Chapter 15

Fang Yixing stared at him for several seconds and conceded. "Then go turn off the cameras and the audio recorder first."

"Oh right." Yun Zhi stood up, stretched on his tiptoes to switch off the audio recorder, then draped a thick towel over the camera.

When he turned back to the bed, Fang Yixing had already removed his pajama top and was lying face-down.

"Sigh." He hadn't gotten to see the abs — he drooped his head and sighed. How did he manage to undress so fast?

He kicked off his slippers and climbed onto the bed, plopped himself down astride his legs, and admired his girl-friend's perfect back for a good while before reaching up to wipe away non-existent drool and placed both hands on his shoulders.

"Yun Zhi's exclusive secret massage technique — just for you." Yun Zhi's slender, soft fingers kneaded Fang Yixing's shoulders.

The pressure was perfectly calibrated — not too light, not too firm. He had clearly studied massage technique properly at some point.

However, when Yun Zhi's five fingers moved down from the shoulder to press along the lower back, Fang Yixing found himself in considerable difficulty.

He had never realized until now that the small of his back was a sensitive area — one that couldn't bear to be touched at all.

And Yun Zhi happened to be lavishing attention on exactly that spot — stroking, kneading, pinching, working it like dough, apparently utterly delighted and unwilling to move on.

In just a few minutes, Fang Yixing was enduring it so hard that sweat had broken out on his forehead.

Yun Zhi hummed happily and paused to ask, "Does that feel good?"

"......Good." The two words leaked out through his tightly closed lips in a way that made Yun Zhi inexplicably feel like something was wrong with him.

At some point, Fang Yixing began to notice the pressure on his back growing lighter and lighter, and the movements slower and slower.

He turned his head in puzzlement — and found Yun Zhi dozing off right there on his legs, both hands still making absent, habitual kneading motions on his body.

He gave a helpless, fond smile, and slowly extracted himself from beneath Yun Zhi. He got off the bed, bent over, carefully gathered the sleeping figure in his arms, and gently placed him on the opposite bed.

Yun Zhi slept wonderfully on his first night in the training camp — no dreams at all.

When the seven o'clock wake-up bell rang in the morning, he came awake feeling clear and refreshed.

After washing up, pulling on the uniform, eating a delicious breakfast with his fellow trainees, and making their noisy way to the training hall together, the four mentors — in full form — arrived shortly after.

Yang Zhuo was already standing there waiting for them.

"Everyone looks full of energy — you all must have slept well last night." Yang Zhuo clapped his hands and said with a pleasant smile, "Good. That means I don't have to worry about anyone fainting in the next segment."

A wave of intense unease spread through the silent training hall.

Tang He raised his hand timidly, eyes shimmering. "What is the production team about to do to us now?"

The person next to him instantly clamped his mouth shut and laughed it off with a big smile. "Nonsense, nonsense — Tang He is still dizzy from all the spinning yesterday, his head hasn't cleared up yet. Mentors, director, please don't take this fool seriously."

"Ha ha — then let's listen to a song to clear his head." Yang Zhuo pressed play on the remote.

An upbeat, brisk melody floated out from the speakers. On the large screen, a choreographed dance number played in sync.

Everyone stared at the screen, puzzled. A few people nodded their heads along to the music.

The music paused. Yang Zhuo announced, "This is the theme song that all of you will be preparing. After it's recorded, we'll upload it to all major platforms for promotion, and you will be the ambassadors for 101 Days: Omega Idol Cultivation Plan. Of course, not everyone will make it onto the stage. In the end, only thirty of you will record the theme song — the seventy-one eliminated trainees will not only lose their right to participate in the recording, but will be leaving the training camp entirely. So please give this stage everything you have!"

Panic spread through the training hall.

Nobody had expected the production team to be this ruthless — eliminating over half the trainees in the very first round.

Yang Zhuo swept them with an assessing gaze, eyes narrowing. "Scared?"

Many heads nodded.

