Ch14 - Breakfast

(unedited as of now, because I’m unorganised qaq)

Before he had returned to the dorms, Qiu Yu was called over to by Doctor Qi to the club’s infirmary. 

Mu Feibai had wanted to follow him in, however he seemed to suddenly realise something after taking a couple of steps. He raised his hand to rub his nose and gave Qiu Yu a smile before obediently waiting outside the door.

The process of changing his doctor wasn’t too complicated, Qiu Yu just had to log onto and follow the steps on the government funded health care website. After signing the agreement, access to a digital transcript of Qiu Yu’s medical records was quickly granted to Qi Zhefeng by the website. 

Doctor Qi quickly flipped through the medical records without any expression on his face. “You haven’t had a full-body checkup in two years? I would recommend getting a make up exam one of these days. I will first prescribe you one year of Omega health monitoring, and during the monitoring period you will not be able to use inhibitors that directly inject into your gland… do you have an Alpha?” 

“No.” Qiu Yu answered.

“En, if you meet an Alpha that suits your tastes within this year, you can still undergo gland marking. Just make sure to remember the date of the mark.”

As he spoke, Qi Zhefeng picked up his tablet and started writing on it. “My side will provide you with tablet-type inhibitors. As with normal capsules, take it daily, and try not to miss a day. You can increase the dosage by one or two tablets, but no more than three per day.”

Qi Zhefeng was resolute in his speech and actions, and quickly gave Qiu Yu his prescription before taking out a box of inhibitor tablets from and handing them to Qiu Yu. “There’s usage instructions in the box. Start taking them tonight, and if you don’t know how, come find me.”

Seeing the doctor didn’t say anything extra, Qiu Yu took the box and said his goodbyes.

My Feibai was still waiting for him by the door to send him back to the dorms, and upon seeing Qiu Yu, he immediately caught up and started talking about a random topic. “You’re going to start training tomorrow, have you ever played using gaming cabins before?

“No.” Qiu Yu was actually quite curious, “What’s the difference between gaming cabins and helmets?”

“Cabins are more receptive than helmets. With the aid of suit that connects to your nerves, the physical sensations and control of limbs would also be more accurate.” Then Mu Feibai exaggeratedly sighed, “I used to think you also used a gaming cabin, who knew you actually have always used helmets… You shot me to death with just a helmet, you’re really strong ah.” 

Qiu Yu wasn’t the least modest either, “I’d be even stronger if I switch to a gaming cabin then.”

Mu Feibai laughs, “Of course, after playing in the cabin, I no longer wanted to touch a helmet. Ai, but it is hard to say…”

“What?” Qiu Y raised an eyebrow.

“Gaming cabins cause more strain on the nerves. Just looking at your little figure…” As he spoke, Mu Feibai’s line of sight swept over Qiu Yu, “You might not even be able to follow us through the entire training field. Even if you can keep up in the morning, the pain will probably keep you out of afternoon training.” 

Hearing this, Qiu Yu scoffed disbelievingly.

“Wanna bet?” Seeing that Qiu Yu didn’t believe him, Mu Feibai suddenly felt motivated, “You can follow through on an entire day of training tomorrow, I’ll call you ‘ge’!”

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

Qiu Yu glanced at him, “I’m bigger than you, so you should call me ‘ge’ anyway.”

Some switch seemed to have flipped in Mu Feibai after hearing some key words, and he ‘pfft’-ed in laughter. Leaning towards Qiu Yu, he spoke, “Hmm? Where are you…” 

Ljiokjs atbeut, tf revvfcis ogbhf. Lf mifjgfv tlr atgbja lc j uelias wjccfg jcv mbcalcefv, “…Tfjt, jiatbeut P’w sbecufg atjc sbe, P bcis gfmbuclrf atbrf ragbcufg atjc wf jr j ‘uf’. Snfc lo sbe mjc xlii wf lc j rbib wjamt, lo sbe mjc’a ijra atgbeut jc fcalgf agjlclcu rfrrlbc, P ralii kbc’a mjii sbe ‘uf’.”

