Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
The morning sun was shining brightly.
Xu Ziyan woke up groggily from her sleep, stretched, picked up her phone and glanced at it, and was shocked to find that there were more than thirty unread messages.
He quickly clicked to check and found that most of the messages were from the coach and second team members, asking him where he was, why he didn't participate in the evening training, and why he hadn't replied to the messages.
Xu Ziyan carefully recalled what had happened yesterday.
He remembered that yesterday in the coaching room, after realizing something was wrong with him, he hurriedly said goodbye to the two coaches and tried to run to the restroom to change his tag. But halfway there, the feeling of discomfort and restlessness intensified, accompanied by an unbearable burning sensation from the glands on the back of his neck, forcing Xu Ziyan to turn around and run to the emergency exit to rest.
Then what?
He sat on the steps, hoping his condition would improve, but it only got worse. His brain was almost melted by the heat, turning into a paste, incapable of thinking. Only one thing remained firmly in Xu Ziyan's mind: he had to get back to his dormitory.
Xu Ziyan doesn't remember much about what happened after that.
However, since he woke up in his dorm bed, it means that nothing serious happened to him yesterday.
Xu Ziyan touched the back of his neck with lingering fear. His fingertips traced the faint, almost invisible teeth marks left by the Alpha, and he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
He still had his sense of being an Omega. Yesterday's situation was so strange that Xu Ziyan almost thought he was going through his fertile period.
With so many Alphas in the training base, the consequences would be unimaginable if such an accident were to occur.
Fortunately, the temporary marker Xie Wei gave him was still there.
As long as the mark is active, he will not enter the susceptible period for the time being—and even if he does, it will only affect the Alpha who marked him.
However, the mark will lose its effect in at most half a month, and the pheromone scent Xie Wei left on him will completely disappear.
Xu Ziyan felt a pang of disappointment for a moment, then chuckled. Although he liked Xie Wei, he had never thought of developing that kind of relationship with her. With the mark gone, everything returned to normal, and he should be grateful.
But desires always tend to grow, and once you get something, you want to keep it forever.
He couldn't help but recall his dream from last night.
In his dream, he was also in a state of unbearable burning, and just when he was feeling uncomfortable and anxious, Xie Wei appeared.
The tall, handsome Alpha showed no impatience or disgust, but gently pulled him into his arms, his lemon-mint pheromones enveloping him with a reassuring power. All the heat and anxiety vanished instantly, and his tense nerves completely relaxed.
And so I slept soundly.
Unfortunately, it was just a dream.
Xu Ziyan smiled and shook his head, got up, dressed, washed up, and went downstairs to train.
Since it was still early, Bai Ke was the only one in the training room, idly playing matchmaking on the computer. When he saw Xu Ziyan, he raised an eyebrow and said, "Ice! Where did you go yesterday? Why didn't you reply to my messages?"
"I wasn't feeling well yesterday, and I fell asleep as soon as I got back to the dorm." Xu Ziyan smiled and raised her chin to remind him, "There are two enemies at six o'clock."
Bai Ke turned around and fired two shots, swiftly eliminating the enemy hiding behind the building. He then turned back to Xu Ziyan and asked, "What did the coach say to you yesterday?"
Xu Ziyan turned on the computer and entered the password. Upon hearing this, he said truthfully, "They talked about the competition format and told me to focus on 1v1 training during this period. They also asked me to join a group to arrange practice matches."
"Really?" Not hearing anything interesting, Bai Ke pursed her lips and dropped the topic, but her curious and inquisitive gaze still lingered on Xu Ziyan.
Xu Ziyan pretended not to know and opened the shooting practice software.
After one round of moving targets, the accuracy was nearly perfect.
Bai Ke glanced at it and exclaimed in amazement, "Wow, Ice, your aim is amazing! Why haven't you ever thought about switching to assault or sniping?"
Xu Ziyan didn't really want to talk to him, not because he disliked Bai Ke, but because the man was too perceptive, and he was afraid of being seen through. But since he had already asked the question, he couldn't not answer, so he said, "I prefer the feeling of playing in the medical field."
Bai Ke let out a long "oh," but instead of stopping as Xu Ziyan had hoped, she put down the mouse and keyboard, sat down next to him, and looked like she wanted to have a long talk.
"I asked you before if you knew anyone on the team, and yesterday I asked you again if you knew anyone within the team. Although the answer was always no, but—"
"Ice, you actually know her, right?"
Xu Ziyan's finger trembled as he rested it on the mouse. He forced himself to remain calm and glanced at Bai Ke with an expressionless face.
The young man from Beta had delicate features and was standing very close to him. He tilted his head slightly, his face showing no doubt, and asked a question, but his tone was almost certain, making it seem as if he had some leverage over him to speak so confidently.
"..."
Xu Ziyan remained silent for a while, truly not understanding why this person was so conflicted about such a matter. Helpless, he could only vaguely reply, "Yes, I know him."
"As expected!" Bai Ke revealed a big smile. "To be honest, at first I thought you were a nepotism hire, but after playing in the training matches these past few days, I feel like you're more like an outsider secretly brought in by an insider."
foreign aid?
