Chapter 3: I Want to Stick to You

The summer days in Star City were super long and hot. A rain shower washed the balsam leaves on campus and they were steamed dry. Under the hot sun, squads stood neat and tidy in a square-shaped formation on the drill ground to dry in the sun, but no one dared to move.

Their new Teaching Assistant Pei looked very scary. In fact, the truth was, Teaching Assistant Pei’s looks were handsome, but after seven years as a youth in the military, his fierceness had hardened into his bones. When he was upset, he was very scary, as he was now. He was full of ‘wait for me to find your fault’, and the students didn’t dare to breathe.

The girl who came to deliver the message yesterday was wise enough not to tell Pei Yutu the words of Instructor Ping, and so avoided the possibility of Teaching Assistant Pei killing him in his room that day.

However, the emotions had festered overnight and intensified.

While yesterday’s cancellation might have been a surprise, then today’s cancellation was a 100% downer.

This wasn’t uncommon in the barracks. The new officers needed to prove themselves, and were always used, but Pei Yutu was mad. As time passed, he became obsessed with thinking about how the Extortion King Ping would appear later, so getting him to the field was his top priority.

Pei Yutu’s physical fitness was amazing, and he didn’t find anything wrong with the exposure to the sun. Since he hadn’t said anything, the students didn’t dare mention it. They could only hold their military postures with sad faces.

Finally, Instructor Ping arrived.

“Here we go!” The Director of the Instruction Office, Zou, led a young man forward and said in a loud voice, “Everyone has waited for a long time. Instructor Ping is not feeling well today…”

Dozens of eyes were directed at Ping Mo. They had hired real officers for this semester’s practical exercises. Even the assistant instructors were extremely tough, let alone the instructors. However, Ping Mo’s build and ‘toughness’ were far from the normal standards. He wore a military shirt and camouflage training pants, while his hat exposed half of his soft white profile. He looked like a young lecturer on the podium, or a young master who wouldn’t even boil his own water.

The students couldn’t hide their disappointment, and collectively let out a breathless, “Ah…”

It was Assistant Professor Pei who gave a powerful, “Fuck!” That caused Director Zou to glance over at him. Pei Yutu ignored him, and stared straight at Instructor Ping.

“Introducing myself. Ping Mo, your instructor.” Instructor Ping seemed really uncomfortable, and even his opening remarks weren’t very energetic. However, an instructor was an instructor after all. The next sentence pushed the atmosphere through the roof, “Today I was a little delayed, but I plan to test your physical training. Light weapons firing, and mecha simulation cabins are waiting. First everyone needs to run thirty kilometers.” 1

Again, the students said in unison, “Ah…?” 

Thirty kilometers, did they hear that right?

“Ah? What, ah?” Instructor Ping impatiently took off his hat.

However, this time the students didn’t stay silent. After they saw their instructor’s face, the entire formation buzzed with conversation, and became raucous. A few omegas excitedly exchanged whispers. Pei Yutu also had very mixed feelings. Yesterday, he fought with this man. He had suspected that he was a soft omega, but hadn’t expected the Raptor team member and his ‘extorting king’ to be the same person!

So…he was an alpha?

Pei Yutu came up to Ping Mo. “It’s really you, isn’t it?”

Ping Mo gave him a look. When he saw his assistant, his eyebrows appeared to twitch. He then took a big step back from him like he was avoiding the gods. “Yeah.”

Pei Yutu, “??!”

No, he hadn’t settled the score with him yet, but what did it mean that Instructor Pei disliked him so much?

“Hey, what’s the problem?” Ping Mo asked the students. His body was slim, but his back was straight as if he was a sheath. As he stood in front of the square formation, his gray-blue eyes were as clear as glass beads in the hot afternoon sun.

Everyone immediately replied, “Instructor, our standard has always been ten kilometers!”

“Thirty kilometers will kill us!”

But these normal statements were mixed with many murmurs.

“You’re so handsome, Instructor!”

“Are you an adult?”

“Are you really an alpha?”

“Are you a soldier too?”

“…”

What kind of questions are these? Pei Yutu thought that according to the temper of Instructor Ping, he would probably cause a teaching incident on the spot, but instead Ping Mo started to calmly introduce himself, “I’m an active duty soldier of Alliance. Of course I’m an alpha, but my unit number is confidential. I’m 27 years old…”

Perhaps because Ping Mo was being too nice, in the midst of more commotion, someone in the group muttered, “Really an alpha?”

The comment immediately triggered a burst of laughter, even Pei Yutu let out a “pfft,” but the description was too apt. Instructor Ping, with his cool white skin, thick eyelashes and pale gray-blue eyes was too pretty to be real. He was a bit like a Barbie doll.

But in a military camp, to compliment an alpha as pretty was provocative, let alone a compliment so explicit.

Director Zou began to sweat. “Ha! It’s that funny? Laugh again and I’ll deduct your grades!”

