It took Zhan Pingchuan a long time to stabilize his pheromones after they surged around like a roller coaster. His susceptible period had nearly arrived early.
His gaze flew everywhere. He covered his mouth with a fist and coughed to ease the embarrassment. “Can we make a deal? Next time you want to discuss a topic that explosive, could you give me a little warning?”
Lance had already put his glasses back on. That question had been nothing more than a desperate measure to attract the Outer God quickly.
The bastard had been tricked last time and erupted in fury. This time, unless Lance said something scandalous, It would not come out at all.
Fortunately, adapting on the spot was effortless for Lance.
He stopped walking and first looked blankly at Zhan Pingchuan. Then he hurriedly turned his head away, pressing an embarrassed palm to his cheek as though it had become unbearably hot.
“Are we not allowed to talk about things like that?” Lance asked softly.
Holy shit.
Zhan Pingchuan’s heart instantly softened.
Too fucking innocent. He was like a model student who had never received sex education, still fumbling over boundaries and thinking things like this could be discussed with classmates the same way as coursework.
Zhan Pingchuan became genuinely afraid Lance might learn proper boundaries from him and never say another dirty thing again.
“It’s not that we can’t talk about it. But you understand that kind of thing is a normal Alpha reaction, right?” Zhan Pingchuan put an arm around Lance’s shoulder and walked with him while seriously defending himself. “It just fills with blood when stimulated by pheromones. We were absolutely treating your pheromone disorder with pure, undistracted intentions.”
They had rubbed against each other hard enough to bite open a lip, and he called that pure and undistracted.
Lance found it amusing, but his expression remained blank, like a patient with a severe pornography deficiency.
“Mm. I was only worried I might damage your pure heart. You only just became an adult, after all.”
“……” Zhan Pingchuan instantly remembered the nonsense he had made up on registration day. At the time, it had been purely to provoke Ediv, but he could not exactly admit now that he was not nearly that pure.
“Cough, cough.” He turned away and coughed twice more, then muttered indistinctly, “I didn’t just turn eighteen. I’ve been eighteen since August.”
Lance naturally continued, “Mine was in May. I’m older than you.”
Some competitive instinct appeared from nowhere, and Zhan Pingchuan started lying before the thought even finished forming. “No. Do you know what the lunar calendar is?”
This time Lance genuinely did not, so he looked at Zhan Pingchuan with intense curiosity.
Zhan Pingchuan felt secure.
Little mixed-race redhead. What could he know about solar and lunar calendars?
“My family uses another calendar. When I said August, I meant my lunar birthday. My solar-calendar birthday is in January—the system you use. Understand?”
Lance knew perfectly well there was a high chance he was lying, but could not be bothered arguing. He smiled thoughtfully. “Then you’re older.”
Zhan Pingchuan was satisfied.
Lance only wanted to end the topic of whether he had gotten hard as quickly as possible. He lifted the cafeteria curtain and, as he entered, turned to ask, “Why do you think they moved the Challenge Cup forward?”
Zhan Pingchuan’s eyelid twitched. A moment ago, he had clearly felt S-rank pressure coming from that vehicle, only for Lance’s question to interrupt him.
He had not seen the person’s face, but he had memorized the license plate: C.P.1-002.001.
C.P. was Capital City’s code. 1 was the number reserved for Blue Hub. 002 meant a District Two official vehicle. 001 probably identified it as the first vehicle in that batch.
There were not many S-ranks in the world. The person inside was most likely Si Hongche, Director of Blue Hub District Two, notorious for iron-blooded ruthlessness and brutality.
Zhan Pingchuan had met Si Hongche once before. His father had taken him to the Federation’s quadrennial joint conference, where representatives from all seven top guilds discussed dungeon administration and extraction plans.
At the time, Si Hongche had already been the leading candidate to become District Two Director. When he entered, he was wiping his fingers with a handkerchief. Four-year-old Zhan Pingchuan had clearly seen blood on the cloth.
Mixed with the blood was a faint olive-scented pheromone.
An Omega’s pheromone.
So Zhan Pingchuan had always disliked him. A person who could not even treat his own Omega gently was probably no good.
Si Hongche’s presence here had to be related to Bolas and Clova’s deaths. Those two had, after all, been secret agents he personally cultivated.
Without the Ediv incident, the outside world might never have learned Blue Hub possessed such terrifying abilities.
Zhan Pingchuan was not relaxed either. If Si Hongche caught him, things would become genuinely troublesome.
“Probably related to the deaths of those two Blue Hub commanders.” His answer sounded like the kind of conspiracy theory any ordinary student could invent.
