[Vol. 1] Chapter 21 - Empty Dantian, Emptier Heart
Hehe, she had saved some money.
She might have heard a muttering from behind saying, "It seems you've never received kindness without cost..." but what was important right then wasn't such muttering.
In a realistic isekai where status windows didn't open, the only way to discover your abilities was through hard work.
Xiaolan's body had unsurprisingly good stamina. With a da-da-da-da, she ran around, following the line of the platform strictly, because if she cut corners on the sharp turns then it wouldn't count.
Moving around, paired with the fresh mountain air, was actually refreshing.
"That should be enough. Your basic physical fitness is surprisingly excellent."
"I'm pretty confident in my stamina. It's troublesome to be slow when you're chasing someone or being chased, right?"
As she boasted proudly, his gaze somehow became even more pitying than before.
She didn't know what he thought she might be chasing or being chased by, but she was certain he wasn't picturing beast-hunting quests or catching pickpockets.
"Excellent, young miss," Bai Yu praised.
He had noticed something peculiar about the young miss he now served: her eyes sparkled whenever she boasted, even when the achievement was... average at best.
Xiaolan grinned from ear to ear, blissfully unaware of the other presence nearby.
Bai Yu suppressed a sigh. Troublesome. A young alpha heir should have grit, should hunger for strength. He didn't know what Xiaolan had endured before the clan took her in, but it must never interfere with the Master's plans.
He closed his eyes. He would let it be—
WHOOSH.
A small stone whistled through the air, missing Xiaolan's face by a hair's breadth. It grazed against her hair before clattering to the ground.
Bai Yu hadn't moved. He had sensed the other presence long before the rock flew.
Xiaolan nearly stumbled, her knees buckling for a terrifying moment, but she caught herself just in time. Heart hammering, she whipped her head toward the source of the attack.
A woman stood a few paces away, arms loosely crossed, expression utterly casual as if throwing rocks at people was a perfectly normal way to start a conversation.
She was tall and slender, with sharp angles that seemed to radiate from her very bones. Her dark hair was cropped short in a wolfcut, choppy layers framing a face that announced Alpha without needing a single word. Deep crimson robes draped her frame, cinched at the waist with a belt the color of fresh jade.
"Hey."
Lin Feiyu had just returned from the proving grounds only to find someone else using her space, and her mood was foul.
"Who said you could train here?!" she snapped.
"Don't you know this whole area belongs to me?" As an Alpha heir and notorious troublemaker, her temper had never been good. And right now, having just been dumped by her Omega mate, it was absolutely worse.
"This platform is nearby, and it's public use," Xiaolan replied flatly. "You didn't buy it, right?"
"I don't care what your excuse is. Pack your stuff and get lost." Lin Feiyu pinched her nose in disgust. "What is that stench? It's unbearable."
It was the harsh perfume Xiaolan had used to mask and suppress her Omega pheromones.
As an Alpha, Lin Feiyu's sensitive nose was nearly revolted by the odor.
Although she hadn't seen the other person's gender listed anywhere, as an Alpha, she could tell that the person before her wasn't of her kind.
If she wasn't an Alpha, then she could only be a Beta or an Omega.
"You smell terrible all over. You're wearing perfume, aren't you?!" Detecting the difference in scent with a slight twitch of her nose, Lin Feiyu sneered, unable to resist mocking. "Clearly a Beta, yet trying to pretend to be an Omega..."
Unlike Alphas and Omegas, who had their own pheromones, Betas were so ordinary that they couldn't produce any scent at all.
Perhaps due to market demand, or perhaps for other reasons, perfumes targeting Betas had come into existence.
But it wasn't real pheromones after all. Even if sprayed, it wouldn't have any effect other than self-consolation.
Xiaolan stared at this madwoman, then at Bai Yu.
He simply said, "Young miss, this one only manages you."
Right. This man was acting as her Shadow Guard trainer now, not the instructor of the trials. She cleared her throat and corrected Lin Feiyu.
"I'm an Alpha, you know? I just differentiated. Maybe because we're the same gender that we repel each other?"
Lin Feiyu bristled. "Are you insulting us Alphas?" she demanded.
Xiaolan moved.
Or rather—she tried to.
Her body lurched forward, fist raised, fueled by nothing but frustration and the lingering heat of differentiation. But Lin Feiyu didn't even flinch. She just watched, almost bored, as Xiaolan's clumsy swing sliced through empty air.
Xiaolan stumbled past her, off-balance, and Lin Feiyu's hand shot out. A single open palm against Xiaolan's shoulder.
