A Short-Lived Cannon Fodder Alpha Just Wants to Be a Salted Fish - Chapter 11

Since self-study hours during the day were spent practicing basketball, Wen Yuan had to spend extra time at home reviewing and making up for her schoolwork.

Considering Chu Yihan’s discomfort from her allergies, Wen Yuan reduced the frequency of her questions. However, having not put in enough effort before her “awakening” meant that even with her post-awakening determination, trying to catch up solo was a struggle.

Feeling a bit anxious, Wen Yuan shifted her approach. She stopped viewing basketball practice as a burden and instead used it as a way to vent her frustrations and relax her frayed nerves.

Luo Weiyue never again claimed that Wen Yuan hit the ball like a balloon. She began to find Wen Yuan’s seriousness a bit terrifying; the girl seemed to have inexhaustible stamina, and her skills were arguably even sharper than Zhang Lili’s from the school team.

Because the boys’ team was still bitter about their previous loss, they pinned all their hopes on the girls to reclaim their honor. Though they teased the girls for being “noobs,” the boys were still willing to act as sparring partners whenever needed.

On Wednesday morning, Jiang Huaiyu brought the rest of the boys’ team to the indoor court for another scrimmage against Wen Yuan’s squad. This time, the score gap was only 13 points—a massive improvement from before.

During halftime, the five girls huddled together. Wen Yuan pointed out the specific issues each person was having. After several days of her corrections and adjustments, the five of them were coordinating better than ever.

Luo Weiyue couldn’t help but ask Wen Yuan, “Why aren’t you on the school team?” She then glanced at Zhang Lili. “Why haven’t you convinced her to join?”

“I’ve tried, but she won’t!” Zhang Lili chimed in. “She claims the smell of sweat is too gross. She refuses to join no matter what.”

A boy nearby laughed. “That’s clearly the scent of hormones!”

“I heard that the dark-skinned female Alpha from Class 1 has pheromones that actually smell like sweat.”

“Holy crap, that is truly intense!”

Speak of the devil. The Class 1 girls entered the basketball court chatting and laughing, led by that very same dark-skinned girl. The moment the two sides saw each other, the atmosphere in the court seemed to freeze. The Class 1 girls curled their lips in disdain, turned around, and walked out.

With the daily scramble for court space, the grudge between the two classes grew deeper, and they became increasingly hostile toward one another.

Shi Ran noticed that Wen Yuan’s hostility seemed more targeted. “You seem particularly annoyed by that dark-skinned girl?”

Wen Yuan wiped her sweat, answering ambiguously, “Am I?”

“Yes,” Luo Weiyue cut in. “You have murder in your eyes when you look at her.”

Zhao Qi added, “I can practically see the sparks.”

“Uh…” Wen Yuan glanced at the glasses on Zhao Qi’s nose and suggested sincerely, “Maybe get a new prescription. Your current one clearly isn’t working.”

Zhang Lili burst out laughing.

Shi Ran nudged Wen Yuan with her shoulder and whispered, “Why do you dislike her so much?”

“Maybe because her pheromones smell like sweat,” Wen Yuan said nonchalantly. “We ‘fairies’ only like people and things that smell sweet.”

Laughter erupted from the side. Wen Yuan turned to see Qi Hui and Jiang Huaiyu returning with water.

“You? A fairy?” Qi Hui teased.

Wen Yuan gave him a chilling glare. It had been like this for the past few days; Qi Hui would intentionally look for trouble, Wen Yuan would ignore him, and then they would ruthlessly try to outplay each other on the court.

“Are you all choosing Liberal Arts or Science?” Jiang Huaiyu asked casually while handing out water, breaking the tension between Wen Yuan and Qi Hui.

Zhao Qi chose Science; Shi Ran and Zhang Lili chose Liberal Arts. Luo Weiyue hadn’t decided yet.

Shi Ran looked at Wen Yuan. “Little Bird, have you decided?”

“Liberal Arts,” Wen Yuan replied.

“I’m choosing Liberal Arts too. I hope we all stay in the same class,” Jiang Huaiyu said, handing the last bottle of water from the bag to Wen Yuan.

Please, no! Wen Yuan thought, though she showed nothing on her face as she politely accepted the water and thanked him.

“You’re welcome,” Jiang Huaiyu said.

Before the words fully left his mouth, Wen Yuan caught someone in the entrance of the court out of the corner of her eye. Her dark eyes lit up, and she immediately bypassed Jiang Huaiyu to run over.

Jiang Huaiyu blinked in surprise and turned to look.

A girl in a dress with a shirt collar stood by the door—tall, slender, and as elegant as a lily. She looked completely out of place in the basketball court, like a solitary, beautiful landscape.

Wen Yuan walked up to Chu Yihan and looked her over. Her skin was as smooth as a peeled egg; the allergic rash seemed to have vanished completely.

“Allergy’s better?”

Chu Yihan gave a soft “Mm.”

“What are you doing here?”

Chu Yihan’s gaze flickered over the water in Wen Yuan’s hand. “I went to the store for water and passed by, so I came to see if you were here. Also, to give you this.”

“What is it?” Wen Yuan asked.

Chu Yihan took off her bag, pulled out a notebook, and handed it to her. “These are various types of example problems. If you’re reviewing math, just focus on the ones in here.”

Wen Yuan took the notebook with a dazed “Oh,” muttering, “The little teacher is assigning homework the moment she’s back.”