Lance knew exactly what Zhan Pingchuan was worrying about. He therefore pretended innocence. “I’m guessing maybe they have a way to use the Challenge Cup to find the killer.”
Zhan Pingchuan turned to him, tone playful. “I heard the woman died to a sniper rifle and the man was burned to charcoal. You can still find the killer from that?”
The only strange thing, in his opinion, was the car unexpectedly exploding.
He had not exactly left Bolas in one piece, but at least the family should have been able to recognize him. Zhan Pingchuan considered that a good deed.
Lance could only discuss the matter by pretending stupidity. “Maybe there’s some special ability user. Before the university president’s interview, we didn’t know anyone could reconstruct scenes and voiceprints either.”
Zhan Pingchuan teased, “Then this person is probably less useful than Bolas and Clova.”
A sharp gleam flashed through Lance’s eyes. “I think so too. Otherwise they wouldn’t need a dungeon.”
Zhan Pingchuan raised a brow, deliberately asking what he already suspected. “You think the killer is among us freshmen?”
Lance’s acting was flawless. “No way. That’s terrifying.”
The two killers looked into each other’s clear, sincere eyes. After a long moment, Zhan Pingchuan patted Lance’s shoulder and said irreverently, “Don’t be scared. Big brother will protect you.”
He never forgot to steal a little advantage.
“Mm.”
Both looked away at the same time and pretended to search for food.
The cafeteria was crowded. Si Hongche had ruined Zhan Pingchuan’s appetite. He was about to settle for a salad when he saw Lance brace one hand on the counter, tilt his head around the glass, and tell the cook, “Two seafood rice bowls, and… two strawberry yogurts, please.”
When the worker calculated the price, Lance proactively tapped his card.
Zhan Pingchuan stared. “You can eat that much?”
“One is yours. I’m treating you.”
Warmth rose in Zhan Pingchuan’s chest. “You don’t need to spend money on me.”
“You bought me shumai.”
“Shumai costs almost nothing. I’ll give you cash in a minute.” Zhan Pingchuan could not accept making an Omega pay for his cafeteria meal. If word returned to Ghost Eye Guild, he would die of shame.
Lance firmly refused and smiled. “Seafood rice bowls really aren’t expensive. Don’t feel pressured. I can treat you again in the future.”
“You’ll treat me again… Wait.” Zhan Pingchuan slowly sensed something was wrong.
He still thinks my family collects scrap!
Forced into becoming a kept pretty boy for one meal, Zhan Pingchuan suffered in silence.
After lunch, two peaceful days passed. Blue Hub completely withdrew from campus.
Under emergency coordination by Xingzhou University’s logistics and finance departments, all equipment and prize funds required for the Challenge Cup were prepared.
Most important were small cameras that could adhere firmly to the body and transmit footage in real time.
The cameras would faithfully record student performance inside the dungeon, and judges would use the footage to assign final scores. To allow sponsors from major guilds to supervise the event, every student’s combat feed would also be livestreamed across the federal network to prevent cheating.
“Xingzhou really is Xingzhou. They got sponsorship from all seven top guilds in only two days.”
“It’s all social relationships. Think how much talent Xingzhou sends those seven guilds every year.”
“Damn, our year is seriously cursed. Every education reform since childhood has used us as test subjects. We just enrolled and haven’t learned shit, but now we’re being thrown into a dungeon to fight. How are we supposed to compare with previous classes?”
“Exactly. The top guilds aren’t going to think we’re a useless generation, are they? Please no. I still want an internship next summer.”
“You have time to worry about that? Have you all found teammates?”
……
For two days, whenever students gathered, they talked about the Challenge Cup. Some were excited, others worried. Students with experience or high ranks rubbed their hands eagerly, waiting to make a name for themselves inside the dungeon.
Naturally, the three A-rank Awakeners became the hottest targets for recruitment. But because of Zhan Pingchuan’s family history of bicycle theft, everyone agreed he was an information-poor pauper who could never have afforded dungeon resources and therefore had no experience.
Animal-type A-rank Awakener Aishilun and enhancement-type A-rank Awakener Tu Mo were surrounded by people.
“Brother Lun, please carry me. I’ll cover your meals all next month, how about it?”
“Brother Lun, Brother Lun, we’re roommates. Let’s team up. I’ll support you.”
Aishilun frowned and slowly looked up at his roommate with utter disbelief. “What support can you give me? You’re E-rank animal-type.”
The boy’s face went bright red. He had not expected Aishilun to deliberately target his flattery and humiliate him publicly.
His lips trembled. He still wanted to fight for a spot, but the flattering words jammed in his throat and would not come out.