Xiaolan hit the ground hard.
The impact jarred through her empty dantian, rattling bones that had no qi to cushion them. She gasped, palms scraping against stone, and before she could push herself up—
A foot pressed down on her back.
Not hard. Not yet. Just... resting there. Like she wasn't worth the effort of real pressure.
"Three days," Lin Feiyu said, her voice carrying that particular boredom of someone who'd already won. "I lasted three days in that fog. Killed seventeen beasts. Took twenty-three points off other heirs."
She leaned forward slightly, just enough to make Xiaolan feel the weight. "How about you?"
Xiaolan's mouth opened. Closed.
Disqualified. Second day. Thirty points she hadn't earned herself.
"That's what I thought," Lin Feiyu said, already turning away. Pathetic. Not worth another second of her time.
Lin Feiyu stepped back, and Xiaolan scrambled to her knees, chest heaving. No cultivation. No strength. And her system was locked for 4 days.
Her mind was a mess. Was I not destined to shine after all? Back in her old life, she'd dreamed of being important. Of mattering to someone.
Now she was here, in a body that was loved...A-Ling's gentle hands, Elder Guang's weary sigh but none of it was for her.
But then she heard it.
A shaky breath. A sniffle.
Lin Feiyu paused. Turned back.
Xiaolan was still on her knees, but her head was lifted now, a rosy red hue coloring her face.
Lin Feiyu had seen that look before. On the faces of Omegas who lingered too long after rejection. On the maidservants and junior trainees who followed her around the training grounds, hoping for a glance.
Oh no.
"Hey." Lin Feiyu's voice sharpened. "Stop looking at me like that."
Xiaolan blinked. "Like what?"
"Like—" Lin Feiyu gestured vaguely at her own face, then at Xiaolan's.
What Lin Feiyu couldn't know: Xiaolan was staring because her mind was blank with humiliation. Because she was calculating how many days until her system unlocked. Because she was wondering if she could ever stand up to someone like this.
"I'm not—" Xiaolan started.
"You're blushing," Lin Feiyu accused.
Xiaolan's hands flew to her cheeks. They were warm. From exertion. From embarrassment. From the burning shame of being pinned like an insect.
This son of a bitch isn't thinking I have a crush on her, right? Xiaolan's eye twitched. "I'm an Alpha."
"So am I. Doesn't stop some people." Lin Feiyu's gaze flickered meaningfully toward Bai Yu, then back. "Look. Just... train somewhere else. Okay? For both our sakes."
Xiaolan was pulled back to reality when she heard Bai Yu's words. "It seems this is too early. For now, physical training will be of little use to you. Your training schedule shall be updated soon. For now, simply wait."
Bai Yu's thought process at that moment was straightforward. He had decided that this young miss didn't need his protection, and besides, it would temper the Alpha's arrogance.
But he hadn't expected this young Alpha to still be on her knees in that humiliating position even after Lin Feiyu had lifted her foot. He had to clear his throat to snap her out of her daze.
Xiaolan stared up at Bai Yu, but she wasn't foolish enough to ask. The less you speak, the fewer mistakes you make...that was a lesson she had learned from the horrifying trials.
Bai Yu reached down with an open palm, and Xiaolan grasped it as he glanced at the sun, then back at Xiaolan. "That concludes today's session. I have other things to do before nightfall."
...
Xiaolan had left the platform. Lin Feiyu had long since resumed training in the background, as if no one else were there.
Bai Yu had left to attend to other matters, Xiaolan wasn't his only responsibility after all.
A-Ling, this body's maidservant and close friend, was elsewhere.
Now, Xiaolan truly felt how lonely it was.
A shadow loomed over Xiaolan. Her gaze traveled upward, past the shadow guard uniform, past the insignia of their station, until it reached a regular, average face. Unremarkable, except for the visible burns creeping up the side of his neck.
"For you."
With that, he shoved a box into her arms and left without another word, disappearing as quietly as he'd appeared.
"Eh?"
Xiaolan blinked, then stared quietly at the wooden box in her hands. She sat down on the nearest step of the stairs and opened it.
A cake.
This... wasn't this the cake she'd gotten from the system on her birthday? No doubt about it. The same cake design plus her pouch of 500 spirit stones, these were the exact things she'd seen and claimed on her phone.
Is it really a coincidence?
"Young Master Lin, we've delivered the box."
"Mhm," he responded despondently, until a small, dark shadow qi dissipated from his body, leaving behind the echo of its final command: Deliver cake to Xiaolan.
Like a puppet freed from control, Young Master Lin regained his vitality. "Hm?"