Pei Yutu, the real assistant, didn’t say a word, but the corners of his mouth still had an arc, and he had a pleased expression at the joke.

He wasn’t sure how Ping would handle this kind of large rollover scene.

Ping Mo’s expression sank. He said, “Third row, fifth place!”

He actually found someone from the chaotic line immediately!

The square formation gradually quieted down. A tall black-faced boy dawdled as he came forward, and seemed incredulous at the instructor’s insight. Ping Mo roared, as if he were consuming a lot of energy. His face was pale as white porcelain, two points nearer the softness of a sick beauty. Then, the ‘sick beauty’ used a beautiful over-the-shoulder throw, and knocked the boy down.

“!!!”

What kind of teaching incident was this!

The director’s blood pressure shot up to a hundred and eighty on the spot, while the students screamed. Pei Yutu was also shocked, but vaguely felt that this was definitely the method of a little beauty who cut people’s pants off at the drop of a hat.

Rough, but efficient.

Fortunately, Instructor Ping was very measured. The black-faced boy wasn’t hurt, only shocked.

“Never judge a man by his appearance. That’s the first lesson I’ll teach you.” Ping Mo’s voice trailed off a bit and sounded a bit lazy. As if the swift and sharp blow was just a handshake. As they knew the essence of pretending to be X, this caused the omegas in the group to almost collectively break out in starry eyed admiration.

The group was silent, then Instructor Ping raised his voice and said, “All of you, line up! All alphas line up!”

After the scene just then, the students were so well behaved that they carried out their orders immediately. It was then Ping Mo realized that the group was only half alphas.

In fact, the most numerous in the crowd were mediocre betas, followed by strong alphas, then the soft omegas who were the most rare and precious. They accounted for less than one-tenth of the total population. But that wasn’t true in military schools, which recruited a larger percentage of alphas because of the hard physical requirements. Some military schools were even just alphas.

“It’s like this,” Director Zou stepped forward to explain. “This is the group from the new Weapons Engineering Academy. They are all purely theoretical and technical majors. Except for the next door Economic and Management Academy, they are the ones who recruit the most betas and omegas.”

Ping Mo nodded, “In that case, all alphas will carry weight for thirty kilometers…”

“Ah…”

“Thirty kilometers is an overload, Instructor!”

Ping Mo raised his voice amidst the wailing. “You are alphas! If you can’t even run thirty kilometers, you don’t need to get credit!”

“Yes. Instructor Ping is right. What kind of alphas are you, if you don’t have this kind of physical strength?” Pei Yutu had come over at some point, and the temperature of the young alpha burned in the hot summer breeze.

Ping Mo felt like he had been stabbed by a needle and avoided him, but felt that there was too much that caused him to react. It was unseemly. He cleared his throat, and said calmly, “All alphas get ready to go!”

The students hadn’t expected that on the first day of physical fitness class, of the two instructors, that one had a black face while the other a white face. They didn’t dare say anything. They could only carry forty-five kilograms 2 of standard weight on their backs, as with sad faces they set off.

Ping Mo’s expression eased minutely, as he saw the alpha students off. Then he secretly exhaled a breath, and habitually touched his tailbone, without having noticed that Pei Yutu was behind him.

Pei Yutu had been staring at him with burning eyes. He was thinking that this person must have a cleanliness fetish, otherwise why would he be so resistant to being touched? As he was contemplating how to deal with that he saw Ping Mo touch his own buttocks.

“…”

Ping Mo looked thin, but his buttocks were full, round and curved, which made a very sexy arc in his training pants. The corners of his shirt were tucked into his trousers, which snugged tightly against his strong thin waist.

“The omegas step out of line! The rest of you go! Omegas step forward!” Ping Mo ignorantly turned his back on Pei Yutu, and continued with his lesson plan.

The remaining betas and omegas had just seen how Ping Mo trained the alphas and were ready to be drilled hard. They hadn’t expected Instructor Ping had a very large double-standard. As harsh as he was to the alphas, he was lenient toward the omegas and betas, and let them run wild.

They got five kilometers with voluntary weight. Since all the omegas said they might be close to their bonding heat, they were able to take a leave of absence and immediately went back to rest.

Ping Mo didn’t know that this would become one of the reasons why he was chosen as the ‘most gentlemanly alpha’ and ‘the alpha omegas most wanted to marry (sleep with)’ in the future, and his popularity would continue to grow.

At that moment, he finished arranging the students, and was going to leave the rest of the supervision to his assistant when he found that Pei Yutu had very actively approached him. He grabbed Ping Mo’s shoulders. “Instructor Ping, we’re partners now, so take care of me! I didn’t know you were two years older than me, I thought you were a freshman yesterday!”

Pei Yutu was a little more than half a head taller than Ping Mo, with his tiger’s back and bear’s waist body. His big iron pincer hands wrapped around his shoulders. Tequila-scented alpha pheromones caressed his skin. Ping Mo’s expression was fierce, and he could barely maintain his poise. From between clenched teeth he squeezed out, “Fuck off!”

