This was exactly the effect Yun Xunlan wanted.
—First, the buzz would spread within the mecha pilot community, then gradually expand its reach across the entire empire, and eventually, the entire galaxy would know about a genius mecha pilot who had burst onto the scene this year.
On his way back to the dormitory, Yun Xunlan checked his private chat windows with Yun Xunguang and Jian Wenxi.
After sending the message “Bet on me to win,” Yun Xunguang replied with five words: [Are you provoking me?]
Yun Xunlan denied it and countered: [No, I just thought—why not make money if we can? Sister, surely you’ve placed your bet too?]
[Yun Xunguang]: I did.
[Yun Xunguang]: This tactic won’t work. Save your energy.
Yun Xunlan didn’t reply to Yun Xunguang. He exited that chat window and checked Jian Wenxi’s responses instead. The omega had sent messages one after another, almost like reporting progress—
[Jian Wenxi]: I’ve placed my bet!
[Jian Wenxi]: I’ve arranged a team to boost your popularity.
[Jian Wenxi]: For your six matches the day after tomorrow, I’ll have them livestreamed simultaneously across Starnet’s four major platforms. I guarantee that within a week, the name “Mad Guest” will be known throughout the galaxy.
Yun Xunlan thanked him: [Thank you, Wenxi.]
[Jian Wenxi]: You’re welcome—it’s profitable for me anyway ^ ^
[Jian Wenxi]: By the way, for next Friday’s mecha test drive on Experimental Insect Star, I’ve also arranged a press team to interview you. Have you sorted out who’ll pretend to assassinate you?
[Yun Xunlan]: I’m still considering it, but I’ll probably pick Lu You, Lottie, and Song Tingyan from my guard squad. Their long-range shooting scores are the highest after Yu Chen’s. If I choose guards with poor marksmanship, it’ll be hard for me to coordinate with their performance.
[Jian Wenxi]: Then why not just pick Yu Chen?
[Jian Wenxi]: Oh, he’s famous now. If viewers don’t see his face among your guards during the interview livestream, they’ll find it odd, right? Haha! He’s so fierce when he curses people—next time Mu Xingyu comes back, let Yu Chen curse him out a bit.
Yun Xunlan tacitly agreed with Jian Wenxi’s speculation. However, in truth, he wasn’t using Yu Chen because he had other plans for him.
That plan couldn’t be disclosed to Jian Wenxi for now—after all, Yun Xunlan himself wasn’t sure whether he would need Yu Chen for it. In fact, until that plan was officially implemented, Yun Xunlan didn’t intend to let Yu Chen know about it either.
When Yun Xunlan returned to the dormitory and saw that Yu Chen had also come back, he walked up and hugged him: “Baby, what did the doctor say? Is it pheromone imbalance?”
“…No,” Yu Chen replied as he hugged Yun Xunlan back and buried his face against the youth’s neck, rubbing gently as he explained the reason behind his frequent susceptible periods.
Yun Xunlan listened in stunned silence: “This is the first time I’ve heard of an alpha getting this kind of illness.”
Yu Chen: “…”
Before he developed this “love sickness,” he hadn’t heard of it either!
“Although I don’t have pheromone imbalance, I’ll announce it that way publicly,” Yu Chen said, lifting his head from Yun Xunlan’s neck after failing to catch the scent of his lover’s pheromones. “After all, I’m still maintaining my ‘single’ persona.”
Yun Xunlan felt that continuing like this wasn’t ideal: “How about we make our relationship public?”
…Which is more socially mortifying—pheromone imbalance or “love sickness”?
No matter how you think about it, it’s definitely the latter.
So while Yu Chen was tempted by Yun Xunlan’s suggestion, he ultimately declined politely: “Actually, the doctor said that once I get used to your pheromones and stop being so sensitive to them, this illness will naturally go away.”
At the end of the day, Yu Chen wanted Yun Xunlan to make their relationship public someday purely because he wanted to—not because of other factors, like clearing up rumors on Starnet or explaining to the royal guard members that he had “love sickness” instead of pheromone imbalance.
Hearing this, Yun Xunlan asked again: “Then should we move back to Northern Palace?”
According to the doctor’s treatment advice, Yu Chen needed frequent exposure to scents similar to his own pheromones but couldn’t directly interact with Yun Xunlan’s pheromones. Moving back to Northern Palace seemed like a perfect solution—it was filled with lychee rose flowers that bloomed year-round.
But Yu Chen still refused: “…That won’t be necessary.”
While it was true that Northern Palace was covered in lychee rose blossoms, the problem was that their fragrance could easily cling to others, making it seem as though they had been marked by Yun Xunlan. Just imagining this made Yu Chen feel intolerant, fearing that Pei Xingtin’s earlier prediction might come true: Before the insectoids wipe out the galaxy, we’ll end up taking down our own people first.