Seeing him humiliated, Aishilun finally seemed satisfied. He laughed with a shrug. “Zhan Pingchuan is braver than us and apparently so much more impressive. Why don’t you go ask him?”
The boy understood instantly. Aishilun was still holding a grudge from registration day.
That day, when Director Ediv intended to punish Lance, the boy could not bear to watch and had pleaded with his eyes toward the two A-rank students. Both had hidden like turtles. In the end, only reckless Zhan Pingchuan intervened and stopped Director Ediv.
After dismissal, the boy could not help muttering, “They’re all A-rank. How come Zhan Pingchuan was the only one brave enough to save him?”
He had spoken without intention, but A-rank Awakeners were often proud and arrogant. Aishilun had remembered the insult.
The boy lowered his head and hunched his back into a ball, shrinking away in embarrassment.
Then a lazy voice drifted over. Someone planted one palm on the boy’s curved back. “Tsk. I look away for one second and suddenly everyone is praising me. We’re classmates. No need to be so polite in the future. Just know in your heart that I’m awesome.”
Using his height, Zhan Pingchuan looked down at Aishilun over several people’s heads. He still wore the careless delinquent expression, and the two clinking pendants on his ear acted just as smug as their owner.
Aishilun’s face alternated green and white. Through clenched teeth, he said, “…Who praised you?”
“You do good deeds anonymously?” Zhan Pingchuan raised his voice and looked around. “Who just said I was brave and awesome?”
The surrounding students silently raised their fingers and pointed toward Aishilun.
Zhan Pingchuan looked at him with a complicated expression.
Aishilun: “……”
The humiliated boy kept his head down and whispered like a mosquito, “Thank you.”
Zhan Pingchuan patted his shoulder. “Since he said all that, join our team.”
“Huh?” The boy did not react for a moment. He had never imagined a pie could actually fall from the sky and hit him. After all, he had always thought Zhan Pingchuan was stronger than the others.
Zhan Pingchuan plucked him out of the crowd like a chick. “Name?”
“Liu Bo,” the boy answered quickly.
“Oh. Simple and elegant.” Zhan Pingchuan racked his brain for a compliment, then asked, “What animal form?”
“Marmot.”
“…Mm.”
Damn it. The student ranked last in the school really did run out of positive vocabulary fast.
Lance saw Zhan Pingchuan drag someone back and said nothing. They truly needed teammates. No matter how capable the two of them were, they could not personally pick up every item dropped by dungeon beasts.
“Then, then… can I join too? For the sake of the shumai?” Tang Li came running the instant he sensed an opening.
He was a C-rank healing-type Awakener. At his current level, the health he could restore was barely better than nothing, while his combat ability was weak, so nobody particularly wanted him.
Zhan Pingchuan’s head started hurting. Nothing good ever happened when he met this little O.
“Classmate, my heart is already—”
“Please!” Tang Li bent in a deep bow, blocking Mount Kilimanjaro before it could emerge. “I really need a good score this time. Ever since I was little, my biggest dream has been to work for High Tower Guild. High Tower is basically Eden, Utopia, the guiding light! The location is excellent, the corporate culture is wonderful, there’s no overtime and no forced drinking, and new employees are treated like the spring breeze. Other guilds can’t compare at all!”
Zhan Pingchuan sucked in an angry breath. “If you’re going to say that, then you can—”
“Join us.” Lance, who had barely spoken, was fiddling with the cuff of his school jacket. At that exact moment, he suddenly added the sentence.
Zhan Pingchuan: “?”
Baby, he was praising High Tower Guild. That’s the enemy.
Tang Li’s eyes lit up. “Really? Thank you! You like High Tower Guild too, right?”
Lance lowered his eyes and tugged at one corner of his mouth without answering.
Zhan Pingchuan: “……………..”
No, baby. That’s the rival guild. Tang Li is a fan of the enemy!
Liu Bo cleared his throat, raised his hand properly, and asked, “Um… what is our team called?”
A nearly invisible smugness appeared at the corner of Zhan Pingchuan’s mouth. With false modesty, he replied, “Lanlan’s Sky.”
“?” Lance nearly crushed the morongweng hidden inside his sleeve.
“Ah…” Liu Bo paused, desperately searched for praise, and finally found some. “That’s a good name. Blue, blue sky. Romantic, poetic, pretty cute.”
Tang Li desperately wanted to ask which lan, but wisely kept silent.
Blue Hole Reservoir lay in the outskirts beyond Capital City’s Seventh Ring Road. Because its shape resembled the taiji symbol, it was also called Taiji Lake.
Rolling hills surrounded the reservoir, but little vegetation grew on them. Most were bare limestone slopes.
The drive from Xingzhou University to Blue Hole Reservoir took more than two hours. The buses had to wind along a long mountain road before reaching the dungeon entrance.
