Following the “320 Incident,” Song Jin and Li Xiao used their injuries as an excuse to skip class for two days. When they finally sauntered back to the classroom two days later, every seat was taken, save for a few empty spots in the very center of the front row.

Meng Tao, who had been busy taking notes, froze the moment he saw Li Xiao. His pen slipped, tearing through the paper. He’s still alive!

“Boss!” Qian Can waved from the back row. “Take my seat!”

Da Bei scrambled to raise his hand. “Brother, sit here!”

“No need.” Li Xiao led Song Jin to the front row, directly in the center, and sat down. He and the instructor, Chen Xing, locked eyes in a stare-down.

“How are you both feeling?” Chen Xing asked with genuine concern.

It had been years since such a major incident occurred at the military academy. When Chen Xing had been ordered by his superiors to record equipment damage in Hall 320 on Sunday, he had expected a routine inspection. He had been naive.

The entire hall was a wreck. Discarded patrol AIs littered the floor, offices across several levels were reduced to rubble, and the walls and hallways were scarred with marks from air cannons and tranquilizer darts. This wasn’t just a simple case of an Omega’s accidental estrus leading to a brawl; it looked like a high-stakes “AI Battle Royale.”

“Much better,” Li Xiao replied.

“And the others?”

“Not sure. We’ve been kept in separate isolation rooms for the past few days, so we haven’t crossed paths.”

Chen Xing sighed. “The friendly tournament is scheduled for next Monday. If they don’t recover by then, they might miss out.”

“What’s there to worry about?” Song Jin flipped through his textbook, his tone pointed. “If they want to go, they’ll recover naturally.”

Chen Xing gave him a long, questioning look but said nothing, turning back to his lecture. Within moments, the two “model students” who had just arrived were fast asleep.

…What exactly did you two come here for? The other students glanced at them, stunned. Sleeping in the front row—you two really have no shame.

Chen Xing paced with his hands behind his back, exuding the full intensity of a combat instructor as he shouted, “Some people rank first in practical combat, yet their theoretical knowledge is an absolute disaster! Their attitude toward learning is atrocious! I won’t name names, but Li Xiao, Song Jin, what do you think?”

Half a minute passed. The room was deathly silent, save for the faint sound of two people snoring.

Unable to salvage his dignity, Chen Xing pointed a finger at Jiang Hao. “What about you?”

Jiang Hao stood up. “I didn’t choose to get a single-digit score, sir. My strength simply doesn’t allow for anything else.”

“Pffft…” A group of students clamped their hands over their mouths, terrified that laughing would draw the instructor’s wrath.

Chen Xing was fuming, but looking at Jiang Hao’s innocent expression, he couldn’t bring himself to scold him. “…Sit down!”

Qian Can, suppressing his laughter, gave Jiang Hao a thumbs-up. You really know how to get under someone’s skin.

When the bell rang, Li Xiao woke up on time. Seeing the “little lion” was still sleeping, he reached out to rub his soft hair. “Wake up, time to eat.”

Song Jin opened his eyes slowly and glared coldly. “Do you want to lose your hand?”

Li Xiao pointed to his own arm. “My arm went numb from you sleeping on it.”

Song Jin looked down and realized his head was resting on Li Xiao’s arm. …This brat must have forced my head onto his arm. That must be it. It was suspiciously comfortable, making him reluctant to get up.

“Brother, are you okay?” Da Bei rushed over to the front row, looking nervous.

“I’m fine.” Li Xiao shook his numb arm as he stood up. He and Song Jin walked out, yawning. They had been kept busy in the isolation zone for the past few days and hadn’t gotten nearly enough sleep.

Just as they reached the door, Meng Tao and Zheng Lin blocked their path. Meng Tao looked Li Xiao up and down, his tone dripping with sarcasm. “You’ve got good luck. Doesn’t look like you suffered any injuries.”

Li Xiao lowered his gaze, looking down at him. “Are you disappointed that I wasn’t severely injured?”