His expression turned abruptly serious. "These are the rules. Adapting to the rules is the way to survive. I don't want you to retreat. I want to see you meet this challenge with everything you have. Whatever the result — give it your absolute all!"

Yun Zhi pressed his lips into a firm line. Under cover of his uniform sleeve, his hand reached quietly sideways and gripped Fang Yixing's wrist.

"You will have 48 hours to prepare the theme song. After 48 hours, the five of us will evaluate your recorded videos. Good luck!"

48 hours??

Li Yuanyuan thought he'd misheard, and asked Yun Zhi to confirm it. When Yun Zhi confirmed it, Li Yuanyuan nearly keeled over.

Mastering a choreography this complex in 48 hours — they might as well just kill him now.

After the mentors announced the theme song details and made arrangements to come by in the afternoon to walk the trainees through the choreography, they left the training hall and the dozen-or-so practice rooms next to it for the trainees to use.

The trainees wailed for a few minutes, then had no choice but to force themselves to pull it together. Time waited for no one — they had forty-eight hours to learn lyrics, melody, and choreography all at once. Every second counted.

They scattered in all directions and made their way into the practice rooms.

Yun Zhi, Fang Yixing, and the six members of Li Yuanyuan's group claimed one practice room between them.

Yun Zhi and Fang Yixing sat cross-legged on the floor together — Fang Yixing copying out the lyrics while Yun Zhi watched the video and worked out the choreography.

At the same time, the official account for 101 Days: Omega Idol Cultivation Plan finally posted the profiles of all 101 trainees.

A huge wave of fans who had been camped out in the official account's comments for days immediately burst into joyful tears and spread the news.

The month before, the production team had first announced the four regular mentors and the national producer, sparking interest from the fans of those millions of mentors' followers.

Beyond the traffic generated by the high-profile mentors, the show's unique concept had kept viewers' appetite thoroughly whetted.

Just think — in an era where Omegas were this scarce, 101 Omega trainees in a talent show had to be something spectacular.

The official account first posted a group photo of all 101 Omega trainees. Six neat rows of people stood before a white backdrop. The most popular contestant, Zhao Jinzhao, stood at the center of the front row. Yun Zhi and Fang Yixing stood next to each other in the middle of the second row.

The account then posted individual photos of every trainee and tagged each one's Weibo account: All 101 trainees are waiting for you to pick them~ (P.S. There's also a mystery guest appearance to look forward to!)

The comment section was instantly flooded.

Strongest Alpha In The Universe: [I'm salivating — 101 beautiful Omegas, production team please air this NOW!]

Zhaozhai Lie On My Bed: [AHHHHH Zhaozhai is really in the show!! Fly high Zhaozhai, Chaoyang always follows the sun! Chaoyang fans assemble!!]

Human Aesthetic Calibration Machine: [Has anyone else noticed?? The two Omegas in photos 23 and 24 are STUNNING! The first one is soft and adorably cute (just quietly — similar vibe to Zhao Jinzhao, but even prettier!) The second is cool and aristocratic! I'm done for!]

Sweet Omega Harvester: [Who IS No. 23?? I'm obsessed! Please be my wife! I'm picking him!]

Thirsty O Seeking One Fierce A: [A litre of nosebleed already, can an Omega really have looks like THAT?]

Internet's Fastest Shipper: [awsl, I want to kiss 23 and 24 so hard! Good-looking people obviously go with good-looking people — their faces are MADE for each other! I'm calling it, I'm shipping these two!]

Honeybee Sweetie: [Shipping already? The show hasn't even aired yet]

Shipping Brigade: [Shipping!! Just looking at the two faces I can already imagine their entire love story]

......

Back in the practice room, Yun Zhi watched the video a few times, quickly worked out the full choreography, and ran through it once in the mirror.

Li Yuanyuan and the others were absolutely stunned. Hadn't he said he hadn't trained systematically? What kind of quietly exceptional little dance genius was Yun Zhi? Yun Zhi wiped the sweat from his hairline, walked over and lifted Li Yuanyuan's dropped jaw with one hand.

