li Xiao’s room, he was cursing so loudly,” someone in the crowd whispered.

“I heard it too. Was that going in to provide medical care? It was basically just a room inspection.”

“Meng Tao and Qi Ge are on good terms; he was just looking for an excuse to torture Li Xiao because he’s sick.”

“How excessive. If someone pulled this stunt on me while I was sick, I’d beat them until they couldn’t even manage their own lives.”

Hearing the whispers behind him, Meng Tao’s expression soured. Facing the questioning stares of everyone, he gritted his teeth and insisted, “That’s right, I was the one who applied! Is there something wrong with caring about a classmate?!”

As he said this, Meng Tao looked at Song Jin and shouted angrily: “You say the doctor wants to harm Li Xiao? If you have evidence, produce it. If you don’t, stop spreading rumors!”

“Did I say he wanted to harm Li Xiao?” Song Jin didn’t even look at him, hooking a finger at Qian Can. “Go to the infirmary and request a set of equipment. Tell them it’s for the Danshi doctor to use for Li Xiao’s examination.”

He stressed the latter half of the sentence specifically, making the Alpha school doctor, Meng Tao, and the other Danshi students feel extremely embarrassed.

“Received! I’ll be right back.” Qian Can ran off with a giggle.

Having been accused for no reason, the Alpha school doctor’s tone turned sour: “Classmate, the equipment is all the same. Is it really necessary to replace it?”

Song Jin: “The doctors are all the same, so why was it necessary to specifically replace one?”

The watching military academy students secretly gave a thumbs up.

Awesome!

That’s exactly how you need to be—tough!

Otherwise, this group of Danshi people would be walking all over them!

From the moment Song Jin appeared until now, his expression had been poor, and the watching students wouldn’t have dared to join in the fun if they weren’t genuinely curious about Li Xiao’s injury. They had even been whispering, fearing they might provoke Song Jin. But seeing Song Jin defend the dignity of the military academy, they suddenly felt that this unapproachable Song Jin was actually quite amiable.

Meng Tao’s face was dark. He suddenly unleashed a barrage on the silent Li Xiao: “Li Xiao, I invited the doctor over out of the kindness of my heart, and in his mouth, it’s turned into an assassination attempt! You are a Danshi person, too—are you just going to watch him bully us like this?!”

Everyone immediately looked over.

Meng Tao’s question was malicious; if Li Xiao didn’t answer well, he’d likely be branded a traitor.

Li Xiao sipped the hot tea Jiang Hao had poured, thinking to himself: If I don’t “watch,” what else can I do? When the little Golden Lion was giving someone a hard time, whoever rushed in would be cannon fodder; he wasn’t that stupid.

Before Li Xiao could open his mouth, Qin Le explained politely: “Meng Tao, I think you’ve misunderstood. Song Jin doesn’t mean to bully you. The military academy has regulations: equipment that hasn’t been checked by the security department is not allowed to be used on students. This is to ensure the safety of everyone.”

Meng Tao suppressed his anger: “Wasn’t it checked when we arrived at the military academy?”

Qin Le pressed: “But was it checked when you arrived at the examination grounds?”

“What do you mean?!” Meng Tao glared at Qin Le. “Are you suspecting our doctor of tampering with the equipment on the road?!”

Qin Le: “Apologies, rules are rules. You are welcome to come to the student council office if you have any questions about the academy regulations.”

The two began to argue, and Jiang Hao spoke up weakly to stop them: “Meng Tao, can you not be so loud? Big Brother is feeling unwell again.”

Everyone had been too busy watching the argument, but once they saw Li Xiao knitting his brows and rubbing his temples with an expression of pained endurance, they couldn’t help but feel a pang of sympathy. Li Dalao really didn’t provoke anyone—to be this sick and still be tortured by people like Meng Tao.

Meng Tao suddenly froze. In front of so many students, he had no choice but to clench his teeth and swallow his rage.

“Meng Tao, I said before that I’d be fine after a few days of rest. I really didn’t expect you to go to such lengths to notify the school doctor to rush over. You’ve gone to a lot of trouble.”

Li Xiao turned his head to look at the Alpha school doctor. “I trust the professional capability of the academy’s own doctors, but since you’re already here, let’s consider this a follow-up examination. I was actually planning to let Xiao Jin accompany me to the infirmary today anyway. But since we are at the military academy, we have to follow the military academy’s rules, don’t you think?”

His words were watertight, leaving no room for anyone to find a fault. The Alpha school doctor could only nod, feeling forced: “You are right.”

The lingering annoyance in the hearts of the military academy students was completely smoothed away by Li Xiao’s single sentence.

See that? Li Dalao likes the military academy so much!

