What Should I Do If My Ex-Girlfriend's Pheromones Smell Too Good? - Chapter 25

Chapter 25: Subtle: I Met You Once, Before Shu Qiong’s Differentiation.

“What are you all huddling here for?”

The instructor noticed the commotion and came over to shoo everyone away. “Coming to steal techniques? Then tell me, what have you actually seen?”

The crowd went silent.

Someone clutched their heart in a dramatic display of agony. “I see the favoritism of fate.”

“Favoritism of fate, my foot. If you’re trash, just say it. You can’t even tell that she’s figured out the patterns of the sniper AI. Scram, all of you.” The instructor dispersed the crowd without mercy. “That group that was just huddling—if you don’t pass within the hour, you’re doing extra training tonight.”

Wails of despair rose as the group scattered like startled birds.

Other students who hadn’t joined the spectacle asked curiously, “Others have passed too. Why were you all gathered just to watch her?”

“You don’t understand,” the girl from Lane 82 said with a weary, worldly tone. “Watching her train is… addictive.”

Shu Qiong’s movements were too deceptive.

At this hour, which of the other early-finishers wasn’t a physical powerhouse with peak talent? Watching them was useless for the average student because their feats were unrepeatable.

But watching Shu Qiong’s messy, chaotic exchanges gave everyone the illusion of: I could do that too. Yet, when they tried to learn it, they couldn’t wrap their heads around it. Even if they stared until their eyes grew flowers, they couldn’t figure out how she was doing it.

Amidst the noise, Shu Qiong finally reached the finish line.

The combat robot stopped at the end. Exhausted, she collapsed onto the ground, lying spread-eagled and closing her eyes with a look of serene peace.

Yan Xiangyu walked up with an amused smile and helped her up. “Take off the protective suit first, hmm? Isn’t it uncomfortable?”

Shu Qiong didn’t even have the energy to speak. She opened one eye a crack and waved her hand dismissively, signaling: Do whatever, I don’t care.

Her mental stamina was spent; her brain had stopped functioning.

Somehow, Yan Xiangyu understood. She removed Shu Qiong’s helmet first, then began unfastening the protective suit bit by bit, like peeling an onion—one layer after another.

Watching this, Chang Xichun marveled at her patience. If these two were “just normal friends,” she’d eat her own helmet.

Yan Xiangyu didn’t seem annoyed; in fact, she seemed to enjoy it a little. Fearing Shu Qiong might bump her head, she rested the girl’s head on her own lap, finally removing the ill-fitting protective vest completely.

By the time she reached the “onion” Shu Qiong’s calves, Shu Qiong finally recovered. As she sat up, the pull on her limbs made her brows knit in pain.

Yan Xiangyu asked, “It’s still early. Should we go see the doctor? Recover your muscle state as quickly as possible, or you won’t be able to handle this afternoon’s training.”

Shu Qiong nodded, kicked off the remaining gear herself, and returned the set to the instructor.

The medical point was right next to the training hall. The medical teams of each school were allocated their own space. Shu Qiong spotted a familiar face and felt as if the doctor’s face was glowing with the holiness of an angel.

“Doctor, save my limbs!” she pleaded. “They feel like they’ve been dead for a while.”

As time passed, she could feel the muscles that had taken the impacts becoming increasingly sore and soft, yet they felt tight and hard to the touch. She could already foresee the “grand spectacle” of her hands and feet going on strike and refusing to follow orders for the next few days.

Military University Doctor: “…Come in. Pull up your sleeves and pant legs.”

Shu Qiong picked a bed at random and sat down, struggling to roll up her pants. Yan Xiangyu, with Shu Qiong’s jacket draped over her arm, helped her roll up the other side.

Shu Qiong poked the other woman’s elbow in disbelief. “Don’t you feel anything? Are you even human?”

Yan Xiangyu didn’t look up. “I haven’t been human for many years. You finally caught on?”

“…”

Shu Qiong took the repair ointment the doctor handed her and silently applied it to her arms.

Only then did Yan Xiangyu add, “Actually, I’m forcing myself to endure it.” She took off her jacket as well, revealing a red elbow that was already starting to swell.

Shu Qiong made her sit down, and the two helped each other apply the medicine.