Meng Tao twisted his lips into a stiff, reluctant smile. “That’s a bit ungrateful; I’m just concerned about you.”

Li Xiao replied coolly, “Thanks, but my wife gets jealous easily. You should focus your efforts on someone else.”

Song Jin stared back with dead fish eyes. …Stupid brat. Calling me ‘wife’ so naturally.

The surrounding students were speechless. More dog food to the face.

As Li Xiao and his three companions walked away, Meng Tao’s expression turned hideous. So many people involved, and they couldn’t even deal with Li Xiao alone!

Zheng Lin secretly observed the reactions of the surrounding students and warned in a low voice, “Don’t make your intentions so obvious!” Li Xiao’s popularity at the military academy was sky-high; the Shengya students already viewed him as “one of their own.” The reputations of the exchange students were already souring, and continuing this rivalry would do them no favors.

“Stay out of my business!” Meng Tao glared at him and strode away. Zheng Lin rolled his eyes. If your surname wasn’t Meng, do you think anyone would care?

Not long after the four of them left the building, a row of official vehicles marked with both the Danse and Shengya emblems flew overhead, heading toward the government district.

“Yo, the diplomatic corps is here,” Qian Can noted, squinting in their direction. “We’ve shown such sincerity, what else could Danse be unhappy about?”

“How do you know it’s the diplomatic corps?” Jiang Hao asked curiously.

Because I’ve been watching it since I was a kid. Qian Can said with a grin, “I’ve seen it on the news.”

During dinner, the Danse diplomatic staff were led to the medical center in the isolation zone. They were met with the body of the Alpha student, Fu Sang, who had been killed that night, and a fierce verbal war broke out immediately.

“That’s not what you said yesterday!” the Danse official roared.

The Shengya official replied with a blank face, “For the sake of our two nations’ friendship, this matter is not convenient to disclose to the public. I believe your side can understand our well-intentioned efforts.”

“Bullshit!” the Danse official pointed at the body bag containing Fu Sang. “One of our cadets died at your academy for no reason, and you don’t even have an explanation?!”

“His pheromones went out of control, and he maliciously harmed other students. The security team had no choice but to kill him.”

“There are countless ways to stop an Alpha’s rampage! Why did you have to kill him?! We absolutely do not accept this!”

By the time dinner was over, the news of Fu Sang’s death had reached Meng Tao. He stood up abruptly and reread the message: Shengya wants to keep Fu Sang’s death confidential. The two sides haven’t reached an agreement. Others have minor injuries and have been released.

Someone actually died? What the hell happened that night?! Meng Tao didn’t want to wait a second longer. He hurried back to the dorms after dinner. The simplest way to know the truth was to ask them directly.

The next day, the selection method for the Friendly University Tournament was finalized. Since the third and fourth years had heavy mission loads, they wouldn’t participate. The spots for the first and second years would be determined by their previous test scores. In the Q303 practical combat test, Li Xiao’s team had taken first place, securing their spot with an absolute advantage.

Before class ended, Chen Xing told the group, “Although there aren’t many credits for this tournament, hundreds of universities are participating! You cannot afford to lose so badly that you embarrass the academy! Since you’re participating, you can’t be half-hearted. Li Xiao, Song Jin, are you listening?!”

Suddenly singled out, Li Xiao replied with a blank expression, “I would be embarrassing Danse’s face.”

Song Jin added, “I would be embarrassing his face.”

Chen Xing: “…” Is ’embarrassment’ the only thing on your minds?!

The other students: “…” As unmotivated as always.

Chen Xing turned to Meng Tao and the other exchange students. “You aren’t restricted by the quota. If you want to participate, submit your applications to the management backend by Thursday.”

After class, Song Jin wiped the sweat from his forehead with a damp towel, counting the remaining unconfirmed modified humans in his mind. The 07 system had detected 85 of them. To ensure nothing went wrong before heading to the Imperial Capital, he needed Li Xiao to confirm them one more time.

