Blame the Villain – Chapter 29

The Villainous Scientist (9)

Starting From Scratch: Little Marshal x Mad, Dark, Sickly Scientist

The next day, news that a freshman Alpha had defeated Chen Xi—the sophomore universally acknowledged as the strongest Alpha—spread throughout the entire school.

            

To ensure a fair fight, Alphas were forbidden from carrying any technological devices during combat. Consequently, no one had captured and circulated photos of Jiang Qianyu from that battle.

According to the unanimous testimony of the onlookers, this Alpha had an incredibly beautiful face but a terrible temper, carrying an unparalleled, terrifying aura of murderous intent while fighting…

Hearing this description only made everyone even more curious!

            

Thus, when Song Xuyi and Jiang Qianyu went downstairs together, they were greeted by a massive crowd of students gathered outside the dormitory building. While the surrounding Alphas showed some restraint, the Betas and Omegas—protected by school regulations—were far more brazen.

Of the two girls, one looked sickly, delicate, and beautiful, while the other appeared elegant and obedient. Those who didn’t know the truth, just like Chen Xi before them, instinctively assumed that the healthier-looking Song Xuyi was the rumored, incredibly powerful Alpha.

“Hello,” an attractive male Omega said, blocking Song Xuyi’s path. He saluted her with elegant grace, eagerly introducing himself: “I’m from Buzhou Island in the North Continent. My family owns two Blue Gold mines, ten villas, and five ranches… and I’m my parents’ only son…”

            

As the Omega spoke, whispers broke out around them. Quite a few Alphas cast envious looks at Song Xuyi. A Blue Gold mine was a symbol of immense wealth, not to mention that this male Omega was quite good-looking. He was, without a doubt, a prime fair, rich, and handsome¹ catch!

The fair, rich, and handsome youth looked at Song Xuyi, his cheeks flushing slightly. “It was love at first sight for me. As long as you’re willing to mark me, my family…”

The military academy was one of the Empire’s premier institutions, home to many rising stars of politics and the military. Many traditionally-minded Omegas came here hoping to find a promising partner with great potential.

            

Song Xuyi had already realized what he meant. Listening to the surrounding whispers, she couldn’t help but blush—she hadn’t expected the Omegas of Blue Star to be so bold and straightforward, raising such an intimate matter as marking in broad daylight…

Setting aside the fact that she felt absolutely nothing for this male Omega, even if she did, she was currently an Omega herself and lacked the biological ability to mark him.

As Song Xuyi looked away, trying to figure out how to politely reject him, Jiang Qianyu acted even faster. Her face had turned ice-cold at some point. Stepping forward, she grabbed Song Xuyi’s hand and shoved the fair, rich, and handsome youth back, letting out a cold sneer. “Marking?”

            

“Someone like you? Are you even worthy?”

The girl was filled with rage, yet because of her beauty, even when angry, she shone as brilliantly as a radiant pearl, completely capturing everyone’s attention.

The fair, rich, and handsome youth stared blankly at Jiang Qianyu’s exquisite face for a moment, stumbling back a few steps from her push. There had been someone standing directly behind him, but that person happened to be one of the onlookers who had watched Jiang Qianyu thrash Chen Xi the day before. Up close to Jiang Qianyu’s fierce face, the bystander was too terrified to move a muscle. He completely forgot to reach out and steady the boy, watching helplessly as the fair, rich, and handsome youth fell flat on his backside…

            

Neither Jiang Qianyu nor Song Xuyi had expected this. Though the fair, rich, and handsome youth looked tall and dignified, his body was incredibly fragile. Jiang Qianyu’s single push actually fractured his tailbone, and he was carried off to the hospital wailing in pain…

Song Xuyi had never expected that she and Jiang Qianyu would spend their very first day of school in the Student Affairs Office!

After completing their investigation, the Student Affairs Office teacher concluded that it was an accident. Still, Jiang Qianyu had shoved an Omega despite clearly knowing his gender. Taking into account that Jiang Qianyu and Song Xuyi were only freshmen, the dean showed some leniency and decided not to record a formal demerit against Jiang Qianyu. However, as an example to the rest of the student body², the teacher ordered the two of them to remain in the office and memorize the school regulations before they could leave…

            

Song Xuyi could tolerate almost anything else, but the moment her classes were delayed, she felt as though her reverse scale³ had been touched, filling her with intense anxiety.

Song Xuyi’s entire focus was on memorizing the school regulations as quickly as possible.

However, with over a hundred rules, it wasn’t something that could be memorized in a short time. The more she memorized, the darker her expression became.

            

Jiang Qianyu kept observing Song Xuyi’s expression.