“You gave me a tube of lip balm, didn’t you? Using that is enough,” Yu Chen said to Yun Xunlan. “If it’s not enough, I can always buy more.”
Hearing this, Yun Xunlan wanted to tell Yu Chen: You don’t need to buy any—I’ll give you some. I have plenty.
But just as he was about to say “no,” the blue-eyed alpha furrowed his brows and spoke in a slightly displeased tone with an obvious hint of jealousy: “Products scented like your pheromones are everywhere. These companies are so brazen—especially that Elianxia Dessert Shop. They’re exploiting your pheromone scent for profit under the guise of subtle marketing. Why doesn’t the royal family do something about it?”
“…”
Yun Xunlan quickly swallowed his words and changed his response: “It can’t be helped—there are others in the galaxy with lychee rose-scented pheromones besides me.”
Yu Chen knew this couldn’t be controlled either. He could only adopt an out-of-sight, out-of-mind approach—if he didn’t smell it, he’d pretend it didn’t exist.
Yun Xunlan, unaware of Yu Chen’s strong ability to rationalize and convince himself, worried that the man might continue to dwell on the matter. He quickly changed the subject: “Baby, you’ve worked hard all day. Let’s rest early tonight.”
However, ever since the incident where Yu Chen lasted only fifteen minutes during their first time, the words “worked hard” and “fast” had become PTSD-inducing trigger words for him—he couldn’t bear to hear them.
“I’m not tired,” Yu Chen immediately emphasized. “I’m in great shape. I don’t feel tired at all.”
What else would a couple do at night if they weren’t going to rest early?
Yun Xunlan asked bluntly: “Then should we do it?”
This question immediately made the blue-eyed alpha’s ears turn red.
Sometimes Yu Chen truly couldn’t understand Yun Xunlan’s psychological state—how he could blush and get flustered only during intimate moments, yet perform so poorly in War Psychology.
Taking a deep breath to steady his emotions, Yu Chen pretended to be calm and said: “Lanlan, let’s study tonight instead.”
After all, one shouldn’t neglect academics for love, nor overindulge in intimacy to the detriment of physical health. This was especially true given Yu Chen’s observations from their previous experiences—Yun Xunlan’s physical condition was quite poor. After just half an hour, his body would become soft and unresponsive no matter how Yu Chen moved him. It was completely unlike a 3S-class alpha and more akin to an omega entering a heat for him.
Yu Chen was genuinely concerned about his lover’s health.
That said, Yu Chen wasn’t stubbornly insistent either; he respected Yun Xunlan’s wishes: “But if you want to…”
For Yun Xunlan, there wasn’t much of a “want” or “don’t want” when it came to such matters—he didn’t have those worldly desires. As long as Yu Chen kept his clothes on properly and didn’t casually bare his chest or show off his muscles, Yun Xunlan was fine.
Besides, they had gone on for quite a while last night, and the silent mode on Yun Xunlan’s light-brain bracelet had already been used up. Activating it again would require waiting until after midnight. So Yun Xunlan pulled out the virtual battlefield connection helmet and said: “We haven’t studied in several days—let’s focus on that tonight.”
“Alright,” Yu Chen agreed as he took the helmet Yun Xunlan handed him and tried to put it on without removing his bite guard.
After three minutes of failed attempts, he still hadn’t succeeded.
Was the bite guard welded onto Yu Chen’s mouth?
Why wouldn’t he take it off even after coming home?
Watching Yu Chen fumble with the helmet for so long, Yun Xunlan couldn’t hold back anymore: “Baby, this isn’t a public place, and we’re not doing anything intimate. You can take off your bite guard now.”
Yu Chen: “…”
Reluctantly, Yu Chen revealed his “rival in love”—his mouth—and finally managed to put on the virtual battlefield connection helmet.
The two entered the virtual battlefield together. This time, Yu Chen selected a special battlefield scenario with the premise that in moments of crisis for humanity, someone must sacrifice themselves. He needed to confirm whether Yun Xunlan’s willingness to step forward last time was an anomaly or a consistent trait.
In this special battlefield scenario, Yu Chen once again played the role of Yun Xunlan’s partner.
The only difference this time was that his abilities were set to be stronger than Yun Xunlan’s.
Yu Chen wanted to see what Yun Xunlan would do when he was “highly capable” and able to hold the defensive line on his own. Would Yun Xunlan still end up being impaled by the Xuanjia Stinger Insect? Or would he make different choices?
Old scene, old map, old mission, even the AI commander waking them up was the same uncouth one as before, immediately unleashing a barrage of profanities at the two. Listening to this, Yu Chen’s head was steaming, thinking that for future combat tests, he would turn off the random AI commander and set a fixed, well-mannered one. But for now, he’d just have to bear with it.