“Li Xiao!” Meng Tao chased after him and grabbed Li Xiao by the collar. “It’s all because of you that Fu Sang is dead!”

Just as Meng Tao was about to throw a punch, Song Jin grabbed his wrist. No matter how hard Meng Tao pushed, he couldn’t move it an inch. Song Jin shoved him away and said coldly, “Who gave you permission to lay a hand on what’s mine?”

The class had just ended, and the students hadn’t left yet. Da Bei, who had been retrieving his water bottle, saw the situation and scrambled over. “Meng Tao, what are you trying to do again?!”

“What am I trying to do?” Meng Tao pointed at Li Xiao. “Why don’t you ask him what he did!”

Li Xiao calmly adjusted his collar. “Who is Fu Sang?”

“Don’t play dumb with me.” Meng Tao waited for a crowd to gather, then said with a mournful face, “He was the biggest victim of the 320 incident. Because of you, he died!”

The surrounding students exchanged confused looks. The official announcement hadn’t mentioned any exchange student deaths.

Da Bei blocked Li Xiao. “What kind of dirty water are you trying to splash on us again?! Don’t think we’re easy to bully!”

Meng Tao pulled him aside and glared at Li Xiao. “Didn’t the school announcement say an Omega had an accidental estrus? Didn’t it say the Alphas started fighting because they were affected?” Seeing no one speak, Meng Tao continued, “The upperclassman who went into estrus that night was Wei Ming. He went to congratulate Li Xiao on his win, never expecting Li Xiao to release pheromones to induce Wei Ming’s estrus and try to force himself on him! Wei Ming ran to a crowded area to protect himself, and Fu Sang and the others rushed to help, leading to the collective brawl!”

The students who had been following the drama were no strangers to that name—Wei Ming was the one who had gone to Li Xiao to show off his wealth.

“How could Li Xiao attack Wei Ming? He likes Song Jin,” one student spoke up, and others echoed the sentiment.

Da Bei added, “You weren’t even there, how do you know so much?”

“Wei Ming and the others told me. If you don’t believe me, we can confront them face-to-face, or go to the Student Council and check the surveillance footage,” Meng Tao said coldly. “Fu Sang’s pheromones went out of control, and he attacked the security team that arrived, so he was killed on the spot. What did he do wrong?! Yet the instigator is perfectly fine!”

Zheng Lin and the other exchange students watched from the side. He had heard the same story from Wei Ming and Lin Zhou the night before. If they could use this to force Shengya to deport Li Xiao back to their home country, the rest of the plan would be easy.

“My brother would never attack an Omega!” Da Bei insisted.

“But he did!” Meng Tao retorted sharply.

Da Bei wanted to say more, but Li Xiao signaled him to stop. “There’s nothing more to say.”

Da Bei was frustrated. “He’s slandering you, we can’t just let it go!”

Meng Tao was picking this moment precisely to embarrass Li Xiao in front of everyone. If this charge of attacking an Omega were to stick, Li Xiao would never be able to hold his head high again.

Li Xiao looked at Meng Tao and said calmly, “Fine, you’re right about everything. Satisfied?”

Surprised by the reaction, Meng Tao frowned. “It’s not about whether I’m satisfied; we just want the truth! The guilty must be punished!”

Li Xiao said, “You’re the eldest grandson of the Meng family, your status is noble. Whoever you say is guilty is guilty—who would dare to defy you?”

“You—!”

“This is Shengya, not that barbaric place called Danse.”

Song Jin walked closer, his voice lowering. “You can pull the surveillance footage from that night whenever you want. But—you’d better think carefully about the consequences of exposing exactly who harmed who.”

Meng Tao’s eyelids twitched as he stared into Song Jin’s eyes. “Fu Sang cannot die in vain!”

Song Jin spread his hands. “Fine. I never supported letting my wife take the blame just to save an Omega’s reputation anyway. Why don’t we investigate it to the very end and see who ends up in ruins?”

