Chapter 55 Online Romance with a Bad Beta: Resting My Head on His Lap

Tan Yicheng's physical condition is worse than it appears to the naked eye.

She dreamt that she returned to the rehearsal she had participated in during her first year of school.

The First Academy is the military cradle of the Federation, and it has always been Tan Yicheng's dream.

Students in the mecha department are subject to stricter requirements than students in other departments within the academy. The admission requirements are almost stringent, the academic system is five years long, with one exercise per year, and the final year's exercise is a real battle.

In the first year's drill, the teacher in charge of the class was assigned to the Crimson Desert. She and a group of anxious students were thrown into the drill field. Along with the students, they were also thrown into countless real-time monitoring balls. Any performance in the drill was linked to the final grade.

Of course, students who can't persevere can give up early and have their credits deducted. Students whose credits keep dropping will only face expulsion.

The students only had three days' worth of resources left. At that moment, Tan Yicheng realized that it would take much more than three days to cross the desert and reach the finish line to achieve victory.

That means that everything within sight can be utilized, including the resources available to the students.

The students participating in the drill not only had to be wary of desert creatures that could attack at any time, but also of "enemies" disguised in the desert, and be careful not to get hit in vital areas by special paint.

These enemies were all played by the garrison of the central star. In terms of skill, the students, who were still greenhorns, were naturally beaten and fled in panic.

Tan Yicheng was also among those who tried to escape, but she was alone—from the moment the exercise began, she rejected the solutions proposed by the other students and refused to team up.

People have different personalities. It's possible that some teams have captains with exceptional leadership skills, but at this stage, everyone is a competitive alpha, and it's difficult for them to have the same comprehensive combat awareness and teamwork as the senior students.

Although it turned out that Tan Yicheng's idea was correct, on the fifth day, Tan Yicheng ran out of resources and began to look for a water source for herself.

The dome was a deep orange-yellow, the wind and sand were dry and howling, and the ground beneath his feet was red sand. Tan Yicheng looked around and felt a sense of being detached from the world.

In this desert, she was as small as a grain of sand, and the high temperature was so intense that it felt like she was being baked alive.

The heat, the unbearable heat, enveloped her. Her entire body was wrapped in the combat suit, which protected her skin from the ravages of the wind and sand, but also felt like a thick cocoon, suffocating her breath.

She struggled to move forward, panting, constantly reassuring herself that, based on the location, the water source was just ahead.

As she stumbled forward, Tan Yicheng had several thoughts of giving up. Strangely enough, every time she had this thought, she persevered even more.

I am unwilling to give up.

The dream gradually diverged from reality. The sandstorm grew stronger and the temperature rose even higher. The pain emanating from the back of her neck spread throughout her body. This time, Tan Yicheng failed to find the oasis she remembered and fainted from exhaustion.

In the chaos, something cool touched her forehead, and amidst the overwhelming pheromones, she smelled a light and elegant fragrance.

Tan Yicheng didn't have time to think. She reached out and pressed the cool sensation on her forehead, not letting it leave even a little. Realizing that the coolness was struggling to leave, she finally broke free from the daze that was pulling her consciousness downward and found clarity.

Then she saw a familiar face, with delicate eyebrows and bright eyes, a calm expression, and a beauty mark at the corner of her eye.

Why did you look so surprised when you saw me?

The person spoke; it was Xi Congshuang's voice.

Tan Yicheng's voice was hoarse: "What are you doing here?"

It's already evening, and the evidence is that the view outside is dark even with the curtains half drawn.

The hand that was pressing on her forehead moved, and Tan Yicheng subconsciously let go, while Xi Congshuang withdrew her hand.

Tan Yicheng's eyes flickered slightly, feeling a little uneasy. She hadn't expected that the cool thing was Xi Congshuang's hand, which she was still holding tightly.

But why did she come here? And what is she doing here? Is she here to laugh at me?

With no answers to her many questions, Tan Yicheng heard the sound of water beside her and felt a cold towel being placed on her forehead, giving her a shiver.

In an instant, all doubts and answers vanished from her mind.

She then noticed that there was an ice basin and towels for cold compresses on the bedside table. Ice cubes were floating in the basin, and several towels were draped to the side.

Xi Congshuang sat in a chair and smiled, "Someone suddenly became unwell because they had too much pheromone in the afternoon and developed a high fever. I was worried, so I came to check on them."

"..."

