Chapter 69: I Really Want a Vacation
A sharp system-default ringtone pulled Wen En back to reality from a deep sleep.
So tired, so sleepy. Wen En pushed away Romeo’s arm, which was pressing on him, propped himself up, and fumbled around the pillow, finally finding his communicator, which had only twenty percent battery left.
Wen En, with a messy, bird’s nest-like hair and dark circles like a panda, opened the video call invitation on the communicator screen and said in an unpleasant tone, “Hello? What is it?”
RV, on the other side of the screen, looked much more energetic. He was wearing a black suit jacket and a white inner shirt, with a light blue tie at his collar. There was not a single trace of stubble on his chin. Even his hair was styled with a lethal amount of hairspray, neatly slicked back. The hairspray shone under the incandescent ceiling light.
Wen En felt that his eyes were about to be blinded by his light bulb-like head.
“Do you remember the Scotch brothers?” RV said.
“Oh, those two internet celebrity brothers who are obsessed with flaunting their wealth and getting attention. What about them? Are they dead?” Wen En said.
“Unfortunately, they’re still alive,” RV said. “They’ve now transferred to Planet T27, where they’re eating, drinking, and having fun, and also preparing to attend the external investment conference of Joseph Hall Biotechnology.”
Planet T27 was a planet where eighty percent of the land was desert. The climate was dry and water was scarce, making it unsuitable for most humans to live. But the planet’s gambling and tourism industries were well-developed. In addition, the planet was located near an important transportation hub of the Interstellar Federation Empire, attracting many tourists every year.
“Their so-called preparations are actually just frantically buying a bunch of brand-name goods in luxury stores, and going to underground casinos to lose money. We don’t even have to specifically investigate their whereabouts, because they’ve filmed all their activities except for going to the toilet and uploaded them to the internet,” RV said.
At this point, RV seemed to have suddenly recalled something disgusting, and his face turned as foul as a brick in a ditch. “Yes, you heard me right. Everything except for going to the toilet, including showering, they’ve uploaded to the internet. Although they’ve pixelated their private parts, but, seriously, who wants to see this?”
In fact, there were quite a lot of people with a strong curiosity who wanted to see it. After all, the number of views on those videos was explosive, and the number of followers of the internet celebrity brothers had also increased a lot.
RV, as a middle-aged, institutionalized office worker, perhaps because he had been running around for work for many years, really couldn’t understand this strange entertainment trend.
“Got it,” Wen En said. “So, we have to go to Planet T27 and arrest these two internet celebrities for illegal money laundering and suspected cryptocurrency investment fraud.”
“That’s right,” RV said. “But we have to catch them secretly, without making a fuss, because we still have to use their identities to attend the external investment conference of Joseph Hall Biotechnology. This operation must not attract anyone’s attention.”
“No problem,” Wen En said.
“I’ve already applied for funds from the headquarters’ finance department, and the money arrived an hour ago. So don’t sleep anymore. You and I will pack up and meet at the reception hall of the headquarters’ front desk. When everyone is here, we’ll go…”
Go…
RV only got halfway through the word “go” before he couldn’t continue. Within three seconds, RV’s face, like a Basset Hound’s, was all wrinkled up, as if he had seen something unbearable.
Romeo had woken up, probably from the sound of Wen En and RV discussing work. He tried to open his eyes. His eyelids were open, but his eyeballs were not yet awake. His blue pupils were filled with a confusion that couldn’t distinguish between dream and reality.
Similarly, his brain was only partially awake. Most of his brain cells and tissues were still in a standby state.
He sat up with his eyes half-open and saw Wen En sitting next to him, as if he were talking to the communicator. The unprocessed visual and auditory information entered his brain from his eyes and ears, slid through his brain tissue without any obstruction, and then entered his limbs through the spinal nerves.
So, his instinct controlled his brain. He got up and hugged the Beta next to him, and started kissing and biting the area above the Beta’s neck.
In an instant, the small double room was filled with the fruity scent of lemon and coconut pheromones.
Wen En: …
So embarrassing! His peripheral vision glanced at the communicator screen. RV on the screen had long since closed his eyes, unable to bear to look.
RV: Oh my eyes…
Wen En quickly pushed Romeo away, but Romeo’s mind was a mess, and his limbs were like a sloth’s, insisting on clinging to this straight pine tree of Wen En.
“You’re up early today, my dear,” the Alpha, like a lion on the prairie, licked Wen En’s chin and neck. “Can’t you stay with me a little longer? Hmm?”
“I’m on a video call with RV,” Wen En said.
“Video? Call?” Romeo finally opened his half-closed eyes.
“That’s right, a video call,” Wen En smiled slightly.
Although he looked gentle and polite on the surface, in a place where the communicator’s camera couldn’t see, Wen En quickly reached out, forcefully grabbed Romeo’s grandfather’s lover’s head, and twisted it a full one hundred and eighty degrees.
“Ow, ow, ow—” Romeo screamed at the top of his lungs, “Wen En, you’re going to twist my Mimi off!! Be gentle, be gentle!”
