DALOA CH12

Hearing Song Jin mention his brother Song Yu made Li Xiao feel, for some reason, a little annoyed.

He was born into royalty and had long been used to plots, schemes, and mutual deception. Ever since he could remember, many people had crowded around him, trying to win his favor so they could get closer to his brother—the king—and profit for themselves or their families.

In the end, Li Xiao’s real goal was also his brother. He was no different from those people.

Still, he was curious what kind of benefit a Danse person would want by approaching his brother.

Song Jin kept his expression unchanged and asked in confusion, “You mean the Song Yu in the palace?”

“Is there a second Song Yu?” Li Xiao said.

Song Jin spread his hands. “He and I have the relationship of a leader and a commoner.”

“…”

As expected, getting the little golden lion to tell the truth wasn’t that easy.

Li Xiao turned and left without saying a word.

“Hey,” Song Jin stopped him. “We agreed on one question each. I haven’t asked mine yet.”

“Ask.”

Song Jin asked, “What did you just discover about Zhang Ming?”

Li Xiao answered very seriously, “I found that his pheromones don’t smell very good.”

“…”

They had both told the truth, but the answers were a long way from what each other wanted.

Song Jin teased him, “Didn’t expect you to have a fetish for smelling alphas’ pheromones?”

The dim light from the satellite filtered through the window. In the dark office, Li Xiao met Song Jin’s beautiful eyes.

“Most of the time, words lie, but pheromones don’t. Just like illness—maybe you haven’t noticed it yourself yet, but your pheromones are already sending a warning.”

“Is that so? You can tell just by smell?” Song Jin asked.

Li Xiao took two steps closer, braced both hands on the desk, and pressed Song Jin between himself and the table. He tilted his head slightly and leaned toward Song Jin’s neck.

Song Jin hadn’t released any pheromones, but Li Xiao could faintly smell a rare, clear, refreshing scent.

Rather than saying he smelled it, it would be more accurate to say he sensed it.

It was obviously different from that murky rotten-tomato smell—this was the scent of an exceptional alpha teenager.

Being so close, Li Xiao’s alpha scent surged toward him.

Alphas had very strong territorial instincts. Song Jin instinctively felt the threat, brought the fingers at his side together, and asked calmly, “So what did you smell?”

Li Xiao spoke nonsense with complete seriousness: “Too much sugar. Risk of diabetes.”

Diabetes? Song Jin lost patience and threw a punch.

Before the blow landed in his stomach, Li Xiao caught his wrist.

“You told me to say it.”

“Exercise to burn off excess sugar would lower the risk, wouldn’t it?” Song Jin said.

Just as Song Jin was about to shake off Li Xiao’s hand, he heard footsteps in the hallway outside. Soon after, the office door was pushed open.

“Boss!” Qian Can rushed in anxiously.

While they were checking the surveillance, Song Jin had disappeared. Since something had just happened here, Qian Can was worried and came looking for him in a hurry.

The office wasn’t lit, the light was dim and ambiguous, and Li Xiao and Song Jin were standing very close. The atmosphere was all wrong.

Qian Can: “…?”

What the hell?

Knowing that further probing would get him nowhere useful, Li Xiao let go of Song Jin and headed out. “I’m leaving. You guys can keep busy.”

Song Jin: “Weren’t you just saying you’d help the student council find the person responsible?”

Li Xiao: “I can help. What do I get in return?”

Song Jin followed slowly behind him. “Helping the student council is every student’s duty, Classmate Xiao Li.”

“…”

No respect at all.

Their footsteps echoed down the quiet hallway.

Looking ahead, Li Xiao said, “I’m not a student here. If you give me the answer, maybe I’ll consider it.”

Qian Can was completely lost. “Answer? What answer?”

Li Xiao didn’t answer and went straight into the elevator.

Song Jin watched the numbers change on the display, then turned back to the student council office.

Qian Can hurried after him, excitedly lowering his voice. “Boss, he won’t be after you, will he?! That’s bold of him!”

Song Jin ignored him and instead asked, “Still no leads?”

“Nothing so far,” Qian Can answered.

In the student council management system there were not only student records, but also sensitive data on the military academy’s security and defense system, weapons depot, military bases, and other classified information.

So far, the backend only showed access records from vice president Zhang Ming. Apart from the missing two-plus minutes of surveillance, nothing else looked abnormal, and even the system self-check found nothing else.

Qian Can said, “This batch of Danse exchange students is the most suspicious, but even with the military academy’s defenses, we can’t find any flaw at all. They’re definitely not ordinary.”

Song Jin said, “We can rule out Li Xiao for now.”

Qian Can was surprised. “How can you be sure?”

Li Xiao could see hidden launch ports, and right now he was the strongest among the exchange students. He was also the one who showed up here so late—he should be the prime suspect.

“Intuition.” Song Jin thought of Li Xiao’s reaction just now. “But he definitely knows something.”