Judging from their interactions over the past few days, Xi Congshuang has undergone a significant change in Tan Yicheng's mind, with the image in his mind gradually being replaced by the Xi Congshuang he has actually met.

She was a woman who rarely smiled, was aloof, and liked to sulk silently, thinking no one would notice. But when she suddenly smiled, it was like ice and snow melting, making people's eyes light up.

"Oh," Tan Yicheng replied dryly.

She raised her hand to adjust the position of the towel on her forehead, which was partially covering her eyes.

"Honkai value -0.05, current Honkai value 89.95."

Xi Congshuang: "".

Could you be any more generous?

Tan Yicheng was in an inconvenient lying position and kept fiddling with the towel on her forehead, feeling that no place was right.

Thinking that Xi Congshuang couldn't even distinguish between ginger and other herbs, I felt relieved.

She's the kind of rich young lady who'd even put ginger in her mouth, and seems a bit dim-witted. It's normal that she didn't put the towel in her mouth, but just placed it crookedly.

When a sick person is too weak, they may not realize that they are more forgiving than usual, but in reality, they simply don't have the energy to hold grudges.

Xi Congshuang saw her fiddling with the towel and couldn't help but stand up, take it, and soak it in water.

The ice cubes collided with each other, making a faint sound. Before Tan Yicheng could refute why she had taken away the cooling towel, she pressed the back of her hand to her forehead.

Xi Congshuang said, "It's still a bit hot. Just bear with it; it needs to keep cooling down."

"..."

This time, the towel placed on her forehead was folded neatly and positioned perfectly, as if the previous mistake was just a minor accident.

Not long after, the nurse came to check on the situation. She touched the towel and found it to be ice-cold. She agreed, saying, "You have to change the ice-cold towel frequently to get rid of false estrus."

Xi Congshuang was still most concerned about the same question: "When will her hormones calm down and she get rid of pseudoestrus?"

The nurse's answer was similar to what Professor Wei's assistant had said, nothing more than waiting for the fever to subside and for her to get through it. As she spoke, the nurse suddenly remembered that the patient in the hospital bed was actually an alpha.

She said, "Besides these, there is another way to cool down quickly. Since it is false estrus, it is best to do some things to relieve estrus, such as temporary marking or receiving omega hormones for comfort. Both of these methods can temporarily relieve glandular pressure."

"Ms. Tan's glands are damaged, so temporary marking is not possible. However, it is acceptable to soothe her with omega-3."

The nurse only offered her answer from a scientific perspective.

Moreover, in her opinion, the two people have a close relationship and should be very willing to help.

"That won't do." Two voices rang out simultaneously, speaking in unison.

Nurses work in hospitals and have seen too many strange and unusual things. They have long since developed an iron heart that can remain unmoved no matter what they hear.

Since this idea was rejected, she simply smiled without saying a word, leaving with the words, "Then there's nothing I can do."

Back at the nurses' station, the nurses mentioned the incident to the other nurses, lamenting how complicated the relationships between wealthy people were. Despite taking such good care of them, they wouldn't even offer a little pheromone to comfort them.

Another nurse on duty exclaimed in surprise, "Didn't you know? The major shareholder is a beta."

She has no pheromones at all, so how can she be comforted?

The nurse was shocked: "What?! She looks like that and she's a beta?"

She was a diligent nurse. Because she was a beta, she wasn't affected by pheromones and was transferred here to take care of Tan Yicheng.

She didn't care how many shareholders the hospital had or what gender the major shareholder was. Knowing wouldn't give her a raise, but she did get a commission for taking care of Tan Yicheng.

I never expected the major shareholder to be a beta!

The nurse on duty laughed: "That's a stereotype. There are good-looking people in the beta too."

Since no one was around, the on-duty nurse took out her smart device and showed her a photo: "The center of the currently popular girl group is a beta. There were even questions on the StarNet trending topics about whether she was an omega pretending to be a beta. On-site blood tests proved that she is a naturally good-looking beta."

"...No way?!"

After reading it, the nurse was instantly ashamed; she had actually made a suggestion that would ruin the relationship in front of a beta.

In the hospital room, Tan Yicheng said warily, "Don't get any funny ideas. I won't accept such a thing."

Don't think she can't see that Xi Congshuang, sitting to the side, is deep in thought.

Things related to glands are extremely private. She is not the kind of alpha who can't resist seeing an omega. On the contrary, she is very resistant to such things.

