The Only Ultimate Alpha in the Universe - Chapter 27

To avoid sunlight as much as possible, Xiao Sa bundled himself up tightly every time he headed to school.

However, the Capital Mecha Academy was a military institution after all. He couldn’t stay indoors forever, especially since he would eventually have to participate in field combat training. The issue of his mental energy weakening due to solar radiation was something that urgently needed to be resolved.

Landis had always maintained a strict, self-disciplined routine. He woke up at 6:00 AM every morning, exercised for twenty to thirty minutes, and then, after washing up and changing, had breakfast while reading the previous day’s reports and news before heading to work.

Xiao Sa, on the other hand, loved to sleep in. To avoid waking him, Landis was always exceptionally quiet when getting up.

But this morning, when Landis rose at 6:00 AM, Xiao Sa actually got up right alongside him.

“Why aren’t you sleeping a bit longer today?”

Xiao Sa blinked his sleep-crusted eyes and quickly pulled on his clothes. “Starting today, I plan to do morning exercises with you every day.”

Landis gave him a surprised look. “Why the sudden change of heart?”

Xiao Sa emerged from the bathroom with a pulse toothbrush in his mouth and fished a pair of sneakers out of the walk-in closet.

“Since I’ve already decided to bet against you, I have to work hard.”

Landis pulled back the curtains to look at the sun, which had recently crested the horizon. He frowned. “I remember your physical exam report stated you are allergic to UV rays. If you want to exercise, I’ll stay in the gym with you.”

Xiao Sa shook his head. “It’s not exactly a UV allergy. It’s just…” He hesitated, making up an excuse. “I get heatstroke easily if I stand in the sun for too long. But if I get used to it, maybe it’ll improve. I can’t live like a nocturnal creature forever.”

Landis watched him, noncommittal.

The Wincer Manor’s back garden featured a ginkgo-lined walkway beside a shimmering, crystal-clear lake. The sunrise skipped across the water’s surface, sparkling in pale gold glimmers, while occasional foraging birds dipped into the water as they flew past.

Dressed in sportswear, the two strolled along the ginkgo path by the lake. Landis jogged while listening to the morning briefings through his wraparound sports headphones. He wore a black compression tank top and loose tactical trousers tucked into combat boots. During the jog, he stayed half a step behind Xiao Sa, his peripheral vision constantly monitoring the younger man.

Xiao Sa was in all-white sportswear. His loose short-sleeved T-shirt revealed well-defined muscles in his arms that swayed rhythmically with his movements. Landis noticed that Xiao Sa’s running posture was textbook-perfect, his strides even, and his breathing rhythm exceptionally regular. He didn’t look like a weak novice who hadn’t exercised in a long time.

The gold-red morning light flew across the lake and filtered through the tall ginkgo trees, falling upon them. Gradually, sweat began to bead on Xiao Sa’s face. He glanced at his watch—it had been about twenty minutes.

He started to feel an abnormal acceleration in his heart rate, and his breathing grew heavier. Five minutes later, cold sweat began to break out on his forehead and back.

Xiao Sa glanced sideways at the sun. The sunlight didn’t give him the warm, comfortable sensation he remembered from his home planet; instead, it felt like being scorched by a cold fire. His mental energy began to drain rapidly.

He wanted to push a little further, but Landis, who had been watching him closely, stopped and grabbed him. Landis pulled a clean handkerchief from his pocket and frowned as he wiped the excess sweat from Xiao Sa’s forehead.

“Are you alright?”

Xiao Sa’s eyes looked a bit blurred. He shook his head. “I’m fine.”

Landis sighed inwardly. Xiao Sa was stubborn and refused to listen to advice. He couldn’t understand why the man insisted on pushing himself when he clearly couldn’t handle the sun.

“You don’t look fine.” Landis expressionlessly opened his light-brain to call for the butler to bring the car, speaking in a tone that brooked no argument. “Be good. I’m sending you back to rest.”

Xiao Sa followed Landis into the car and leaned back against the seat, breathing softly. He only felt better once Landis remotely lowered the curtains on both sides.

Landis looked at him with a serious gaze. “Why can’t you just stay in the house and rest? Or run on the treadmill indoors?” He paused, then added, “I can accompany you.”

Xiao Sa adjusted his breathing and felt his strength gradually returning. He realized that this situation was nowhere near as severe as the first time he had fainted from exposure. He suspected his body was slowly adapting to the environment.

“The only way to overcome this issue is to try it outdoors,” Xiao Sa explained. “If I stay inside forever, I’ll never be able to go out.”

