The Overworked Beta and the Paranoid Alpha 1

Chapter 1: Prologue, Part 1

Right now, not a single bank employee or customer dared to make a sound.
Just look at the firework-like splatter of blood that had exploded across the wall—that was the fate of the last person who had shouted and acted defiantly.
And the culprits behind it all—
A group of bank robbers in baseball uniforms and rabbit masks were currently roaming the lobby, brandishing rifles.
The Rabbit Masks would maliciously sweep the muzzles of their guns past the trembling staff members to frighten them, adding some insulting remarks.
“Look at them, trembling like rabbits,” one Rabbit Mask said mockingly. “They look more like rabbits than we do.”
“They’re not rabbits. They’re just a bunch of empty-headed, cowardly, stupid pigs raised in a greenhouse,” said another Rabbit Mask.
After that, several nearby Rabbit Masks burst into laughter.
The woman closest to them, with graying hair, dressed in a formal suit, and with crow’s feet lining her eyes, had a name tag on her chest that identified her as Betty.
Oh, heavens, she was just an ordinary Beta. She had no children, a steady partner, and a decent-paying, relatively easy job at the Capital Star Bank. And most importantly, she was only two years away from retirement.
There were countless people like her on Capital Star, so why—why was she the only one to encounter something that threatened her very life?
Betty truly wanted to break down and cry, but when she saw the guns in the robbers’ hands, she silently held back her tears.
Fine, let the tears flow inward, she thought. She certainly didn’t want them flowing out of her body along with her blood in the end.
Just then, a Rabbit Mask walked up to her. “Lobby Manager, Betty White?”
“Yes, oh, yes, that’s me, sir. What… what can I do for you…”
Betty’s voice trembled, and she stammered. Heavens, Betty couldn’t even imagine if this terrifying person would put a bullet in her for speaking so foolishly.
The Rabbit Mask lowered his head, his comical eyes staring leisurely at her. “Come with me, ma’am.”
His manner of speaking was surprisingly polite. If one could ignore the gun in his hand.
Another Rabbit Mask yanked Betty up from the floor and dragged her along behind the lead Rabbit Mask. They took her through a corridor and into the bank’s back offices.
Along the way, they passed a bank employee hiding in the back. The Rabbit Masks simply raised their guns and blasted the employee into a bloody pulp.
Seeing her colleague’s corpse, Betty could no longer control her fear. Blood flowed like a river to the edge of her shoes, and tears streamed down her entire face.
Even so, the Rabbit Masks showed her no mercy. They brought her to a hidden elevator in the back area. The elevator door had a fingerprint lock and a sign that read, “Staff Only.”
Oh, heavens, how did they know about this place? Betty wondered in confusion. Without inside information from the bank, it would be very difficult for an outsider to find this location.
Betty didn’t dwell on it. In her current situation, there was no time for deep thought.
“Open it,” a Rabbit Mask said.
Betty nodded. To stay alive, she could only stretch out a trembling hand, tears streaming down her face, and gently place her finger on the fingerprint scanner’s sensor ring. With a “ding—,” the first layer of the lock opened, revealing another eleven-key password lock.
Betty swallowed hard. The password could only be entered once. If it was wrong, the door would be deadlocked, and the only way to open it would be to cut it open with a power saw during repairs and replace the entire door and lock.
But she knew the Rabbits wouldn’t wait that long. If she made a single mistake, she would suffer the same fate as her colleague just now. Turned into a bloody pulp.
Oh, heavens, she was over sixty. All she wanted was to retire peacefully, support her partner, and live a quiet life in her old age. Why, why was heaven doing this to her?
She tremblingly entered the password. As she hit confirm, she even squeezed her eyes shut, too scared to look. Fortunately, God still had mercy on her. Her password was correct. The lock chimed “ding—,” and the elevator doors before her opened.
“Let’s go.” The lead Rabbit Mask stepped into the elevator first, and the others followed close behind.
There were no buttons inside the elevator, only a single round camera, staring leisurely at everyone within.
One Rabbit Mask raised his gun, about to fire a few rounds at the camera, but was stopped by another.
“Are you crazy? If that camera breaks, we’ll be locked in this elevator. You can forget about getting out of here alive.”
“Alright, you’re right.” The Rabbit Mask was convinced and lowered his gun.
Before long, the elevator finally stopped. The doors opened to reveal a space completely different from the bank lobby.
The walls and floor here were made of a special composite metal. As the Rabbits walked, the soles of their shoes made crisp sounds against the ground, like the cracking of ice.
The lead Rabbit Mask took the first step out. Only after confirming there was no danger did he allow the others to follow him.

