Major General Alpha (13): “Qinghao, just release some pheromones and let me smell it!”

The Human Empire had three legions in total, forming a situation of tripartite balance.

Among them, the First Legion was the strongest, while the other two were slightly weaker.

When those under Zhou Qinghao felt that he would surely leave the First Legion in the future, the Second and Third Legions both publicly announced online that they welcomed Zhou Qinghao to join them.

The Third Legion even went so far as to offer him the position of admiral, saying that if Zhou Qinghao was willing to join them, they could make him an admiral.

“Yes! Zhou Qinghao should leave the First Legion!”

“The Third Legion is better!”

“Marshal Lei used to be my idol, but now… the First Legion has completely changed!”

“Zhou Qinghao is a super S-level powerhouse. If we nurture him well, maybe under his leadership we can kill the Zerg queen… Zhou Qinghao deserves the best! Leave the First Legion, leave Gu Juntian!”

…

The online discussion was heated, while Gu Juntian and the First Legion were being utterly scolded without mercy.

At this point, all the First Legion’s public media accounts had been forced to close their comment sections, or else the flood of comments would make their accounts impossible to even open.

The First Legion’s officers, along with various contacts Marshal Lei knew, all sought him out, hoping he could resolve the situation—at the very least, to find Gu Juntian and Zhou Qinghao.

But Marshal Lei didn’t know where Gu Juntian and Zhou Qinghao had gone.

Some time ago, Gu Juntian told him that he had discovered high level Zergs on a barren planet… today, Gu Juntian and Zhou Qinghao should have gone there to kill them.

Marshal Lei knew about this, but he didn’t know the planet’s coordinates and had no way to contact Gu Juntian.

In fact, it wasn’t only Gu Juntian he couldn’t reach—he also couldn’t contact the other five S-level officers Gu Juntian had taken to hunt the high level Zergs.

At this moment, Marshal Lei truly felt overwhelmed.

“Marshal, this whole affair has the Second Prince and the Third Legion’s hand in it—they’re trying to destroy the First Legion.”

“Marshal, we must find Zhou Qinghao quickly and talk to him. If we offer more benefits, we might be able to calm him down.”

“Marshal, what do you think about the Crown Prince?”

…

Marshal Lei said, “I’ve already sent people to find Zhou Qinghao. As for the Crown Prince, if he really is useless, then we’ll just abandon him.”

The crowd sighed at his words.

In the current situation, even if they abandoned Gu Juntian right away, the First Legion was doomed to suffer heavy losses.

But they had no better options.

The Crown Prince’s actions were truly despicable.

Just as these people were steadying their nerves, they suddenly found things had gotten even worse!

Ten hours after someone had made a real-name report accusing Gu Juntian of stealing Zhou Qinghao’s military merit, one of Gu Juntian’s subordinates stepped forward, claiming that Gu Juntian had colluded with the Zerg queen.

He said he could no longer bear the guilt and had decided to speak out.

He claimed that Gu Juntian had made a deal with the Zerg queen to kill Zhou Qinghao, because the Zerg queen hated Zhou Qinghao deeply and feared him, while Gu Juntian, resentful after being forced by Zhou Qinghao, wished him dead—thus the two sides hit it off.

At this point, people on the StarNet were at a loss for words.

Stealing military merit, playing both sides, and now colluding with the Zerg queen to have high level Zergs kill Zhou Qinghao?

Gu Juntian had once again broken through the lower limits of their expectations!

Only after a long silence did people begin to ask: “Is this true?”

“Impossible, right?”

“Betraying Zhou Qinghao is one thing, but betraying all humanity?”

…

The subordinate who had accused Gu Juntian started a livestream. In it, he declared firmly, “I haven’t lied in the slightest. Gu Juntian conspired with the Zerg queen to kill Zhou Qinghao on a barren planet. Some time ago, when he was confined by Zhou Qinghao and couldn’t carry this out himself, he ordered me to check the situation. I didn’t dare defy his orders, so I followed them—but I am still human, with a shred of conscience… I placed a miniature signal station and some livestream orbs on that planet, and on his ship I also planted pinhole cameras. Now, I can show everyone proof of his betrayal of humanity!”

After speaking, he posted a livestream link.

The crowd clicked in—and really did see Gu Juntian and Zhou Qinghao.

The two were sitting face to face, silently eating.

“It really is Gu Juntian and Zhou Qinghao!”

“This is a live broadcast—it’s really them!”

“The First Legion said they couldn’t contact them—now I believe it. If they’d been in touch, they wouldn’t be sitting so calmly.”

“Zhou Qinghao, stop eating! Gu Juntian wants to kill you!”

…

At this moment, everyone on the StarNet was on edge for Zhou Qinghao.

Gu Juntian wanted him dead, and he didn’t even know it!

Meanwhile, Marshal Lei roared in anger: “This is a conspiracy! Gu Juntian would never collude with the Zerg queen!”

If Gu Juntian had truly colluded with her, he would never have told him there were high level Zergs on that barren planet!

Gu Juntian had been eager to kill the Zergs, not realizing it was a trap set for him.