With that, Song Jin grabbed Li Xiao’s hand and strode away.

Da Bei and the surrounding students were left with heads full of question marks. Although Song Jin’s voice hadn’t been loud, those who wanted to hear had heard enough to piece it together: It wasn’t Li Xiao trying to force himself on Wei Ming—it was the exact opposite. The school had apparently let Li Xiao take the fall to protect the Omega’s reputation. Meng Tao had been kept in the dark and had just fallen for Wei Ming’s lies.

Li Xiao is truly pitiful.

Meng Tao had suffered another defeat, his heart filled with doubt. Judging by that tone, Li Xiao already knew that Wei Ming and the others had tried to kill him, and Song Jin seemed to have figured it out too. If this were exposed, Danse would lose all leverage to negotiate with Shengya, and might even be forced to compensate them.

Upon returning, Meng Tao immediately sent the intelligence back home.

In another dorm, Da Bei followed Li Xiao inside, his mind fixated on Li Xiao’s comment about Meng Tao’s “noble status.” No matter how noble Meng Tao is, he isn’t as noble as Li Xiao, the Second Prince! Why does he have to suffer this injustice?!

Seeing Li Xiao pour a glass of water, Da Bei stopped him and asked exactly that. Li Xiao remained silent for a long time before pulling out his terminal and playing an audio file. “Qin Le gave this to me. He found it accidentally while investigating the incident where Qi Ge attacked me.”

Da Bei listened, confused, until he heard Meng Tao’s angry voice in the audio: 【I want to see who dares to oppose our Meng family!】… 【Why don’t you just notify the Emperor directly? Anyway, no one dares to defy your Meng family’s will.】

Da Bei’s scalp prickled. He had Li Xiao play it again, confirming from the context that the person speaking to Meng Tao was from the Diplomatic Corps.

“If even the diplomatic service is a mouthpiece for his family, and he’s determined to target me, what else can I do?” Li Xiao’s voice was very low, failing to hide his disappointment.

“Brother, can you send this to me?” Seeing Li Xiao’s confused look, Da Bei stammered, “I want to see if it’s been synthesized.” Li Xiao sent it without a word and turned back to his room. Da Bei immediately returned to his own room and sent the audio back to the Palace, along with a full report of what had happened that day.

The Danse Royal Palace.

Yi Yongning and Meng Jian received the news of the exchange students’ deaths at almost the same time. One of the dead was the son of the Deputy Commander of the 32nd Legion. An emergency meeting was convened to discuss whether to recall the exchange students and implement sanctions against Shengya.

Out of the five top generals, only Gao Wanxin was absent. Four voted, and two voted to recall. Zheng Kang-an, seeing Meng Jian hesitate, didn’t rush to express his opinion.

Yi Yongning sneered, “Are you both abstaining?”

Zheng Kang-an didn’t even look at him. “What’s the rush?”

The assassination of Li Xiao had failed. Recalling everyone was the best choice—as long as Li Xiao returned to Danse territory, his fate would be in their hands. But the Shengya Royal Family had played an enticing card. Opportunities to go to Shengya’s Imperial Capital were rare, and this one offered a chance to directly contact the royal family. Whether to deal with Li Xiao first or spy on the Shengya royal family made Meng Jian hesitate.

Shengya surely hadn’t discovered the secret of the modified humans, otherwise they wouldn’t have taken this risk. But they likely held evidence of the exchange students’ assassination attempt on Li Xiao. If it were exposed, Shengya could extract themselves completely and turn to attack them instead. Shengya’s current approach was clear: they wouldn’t expose it to keep diplomatic relations intact, but if Danse insisted on pursuing it, they would tear off the mask.

Meng Jian said, “The opportunity is rare. Let the children stay in Shengya to learn; this time was just an accident.”

Yi Yongning’s face sank. “A child is dead. How come it sounds like nothing happened in your mouth?”

Meng Jian crossed his arms. “The cause was the Danse child. What good does it do us to keep pursuing it?”

