The moment Yu Chen’s words fell, Yun Xunlan’s pupils dilated.
The sunlight outside continued to shift, casting a golden glow that flickered and danced on the man’s iris, like a comet burning fiercely as it passed through the atmosphere. It traversed the silent universe, tore through the constraints of time, and finally crashed heavily into Yun Xunlan’s heart—as barren and still as a desolate planet—causing it to once again burst into vigorous beating.
“Thump-thump, thump-thump—”
Yun Xunlan could clearly hear his own heartbeat in his chest, trembling with unprecedented chaos and disorder.
“Why has your heart rate shot up to 180?”
The system remarked: “Is this what love at first sight feels like?”
Yun Xunlan also mused: “Yes, I suppose when you meet your destined mate, it probably feels something like this.”
What is a destined mate?
When an alpha meets an omega whose pheromones have a 100% compatibility rate with their own, this is called a destined mate.
Between destined mates, there exists an attraction as inevitable as fate itself, causing them to experience a wild, intense love like lightning striking the earth once they meet—but this phenomenon is limited to alphas and omegas.
Yun Xunlan and Yu Chen were both alphas. There was no concept of compatibility between them, and they certainly couldn’t be each other’s destined mates.
Yet Yun Xunlan felt that, at this moment, Yu Chen exerted that same fated attraction on him, comparable to that of a destined mate.
Unfortunately, the voice of the light brain’s AI butler intruded at this inopportune moment: “Your light brain has detected an abnormally rapid heartbeat. Do you need me to call a doctor? If no response is received within ten seconds, this will be taken as confirmation. Ten, nine, eight…”
“Not necessary.” Yun Xunlan stopped the AI butler, his voice unable to conceal his intense interest.
He took a deep breath to calm his racing heart, then asked the system: “Little Hermit, what Yu Chen just said—that counts as insulting me, right?”
“Of course it does! How could it not? His words insulted far more than just you. Anyone who’s human falls within the scope of his insult. Good thing I’m not human.” The system was also savoring Yu Chen’s words, finding them unforgettable. “I’ve never seen someone so audacious. Whose subordinate was he before? How dare he be so arrogant? Isn’t he afraid of being beaten to death?”
Yun Xunlan replied: “He’s about to become my subordinate, and I’ll protect him from being beaten to death by others.”
The system felt something was amiss: “Wait, isn’t he supposed to be the guard selected to protect you…?”
Yun Xunlan interrupted the system, saying softly: “I never trust others, only you. Little Hermit, together we’re invincible—why would we need anyone else’s protection?”
Hearing Yun Xunlan speak this way, the system was quite gratified: “That’s right, I am the Invincible Hermit…”
Yun Xunlan interrupted the system again: “So, is my daily task completed for today?”
“Strictly speaking, you two can’t be considered face-to-face, since you’re only seeing his holographic projection. But since today is your birthday…” The system, flattered by Yun Xunlan’s sweet talk, was in an excellent mood. “Let’s make this an exception, just this once.”
After saying this, the system urged Yun Xunlan: “Stop talking to me now and hurry up and select him! We absolutely cannot miss out on such talent!”
Yun Xunlan also felt the system’s words made perfect sense.
Because as long as he kept Yu Chen by his side as a tool to complete the system’s daily tasks, his future could be summed up in six words: being invincible is so lonely[mfn]”无敌就是寂寞” (wú dí jiù shì jì mò) – Chinese internet phrase that means “being invincible leads to loneliness.” It’s often used humorously to suggest that someone is so powerful or skilled that they have no worthy opponents, leading to a sense of isolation. Yun Xunlan uses this phrase ironically at the end, suggesting that with Yu Chen by his side to help complete his daily tasks, his future will be effortlessly secure.[/mfn]!
Perhaps his initial feeling toward Yu Chen wasn’t dislike, but rather that he found him too appealing. This extreme reaction, following the principle that things pushed to their limit will reverse, led to his momentary extreme aversion and desire to destroy Yu Chen.
Indeed, now as Yun Xunlan looked at Yu Chen again, he found everything about him perfect, unable to pick out a single flaw.
Yun Xunlan sincerely thanked the system: “You’re absolutely right. Thank you, Little Hermit.”