Xu Ziyan, who had been subtly flattered, was taken aback for a moment, then chuckled and said, "No, I was originally from the youth training program."
"But you haven't joined the team yet. Isn't it because you changed your mind and want to join another team that you haven't submitted your application?"
Xu Ziyan was really embarrassed to say that his application to join the team was not approved at all. After all, this matter involved that scumbag coach in the youth training camp, and Xie Wei was the one who handled that matter. If Bai Ke had been more attentive, he might have actually discovered the clues.
He didn't say anything, which was taken as tacit agreement.
Once the conversation started, Bai Ke immediately became much more friendly. He smiled and said, "Let me tell you, I really got into the team through connections back then. Bai Chen is my brother, right? I didn't think much about it at the time and just followed my brother's old path, becoming a striker. But I didn't like to push forward, which resulted in my grades being mediocre, and my application to join the team was stuck for a long time."
Xu Ziyan was quite interested in listening to other people's trivial matters, and she paid more attention than before.
Bai Ke said, "Later, I had no choice but to go to my brother. My brother watched two of my ranked games and immediately told me to switch to assault training for two days. After two days, he took me to Coach Lu and had me play ranked games. After that, I was directly admitted to the second team, hahaha. I was completely confused at the time!"
After laughing, he said, "I'm sorry, Ice, I didn't mean to pry into your privacy. I was just genuinely curious. After all, TWG is a really strict team, and it's not easy to find someone with a similar experience."
Xu Ziyan asked curiously, "Why are you so sure I know someone on my team?"
Bai Ke smiled and said, "Your contract isn't complete, and Lu Donglou is even trying to cover for you. It's like he's trying to hide something obvious! More importantly, you were chosen for that Rookie Cup. Do you know who TWG's Rookie Cup team was the year I joined the team?"
Xu Ziyan understood, and twitched the corner of her mouth: "...You?"
"You got it right!" Bai Ke clapped. "Back then, I was a sniper, and on my brother's recommendation, I inexplicably ended up in the assault team's den—normally, there are only two assault players in a match, so it's fine if you hide. But in the Rookie Cup, out of a hundred players, at least eighty of them were inexplicably assault players!! Do you know how I got through that period? At first, I naively tried to find sniping spots to set up my gun, but later I gave up and started playing guerrilla warfare. After the Rookie Cup, when we played in other matches, Yuan Shaofeng made a comment that I still can't forget."
He said, "KK, why is your playing style getting more and more insidious?"
"Damn it! He's just an assault soldier, he has no idea what it's like for a sniper to be sliced to death!!"
As someone in the medical field, Xu Ziyan deeply empathized: "So, what was your ranking?"
"Of course it's number one. The area behind is smaller and has bigger targets, making it a sniper's paradise." Bai Ke patted him on the shoulder, looking like he had a long way to go. "Keep it up, you can do it."
"..." Xu Ziyan had just felt a little encouraged, but now it all turned into pressure. "Thank you."
After chatting with him, Bai Ke returned to her seat and continued doing her own thing.
Xu Ziyan's impression of this teammate had changed a lot. Before, when everyone was chatting together, as soon as Bai Ke mentioned Bai Chen, Yuan Shaofeng hurriedly changed the subject, so Xu Ziyan thought that the two brothers did not have a good relationship.
However, during today's conversation, Bai Ke not only didn't avoid the topic of Bai Chen, but also kept referring to him as "my brother," completely overturning Xu Ziyan's previous impression.
The daily training match ended, and the day's training load was completed. Xu Ziyan began 1v1 training. He had played this mode before, but as Bai Ke said, in a game where 80% of the players were assault players, the sniper and medic roles had a terrible gaming experience.
Compared to the normal mode maps, the 1v1 maps are larger and have more complex terrain. This mode is more like a battle royale mode than a resistance mode, except it comes with pre-selected weapons and has distinct classes. Assault and sniper rifles can regenerate health when out of combat, while medics' healing guns have halved healing effectiveness but increased damage.
Xu Ziyan played one game and roughly got used to the rhythm. He was a healer who liked to rely on dodging and positioning to kite opponents. When playing ranked matches and getting ambushed, he preferred to hide and deal damage on his own rather than rely on his teammates.
When he encountered Xie Wei before, he chose to trust Xie Wei more, and due to certain psychological reasons, he only brought support items and skills. In his usual ranked matches, Xu Ziyan would replace his smoke grenade with a stun gun and his armor pack with a pistol.
After weaving through the abandoned town and killing one assault team, only to run into another one, Xu Ziyan gave a wry smile and continued to queue, adapting to the rhythm.
Before I knew it, the night had deepened again.
The other teammates returned to their rooms one after another. Xu Ziyan took a sip of his drink and was about to click the ranking button when he suddenly heard a few knocks on the door behind him.
He paused, then looked back.
The tall, long-legged man leaned casually against the door, arms crossed, his gaze sweeping around the training room before finally settling on Xu Ziyan.
Xie Wei asked, "Want some late-night snack?"
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