When Qin Le saw them return, he stood up and told Song Jin, “I checked it. The top-secret files weren’t breached, but the regular materials may already have been leaked.”

Song Jin sat down and personally looked through the backend records.

Both the student records and the surveillance modules had access logs from Zhang Ming.

If someone had infiltrated the system, they probably used Zhang Ming’s authority.

Song Jin looked toward Zhang Ming. “You lost consciousness right after smelling the odor?”

Zhang Ming held his forehead. “Yeah, it felt like someone smashed my head with a hammer.”

Song Jin rested his chin on his hand, thinking. “Mind control?”

Qin Le and Qian Can’s expressions changed slightly.

The moment mind control came up, super omegas were the first thing anyone thought of.

Decades ago, a general named Lin Quan had secretly developed a modifying agent that could completely raise an omega’s pheromone level, overturning the usual weak position of omegas in the alpha-omega dynamic and instead allowing them to mentally control alphas, turning them into puppets.

One of the core ingredients in that modifying agent was extracted from the blood of the Bique tribe.

But all super omegas within Shengya were already under strict control. It wasn’t likely there had been a slip-up.

Song Jin’s terminal vibrated. His shadow guard sent a report.

[N2781’s blood has been confirmed to come from N2533. Snow Leopard is also investigating this matter. There is still no sign of the black-masked alpha.]

The message also included a location coordinate.

N2533 was also on the border of the Nanming Constellation. Like N2781, it was a “three-no” planet, occupied by some gray-area organizations.

Previously, an encrypted message had also been sent from the neighboring dorm to this same N2533, and the coordinates were all near area B of the southern continent.

Was it Qi Ge or Jiang Hao?

If it was Jiang Hao, then Li Xiao would be implicated.

But if so, what role was he playing in all this?

Song Jin’s long fingers tapped lightly on the desk. “Isn’t first year supposed to have a practical combat assessment soon?”

Qin Le replied, “Yes. Next Wednesday we’re going to Sector B-880 for a week-long practical exercise.”

Song Jin said, “I remember the academy also has several practical bases in the Tianqi Constellation? Next assessment, move it to Tianqi. Notify the school and arrange both invisible and regular surveillance cameras to be randomly distributed at the testing grounds.”

With outsiders present, Qin Le didn’t ask any more questions.

Though he didn’t understand why they were going so far to a different base, arranging hidden surveillance cameras was probably to test the exchange students’ abilities.

Meanwhile, Li Xiao returned to the dormitory against the cold wind. The moment he opened the door, he saw Da Bei sitting in the living room.

“Brother, you’re back!” Da Bei hurried into the kitchen to pour tea. “Cold? Drink some hot water to warm your stomach.”

Li Xiao took it casually and sat down at the bar. “Were you waiting for me?”

“No, I was just chatting with classmates in the group,” Da Bei said, leaning over the bar. “Brother, you went out to have fun today—why didn’t you take me?”

Li Xiao said, “You trained all week. It’s rare for you to get to sleep in. How could I bear to wake you?”

Da Bei said, “It’s fine! You must call me next time!”

Li Xiao agreed absentmindedly, then lifted his eyes toward him. “Any gossip from back home today?”

Da Bei’s expression flickered unnatural for a moment. He avoided Li Xiao’s gaze and scratched his face. “I’m not that into gossip.”

Li Xiao asked, “How’s the matter with Meng Zai? The emperor favors the Meng family, so he shouldn’t be so heartless.”

“How is that favor?” Da Bei objected. “I heard Meng Jian personally went to the palace to plead, and he was flatly refused by the emperor. There probably isn’t any room for reversal.”

Li Xiao drank his tea, his lowered eyes hiding his emotions. “What a pity. General Meng Zai has so much ability—if he were transferred to the Tianjiang Constellation, he’d be able to do a lot.”

“…”

He had already been insulted by Meng Tao, and he was still speaking up for the Meng family. Just how thick was his filter for them?

Last time, when Li Xiao invited Meng Tao and was rejected, he had thought the plan had failed.

Most of the time, he couldn’t figure out what his brother was thinking.

---

On Monday morning, during physical training, Instructor Chen Xing stood at the front of the formation and told everyone, “Next week’s practical assessment has been changed to Tianqi Constellation Q303. This score will affect next month’s class grouping, so please take it seriously!”

Tianqi Constellation?

Li Xiao thought it over.

From Tianqi Constellation to Nanming Constellation N2533, it took only three hours by the fastest route.

Song Jin’s intention this time was very clear.

Having the ability to get the academy to temporarily change the assessment site and casually order around the student council president made the identity of the little golden lion obvious.

But knowing his identity didn’t help much. If the other party wouldn’t cooperate, he still couldn’t contact Song Yu.

In the morning they were doing combat drills in a field of broken rubble.