Don't get involved.

Xi Congshuang never intended to find an omega to help her; she was simply amazed by the glands' wonders. Reading was one thing, but seeing it with her own eyes was quite another.

But hearing her wary voice, he praised her, "Then you are very ethical."

She remembered reading a novel with a similar plot, where readers praised the alpha for upholding alpha ethics, resolutely refusing to let anyone reveal his situation so as not to offend his crush during their ambiguous early stages of a relationship.

Later, the two broke the ice because of this. O, who was in love with A, accidentally saw A suffering from heat and decided to help. They then confirmed their relationship and officially became a couple.

Yes, it's a very pure love story.

The assistant who helped her organize the novel accidentally included this story, making it a refreshing exception among a large number of melodramatic love stories, and she remembered it vividly.

Until the finale, Xi Congshuang thought the author was going for a sweet-then-bitter storyline, and continued to wait for the appearance of the white moonlight o, whom the author had never mentioned, to add more melodrama.

It wasn't until Xi Congshuang saw the wedding scene in the extra chapter that she realized it was just a simple, sweet love story, and that she had been overthinking things.

Tan Yicheng: "..."

This sounds really strange, but you can't tell anything from Xi Congshuang's expression.

"Honkai value -1, current Honkai value 88.95."

Xi Congshuang remained silent for a long time.

Considering how many projects she's handled, many of which are in the hundreds of millions, it's astonishing that one day she feels a great sense of accomplishment, satisfaction, and even a desire to laugh because of a little bit of collapse value.

A person's downfall can happen in an instant.

That night, Xi Congshuang did not leave the hospital immediately, but stayed overnight in the ward's guest room.

Tan Yicheng was also restless in the middle of the night. Her false heat gradually subsided and her temperature dropped, but the damaged glands flared up at this time, causing her pain all night long.

People were constantly coming and going in the ward, sometimes nurses, sometimes doctors, all talking in hushed tones. Even if Xi Congshuang was half deaf, she couldn't fall asleep under such circumstances.

When she appeared in her pajamas, Tan Yicheng called all the doctors and nurses out, saying she needed some quiet.

The doctors had no other options. They had already administered painkillers at the maximum dose for an alpha body, and any further overdose could be life-threatening.

Everyone had no choice but to leave, and nurses would make regular rounds afterwards.

"..." Xi Congshuang heard someone groaning in pain from under the covers.

Putting myself in her shoes, if I were the female lead, I would also tear the person who turned me into this to pieces, but killing them casually would be too lenient.

Hiding under the covers, enduring the pain, Tan Yicheng was unaware that someone had approached her bedside. Her keen hearing failed her at that moment, and she used all her willpower to fight the pain.

Tan Yicheng felt the blanket tighten around her, and then it was pulled back, letting in a rush of slightly chilly air carrying disinfectant, which made her shiver.

"We just finished rounds, why..."

She was like a mermaid just emerging from the water, opening her wet eyes and staring blankly at the people on the shore.

The person beside the bed wasn't a nurse, but Xi Congshuang.

Xi Congshuang sat on the edge of the bed, straightened the blanket that she had crumpled into a ball, and covered her with it again, leaving her head exposed.

Tan Yicheng was also stunned, watching as she sat down. Her senses, which had seemed to have gone numb, gradually returned to normal, especially her sense of smell. The faint fragrance emanating from her body became more pronounced.

"If you're covered up by the blanket, you'll easily feel oxygen-deprived, the air won't circulate, and your head will hurt," Xi Congshuang explained her practice in a serious tone.

Tan Yicheng looked at Xi Congshuang with red eyes, not understanding what was going on. In the blink of an eye, the tears hanging on her eyelashes slid down.

She didn't cry; those were just physiological tears that came out from the pain she was enduring.

Xi Congshuang reached out and touched the pillowcase, seemingly finding it a bit rough. She frowned slightly, then lifted Tan Yicheng's head with both hands and placed it on her lap.

With her face pressed against the elastic leg, the other person's body heat soaked into the thin fabric and transmitted through it. Tan Yicheng felt as if she had pressed her face against a frying pan, which was incredibly hot.

"Not feeling well? Would this make you feel better?" Xi Congshuang mistook her struggle for discomfort and adjusted the angle.

Over the past few days, Xi Congshuang took the time to read through all the chat logs between the two. Her disguised high school girl A identity made it impossible for her to analyze Tan Yicheng's true personality, but she discovered certain patterns.

