Chapter 4: Fencing

The sound of footsteps came from outside the restroom, and Wen Xi, leaning against the windowsill, shifted her weight.

“Who is it?” she asked in a low voice.

“It’s me.”

Wen Xi took a deep breath, straightened her skirt, and turned the lock on the restroom door. She saw a familiar face.

Since it wasn’t working hours, Pei Huanzhou wasn’t wearing his lab coat; he was in a simple white T-shirt and casual trousers. This made his pale face and slender shoulders stand out, making him look like a college student in his early twenties.

Wen Xi was startled for a moment and looked away, forcing herself not to stare at him: “How did you know I was here?”

“I went to Class 1 to find you, but Luo Wanran said you transferred to Class 7,” Pei Huanzhou said. “When I got to Class 7, your classmates said you came to the roof.”

Wen Xi lowered her eyelids: “I thought you’d arrive at least twenty minutes later. I was planning to cool down a bit before meeting you at the school gate.”

“I happened to be driving near your school. Here, what you asked for.” Pei Huanzhou handed over the item he was carrying, looking at her with concern. “But what’s going on? Why did you suddenly ask me for Alpha Sedatives?”

Alpha Sedatives were used to alleviate rut symptoms, and their function was different from gland suppressants.

Wen Xi didn’t know how to explain it to him, so she simply said: “I feel like my rut is coming. I’m feeling a bit unwell.”

Pei Huanzhou: “Did you use the gland suppressant?”

“Not yet,” Wen Xi replied.

“Strange.” Pei Huanzhou murmured softly, his brow furrowing with the usual inquisitiveness of a doctor encountering a difficult case. “Then why the sudden discomfort?”

Logically, given her long-term use of suppressants, her rut shouldn’t be coming so soon.

“Have you had close contact with an Omega in heat?” Pei Huanzhou asked gently.

“An Omega in heat…”

Wen Xi fell silent for a moment. Her gaze fixed on his face again, her voice swirling with a surging dark tide: “Do you count?”

A flash of surprise crossed Pei Huanzhou’s beautiful eyes. He parted his pale lips and said awkwardly: “I thought you hadn’t smelled my pheromones.”

He had drunk a lot of alcohol yesterday, and his heat had arrived unexpectedly. It happened to be the weekend when Wen Xi came to his house to pick up medication.

It was Wen Xi who had helped him inject the suppressant.

After sobering up, Pei Huanzhou was relieved he hadn’t lost his composure too badly in front of her; otherwise, he really wouldn’t know how to face her.

The emotions in Wen Xi’s eyes were somewhat erratic. She didn’t follow the conversation as he expected. Instead, she extended her arm, revealing a faint blue vein: “Consider it a return for helping you yesterday. Can you help me inject this sedative?”

Pei Huanzhou looked at her with even more surprise, his eyes widening slightly: “What… is wrong with you today?”

Wen Xi didn’t speak.

She rarely fell ill, not even with a common cold, so she hadn’t realized that when the body was uncomfortable, the mind could become morbid to this extent—willing to expose her vulnerability just to gain the other person’s concern.

However, Wen Xi soon found the thought ridiculous.

She saw that after Pei Huanzhou’s gaze lingered on her face for a long time, a somewhat cruel daze unconsciously emerged in his beautiful eyes, as if he were looking through her at another face that looked very similar.

Realizing her persistence, Pei Huanzhou sighed and called her by her nickname: “Xiao Qi, you’ve grown up. You’re not a child anymore. You shouldn’t easily let others do this kind of thing for you.”

Wen Xi had differentiated into an Alpha three years ago. At that time, she was just a young child, afraid to tell anyone. She had run to his house in the middle of the night, crying and asking what to do, because Xu Linshen would never allow a second Alpha heir to appear in the Wen family.

Wen Xi’s biological sister, Wen Su, had disappeared precisely because of this.

As a somewhat famous glandular specialist, Pei Huanzhou had used his connections to find a new type of suppressant produced by a country independent of the Alliance. While suppressing the Alpha gland, it made the pheromones faint and difficult to distinguish.

