I Marked My Arch-Nemesis Omega - Chapter 29

Sheng Yu said she would return to school in the afternoon, but in reality, she didn’t arrive until dinnertime. She didn’t go back to her class either, heading straight to the cafeteria instead. After running into Song Qing, she bought a loaf of bread and followed behind her.

“Did you really write a self-criticism?” Sheng Yu asked.

“I did.”

“You wouldn’t pass off someone else’s work as your own to fool me, would you?”

“I wouldn’t do something like that.”

Sheng Yu raised an eyebrow.

When they reached Song Qing’s office, Song Qing handed her three sheets of paper.

Sheng Yu skimmed through them—densely packed, with Song Qing’s neat and elegant handwriting. At first glance, it looked meticulously written, and upon closer inspection, it genuinely analyzed her mistakes from every angle.

Sheng Yu: “…”

The student council president was still the student council president.

“This much, and you finished it so quickly?”

“Not that fast.” Song Qing glanced at Sheng Yu. “You really didn’t bring it with you?”

“Nope.” Sheng Yu folded the self-criticism neatly and tucked it into her pocket.

Song Qing leaned against the desk, watching her. “Then I’ll have to trouble you to hand in a 3,000-word self-criticism by next Monday, reflecting on why you skipped school today.”

“I already got my homeroom teacher to approve a leave slip.” Sheng Yu blinked innocently.

Song Qing: “…”

“Give the self-criticism back.” Song Qing held out her hand.

“No way. I’m going to frame it and hang it on my wall.” Sheng Yu immediately took a step back, shielding her pocket. “Have you ever written a self-criticism before?”

“No.”

“Then can I take a photo and post it on my socials?”

“No.” Song Qing frowned.

“Tch.” Sheng Yu snorted. “I’m leaving. Bye.”

Song Qing pressed her lips together and finally sighed.

Fu Lian was the first to notice Sheng Yu’s improved mood. “What did you do yesterday? Did you fall in love or something? You’re suddenly in such a good mood.”

“What do you mean, ‘fall in love’?” Sheng Yu shot Fu Lian an annoyed look. “What does my mood have to do with romance? You’re so shallow.”

“Isn’t it said that love conquers all? Or did your stocks go up?”

Sheng Yu: “…”

“So the only things that can make you happy are love or money? How shallow. I’m happy because the wheat yield in District 68 doubled compared to last year.” She casually mentioned a news headline she’d glimpsed earlier.

“Yeah, right.”

“Oh, by the way, here’s a notice for you. Next Monday to Sunday is Thirteen High’s annual off-campus activity week. Alphas and Betas are going to the Cangling Training Base in District Six…” Fu Lian sighed. “Omegas are vacationing on Azure Star in District Twenty-Four. Betas used to join the Omegas for activities before.”

“I’m really unlucky. At my old school, they canceled the activity week during my first year. Who knew that after transferring, I’d still miss out on a break… What’s the difference between this and regular classes?”

While Fu Lian kept complaining, Sheng Yu’s thoughts had already wandered off.

Activity week…

If she went into differentiation during activity week, she’d be done for.

“Can we skip it?”

“No.” Fu Lian looked at her. “The teachers said unless you suddenly get diagnosed with a terminal illness, an emergency condition, or break a limb and need surgery, no other excuses will be accepted.”

Sheng Yu: “…”

“That strict?” Sheng Yu raised an eyebrow.

“It seems this time it’s led by those major families, with someone backing them up, so of course they’re being tough.” Fu Lian sighed. “But what do you have to be afraid of? I remember you were pretty impressive in physical training class, weren’t you?”

“Impressive how?”

“You made it look effortless.” At the time, Fu Lian had watched Sheng Yu purely to see her eat dirt, but who knew she’d breeze through it so easily? If she’d just run a little faster, her results could’ve been even better.

Sheng Yu: “…”

“You have quite a bit of faith in me,” Sheng Yu said irritably, closing her eyes and leaning against the wall.

She could always ask Lu Yuanzheng to help her skip this training session, but doing so would be way too obvious.

Annoying.

Though everyone claimed they didn’t want to go, they couldn’t help but feel excited. After all, the Cangling Training Base was currently the largest virtual reality training facility built by the Empire, spanning half a planet. Rumor had it they even planned to turn the entire Cangling Star into a training base in the future. Getting a chance to see it firsthand was still a good thing.

Before school ended on Friday, the teacher went over the specifics: no one needed to bring anything except themselves. Even if they did bring stuff, it would all be confiscated before entering the Cangling Training Base.

After school on Friday, everyone was buzzing about the training base, full of excitement—except for Sheng Yu, who went straight home and frantically searched for information about Alpha differentiation.

How to delay differentiation?

Top-voted answer: Die. That’ll push it to your next life. (Researchers, hurry up and figure out how to delay differentiation or at least predict Alpha differentiation times accurately!)

How to quickly end an Alpha’s differentiation period?

