IMAO Chapter 119

“Are you stupid?” Jiang Yuan couldn’t help but laugh when he heard Ji Rong’s answer. He grabbed Ji Rong’s injured hand and said, “Come on, let’s go back. If we stay out any longer, you’ll freeze into a real fool.”

“Mm.”

In the surveillance room, Arlo, who had been helping Jiang Yuan look for Ji Rong, saw the scene on the monitor. Ji Rong, being led by Jiang Yuan, was grinning like a love-struck fool. It was almost too embarrassing to watch.

If the school staff weren’t around, he would’ve really wanted to take a screenshot and share it with the whole class!

Although he couldn’t hear what Jiang Yuan and Ji Rong were saying, Ji Rong looked just like a blushing bride right now!

On their way back to the room, Jiang Yuan contacted Arlo to thank him for his help before leading Ji Rong back to his dorm.

After bandaging Ji Rong’s wound, Jiang Yuan finally let go of his hand. “There, the wound’s all taken care of.”

“Does it still hurt?” Jiang Yuan asked worriedly, glancing at Ji Rong’s hand.

Ji Rong shook his head, then shamelessly pinched Jiang Yuan’s cheek. His lips curled in a smile like a fox who’d just gotten away with stealing. “Doesn’t hurt.”

“Let’s sleep, it’s getting late,” Jiang Yuan said after tidying up.

Ji Rong: “It’s still early. I don’t want to turn off the lights yet. I want to look at you a bit longer.”

Jiang Yuan: “…”

…

The next day.

After getting up and getting ready as usual, Jiang Yuan and Ji Rong headed straight to the cafeteria.

But at the cafeteria, people were pointing and whispering all along the way, even more dramatically than before. It felt like everyone was staring at them.

“Strange, what’s going on today?”

“Didn’t these people usually keep their distance when they saw you?” Jiang Yuan muttered, feeling a bit annoyed. Although people often stared at them, they usually kept their distance. Today was different.

Jiang Yuan grumbled.

Ji Rong took a bite of food from his tray and said quietly, “Because yesterday everyone heard you say you’d blow my head off if I dared to leave, and I really didn’t dare to leave.”

Jiang Yuan: “Huh? How did they know? Did they watch the surveillance footage?”

Ji Rong: “When you were on the call with Arlo, the broadcast room’s speaker was still on. They all knew I didn’t leave…”

Jiang Yuan: “This… I didn’t mean to.”

Ji Rong: “I know.”

Jiang Yuan: “Should I explain things?”

Ji Rong replied matter-of-factly, “Explain what? You yelled at me, and I didn’t dare leave.”

Jiang Yuan: “…”

Jiang Yuan: “Are you really okay with this?”

Ji Rong shook his head. “It’s fine.”

Seeing that Ji Rong genuinely didn’t seem to mind, Jiang Yuan dropped the subject. After breakfast, they went straight to the school’s firearms training room together.

The moment they appeared, the entire class turned to look at them.

“What happened yesterday? It was such a big scene!”

“Why did you two fight?”

Several bold classmates teased fearlessly.

Jiang Yuan just smiled without explaining further, but then someone even bolder went right up to Ji Rong and slapped his shoulder. “You seem pretty lively! Guess you really didn’t dare leave yesterday, huh?”

When Jiang Yuan heard this question, he immediately thought it was a death wish. He’d spoken in the heat of the moment yesterday and only later realized his words weren’t very appropriate.

Who wouldn’t care about their pride?

Asking Ji Rong this in front of everyone, weren’t they just trying to embarrass him?

“Yesterday I just…”

Just as Jiang Yuan was about to help Ji Rong save face, Ji Rong looked at him with a smile and said to the guy with a helpless expression, “Jiang Yuan told me to wait there, how could I dare leave? He’s my mate, you know, what can I do?”

The class had suffered enough under Ji Rong’s dominance. Just talking to Jiang Yuan a little too much would earn them a glare from Ji Rong. You know, you really know.

“You guys don’t have mates, you wouldn’t understand,” Ji Rong said smugly. “When you get a mate, you’ll understand why I didn’t dare leave.”