System: “Let me emphasize once more, I am the Invincible Hermit…”
“Butler, give me all of Yu Chen’s information.”
Yun Xunlan had no patience to listen to what the system was saying. He didn’t even have the interest to watch the interviews of the remaining thirty alphas.
“All known information about Major Yu Chen has been collected for you. Please review.”
Thanks to rapid technological advancement and the special privileges granted by his royal status, within three seconds, the light brain’s butler retrieved what Yun Xunlan wanted—a detailed file documenting Yu Chen’s twenty-seven years of life.
From the materials, Yun Xunlan learned that Yu Chen was an orphan. He was born on planet K-79 and originally had a happy, wealthy family. Unfortunately, K-79 was invaded by the Severir Insectoids when he was eight years old. The survivors from the entire planet could be counted on one’s fingers. Yu Chen lost all his relatives in this disaster, but thanks to the substantial inheritance left by his parents, he managed to live reasonably well despite being alone.
With his excellent academic performance, he was admitted to Anluos Military Academy after high school graduation. At twenty-two, he was commissioned as a lieutenant as the top mech pilot from the Mech Academy and joined the Beidou Kaiyang Legion that same year. During his service, his military achievements were outstanding, and he was promoted to major in just five short years.
“Dislikes onions but likes cilantro, severe sweet tooth, favorite color is blue, hobby is collecting heavy motorcycles…”
Yun Xunlan recited word for word the information related to Yu Chen’s preferences, carefully noting every detail.
The system didn’t understand: “What are you recording all this for?”
Yun Xunlan replied: “To make Yu Chen become infatuated with me, wanting to stay by my side every day.”
The system was even more confused: “He doesn’t need to be infatuated with you to stay by your side—he can’t leave you because he’s already your guard. What you should be doing is feeding him the onions he hates every day, making him despise you and curse you daily. That way, we won’t have to worry about completing our daily tasks.”
Yun Xunlan shook his head: “No, the minimum service period for the royal guard is ten years. After ten years, he can freely choose whether to continue staying by my side. And as you saw in the selection livestream, with his personality, once he dislikes me, he’ll leave as soon as his ten-year service is up. I can’t let him leave. I need to make him want to stay by my side even after his service period ends.”
“Then we definitely can’t let him get away.” The system understood, but quickly developed a new confusion. “But once he’s infatuated with you, he won’t insult you anymore.”
Yun Xunlan smiled faintly: “He will. He’s my man now, and he’ll do whatever I tell him to do, so—”
“I’ll have him and all the selected alpha guards stand before me every day and repeat what they said when answering the final question in their interviews.”
After figuring out this strategy, the system froze for nearly half a minute before stammering: “Damn… have you found a loophole in the system?”
If Yun Xunlan randomly asked someone to insult him daily, anyone would eventually notice something strange.
But from another perspective—if Yun Xunlan, as the superior officer of these alpha warriors, wanted to hear his subordinates repeat the loyal pledges that “moved” him during their selection interviews every day, would that be problematic?
Not at all. No one would detect Yun Xunlan’s true motive.
As for whether Yu Chen might get beaten for appearing too arrogant when repeating that sentence… that was beyond Yun Xunlan’s concern.
After all, those words originally came from Yu Chen’s own mouth; no one forced him to say them.
At most, Yun Xunlan would consider covering Yu Chen’s medical expenses in full, since it would be considered an “occupational injury.”
The system also came around to the idea: “Fine, for the sake of our invincible enterprise, I’m willing to let you exploit this loophole. But how will you make Yu Chen become infatuated with you? You’re neither an omega nor a beta, so he won’t fall in love with you. And unlike the other alpha guards, he doesn’t seem eager to sacrifice his life for you—he probably just wants to turn you into a dog that can only kneel and beg for mercy.”
Yun Xunlan said: “…Little Hermit, Yu Chen said ‘anyone’—he wants to dominate everyone, not just me. Please don’t say things that could be misunderstood.”
The system insisted: “There’s no difference. You’re a person too, falling within the scope of ‘anyone,’ so he does want to dominate you. I’m not wrong. Unless you’re not human.”