Unlike some people, who guard against us like we’re thieves!

“Xiao Jin was only being cautious for my sake. I don’t want to see someone I like being rebuked for no reason again.”

Li Xiao deliberately held Song Jin’s hand, looking at Meng Tao once more. His tone was much colder and harder than before. “Meng Tao, I consider you a friend, and I hope you can respect me as well. There won’t be a next time for something like this.”

Meng Tao gritted his teeth: “What did you say?”

Li Xiao met his fierce gaze and said calmly: “Not a next time. Did you understand me?”

The two Alphas’ auras clashed, and Meng Tao was left utterly crushed.

Qin Le and everyone else were shocked.

Li Xiao is actually warning Meng Tao… for Song Jin’s sake?!

Since arriving at Saint-Ya, hadn’t Li Xiao been polite to everyone? Previously, when Li Xiao was scolded by Meng Tao, and later slandered publicly by Qi Ge, Li Xiao had let it go easily, causing students to complain on the academy forum in his defense. Unexpectedly, Li Xiao had finally stood up for himself!

Could Li Xiao and Song Jin actually be serious?!

Song Jin quietly exerted strength to pull his hand away. At an angle where no one could see, he warned Li Xiao with his eyes: [Talk is talk, don’t go moving your hands and feet.]

Li Xiao didn’t let go, holding firm: [I cooperated with you just now, shouldn’t it be your turn to cooperate with me now?]

Seeing that he couldn’t break free, Song Jin simply let his hand slide up along the inside of Li Xiao’s wrist, blatantly taking liberties.

Li Xiao caught the hand that was running wild: […Don’t move around.]

Song Jin not only didn’t stop, but with fearless audacity, he pinched Li Xiao’s inner forearm.

Li Xiao: “…”

It hurts.

Meng Tao was so angry his lungs were about to explode.

Clearly, Song Jin had been the one to start the trouble, yet Li Xiao had twisted the truth! If he tore off his mask with Li Xiao now, he wouldn’t be able to stay at the military academy anymore.

After weighing his options, Meng Tao glanced at Song Jin and said indifferently: “Sorry about just now; I misunderstood your good intentions.”

Song Jin smiled: “With an IQ like yours, it’s normal that you don’t understand human speech.”

The remark drew laughter from the group at the door. Meng Tao’s hand at his side clenched tightly; he almost threw a punch.

Not long after, Qian Can and the medical department staff arrived with the testing equipment. Under the requirements of the staff, the Alpha school doctor had to change his white coat and gloves and re-disinfect before he was allowed to operate, feeling deeply disgruntled.

In such a guarded environment, how could anyone possibly find an opportunity to act?

The instrument was specifically designed to test pheromone stability. The report showed that the values were within the normal range.

Before Meng Tao and the others could open their mouths, Jiang Hao preemptively said: “That’s great! It’s already returned to a normal level; he’ll be fine in two days!”

The word “returned” was highly suggestive. The students didn’t even doubt the test results from three days ago, all of them wearing expressions of relief. But Meng Tao, Zheng Lin, and the others had even uglier expressions.

Had it actually returned to a normal level, or had it been normal the whole time? There had been no Danshi doctor present when the incident occurred, so they had no evidence to question Li Xiao. Now, it was too late to pursue it further.

Meng Tao asked coldly: “Since you’re fine now, you can release Qi Ge, right?”

Qin Le took over the conversation: “He seriously violated school regulations. We are discussing the matter with the relevant departments and plan to repatriate him to his country in the near future.”

Meng Tao’s brows twitched: “He didn’t release his pheromones on purpose; he just happened to be heard by Li Xiao, who was passing by. Why is the punishment so severe? Wasn’t Li Xiao perfectly fine?”

“Qi Ge didn’t do that by accident,” someone among the military academy students whispered in rebuttal. “If we don’t punish this severely, what happens if others imitate him later? Are we even supposed to survive?”

“Exactly.”

“It was clearly intentional. Only pheromones in an ‘attack’ form can injure someone.”

“Sophistry.”

Qin Le spoke at the right moment: “Regarding this matter, you can talk to me privately. It’s better not to disturb the patient’s rest here.”

After speaking, Qin Le led the doctor out and dismissed all the onlookers.

Da Bei, who hadn’t found an opportunity to speak, seized the chance to approach the bedside: “Brother, you scared me to death. Are you really okay?”

Li Xiao: “I’m fine, don’t worry. I’m feeling a bit sleepy, I’ll rest for a while.”

Seeing that he was indeed exhausted, Da Bei left the room after confirming he was okay, turning around to encode the events into a secret message and sending it back to the Danshi royal palace.