43 4.5

When Chen Yu finally felt that he'd eaten enough to ease his hunger, he directly pulled Hou Yi to his dorm's gym, since Hou Yi's villa, which was exclusively for the academy's best student, had an exercise area intended to accommodate no more than one person.

As before, most of the private training spaces were occupied already, but seeing two of their genius seniors enter together, several juniors jumped to volunteer their places. Chen Yu didn't act coy, he forthrightly accepted the largest room. In any case, he was fully aware that these students who could survive in the elite academy would never choose to eat a loss, they were banking on improving by examining the seniors' techniques.

Walking in, Chen Yu needed barely a glimpse to determine that this space was designed for hand-to-hand combat with its padded walls, shock-absorbent mat, and lack of equipment. Having resolved to take full advantage of both it and his partner, he immediately stripped off his formal academy uniform and flung off his shoes and socks. A moment later, he was left bare-footed, wearing only an athletic white tank top and a pair of loose shorts, eagerly beaming at the still fully-dressed boy.

Noticing Ah Guang's exposed lean muscles and smooth skin, Hou Yi's eyes flitted to the viewing pane, but he didn't comment, merely taking off his boots as well. Chuckling at Ah Guang's impatience, he took his time to pick up the articles of clothing strewn around and neatly arranged it alongside his pair of shoes. Only then did he nod to indicate that he was ready.

As soon as the two stepped up to the designated starting places, a beeping tone sounded, along with a recorded message stating that they were now being recorded for safety purposes. At the signal, the two boys, who had rarely faced each other in a casual setting before, warmed up by circling around, tossing out some light feints.

Outside, the small group of younger students observing through the window gaped at their seniors' speed. Although they were simply testing each other, their feet were moving so quickly that their figures blurred!

Rubbing their eyes that were strained from trying to track their movements, they briefly got distracted, murmuring among themselves about who would win.

An overwhelming majority of them believed that Senior Hou would defend his spot as first place, but the few girls present insisted that Senior Jin was just as talented, of course, even if he happened to lose, he would forever be the victor in their hearts. The rest of them snickered at this stupid question. Obviously they were the ultimate winners, to be able to see the new couple 'fighting' so vigorously.

Right at that time, a couple loud thuds boomed, they promptly turned their attention to the spar again.

A moment before, Chen Yu, aware that he hadn't completely assimilated to this body yet, had preemptively struck first, throwing two quick punches and a spinning kick at Hou Yi's head. The taller boy simply bent backwards, flowing into a flip and, along the way, seizing Jin Yongguang's head with his legs so that the two fell to the ground together. Chen Yu, who had landed with his face squeezed between Hou Yi's knees, rapidly gathered himself, grasped Hou Yi's inner thigh, and twisted around on the ground to aim a kick at a sensitive place. Unfortunately, Hou Yi was faster, abruptly releasing Jin Yongguang's head then swiveling to get behind him.

The two rolled furiously on the ground for several minutes, but the audience could scarcely make out the afterimages of their actions, they were limited to assuming from the unceasing sounds of flesh hitting flesh that there were many exchanges taking place.

At last, when the two paused, even the students whose eyes had turned into dazed circles blushed.

Senior Hou had landed on top of Senior Jin, their long legs locked together, their faces flushed and sweaty. Despite having both his hands pressed down, Senior Jin persistently squirmed to escape, his hips bucking somewhat suggestively against the other boy's. His struggles only stopped after Senior Jin leaned down and spoke something in his ear, after which the window turned opaque.

In reality, Chen Yu hadn't expected to win his first match against Hou Yi, but he'd been trying until the end purely to test his limits.

Who knew that this mild-looking boy would be such a bear child? Feeling that he hadn't given up, Hou Yi had lightly nibbled on his neck, so that he was reflexively a bit aroused, then thrust his hard length against him, whispering, "Shall we continue?"

Despite knowing that he should shake his head, the adrenaline from brawling, combined with the hot breath on his neck, made Chen Yu pant incoherently, unable to genuinely reject the offer. Also, this might be the best opportunity to confirm his guess...

But damn it, were kids these days all this lewd? This young master couldn't handle such stimulation, alright?

Hou Yi smiled, dragging his hands down from Ah Guang's palms, along his arms, and down to the exquisite lines that were clearly outlined by the tight, sweat-soaked tank top, his long fingers teasingly pinching the stiffened points on his chest. The smaller body under him twitched and moaned, seeing his sensitive response, Hou Yi uncontrollably bit down on the quivering throat. He licked the glistening skin, wondering how a boy could smell so delicious after so much exertion.

