What Should I Do If My Ex-Girlfriend's Pheromones Smell Too Good? - Chapter 18

Chapter 18: Gunslinger: Her Vision Was So Narrow, It Only Had Room For One…

The sound of boots landing on the floor echoed from afar, drawing everyone’s attention. A tall woman with a fierce aura walked into the facility, leading two main team members.

The lead instructor appeared to be in her thirties, with a thin face, deep features, and a back as straight as a rod. She wore a form-fitting tank top that revealed arms with explosive muscle definition, paired with dark trousers tucked neatly into leather boots, making her legs look exceptionally long and straight.

From a distance, she looked like a blade about to be unsheathed.

In contrast, the two team members behind her seemed more approachable, smiling and greeting their juniors as they walked.

The instructor came to a halt and spoke succinctly: “Chu Yimeng, lead instructor of the Military University Mecha School Team. Alright, the assessment begins. Those whose names are called, follow me.”

The crowd was momentarily dazed—what a personality. A woman of few words, cold and aloof. The atmosphere in the venue tightened instantly.

The first student called stood up and walked toward Chu Yimeng, lamenting his bad luck at being picked first. The rest of the students took a breath of relief, craning their necks to watch.

Shu Qiong speculated about the content: “What will be tested? Combat? Professional specialties? Mecha piloting?”

Jin Yan’s focus was a bit off: “This instructor’s style is such a contrast to her name. You rarely see an Alpha with such a cute name.” Usually, Alphas with “soft” names choose to change them to something more dominant after secondary differentiation.

Yan Xiangyu suddenly spoke: “She is an Omega.”

“What!” Even Su Heyi was shocked. “Instructor Chu is an O?”

Shu Qiong nodded, confirming Yan Xiangyu’s judgment: “Yes, she has an Omega-specific suppressant patch on the back of her neck. Most likely, she is an Omega lady currently in her heat period.”

Everyone widened their eyes and looked; sure enough, they saw the corner of a suppressant patch logo peeking out from under Chu Yimeng’s collar.

Jin Yan gasped: “Daughter, you and Student Yan have incredible eyesight.”

But Yan Xiangyu denied it: “I didn’t see her patch. I just happened to look up Instructor Chu’s profile on the campus network.”

The rest of the group, whose eyesight and initiative hadn’t kept up: “…” Fine.

Su Heyi felt a strange sense of kinship with Instructor Chu, likely because they were both the strong type of women, though one was an A and the other an O. She said admiringly, “I really want to ask her how she trained such perfect arms.” Among the many tall Mecha Department Alphas present, Chu Yimeng’s height could definitely rank among the top.

As they spoke, the first student’s assessment began. After reviewing his file, Chu Yimeng led him to a large egg-shaped pod.

“Lie down,” her command remained brief.

The student hurriedly lay inside the holographic simulation pod and connected to the neural interface. The onlookers saw a clear light screen pop up in the air, showing a scene of the student standing inside a red circle three meters in diameter. Within the holographic environment, the AI system prompted him to choose a weapon. After some fumbling, he chose a lightweight handgun.

The holographic AI emitted a mechanical voice: “Assessment begins. Stepping outside the circle counts as failure.”

While everyone was still confused, a sudden click-clack sound echoed from the light screen, sending chills down everyone’s spine. The student holding the gun froze for a few beats.

He saw a terrifyingly realistic Zerg rush out! The images from textbooks and Zerg encyclopedias had suddenly become three-dimensional, delivering an intense visual impact.

This was a low-level Zerg with low attack power but high defense, possessing twitching antennae, a hard carapace, and foul-smelling saliva dripping from its mouthparts. Programmed with low intelligence, it simply rushed mechanically toward the red circle.

The student inside the circle scrambled to raise his gun and fire. In his panic, his aim was a mess. Combined with the fact that the Zerg appeared too close to the circle, he couldn’t react in time. Three consecutive shots missed vital spots, and he was quickly knocked out of the circle.

The charging Zerg silhouette vanished, and the student left the pod looking dejected. As he emerged, he looked lost: “I’m a Commander; why was I tested on frontal combat?”

One of the team regulars explained: “Commanders and Mecha Masters only need to last five minutes. Single-Soldiers have to last seven.”

The Commander, who had only lasted a few seconds, fell silent. Sorry, he was too weak.

Having been mentally prepared, the students who followed were a bit steadier. No one else scored a zero, but still, no one managed to last until the timer ended.

Shu Qiong noticed that after the first student, no one else chose a firearm. Everyone tacitly chose melee weapons. The distance was too close, and the rate of fire for guns was limited; once the barrel overheated and the Zerg reached you, you’d be stuck in a miserable situation of using a gun for hand-to-hand combat.

“Next, Shu Qiong,” Chu Yimeng called out.

“Go for it, daughter!”

“Just perform as usual.”

“Good luck.”

Carrying the expectations of the three behind her, Shu Qiong lay into the pod, donned the neural interface, and closed her eyes.

When she opened them again, she was in a foreign space with a weapon rack in front of her. She stepped forward and grabbed an assault rifle she had set her sights on earlier; it had no special merits other than a high rate of fire.

“Why did she pick a gun!”

“She’s a Mecha Master, right? Maybe she’s not good at melee, so she had to choose a gun.”

“True, with a gun, she can at least try her luck.”

Shu Qiong couldn’t hear the chatter outside. She rubbed the stock of the gun—a long-missed sensation—and pressed the floating “Ready” button. Hearing a rapid beep-beep, a waist-high Zerg suddenly lunged into her field of vision. Her expression didn’t change as she flicked off the safety and fired.

A direct hit. The vital spot was in the soft abdomen; the high-speed bullet entered the Zerg’s body and triggered a secondary explosion. The system judged it a successful kill, and its corpse vanished into a stream of data.