Only during a rut would the user’s original pheromone scent be revealed.

Later, he became one of the Wen family’s private doctors. Every time Wen Xi had a gland checkup, he reported the results to Xu Linshen, helping her maintain the deception.

“What kind of thing?” Wen Xi said. “Didn’t you also inject me during checkups at the hospital?”

“But this isn’t the hospital.” Pei Huanzhou gently stroked her hair. “And you aren’t unconscious, so I cannot perform such an intimate act.”

“…”

The air went silent for a few seconds. Wen Xi half-closed her eyelids and gave a faint tug at the corner of her mouth, retracting her hand. When she looked up again, that tiny spark of aggression had been entirely masked.

She replied quietly: “Understood, sister-in-law.”

Wen Xi walked into a restroom stall, tore open the packaging, and injected the cold medicine into her body until the effects took hold, suppressing her displaced and irrational desires.

Friday afternoon, the last period was fencing class.

To improve the students’ comprehensive quality, the International High School arranged for students to study competitive sports every week; fencing was one of them.

They had already learned the theoretical knowledge and basic move training last semester, so the teacher told them this semester would focus more on practical combat training.

After the warm-up exercises, the students of Class 7 went to the locker room one by one to put on their fencing gear.

Wen Xi wasn’t so deranged as to go into the Omega locker room, so she headed toward the more distant shower area.

It wasn’t after class yet, so the shower area was empty.

She finished changing, and as she came out holding her protective mask and turned a corner, she bumped into Cheng Si coming out of the temporary locker room.

The temporary locker room was specially set up for students who hadn’t differentiated yet.

The moment Cheng Si saw her, he stopped. After his fingers curled unconsciously a few times, he stepped aside to let her pass, tilting his head inward to avoid her gaze.

Although he was quick to hide, Wen Xi saw clearly that the wound at the corner of his mouth seemed worse. There was also a new red swelling on his originally clear forehead, obviously from being hit by something.

These traces of brokenness reduced the natural ferocity he usually carried.

Cheng Si hadn’t attended many classes these past few days.

She initially thought he was hiding from her, but later she heard Jiang Shuo mention that skipping class was routine for Cheng Si.

Wen Xi said nothing and brushed past him.

“Everyone get ready. In a moment, we will have one-on-one matches,” the PE teacher said. “Logically, Omegas should fight Omegas and Alphas should fight Alphas, but our class has one extra Omega and one extra Alpha. So, one Omega student might have to fight an Alpha. Of course, this is ‘friendship first’; I won’t count it toward your grade. It’s mainly to test your mastery of theory and moves, as well as your reaction speed.”

“To be fair, I’ve scrambled the student ID numbers regardless of gender. The last Omega student called… well, I’ll let you pick your opponent first next class.”

After the PE teacher assigned the teams, he explained the rules once more.

Only when the tip of the blade hits the opponent’s torso with enough force to be registered by the electronic scoring machine does it count as a valid hit. Slashing is not allowed.

Considering it was the first day of combat, the teacher didn’t strictly follow official competition rules; the first to reach twenty valid hits would win, with no time limit.

While the Alphas were competing, some Omegas from Class 7 secretly glanced at Wen Xi. Using their masks as cover, they pulled out their phones and typed furiously in a chat group named “Sugar Overload.”

[@AA_I_Can_Totally_Ship: Sister from Class 1, I heard our Wen Wen is a pro among pros at fencing, is that true?]

[AA_I_Can_Totally_Ship: Of course it’s true. She’s super strong. We had private matches before, and even the Alphas in Class 1 couldn’t beat her.]

[Aaaaah! I’m so jealous of the sister who gets to fight Wen Wen!]

[I mean, if you lose to the Princess’s blade, can you take the chance to cry and ask her for comfort?]

[Aaaaah, NO!! What kind of slutty thoughts are those? Think about the feelings of the other sisters!]

