Chapter 2: Green Eyes (2)

【How could you snap at him?】

“I didn’t snap at him.”

【.】

“I was getting his attention.”

The System suspected the Host was bullshitting it, but could find no evidence.

【Please correct your attitude and complete the mission in a timely manner.】

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, okay, okay. Got it, got it.”

The pharmacy wasn’t far. Shen Qiuxun grabbed a scarf, wrapped it around his neck and the lower half of his face, and went downstairs. He crossed a pitch-black alley and arrived at the roadside. There were very few pedestrians, all dressed in dusty grey, their faces wrapped in scarves, hurrying on their way.

A five-minute walk brought him to his destination: a low, dilapidated storefront with the plastic characters for “Benevolent Heart Pharmacy” stuck beside the door.

Shen Qiuxun took the chance to roughly sort through his initial memories. The pharmacy appeared to sell common medicine on the surface but was actually involved in smuggling.

The drugs were sold under the banner of the Seville Biotech Group, one of the top conglomerates in this world, wealthy enough to rival nations and wielding immense power.

But this planet was so remote that even the emperor’s reach was limited. The corporation probably couldn’t be bothered to deal with a small fly like this.

He went down to the basement level. It was pitch black, lit only by electric lamps on the walls. The corridor connected many rooms stacked with all sorts of goods. Shen Qiuxun’s usual job, besides working as a clerk when the shop was open, was helping inventory the cargo and doing some accounting work.

One salary for three people’s work. The quintessential wage slave, huh.

Shen Qiuxun found his workplace. A female colleague was moving cargo. With a straight face, she dragged a large wooden crate over to the table, then took the black jars out of the goods one by one for counting.

The woman’s name was Ellie. She had pale blonde hair, a somewhat European look, and a few freckles on her face. She had worked at the pharmacy much longer than he had.

Shen Qiuxun tactfully joined in, observing her movements while busying himself. After a couple of repeats, he could manage on his own. However, the wooden crate was shockingly heavy. He had to struggle for a long time just to move one, eventually resorting to dragging it along like his colleague did.

“Sis, do you know that green-eyed transport worker?” Shen Qiuxun asked softly, his hands not pausing their work.

Ellie remained expressionless, her movements like a machine executing a fixed program, methodical and precise.

Just as Shen Qiuxun thought she wouldn’t answer, he heard her slightly hoarse voice: “You mean Xu Zhiyuan?”

Shen Qiuxun calmly talked to the System: ‘See? I’m diligently working hard for the mission. Know your enemy and know yourself, and you’ll never be defeated. Don’t you get it?’

【.】

Ellie picked up a black jar and inspected it carefully. Her eyes were desolate, and her lips barely moved as she spoke:

“The transport workers do all the dirty and tiring work, and it’s very dangerous. They operate right under the noses of star pirates and search teams. The pay isn’t high, either. Also… he’s very dangerous, a bloodthirsty killer. He might very well be an interstellar fugitive.”

“I heard he suffered a pheromone rampage a few days ago on a job. His mental state has been very unstable lately.”

Ellie paused for a moment, glancing at him. Her brown eyes stared at him quietly.

Shen Qiuxun had a bad premonition.

“You’re not the only one with such thoughts. I advise you to abandon this idea sooner rather than later. Instead of seeking crooked paths, you should focus on the job in front of you, save a few coins, and plan for your future.”

“?”

Ellie lowered her eyes. Her fingernails scraped neurotically against the wooden crate, the corner of her mouth twitching:

“A defective Alpha is still an Alpha. The hierarchical gap between Alpha and Beta is like an unbridgeable chasm. Alphas have always thought highly of themselves and only see Betas who approach them as clingy hangers-on, playthings, bed warmers, lowly disgusting bugs, and whores trying to climb up.”

“…Okay.” Shen Qiuxun was deeply shocked by the class stratification in this world.

Ellie seemed to recall something, like a precision instrument suddenly jamming. Her movements paused for an instant. Though her expression didn’t change much, perhaps it was the chance to talk about something that needed saying, or perhaps because Shen Qiuxun’s attitude of admitting his fault was good, she uncharacteristically said a lot:

“I… once had a friend like that. He was bewitched by an Alpha, emptied himself out for that Alpha, but all he got in the end was humiliation and betrayal.”

“Alphas are nothing but heartless, unjust, brutal, and merciless beasts,” Ellie concluded.

After saying this, Ellie fell silent again.

In a way, this woman’s thinking was rather ahead of its time. After all, in a world where Alphas held most of the power, many Betas still flocked to them.

These words made Shen Qiuxun’s heart flutter with panic: ‘Lord System, is there only this one Capture Target on this planet?’

This whole AB difference thing already seemed very troublesome.

【Currently, yes.】

Shen Qiuxun started considering the possibility of stowing away to another planet—never mind if he could even succeed. Stowing away itself was a job requiring long planning. Even if he managed it, the countdown timer would finish him off.

“…” Shen Qiuxun closed his eyes in despair.

Both of them worked quickly. During that time, the shopkeeper, wearing a suit and tie, came down once to inspect, but left after just a glance due to some official business. Shen Qiuxun felt that the man’s gaze lingered on him for quite a while.

By the time this batch of goods was almost inventoried, Shen Qiuxun was so hungry he was seeing stars, his face pale as a ghost.

Ellie walked past him with the cargo manifest. She reached out and tapped the cabinet under the iron table with the end of her pen.

Shen Qiuxun’s drifting eyes followed the sound downwards. He hooked the metal ring and pulled the cabinet open. Two tubes of pale green nutrient fluid rolled out. His eyes widened slightly: he felt he could live a little longer.

Shen Qiuxun gulped down a tube of nutrient fluid. The bitterness filled his mouth, making him frown.