Chu Yihan’s lips curved slightly. She pulled a bottle of water from her bag to drink but suddenly let out a small “Ah.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I bought a sports drink by mistake.” Chu Yihan bit her lip. “I wanted mineral water. Can I swap with you?”

Since she didn’t want to drink the water Jiang Huaiyu had given her anyway, Wen Yuan handed over her bottle. “Whoa, I’m the one getting the better deal here.”

The corners of Chu Yihan’s mouth lifted. She whispered a “thank you” and added, “I won’t disturb your practice. I’ll head back now.”

“Okay.”

Once Chu Yihan left, Shi Ran walked over. “What was the Academic God doing here?”

“Giving me a notebook,” Wen Yuan said, flipping through it.

Shi Ran leaned in to look. “The Academic God’s notebooks are treasures. Can I get in on this?”

The pages were covered in typical problems cut from various teaching materials, ranging from basic to advanced. Mastering these would allow one to apply the logic to any similar problem.

Shi Ran clicked her tongue. “This ‘treasure’ book must have cost a lot of effort.”

Wen Yuan nodded in agreement, holding up four fingers. “So if you want to use it, you owe me and the Academic God two cups of milk tea each.”

“Always after my milk tea money,” Shi Ran swiped at her hand. “Wait, why is yours a sports drink?”

“Swapped with the Academic God for mineral water.”

Shi Ran sighed; she didn’t like plain water either, so she dragged Wen Yuan toward the store to buy drinks.

On the other side, walking in the opposite direction, Chu Yihan reached a trash can outside the Zhixing Building. She held the bottle of mineral water over the bin, an unreadable emotion in her amber eyes.

With a clunk, the unopened bottle of water hit the bottom of the trash can.

Friday afternoon, the fourth period class meeting was used for the basketball game. Besides the students from Class 1 and Class 2, the stands were filled with curious onlookers from other classes.

Five girls from Class 1 occupied half the court to warm up, showing off quite a bit. Wen Yuan watched them, her gaze eventually locking onto a tall, short-haired girl with her back turned.

She frowned. “When we were practicing before and saw Class 1, were these the same five people?”

“I remember the dark-skinned girl, the giant, the skinny beanpole, and the shorty…” Shi Ran said, checking the Class 1 players against her memory. She paused, surprised. “Wait, I’ve never seen that short-haired one before.”

Just then, the short-haired girl turned around. Wen Yuan remembered seeing her at the Honor Wall—she was the one who had been discussing Chu Yihan with the school beauty, Ji Xingyao. Wen Yuan’s frown deepened.

“Holy crap, isn’t that Lin Meng, the star of the school team?” Zhang Lili said in shock. “She’s in Class 5!”

“Why is someone from Class 5 playing for Class 1?” Zhao Qi asked, confused.

Luo Weiyue stopped her warm-up. Being impulsive, she immediately went to report this to He Xun.

He Xun returned after investigating. “One of their Alphas just went into her rut and is in isolation, so they ‘borrowed’ an Alpha from Class 5.”

“Unbelievable. Borrowing a school team star,” Luo Weiyue grumbled.

He Xun comforted them, “We have a school team player too. I think every one of you has the talent for the school team. Play hard and show them what you’ve got.”

Wen Yuan admired He Xun; in just a few words, she had doused their anger and boosted their morale.

The warm-up ended, the whistle blew, and the game began.

Chu Yihan entered the stadium just as the whistle sounded. She had to wait until most people were seated to avoid unnecessary contact with Alphas. As she sat down at the edge, a girl walked toward the empty seat to her right. Chu Yihan looked up and recognized her as the school beauty, Ji Xingyao.

Since they were both Omegas, Chu Yihan abandoned the idea of moving. However, she soon regretted it. After Ji Xingyao expressed her passionate admiration for her, she began trying to “promote” another fan of hers—Lin Meng, the ringer playing for Class 1.

It had to be said that Lin Meng was very strong; she was fast under the boards and had a high scoring rate. Class 1 seemed to have divine help, and the cheering for them was non-stop.

Ji Xingyao slowly noticed that Chu Yihan seemed completely indifferent to Class 1 scoring. She seemed to care much more about Class 2.

Ji Xingyao blinked and followed Chu Yihan’s gaze to the court.

Shi Ran made a steal and immediately turned to charge from the half-court line toward the basket. Class 1’s defense was fast; the short girl and the dark-skinned girl closed in to block her path. Zhang Lili was being marked so tightly by Lin Meng that she couldn’t break free. Zhao Qi was closest to the basket, but the giant was guarding her. Wen Yuan was outside the three-point line.

Shi Ran glanced at the scoreboard and the clock. Time was running out, and they were down by three points. She gritted her teeth and decisively spun around to pass the ball to Wen Yuan.

“Little Bird! Fly!”

Wen Yuan caught the ball steadily and jumped for a shot without hesitation.

The ball hit the basket perfectly. A three-pointer! The score was tied!

Whether it was Shi Ran’s pass or Wen Yuan’s shot, it was a play so beautiful it made everyone’s blood boil. As the whistle blew, a roar of cheers erupted in the stadium.

Ji Xingyao got caught up in the moment and jumped with excitement. “Did you see that shot?! So cool (so Alpha)!”

A soft “Mm” came from beside her. It was the first time Chu Yihan had responded to her. Ji Xingyao stared blankly at Chu Yihan.

The latter’s eyes were glued to the court, a warm glow rippling in her pale, gem-like eyes.