Gu Juntian was finished!

Yet the fact he’d ended up in this situation was also his own fault—if he hadn’t harbored ill intentions, he wouldn’t have ended up here!

“Marshal, what’s really going on?” his adjutant asked.

Marshal Lei replied, “Gu Juntian told me there were high level Zergs on that planet and said he was taking Zhou Qinghao to kill them.”

“Marshal, since those people dared to livestream, they must be planning to show the public scenes of the Crown Prince colluding with the Zergs. Zhou Qinghao’s life may be in grave danger… The First Legion is finished,” the adjutant said dejectedly.

Another added, “The Crown Prince probably didn’t collude with the Zerg queen, but he’s too foolish… He’s a prince—so what if he lacks military merit? Why demean himself to be with Zhou Qinghao, yet still resent him?”

“Could he really be planning to kill Zhou Qinghao?”

…

According to the accuser’s claims, Zhou Qinghao had forced the Crown Prince.

For an Alpha to be forced by another Alpha was absolutely a torment—so Gu Juntian wanting Zhou Qinghao dead was no surprise.

But if the scene of him killing Zhou Qinghao was livestreamed to the whole net…

Not only would Gu Juntian be ruined, the First Legion would be as well.

Marshal Lei knew this too.

At this moment, he wished he could lead his army to kill the Second Prince, the one behind this, and overthrow the royal family.

In the past, doing so might have had a small chance of success. Now, he had none.

Even the First Legion’s elite troops that he had personally trained might not obey him.

Marshal Lei seemed to age decades in an instant.

Looking at the two people on the livestream, his lips moved before he said, “Arrange for people to rescue Zhou Qinghao immediately! He must not die!”

But even as he said it, he felt Zhou Qinghao’s survival was unlikely.

The barren planet’s coordinates had been exposed, and from Zhou Qinghao and Gu Juntian’s base it would take twelve hours to get there.

From other bases, it would take at least a full day and night.

If there was an ambush, that amount of time was enough for Zhou Qinghao to be eaten by the high level Zergs.

The StarNet was lively, with many still cursing him, but Gu Juntian knew none of it.

At the moment, he was eating, glancing at Zhou Qinghao after each bite, restless and wanting to build a closer relationship.

They had been alone together for ten hours straight, yet their relationship hadn’t progressed at all. This left Gu Juntian frustrated and even more eager to get close.

For the past half month, he had sparred with Zhou Qinghao daily, exhausting himself so that he could remain calm around him—but now it was different.

Now, whenever he saw Zhou Qinghao, his thoughts wandered—he wanted to fight him, but also to smell his pheromones.

Thinking of this, Gu Juntian felt guilty, quickly looking away and silently eating.

The viewers saw everything.

“Gu Juntian looks guilty!”

“Does he know what he’s doing is wrong?”

“I feel awful! Since Zhou Qinghao is still willing to sit and eat with him, he clearly doesn’t know anything about what Gu Juntian’s done… He has no idea Gu Juntian wants to kill him.”

“Zhou Qinghao is a hero—he shouldn’t be killed by Gu Juntian!”

…

Zhou Qinghao, of course, also noticed Gu Juntian’s behavior.

He forced himself to forget the videos he had received, not to think about those matters, and to interact with Gu Juntian as naturally as possible. At this moment, he simply asked, “Why do you keep looking at me?”

Their private interactions weren’t particularly close.

Still, a simple question was fine.

Without thinking, Gu Juntian replied, “Because you’re good-looking.”

Zhou Qinghao was a little uncomfortable. Gu Juntian had praised his strength before, but had never said he was good-looking…

Gu Juntian continued, “Qinghao, you really are good-looking, and your pheromones smell wonderful. Release some and let me smell them.”

Zhou Qinghao was speechless.

The viewers were speechless too.

When Zhou Qinghao asked, they thought the Crown Prince would deny staring at him—but instead, he started flirting!

The Crown Prince, an Alpha, actually said another Alpha’s pheromones smelled good!

Wasn’t it normal for an Alpha to want to fight when smelling another Alpha’s pheromones?

“Just now they seemed distant, but now… they really do look like lovers.”

“I get it now—this is why Zhou Qinghao would give his military merit to the Crown Prince. The Crown Prince can be quite charming.”

“Charming or not, he’s still capable of charming someone to death!”

…

While a few made objective comments, most of the live chat was filled with insults toward Gu Juntian, along with people shouting for Zhou Qinghao not to believe him.

Zhou Qinghao then said, “If I release my pheromones, you’ll just want to fight me again.”

“I promise I won’t!” Gu Juntian said. “We still have to kill the Zergs—I wouldn’t pick a fight with you now.”

Zhou Qinghao said nothing.

Somehow, Gu Juntian found the courage to grab Zhou Qinghao’s hand. “Qinghao, just release a little pheromone so I can smell it!”

He really missed Zhou Qinghao’s scent—he used to smell it every day, but now it had been more than a day since the last time!

Thinking this, Gu Juntian held Zhou Qinghao’s hand tighter, looking at him expectantly, his voice softening like he was pleading: “Qinghao, let me smell it…”