“He was probably not fully awake just now,” Wen En turned his head and looked at RV, who had his eyes tightly closed and didn’t dare to open them. “I’m sorry, sir, for letting you see something unpleasant.”
“Hehe, it’s fine,” RV’s lips twitched, revealing an awkward and impolite, and even a little uncanny valley-like stiff smile. “In any case, just remember to find me at the reception hall next to the headquarters’ front desk on time.”
“Yes, sir,” Wen En nodded, his face serious. Before hanging up, he did not forget to give RV a military salute that all interstellar army soldiers knew, as if to show his determination to carry out the mission at all costs.
I know, you don’t have to do that, RV thought. Having known Wen En for so many years, this was the first time he had felt afraid of him. He didn’t know what he was afraid of, but he was just afraid.
After the call with Wen En ended, RV made a video call request to Della.
However, the call rang for less than three seconds before it was hung up.
RV: “What the hell???”
Of course, RV would not let Della go. Fortunately, after being hung up on twice in a row, RV finally got through to Della on the third try. But the problem was, the person who answered the call was not Della, but Claire.
Like Wen En, Claire also had a chicken’s nest-like hair, and her tone of voice was as foul as it could be, “What?”
“Where’s Della?” RV asked.
“She’s putting on makeup,” Claire said in an unfriendly tone.
Makeup? RV had known Della for so long and had never seen her wear makeup. Besides, Della didn’t like makeup. Why did she suddenly think of putting on makeup today?
There must be a trick to this.
RV thought of the awkward scene when he was on the phone with Wen En just now, and suddenly understood something. This could also explain why it was Claire who answered the call he had made to Della, and also why it had taken him several tries to get through.
In short, the makeup was definitely not the kind of makeup he was thinking of. It must have had another meaning.
RV took a sharp breath. “Do you have a problem?” Claire still had a foul face.
“Tell Della to pack up and meet at the reception hall of the headquarters’ front desk later,” RV said, forcing himself to remain calm.
“Oh,” Claire said.
“And…”
RV wanted to add a few more words, but before he could finish, Claire quickly hung up the call.
RV: …
He knew these two must be doing something shady! Otherwise, why would they be in such a hurry to hang up on him?
After hanging up, Claire casually threw Della’s communicator aside, stretched, and then slowly got up from the bed.
Just then, the bathroom door opened. Della was already dressed and was applying lip balm as she walked out. “Did you just answer my communicator?”
“No, I don’t know,” Claire’s face was displeased, but when she saw Della, her expression softened a little.
Della didn’t say anything, just scanned the room and saw her communicator thrown in a corner. She walked over, picked it up, and checked the call log. The conversation between RV and Claire was playing on the communicator’s screen in the form of a screen recording.
“Makeup? Seriously?” Della was speechless.
“Applying lip balm is also makeup,” Claire got up, pinched Della’s chin, and kissed her on the cheek.
“That’s skincare, not makeup,” Della corrected her. “And you haven’t brushed your teeth yet.”
Claire’s steps to the bathroom were faster than her words. The moment she finished speaking, the bathroom door was closed by her.
Honestly, I wonder if she heard me.
At this time, RV was sitting on the sofa in the reception hall of the headquarters’ front desk, silently accepting the hot coffee that the intern at the front desk had handed him, and then, like drinking alcohol, he downed the 350ml paper coffee cup in one gulp.
“Sir, please drink slowly,” the intern was stunned.
“Another cup, please. Thank you,” RV said.
“Oh, of course, no problem,” the intern hesitantly took the paper coffee cup. In a short while, he filled another cup of hot coffee for RV.
RV took the coffee cup and once again drank it all in one gulp.
He couldn’t help it. He was depressed, really depressed. The headquarters strictly prohibited alcohol, so he could only drown his sorrows in coffee.
“Sigh—”
RV collapsed on the sofa, looked up at the ceiling, and let out a long sigh. “Sigh, sigh, sigh—”
Being a leader is really hard! He had to give his subordinates tasks, and he had to be given a foul face by them. Sob, sob, sob, I don’t want to work anymore. I really want to go on vacation…
“Do you need me to get you a glass of water?” the intern thought that RV was not feeling well from drinking too much coffee and asked with confusion and concern.
Hearing the intern’s words, RV finally looked up at the intern. As expected of a newcomer, this intern’s eyes were filled with longing for work. For a moment, RV felt a little unbearable and thought, I should be a good example in front of the intern and not be too depressed about work.
“No need, thank you,” RV said. “Child, you can go and do your own thing.”
“Okay,” the intern nodded. Before leaving, he did not forget to say, “If you need anything, just call me.”
RV nodded and gave him a look of affirmation.
Not long after the intern left, Wen En and Della’s two groups came to gather. RV looked at them, and his originally concerned eyes dimmed again.
At the thought of how these subordinates had not given him a good face during the video call just now, RV was annoyed just by looking at them now. But for the sake of the mission’s progress, after being angry for three seconds in his heart, he could only bow to reality.
“Have a seat,” RV pointed to the sofa in the reception hall and said, “Let’s get down to business now.”
