Chapter 16: No Matter How Much I Try, I Still Can't Get Used to It

Alpha Ji thought that her offer was more than generous, enough to sway Ye Chao’s heart.

Yet Ye Chao showed not the slightest interest.

“Want to know the answer? Raise my favorability by 1,793 points, and I’ll tell you.”

Alpha Ji: There are words on the tip of my tongue that I dare not utter...

[Favorability -100]

Ye Chao: “1,893 points.”

This guy—his math is truly impressive! Since their first encounter, he’d watched the favorability points rise and fall above her head, adding and subtracting with unerring precision!

Minus 893 was his current favorability; add 1,893, and you get exactly 1,000. He must be a Virgo.

“Favorability doesn’t work that way. I can’t just add or subtract it at will…” Alpha Ji protested inwardly, forcing out an explanation.

“So there’s nothing more to discuss?” Ye Chao nodded, dropping the subject without hesitation and turning his attention to the students’ lively discussion.

Alpha Ji: “Damn it!”

[Favorability -44]

“1,937.”

“Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Damn it…”

[Favorability -10! -10! -10! -10! …]

“1,947! 1,957! 1,967! 1,977…”

Suddenly, the numbers floating above Alpha Ji’s head shifted from green to red. At that very moment, Ye Chao uttered “2,007.”

[Alpha Ji’s feelings toward you have reached disgust!]

Staring at Ye Chao’s infuriating face, Alpha Ji felt a lump in her throat and a sourness in her mouth. In a torrent, she vomited as if a waterfall was crashing down from the heavens.

Alpha Ji: “...”

Ye Chao: “...”

With a splatter and a roar, Alpha Ji spewed forth a celestial river! It was just like those vomiting GIFs—only this time, it wasn’t just for show.

Her beady eyes widened in astonishment. She hadn’t known she was even capable of this!

Just looking at Ye Chao’s infuriating face sent a wave of unspeakable emotion rushing over her—so loathsome! So nauseating! And before she knew it—

Urgh…

But soon, she found herself oddly delighted, vomiting here and there—left, right, left, right—making it abundantly clear just how much she detested Ye Chao!

Finally, she flew directly in front of him and let loose a torrent right onto his head, a riot of colors like a pixelated blur.

Watching Ye Chao’s stunned face, she laughed while vomiting—after all, no one else could see, and though it was hardly ladylike, she felt no regret at all.

Ye Chao, dazed, slowly came to his senses. Instinctively, he reached up to touch the colorful mess on his head, even dipped a finger into it and tasted it, sighing, “Ah, what a waste! Luckily it’s not real.”

(￣口￣)!!!

A waste? You actually tasted it? That’s your reaction? Are you even human? Is your nervous system made of graphene?

[Favorability -99]

Alpha Ji’s vomiting grew fiercer.

Very quickly, she realized just how dire her situation was.

How dire?

She found she simply couldn’t stop! As long as Ye Chao was in her line of sight, she would instinctively begin to vomit, utterly unable to restrain herself.

Clearly, this was some hidden setting devised by her creator, though those programmers probably never imagined that anyone could make the universally adored Alpha Ji’s favorability drop all the way to disgust!

A rare specimen among humanity…

So now, the problem was this: she wanted to vomit whenever she saw Ye Chao, but she could only appear in his line of sight… It was nearly impossible not to see him.

She felt as though she was about to empty herself out from vomiting…

What to do? Could someone teach her how to stop? Asking for help online—urgent!

Ye Chao continued chatting with his classmates, all the while coldly observing Alpha Ji’s reaction.

From surprise, to gloating, to panic when she couldn’t stop… Even with his low emotional intelligence, he could tell what was happening.

Alright, it seemed she really couldn’t control the favorability, or she wouldn’t be stuck like this.

Slowly, he revealed the truth: “Of course I prepared the map in advance. Why? It’s simple, actually—I intended it as my exam submission…”

Ye Chao’s internship subject was Data Recovery and Intelligence Gathering: repairing the military tablet was the former, drawing maps the latter. But in essence, the former was part of the latter.

He had enough self-awareness about his people skills, even with low emotional intelligence.

No matter how good his relationship with Fang Ju was, Fang Ju still had to consider others’ feelings, and whether the recovered data would be useful…

So, data recovery was a matter of luck; Ye Chao hadn’t counted on it.

What then?

Naturally, he had to prepare a foolproof exam he could ace without anyone’s help: drawing maps.

He could do it all on his own, with no need for assistance. The only downside was the low difficulty—no extra credit, maybe not even a perfect score.

If Fang Ju hadn’t gotten hold of the military tablet, this would have been his submission.

Before getting the tablet, all his exam time had gone into this.

It really was simple—nothing hard to understand.

But there were words on the tip of his tongue he didn’t know whether to say or not!

Alpha Ji’s face turned pale as she bowed her head for another bout of violent vomiting.

Urgh…

[Favorability -99]

Ye Chao: 눈_눈

“Hey, I’ve told you the answer… Why is my favorability still dropping?”

“I… I don’t… urgh… know! Maybe… urgh… it’s your attitude? Urgh… Anyway, looking at you… urgh… every part of you is… annoying! Urgh…”

Suddenly, a line flashed not through Alpha Ji’s mind, but through her code: When a woman likes you, everything you do is right; when she hates you, everything you do is wrong! Was that her setting?

No! Help! Please!

No amount of vomiting would ever make her get used to this!

Utterly dejected, Alpha Ji slunk back to her little black room.

She didn’t want to stay in the black room—she’d finally gotten out to see the familiar, yet strange, world outside, but Ye Chao had made her feel utterly sick…

Despicable! Detestable! Blockhead! Clueless!

Alpha Ji refused to speak with Ye Chao and threw a Shiba Inu at him.

Ye Chao could only watch as his favorability dropped another 20 points.

-1,225.

Why? For what reason? Ye Chao wanted to ask, but the group was in the midst of a crucial discussion, and he couldn’t spare the attention.

With Ye Chao’s map, the students pooled their ideas and quickly identified the cave’s nature—a mix of natural formation, intrusion by tree roots, and artificial construction.

Though most students these days struggled with minor subjects, exploration and excavation were core disciplines; everyone could offer some insight.

Perhaps because everyone knew so much, disagreements were especially fierce.

Some suggested heading toward the ancient architecture, arguing that even buried underground, its orderly design would reveal a traceable path.

Some advocated following the cavities left by tree roots, likening them to subterranean rivers that, if traced, would surely lead to the main trunk and thus to an exit near the surface.

Others proposed that the awakened with keen senses track the scent of the baton-rabbits straight to their lair. After all, these rabbits only lived underground for safety; to find food, they had to know the way to the surface.

But each suggestion was vetoed in turn.