As for Yun Xunlan, the one being evaluated – his performance in this round of the battlefield was identical to last time. He was quick to set out, with a high level of actual combat skills. Every bullet fired from his gun barrel was textbook perfect, far surpassing Yu Chen, who was supposedly stronger according to the settings.
So much so that after Yun Xunlan dealt with the stealth insectoid, he genuinely expressed his confusion to Yu Chen, tactfully saying, “Yu Chen, are you too nervous? I feel like you’re… not as good as before?”
Yu Chen: “?”
Yu Chen, who was “not as good as before,” remained silent for two seconds before finding his voice to say, “The Xuanjia Stinger Insect’s attack speed is very fast. I was conserving energy to lure it away and buy you more time.”
Yun Xunlan shook his head: “No, it’s too dangerous. You’ll definitely die if you go, so I should go instead.”
These words were still so illogical. Yu Chen had an ominous feeling, and he asked the question he had asked Yun Xunlan in the previous combat: “… Won’t you die if you go?”
Regardless of whether his partner was strong or weak, the young man’s answer remained the same: “No, I won’t die.”
Yu Chen: “…”
The outcome of this combat test also remained the same, ending with Yun Xunlan being impaled by the Xuanjia Stinger Insect without even trying to dodge.
No need to ask, the reason for not dodging was certainly that the young man thought he was invincible.
Yu Chen didn’t know how to evaluate this, so he didn’t. He quickly started the next test, this time adding an AI partner for himself and Yun Xunlan, turning their two-person team into a three-person squad – he wanted to gradually figure out Yun Xunlan’s scoring points and losing points.
As a result, with this small change, Yun Xunlan finally made a different choice at the Xuanjia Stinger Insect stage.
This time, when the newly added AI partner, who was set to be the least capable, proposed to lure away the Xuanjia Stinger Insect, Yun Xunlan didn’t object. He even gave the AI partner a hug in front of Yu Chen: “The Empire will remember your sacrifice. We won’t forget your name.”
Yu Chen separated the two, reciting his lines with a straight face: “He has a mother and a wife and children waiting for him at home, while I have no family left. So let me go lure away the Xuanjia Stinger Insect instead.”
“… No, the possibility of you and I working together to hold the defense line is the greatest. We can’t gamble with humanity’s last line of defense.” The young man frowned deeply, hoarsely voicing the cruel truth. As he spoke, he reached for the new AI partner’s hand again, comforting the fake person, “Don’t worry, if I can survive, I’ll take care of your mother, wife, and son for you.”
The logic was perfectly correct.
Yun Xunlan had made the choice that would score the highest points in this level of the test, but Yu Chen closed his eyes, wishing he could plug his ears too – he couldn’t stand the fake person either.
Fortunately, Yun Xunlan was aware of the urgency of the situation. He felt sad for his teammate, but there were more important things waiting for him to do. So after taking the AI partner’s identity tag necklace, he took action with Yu Chen, quickly reaching the sixth compartment to activate the mecha during the crucial moment when the AI partner sacrificed himself to lure away the Xuanjia Stinger Insect.
If the entire “War Psychology” exam only had this much content, Yun Xunlan could pass, even get high scores or full marks.
But in the real exam, the content and assessment items were more than ten times that of this special battlefield. It was clear that once Yun Xunlan left this specific test context, he could only score ten or twenty points at most, not enough to pass.
Yu Chen wanted to understand what variable caused Yun Xunlan to change his choice and no longer charge ahead recklessly like a brute?
Was it the number of team members?
Yu Chen initiated a third round of combat testing, this time setting the team size to four people.
And in this round, Yun Xunlan again calmly agreed to let the least capable member of the team lure away the Xuanjia Stinger Insect, to ensure the entire team’s success rate remained at the highest possible value.
Looking at it this way… the variable did seem related to the total number of team members?
However, it was getting late, and conducting three consecutive combat tests also placed great mental pressure on a person. Yu Chen decided to continue testing another day – tonight would end here.
He and Yun Xunlan exited the virtual battlefield together.
After removing his connection helmet, the young man didn’t put it away properly. Instead, he held the cold mechanical device in his arms, gently caressing it while looking down, and asked him a question: “Babe, do you think I still have a chance to pass?”
Yu Chen paused, thought solemnly for a moment and said: “Difficult.”
“But I still think there’s hope,” he spoke honestly. “Your combat performance tonight was very good. Hmm… except for the first round.”
Yun Xunlan smiled, his golden eyes curving: “I also think my performance in that round was terrible.”
But Yu Chen felt something wasn’t quite right about Yun Xunlan’s emotions.