Indeed, while Ah Guang was more delicately built, it wasn't as if he could be mistaken for a girl—in fact, with his short hair, the angles of his face were sharply defined; with his white clothes, his skin appeared even tanner; with his arousal, the crotch area of his shorts were clearly raised.

He hadn't expected to react like this to another man, but this attraction was probably why he'd started paying so much attention to Ah Guang in the first place. Well, there was no particular reason to hold back, it didn't seem like he was unwilling.

As for those voyeurs...he'd already exercised his right as the top to privacy, clicking a button on his communicator to pause surveillance and block off prying stares.

The transfixed students were stuck glaring wide-eyed at where Senior Hou's back had been, simultaneously anxious to see what was going on and ashamed to have been caught peeping.

The clever ones shortly realized what had happened, complaining, "This is the issue with the ship having an all-powerful member, those tall, rich, and handsome types are always so domineering!" Another muttered, "I bet if Senior Jin was the number one student, he wouldn't abuse his privileges like that!"

Suddenly, their cries of "Hear, hear!"were cut short by a ringing communicator from inside the private room. Sensing that someone might have to come out soon, they scattered, giggling furtively at how frustrated Senior Hou would be. Ha, serves him right!

Although Hou Yi didn't glance up, determined to pursue what he was doing with Ah Guang, the noise managed to help Chen Yu regain his senses, he pushed the other's face off his neck and seriously gasped out, "Ah Yi, pick up. What if it's something important?"

Gazing at that earnest, bright face that looked intoxicated at the moment, Hou Yi swallowed, but he could generally fathom Ah Guang's personality. If duty called, he wouldn't ignore it nor allow others to do so on his account.

He sighed, stroking the little teardrop-shaped mole that was seducing him, and narrowed his eyes at his communicator screen to see who had interrupted such a good thing. When he recognized that it was his father, however, he resigned himself. General Hou wouldn't stop bothering him until he did whatever he wanted.

So he muted his communicator, made sure that Ah Guang was covered in his uniform again and said goodbye, then returned to the training space to call the general back without delay.

A beat later, a deep voice asked, "Yi'er, it seems you're quite busy?"

"General Hou, please excuse my tardiness," Hou Yi calmly replied, not bothering with excuses. In this man's eyes, what could justify delaying military matters? Even his own family members were regarded as tools first and loved ones second.

As if curious to see what his son had been doing, the general activated the dual-way cameras, a hologram of his stern face automatically appearing in front of Hou Yi. Discerning the padded walls in the boy's background, he nodded leniently, "Training is important, but alertness is the priority for any soldier." When Hou Yi didn't speak, he sighed. "Alright, I've contacted you because Jin Zhong has made a move."

At the mention of Ah Guang's father, Hou Yi surreptitiously raised his guard, he couldn't afford to let his conflict of interest be discovered.

The general explained, "He's offered a student named Murong Wen a sum of money to pretend that Jin Yongguang critically injured him during the quarterly assessment trials."

Hou Yi's face didn't shift, but his fingers tapped against his thigh. That Murong Wen had been acting suspiciously after the arena fight, was this why?

Before he could speculate further, however, General Hou dispelled this idea. "The conversation took place this afternoon, Murong Wen refused the proposal within the hour. Your mission is to make sure that in the end, he does frame Jin Yongguang. He must be tied inextricably to the traitors. The optimal result is if he believes he did so willingly. You may use any means necessary."

Hou Yi froze, his mind processing this new information. Within a minute, he comprehended what the military wanted and whom they had chosen to sacrifice for it. Lowering his eyes, he showed no outward signs of his disdain. In any case, even if he did request to spare Jin Yongguang, to reflect on what this would do to his future, he knew that there would be no change, it might just shake the upper ranks' trust in him.

Therefore, in a perfectly level voice, he responded, "Yes, sir."

---

The month left until the quarterly assessment trials passed peacefully.

Ding Bo, who had been cowed by Jin Yongguang's strength, hardly spoke to Chen Yu, Murong Wen went on sulkily secluding himself, and Hou Yi kindly suffered through grueling exercise with Jin Yongguang. Except for the day following the first sparring session, the two maintained a friendly relationship as if nothing had happened between them.

Thinking about it, Chen Yu laughed. That morning, there had been a hint of clumsiness from the usually refined boy when he'd vaguely inquired whether he'd 'slept all right.'

