What Should I Do If My Ex-Girlfriend's Pheromones Smell Too Good? - Chapter 19

Chapter 19: School Team: “Junior, Add Me as a Friend?”

Yan Xiangyu stared for a few seconds at Shu Qiong’s hand, which was playfully waving in front of her eyes. Sure enough, she heard Chu Yimeng call her name next.

Upon entering the holographic room, she headed straight for a bullwhip, clearly having a pre-selected weapon in mind just like Shu Qiong.

The whip is a relatively niche choice among weapons; it is far more complex to master than swords, spears, or staves, and it is easy to injure oneself rather than the enemy. Consequently, it often wins “Most Suitable Weapon for Mutual Destruction” polls alongside the meteor hammer.

However, given that the sting from being “face-slapped” after doubting Shu Qiong’s choice of a gun was still fresh, the crowd cautiously withheld their opinions this time, choosing to watch in silence.

The timer started. Yan Xiangyu’s long whip lashed down with a crisp crack of breaking air, flipping a newly emerged Zerg onto its back.

Snap! With a subtle, skillful flick of her wrist, another swift and ruthless diagonal strike followed. The Zerg’s body instantly exploded into a spray of data.

Her movements were relaxed and elegant, yet her power was indomitable. Binding, swinging, sweeping, and tossing—her angles were sharp, and her hidden strength was precise.

Shu Qiong noticed Chu Yimeng nodding with a satisfied expression, and she knew things were looking good. An experienced instructor like Chu could gauge about eighty percent of a student’s strength just by watching the opening stance.

The result of the assessment was never in doubt. Yan Xiangyu easily lasted the seven minutes, and a bright “100” appeared on the scoreboard.

As she stepped out of the pod, she rubbed her wrist. Although it was only a neural immersion, the sensation of the holographic simulation was remarkably realistic. Yan Xiangyu took a couple of seconds to recover before shifting her gaze back to the real world.

Shu Qiong asked curiously, “Have you studied whip techniques before?”

Yan Xiangyu shook her head. “I saw a crash course online and just messed around with it. There aren’t really any formal moves to speak of; I just lashed out blindly, and fortunately, everything hit.”

“Then why did you choose the whip?”

Yan Xiangyu remained silent for a moment before saying, “It’s the longest. It hits from far away.”

“…” Everyone was impressed.

With her setting the bar, the subsequent examinees appeared particularly unremarkable. Someone even tried to imitate Yan Xiangyu’s strategy with a long whip, only to successfully entangle and “kill” themselves.

A strange and subtle sense of relief washed over the crowd.

Ah, yes. This is the ‘Mutual Destruction Whip’ we all know and love. For a second there, I almost thought I could do it too.

The assessment moved quickly. When it was Jin Yan’s turn, the young lady chose a broadsword and swung it with such vigor that it whistled through the air—the image of a valiant single-soldier.

When the timer stopped at five minutes, everyone realized: Wait, this person is a Commander?

After leaving the pod, Jin Yan felt she hadn’t fought enough and ran a hand through her hair. “It wouldn’t be impossible for this lady to switch majors to Single-Soldier.”

Shu Qiong and the others ignored her sudden “peacocking” and cheered for Su Heyi: “Good luck, Sister Heyi!”

“Hey! Where’s the sisterly love?” Jin Yan was outraged. “Aren’t you going to praise me even a little?”

Only Su Heyi gave her a friendly pat on the shoulder. “The fight just now was very exciting. Shall we spar sometime?”

Jin Yan readily agreed.

Su Heyi also chose a broadsword, but her style was different from Jin Yan’s; she focused on power rather than sharpness. Su Heyi knew exactly where her advantage lay. Her movements were wide and powerful; when the blade came down, it split the Zerg bodies like watermelons—a pure “brute force” style of clearing the path.

The onlookers were becoming somewhat numb. As expected, geniuses play with other geniuses. We mortals can only look up.

Fortunately, the quality of the subsequent examinees improved significantly. There were several bright performances, and Shu Qiong learned a lot about the various uses of melee weapons.

“Alright. Those whose names I call will stay for the other tests; the rest of the students may leave,” the scout-position regular smiled warmly. “Of course, if you want to stay and observe to learn, we don’t mind.”