The C-rank dungeon was called Terror Bird. It had been discovered at the end of a cliff. On the bare, isolated precipice stood an iron door, bizarre and frightening.
After the federal government took control, however, a recruitment market quickly appeared nearby.
Qualified non-guild members could form teams there before entering the dungeon, improving their survival rate.
Three years later, Terror Bird had become a standard beginner dungeon every new Awakener was expected to clear.
Today, however, because Xingzhou University had chosen it for the Challenge Cup, the federal government suspended entry for independent explorers and other guilds.
Five hundred people already formed a very large group.
Screech—!
The sound of hard braking suddenly came from the mountain-road entrance. Tires scraped a deep black mark into the pavement before the bus stopped steadily in the recruitment market.
Soon, a convoy of Blue Hub vehicles arrived and parked in a neat row. Dozens of heavily armed inspectors jumped out, guarding the area tightly.
The previously open, pleasant valley gained an immediate air of severity.
The students fell silent almost together. Their eyes held nervousness, curiosity, and confusion.
Lance and Zhan Pingchuan tensed at once. Almost simultaneously, they looked toward the SUV parked in the center, license plate C.P.1-002.001.
Liu Bo sucked in a breath. “Does the school value our year this much? Even Blue Hub is escorting us.”
He innocently believed these elite Awakeners, selected through layers of screening, had come to protect them.
At last, the SUV that had remained sealed made a sound. The door opened automatically. Polished black boots stepped onto the weeds, and Si Hongche emerged.
The mountain air was cold, yet he wore only a thin dark-blue uniform. His usual gloves hung from the broad rhinoceros-hide belt around his waist.
After stepping out, Si Hongche glanced back into the car from the corner of his eye.
Soon, someone emerged from the other side.
He was small and slender, his skin snow-white, with extremely beautiful thick golden curls. Si Hongche’s leather coat was wrapped around him, covering him almost completely.
Yet the mountain wind quickly reddened his ears. He looked so thin it seemed he possessed no resistance at all.
His features were actually excellent: round almond eyes, fine brows, a small rounded nose, full rosy lips.
His face showed almost no traces of age, yet it was covered in the marks of prolonged torment.
He was far too thin. His eye sockets had sunk deeply, making him look exhausted. The once lively baby face had lost all softness and clung tightly to bone.
His eyes were empty and unfocused, as though no sight in the world could trigger the neurotransmitters responsible for pleasure.
He stood there like a dead man.
Lance knew that gaze very well. It was the warning sign before complete collapse.
Only after Oliver stepped out did Si Hongche spread his five fingers and make a flat gesture behind him.
“Prepare to open the C-rank dungeon Terror Bird!”
“All students, confirm your cameras are secured and enter in orderly groups!”
An inspector held a piece of crystal ore against the rusted iron door. Dazzling blue light erupted instantly as the door absorbed radiation without end.
Creak. The iron door slowly opened.
A damp, freezing draft like breath from the underworld floated out. Beyond the threshold lay a deep darkness that seemed to lure people into sinking forever.
Blue Hub officers watched with solemn faces as each student team entered.
“Holy shit, that’s terrifying!”
“What are you scared of? It’s only C-rank.”
“What kind of beasts are inside? I only know goblins.”
“Heh. Goblins are the lowest F-rank beasts. They probably couldn’t even survive in Terror Bird.”
……
Liu Bo swallowed audibly. “B-B-B-Brother Zhan, you’re leading, right?”
He knew his own strength perfectly well. He could barely fight goblins. This entire competition depended on clinging to a powerhouse’s thigh.
“Y-y-y-yeah.” Zhan Pingchuan stood at the front and walked through the iron door without blinking.
Under the “scientific child-rearing” philosophy of the supervisor and Old Zhan, Zhan Pingchuan had been packaged up and thrown into dungeons for training before he awakened any ability. Strange, twisted beasts had been dismembered and burst into gore right in front of his eyes, providing an absolutely unforgettable childhood experience.
Tang Li’s back went cold too, his lips bloodless. “Let me say this first. I don’t know a single offensive ability, um… Brother Zhan.” He instinctively copied Liu Bo’s form of address.
A mere C-rank dungeon was beneath White Pharaoh’s notice, but Lance diligently maintained his character and pretended it was his first time entering such a horrifying place.
They passed through a dark barrier like water. The mountains outside vanished, replaced by a damp, lightless tunnel.
Suddenly, the flutter of wings sounded overhead.
Lance shut his eyes and tilted his head, cold fingers clutching Zhan Pingchuan’s clothes tightly. “Big brother, I’m scared.”