Zheng Kang-an chimed in, “Makes sense. Then I’ll vote against recall too.”

Two against two. The vote was tied. With two-thirds of the two thousand generals present agreeing with Meng Jian, the final decision was not to recall. After the results were out, Yi Yongning picked up the meeting notes and stormed off. Zheng Kang-an chuckled. “Old brat. You’ve lived this long and still don’t know your own weight.”

At the same time, Li Ji was reading the report sent back by Da Bei. Special Assistant Old Liu stood by like a candle, sweating profusely, not daring to take a breath.

The terminal vibrated again. He reported in a low voice, “The military meeting results are out. They decided not to recall.”

Li Ji didn’t raise his head. “Meng Jian’s decision?”

Old Liu pursed his lips. “Meng Jian voted against recall, but the final result was determined by the others.”

Li Ji said nothing more. He grabbed a teacup, took a large gulp, and set it back down heavily. “This Wei brat wants to get married. Help him find a good family. The 25th of this month is a good day for weddings; it saves his father the worry.”

Old Liu looked at the calendar—today was the 12th. He wants the kid married in half a month?! “Find… find which family?”

Li Ji frowned slightly. “I have to do this trivial matter too?”

Old Liu hurried to agree. “I’ll handle it immediately!”

As people left, Old Liu thought of the audio and tentatively asked, “Should we investigate that audio?”

Li Ji: “No need. You go out first.”

Old Liu: “Yes.”

When he was gone, Li Ji slammed the file onto the table, holding his throbbing forehead, suppressing the rising fury for a long time. He took his private terminal out of the drawer. There were no notifications on it. He clicked on a dialogue box named “Little Radish.” The latest message was from eleven years ago, only a few short words: 【I have something to discuss with my brother, may I ask when it would be convenient to see you?】

Li Ji typed a line of text, deleted it all after a long time, turned off the terminal, and put it back, continuing his work as if nothing happened.

By Thursday, the tournament roster was basically set. During lunch, Qin Le suddenly brought up Wei Ming. “Danse says Wei Ming is frail and they are picking him up separately. He was already signed up, too.”

Li Xiao paused while picking up food. “When did this happen?”

“Just an hour ago. We received contact from the diplomatic corps saying all of Wei Ming’s upcoming studies are canceled and he is to be sent back within two days.”

“This is for his own good,” Da Bei said while drinking his soup. “The Emperor heard about his situation and was very sympathetic. He specifically found a partner for him, and they are getting married this month.”

“Pffft-cough-cough…” Qian Can sprayed his soup. “Your Danse side knows how to play!”

Song Jin looked disgusted and quickly moved away toward Li Xiao.

“Qian San.”

Qian Can felt wronged: “…Sorry.” You didn’t look this disgusted when Li Xiao sprayed his food.

Li Xiao was almost squeezed onto the floor by Song Jin. He reached out to support the back of his chair, a gesture that made him look like he was hugging Song Jin. “Don’t spill the food on yourself.”

Song Jin accused, “My bowl is full of his saliva.”

Li Xiao: “Then go order another one.”

Song Jin was eating happily and didn’t want to wait. He snatched a piece of meat from Li Xiao’s bowl. “You go order another one.”

Li Xiao: “My bowl is full of my saliva.”

Song Jin finished chewing with puffed cheeks. “What kind of nonsense are you talking about? Of course I know that.”

Li Xiao: “…” Should I say you’re a germaphobe, or that you aren’t?

Seeming to notice what Li Xiao was thinking, Song Jin took another piece right in front of him. “Forgot to tell you, I have selective germaphobia.”

Li Xiao: “…”

Qin Le and the others: “…” Not a single bite of this meal can be eaten anymore.

Back in the dorm, Li Xiao sat at his desk and pulled up his terminal. He stared at Li Ji’s private number for a long time, but ultimately couldn’t bring himself to call. Even if it connected, they wouldn’t have two sentences worth of normal conversation. It was better not to contact him at all.