Ji Rong even patted the guy’s shoulder twice.

The guy didn’t have bad intentions, he just wanted to tease Ji Rong, but Ji Rong didn’t care at all and instead showed off right in his face.

Damn!

So what if he managed to get an Omega at a military school full of Alphas and Betas?!

Well… that was actually pretty impressive…

The guy wanted to cry. He tried to tease but got shown up instead. Whatever… Although Ji Rong had always been marking his territory before, he was never this blatant. He’d just leave his scent on Jiang Yuan and glare at them occasionally to make them keep their distance from Jiang Yuan.

But today he was going too far!

He even had to rub salt in old wounds! That’s going too far!

Their shooting stations were right next to each other. After casually firing a few rounds, Jiang Yuan stroked his gun and said, “Weird, this gun works pretty well today.”

Ji Rong: “…”

Jiang Yuan: “Don’t you think so? Mine’s working great.”

From about ten meters away, another classmate called out to Jiang Yuan with a grin, “Mine’s working great too! Ji Rong adjusted them all! He went through several training rooms adjusting guns!”

Hearing this, Jiang Yuan immediately turned to look at Ji Rong. “Why were you adjusting guns?”

Ji Rong: “Just felt like it.”

Jiang Yuan: “Tell me the truth!”

Jiang Yuan raised an eyebrow at Ji Rong.

After looking at Jiang Yuan for a moment, Ji Rong finally gave in. “When I’m nervous, I adjust guns to calm myself down.”

“Yesterday, I wanted to confess to you. I was really nervous, so I went to the gun training room to practice and adjust guns at the same time.”

Jiang Yuan was stunned. “How many training rooms did you adjust?”

Ji Rong hesitated before answering, “I didn’t count, maybe three?”

Jiang Yuan: “That’s a long time to be nervous…”

Ji Rong: “…”

After training, it was soon lunchtime. Jiang Yuan and Ji Rong were eating with some classmates when they ran into Ji Yang at the cafeteria.

After Ji Yang greeted them, it wasn’t long before Jiang Yuan received a shared link from Ji Yang on his communicator.

[This Omega is so fierce!]

Jiang Yuan looked at the title, completely confused. When he clicked in, he saw the post had over a hundred thousand replies!

What did a hundred thousand replies mean?

Their mecha department only had around a hundred students per grade. Other departments had slightly more, but since it was a military school, there weren’t many departments, only twenty in total. Each grade had about three thousand students, with just over ten thousand in the entire school.

OP: I’m sure everyone heard the broadcast earlier. I’ve confirmed that the person speaking was Jiang Yuan, the only Omega in our school! As for who got yelled at, I don’t need to explain that in detail, right?

OP: It’s so cute ahhh, I want an Omega to yell at me too!!! So jealous!!!

OP: I want to date someone, any Alpha out there? We can yell at each other!

…

= =: Confirmed, OP has lost it.

= =: Seriously though, don’t you think that cutie talking to Jiang Yuan was pretty smart?

: I remember, ‘He didn’t leave, probably afraid you’ll blow his head off’

…

= =: HAHAHA, let me tell you, I heard some gossip from people in the surveillance room. Not only did Ji Rong not leave, he even took two steps back!

= =: Holy crap, that’s epic! Ji Rong’s supposed to be this fierce Alpha close-combat fighter, where’s his pride? Can’t you people give Ji Rong a break?

…

: What are the teachers in the surveillance room even doing, such gossips!

: Looks like all Alphas are the same. I thought I was the only one afraid of my Omega… To think even the Alpha god has the same troubles, I suddenly feel better.

…

– -: Poor Alpha, fierce Omega!

= =: You’re calling others pitiful? You’re the most pitiful ones. You don’t even have partners.

Jiang Yuan read with growing exasperation. He was genuinely helpless. Where did these people get their intel from? They’d practically reconstructed the entire scene of him confronting Ji Rong.

“What are you reading? Something Ji Yang sent again?” Ji Rong leaned in to ask, while gently squeezing Jiang Yuan’s hand under the table.

Jiang Yuan pulled away his communicator and said, “Better not look, I’m worried it might be too much for you.”

