Marking, to some extent, could temporarily alleviate those urges.
But a beast’s instincts were to endlessly take.
For now, keeping a distance from Chi Zhan was the wisest course of action.
And yet, Cen Chi had already claimed the most advantageous position.
He was the one who lived alongside Chi Zhan day in and day out. The Crown Prince? He would never stoop so low as to set foot in a military academy just to stake a claim.
If the public ever found out that His Royal Highness was enamored with a lowly Beta cadet, the palace would be flooded with tens of thousands of complaint letters.
What’s more, the Crown Prince’s footing was still unstable. Even though he’d recently won an impressive victory, the old Emperor didn’t seem particularly fond of him. Acting rashly at a time like this would be a grave mistake.
In his sleep, Chi Zhan furrowed his brows, as if sensing something unpleasant. He shifted uncomfortably and mumbled a few indistinct words. Even with Cen Chi’s sharp hearing, he couldn’t make out what Chi Zhan had said.
After a brief moment of consideration, Cen Chi moved like a sleek black cat, gliding soundlessly to the edge of the bed. He curled his fingers around the frame and, with a light press, knelt on one knee beside it, leaning down to catch Chi Zhan’s murmurs.
Chi Zhan’s space was always tidy and carried the faint, clean scent of fresh laundry detergent.
From this angle, Cen Chi’s gaze inevitably dropped. Chi Zhan had shifted onto his side, probably from the heat, and the top few buttons of his sleep shirt were undone, revealing a wide swath of smooth, almost jade-like skin. A red string hung around his neck, threaded through a delicate pendant inlaid with a single red bean. The contrast only made his skin appear even more pristine and fair.
In today’s society, jade was a rare antique, prized for its value. With his discerning eye, Cen Chi could immediately tell this piece was exceptionally valuable.
It was not something a student of Chi Zhan’s background should be able to afford. He was an orphan, never adopted, who’d made it through high school on orphanage subsidies and had gained admission to the Imperial Military Academy through sheer academic merit. Throughout that time, he’d received no help from investors—he had, in fact, turned down those offers.
Which made the presence of this jade all the more conspicuous.
Could it have been a gift from the Crown Prince?
Cen Chi’s expression remained calm—until he heard Chi Zhan murmur, “Your Highness… don’t.”
His eyes narrowed slightly, and for the first time, a flicker of change crossed his composed face.
Chi Zhan shifted again, uneasily, as if trying to escape something. At the same time, Tao Ran blurted out a loud phrase in his sleep from the opposite bed, snapping Cen Chi back to reality.
He’d released too much pheromone. It was now potent enough to affect even a Beta.
Betas were typically insensitive to pheromones, barely registering them in daily life. But if exposed to an excess concentration, they could still experience subtle reactions—much like small animals startled into reflex.
Chi Zhan’s eyelashes fluttered faintly. It seemed Tao Ran’s voice had disturbed him, and he was on the verge of waking.
Before he could stir, Cen Chi gently placed a hand over Chi Zhan’s eyes and murmured in a deep, soothing voice, “Go back to sleep. Have a nice dream.”
It was like holding a butterfly, its wings beating softly against his palm—then, slowly, it quieted, sinking back into stillness.
But one thing was clear: Chi Zhan wasn’t hiding that he was an Omega.
With the concentration Cen Chi had just released, if Chi Zhan were an Omega, he’d have gone straight into a pseudo-heat. There was no way he’d be sleeping this soundly.
Yet when his pheromones were collected, he hadn’t acted like a Beta, and the sample resembled a high-level Omega’s in every way.
Chi Zhan… just how many secrets are you hiding?
Rather than dispel his curiosity, it only deepened it.
***
Beep beep beep. Beep beep beep. Beep beep beep…
“Chi-Chi! Get up!” Tao Ran shouted. “Today’s the field exercise—don’t be late!”
Chi Zhan jolted awake.
Tao Ran yawned while dressing, looking at him curiously.
“Still feeling off? You rarely sleep that deeply, you know!”
Chi Zhan glanced at the alarm clock—it had already gone off three times.
Something wasn’t right.
Normally, he was a light sleeper. He usually woke up before the alarm even rang. But today, he’d been completely out cold. Was it just fatigue from yesterday?
Still… last night, he’d had some strange dreams.
First, he dreamed about the secretary selection. The Crown Prince had chosen Moy on the spot, and Chi Zhan had chased after him, asking why he hadn’t picked him instead. Couldn’t he choose someone else? The Crown Prince gave him a devilish smirk and said, “My secretary must be an Omega.”
Then the scene shifted. He was in a tropical rainforest, surrounded by vines. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t find a way out. He stepped into a patch of mud and started sinking. Vines wrapped around him, restraining him, and no matter how he struggled, he couldn’t break free.
After that, he was inside a boiling pot. The water bubbled, the heat rising, spreading like wildfire through his entire body. The sensation lasted for what felt like an eternity. He couldn’t stop squirming, and then—at some moment—he finally found release.
“Oh right, using a treatment pod burns through a ton of mental energy. You might just conk out the next day.”
“That could be it…” Chi Zhan mumbled groggily as he got up—only to freeze.
His pants felt… cold.
Something was off.
Shock rippled through him.
Chi Zhan wasn’t the type with excessive libido. Military cadets were generally high-energy, sure, and Alphas were often boastful in that area. But for Betas, such urges were typically mild. Spontaneous… incidents during sleep were nearly unheard of.
Could this be a side effect of the treatment pod?
But then he remembered certain scenes from that dream—and his expression stiffened.
Could it have been… then?
Had he seriously… done that in his sleep?
And the day was just beginning.
His temples throbbed.
Resigned, he changed into a fresh pair of pants. As he got out of bed, clothes in hand and headed toward the washroom, Cen Chi glanced over at him, his eyes naturally catching the thin piece of fabric dangling from Chi Zhan’s fingers.
“Good morning,” Cen Chi greeted casually.