When Zhao Jie stood up for his match, he accidentally caught a glimpse of an Omega’s screen nearby, his face full of disdain.

Are their f*cking brains broken? What’s the point of ignoring so many Alphas to like another Omega?

Letting out a cold snort, he gave Wen Xi a dark look.

“Last round. Students who haven’t been on yet, check your gear and put on your masks. Stand in your positions once your name is called.”

The PE teacher called out according to the machine’s random order: “Number 4 versus 15, Number 7 versus 12… Last group, Number 35 versus Number 1.”

Hearing this grouping, the expectant Omegas offstage froze for a moment, then went wild.

By sheer coincidence, Wen Xi was the Omega who had to fight an Alpha, and her opponent, Number 1—was actually Cheng Si!

[It’s over, it’s over! Our Wen Wen has to fight Cheng Si! Cheng Si! The legendary brutal outlaw Cheng Si!]

[I feel like it’s okay. Cheng Si doesn’t seem that mean to Omegas.]

[Not mean? On Wen Wen’s first day in our class, he kicked her desk over!]

[AA_I_Can_Totally_Ship: Oh oh oh oh! So the one who had sparks fly with Wen Xi that day was him? His name is Cheng Si?]

[What do you mean ‘sparks fly’? Sister, shipping everything will only hurt you.]

[Weakly raising my hand… There used to be many Alphas in Class 7, but several were bullied into dropping out by Cheng Si. He’s a really sh*tty person.]

[Agreed.]

[Agreed.]

[Wait, does nobody care about who wins? Cheng Si is also very strong. Even though he fails every academic subject, he’s never lost in sports.]

[AA_I_Can_Totally_Ship: Requesting a livestream, thanks!]

The moment Wen Xi saw her opponent was Cheng Si, her tired expression regained a bit of energy.

She had been fencing since she was a child; she had practiced the techniques the teacher taught long ago. It was no surprise she could crush other “newbies.”

The coincidence was that the person who used to play fencing with her back then happened to be Cheng Si.

Wen Xi stretched her limbs, not planning to show mercy. In Cheng Si’s narrow eyes, she saw the same intent.

The two stood in their designated positions and pointed their swords at each other simultaneously.

As the attacker, Cheng Si initiated the first move. Wen Xi parried with her blade. When he retreated and exposed his torso, her blade tip drew a semi-circle around his blade, directly knocking his attack aside. At the same time, she extended her arm, engaged her muscles, stepped forward quickly, and lunged fiercely at him.

The electronic scorer lit up, awarding her one point.

“Aaaaah, Wen Xi is so cool!!”

“Holy sh*t, is this really the speed of an Omega?”

The match between Wen Xi and Cheng Si drew the attention of most students in the class.

Seeing Wen Xi’s clean and crisp moves, even the PE teacher couldn’t help but show a look of surprise.

Without a doubt, Wen Xi’s fencing was already at a professional level.

Wen Xi didn’t pay much attention to the surroundings. She looked down at the blade in her hand, feeling that the curve of the bend seemed a bit excessive.

Second round.

Cheng Si seemed to have learned his lesson. Knowing she liked to end things quickly, he didn’t rush his attack. Instead, after parrying one of her moves, he forced his way in. His blade stabbed toward different directions in a short time. Wen Xi was tricked by the feints; by the time she tried to block, the tip of his blade was already pressed against her.

Cheng Si caught up by one point.

Compared to the cheers when Wen Xi scored, there were only boos when Cheng Si scored.

Under the mask, no one noticed that after Wen Xi gave her blade a shake, her expression gradually turned sour.

Over the next few dozen rounds, compared to Cheng Si’s stable performance, Wen Xi’s level became extremely inconsistent. From the initially tied score, she was gradually left behind by Cheng Si.

Finally, with a score of 14:20, she lost narrowly to Cheng Si.

“Damn it, why did someone like him win against Wen Xi?”

“Isn’t Cheng Si’s family poor? How is he so good at fencing?”

“I don’t believe he hasn’t practiced privately!”