In the opposite dorm, Song Jin finished verifying the last set of data and said to 07, “Send the adjusted test program to 00 and 01.”

“Sent.”

Song Jin rubbed his aching brows. Going back to the Imperial Capital this time, I hope no more accidents happen. He had guessed why his brother suddenly agreed to see Li Xiao, but why did Li Xiao want to see his brother?

He suddenly thought of something and searched the system for information from the intelligence department from many years ago. He had seen it somewhere before. Found it! Song Jin clicked on the investigation into the Danse royal family. The previous King of Danse was named Li Su. He and the Queen had only one child—the current King, Li Ji. But rumors had long circulated in the Danse palace that Li Su had cheated on the Queen with a servant and had another child. Information about this child was extremely scarce; to this day, no one knew if they were dead or alive.

More than ten years ago, the military had visited the Danse royal family. A file from that year mentioned a seven-year-old Second Prince—the age perfectly matched Li Xiao. Yet, there were no other descriptions. Li Xiao had the bloodline of the Beique tribe, the jewelry he wore didn’t meet the standards for a prince, and he hung out with a hooligan organization like the Snow Leopards—could he really be a prince?

If he was, would the modified humans in Danse be related to the royal family? Thinking of Song Yang’s remark, “Let him come find me himself,” Song Jin had a vague feeling that the thin, winding threads of the mystery were finally converging.

Going back this time, I’ll find Brother Yang and ask. Maybe then everything will be clear.

“Master, do you want me to connect you to Dad?” 07 asked.

Song Jin: “No need. I’ll go see him myself.”

In another dorm, Meng Tao received a reply from home: 【The situation is unclear; act according to the circumstances.】

Looking at these eight characters, Meng Tao felt uneasy about the upcoming trip to the Imperial Capital. As long as he was in Shengya, Li Xiao couldn’t be completely controlled. But Li Xiao had too much influence on the Emperor; if he wasn’t removed soon, he might affect more of their plans.

In the opposite dorm, Zheng Lin also received a message from home: 【Don’t be the bird that sticks its head out.】

By Monday morning at 8:00 AM, all tournament participants wore their training uniforms and gathered at Hall No. 2 to prepare for the trip to the Imperial Capital.

Entering the tarmac, Qian Can sighed while drinking in the cold wind, “I didn’t expect to be able to go home so soon. Can I stay there and not come back?”

Jiang Hao: “Not going to school anymore?”

Qian Can leaned on his shoulder. “Training every day is so exhausting. How can it compare to lying flat in the Imperial Capital?”

As he was speaking, Zhao Cheng walked over to them. “Li Xiao.”

Zhao Cheng scratched his head, looking away awkwardly. “That day… sorry about that.”

Li Xiao: “Why apologize?”

Zhao Cheng cleared his throat. “I didn’t know so many things would happen later. I’m sorry you got hurt.”

Li Xiao said coolly, “That wasn’t your problem.”

As they walked toward the spaceship together, Zhao Cheng couldn’t help but say, “You’re really strong. Only after I competed with you did I truly experience it. How did you calculate that back then?”

Li Xiao didn’t dislike those who could humble themselves enough to admit mistakes, so he casually explained the calculation method for the training field in Zone C. After a bit of technical exchange, Zhao Cheng was completely convinced. He patted Li Xiao on the shoulder, laughing, “Compete again if there’s a chance! If you want to learn any mech techniques in the future, just come find me!”

His hand had just made contact before it was ruthlessly swatted away. Zhao Cheng looked—it was Song Jin.

Song Jin pulled Li Xiao over and looked at Zhao Cheng leisurely. “He’s a man with a family. Keep your hands and feet straight before you talk.”

Zhao Cheng: “…I don’t think of him as a partner.”

“Who knows?” Song Jin hugged Li Xiao and boarded the spaceship.

Li Xiao swatted his hand away. “Keep your hands and feet straight before you talk.”

Song Jin: “…”