It was too bad for Hou Yi that he'd addressed Chen Yu after the night had passed.

Actually, with the tendencies the boy had displayed, Chen Yu had basically become certain that his lover had followed him through these worlds, the faint hope he'd pushed to the corner of his mind had somehow come true.

Entering his dorm room from the gym, he'd slid down his door and covered his face, laughing and crying, reminiscing about all their memories together. This was a miracle, this was the most precious gift, for this man, perhaps he could endure another thousand miserable lives.

A while later, however, he'd recalled how Feng Kuo had treated this Chen Yu like a plaything, how Lu Guanting had treated this Chen Yu like a pawn, en, who knew how Hou Yi planned to treat this Chen Yu?

At this thought, his anger nearly extinguished his joy. Sneering, he resolved to torment this precocious boy a bit, anyway he wouldn't legally become an adult for at least half a year. Taking into account the fact that his lover apparently couldn't retain his memories, Chen Yu mercifully didn't extend his punishment beyond that duration.

Thus, when Jin Yongguang faced Hou Yi that unlucky morning, he had long hardened his heart. Without a hint of a blush, he swore, "Ah Yi, I didn't restrain myself well last evening, but I promise I'll focus entirely on developing my strength from this moment on. You don't need to worry that I'll be wasting your time thinking about nonsense!"

Hou Yi stilled, this evidently wasn't a response he'd considered. Watching Hou Yi struggle to reverse this abrupt increase in Jin Yongguang's obsession with battle without blatantly discouraging him, Chen Yu smirked inside his heart. A few seconds later, Hou Yi attempted, "Ah Guang, it's alright, I don't mind. Perhaps it'll even promote your concentration if you're not pent up."

Although he silently clicked his tongue with admiration at this crafty pretense, on the surface Chen Yu gratefully shook his head. "No, I could never have you do such a thing. Besides, I have confidence that I can control my own body, and if I really can't, it would be better to seek Ah Wen."

Hou Yi's fists tightened, even his ever-present smile disappeared. If Ah Guang required a slower approach, so be it, but to watch him be touched by somebody else? His tone barely polite, he spat out, "Why not me, why Murong Wen?"

Jin Yongguang's eyebrows rose, "Of course because you're half an instructor to me, whereas Ah Wen and I have pretty much been exactly equal for years. Wouldn't it be more appropriate to ask a peer than a teacher for this kind of thing?"

There was an awkward lull, then, in an unprecedentedly cold voice, Hou Yi advised, "There are some folk tales that suggest it enhances your stamina to curb your libido. To be safe, let's keep to that for now."

Jin Yongguang obediently agreed, but Hou Yi remained gloomy for the rest of the day.

Since this conversation restored the two to their previous platonic friendship, the sole change during this month was that Jin Yongguang became extremely rich, independent of his family.

Naturally, Chen Yu hadn't gone OOC to make his money, he'd simply utilized the original owner's skills.

For this generation, the virtual world was, in substance, a second reality, everything from the network could be converted into 'real' money, 'real' objects, 'real' relationships. Therefore, when Chen Yu was searching for a way to prepare for his separation from Jin Jia without raising any suspicions, he easily decided to virtually use this enhanced body of his.

Like the academy, the network had a huge stadium for duels, except that the competitors fought with mecha and acted more like gladiators. Because competitors were randomly matched up within skill levels, most matches ended with simple injuries.

Despite that, unlike the academy, not a small number of people had died in the arena when hidden experts emerged or personal grudges were involved. For the excitement of viewing a battle with a real chance of death, the audience paid a fee, half of which went to the organizers and the other half of which was split between the two contestants.

Predictably, Chen Yu had started at the very first level, which had the lowest pay per fight, but he swiftly won more than a handful of cross-level challenges in a row so that currently, he was ranked at level eight. While he still hadn't reached the highest twelfth rank, his soaring ascent and rapid-fire bouts had gained him a loyal fandom, packing the audience for every match. The stadium owner, being a shrewd businessperson, provided generous rewards and incentives for his outstanding performance in addition to the higher basic wages.

In this way, Chen Yu now thoroughly understood mecha control and, moreover, owned enough to live luxuriously several times over. When events progressed so that Jin Yongguang 'had to' cut ties with his family, he wouldn't suffer at all.

Smoothing out a tiny wrinkle in his uniform, Chen Yu gazed at his reflection, curling his lips. This assessment trial would be crucial, he'd prepared quite a bit for it. Whatever unfolded, all he wished was that it proved to be worth his effort.