After the robbers had left, the employee who had been riddled with bullets and covered in blood climbed up from the floor.
Phew… Luckily, I was wearing a bulletproof vest, or I’d really be on my way to hell.
Of course, the red liquid wasn’t his blood, just fake blood for cover, made from red food coloring and a thickening agent. He wasn’t even a bank employee; that was just his disguise for the stakeout.
He straightened his collar, where a miniature communicator was hidden. “They’ve taken the hostage downstairs.”
“I see them. The people below are in position,” a voice came from the wireless earpiece in his ear.
He pulled open a nearby cabinet and took out a black case. He opened it to reveal a laser rifle and a nano-bulletproof mask. The mask was black and looked like a motorcycle helmet. He put it on and activated it. The mask emitted a blue light that quickly enveloped his entire body.
This was a layer of nano-bulletproof armor. The earlier gunshots had already damaged his vest, so to prevent any accidents, he added another layer of protection.
“Number 7, rendezvous with Number 15 downstairs,” the voice in his earpiece said.
“Understood.”
This man, known as Number 7, picked up the laser rifle, disengaged the safety, and went to the elevator door. He aimed the dark muzzle at the elevator. If he saw any Rabbit Mask coming up, he would make their heads explode.
Just as they had done to him moments ago.

Here, aside from the cameras on the ceiling, there was nothing else.
The Rabbit Masks led Betty White down the corridor made of synthetic metal from wall to floor. After a long walk, they finally reached their true destination.
Betty was still trembling like a frightened rabbit, but her mind had already calmed down.
She stared straight ahead at a “door” forged from black metal. In the middle of the door was a keypad lock, with an iris scanner above it and a fingerprint reader below.
As the bank’s lobby manager, she certainly knew what this place was. This was the central bank’s underground vault, where the bank’s VIP clients stored or collateralized various items, including but not limited to: diamonds, gold, jewelry, antique calligraphy, and paintings…
The problem was, opening this vault was extremely difficult. There were only two ways to do it.
One way was for the president of the central bank to be present. The president knew the vault’s password, and his iris and fingerprint were registered in the vault’s security system.
The other method was even more troublesome:
Betty White was in charge of the vault’s password but did not have her fingerprint or iris registered in the security system. The vice president, on the other hand, was the opposite; his iris and fingerprint were registered, but he did not know the password.
Therefore, the vault could only be opened if she and the vice president were both present.
Are they going to try to force their way in?
This vault could even withstand a missile strike. Betty looked at the guns in the robbers’ hands. With the firepower this gang currently possessed, Betty believed they probably wouldn’t succeed in a brute-force entry.
“Go on, input the password, ma’am,” a Rabbit Mask said, grabbing her arm.
“Uh, I have to remind you… I can’t open this vault by myself…”
Before Betty could finish, the rabbit took off his mask.
“It’s you…?” Betty was aghast when she saw his face clearly.
Beneath the rabbit mask was the face of her old colleague—the vice president of the Capital Star Central Bank, Luke Reed.

