Chapter 13: Recovery
The fact that Shen Qingzhu was no ordinary Alpha, but the only 3S level Alpha in the empire in many years. Moreover he was a 3S Alpha with no backing and no noble status.
In order to protect his freedom even if he exposed his genetic level, “Shen Qingzhu” had to become a student at Imperial University. There, he could access expensive isolation chambers to train his pheromone resistance, healing pods to quickly restore physical health, and fully equipped research labs. But all of this equipment was only free to students who were the top of their department or grade.
Imperial University was the Empire’s number one institution, so every admitted student could be considered a genius among geniuses. Even Shen Qingzhu wouldn’t have an easy time becoming the best among them.
In his past life, he had never been an official student. Though his friend who was the former top student of the Pheromone Research Department gave him some valuable advice. To be the department’s top student you had to be first in everything.
Shen Qingzhu didn’t have any obsession with being number one, he only needed the privileges that came with it. So he was determined to fight for it.
Before the semester even began, Shen Qingzhu planned to get several certifications, such as a Junior Medical Practitioner, Junior Pharmacist, Junior Nutritionist, etc. Normally, these credentials would be obtained after completing all of university, but in an environment such as Imperial University, students didn’t follow the normal path.
Students of all grades could access a special channel to take any qualification exam in the empire at any time using their student ID.
Now, with two months left before the start of the semester, Shen Qingzhu immediately began studying for his exams. Although he had experience taking similar ones in his previous world, he still had to brush up on knowledge points and absorb a wide breadth of material for the exam.
He didn’t allow himself to make mistakes.
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A month later, Shen Qingzhu had passed seven qualification exams with perfect scores.
In that time, the popularity of his Travel Guide post hadn’t decreased at all.
Although at first the buzz was about the controversy of the Omega section, gradually, students began asking questions.
[Why do Beta students also need to prepare pheromone suppressor bands and inhibitors? Don’t only Alphas, Omegas, and undifferentiated use those?]
↳[Teacher On A Roll: Most of the time, people’s gender stabilizes permanently after secondary differentiation. However, a small percentage of people who differentiate into Betas aren’t fully stabilized, and they might enter another differentiation phase due to being under stress, excitement, or fatigue while traveling. It’s rare, but it happens. Better safe than sorry ^__^. [Links to new reports on secondary re-differentiation] [Papers on identifying pseudo-secondary differentiation]]
In fact, Shen Qingzhu had already mentioned this in his original travel guide for Beta students, but he understood that not everyone would read everything carefully. He didn’t mind repeating himself for the safety of students.
Shen Qingzhu continued to reply to other high-traffic questions, offering explanations for general issues and advised medical consultation to anyone with specific symptoms.
Just before his starship reached Station B-11, Zhujian notified Shen Qingzhu that someone had messaged him privately asking for help.
She was an Omega first-year coming from a D-class planet that was one of the poorest planets in the Empire. She had been admitted to university on a B-class planet with scholarships and charity grants, but her parents confiscated all of the money. They planned to marry her off to a wealthy Beta instead, locking her up at home and monitoring her communication. She sent this message for help when her parents let her use the phone to check for new scholarships. At the end of the message was her full name and address.
Shen Qingzhu didn’t suspect fraud or question why she didn’t call the police, he simply asked Zhujian to find her identity to verify the details. Once confirmed, he contacted several charity organizations he had donated to using his Teacher On A Roll account.
An hour later, in a private Omega forum called Secret Garden who sponsored Bloom, a public charity for Omega students, a new pinned post appeared titled: “Everyone look at this”. It was a screenshot of Teacher On A Roll’s private message that contained the Omega’s cry for help.
Two days later, the imprisoned Omega was successfully rescued by Bloom members and escorted to a starship to her university.
In the aftermath, multiple charities began to check on their donation receivers, uncovering and helping more cases like her.
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Shen Qingzhu stepped out of the starship at Station B-11 and took a deep breath. Finally, he was free from C-07, and nothing else was holding him back.
He opened the cubic terminal and took out the green pendant. After a retinal scan and DNA verification, the device lit up, showing its AI core was activated. Inside the gem, light flowed like gentle ripples, coalescing into the image of a graceful and resilient bamboo stalk.
Shen Qingzhu gazed fondly at the design left by his father and pressed the pendant against his heart.
“Welcome back, Zhujian.”
With Zhujian reactivated, all of Shen Qingzhu’s original accounts were unfrozen. His parent’s inheritance and his childhood savings summed up to over one hundred million credits. Shen Qingzhu booked a highly-rated hotel without worrying.
He put his clothes in the room’s auto-cleaner and then began to mix a cleansing bath gel to remove the residue of the walnut-juice. Although this was his first time creating a cleansing bath gel, it was simple enough that he was done in half an hour.
Taking the gel, he entered the bathroom. Soon, steam filled the room and soft relaxed hums could be heard.
Dark water trickled down into the drain, revealing smooth and pale skin like carved jade. When Shen Qingzhu pushed his dark hair back, his face shone with new vitality.
Just as Shen Qingzhu was admiring his reflection, a familiar voice chimed into his head: “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all? Of course it’s you, my beautiful master!”
Zhujian’s childish voice rose: “Oh, if only your fathers could see how radiant you’ve grown to be! They’d be so proud!”
Shen Qingzhu kneaded his brows and finally laughed helplessly: “Ok, you can be quiet now.”