At first, Jiang Qianyu hadn’t cared about the punishment. Her intelligence was extremely high; she could easily memorize the rules after reading them twice. She chose to stay mainly because she preferred being alone to being in crowded places, and partly because she simply wanted to accompany Song Xuyi…

But no matter how slow she was to notice, Jiang Qianyu also sensed that something was wrong—Song Xuyi was gentle and quiet by nature, and even if she was pushed to her limit, she would only lose her composure for a brief moment. Jiang Qianyu had never imagined that she would care so much about missing class…

            

“Xuyi…” For the first time in her life, Jiang Qianyu felt somewhat at a loss. Meeting Song Xuyi’s gaze as she looked over, she whispered in a low voice, “Should we… just run away?”

Song Xuyi hadn’t expected Jiang Qianyu to say this. She glanced at her, then looked back down, shaking her head as she continued reading the school rules in her hands.

Song Xuyi knew this incident was an accident, and she had no intention of blaming Jiang Qianyu. But right now, all she wanted was to finish memorizing the regulations so she could return to class, so she couldn’t spare the attention to consider Jiang Qianyu’s feelings.

            

Watching Song Xuyi memorizing the rules with her head bowed, Jiang Qianyu pressed her lips tighter and tighter together.

Thinking back carefully, Jiang Qianyu didn’t even know why she had been so angry. She knew perfectly well in her heart that Xuyi was now an Omega and couldn’t possibly mark that male Omega, yet she had felt inexplicably unhappy…

This time, she seemed to have… burdened Xuyi once again.

            

Jiang Qianyu had always taken pride in her own strength, and she possessed the capability to look down on others. Yet she had to admit that even though Song Xuyi was now an Omega, in their time spent together, it was mostly Xuyi who took care of her.

If things continued like this, she would grow sick of her, wouldn’t she? What’s more, it was her own potion that had turned Song Xuyi into an Omega in the first place…

The mere thought of separating from Song Xuyi, or even facing eyes filled with disgust from her, made an inexplicable anxiety well up in Jiang Qianyu’s heart. She didn’t understand why she felt this anxiety, but she now understood why she had been so angry when she heard that Omega wanting Song Xuyi to mark him—because once Song Xuyi marked that man, he would replace her as the closest person to Xuyi.

            

Jiang Qianyu absolutely couldn’t tolerate such a thing happening!

In this world, no one could ever take Xuyi away from her…

Only now did Jiang Qianyu realize she was far more dependent on Song Xuyi than she had imagined.

            

She was astonished by her sudden possessiveness over Song Xuyi, yet it also felt entirely natural. Song Xuyi was the one who had offered to be her friend. Having finally gained a friend, how could she let her pull away?

Jiang Qianyu gave Song Xuyi a deep look. Suppressing the countless thoughts in her mind, she lowered her head, pretending to memorize the school rules, but silently made a decision in her heart—she would work harder to get closer to Xuyi, to become outstanding, and never become her burden. She would let everyone in the world know that Xuyi’s best friend was her, so that no blind fools would ever dare to compete with her…

Besides the two wishes that drove Jiang Qianyu forward, this was her third wish over the years.

            

The difference was that the first two wishes made Jiang Qianyu feel suffocated, while this third wish brought her hope…

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By the time Song Xuyi finished memorizing, it was already the third period.

Over the course of the first two periods, photos and videos of Song Xuyi and Jiang Qianyu had spread across the entire school. Everyone now knew that the seemingly weak and petite Jiang Qianyu was actually the strongest Alpha. As for Song Xuyi, everyone felt she was merely standing beside Jiang Qianyu, happening to make it into the frame.

            

As such, when the students of the Mech Academy saw Song Xuyi show up for class, they were curious but didn’t think there was anything particularly special about her. After all, the students of the Mech Academy were all proud children of heaven who had been selected through layers of screening, and they naturally wouldn’t be as gossipy as the people in other departments.

The Mech Academy’s curriculum heavily emphasized practical exercises, but there were also requirements for other courses—such as basic battlefield medical bandaging, a skill that almost all students were required to learn.

When Song Xuyi entered the classroom, it happened to be a medical class. The teacher didn’t teach any practical content for this first period, but instead introduced common battlefield drugs and their respective inventors.

            

“The reason we have so many life-saving medicines on the battlefield today is largely due to the efforts of the Jiang family,” the instructor said, their tone instantly filling with deep reverence at the mention of the name. “In the history of pharmacology, the Jiang family is an eternal legend. No one will ever surpass their achievements; this single family produced countless pharmaceutical geniuses…”

The speaker spoke without thinking, but the listener took it to heart. As Song Xuyi listened to the story of the Jiang family, who stood like a monument in the field of pharmacology, she instinctively thought of Jiang Qianyu.