The ointment was highly stimulating. Shu Qiong felt the pain in her limbs intensify, to the point that both of them were walking a bit shakily after they finished.

They moved slowly to the cafeteria, swallowed some food despite having no appetite, and went back to the dorm to rest.

The stinging sensation in her muscles was so present that Shu Qiong thought she wouldn’t be able to sleep. Unexpectedly, after just two sentences with Yan Xiangyu, her head tilted and she fell into a dead sleep.

After a long silence, Yan Xiangyu looked up and reached out to tuck her in. Soon, her own eyelids grew heavy. Halfway through her nap, she vaguely heard the dorm door open, but she quickly fell back into a deep slumber.

When Jin Yan and He Xuchou returned and saw the two resting, they kept their movements light. They quickly applied their own medicine and got into bed.

Training resumed at 2:00 PM. Shu Qiong was in a daze; as she climbed down from the bunk, her expression cracked from time to time.

“My limbs feel like they’ve come back to life,” she said with a hollow expression while putting on her shoes. “But they are currently revolting.”

Jin Yan looked at Shu Qiong’s calves. Several bruises had settled, and the swelling looked particularly terrifying. She shook her head. “Daughter, this is the result of not exercising regularly.”

They were also experiencing muscle discomfort, but their symptoms were much milder.

Shu Qiong stood up, put on her shoes, and waved a hand. “Let’s go!”

She was ready to enter hell. The remaining three followed her to the training hall with complicated expressions.

The afternoon was still combat training, but everyone’s lane had shifted. Less than 50% had completed the training in the morning. These people were re-ranked by completion time and assigned new lanes, while the other half were pushed back.

The six members of the Military University team all made it into the top fifty. Shu Qiong even ended up in the lane right next to Yan Xiangyu, feeling a sudden surge of pride.

“How’s the difficulty here?” she asked Yan Xiangyu.

Yan Xiangyu thought for a moment. “Quiet as a wild horse, moves like a rabid dog.”

??

Shu Qiong was confused. “Is there a difference?”

Qin Liang, standing behind them, spoke up gloomily: “There’s a difference between fast, faster, and wild.” The unpredictable rhythm of the combat robots was very unfriendly to an endurance-based player like her.

Shu Qiong understood. She put on her protective gear and went onto the track to experience it.

The robot started immediately with a grappling slam without any telegraphing, startling Shu Qiong into an instinctive retreat. To her surprise, the robot’s speed increased instantly. Seeing the slam fail, it cut off Shu Qiong’s escape route and threw a hook.

Caught off guard, Shu Qiong’s responses became frantic. The robot’s movements shifted from a gale-force rain to a stormy tsunami, knocking her out of her rhythm and into a state of pure survival.

“…”

Stars dancing before her eyes, Shu Qiong endured until thirty points. Unable to take it anymore, she intentionally let the AI sniper hit her forehead.

She sat on the ground watching Yan Xiangyu train, pondering the techniques. Yan Xiangyu’s foundation was very stable, and her coordination was top-tier. Shu Qiong realized the other woman wasn’t just passively blocking; she was treating the robot as a powerful opponent for a fist-to-fist, leg-to-leg sparring match.

Yan Xiangyu wasn’t led by the robot’s rhythm at all. When she attacked proactively, the robot was forced to passively block or dodge. Shu Qiong watched as the scoreboard jumped after Yan Xiangyu landed hits—apparently, those counted as valid points too.

Crucially, this method of active sparring and turning defense into offense could largely disrupt the robot’s rhythm, preventing one from being overwhelmed.

Shu Qiong thought about it and bitterly realized this wouldn’t work for her at all.

The only comforting news was that no matter which lane you were in, the ceiling sniper AI stayed at the same difficulty. At this moment, she felt a slight sense of “companionship.” This wasn’t just a sniper system; it was an old friend watching her train from above.

She stood back up in front of the robot and began a new round of being ravaged.

The “old friend’s” red dot rested on her chest. Shu Qiong shook her head slightly, dodging the shot with ease. As the robot’s boulder-sized fists rained down, she blocked them while realizing she had been overthinking.

She didn’t need to spar proactively from start to finish like Yan Xiangyu. She only needed to strike and disrupt when the rhythm became too fast to handle, shifting the advantage back to herself. She didn’t even need to aim for scoring hits; as long as the robot dodged, she would get a moment to breathe.

