Ugly Photos

Ye Qingcai sighed and lowered his head. "Still, seven of us ganging up on you alone was wrong. I apologize to you here."

Inside the door.

"What's the captain saying to Tu Ran? Why's he hiding it from us?" Zhou Ming pressed his face against the door crack, straining to listen.

"How should I know?" Young Master Qi, crouching just above him to eavesdrop, shot him a glare. He hadn't caught a single word. "Why's the soundproofing on this new door so good?!"

"Shh, keep it down. They'll hear us outside," Xiao Miao whispered.

Wang Qiang, being the tallest, peered through the highest gap. "I think I heard something about... causing trouble... the team... humiliation..."

"Is the boss warning her that if she dares mess with us, we'll gang up and humiliate her?" Zhou Ming said viciously.

Qi Tongda mouthed "idiot" at the back of his head.

"You calling me names?" Zhou Ming looked up without warning.

Qi Tongda met his gaze with an innocent expression and a firm tone. "No."

Zhou Ming lowered his head and rubbed his nose. "Then why's my nose itching like I'm about to sneeze?"

Qi Tongda's lips twitched.

"If you're going to sneeze, go somewhere else. Don't do it here," Wang Qiang said from the top.

Zhou Ming rubbed his nose and wandered off.

Outside the door.

"I'm glad you can forgive us. I was worried you'd hold a grudge and have trouble fitting in with us." Ye Qingcai let out an obvious sigh of relief and smiled faintly. "Friction and rifts among team members are a major taboo during missions. I usually don't stop them from arguing or fighting—once the anger's vented, the friction dies down. You're the first female member on our team, and I hope you'll integrate quickly."

Tu Ran kept her smile. "I haven't spent much time with you all before, so I didn't know you were this... easygoing. I'm confident I'll adapt in no time, Captain. No need to worry."

Ye Qingcai wiped his face with a bitter smile. "I'm also confident you'll fit right in."

Not only fit in—she'd turn the place upside down.

"But Captain, is the glass door of External Affairs Group Nine installed backwards?" Tu Ran pointed behind Ye Qingcai.

He turned to look. Standing outside, they could clearly see the scene inside: five heads pressed against the door in all sorts of contorted poses, cheeks squished against the crack, faces deformed from straining to hear the conversation outside.

Ye Qingcai covered his eyes in speechless exasperation.

Why did he have teammates like this?

He explained feebly, "The old door was smashed when they got into a brawl. This one was just installed today—I didn't notice earlier."

Inside, the five assumed the new door was one-way and couldn't see out, unaware that the people outside had already witnessed their ridiculous display.

"Qiangzi, what else did they say?" Zhou Ming, done sneezing, came back and squeezed past Xiao Miao to press up against the door.

"Can't hear clearly. Sounds like they're talking about the door?"

"The door?" Young Master Qi scoffed. "You must have misheard. What's there to talk about with a door? It's not like they're that bored."

Outside, Ye Qingcai was already contacting the logistics department, telling them to come over ASAP to swap the door back.

Tu Ran stood before the door, silently raising her communicator at the five, capturing their poses in full.

"Captain, do you guys have a group chat? Add me to it." Tu Ran deliberately leaned close to the door crack and said.

"Right away," Ye Qingcai replied, lowering his head to operate his communicator.

The five inside heard the suddenly clear conversation and knew they were about to come in. They immediately bolted back to their workstations at eighty miles an hour, pretending to be deeply engrossed in their own tasks, affecting the aloof look of people who couldn't care less about the conversation.

When Tu Ran pushed the door open, this was the scene she walked into.

Ignoring them, she quietly returned to her own workstation.

"Ding, ding."

Everyone's communicator pinged with a new message.

The five clicked in and saw that Ye Qingcai had invited Tu Ran to their work group.

Tu Ran stared at the group name—"Seven Little Dragons"—and fell silent for three seconds.

Then she opened the chat, swiped her finger, and sent the photos she'd just taken.

The five, having seen it was just a group invitation, had already put down their communicators.

Wang Qiang had gone back to tinkering with his unfinished bomb.

Xiao Miao had returned to the projector to figure out where the glitch was.

Zhou Ming was cursing under his breath while adjusting the data on his helmet.

Suddenly, the "ding, ding" rang again. Three of them knew it was a group message but couldn't be bothered to check, each busy with their own work—anything important, someone else would tell them.

Qi Tongda, Qiu Jian, and Ye Qingcai clicked in.

Qiu Jian glanced at it indifferently, showed no reaction, calmly closed it, and picked up his headphones to put them back on.

Ye Qingcai took one look, quickly closed it, tilted his head up with a long sigh, and covered his forehead as he pushed the door to leave.

Qi Tongda saw his own face—twisted and deformed from his desperate attempt to eavesdrop—and jumped straight up from his workstation. Planting one foot on the desk, he craned his neck toward Tu Ran, who was practically at the opposite end of the room. "DELETE IT THIS INSTANT!"

The shout exploded like thunder, startling the other three who were busy with their own affairs.

Xiao Miao reacted first, checking his communicator. Seeing the photo Tu Ran had posted, he tapped in and his eyes went wide. Especially when he spotted himself—his face flushed rapidly as he zoomed in and out, confirming that the ugly person in the picture was indeed him.

Zhou Ming was slower to catch on. He opened the group, and when he saw his own ugly photo, he shot up with a "whoosh." The insults for Tu Ran were already on his lips when his gaze shifted upward to see Qi Tongda, even uglier than himself, and a "pfft" of laughter burst out.

"Hahahaha..." He slapped his thigh, unable to hold back. "Qi Geezer, you're hideous! Hahaha! And you still dare call yourself the flower of the Federation?"

Young Master Qi's face instantly turned darker than the bottom of a pot.

"Zhou... Ming! Crawl... over... here... NOW!!"

The words ground out between clenched teeth as he lunged at Zhou Ming.

Zhou Ming showed no fear. He first set down his helmet carefully, then rolled up his sleeves, shadow-boxed a couple of punches aimed at Qi Tongda, and said, "Bring it on. I didn't get to show my stuff last round—this time I'll let you see my real skills."

Just as their fists were about to collide, Tu Ran kicked her chair out, sending it gliding between them. Their attacks collapsed instantly.

"Cussing each other out for fun is fine, but don't throw punches. The captain just said it—if it happens again, he's disbanding External Affairs Group Nine."

Tu Ran was awfully good at playing peacemaker.

And she'd used "our External Affairs Group Nine" with practiced ease.

Like she'd been a guard in Group Nine for ages, while Zhou Ming and Qi Tongda were the newbies.

It was a feeling hard to put into words, but for Zhou Ming and Qi Tongda both, it was deeply unpleasant.

The two exchanged glances, and in a flash of sparks, some unspoken consensus was reached.

The next second, they charged at Tu Ran in unison.