Both were pharmaceutical geniuses, and Jiang Qianyu even shared the surname Jiang—could she be connected to the Jiang family?

            

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Song Xuyi had always been a person of action. Having noticed this, she opened her light-brain as soon as class ended and began searching for the story of the Jiang family.

It was indeed just as the teacher had said: countless pharmaceutical geniuses had been born within the Jiang family. Moreover, up until twenty years ago, the Jiang family was still a highly influential clan that dominated its region. For thousands of years, the Jiang family had protected the lives of tens of millions of soldiers by developing medicines, establishing countless achievements.

Twenty years ago, the Empire’s Marshal had been a member of the Jiang family. Because of the family’s contributions to pharmacology, this Marshal enjoyed extremely high support among the public.

            

However, perhaps because they had devoted themselves to research for generations and were not adept at combat, twenty years ago, the Zerg somehow managed to invade the planet where the Jiang family resided. Aside from the Marshal who was fighting a bloody battle on the front lines, everyone else in the Jiang family died a tragic death that night, and even their corpses were devoured completely by the Zerg—

With his family wiped out, the Jiang Marshal of that time couldn’t bear the deep blood feud. Carrying the tragic resolve that “a grieving army is bound to win,” he went alone to a planet crawling with Zerg. After slaying countless Zerg, the Jiang Marshal triggered the self-detonation program inside his body, perishing together with the Zerg of the entire planet…

From that moment on, the renowned Jiang family vanished entirely into the annals of history.

            

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Song Xuyi hadn’t expected to read such a story.

The entire Jiang family had been wiped out twenty years ago, and Jiang Qianyu was currently twenty years old. Twenty years ago, she would have only just been born.

According to the records, everyone in the Jiang family except for the Jiang Marshal perished in that catastrophe. Moreover, the Jiang Marshal was a highly upright man, and their family rules strictly forbade extramarital affairs, so Jiang Qianyu couldn’t possibly be an illegitimate child he had fathered elsewhere…

            

Yet, even though she couldn’t find any proof of a direct connection between Jiang Qianyu and the Jiang family, Song Xuyi still had a faint feeling that Jiang Qianyu couldn’t be separated from this family…

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While Song Xuyi was investigating the Jiang family, Jiang Qianyu was also looking into something: she wanted to accompany Song Xuyi properly, but because she had always lived detached from human society and social conventions, she didn’t understand the rules of the world, resulting in her repeatedly doing things that Song Xuyi didn’t like.

Perhaps she could get better answers by asking other people.

            

After a moment of thought, Jiang Qianyu opened her light-brain and posted a thread on the school’s anonymous forum.

“What does a mech warrior need most?”

For the first ten minutes or so, no one replied to Jiang Qianyu’s thread. She refreshed it for a long time, but the interface remained completely blank.

            

Jiang Qianyu exited the post and looked at the trending thread pinned at the top of the forum, “On the Growth Journey of the Alpha Jiang Qianyu.” An idea came to her mind, and she added another sentence to her own post—

“If anyone replies, I will tell you a secret about Jiang Qianyu.”

Finally, people began responding to her post.

            

【Real or fake? What kind of secret could you possibly know about Jiang Qianyu?】

【The OP really racked their brains just to bait replies.】

【If the OP dares to post a photo with Jiang Qianyu, we’ll believe you!】

            

…

As Jiang Qianyu looked at these replies, her brows furrowed tighter and tighter. Just as she was planning to abandon this post, a slightly more serious reply finally appeared:

【The OP probably didn’t pay attention in class. As everyone knows, not only mech warriors, but almost all combat soldiers lack a highly skilled, life-saving military doctor. It’s a pity that our Blue Star has a shortcoming in this area, and our medical resources are far inferior to those of the Imperial Star…】

            

This reply had been upvoted by several others, showing that it was indeed the truth.

The impatience Jiang Qianyu had felt because of the replies above completely vanished after seeing this response.

A military doctor?

            

Looking at the professional course teacher on the podium who had made two errors in a single class, Jiang Qianyu deeply agreed with this reply and felt a trace of joy. Xuyi indeed needed an exceptionally capable military doctor in the future. Under her own protection, she would surely be able to turn every danger into safety…

Jiang Qianyu seriously replied to that comment with the words “thank you,” then posted on a new floor.

“Thank you all for giving me the answer.”

            

“Now, I will reveal Jiang Qianyu’s secret!”

Jiang Qianyu narrowed her eyes and raised her chin slightly in a proud manner. Forcing down the show-off joy in her heart, she pretended to be completely nonchalant as she typed a few characters on the forum—

【Song Xuyi is Jiang Qianyu’s friend!】

            

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The author has something to say:

“Now, I will reveal your secret!”

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