During Tuesday’s swimming class, Xu Ze picked up the locker card in the lobby and was assigned to locker room number 6.
After last week’s midterm exams, many students decided to skip the swimming class. The gym teacher turned a blind eye to this, focusing only on the group of students who hadn’t passed the exam and didn’t pay attention to the others. As a result, the whole pool felt less crowded than usual.
Xu Ze could have also skipped the swimming class, but instead, he packed his schoolbag and went to the swimming pool as soon as the previous class was over.
As he walked past the various locker rooms, he noticed that there weren’t many people around, with the occasional alpha or two chatting while changing clothes. As he reached the sixth locker room, a golden glow from the setting sun streamed in through the large skylight and illuminated the lockers and benches.
In the sunlight stood a tall and fit alpha with his back to Xu Ze. The alpha raised his hand to take off his school T-shirt.
The muscles on his arms and back flexed with his movements, almost as if they were breathing. Xu Ze stood there stunned for a few seconds before realizing what he was doing. He tugged on his backpack strap as if urging himself forward, yet the red letters on the door sign reminded him that it was indeed locker room number 6.
Lu Heyang put his school uniform in the locker, ran his hand through his slightly messy hair, and opened his water bottle to drink. He grabbed his swimming trunks to head to the shower room. When he turned, he saw Xu Ze standing in the doorway. Lu Heyang closed the locker and walked toward Xu Ze, saying, “What a coincidence.”
“Mn,” Xu Ze replied quickly this time, only realizing afterward that what Lu Heyang meant by coincidence was that they were both assigned to locker room 6.
“Is it hot outside?” Lu Heyang suddenly asked as he walked past Xu Ze.
Xu Ze looked at him with some confusion, but immediately avoided Lu Heyang’s eyes and looked elsewhere. In reality, he didn’t know where to look. Lu Heyang was shirtless, just half a meter away from him. Xu Ze felt it was too close even though they were both alphas.
“Your face is red from the sun,” Lu Heyang continued.
Xu Ze took a breath, his eyes slightly unfocused, and replied, “Right, it’s a bit hot.”
But Lu Heyang added, “The sun is setting, and it’s still this hot?”
Xu Ze suddenly didn’t know how to respond. Lu Heyang had already removed his wristband, and his alpha pheromones were spreading in the surroundings. They were partially blocked by his old wristband, but he could still smell some. The pheromones of an S-level alpha naturally had an oppressive quality, like an invisible hand gripping his neck or somewhere else. Xu Ze’s Adam’s apple bobbed.
He had forgotten that his wristband was of low quality and if it couldn’t completely block Lu Heyang’s pheromones, it couldn’t block his own pheromones either.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
When Lu Heyang smelled the intensifying scent of another alpha’s pheromones in the air, he just glanced at Xu Ze and then walked to the showers.
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“Jijrr lr jybea ab rajga,” Oe Lfsjcu gfwlcvfv tlw, qeaalcu tlr rmtbbi qjcar lcab atf ibmxfg.
Xu Ze looked up as if he had just woken up from a dream, and watched Lu Heyang’s back. Two seconds later, he let out a sound of agreement and picked up his swimsuit, making his way toward the showers.
When he walked to the door, he habitually grabbed his collar to take off his shirt. Lu Heyang grabbed his swimming goggles and walked out of the locker room. He happened to see Xu Ze’s shirt half off, revealing a narrow and firm lower back. There were some scars on it, but the skin was smooth.
As Xu Ze was about to take the shirt off, he walked into the shower room and disappeared from Lu Heyang’s sight.
Later in class, Xu Ze followed the gym teacher’s training guidelines. Meanwhile, Lu Heyang was two pools away, competing in freestyle with several alphas from the same class. After half an hour, once the teacher had finished recording the results, Xu Ze left early and returned to the locker room.
He grabbed his clothes and headed to the showers for a quick shower. Without even drying his hair, he made his way back to the swimming pool’s lobby.
There was a vending machine in the lobby. Xu Ze stood in front of it for a while, only to discover that it was out of mineral water. With only ten minutes left until the end of class, he promptly turned around and left the swimming pool without any hesitation.
The nearest vending machine was in the basketball gym, which wasn’t exactly nearby. The usual route was under maintenance, so he had to take a detour. With wet hair, he ran past the setting sun under the shade of the trees. Although the sun was going down, the absence of an evening breeze left the air rather hot. Within just a few steps, beads of sweat began to form on him.
Five minutes before the end of class, Lu Heyang finished his shower, dried his hair, and returned to the lockers. He checked his phone and saw that He Wei was waiting for him in the parking lot. So Lu Heyang packed his things into his backpack and closed the locker.
“Heyang, are you ready? Let’s go together?” Several alphas from the same class had packed their things and came from the other locker rooms, gathering at the door to call him.
“Yeah, let’s go,” Lu Heyang said.
When they reached the door of the fourth locker room, Xu Ze ran toward them from the end of the corridor, panting and wearing an old black T-shirt. His hair wasn’t dry yet, and his neck was wet; it was unclear whether it was due to sweat or water dripping from his hair.