Of the fifty-plus people, more than half were filtered out in the first round, leaving only twelve. Shu Qiong looked around and saw that, aside from the four of them, the rest were upperclassmen, including two seniors who were on last year’s school team bench.

The group was split into three waves according to their majors. Shu Qiong and one of the substitute seniors moved to the console, which was covered in various materials.

The senior, a male Beta, proactively struck up a conversation: “Only two of us Mecha Masters met the standard. Regardless of our performance in this round, we’ll both make the team—at most, it’s just the difference between being a regular or a substitute.”

He was a senior this year and had spent three years on the bench. Having been “perpetual number two” for so long, his mindset was as steady as an old dog’s, and he was even in the mood to joke: “This scene feels like a flashback to last year. My opponent became the school team’s main Mecha Master after finishing the professional specialty test with me. You have to work hard, Junior.”

Shu Qiong: “…Alright. You work hard too, Senior.”

The rules for the Mecha Master specialty test were simple: it mainly tested fundamental skills and hand speed. The two were each assigned a table full of components. Once the timer started, they had to filter out useful materials and assemble them into a specified part.

The light screen in front of the table lit up, showing a blueprint for a portable electromagnetic anti-aircraft gun, with dense numerical annotations appearing upon zooming in. They had five minutes to prepare.

The substitute senior lamented, “It’s so normal this year I’m not used to it. I remember last year we had to assemble a foot—the kind where every toe could spring out a sharp claw.”

Shu Qiong felt instantly relieved. I almost became a manicurist.

The five minutes ended, and the playful expressions vanished from their faces. They picked up the parts they had already scouted with their eyes, and their hand speeds exploded.

A mecha manufacturing student who had been eliminated in the first round but stayed to watch felt a phantom pain in his fingers at the sight.

The substitute senior was a classic steady player. His performance was stable, and his assembly process for the gun barrel was methodical: establishing the main frame first, then filling it in bit by bit according to the blueprint. A prototype soon took shape.

Shu Qiong, on the other hand, appeared much more casual. She didn’t look at the blueprint at all. Her slender fingers under black gloves flew across the table, her gaze focused. She pursued “capturing the essence”—never mind if it looked exactly like the drawing, as long as the main functional points were there first.

In her view, the key scoring points of the component were easy to find. There were two main test points: the electromagnetic device and the transformation assembly. She finished the assembly just as fifteen minutes passed, and even had the energy to optimize a high heat-dissipation issue present in the original blueprint’s barrel, adding a detachable improved module.

Clack! She slapped the button, and the timer on the light screen paused.

The substitute senior was a beat behind. He raised a thumb while dripping with sweat and leaned over to look at the heat-dissipation module she had added. Looking at it, he couldn’t help but tsk: “Impressive, Junior.”

Shu Qiong slowly took off her finger-guard gloves and couldn’t help but chuckle. “You were very fast too, Senior. That speed is definitely among the best of Mecha Masters.”

In her opinion, compared to Mecha Masters with occasional flashes of brilliance, a contestant like him—who wasn’t flashy but possessed a terrifyingly stable state—was particularly daunting. The pressure during a direct confrontation would be immense.

After a while, the Commander’s specialty assessment also ended. Jin Yan obtained a high score in the sand-table simulation battle without any suspense.

The real fierce competition was among the Single-Soldiers. Their assessment consisted of mecha 1v1 gauntlet matches, and the situation was particularly tense and exciting.

Once inside the standardized mecha, Su Heyi’s power advantage was no longer obvious. Conversely, Yan Xiangyu, with her significant technical advantage, stood out. Her mecha weapon was once again an enlarged, thin whip made of an extremely tough alloy. The front half was covered in terrifying barbs. When it lashed out, it looked more like a ghostly, soul-stealing steel cable attacking through the air. Any part of the opponent’s mecha that was hit was left with deep, terrifying dents.

Shu Qiong had no doubt that if the opponent were hit by Yan Xiangyu one more time, the cockpit would be completely exposed, and the match would be over. Sure enough, the mecha opposite Yan Xiangyu was brave but lacked speed, and was completely countered by the long whip. After only three minutes, the instructor announced Yan Xiangyu’s victory.

The final round of the Single-Soldier assessment was over.