Li Xiao avoided the Shengya students and specifically went after the exchange students.

Under high-intensity exercise, even if they were suppressing their pheromone release, he could still smell them.

The rotten tomato smell from last night was probably from the exchange students.

It was obvious the Danse side had sent people into Shengya Military Academy. Anyone with half a brain could tell the old men in Danse were plotting something.

As he crossed the rubble, a shadow flickered ahead. Li Xiao instinctively dodged and almost rolled off the edge.

Qi Ge seized the opening and kicked hard toward his neck.

Li Xiao sensed the intent and used the broken rocks as leverage to flip backward.

That force was probably enough to break his neck. The move was too sinister—it wasn’t training at all, it was murder.

This spot was blocked from the cameras by the rocks above. If he really fell to his death, it would probably just be classified as an accident.

Not far away, Song Jin had been watching Li Xiao’s movements the whole time. He immediately noticed something was wrong and moved quickly toward him.

Li Xiao traded a few moves with Qi Ge. Once they retreated to the next blind spot in the cameras, he struck like lightning, pinning Qi Ge by the neck against a rock.

“You want to kill me?” Li Xiao said very softly.

Qi Ge struggled hard. “What nonsense are you talking? This is training!”

After intense exercise and emotional fluctuations, Li Xiao gradually caught a familiar rotten-tomato smell.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Song Jin approaching. Li Xiao grabbed Qi Ge and pulled him forward two steps.

“Training, so anything goes, right?”

Before Qi Ge could understand what he meant, Li Xiao kicked him down from the pile of rocks more than three meters high.

Qi Ge tried to grab onto the stones. As he fell, he was cut by the sharp edges of the rocks and crashed heavily onto the sand, writhing in pain.

“Li Xiao, are you trying to kill someone?!”

A group of students nearby heard the shout and rushed over when they saw someone had been injured.

Zheng Lin helped him up. “Your leg’s cut.”

Qi Ge, furious and red-eyed, pointed at Li Xiao and accused him, “Li Xiao deliberately pushed me down!”

The students looked at one another.

“No grudge between you, why would he push you on purpose?”

“It’s probably just a misunderstanding. Let’s get him to the medical room first.”

“You have to be careful during training.”

Standing high above, Li Xiao looked down at Qi Ge. “I already said to go down and fight. You refused. Are you okay?”

Qi Ge gritted his teeth. “You hurt Meng Tao, and now you want to hurt me too. What exactly are you trying to do?!”

Seeing the students gathering more and more, Li Xiao looked at Song Jin, who had come from behind him. “If you think I harmed you, the surveillance can prove it—and he can too.”

Under Song Jin’s scrutinizing gaze, Li Xiao asked in a low voice, “You saw it, right?”

Song Jin looked at Li Xiao’s calm face and felt very unhappy.

This kid was doing it on purpose.

He was deliberately handing him leverage, testing his attitude.

Song Jin looked at Qi Ge and said expressionlessly, “You just slipped and fell by accident. Don’t blame Li Xiao. Qian San, take him to the medical room.”

Qian Can had grown up with Song Jin and understood his intentions with just one glance. He quickly crouched down to help Qi Ge. “Xiao Qi, I’ll help you go.”

“Don’t touch me,” Qi Ge snapped, shaking him off. He struggled to stand up. “This little injury doesn’t need the medical room. I can handle it myself.”

Li Xiao jumped down from the rocks in a few steps. “This was cut by a rock. It could get infected. Better let the school doctor look at it.”

Qi Ge said darkly, word by word, “No need for your concern.”

Li Xiao chuckled. “What, grown this old and still afraid of seeing a doctor?”

The other students nearby laughed too.

“It’s normal to get injured during training. This kind of scratch will be fine in a few hours.”

“The medical level here at our military academy is very good.”

“Better go quickly, or infection will be troublesome.”

Song Jin stood with his hands in his pockets, watching the farce from above, and said lazily, “You’re an exchange student from Danse. Your status is noble, so we can’t be careless.”

Qi Ge’s expression changed slightly. He turned and walked off. “No need. I’m not used to it!”

“Wow, why is he so stubborn?” Qian Can said, shaking his head.

By the time Instructor Chen Xing arrived, Qi Ge had already gone back on his own.

The crowd dispersed. Song Jin jumped down from the rocks, and Qian Can turned his wrist over, secretly showing him his sleeve stained with blood.

When he helped Qi Ge just now, Qian Can had deliberately scraped Qi Ge’s wound.

Song Jin slowly walked up beside Li Xiao, his voice icy. “You dared to use me as a chess piece. Can you afford the price?”

Li Xiao: “Didn’t I already give you something?”

Song Jin snorted lightly. “I earned this with my own ability.”

Li Xiao lowered his voice. “When the blood test report comes out, share it with me.”

Song Jin: “Are you ordering me around?”

Li Xiao: “I’m asking you, as an accomplice.”