The Overworked Beta and the Paranoid Alpha 16

Chapter 16: You’re a Beta, So of Course It’s Different

Everyone was here.
RV did a headcount and nodded in satisfaction. “We can board the spacecraft in half an hour. For now, let’s go sit in the waiting room.”
Della and Wen En nodded.
“Half an hour isn’t long, but it’s not short either. Can you two keep an eye on them?” RV glanced at Romeo and Claire again. He couldn’t be blamed; after all, these two had too many prior offenses and loved to exploit loopholes, as slippery as eels.
“Of course,” Wen En said, flexing his wrist. The joint made a “click” sound.
Della didn’t make as many movements, just said one sentence: “No problem. I brought a utility knife with a 15cm blade.” According to interstellar travel regulations, sharp objects with a diameter exceeding 15cm were prohibited on spacecraft.
RV: “No blood, no deaths.”
“Roger,” Wen En and Della replied in unison, their expressions serious.
Romeo: …
Claire: …
Is it too late to start being a good, law-abiding citizen now?

Three hours later, the spacecraft finally landed at the flight transit station on Capital Star.
The journey was smoother and more peaceful than Romeo had imagined, possibly because he had fallen asleep in his seat not long after boarding.
He was just too tired. Having been locked in the interrogation room at the K9 Planet Police Department for a whole night, he hadn’t rested well. Plus, they were on a military spacecraft, and apart from their group, there were no other passengers in the cabin. The interior of the spacecraft was so quiet that even the sound of pulling a tissue was clearly audible. Wen En didn’t last long before he dozed off.
As long as he wasn’t causing trouble, Wen En naturally couldn’t be bothered with what he was doing.
Except… Wen En looked down at the Alpha who had fallen fast asleep, completely unaware, his head resting on Wen En’s shoulder. He silently pushed his head to the other side.
A few minutes later, the Alpha’s head was pushed back again.
RV, sitting on the other side of Romeo, whispered, “Can you not push his head over to my side?”
An Alpha leaning on an Alpha, the thought of it was disgusting, especially since RV was a married Alpha with extremely traditional aesthetic values. When Romeo’s head turned his way, RV got goosebumps.
Wen En: “…Is it not disgusting for him to lean on me?”
RV: “You’re a Beta, so of course it’s different.”
Wen En: “What kind of strange logic is that?”
Sigh, forget it. Wen En had no choice but to manually recline Romeo’s seat, letting his head rest on the backrest. That was much better.
It was said that an Alpha’s alertness was several times sharper than a Beta’s or an Omega’s, but after all this, Romeo hadn’t woken up, which made Wen En doubt the truth of that statement.
But it was good that he was asleep. At least he would be quiet for a while. Wen En breathed a sigh of relief, thinking, Alphas have too much energy. They’re such a handful. Wen En sometimes felt like he wasn’t watching a person, but a large, energetic, and cunning dog.
Speaking of large dogs, Wen En wondered how his dog, Jack, was doing recently. And his cat, Rose. He wondered if that intern, Ryan, was taking good care of them.
He took out his communicator and checked his messages. Six hours ago, Ryan had sent a picture of Jack. In the photo, Jack was eating a vanilla ice cream cone, his black dog face smeared with cream, looking both dopey and stupid.
Ryan had also reported on Jack’s amusing antics: Ryan was walking Jack when they passed an ice cream truck. Jack refused to move, squatting at the truck’s door, drooling all over the ground. The ice cream vendor was a kind person and treated Jack to a cone. Ryan felt bad just leaving, so he also bought a chocolate cone.
As for Rose, she either beat up the dog or slept at home every day. She shed cat hair everywhere, so Ryan had no choice but to help Wen En give the house a deep clean.
Wen En smiled. Seeing that his cat and dog were doing well, his heart felt warm. He replied:
“Thank you.”
He put down his communicator. He wasn’t sleepy, but to have more energy for the work ahead, he also closed his eyes to rest.