There are always one or two nights a week when she disappears all night, and when she reappears, she always uses homework as an excuse to get away with it.

Xi Congshuang, who was in an online relationship with her, was also chatting with too many alphas. She didn't care much about Tan Yicheng's lack of sincerity, or perhaps she simply didn't remember.

She didn't quite understand why there was such a pattern before, but now she has the answer. Is it possible that she was tormented by the pain of her glands at that time and had no time to pay attention to anyone?

Tan Yicheng asked, "What are you doing?"

Xi Congshuang said honestly, "I don't know. When I was sick and felt terrible before, the nanny did the same thing, and I was able to fall asleep slowly."

"Then will you still cry and ask the nanny for a hug?" Tan Yicheng assured that her words were meant to be mocking.

Xi Congshuang recalled: "Yes, the nanny would refuse me, telling me, 'The master and mistress have asked us not to hug you. Go to sleep, and I'll leave once you're sound asleep.'"

"..."

Tan Yicheng didn't quite believe it. The information she found about Xi Congshuang said that the Xi family couple doted on her extremely, and her uncle also spoiled her after her parents died, which fostered her willful and self-willed temperament.

"It's all my fault, go to sleep." Xi Congshuang sighed, placing her cool hand on the back of Tan Yicheng's neck.

She had a gut feeling that Tan Yicheng liked it this way; in Xi Congshuang's eyes, the lack of strong resistance meant he liked it.

Tan Yicheng was in excruciating pain, but she still had the energy to argue with Xi Congshuang. Her face was pale and her lips trembled as she said, "That's exactly right."

But with her neck hurting so badly it felt like it was going to break in half, how could she possibly sleep?

If it were before, she would have gotten up and thrown Xi Congshuang out of the room long ago. She wouldn't have just lay on the bed like this, letting herself be at someone else's mercy.

"Can't sleep?" Xi Congshuang asked again, "Why don't you take this opportunity to think about how you're going to get back at me later?"

Life always needs hope; with hope comes the motivation to live.

There's an old saying: "Drawing a cake to satisfy hunger."

Tan Yicheng ignored her, her body under the blanket bent into a bow, taut and tense.

Xi Congshuang began to paint a picture, her tone as calm as if she were reciting a story, but her pleasant voice made people want to listen: "Then I'll think of one for you. After you recover, you can take your medical report and ask the school to reinstate you."

Yes, this is indeed what Tan Yicheng wants to do most at this stage.

Xi Congshuang: "With your skills, you could cut a circle out of my window. Your grades in school must have been excellent. Your physical strength and preparation ability are top-notch. You might go straight to the military after graduation and be recruited by countless predecessors."

If it weren't for this incident, this would have been the promotion path that Xi Congshuang envisioned for the female lead.

"At that time, you will be a rising star in the military, and everyone will want to win you over. But you still want to get revenge on me, so you think of my hardworking uncle in my company and plan to join forces with him to drive me out of the company and leave me with nothing."

Tan Yicheng: "." I didn't expect that.

Xi Congshuang's hand on the back of her neck became warm. She switched to her other hand and continued: "After you end up on the streets, you don't have to worry about it. People who are used to being pampered can't stand going from luxury to frugality. They'll either go crazy or die. Just be a clean and honest rising star in the military."

Anyway, you only have three years to live; you'll just have to endure it until it's all over.

Tan Yicheng moved her head and looked up at the other person's expression. She didn't say anything, but the meaning in her eyes was very clear: Are you stupid?

Who would personally teach an enemy how to take revenge on them after they've regained power?

The meaning in her eyes was so clear, she was just short of speaking up. Xi Congshuang smiled: "Do you believe it?"

"What?" Tan Yicheng wanted to know what other revenge stories she could come up with.

While others were telling fairy tales by the patient's bedside, she instead started telling stories about the Thirty-Six Stratagems for Revenge.

Xi Congshuang said mysteriously, "The brain is a very magical thing. When people experience great changes, their minds will change and a second personality will split out to protect themselves."

"..."

That's utter nonsense; only a fool would believe it.

"Honkai value -3, current Honkai value 85.95."

Distracted by her, Tan Yicheng gradually felt less pain in the back of her neck, closed her eyes, and fell asleep without realizing it.

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The method involves ringing a bell, and manuscripts are collected from all directions. (Ring the bell, ring the bell, ring the bell)