I’m Addicted to your Pheromones from the First Moment We Met - Chapter 24

Seeing her plan to sneak into the classroom fail, Yu Zhouyao rubbed her nose.

Instructor Liu or rather, Teacher Liu Jiang, as he should be called now dragged Yu Zhouyao into the classroom, letting her lose face in front of a sea of upperclassmen. After his initial roar, he immediately sent her to run laps.

It was a familiar recipe; she felt as if she were still in the middle of military training.

Yu Zhouyao gritted her teeth and endured the punishment. Yesterday’s engineering assignment had nearly drained her mental power dry, and today, every step of the run was a struggle of pure muscle pain. She finally stopped, panting, with her hands braced against her legs.

“What, can’t run anymore? Just a few days without seeing you and you’ve become this weak, you little brat? And you still have the nerve to skip class?” Liu Jiang didn’t miss the chance to mock her.

Yu Zhouyao offered a bitter smile and consciously returned to the ranks.

The only good news was that she happened to know the content of today’s lesson attaching mental power to movements. The bad news was that her body felt like lead. The worse news? Liu Jiang singled her out for training again.

Yu Zhouyao’s eyelids drooped, and her posture slumped. “Instructor Liu, I’ve learned my lesson. Please, let me go.”

Liu Jiang grinned. “Being late, leaving early, and now lacking enthusiasm in training? I’m going to give you a failing grade for your course evaluation.”

Yu Zhouyao closed her eyes, resigned to her fate, and assumed a defensive stance.

Liu Jiang lived up to his reputation as a “Demon Instructor.” He showed no mercy in the training session. Swish! A sweeping kick came flying at her. Yu Zhouyao instinctively shifted her center of gravity backward, executing a smooth landing. Wrapped in her mental power, she felt no pain. Using the backward momentum, she performed a backroll and sprang back to her feet.

“Heh,” Liu Jiang grunted. “Seems you haven’t forgotten everything I taught you.”

Yu Zhouyao exhaled. “Instructor, how would I dare forget? If I forgot everything in a week, you’d probably beat me to death, wouldn’t you?”

“Heh. Again!” Without another word, he threw an upper-cut.

Not wanting to be shoved to the ground again, Yu Zhouyao raised her arms to parry. Bang, bang, bang! Fists fell like rain against her forearms. Getting slightly annoyed, Yu Zhouyao caught a gap in Liu Jiang’s offense and threw a rapid punch of her own.

Unsurprisingly, her fist was caught.

“Mm, not bad. Keep up the aggression.”

Yu Zhouyao curled her lips. Fine, Teacher. I’ve been wanting to take a real swing at you anyway.

The two of them went back and forth, their punches and retractions whipping up the air. Because every attack was infused with mental power, her consumption was higher than usual. Coupled with the mecha dismantling from the day before, she hadn’t fully recovered.

Liu Jiang noticed the hesitation in her strikes and immediately taunted her: “What’s wrong? No lunch? Or are you just hitting your limit already?”

Yu Zhouyao bit her lip and pushed through. She maintained her current punching speed to continue deceiving her opponent, but she adjusted the frequency of her mental power output, lowering the energy in her strikes.

In the split second Liu Jiang went for a kick, she seized the timing. She maxed out her mental output and delivered a heavy sweeping kick, catching him off guard and bringing him down.

For a heartbeat, Yu Zhouyao sensed Liu Jiang’s genuine shock.

THUMP!

The instructor slammed heavily onto the floor. The surrounding students were drawn by the loud crash; they stopped their drills and stared at the center of the room. A deathly silence fell over the upperclassmen as they realized Teacher Liu had been taken down.

Liu Jiang sprang up quickly, rubbing his lower back. He looked pleased. “Not bad. Now that is what I’m talking about. Very aggressive.”

He turned to the other students to continue his lecture. “Did everyone see that? This is the power of attaching mental power to your movements. Every action can be enhanced—offense, defense, transitions, jumps.” He raised an eyebrow at Yu Zhouyao. “A strike that powerful… even I failed to block it because I was careless. You should all learn from Student Yu Zhouyao.”

The second-year students broke into spontaneous applause. However, the looks they directed at Yu Zhouyao were a mix of admiration, jealousy, and defiance.

Yu Zhouyao scratched her head, choosing to ignore the eyes that practically glowed red with competition. Dammit, Instructor Liu is too wicked. He’s using me as the ‘tall poppy’ again. I don’t want to be famous at all…

For the rest of the class, Yu Zhouyao continued to be hammered by Teacher Liu under the intense gaze of the upperclassmen. When the bell finally rang, she collapsed onto the floor, refusing to move another inch.

“Heh. Playing weak now, are we? I’ll let you off for today.”

Yu Zhouyao screamed internally: I’m not faking it! I’m actually exhausted!