Finding the breakthrough point was one thing; executing the plan was another.

At first, Shu Qiong’s movements were clumsy. Her reaction speed was excellent, but her “vision” and experience in combat couldn’t keep up; she often missed the entry points or failed to catch the openings in the robot’s movements.

But as she fought, two hours passed, and she gradually caught the “feeling.”

The students in the other nineteen lanes of the first tier had already finished and left, collecting their evening specialized physical tasks from the instructor. The area around Shu Qiong became empty, leaving her as the only person in her lane.

Yan Xiangyu was waiting for her at the finish line resting area, witnessing Shu Qiong’s miraculous progress. By 5:00 PM, she was already reaching the finish with seventy points. She just needed to be a bit more careful to earn a few more points to end the afternoon session.

The instructor in charge of the top twenty lanes stood behind the data desk watching her. He gave a rare word of encouragement: “That last run was good. Be a bit bolder. There are points you could have taken; don’t just keep dodging.”

Shu Qiong nodded. She had gained some confidence and felt she could let loose a little. She took a sip of water and stepped back onto the track.

Before the afternoon session ended, she finally reached eighty points. As she left the finish line, her legs gave out, and she fell hard into Yan Xiangyu’s arms.

She didn’t even dare to roll up her sleeves to look at her limbs. The two went straight to the medical point for medicine and then returned to the dorm.

Jin Yan and the others had already been to the cafeteria and brought back dinner for two, telling them to hurry up and eat.

“Tonight is personalized physical strengthening. Did you all get your tasks?”

Shu Qiong stuffed eggs into her mouth while craning her neck, making everyone else feel choked just watching her.

Jin Yan cheered for her: “I’m only eating right now out of a will to survive.”

Yan Xiangyu pushed her porridge toward Shu Qiong. “Mine is a three-kilometer weighted run and twenty sets of sit-ups.”

He Xuchou and Qin Liang nodded. “Same for us.”

Jin Yan had been assigned several sets of upper-body strength exercises. Only Shu Qiong and Chang Xichun looked at their evening training content and felt their vision go dark. Lower limbs, waist, abdomen—they had to train everything. Their shortcomings were too obvious; they had to be shored up.

The atmosphere in the arena at night was more relaxed than during the day. The sense of competition had faded, and students from different schools were becoming familiar with each other.

As soon as Shu Qiong entered the hall, she saw an Omega girl with a high ponytail walking toward her. She was beautiful in an aggressive way, with a noble aura; even the uniform training gear looked like a million-dollar runway luxury on her.

“Shu Qiong.” Her tone rose at the end, giving her an air of arrogance, as if she were about to give an order. “I saw you this afternoon.”

Since everyone else had left, leaving only Shu Qiong, it was impossible not to see her.

Shu Qiong froze for a moment before searching her memory for the person in front of her. “Fang Yingying?”

She glanced at the other girl’s training uniform and noticed the badge of Superior Military Academy. This was a school that specifically recruited children from elite families. It was said that if you threw a brick into Superior, you’d hit a dozen young misses and masters of immense wealth or status.

Because of Fang Lin (Jin Yan’s mother), Shu Qiong had met her cousin’s daughter, Fang Yingying, at a banquet once. However, they weren’t close—merely acquaintances of the same age.

When Yan Xiangyu entered the hall, she heard their conversation. The faint smile on her face vanished instantly. She lowered her head slightly and asked Shu Qiong, “Met an old friend? Xiao Qiong, won’t you introduce me?”

Fang Yingying smiled without concealment and took the initiative to speak: “I’ve seen you. Before Shu Qiong’s differentiation, outside her hospital room. You said you were her girlfriend.”

Shu Qiong looked up inquisitively, not understanding why there was such a subtle tension between the two.

Yan Xiangyu’s eyes were dark, and Shu Qiong could feel the tension in her body.

Yan Xiangyu raised an eyebrow. “I’ve seen you too. Before Xiao Qiong’s differentiation, outside her hospital room. You said you were her arranged marriage partner.”

“…?”

Shu Qiong discovered, quite abruptly, that the flames of war had circled back to her. She was utterly stunned.

How did she, the person involved, have absolutely no idea that this had happened?