Landis knit his brows, about to say, ‘Then you don’t have to go out.’ But the words reached his lips and he swallowed them back, unable to stop himself from saying, “Why can’t you understand that I’m doing this for your own good? Can’t you just listen to me?”

Xiao Sa opened his eyes and frowned at him, countering, “Then why can’t you understand that I’m doing this for my own good? I want to be able to walk, run, and live a normal life under the sun.”

Instead of being wrapped up like a mummy every time I step outside.

The two stubborn individuals stared at each other for a long moment. Not wanting to repeat the argument, Landis withdrew his gaze first and pressed his temples. “Fine. I understand.”

He said nothing more, simply opening his light-brain to handle work documents.

The butler driving up front caught the scene in the rearview mirror and looked away in surprise. The head of the Wincer family was usually absolute in his word; he hadn’t expected to see the Admiral so powerless against a low-rank partner from a commoner background.

Seeing that Landis was ignoring him, Xiao Sa leaned against the backrest and peeked at him from the corner of his eye. When Landis worked, his expression was solemn and focused, as if he hadn’t taken the little bickering session to heart.

Xiao Sa had been prepared to fight for his right to run in the morning, expecting Landis to stop him like last time. He hadn’t expected it to end like… this?

That night.

At bedtime, Xiao Sa finished his milk and prepared for sleep. He found it somewhat amusing that during his time with Landis, his schedule had become incredibly disciplined—he hadn’t pulled an all-nighter once.

He sat cross-legged on the bed, meditating using the techniques from Landis’s mental energy notes. The energy he had lost to the sun this morning had been fully restored.

The wall clock hit 11:30 PM. Usually, Landis was in bed by 11:00 sharp, but he still hadn’t returned to the room. Xiao Sa opened his eyes and looked toward the door; there was still no sound outside.

Was Landis still working this late?

He got up, slipped into his slippers, and walked toward the study. The door was slightly ajar, a faint light spilling through the crack. Xiao Sa pushed it open gently and tiptoed in, seeing Landis on a video call with someone.

“Dr. Summerk, that is the basic situation with my partner. You are the authority on mental disabilities; I want to know if there is any way to help a low-rank person improve their mental energy, specifically to avoid the risk of ‘Pollution Assimilation’ during a deep bond with a high-pollution partner.”

On the screen, a middle-aged doctor said, “Your Excellency, you can look at my latest research data. If your partner’s condition is due to his parental genetic heritage, there is likely no way.”

“However, there is another possibility—for instance, a barrier in communication between their mental energy and the surrounding environment. Some constitutions are naturally born with a high-intensity defense against their surroundings.”

“The characteristic of such people is that they often feel detached from the world, wary of everything, and unable to let their mental energy fully integrate with their environment.”

Landis fell silent for a moment. “How is it treated?”

The doctor adjusted his glasses. “Since your partner lacks his own spiritual body, you might try letting him establish a mental link with your spiritual body.”

“Let him feel firsthand what it’s like to release a spiritual body, so he can indirectly integrate into the environment.”

Landis nodded and was about to check the files sent by the doctor when he sensed something. He turned around, but the space behind him was empty.

Xiao Sa had already quietly backed out of the study and rushed back to the bedroom, lying back in bed. Moments later, the door opened; Landis had indeed returned.

“Are you still awake? If I come back late, you don’t need to wait for me.”

Xiao Sa put down his light-brain. “What were you busy with tonight?”

Landis didn’t answer. He simply gestured, and the black lion appeared out of thin air by his feet. Seeing Xiao Sa, Heiyan didn’t hesitate; he hoisted his front paws onto the edge of the bed and burrowed his large, fluffy head into Xiao Sa’s side.

Landis sat on the armchair by the bed, legs crossed, resting his cheek on one hand as he watched Xiao Sa calmly. “I just contacted a leading doctor in mental disabilities. He suggested that I let you try to link with my spiritual body, using Heiyan to sense the feeling of releasing one’s own.”

Xiao Sa, who was busy scratching the big cat’s head, looked up. He had overheard Landis discussing him in the study, but he hadn’t caught the specific details.

“Can an outsider really link with someone else’s spiritual body?”

Landis nodded. “The doctor said as long as I completely open my mental sea to accept your energy while communicating with Heiyan, it can be done.”

But there was another sentence Landis didn’t tell Xiao Sa.

Sharing a spiritual body with an outsider was an extremely dangerous act. For someone with severe mental pollution, the mental sea was already unstable; the slightest slip could trigger a violent frenzy in the spiritual body.