After two days of high-intensity training, her mental power was nearly dry. Back at the dorm, she hit the bed and fell into an immediate coma. She only woke up when the sun was high in the sky the next day. Checking her device, she realized it was almost time for her appointment with Mu Mingyue.

Sucking on a nutrient solution, she messaged her.

A Full Moon: Zhouyao, are you awake? A Full Moon: Eh, are you still doing homework? A Full Moon: Yu Zhouyao? Welcome Wealth: I’m here, I’m here. Welcome Wealth: No, just woke up. I’ll be ready in a second. A Full Moon: No rush. A Full Moon: I’ll wait until you’re ready before we head out.

They had agreed to go to the hospital for the experiment today. Yu Zhouyao had originally planned to be a “guinea pig” alone, but Mu Mingyue insisted on coming along. She said she was worried and that since the pheromone experiment was related to her own condition, she’d feel more at ease being there. Yu Zhouyao couldn’t win the argument and eventually agreed.

They met at the dormitory entrance.

“Morning, Zhouyao~” The young miss was as radiant as ever. “Morning.”

Mu Mingyue walked over naturally and lightly took Yu Zhouyao’s arm. Yu Zhouyao’s heart gave a little jolt, and she had to focus on her breathing. Remembering the lesson she learned the hard way—Do not take the initiative to provoke Mu Mingyue—she fought hard to keep her mouth shut.

They reached Dr. Pei’s office within ten minutes. Dr. Pei was browsing through data on her screen.

“Take a seat,” Pei Xian said.

Yu Zhouyao and Mu Mingyue sat side-by-side. Perhaps sensing Yu Zhouyao’s nerves, Mu Mingyue lightly rested her hand on top of Zhouyao’s. Yu Zhouyao glanced at her, and Mu Mingyue offered a soft smile.

Dr. Pei interrupted their silent exchange. “Alright, that’s enough. The sterile lab is next door. Zhouyao, follow my instructions once you’re inside. First, the precautions:

1. 1. There is an electronic screen inside. Follow the prompts. Use the comms if you have questions.

1. 1. This is a pheromone trial. Results will take three hours. For data security, there will only be a hard copy, which must be destroyed after reading. You will see your report before you leave.

1. 1. The subject must be in a stable pheromone phase—Alphas cannot be in their ‘Heat’ or ‘Susceptibility’ period. Zhouyao, I need to confirm: Have you had your first Susceptibility period? When was the last one? What are the symptoms?”

Yu Zhouyao paused. Mu Mingyue didn’t let go of her hand. Zhouyao looked at her, then carefully said to the doctor, “Dr. Pei, isn’t that private patient information?”

Dr. Pei nodded. “It is, but it’s necessary data. Is it… inconvenient to say?” She glanced at their joined hands and let out a long, knowing, “Oh—”

Yu Zhouyao’s face began to flush. She really disliked doctors who didn’t respect privacy—she was someone who respected it deeply! Meanwhile, Mu Mingyue sat there smiling, with no intention of leaving.

Yu Zhouyao decided to just throw caution to the wind. She had almost seen Mu Mingyue’s susceptibility period anyway; it was only fair. She stared at a stack of blank medical records on the desk and muttered, “None. None. Unknown. Is that enough?”

Dr. Pei acted as if she hadn’t heard. “What? What did you say?”

Mu Mingyue covered her mouth, her eyes wide with surprise. “So, Zhouyao, you—”

Yu Zhouyao felt teased again. She shrugged her shoulders to shake off the awkwardness. “I said, Dr. Pei, I haven’t had my first Susceptibility period yet. I don’t know when it’s coming, and I don’t know what the symptoms are. Do I need to say it a third time?”

Pei Xian smiled. “No, that won’t be necessary. I was just… surprised.”

“Surprised by what?”

Mu Mingyue chimed in, “I’m surprised too! I didn’t think you hadn’t experienced your first Susceptibility yet!”

“Well… it happens when it happens. It’s just a hormonal cycle.”

Dr. Pei entered the information. “Well! I’ve never had a subject do this experiment without having gone through their first period before. I have no reference data. Once you’re inside, try to stay in control. Don’t release too much pheromone at once. If you feel unwell, tell me immediately. If you’re ready, go in.”

Yu Zhouyao stepped into the sterile lab. Following the screen’s instructions, she slowly released her pheromones.

A scent like orange soda filled the narrow space. To her own surprise, the scent felt much more intense than usual like a massive wave of fresh-squeezed oranges was rushing into her nose.

Through the frosted glass, she could vaguely see the two cousins chatting. She couldn’t hear them and didn’t want to guess. As the pheromones left her body, she felt as if she were losing a part of herself. The feeling was remarkably similar to releasing mental power, the same specific kind of fatigue.

Suddenly, the words of the Grandma Mecha flashed through her mind. A lightbulb went off, and a barrier in her thinking seemed to shatter.

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