That same day, after leaving the training room, Xu Yi sought out Lu De for confirmation.
Upon hearing Lu De’s affirmative response, the Captain stroked his chin, lost in thought.
The Chief of the Lanli Research Institute? Such a young Chief?
"This is getting more interesting by the second," Xu Yi murmured to himself, a glimpse of his true nature flickering beneath his boisterous exterior.
As the prime candidate for the future Commander of the Federation’s First Legion, how could Xu Yi truly be nothing more than a mindless brute?
The very next day, Captain Xu took the initiative to find Feng Zhixi and Ji Yeran.
When he saw the two of them arriving together, Xu Yi first offered a friendly smile.
However, when an alpha with a face full of stubble smiles like the Big Bad Wolf, the effect is actually quite terrifying.
Ji Yeran: "..."
Feng Zhixi: "..." *If you don't know how to smile, you don't have to. There’s really no need to show all eight teeth.*
Captain Xu hadn't sought them out just to showcase his poor acting skills; he wanted to discuss the upcoming extermination operation.
To be precise, the Captain—who had previously been extremely resistant to letting military academy students participate in the exercise—had uncharacteristically granted Feng Zhixi and Ji Yeran the authority to act independently.
Hearing Xu Yi’s words, Feng Zhixi and Ji Yeran exchanged a glance. Captain Xu was clearly implying more than he was saying.
"Well? What do you think?" the smiling Captain asked. He wasn't about to treat truly capable individuals like mere children.
"Deal." Without much hesitation, the two agreed.
Soon, after a brief period of reorganization, the First Legion’s fleet set sail once more.
In the vacuum of space, a massive and solemn fleet cruised silently. Light representing energy fluctuations rippled across the streamlined hulls of the formation. Soon, the pitch-black plating turned transparent as the fleet activated its stealth flight mode, silently vanishing from sight.
To any conventional sensors, this formidable fleet was now like a shadow, sailing through the void without a sound.
Aboard the starship, Ji Wei—who had restored his appearance from a "non-mainstream" explosion of hair back to that of a handsome man—stood on the upper deck. He looked left and right but saw no sign of Ji Yeran or the omega by his side. This strange absence made Ji Wei frown; he had a nagging sense that something was wrong.
At the same time, Hill also sensed something was off. Including himself, there were only seven academy students present. Feng Zhixi and Ji Yeran were the only ones missing. What was going on? Weren't they all supposed to act together?
Specifically, Hill noticed Amir, who had previously carried out a mission with the two of them. If this omega was here, why were the other two missing? Where had they gone?
As Hill pondered, he cast an inquisitive gaze toward Amir.
Meanwhile, Amir, who had been forced to separate from the "Double Chiefs," was whining incessantly in her head. She could watch the daily interactions of the two Chiefs a hundred times without getting bored. Why must her little hobby be so heartlessly snatched away? ┭┮﹏┭┮
While Amir looked valiant and heroic on the outside, she was sobbing internally. In her dejection, she suddenly felt something was wrong. It felt as if something slimy was approaching. Her keen animal instincts made her hair stand on end; that skin-crawling sensation was like being stared down by a venomous snake or a predatory beast.
Startled, Amir spun around warily. There, she met a pair of large, emerald-green eyes.
Seemingly frightened by Amir’s sudden movement, Hill took a small step back. Being slightly shorter than Amir made him appear even more delicate and lovely. Combined with his fair skin and golden hair, he looked like a little angel, the type that easily garnered the favor of others.
Hill knew his advantages all too well and was an expert at utilizing them. He tilted his head slightly, and when he smiled, a faint dimple appeared near his pointed chin—natural, playful, and exceptionally cute.
"Senior..." Hill blinked, smiling sweetly with eyes full of innocence and confusion. He asked Amir in a charmingly naive tone, "I haven't seen the other two seniors. Did they forget the time?"
*Se... nior?* Looking at the cute little omega with flickering emerald eyes, Amir fell silent for a moment. Her focus shifted in an entirely unexpected direction. "What did you just call me?"
"Senior?" Hill looked puzzled.
Yes, that word! Amir instantly caught the point. she looked Hill up and down with great confusion and asked, "How old are you?"
Hill: "..."
Facing this idiot who answered a question with another question, Hill felt a surge of annoyance. However, to maintain his "sweet and cute" persona, he suppressed his temper and kept his sugary smile. "I just turned twenty-three this year."
Among this group of academy students, whose ages generally ranged from 25 to 30, Hill was confident that he was the youngest and deserved everyone's care and affection.
After all, as humanity entered the interstellar era and evolved the three ABO genders, the development of Federation medical technology meant that modern humans had a much longer lifespan compared to the ancient humans who were confined to a single planet.
In the current Federation, while some still held onto the ancient concept of adulthood at eighteen, Federation law generally recognized thirty-five as the mark of adulthood (though since most AOs experience their first heat or rut between 18 and 20, the legal age for union remained eighteen).
Because of the extended lifespan and the fact that the path of education had become much longer alongside the Federation's expansion and rapid technological growth, graduates from most Federation universities were between 30 and 35 years old. An elite student like Ji Wei, who was about to graduate from the First Military Academy at 25, was already considered a once-in-a-generation genius.
Thus, when the twenty-two-year-old Hill was unexpectedly chosen by the "System," it took him only three days to move from confusion and chaos to ecstatic acceptance.