Thinking of Mu Feibai’s strange pause earlier, Qiu Yu couldn’t help laughing.

He believed that just then, this bear child definitely wanted to make a dirty joke just them, but somehow suddenly got embarrassed and forcefully swallowed it back down. 

Mu Feibai’s gaze swept over the box in Qiu Yu’s hand and swiftly moved away. The roots of his ears were a little red, but his expression was forced into one of nonchalance, as though he didn’t just recognise what was written on the box. 

But it was his first time seeing an Omega so casually and openly carrying a box of inhibitors in their hands, not even hiding it under their arm… And it was even the tablet kind, wouldn’t that be…

Stop!

What was he thinking ah!

Mu Feibai felt the roots of his ears grow even hotter. 

The infirmary wasn’t far from the dorm area, and they reached Qiu Yu’s room in just a couple of steps.

Mu Feibai watched Qiu Yu open the door and enter, and waved at him, “Have a good rest. I live in the innermost room in the corridor, number 413, you can come find me if there’s anything you need. En, don’t be too polite with your captain.”

Qiu Yu nodded and wished him good night, before closing and locking the door.

……

The next day, Qiu Yu woke up early.

Mornings in Yan city in June were so bright it hurt one’s eyes. Following the rise of the sun, the temperature also climbed up. 

After following his training plan to complete a thousand skips with a jumping rope, Qiu Yu had a simple shower, but still felt quite stifled. The original body’s clothes were mostly all high necked, which were all frighteningly stuffy. Qiu Yu looked through everything for ages before finally finding a round-necked t-shirt. Casually throwing it on, he left the dorms.

In the cafeteria, members from different battle teams grouped together in twos and threes to eat breakfast together. Qiu Yu got some rice from the window slot and looked around. Finding the only one that he recognised was Du Chen, he carried his plate over and sat down opposite him.

“Morning.”

“Mor…” The moment Du Chen lifted his eyes and saw that it was Qiu Yu, his expression froze for a moment, “Ahem, morning.” 

At this moment, some whispers and low laughter sounded from next to them, and immediately after, a boy around twenty years of age was pushed over by a couple of others. Stutteringly, he greeted Qiu Yu, “He-hello! We’re from the ‘Starmark Age’ battle team next door, and we heard that… umm, we just wanted to ask, are you really an Omega?”

Because last night the “Century’s Finale” battle team used the cafeteria to host a welcoming banquet, players from other battle teams were asked to dine in the dorms instead. They only had a chance to see Qiu Yu today, and as young people had great curiosity in their hearts, they came over to chat after encouraging each other in a couple of sentences.

Qiu Yu thought these big boys were a little like the soldiers he had led before and didn’t feel they were being invasive at all, so he nodded with a smile, “I am.”

The boys communicated with each other with their eyes, no one knew what they were giggling about, only that they didn’t hold any malicious intentions. 

The one who first came over to talk stupidly scratched his head, and stumbling praised him a little, “You, umm, you’re quite pretty… En, super cute! Oh right, welcome to the Eagle Riders club!”

It was unknown what he was thinking, but continued to emphasise, “You don’t have to be nervous, we’re all Betas!”

“He’s not nervous at all, but you guys seem pretty nervous though.”

A lazy voice sounded from behind them. Holding his plate, Mu Feibai pushed past them and unceremoniously took the seat next to Qiu Yu. 

Everyone was in the same club, and although they weren’t in the same team, they were still quite familiar with each other. 

Hence Mu Feibai didn’t feel much pressure when shooing them away, “What are you all crowding around here for? Quickly go eat your food, training starts soon… Tsk, Qiu Yu isn’t a zoo animal, what are you looking at? If you’re not gonna eat, everyone else still has to. Quickly go go go…”

After shooing the others away with a fierce face, Mu Feibai turned towards QIu Yu with a smile, “Don’t mind them, they just love novelty. If you think it’s annoying, I can pack some food to the dorms for you.”