The young man had scored high in the last two combat sessions tonight, so why didn’t he look happy?
Yu Chen hesitated for a few seconds, then softened his voice: “Lanlan, can you tell me why you don’t think you’re invincible when the team gets larger?”
The silver-haired alpha lowered his eyelashes even more, his smile gradually fading, and said with a sigh: “It has nothing to do with the number of people.”
Yu Chen continued to ask: “Then what does it have to do with?”
The young man’s pale lips pressed gently together, looking soft and easily pried open, yet they remained closed, not making any sound.
What Yu Chen heard was silence.
But what Yun Xunlan heard was the system’s voice: “What does it have to do with?”
“Tell him.”
“Such a simple matter, why do you always refuse to say it?”
“Tell him what?”
Yun Xunlan’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed a dry mouthful of air, questioning the system in his mind: “Do I have to tell him that I clearly have an invincible system, yet its existence actually causes me to die repeatedly on the battlefield? Xiao Ju, don’t you find that ironic?”
“After I complete your tasks in the virtual battlefield, I who should be invincible die so quickly; when I don’t complete the tasks, I can instead make the most correct choices and survive till the end.”
Yun Xunlan said in a daze: “This is ridiculous.”
“Because everything in the virtual battlefield is fake…” But the system didn’t go crazy after he completed its tasks; facing Yun Xunlan’s questioning, its voice was unbelievably gentle, “And in reality, I truly exist.”
Yun Xunlan fell silent again, responding to the system with silence as well.
But the system was not Yu Chen. As long as it wanted to, all of Yun Xunlan’s thoughts were exposed to it.
“You think I don’t exist, don’t you?” it asked Yun Xunlan, “If I don’t exist, how did you survive?”
Yu Chen was also asking him: “Lanlan?”
“I’m going out for a smoke.”
Yun Xunlan suddenly stood up from his chair. Perhaps he got up too quickly, as Yun Xunlan’s body swayed, unable to maintain balance.
Yu Chen’s eyes widened, his voice suddenly changing pitch: “Lanlan?!”
Yun Xunlan was supported by Yu Chen. He wanted to tell Yu Chen he was fine, but as he opened his lips, his tongue tasted a hint of saltiness – his nose was bleeding.
The flat mechanical voice of the light brain bracelet sounded: “The light brain bracelet has detected localized bleeding in your body. A doctor has been called for you.”
At the same moment, Yu Chen’s bracelet also began to vibrate, issuing an order: “Please check the Third Prince’s physical condition and ensure nearby emergency routes are clear.”
“You need emergency care for a nosebleed?” Yun Xunlan lowered his head and pinched the tip of his nose to stop the bleeding. “The wording in your bracelet’s built-in program is too exaggerated.”
On the surface, it seemed Yun Xunlan was indeed just having a simple nosebleed, with no other physical issues. The light brain didn’t give any other instructions or continue to issue warnings, unlike the severity of when he was stabbed by space pirates last time.
But Yu Chen didn’t dare to be careless. Seeing Yun Xunlan act as if nothing was wrong, he said seriously: “A nosebleed is not a small matter.”
Moreover, this was the second time he had seen Yun Xunlan have a nosebleed.
Yun Xunlan’s own explanation for this was: “Probably internal heat.”
Yu Chen didn’t humor him. After opening the dormitory door, he came back, frowning sternly and saying bluntly: “You get internal heat from drinking nutrient solution every day?”
Yun Xunlan: “…”
Yun Xunlan obediently fell silent.
However, when he saw Yu Chen take a tissue to wipe the blood from his mouth and chin, he couldn’t help but say: “Babe… stop wiping, it’s all my pheromones. If you keep doing this, your susceptibility period won’t get better.”
“If it doesn’t get better, I’ll just wear a bite guard every day,” Yu Chen sneered, scoffing, “We’ll never kiss again in this lifetime.”
…So fierce.
Yun Xunlan didn’t dare provoke Yu Chen anymore.
Tonight’s on-duty doctor was Pei Xingting. He had also done Yu Chen’s pheromone “check” in the evening. So after entering the dormitory behind Ni Chun with his medical kit to draw blood and stop the bleeding for Yun Xunlan, while waiting for the test results, he briefly greeted Yu Chen, pretending they had only known each other for a short time and weren’t very familiar.
Yu Chen, as the close guard, hadn’t yet had the chance to ask the doctor about the prince’s condition.
The prince himself, however, first expressed concern for his close guard: “Dr. Pei, you helped with Yu Chen’s pheromone check this evening, right?”
![How to Achieve Godhood with a Life-Threatening Persona [Quick Transmigration]](https://www.freenovels.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/219974s.jpg "How to Achieve Godhood with a Life-Threatening Persona [Quick Transmigration]")