But Ji Rong wouldn’t listen and took it to read anyway.

Jiang Yuan watched as Ji Rong read through the main content of the post. His expression remained calm. Then he suddenly started typing a message. By the time Jiang Yuan tried to stop him, it was too late. When Jiang Yuan got his communicator back, he saw a reply posted from his account.

Ji Rong: Can’t help it, I like him.

Seeing this reply, Jiang Yuan turned to look at Ji Rong, who tilted his head and smiled, his eyes bright and beautiful. Jiang Yuan felt a sweetness stirring in his heart.

This feeling was something he’d never experienced before meeting Ji Rong.

It was strange.

But not bad at all.

He might even like it.

= =: ??? Is this the real person???

= =: Must be a fake account…

…

Of course, Jiang Yuan didn’t bother with any of this and didn’t reply further.

Just then, a holographic image suddenly appeared in the cafeteria, which was obviously an urgent announcement.

“Today at 10 AM, His Majesty Emperor Horace of the Hoyt Empire formally announced his abdication and the transformation of the Hoyt Empire into a constitutional monarchy. A new cabinet will be formed, with officials elected by popular vote. From this day forward, the Hoyt royal family will no longer interfere in Hoyt’s political affairs.

“After the Emperor’s abdication, the throne will be succeeded by His Excellency Prince Hosea of Hoyt.

“The reason for abdication remains unclear.”

After the announcement, the cafeteria fell silent for a few seconds before erupting into intense discussion.

The entire interstellar community had gone crazy.

All kinds of speculation emerged!

Some suspected a coup, but who could possibly overthrow the Iron-Blooded Emperor and reform Hoyt?

The answer was no one. The only possibility was that the Iron-Blooded Emperor himself had chosen to reform and abdicate!

But no one could understand why!

The Emperor was actually quite young, in his prime, and held absolute power in Hoyt. Why would His Majesty suddenly make such a decision? It was completely baffling! The reason was impossible to figure out!

Although the imperial system should have been abolished long ago, shouldn’t this Iron-Blooded Emperor have preferred to maintain the status quo? Even if reform was needed, shouldn’t it have happened decades later?

Why so suddenly…

The leaders of various nations were stunned by this news.

Alfonso, who was still in Hoyt, naturally received messages from various national leaders asking if anything had happened recently within the Hoyt Empire.

Alfonso looked at the hundreds of messages on his communicator, his beard trembling.

How should he respond? Tell the truth?

That their Federation’s War God had essentially “stolen” the Iron-Blooded Emperor?

Was he crazy?

Alfonso took a deep breath. He had truly witnessed Hoyt’s reformation firsthand. It was smooth, with no signs of unrest under Horace’s control. All the leaders were well-behaved, not daring to utter a single word of dissent.

Horace’s influence over Hoyt had nothing to do with whether he was emperor. Even after abdication, Hoyt still belonged to the Iron-Blooded Emperor! At his command, the entire Hoyt government, military, and people would fight for him! Die for him!

This was Horace!

Horace fought for Omega equality in Hoyt, for equality between commoners and nobles. He loved all his subjects, so his subjects loved him. And in the military and government, he played a masterful game of balancing equality and control, making all of Hoyt his war chariot!

Given Hoyt’s current technological prowess and Horace’s power of command, if he had the ambition, he could even start the Fourth Universal War!

And Hoyt would have a fifty percent chance of victory, ruling the entire universe!

Thinking about this, Alfonso found himself amused. He was overthinking things.

This generation of rulers would never do such things.

Although he didn’t want to admit it, in his heart, he knew he admired this Iron-Blooded Emperor who was many years his junior.

At that age, he himself wouldn’t have given up even the position of a general, let alone the throne of Hoyt, the strongest nation in the interstellar realm.

He didn’t have that kind of spirit.

Who would believe that the Iron-Blooded Emperor gave up his throne for the Federation’s War God?

If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he wouldn’t have believed it either!

After announcing his abdication, Horace changed out of his imperial clothes and into civilian clothes.

“Is this really okay?” Ji Chong asked Horace.

Horace smiled, “Why wouldn’t it be?”