But Landis didn’t know if it was because he had been around Xiao Sa for too long, but whenever he was with him and smelled his scent, he felt calm and comfortable, his body and mind completely relaxed. The frequency with which he used inhibitors had dropped significantly, and he rarely felt unbearable pain or the irritability of his spiritual body anymore.

Heiyan, having his chin scratched by Xiao Sa, rubbed his head into the crook of Xiao Sa’s shoulder, even attempting to licked him with his tongue. Landis shot the lion a sharp glare, and the beast silently withdrew its head.

Landis spoke: “Place your hand on Heiyan’s nose. Try your best to release your mental energy.”

Xiao Sa followed his instructions and closed his eyes. The moment his mental energy connected with Heiyan, he felt as if he had been transported beneath a vast, boundless black curtain. On the other side of the void, tiny pinpricks of light, like stars, flickered into existence.

Then, from those points of light, countless threads and strands wove together to form an intricate, interconnected web.

Xiao Sa felt that even though his eyes were closed, he could suddenly “see.”

He “saw” his own face; he “saw” the wide, soft bed. His field of vision, hands, and feet all began to extend. Although he hadn’t lifted his hand, he could feel the texture of the carpet through his palms, and he even sensed a tail swishing back and forth behind him.

His senses of smell, hearing, and sight were instantly magnified several times. Even the sound of Landis’s breathing seemed to ring right in his ear, along with that steady thumping heartbeat and the rhythmic flow of blood.

The sensation was mystical, as if he had gained a clone albeit one with a slightly lower perspective.

Xiao Sa gradually gained a new understanding of the people and spiritual bodies of this world. They weren’t summoned battle pets; they were highly simulated, materialized mental energy, a “second self” with its own thoughts and consciousness.

However, simulating the complex structure and high intelligence of a human was too difficult, so manifesting the spiritual body as an animal or plant was the perfect balance. No wonder there was a synesthetic connection between the master and the spiritual body.

While Xiao Sa was experiencing what it was like to possess a “spiritual body,” deep within that boundless black curtain, he noticed some shimmering fragments.

He controlled his mental energy and swam toward them out of curiosity, splitting off countless mental threads to try and touch those fragments. However, they were like a shattered mirror, leaving behind only blurry, indistinct images.

Just as Xiao Sa tried to grab a fragment for a closer look, a massive tremor erupted from the depths of the darkness, accompanied by the roar of a terrifying voice.

Immediately following this, Xiao Sa’s mental energy was snapped back from Heiyan, and the black lion vanished.

When he opened his eyes, he saw Landis on the sofa, eyes tightly shut, frowning as he pressed his temples. Xiao Sa scrambled out of bed and hurried to Landis’s side, embracing him soothingly. “Landis, are you okay?”

“I’m fine. It was my first time sharing a mental link with another person. I’m not very skilled at it yet.”

Xiao Sa frowned at him, then pressed his hand against the back of Landis’s head, resting it on his own shoulder. The mellow, intoxicating scent of Tequila emanated from his glands, gently enveloping Landis.

Landis let out a soft breath and subconsciously leaned against Xiao Sa’s skin, inhaling the scent. The calm, stable, and warm sensation quickly smoothed over his slight agitation.

Xiao Sa glanced at the clock on the bedside table; it was nearly midnight. “Let’s sleep. It’s late.”

As the two lay down, Xiao Sa was still recalling the voice he had heard in the mental sea. Was that the source of pollution hidden deep within Landis? And what were those fragments? Could they be fragments of Landis’s memories? He hadn’t seen the images clearly, but he vaguely remembered seeing a red rose kept inside a glass dome.

In the darkness, Landis lay beside Xiao Sa, unable to fall asleep for a long time.

He thought back to the sensation of sharing his spiritual body with Xiao Sa. It was an indescribable feeling, as if another person had suddenly entered his own body. He felt like a clam that had been pried open, his most secret inner world laid bare without reservation.

Every movement of Xiao Sa’s was no longer just a physical touch felt through synesthesia; it felt as though the man were reaching out to touch his very soul.

The pollution monster hidden in the depths of his mental sea had sensed an opportunity during his moment of emotional turbulence. It had immediately breached his mental blockades, and it was fortunate that he had disconnected from that state in time.

The sensation of having one’s soul “entered” was far too dangerous.

Landis turned his head to look at Xiao Sa’s sleeping face, breathing in the scent radiating from his body. His heart gradually calmed—it was alright. They were life companions. He was his true family.