Then came the second, and the third.

Shu Qiong was too calm. Her back was tense, yet she showed no emotional fluctuation. The audience could only see her pull the trigger and make micro-adjustments to the muzzle via the screen.

Bang—

Every gunshot was followed by a swirl of data streams as the score column rose steadily.

Jin Yan wasn’t surprised by this and didn’t understand the crowd’s gasps: “What are you all thinking? Our daughter was the youngest genius at the shooting club, okay! The coach tried to convince her to enter shooting competitions several times, but she refused because she was still in school!” Her tone was proud, as if she were the one hitting the high scores. Actually, Jin Yan had spent a year in the shooting club too—being a rich kid, she had her share of hobbies—but unfortunately, her “gun feel” was average; she was better at close combat than shooting.

Yan Xiangyu watched silently. She knew Shu Qiong liked shooting, but she had never seen her play with a gun with her own eyes. Seeing it now, she felt the trip was well worth it. From both a technical and an aesthetic perspective, Shu Qiong had turned the assessment into a textbook demonstration of dynamic target practice.

On the light screen, the frequency of the Zerg’s appearance increased significantly, evolving into waves of two or three rushing simultaneously. The difficulty of aiming climbed. Shu Qiong unhurriedly repeated the motions of aiming and firing, her brow furrowed slightly in concentration. Today, her gun feel was exceptionally good. She even felt the distance was too close, making pre-aiming effortless and lacking challenge.

The final wave of the five-minute mark came with a fierce momentum. Four large Scythe-Zerg moved in an encircling maneuver, making skin-crawling chewing sounds. The pressure was even greater.

Shu Qiong finally felt a long-lost thrill. After firing a shot, she turned sharply, performing a “flick-shot” without pre-aiming, then turned back and flicked again—all in one fluid motion.

“Daughter is so cool!” The crowd outside was boiling over, with Jin Yan leading the cheers.

Yan Xiangyu stared fixedly at the figure on the screen, her heartbeat syncopating with the gunshots. This was a Shu Qiong she had never seen: valiant, heroic, and intensely aggressive. Every move possessed a lethal attraction.

Shu Qiong cleared the area without any pressure; she even had time to glance at the jumping timer.

4:59. 5:00 sharp.

However, the timer didn’t stop. The Zerg tide even accelerated, and a winged Zerg suddenly dropped from the sky. Shu Qiong’s eyelid flicked as she raised her gun and blew its head off. The hyper-realistic visuals gave her a slight sense of dizziness and nausea; for a moment, she felt as if the brain matter of the Zerg had splashed onto her head.

Restraining the urge to gag, she continued the assessment.

The onlookers were stunned: “These bugs can fly? Is this a cheat?” Someone smiled bitterly:

“Say hello to the giant flying cockroaches.”

“So disgusting!”

“Wasn’t it five minutes? Why hasn’t it ended? Is the system bugged?”

The other team regular, who hadn’t spoken, finally smiled: “Because we haven’t sensed her upper limit, we intentionally extended the assessment time. Isn’t everyone curious about how long she can last?”

“Wow, how sinister!” someone whispered.

This regular was the sniper of the team. She watched Shu Qiong’s movements—which were so fast they seemed to require no thought—with great interest. Her competitive spirit was stirred: “This person is a veteran. The time she spent at the shooting range is definitely not less than mine.” Such muscle memory couldn’t be built without three to five years of practice. “Pity she’s a Mecha Master,” she shook her head. “If she were a Single-Soldier, her future would be limitless.”

The other regular was surprised by such high praise from her teammate, and her expression grew much more serious.

If Shu Qiong had heard their conversation, she would have felt ashamed. Right now, her valiant confidence came entirely from the gun in her hand. If she were empty-handed… sorry, she would probably become the most cowardly Single-Soldier in history.

In short, her deceptive appearance successfully fooled everyone.

The kill score jumped faster and faster toward the end, reaching a dizzying pace. After five minutes, the difficulty of each wave increased geometrically. In the final few seconds, the Zerg that rushed out possessed high intelligence; they knew how to coordinate. A few thick-skinned ones rushed in front to draw fire, while behind them were “glass cannon” Zerg specializing in long-range attacks. Some could even emit sonic waves that interfered with thoughts as they charged in formation.

A bullet was fired at an ingenious angle, first killing the hidden bug emitting the annoying mental attack. Only then did Shu Qiong turn her muzzle and fire five consecutive rounds. Each shot hit precisely the same spot. The thick carapace finally cracked, and the massive, terrifying Zerg body crashed to the ground only half a meter away from her.

The timer stopped. Shu Qiong casually tucked her gun back into her waistband, removed her goggles, and glanced at the scoreboard.

[Kill Count: 100]

[Time: 7 Minutes]

The score was quite auspicious. Shu Qiong was barely satisfied. Ignoring the rambling voice of the AI system, she clicked exit.

“So cool,” many people were swooning.

“The way she looked toward the screen at the end… it felt like we made eye contact.”

“Wake up, she was just looking at the scoreboard.”

“I don’t care! Is she single? What’s her ideal type?”

Yan Xiangyu no longer had the mind to care about her surroundings. Her vision was so narrow, it only had room for one person.

The afterglow of the intense gunfight hadn’t faded; Shu Qiong still felt high-spirited as she left the equipment. Her tall, thin figure had already become the center of attention. And now, this focal point was walking straight toward Yan Xiangyu. Their gazes met across the crowd, and this time, neither looked away.

“Hey, are you dazed?” Shu Qiong approached and waved a hand in front of Yan Xiangyu’s eyes, her smile unusually flamboyant. “It’s your turn, Student Yan.”