Three days later, using the initial skills rewarded by the "System," he easily skipped grades from a mid-level academy to a high-level one.
This also caused his biological father—the head of a small family in a remote star system—to finally notice his value.
To Hill’s father, an A-rank omega who possessed startling talent in addition to youth and beauty was far too precious to be used merely for a marriage alliance on their home planet.
Consequently, Hill’s father spent a fortune to send him to a top-tier academy on the Capital Star. This child, who carried his father's high hopes, did not disappoint; Hill successfully entered the Lanli Research Institute just six months later!
No matter how remote his father’s planet was, he had heard of the Lanli Research Institute’s prestigious reputation.
The Lanli Research Institute was the Federation’s supreme research facility, an existence at the very top of the pyramid. The people one encountered there were either wealthy or influential. As long as his good son played his cards right and clung to a noble patron, he could take the entire family with him and leap into the Federation’s inner circle of power!
With such grand delusions, Hill’s father provided him with a substantial allowance so his son could spread his wings at the institute. At the same time, he never forgot to constantly remind Hill that he was a young, beautiful omega—that was his greatest weapon.
Hill accepted the money while secretly despising his father. His father was still dreaming far away, unaware that from the very beginning, Hill had only viewed him as a stepping stone. Now that he had crossed the river, it was time to burn the bridge.
Hill, the bridge-burner, was extremely confident. Having entered the Lanli Research Institute at twenty-three through his "strength," he was undoubtedly a teenage genius!
"Twenty-three?" Amir was momentarily stunned by Hill’s answer. She had been wondering why Hill’s words felt so strange; so this was the problem.
Realizing the truth, Amir corrected Hill’s mistake with a smile. "No, that’s not right. I don’t turn twenty-two until the end of the year. You’ve got it wrong; I’m not your senior."
Amir, who was shrewd in some ways but incredibly thick-headed in others, continued to strike at Hill’s fragile self-esteem. "Looking at it that way, should I be calling you 'Senior' instead? You don't even look as tall as me." The title "Senior" really felt impossible to say.
Just because of a one or two-year age gap, was she supposed to sweetly call him "Senior" like Hill did?
With that doubt in mind, Amir imagined herself sweetly calling him "Senior" and couldn't help but shudder. She noticed that besides Hill, there were five other academy students older than her. Was she supposed to call all of them "Senior"?!
If she actually said it, what would happen to her dignity as the Grade Representative? What would happen to her school’s reputation?!
After mulling it over, Amir felt more and more that something was wrong. She simply suggested, "We aren't from the same school anyway, so let's just call each other by our names like everyone else. It's much simpler." That way, she wouldn't have to smile sweetly and call others "Senior." She was just too clever!
Delighted with herself, Amir gave herself a mental thumbs-up. She completely failed to notice Hill’s face darkening.
Hill, who had been unintentionally slapped in the face by Amir: "..." *Is this person mentally ill?!*
However, since he hadn't yet squeezed any information about Feng Zhixi out of her, Hill forced down his disgust. He maintained his sweet, fake smile and followed Amir’s lead to continue asking what he wanted to know.
"?" Hearing the question, Amir gave him a suspicious look. "Why are you asking about that?" For some reason, she felt this emerald-eyed, angel-faced omega was very strange. Was it because she had been spooked by the Chief’s words yesterday?
Amir recalled what Feng Zhixi had said to her before leaving.
Feng Zhixi had taken the initiative to find her and warn the sometimes thick-headed omega: "Be careful. Space pirates are vicious criminals. They love nothing more than carving out an omega’s glands. As a logistics officer, don't go charging to the front; just stay obediently with the officers."
┭┮﹏┭┮ This was Amir, who had been terrified by the Chief’s vivid description.
While recalling the Chief’s words, Amir unconsciously touched her wrist.
Before leaving, Feng Zhixi—who had finished scaring the kid for fun—had given Amir an instant energy shield to wear at all times.
Seeing Amir’s mind wandering again, Hill’s internal eye-roll almost reached the ceiling. He struggled to suppress his mounting frustration and asked Amir the same question again.
This time, he finally got an answer.
Amir: "Why are you asking? I don't know where they went either."
After saying this with total conviction, Amir didn't forget to give Hill a kind reminder: "In a joint military exercise, we are soldiers. Don't go poking around for information. With their abilities, they've definitely gone to perform an important mission~"
Looking at Amir, who clearly knew nothing yet wore an expression of shared glory, Hill was so angry his facial expression almost crumbled.
Hill: "!!!" *This idiot! She knows nothing and yet she babbled with me for so long? What a waste of time!*
At that moment, Amir—the one being called an idiot—suddenly sneezed. She looked around suspiciously and muttered to herself, "I keep feeling like someone is cursing me. Is it just my imagination?"
***
While Hill was still struggling to control his rage, Feng Zhixi and Ji Yeran had already set out with the vanguard fleet. Their target was the pirate nest marked furthest away on the star map.
On the map, there were four or five pirate nests identified by Feng Zhixi, all scattered apart. After careful consideration, Captain Xu had chosen a bold tactic: a pincer attack on two fronts.
He was in charge of one fleet's operations, while Ji Yeran and Feng Zhixi were assigned to the other extermination fleet. The two fleets would execute the annihilation plan together.
At this moment, Captain Xu watched the receding fleet and whispered to himself, "Interstellar Combat Command major, huh?"
He would see just how capable they really were.
***