The words hit Pei Yutu in the heart as he thought to himself, I guessed right! The cleaner you are, the more I have to stick to you!

“Oh my, Instructor. Yesterday was a bit of a misunderstanding. I forgive you! This matter should be considered as in the past. In the future we’ll obey the organization arrangements and cooperate well, right Director Zou?”

Director Zou, who had been quietly spectating, was busy nodding.

“…” Ping Mo wasn’t willing to beat people up in front of Director Zou, so he just warned him, “Let go. Don’t pull and touch me.”

Pei Yutu seemed to be unable to understand basic words. “We’re both alphas, what are you afraid of?” He buried his head in Ping Mo’s shoulder, and sniffed again, “You didn’t spray a blocker today? What is this smell? Smoky and earthy…vetiver? 3 I hadn’t expected you to have such a violent pheromone scent that’s also so cultured!”

Even Director Zou felt uncomfortable. How can he hold someone’s neck, and smell their pheromones? If Instructor Ping was an omega, he could sue for sexual harassment. This Assistant Pei looked like a fierce alpha, so how come everything he did was so…gay?

The next thing Director Zou knew, he saw Ping Mo move in a very skillful way. At the same time, he shifted his arm to accurately and steadily use his wrist to lock his elbow around Pei Yutu and escape. Director Zou practically felt the pain, but Ping Mo wasn’t starting a fight. He simply moved his feet and left with a dark expression. Assistant Pei was Just the fermented bean juice from some stinky tofu, best to avoid as quickly as possible.

Director Zou looked at Pei Yutu, who was grimacing and rubbing his arm. He said, “You deserve it.”

Pei Yutu was very thick-skinned, and quickly recovered his spirit. In a good mood, he tapped him on the shoulder. “Director Zou, do you think Instructor Ping looks good like this?”

The middle-aged scholar, who couldn’t withstand Pei Yutu’s tap, rubbed his shoulder and said, “Of course. Instructor Ping is very handsome.”

Pei Yutu nodded in approval. He looked even better when he was fuming. He didn’t think the extorting king was a clean freak. It was so easy to clean him up, and it was so funny.

 

Ping Mo rushed back to the faculty dormitory, closed the door with a bang, pulled the curtains with a swish, and then rummaged through his things. The inhibitors he bought yesterday had had the label torn off, and were hidden in the deepest part of his cabinet.

But just after he found them, he heard a rip behind him. It was the familiar sound of tearing fabric ripping.

“…Fuck!” Ping Mo went back to feel his tailbone, and his pants were really torn.

A long fluffy tail stuck out from the hole. Not only that, a pair of cat ears also emerged on top of his head. His sweet omega pheromones slowly overflowed. It was too late to think. Ping Mo immediately swallowed two capsules.

His bonding heat was really early.

He was eighty percent sure it was because of the exposure to too many thick alpha pheromones.

When he thought of that person surnamed Pei, Ping Mo ground his teeth. He didn’t know what kind of wind had come over him, and why the man was pestering him for nothing.

Ping Mo was not really a top alpha, but an omega. A rare Therian omega.

Therians were a subset of omegas that remained from ancient times. Since they had ‘beautiful, bright, and delicately soft bodies’ the nobility had bred them for fun, which resulted in them becoming an endangered species today. Then, ever since the incident, he had no supply of his Therian special inhibitors, so Ping Mo was forced to leave the Raptors. Now, for the time being, he could only cope by using ordinary inhibitors. The effect of ordinary inhibitors on Therian was limited, and there would be some adverse reactions.

Two minutes later, Instructor Ping disappeared. A cream-colored cat struggled for a moment to get free of the shirt, and finally managed to poke his round head out. He twitched his ears, then the whole thing burrowed out, and jumped onto the single bed in one leap.

The sea pine sheets made the cat’s fur appear even whiter. He was silky and fluffy, except for the tip of its tail, which was black, like an accidental ink stain, 4 and his round eyes were a beautiful gray-blue color, just like the humanoid Ping Mo.

Ping Mo curled his long tail in front of his body and sat upright. He looked at the ground and the hole in his pants, and he couldn’t help feeling a pang of fresh pain. That was a biodegradable material, worth 1,260 Alliance coins. It was one of the most expensive items such a poor man could buy.

He hadn’t even been paid yet. Instructor Ping sadly shook his fur. When he thought of the man who had thrown him into an early heat, he instantly brainstormed 10,000 ways to torture that Assistant Instructor surnamed Pei.

Translator Notes:

30 kilometers = 18 miles 45 kilograms = 99 pounds. That’s pretty brutal, Ping Mo! Vetiver is a bunchgrass whose roots are commonly used in aromatics and perfumes. The scent is described as “deep, sweet, woody, smoky, earthy, amber and balsam,” although it can vary with growing conditions. This is the reason that Ping Mo’s name is Mo, which means Ink.