The top-voted answer was from the same person.

Answer: Die. It’ll be fast. (Calling out researchers again! Alpha differentiation is way too inconvenient right now! When I differentiated, there were so many Omegas around me—don’t ask why I didn’t avoid them! I had no idea I was about to differentiate!)

Sheng Yu stared at this answer for a moment, then connected it to the previous comment. Suddenly, she realized something. This post was from five years ago. Clicking into the user’s profile, she saw they hadn’t posted anything since.

How to mask pheromones during differentiation in a crowd?

Same person again.

Answer: Just give up. Dying won’t help because your pheromones will still spread. And if you’re already in a crowd, where are you gonna hide? (Final shoutout to researchers—please figure out a solution soon.)

Sheng Yu was a little curious about who this person was, but after a moment, she sighed.

Seems like there really is no way.

Sheng Yu rubbed her chin and sent a message to Lu Yuanzheng.

Sheng Yu: I’m going to Cangling Base. What if I differentiate there?

Empire’s Tool: …

Empire’s Tool: That’s tricky. Security there is tight—24/7 electronic patrols, robots in the air and on the ground, no blind spots. Plus, you need permission to go anywhere; you can’t just wander around.

Sheng Yu: …

Empire’s Tool: Pray for yourself. If you get caught, there’s nothing I can do.

Sheng Yu: Do you have people inside?

Imperial Tool: No, I’m under Marshal Qi. Marshal Cheng Yuan is in charge of Cangling Ridge. The two of them don’t get along very well.

Yu Sheng: …

Yu Sheng sighed and lay down on the sofa.

The kitten had been jumping around at her feet for a while, but Yu Sheng hadn’t paid it any attention. Now that she was lying down, it immediately leaped onto her.

After Yu Sheng’s words that day, the little thing had learned to eat properly. 827 had probably given it extra meals too, because it looked noticeably rounder than when she first brought it home.

“I’ll be gone for a week starting next week. I’ll be back Monday morning,” Yu Sheng said. “I’m going to another planet, and I can’t bring my light-brain. So even if you throw a tantrum with 827, I won’t be able to come back.”

The cat rubbed against Yu Sheng’s leg but didn’t meow this time.

At six in the morning on Monday, all the Alphas and Betas from the Thirteenth High School gathered at the interstellar spacecraft dock. They would board the ship together and head to the training base.

“Did you hear? It’s not just our school going to the training base this time—other schools are coming too,” Bai Ying whispered.

“Not surprising,” Yu Sheng said, completely unfazed. It would be weird if only one school was sent to the training base.

“Any idea which schools?” Zhang Yunsu asked.

“Haoyun Thirteenth High from the Seventh District is coming. Their school has that S-rank from the last competition. Yesterday, some of their students even came to our school posting flyers, saying they’d beat us so badly we’d have to change our name,” Bai Ying grumbled.

“How childish,” Yu Sheng said irritably.

“But it doesn’t really concern us, right? It’s all Alpha competition anyway. Feels like we Betas are just there for show,” Ren Jin said dismissively.

“If we’re going to the base, it’s definitely not just for show,” Zhang Yunsu said helplessly. “Besides, when do students ever get a chance to go to a place like this? There’s no way they’d let us slack off.”

Ren Jin looked like she was about to cry. “If they make us train at Alpha intensity for a week, I might actually die there.”

“Relax, there are plenty of people in the same boat as you,” Bai Ying said, patting her shoulder.

“Let’s go. Stop chatting—it’s time to board,” Yu Sheng said, spotting Song Qing in the distance already signaling from the spacecraft.

“Are we doing a space jump too?”

“Yeah. It’s too far—flying normally would take forever.” Yu Sheng yawned and leaned back in her seat.

“I’m so excited! This is my first time doing a space jump. I’ve never even left the Eleventh District my whole life—no, actually, I’ve never even left this planet,” Bai Ying said, taking a deep breath.

“I’d recommend taking motion sickness pills first,” Yu Sheng said. “First-time space jumps can be rough.”

“Got it,” Bai Ying nodded.

Most of them had never experienced a space jump before. From the moment it started until it ended, quite a few people ended up vomiting. Thankfully, the spacecraft had plenty of cleaning bots and good air filtration, or else even more people might’ve lost their lunches.

“They’re puking from just this?”

“That’s disgusting, oh my god…”

“I shouldn’t have looked back.”

The Alphas, sitting not far away, glanced over at the Betas and immediately turned their heads away in disgust.

Sheng Yu sat expressionless in her seat, waiting to disembark. When it was time, she quickly joined the line, eager to get off the ship as soon as possible.

Song Qing stood by the exit and casually asked Sheng Yu when she saw her, “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Sheng Yu shook her head. “What about you? You look terrible.”

“I just turned back for a second…” Song Qing wasn’t disgusted, but the visual effect was genuinely unsettling.

Sheng Yu couldn’t help but chuckle.