The next morning.

Xiao Sa woke up on time and continued his morning run by the lake with Landis.

A week passed. Xiao Sa spent his mornings running, his days at school learning mecha theory, and his nights touching the “fluffball” to practice communicating with a spiritual body.

Unknowingly, Xiao Sa found that he could endure exercising under the sun for longer and longer.

50 minutes… 55 minutes… one hour!

Cold sweat began to break out on Xiao Sa’s forehead again, and his heart rate was rapid, but he could remain standing. He no longer felt that intense dizziness. He was in a much better state than when he first fainted under the solar rays.

Pheromones, spiritual bodies, solar rays…

Xiao Sa had originally thought he was merely an alien to the Starry Sea region, but he was starting to feel that he and his clansmen might actually have a different kind of connection to this place. He would likely only uncover those secrets once he found Hino’s terminal.

Xiao Sa looked back; Landis was standing not far from him.

Feeling exceptionally good, Xiao Sa smiled, strode over, and, under Landis’s surprised gaze, wrapped his arms around the Admiral’s waist, pulled his head down, and gave him a firm kiss on the cheek.

“You’re amazing, Landis! I did it!”

Without waiting for Landis to react, Xiao Sa dove into the back seat of the car to escape the sun.

Landis remained standing by the lake, bathed in the morning glow, his tall silhouette outlined by the golden-orange light. He touched his cheek; in his memory, this was the first time Xiao Sa had kissed him proactively. The warm sensation still lingered on his skin.

Did that mean… Xiao Sa would stay by his side for a long time?

Xiao Sa had been attending classes at the Capital Mecha Academy for two weeks now.

In the entire class, he was the only one who could be called diligent. Even the mecha operation professor, who hadn’t initially thought much of him, was surprised and had become noticeably friendlier.

Xiao Sa had used Hino to browse through the data of all thirty students in the class. Given the noble tradition of high-compatibility marriages, the students’ mental strength was generally above A-rank.

This was good news for Xiao Sa; it meant their innate potential wasn’t bad. Otherwise, he really would have considered Hino’s suggestion of beating them all into the hospital.

The person with the deepest background here was the second son of Duke Lott, Carman Lott—the same guy who had been whispering behind his back on the first day.

The other students mostly just drifted off or didn’t pay attention. Carman, however, was not only idle himself but often instigated a group of noble scions to skip class and go who-knows-where.

This couldn’t continue. Xiao Sa rubbed his chin; he didn’t have time to waste with this group of playboys. He had to whip them into shape so they wouldn’t drag him down.

As Xiao Sa finished taking his notes, he saw the students who had skipped class saunter into the room nonchalantly and take their seats in the back row. The professor’s lip curled in disgust, but he said nothing.

Xiao Sa glanced at them casually, a familiar mischievous grin playing on his lips. It was time to test the new skill he had learned.

After a week of experiencing the connection with a spiritual body, although he still couldn’t release one of his own, he had gained a deeper understanding of spiritual bodies in this world.

Xiao Sa carefully recalled the sensation of his senses extending. He focused his mental energy at his fingertips. First, it stretched out, then grew more solid, transforming into a semi-transparent, needle-like shape.

Previously, he could only materialize mental energy within his mental sea or a virtual space; this was the first time he had achieved partial materialization in reality. Although it was merely a needle almost invisible to the naked eye.

The silver-white needle flipped nimbly between his fingers. With a light flick, it immediately flew behind Carman. While the boy was shamelessly playing a game on his light-brain, it gave him a sharp poke on the butt.

Carman let out an “Ow!” and the entire class, including the teacher, looked at him.

Carman’s face turned bright red. He felt as if he were sitting on pins and needles, but he was too embarrassed to say he had been poked by something. He sat down sheepishly. After confirming there were no strange bugs around, he started chatting with someone again, only to be poked once more!

Next, Carman found that no matter what he did, he would get poked. If he lowered his head to play with his light-brain, he’d get poked in the neck. The only time that eerie thing went quiet was when he did nothing but look up at the teacher and the textbook on the light-screen.

“What the hell is going on?” Carman glared at the people around him. Who was playing pranks in class?

Soon, he realized he wasn’t the only one encountering the mysterious “embroidery needle.” Several of his companions were now clutching their butts or looking around with flushed faces.

Xiao Sa smiled slightly. If they weren’t going to study properly, they would have to taste the “joy” of the ancient scholars who tied their hair to a beam and poked their thighs with an awl to stay awake.

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