Yun Xunlan, who had been human in both lives: “…”
Unwilling to argue further with the system on this matter, he stiffly changed the subject: “In life, there are three kinds of affection: familial love, friendship, and romantic love. Yu Chen and I aren’t related by blood, so there’s no familial love; we’re both alphas, so there’s no romantic love either. I’ll find a way to become his friend across our age difference, developing a friendship.”
“Right, couples can break up, and marriages can end in divorce—not reliable,” the system agreed. “But if you become close friends, brotherhood is thicker than water. He’ll take a knife for you without hesitation.”
“Exactly.”
Yun Xunlan continued browsing Yu Chen’s information. Seeing a link to Yu Chen’s public galactic web account profile at the end of the file, he clicked on it, intending to learn more about Yu Chen before their formal meeting.
However, as soon as he entered the profile page, Yun Xunlan saw Yu Chen’s latest update from three hours ago:
[Blue: Baby, I’ll bring you home next time I’m on leave. [Image]]
Yu Chen’s web handle was simply the single character “Blue,” representing both his eye color and his favorite color. The accompanying image was a photo of a sleek, all-black heavy motorcycle—a Comet-S7 from Semyu Company with a retail price of 17 million star coins, limited to only 1,000 units across the galaxy, and requiring a reservation to purchase.
Yu Chen didn’t have many followers on his account. Even after three hours, this post had only received about a dozen scattered likes. Yun Xunlan calculated the timing and realized that three hours ago would have been just before the royal guard selection interviews began.
With the interview about to start, Yu Chen was still browsing the web on his light brain. It seemed he truly wasn’t nervous about the interview at all. No wonder he could achieve a perfect score in War Psychology—his mental composure was remarkable.
Yun Xunlan quickly followed Yu Chen using his regular web-browsing alternate account and opened the comment section, planning to post a comment while there weren’t many people around to attract Yu Chen’s attention and close the distance between them—why not use his main account?
How would Yu Chen dare to speak candidly with him if he used his main account?
He needed to proceed gradually. Once he and Yu Chen had developed a suitable rapport, he would reveal his true identity at an appropriate time. This way, they could truly become sworn brothers and intimate friends.
However, when Yun Xunlan opened the comment section, he immediately noticed someone had already left a comment, and Yu Chen had replied—
[Forever Guarding the Third Prince: You bought it, fine, but you shouldn’t post about it. This kind of ostentatious display of wealth serves no purpose except to create a negative social impact. Look at me with all my money—I don’t show off anything.]
[Blue: ? You’re even policing my life updates?]
[Forever Guarding the Third Prince: I’m not policing you. I just think it’s unnecessary to spend so much money on an unremarkable two-wheeled motorcycle. You should donate the money like I do, making a modest contribution to building a better society.]
[Blue: Fine, Fu-dog, daddy will donate some money to treat your brain paralysis, so you’ll stop barking nonsense at me. Get lost.]
The web user with the handle “Forever Guarding the Third Prince” seemed to have some connection to him, but Yun Xunlan didn’t recognize who it was. However, based on Yu Chen’s reply and the clue of the surname “Fu,” Yun Xunlan immediately thought of someone he had seen not long ago.
It was that red-haired alpha who ranked second in the overall assessment and had sworn to dedicate his life to him: Fu Yanxi.
Yu Chen’s profile had mentioned him. They had been classmates at Anluos Military Academy, with Fu Yanxi perpetually in second place and Yu Chen always first. Consequently, the two never got along and frequently fought during their school days. They only stopped fighting after graduation when they were assigned to different military legions.
But from the current situation, it seemed they had merely shifted from physical fights to verbal sparring online. Even after five years, neither respected the other. Fu Yanxi had even made a point to antagonize Yu Chen right before the royal guard selection interviews began, indicating how deep their grudge ran.
If Yun Xunlan wanted to become good brothers with Yu Chen, he absolutely couldn’t challenge him like Fu Yanxi did. He would need to unconditionally support, endorse, and agree with Yu Chen.
So Yun Xunlan immediately left a comment under Yu Chen’s post:
[Novice Fish Keeper: Your baby is very nice. I like it too. [Green Heart]]
![Professional Red Thread Cutter [Quick Transmigration]](https://www.freenovels.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/IMG_6298.jpeg "Professional Red Thread Cutter [Quick Transmigration]")