Xu Ze raised his head and met Lu Heyang’s eyes. He paused for a moment and opened his mouth slightly as if he wanted to say something. However, he realized that Lu Heyang was surrounded by several other alphas. So in the end, he just pursed his lips quietly and walked inwards, leaning against the wall.
As they passed each other, an alpha accidentally bumped into Xu Ze. Xu Ze dropped what he was holding and the alpha apologized. Xu Ze didn’t reply. After the people passed by, he silently bent down and picked up what he had dropped.
After a few steps, Lu Heyang suddenly looked back. Xu Ze was holding a bottle of mineral water in his hand, which might have gotten dirty after it fell to the ground. Xu Ze lowered his head, his profile revealing no particular expression. He wiped the bottle with the palm of his hand and walked to locker room 6.
Lu Heyang’s throat was a little dry. He turned around and looked at the empty water bottle in his hand. He was really thirsty after the strenuous exercise. He thought he would go to the lobby later to buy a bottle of water.
—
On Thursday morning, the second-year S-level students were organized to attend a lecture and visit the base in the neighboring city. The school covered the expenses, but Xu Ze still initially applied not to participate. However, the teacher persuaded him to go listen, explaining that it would help him choose his future school and major.
31 out of 35 S-level students agreed to participate in the trip. Some of them had their drivers bring them in private cars due to reasons like the school bus was too crowded or the journey was too long. Lu Heyang and his friends were not too picky in this regard. The three of them boarded the school bus with their luggage and sat in the back row.
He Wei was shocked that Gu Yunchi was willing to participate. After all, Young Master Gu was a repeat offender who had barely attended school more than 30 times in a year. It was highly unusual for him to join in such a group activity.
He had bombarded Gu Yunchi with questions even before getting on the bus, which annoyed him. Gu Yunchi simply told him to shut up and leaned against the back of the seat to take a nap.
The other S-level students gradually got on the bus. Lu Heyang was looking at his phone when he suddenly heard He Wei whistling softly, “I thought Xu Ze wouldn’t come.”
Lu Heyang raised his head slightly and noticed that Xu Ze was looking their way. The moment the two of them looked at each other, Xu Ze turned his head and sat down on a seat in the middle of the bus. He only had a small, slightly deflated backpack that didn’t seem to contain much.
After three hours, they arrived at the foot of the base. It was located at a considerable distance from the city and appeared secluded. The only hotel nearby was specially designed for the expeditions of superiors and professors, so the conditions were reasonably good.
Everyone gathered in the hotel lobby. Since there weren’t enough single rooms, some people had to sleep alone in double rooms. For the sake of fairness, the teacher decided to assign the rooms by drawing lots, and whichever room card they drew, they would sleep in that room.
Lu Heyang raised his hand, “Teacher, I won’t draw lots. Give me a double room.”
He couldn’t fall asleep on the bus, and now he felt a little tired and wanted to rest as soon as possible. He didn’t care which room he got, whether it was a single room with a big bed or a double room with small beds; it didn’t matter much to him.
The teacher handed him a room card for a double room. Lu Heyang took the room card, settled on the sofa, and closed his eyes, waiting for them to finish the draw.
Not long after, Lu Heyang heard Xu Ze say, “Teacher, I’ll take a double room as well.”
Lu Heyang half-opened his eyes and vaguely saw Xu Ze’s profile from a distance of two to three meters.
After Xu Ze spoke, a few more alphas claimed double rooms. In the end, only single rooms were left, so drawing lots was unnecessary.
He Wei and Gu Yunchi had gone to the toilet after getting off the bus, and when they returned to the lobby, they were directly given room cards for single rooms.
Everyone went to the front desk to check-in. The hotel manager suddenly came over with a walkie-talkie and said, “I’m sorry, but there’s a problem with the water pipe in room 503. It needs to be repaired, so it’s temporarily unavailable for check-in.”
“Who’s in room 503?” the teacher asked.
“Me.” Xu Ze raised his hand.
The teacher nodded and asked the receptionist, “Are there any other rooms? Change it to another one.”
“Please wait a moment,” the receptionist checked and confirmed, then apologized, “I’m sorry, there are no more rooms available.”
“Then Xu Ze you’ll have to share a room with a classmate for the night.” The teacher turned her head, “Those who just chose a double room, raise your hand.”
The situation was actually a bit awkward. These S-level students came from different classes and Xu Ze usually kept to himself and didn’t socialize with others. The teacher was concerned that he would be left alone.
However, before anyone could raise their hand, a voice chimed in with an indifferent tone, “I have a double room, let him stay with me.”
The S-level students turned around one by one. Xu Ze was the only one standing still, his expression blank and his shoulders and back tense.
Author’s notes:
Lu Heyang: Claiming an alpha that was left alone
“Let me adopt the cat. Everyone, stay back.”
Aww, I love this moment.
This is really confusing to read, donno if there’s something missing….
there shouldn’t be anything missing. what part is confusing so I can fix it 🤔