He took a look at everyone else's self-taught progress, was silent for two minutes, then called Fang Yixing over to stand with the six of them.

It was time to be a little dance teacher!

The people in Li Yuanyuan's group all had some dance foundation, but the time was too short — they couldn't pick it all up just from watching, and their movements tended to be imprecise. Yun Zhi thought of them as friends, and of course he wanted them to pass the theme song evaluation.

Strict little Teacher Yun Zhi reported for duty, standing at the front, breaking down the movements and leading them through the choreography piece by piece.

His beautiful almond eyes tracked each person in the mirror. The moment someone fell behind, he went over to coach them individually.

He broke down the movements in meticulous detail, but it mildly surprised Yun Zhi that Fang Yixing — who had no dance background at all — could keep up.

No wonder he was his heaven-sent girl-friend. Gifted and quick, just like him!

"Yun Zhi, was that last move like this? I feel like what I'm doing looks different from everyone else's?" Li Yuanyuan pulled a long-suffering face.

He'd always been the vocal lead in his group. Dance was going to be the death of him.

Yun Zhi told the others to keep practicing and went to coach Li Yuanyuan individually.

Fang Yixing, left standing to one side, didn't notice his own movements had gone completely out of sync — his peripheral vision kept drifting toward Yun Zhi.

He was touching Li Yuanyuan's arm.

He was touching Li Yuanyuan's waist.

He was holding Li Yuanyuan's hand!

His eyes gradually took on an aggrieved quality without him realizing it. He lowered his eyelids and stopped moving.

Yun Zhi demonstrated the move for Li Yuanyuan one more time and caught Fang Yixing standing still in the mirror, puzzled. "Yixing, why aren't you dancing? Are you stuck on the next part?"

Fang Yixing lied without batting an eye. "I am."

Yun Zhi scratched his head and trotted over, smiling brightly. "It's okay if you don't get it! Your Teacher Yun Zhi will show you!"

"Watch me." Yun Zhi ran through the part he'd stopped at, then turned to him. "Got it now?"

Fang Yixing looked at him and shook his head. "I can't do it as cleanly as that."

"In that case," Yun Zhi moved around to his back, placed both hands on his shoulders and nudged him down slightly, "feet a little wider apart — yes, like that. Lean your upper body back to this angle."

Yun Zhi gave another brisk smack — his small hand landing on Fang Yixing's tailbone. In his soft voice he instructed, "Thrust your hips forward twice, lightly and consecutively. Chin up just a little, eyes angled downward — it looks really good like that."

A wave of tingling shot up from his tailbone. Fang Yixing couldn't help lifting an eyebrow slightly. He felt like he was playing with fire.

He straightened up, turned his head and looked down at him. "Got it now. Do you want to take a break?" Yun Zhi genuinely was feeling a bit tired. He clapped his hands and called out to everyone, "Friends — let's rest a bit and then keep going!"

Backs to the wall, Yun Zhi sat cross-legged drinking water, Fang Yixing sitting beside him — one long leg stretched out straight, the other bent casually.

Fang Yixing also picked up his water bottle, unscrewed the cap, and tilted his head back for a drink. His prominent throat bobbed noticeably.

Yun Zhi sniffed, then abruptly twisted around and pressed his face against Fang Yixing's neck, inhaling deeply. "What brand of cologne is that, Yixing? It smells so good."

The bottle cap rolled to the floor.

Fang Yixing didn't pick it up. He looked down at Yun Zhi, his eyes deepening for a moment. As if emboldened by Yun Zhi's words, a thread of pheromone slipped involuntarily from his gland despite the suppressant he'd taken.

Like agarwood incense lit for a winter cup of tea — a deep, contained, woody fragrance with a thread of cool distance, yet with the effect of making anyone within it feel a restrained warmth.

Fang Yixing watched his eyes and asked in a low voice, "Do you like it?"

Yun Zhi inhaled once more and smiled. "I do."