Qiu Yu was actually quite accustomed to this kind of noisy and loud atmosphere, it made him reminisce about the troops’ cafeteria. Resources in the apocalyptic world was extremely rare, people even needed to fight for food. That place was certainly more lively than here. 

Hence he rejected Mu Feibai’s offer, “No need,”

Mu Feibai didn’t insist on it either, and said, “It’s not too bad, those Alphas are quite sensible and didn’t come to bother you.”

Qiu Yu silently took a sip of his porridge.

Mu Feibai continued to explain, “Right now both Du Chen and I have injected Alpha inhibitors. Those in other battle teams don’t usually train with us so they didn’t inject inhibitors. It’s better to steer clear of them if you can.” 

This was kindly advice, so Qiu Yu nodded in response. 

Du Chen put down his chopsticks with a little too much strength. The chopsticks touched the metal table with a loud clang.

Qiu Yu and Mu Feibai looked at him simultaneously.

Du Chen raised his plate to leave, but returned after taking two steps away. He looked towards Qiu Yu with lowered eyes and a cold face, and spoke fast as a rocket, “The next time you leave your room, put on a neck protector!” 

After speaking he left, and he didn’t look at Qiu Yu throughout the entire process. 

Mu Feibai frowned, letting out a “tsk”. He couldn’t well drag the other back and give him a scolding in a public space like the cafeteria, so he could only turn towards Qiu Yu and apologise on behalf of the other, “Sorry about that, he’s a little… ahem, his chunni phase hasn’t passed yet… I’ll be sure to give him a good scolding when we get back.”

Mitigating conflict between new and older members of the team was also the responsibility of the captain. 

Of course, Qiu Yu wouldn’t hold a grudge against a kid, but he also knew that, as a captain, Mu Feibai needed to strengthen his authority, and hence he didn’t say anything.  

Qiu Yu raised a hand to the back of his neck, and only then did he find some memory fragments that suddenly reminded him there was a reason Omegas preferred to wear high-necked clothes. The fragile glands were located close to the top of the spine. Not covering it up with clothing was basically equivalent to girls wearing a miniskirt without safety shorts underneath—although there was no rule saying one must wear it, it doesn’t feel comfortably secure, and it also attracts others’ sights.

Hence, the original body would choose high-necked clothes when he occasionally leaves the house even in the summer, or choose to wear a decorative neck protector to hide his glands.

After looking through his memories, Qiu Yu unconsciously reached a hand to the skin close to his glands. 

Mu Feibai’s line of sight was attracted by his movements— 

Pale fingers slightly pink at the tips brushed across smooth, milky and jade-like skin; the slightly strong pressure first left a couple of white indents, then the blood flow quickly resmed, turning a faint red like the sky at sunrise.

Mu Feibai subconsciously pursed his lips, his throat lightly bobbing. He quickly averted his gaze, banishing the dangerous thoughts of “wonder how it feels to take a bite” out of his mind. 

His keen nose seemed to catch a hint of the scent of coconut milk. It was extremely light, yet he immediately realised that it was Qiu Yu’s scent.

Sensing the person next to him suddenly becoming a little stiff, Qiu Yu looked over a little suspiciously, “What’s wrong?” 

Mu Feibai jolted up, “Ah? Ah! Ah nothing… he, hehe I was just saying, Du Chen that kid isn’t even that old, yet his thinking is so old-fashioned… If you want to wear neck protectors then go ahead and wear them, if you don’t then dont, what year is it now, still so conservative…”

Qiu Yu looked at him and lightly laughed.

Mu Feibai’s stiff shoulders gradually relaxed, he slowly leaned back into his chair. With a casual tone, he changed the subject, “How was the breakfast at the cafeteria? Can you get used to it?”

Qiu Yu stuffed the last bun into his mouth, and replied extremely ungracefully with his mouth bulging, “It’s good.” 

Food was the most generous gift from heaven, and one should be grateful if they’re not going hungry. He had never been picky about food.

Seeing Qiu Yu being so casual and uninhibited and acting completely unlike Omegas from conservative factions, Mu Feibai somehow felt that such a laid-back character… was actually pretty cute.