Just then, the male lead from their conversation suddenly arrived. He was still wearing the same vest from the rental house and cargo pants underneath. He carried three large wooden crates on his right shoulder and held another in his left hand. He entered through the side door, expressionlessly set the wooden crates down, wiped his sweat with the towel around his neck, then carried the wooden crates Ellie and Shen Qiuxun had finished inventorying back out. He repeated this cycle many times until the wooden crates in the room were completely refreshed.

Ellie took a stack of manifests and went out.

Shen Qiuxun was checking the photocopied drug lists. Only after he finished did he have time to look up and glance at him. Xu Zhiyuan had very sharp features—high brow bone, straight nose bridge—fitting the image Ellie had described perfectly.

He felt a bit speechless, thinking he really didn’t have many days left to live.

After finishing his work, the man didn’t leave immediately. He was carrying something in his hand. His palm, with its clearly defined knuckles, lightly rested on the iron table.

A shadow fell over him. Shen Qiuxun, who had been spacing out, looked up in confusion and met those grass-green eyes directly. They were indifferent, utterly devoid of emotion, cold enough to freeze a person solid.

But it didn’t matter; Shen Qiuxun had dead fish eyes, immune to freezing.

Shen Qiuxun noticed the wound on his shoulder, likely torn open while moving the wooden crates. New injury added to old, half-scabbed over, dark red blood trickling down and soaking into the towel he’d used for wiping sweat.

Shen Qiuxun frowned. “What are you looking at? It’s just a scratch, not like you’re dying.”

“…”

Xu Zhiyuan’s icy gaze slid over his cheek, his lips pressed thin.

The man just looked at him like that, with a kind of probing intent. Shen Qiuxun blinked slowly. Under the System’s incessant urging in his mind, he reluctantly reached out to a nearby shelf, fumbled for a tube of hemostatic agent, and pinched the very tip of the glass vial, offering it.

The hemostatic agent was a rich, dark green, making the fingertips holding it seem dazzlingly pale, the nails rounded and neatly trimmed.

It was completely different from the other hand.

The man raised an eyebrow. He reached out to take the hemostatic agent. Fingertips met—one warm, one cold. He casually shook the glass vial, the corner of his mouth curving up in a good mood. His tone was flippant: “Thanks.”

Xu Zhiyuan glanced at the hemostatic agent, then cast a look at the person across from him, put it in his pocket, and turned to leave.

Ellie came in from behind. Silently, the two of them began inventorying the next batch of goods.

In the basement, there was no telling day from night. Shen Qiuxun only felt the temperature seemed to have dropped significantly, but not to an unbearable degree.

They finally finished inventorying the last batch of goods. Shen Qiuxun’s entire body ached.

Before leaving work, Ellie called out to stop him.

“The cost of the hemostatic agent needs to be logged. It’ll be deducted from your salary.”

“???”

And so, Shen Qiuxun ended up contributing three days’ worth of meal money to that damnable Capture Target: I hate this.

Ellie locked the door. Her brown eyes looked at him quietly under the harsh white light. “I hope you don’t follow in his footsteps.”

Shen Qiuxun didn’t speak. His brain had crashed under the blow of having worked for free.

They parted ways at the pharmacy entrance. Outside, the sky had turned completely dark. The temperature was frighteningly low. Only the howling wind could be heard on the road, like the roar of a wild beast.

Indebted and having worked all day for nothing, Shen Qiuxun dragged his aching body back to his small rental room and collapsed face-first onto the bed.

“Living is hard, System Buddy.”

【Don’t be tired.】

“…So domineering. I’m gonna fall in love with you.”

He lay there restlessly. At half past ten, Shen Qiuxun decided to get up and take a shower. The water bill was paid monthly in a lump sum; he wouldn’t save anything by skipping it.

Just as he came out of the shower, Xu Zhiyuan came back. He was draping his towel over the chair Shen Qiuxun had sat on at noon. The wound on his shoulder had scabbed over. He was holding a haphazardly bundled package.

Shen Qiuxun pursed his lips: That hemostatic agent bought with his three days’ food money really worked well.

The man looked at him for a while, then stepped forward and handed him the bundle.

“?” Shen Qiuxun took it hesitantly, unwrapping the cloth to see three tubes of liquid inside. It was high-grade nutrient fluid. Supposedly, unlike the low-grade version, this stuff tasted sweet.

For him?

After handing over the bundle, the two tacitly went their separate ways. Xu Zhiyuan prepared to go back to his room for a change of clothes, while Shen Qiuxun stiffly walked back to his room. His body was wrapped up tightly, but his head was dripping wet, making him extremely cold.

【Please actively complete the mission, Host.】

The action of closing the door paused. Shen Qiuxun wiped his head with one hand, the slightly damp, broken strands of hair sticking to his neck like waterweeds stretching beneath an ice field. Droplets of water trickled down the side of his neck, gathering in the little hollow of his collarbone, painting his snow-white skin with a fine, watery sheen.

He hesitated briefly, then looked up to call out to the man outside, keeping his tone as even as possible: “Hey, are you free the afternoon of the day after tomorrow? I’ll treat you to a meal.”

Xu Zhiyuan looked back. His gaze swept over the pale curve of Shen Qiuxun’s neck, his eyes darkening slightly.

He pondered for a moment, the corner of his mouth curving up, his narrow eyes lifting at the corners. A certain sheen flickered in his grass-green eyes as he answered carelessly, “Sure.”

His tone was utterly infuriating.

Shen Qiuxun rolled his eyes covertly, then started worrying again: How do two broke paupers go on a date?

Go begging together on the street?

“Can you pay a little towards the date expenses, dear?”

【Violates regulations. Request denied.】