Facing her was the other Single-Soldier substitute senior. She climbed out of the cockpit panting and clutching her waist, saying, “I can’t do it, I can’t do it. This year’s freshmen are something else.”

The Mecha Master substitute agreed: “This ‘old wave’ has already been slapped to death on the beach.” The two Beta substitutes, who had worked together for a year, sighed in unison.

The Single-Soldier substitute caught her breath to calm her emotions. She wasn’t as Zen-like as her old teammate. Strictly speaking, her strength was virtually the same as the graduated main-team breakthrough soldier; she had unfortunately ended up on the bench last year because she caught the flu during the assessment. She had vowed to enter the main team this year to make up for that regret, but who knew the freshmen in the Mecha Department would be so fierce this year.

It’s a bumper year for the Mecha Department, she felt this year’s Military University school team was due for a major overhaul, both in configuration and tactics. She felt a bit excited thinking about it. If the new team could crush their opponents in the league, she’d be happy even staying on the bench. Besides, even as a substitute, winning a championship is a glorious achievement to put on a resume!

She drifted over to the corner where Yan Xiangyu and Shu Qiong were and said earnestly, “Juniors.”

The group looked up blankly.

The substitute senior looked each of them over, felt their spirits were high, and nodded with satisfaction: “Bring back a championship. Let those people on the Star Network who are badmouthing Military University get a slap in the face.”

The Alliance Military University’s league results in recent years hadn’t been pretty; in the last few sessions, even making it into the top four had been a close call. If this continued, who would remember the glorious days when Military University won consecutive championships?

Not wanting to overpromise, Yan Xiangyu simply said, “Yes. If we make the team, we will naturally do our best.”

Chu Yimeng and the two regular team members consulted for about ten minutes before calling everyone together to announce the school team roster.

Shu Qiong’s name was undoubtedly on the starting lineup; after all, regardless of how the main configuration changed, a Mecha Master was a necessity.

Jin Yan didn’t have high expectations for this. The stage where Commanders shine isn’t the Inter-High League. After the format change, Commanders were actually the easiest to cut. Sure enough, Chu Yimeng placed her on the substitute list. Jin Yan was quite satisfied with this: “Being a substitute is great. Less work, but all the benefits.” She wouldn’t miss a single academic credit!

Yan Xiangyu’s spot as a main-team breakthrough soldier was well-deserved; no one was surprised.

The only suspense lay between Su Heyi and the substitute Single-Soldier senior, Qin Liang. They had fought a match earlier, and truthfully, they were neck-and-neck. Each had different strengths, making it a difficult choice.

“Main team breakthrough position two: Qin Liang. Substitute: Su Heyi.”

Chu Yimeng spoke a few more words than usual. “Actually, Student Su Heyi’s strength is not inferior, but considering the gap in experience, the starting position goes to Qin Liang.” Su Heyi nodded, accepting it gracefully. She was only a freshman; she had plenty of room to grow in the future.

The non-selected candidates left one by one, leaving the school team members to bond.

The main-team sniper quickly scurried to Shu Qiong’s side and held out her wristband: “Junior, add me as a friend?”

Yan Xiangyu immediately looked over.

Shu Qiong didn’t refuse. After successfully exchanging contact info, the sniper said enthusiastically, “My name is Chang Xichun. Interested in a shootout? Want to go a round?”

Shu Qiong hadn’t expected this Omega girl to have such a “fight at the drop of a hat” temperament and was momentarily stunned.

The Alpha scout stopped Chang Xichun’s impulsive behavior. “There will be opportunities during training in the future. It’s so late today; let the junior go.” She said apologetically to Shu Qiong, “A-Chun is just like that… You can call me He Xuchou.”

Chang Xichun casually hooked her arm through He Xuchou’s in a close gesture. “Her name is interesting, right? ‘He Xu Chou’ (Why Worry?). With you on our team, what is there to worry about? Look, we just recruited several fierce warriors!”

He Xuchou smiled gently, full of encouragement: “It’s mainly because the juniors themselves are capable.”

Shu Qiong found it strange that this Senior He Xuchou gave off a very similar feeling to Su Heyi, and both their names contained the character “He.”

Was it a coincidence?

Just then, she saw Su Heyi walk toward He Xuchou and call out: “Sister.”

“…!”