Wen En: [Thank you :-D]
Ryan: [You’re welcome :-P]
Looking at the “unread” status next to the reply he had sent to Wen En several hours ago, Ryan sighed.
It was common for frontline F.I.A.D. agents to disappear for months without news while on a mission. Some on long-term missions might even be out of contact for several years.
Usually, if the organization couldn’t contact a frontline agent for three years, they would send other staff to check if the missing agent was dead. If they were, the organization would directly erase all records of the agent.
Wen En’s cat appeared from somewhere and climbed onto Ryan’s lap. It curled up, closed its eyes, and purred. Ryan stroked the cat’s head, thinking, Sigh, Wen En, I hope you stay alive.
“Crash—”
The sound of a glass bottle shattering came from behind him. Ryan jumped in fright and turned his head to see the culprit:
Wen En’s Malinois, yes, the dog named Jack, was sitting on the floor, its eyes narrowed, its head so low it was almost touching the floor.
Ryan looked at it for a long while. The bottle of vegetable oil that had been on the counter was now on the floor, shattered to pieces. Jack was covered in a layer of pale yellow vegetable oil, which looked very difficult to clean.
Ryan sighed. It seemed he had a busy day ahead of him.

Getting off the spacecraft, Romeo and Claire were greeted not by smiling flight attendants, but by a row of Interstellar Special Police in black uniforms and bulletproof vests, holding laser rifles.
“Hands up,” the leading special agent raised his rifle and shouted.
“This is no way to treat a guest,” Romeo muttered.
“I agree. This is not elegant at all,” Claire said.
Despite this, they obediently raised their hands. They had already caused enough trouble.
A special agent took out a scanner. The infrared camera scanned Romeo and Claire from head to toe and said, “No threat confirmed.”
Isn’t that obvious? Of course there’s no threat. Romeo was speechless. If he had the ability to be a threat, he wouldn’t be standing here.
The special agent walked up to RV and greeted him, “Sir.”
RV nodded.
The special agent recited a string of numbers: “E39.63.27.”
RV: “I understand. Thank you.”
The special agent nodded and waved his hand back. The other special agents, as if receiving a signal, all retreated.
“What do those numbers mean?” Romeo poked Wen En’s arm and asked.
“I’m not telling you,” Wen En said.
“Why?”
“No reason.”
This really piqued Romeo’s curiosity. He thought for a while and said, “Are they coordinates?”
“No,” Wen En replied curtly.
“Huh? They have to be coordinates, right?” Romeo felt his reasoning was correct. Wen En was just trying to fool him.
“They’re really not,” Wen En said.
Romeo was dissatisfied with Wen En’s perfunctory and deceptive attitude. “Tch, if you don’t want to tell me, then fine. I don’t want to talk to you anymore.”
“That would be for the best,” Wen En said.
Romeo still stuck to his idea. This set of numbers was a set of coordinates. The letter E represented east, and the following numbers were the exact location.
After some thought, Romeo roughly guessed where the location was. It was a residential street near the lower district.
So, was the new mission starting so soon?
They walked out of the flight transit station, and a dilapidated black van pulled up in front of them. The driver’s side window rolled down, and a man with a garlic-bulb nose and a mustache greeted them, “Ladies and gentlemen, please get in.”
Della was expressionless. “Can I call the police?” Claire, beside her, nodded in agreement. They couldn’t help it; the van looked very much like an unlicensed taxi.
RV smiled for a change and said, “This is my old comrade from the Interstellar Demolition Force, Klin.”
Klin said, “That’s all in the past. Now I’m just a driver. Alright, everyone, get in.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Klin pressed the button to open the door, and the back door of the van slid open.
“Wow,” several people exclaimed.
The interior of the van was equipped with various advanced communication devices and display screens. Not only were there all kinds of laser pistols and laser swords, but Wen En also saw old-fashioned daggers and long swords in the car.
The interior of this van was practically a small information center and armory, a world apart from its dilapidated exterior.
“Hmph, you young whippersnappers, don’t underestimate an old man like me,” Klin said with a grin.