Luke stood before Betty, instinctively avoiding her astonished gaze.
He walked to the vault door, leaned his face against it, and a pale blue light scanned his iris. Then, he reached out, took off his glove, and placed his index finger on the fingerprint reader below the keypad. The same pale blue light scanned his fingertip.
The fingerprint reader and iris scanner emitted a “ding—” tone, indicating that verification was successful.
“Well then, Ms. Betty, would you be so kind as to enter the password?” Luke said, putting his mask back on.
Betty swallowed a mouthful of saliva. Her emotions were on a ride more thrilling than a water park roller coaster—up one moment and down the next, in the air one second and dragged underwater the next, struggling to breathe. She raised her hand and slowly entered the password. She was powerless to bear any consequences; all she could do was try to save her own skin in this bloody conspiracy.
“Ding—”
The vault’s chime was like a wind chime from hell, each ring heralding the closer approach of death.
Betty took a step back. A Rabbit Mask stepped forward and grabbed the vault’s handle, which resembled a ship’s helm. The Rabbit Mask gripped the helm and turned it forcefully to the right three times. The vault finally opened.
The other Rabbit Masks cheered. Only one Rabbit Mask remained to watch Betty while the others flooded into the vault.
Inside the vault, rows of steel cabinets were arranged tightly together. These cabinets also had fingerprint locks and required the iris data of the clients who stored items here to be opened.
However, the Rabbit gentlemen’s target was not in these metal cabinets.
They passed through the forest of steel cabinets and walked into its depths.
A transparent glass case stood in the center of all the other cabinets.
At the center of the glass case rested a transparent stone, about the size of a fingernail.
Finally found it. The lead Rabbit Mask couldn’t contain his excitement. The reason they had risked being annihilated by the Interstellar Federation Legion to break into this bank was for this very gem.
His employer called it Vulcan.
The surface of the case was dust-free, likely due to some anti-dust treatment. The Rabbit Mask walked up and knocked on the case, which produced a dull thud.
This was, of course, no ordinary glass case. If the Rabbit Mask wasn’t mistaken, this was a multi-layered, reinforced, high-temperature-resistant, bulletproof glass case. It seemed the central bank had gone to great lengths to protect it.
However, opening it was still possible. The original owner of this gem had applied for anonymous storage agency, and as luck would have it, the managing agent was Luke Reed, the vice president of the central bank.
Luke once again removed the rabbit mask from his face.
He lowered his head, his iris aligning with the scanning camera. The iris lock chimed, followed by a “click.”
The lock was open. Luke put his mask back on.
He and another Rabbit Mask stood on opposite sides of the glass case, braced themselves against it, and with all their might, lifted the glass cover.
As the outer glass case protecting the gem was lifted, everyone held their breath. The gem seemed to possess some kind of magic; time itself stopped at this moment.
The next moment, before everyone’s eyes, the gem vanished.
Luke stood frozen in place. The heavy glass case made his arms ache, but when the gem disappeared before his eyes, he found it even harder to breathe.
It’s over, he thought. He didn’t know why Vulcan had disappeared, but he knew this would infuriate the other robbers, and they would make him disappear too.

“What the hell is going on?!”
“I really don’t know what happened,” Luke said in shock. The mask hid the cold sweat on his forehead, but it couldn’t conceal the terror in his voice.
He and the other Rabbit Mask quickly set the glass case down and looked everywhere, trying to see where the gem had gone. Finally, from the inside of the display stand within the case, he found a tiny, broken projector.
The projector was about the size of an aphid, difficult to spot without opening the case and inspecting it closely.
The air instantly froze.
“Are you playing with me, Luke Reed?” The Rabbit Mask’s voice was like scalding steam, about to burn Luke.
Luke trembled with fear. “I swear to God, I didn’t touch it. And you saw for yourself, the security here is so tight, I alone couldn’t possibly…”
He didn’t get to finish. The Rabbit Mask raised his gun, the muzzle aimed at his chest.
A loud bang echoed. Luke looked down. Blood gushed from the hole in his chest like an underground spring. His strength was being drained away, and his vision grew blurry, then dark. Finally, he collapsed to the ground.
“Fucking hell, I knew this idiot was unreliable,” the Rabbit Mask who had just fired cursed. “What are you all standing around for? Hurry up and move anything valuable out of here.”
The other Rabbit Masks nodded. One of them took out a laser cutter, severed Luke’s hand, and attempted to use his fingerprint to open other safes. Unfortunately, apart from a few boxes managed by Luke, most of them wouldn’t open.
Still, what they got was enough.
Just then, “knock, knock, knock.” Was someone knocking on the door? The Rabbit Masks looked toward the vault entrance in confusion. A Rabbit Mask was standing guard at the door. Wait, was there someone behind him?
The Rabbit Mask at the door collapsed like a deflating balloon. And the person behind him, wearing a bulletproof mask and clad entirely in black, was also holding a laser rifle. This laser rifle looked far more sophisticated and advanced than the cheap ones the Rabbit Masks were carrying.
“Get down!!!” one of the Rabbit Masks screamed.
They had been in this game for years and naturally recognized what kind of person this was. Looking at his superior equipment, even if he was alone, annihilating this gang of robbers in baseball uniforms would be a piece of cake.

Outside the vault, Betty was trembling all over while her colleague comforted her.
Oh, dear God, just moments ago she had seen her dear colleague killed upstairs, and now he had popped up again, saying he was alive. Alright, Betty was truly terrified, her mind a complete mess. She had no idea what was happening, but it was good that he was alive.
The vault door hadn’t been closed, only left ajar, but it was extremely soundproof. Outside, Betty had no idea what had transpired within.
After a while, the door finally opened. A thick metallic smell washed over her. Betty took a deep breath and nearly threw up.
A person dressed entirely in black walked out.
“How is it?” she heard her colleague ask.
“Not good,” the person in black said. “Vulcan has been stolen.”
She saw her colleague’s expression turn grim. After a long moment, he said, “Let’s escort this innocent lady to a safe place first.”