Many people felt sorry for Wen Xi. Wen Xi acted as if she hadn’t heard them, taking off her mask but not putting down the blade in her hand.

Cheng Si also took off his mask and stood there blankly, watching Wen Xi walk away with the PE teacher. Even without seeing her expression, he could guess she was in a very bad mood.

Was it because he won?

Cheng Si quickly dismissed that guess; Wen Xi was never a sore loser.

Furthermore, during their match, he had a faint feeling that she was holding back.

That first strike was normal, but afterward, several of her attacks were ruled invalid because they lacked enough force.

It was as if… she was afraid of using strength.

Fencing class ended, and everyone gradually returned to the locker rooms to change. After the intense exercise, a few people chose to go to the shower area.

Thinking about how Wen Xi had come from the direction of the shower area earlier, Cheng Si instinctively walked toward the showers while changing.

As he drew near, Cheng Si first smelled a thick scent of cigarette smoke and then heard the faint sounds of mocking laughter from inside.

“Heh, I thought Wen Xi was so great, but she couldn’t even beat a piece of trash. Isn’t she acting all arrogant? With the Wen family backing her, why didn’t she even dare use a blade with metal fatigue properly? I was actually looking forward to the blade snapping and stabbing right into that trash.”

Cheng Si recognized this voice; it was Zhao Jie from their class.

Another person said: “I thought about it, and I feel like doing that was too risky. If the blade really snapped and someone got hurt, the school would definitely investigate.”

“What’s there to fear?” Zhao Jie smacked his lips. “I wasn’t the one who handed the blade to Wen Xi. I just put it there and she picked it up herself. What’s it to do with me? Besides, the Wen family is filthy rich; even if Wen Xi accidentally hurt someone, the family would make sure she gets away with it. Not to mention, the only one getting hurt would be that trash. It’s clearly killing two birds with one stone, alright?”

“Sigh, I still feel like it wasn’t necessary. What kind of grudge do you have?”

Zhao Jie immediately flew into a rage: “You didn’t see how those Omegas were sucking up to Wen Xi. I really don’t get how a bunch of Omegas can act like slts for another Omega. Are they all fckingly lacking a d*ck from an Alpha?”

The other person said: “That’s true, but Omegas, once they’ve been done by an Alpha, they’ll know how good Alphas are.”

“Hahahaha, exactly,” Zhao Jie laughed loudly in agreement. “An Omega like Wen Xi, in my opinion, just needs a bit of ‘training’.”

Bang!

The shower room door was violently kicked open.

Zhao Jie was leaning inside smoking with the others and was startled by the noise. The cigarette in his hand shook and fell onto his shoe, burning a shriveled mark.

“Which f*cking idiot—”

Just as Zhao Jie was about to scream at the intruder, a kick landed on his back. He instantly face-planted onto the floor, his teeth nearly hitting the edge of the shower stall.

Furious, he tried to swing a palm back at the person, but his wrist was grabbed and twisted hard to the side.

Zhao Jie’s face contorted in pain. He looked up and saw Cheng Si standing over him with an expressionless face.

The boy’s buzz cut looked sharp, and his face was terrifyingly cold.

The two people beside them were also frozen on the spot in fear.

Zhao Jie hadn’t expected to run into Cheng Si. Before even fighting, his heart was already halfway into a state of panic; everyone in Class 7 knew how crazily Cheng Si fought.

He didn’t dare show his fear on his face, continuing to curse: “This is school, Cheng Si, you f*cking dare to act out…”

This time, before he could finish, Cheng Si sneered and landed a punch directly on his face. He was beaten to the ground, blood instantly flowing from both nostrils, leaving him completely dazed.

“You can mess with me however you want, but you involved her?”

Cheng Si’s knuckles cracked as he squeezed them. He slowly crouched down, his grip on Zhao Jie’s collar tightening. Amidst the other’s terrified, suffocating gaze, his tone was so violent it was chilling: “You want to guess if I f*cking dare to act out?”