“Let’s go. Instead of looking at the Silver Palace and imagining what Snow Planet is like, I want to go with you to see the real Snow Planet, to see the real Ice Queen.”

Ji Chong: “Okay, you’ll definitely love it.”

Horace smiled warmly at Ji Chong before boarding a Federation warship together.

Alfonso nodded slightly upon seeing Horace. This had been arranged beforehand. After announcing his abdication, Horace would return to Earth with them.

His greatest satisfaction this time was how smoothly the space technology negotiations went. Of course, the reason for this success was obvious.

After all, they had connections… Although other countries also had their eyes on the space technology, the United Nation’s relationship was as solid as it could be. Who else could possibly steal it away?

After boarding the warship, Horace didn’t let Hosea see him off, since Hosea had now accepted the throne and become Hoyt’s emperor. Although he was different from the previous emperor, his throne was now just a symbol of Hoyt.

Although Hosea didn’t personally send him off, he still came to the launch site without telling Horace.

Watching the Federation warship slowly rise into the sky, Hosea’s eyes suddenly turned red as he clasped his hands together.

Ge, you must find happiness.

Thank you for protecting me as I grew up.

He still remembered his brother crying in front of their eldest brother all those years ago…

His brother hadn’t wanted to be emperor at first, it was entirely because of him…

His life had been in those bastards’ hands, and they had used him as leverage.

Hosea took a deep breath as the warship finally disappeared from view.

Wearing the heavy imperial robes, Hosea turned and walked toward the palace.

Taking another deep breath, Hosea suddenly felt regretful. If only he had followed his brother Horace’s example earlier, staying out of sight, never letting common people know what he looked like!

Now he was stuck.

As emperor, as the symbol of the empire, he wouldn’t be able to go out freely anymore.

…

Everyone was discussing the Emperor’s abdication, and Jiang Yuan was no exception. He had been to Hoyt and could clearly feel the people’s genuine respect, even worship, for His Majesty!

This Emperor could be called legendary, yet this Alpha emperor announced his abdication in his prime, which was truly baffling!

“The Iron-Blooded Emperor abdicates and changes Hoyt to a constitutional monarchy?! What kind of magical realism is this?”

“It’s not like anyone in Hoyt could stage a coup to force him down, right?”

“Why would he voluntarily abdicate?”

“It couldn’t be because he found true love, could it?”

Someone joked, after all, this was the Federation, not Hoyt. Although they held some awe for the Iron-Blooded Emperor, being from different nations made things feel different.

“Giving up the throne for love? Are you dreaming? It’d be more realistic if the Iron-Blooded Emperor married a common Omega!”

“Seriously, stop watching so many AO romance dramas! They’re making you stupid!”

“Yeah, you shouldn’t be in military school, you should write novels instead. You’d definitely make a fortune!”

Ji Rong’s mouth twitched slightly. Actually, giving up the throne for love wasn’t wrong, except it wasn’t for some beautiful Omega, but for his father… Ji Chong.

The Federation’s War God… the Iron-Blooded Emperor…

Together they had him.

Who could have imagined?

Even he himself hadn’t expected it!

Although his father said Horace was his Omega father, he really had to put a question mark on that Omega part.

It wasn’t that he didn’t believe his father Ji Chong, but accepting the Iron-Blooded Emperor as his Omega father, he just couldn’t do it!

“You’re all getting more and more ridiculous. Maybe it’s just a normal reform. The imperial system has too many flaws. Everyone knows what Hoyt’s internal politics were like before the Iron-Blooded Emperor took the throne. Perhaps His Majesty just doesn’t want tragedy to happen again!”

“But I really admire this Iron-Blooded Emperor! To make such a decision!”

A male student who was clearly knowledgeable about Hoyt shared his insight amid the discussions.

Jiang Yuan nodded as well. “Right, maybe it’s not as complicated as we think.”

“Don’t you agree, Ji Rong!” Jiang Yuan nudged Ji Rong.

Ji Rong nodded with a complicated expression. But his abdicated father… really did give up the throne for love!

But he…

What could he say?

No, he couldn’t say anything…

If you all say it’s for the country, then let it be for the country.

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