Like a Large Dog Tearing Up the House Alone

010

"What's up?" Annie asked lazily. "Something going on?"

"..."

Old Li opened his mouth, but the words he'd prepared evaporated on the spot.

"Ah, well," he said, his gaze awkwardly drifting upward to avoid Annie's just-right open collar, "are we interrupting?"

He wanted to slap himself twice the moment the words left his mouth.

Did he even need to ask?

Look at her state, look at what she was holding in her hand! Old Li was a Beta, so he couldn't smell pheromones, but he wasn't blind either.

The moment Annie opened the door, the two newly recruited Alphas behind him staggered back, coughing hard from the thick scent. That alone told him exactly what was going on in that room.

"Just tell me what it is," Annie said, holding back a smile. Old Li's eyes were rolling so far up he was about to stare straight at the ceiling. "You're not interrupting; we're the ones who came to trouble you."

Old Li steeled himself. "It's official business. We need a favor—could you pass a message to your husband?"

Annie: "No need. Wait a moment; I'll change clothes."

Old Li blinked.

The Resistance's ideals were naturally different from terrorists', but he was still a native of New Thebes. In all his years, aside from flies, Old Li had never seen an Omega who called the shots like this.

But then he thought about what that Alpha had bought earlier...

Old Li's gaze involuntarily flicked toward the door.

Arthur Kane had punched a hole straight through the wall, leaving all the Resistance members deeply shaken. But now, that Alpha with off-the-charts combat ability was just lying flat on the bed, motionless.

Mm.

Who would come save his poor eyes!

......

...

Five minutes later, in the monitoring room.

Annie took the chip Old Li handed her, ignoring everyone's odd stares, and scanned it with her personal terminal.

The lenses automatically projected all the information.

Madam Hado, 32 years old, female Omega.

Annie studied the photo in the holographic projection. The woman looked delicate and pitiable, exquisitely refined and docile—very much fitting the stereotypical Omega image.

The governor of the City of the Radiant Sun, Hado, was an Alpha, but he was already nearly sixty. Though not exactly paunchy, the photo showed a man who looked worn out from excess and lacking in energy.

Madam Hado was the governor's third wife.

The Resistance members were completely oblivious that Annie had been monitoring their conversation. Seeing Annie stay silent, Old Li coughed a few times.

"You said you wanted to join us," he said. "This is the test."

"So who is testing me?" Annie asked, with a hint of meaning.

Theoretically, Annie and Arthur didn't know that the Dreamlight Hotel was the Resistance's secret hideout.

"...Pass this first, then we'll talk." Old Li hesitated, speaking vaguely.

"What do you need me to do?" Annie asked.

"It's not hard."

Old Li was secretly relieved she didn't press further. "It's just that our boss—Boss He—is an old close friend of Madam Hado's. And, you know, all the toys and supplies for a couples' hotel like this can't come through the front door. They have to come through a secret route, carried in by someone. But to get into the city, someone has to approve the permit."

Annie immediately understood. "Madam Hado cuts Boss He some slack?"

"Right, but the boss isn't here right now. The rest of us are either Betas or Alphas, so we can't go see the governor's wife," Old Li scratched the back of his head. "So, uh... you'll take Boss He's token to visit the lady and get her to approve the permit, so our people can come into the city like usual."

Exactly as Annie had predicted.

Bringing scientists into the city naturally required connections—otherwise, it would be walking straight into a trap.

It sounded like the Resistance leader, codenamed "Fly," was Boss He of the hotel. And her connection was the governor's wife of the City of the Radiant Sun.

Taking a token to visit the governor's wife wasn't a difficult task, either.

Especially since it sounded like Boss He did this often.

"Fine," Annie nodded, quickly mapping out her plan. "But I'll need suitable formal attire and a proper identity. You'd better also prepare a gift for me—since I'm not Boss He herself. Have it ready before tomorrow; I want to see everything myself. It has to be appropriate enough... Can you manage?"

Old Li stared, dumbfounded. It wasn't until Annie asked that he snapped back to reality.

His expression grew complicated. "You're really just a mercenary?"

Annie sighed. "If you have other options, you're free not to trust me."

Too unreliable!

They hadn't directly revealed the Resistance's identity or the purpose of needing the permit, so they had a sliver of caution. But the entire Resistance operation reeked of amateur hour from start to finish.

She was here to complete the mission, not to teach anyone how to run a revolution.

She couldn't count on them. Annie calculated, I need to find an exit strategy soon.

Old Li and the remaining Resistance members exchanged glances.

The situation was urgent, and they couldn't come up with any other solution. They looked at each other and finally had to say, "Well... fine then."

Annie nodded. "I'll wait for your good news."

Agreeing to help the Resistance wasn't the real problem.

The real problem was still waiting for Annie back in the hotel's deluxe suite.

She returned to the room and swiped her card to enter. Arthur Kane was still lying stiff as a board on the bed—except the headboard, which had been flush against the wall, had been yanked so hard it was now crooked, with the soft padding and metal frame bent into a C-shape curving toward Arthur's head.

Annie: "..."

She didn't know whether to be shocked at Arthur's strength or at the hotel furniture's durability!

She hoped the Interstellar Federation was footing the damage bill. Annie clicked her tongue internally: she'd meant for Arthur to cool down, but she hadn't expected him to be restless even alone in the room.

Like a large dog tearing up the house all by itself.

And the moment this rabid dog saw Annie, he struggled even more violently.

The double bed creaked and groaned under his tugging. Arthur's entire body went taut as he tried to pull the handcuffs down.

He didn't say a word, but his blue eyes were fixed on Annie, the murderous intent in them undiminished.

But Annie was unmoved.

She stepped forward.

No retreat, no anger, no attempt to stop or suppress him. Annie kept a relaxed posture, calmly watching Arthur fight desperately.

The cuffs had velvet lining inside, but even so, his wrists were raw and bleeding from the strain. And bending the reinforced furniture had taken a toll on Arthur's strength.

His breathing grew more ragged, his chest heaving, but the force with which he pulled at the headboard was steadily diminishing.

Arthur Kane finally cursed under his breath on the bed.

Emotions were contagious.

Arthur had been furious at first—damn Omega, just leaving him chained to the bed and walking out to talk with the Resistance?!

What did she take him for, a dog she'd leashed?

Lying there, Arthur got angrier the more he thought about it. The moment the door shut, he'd been trying every way to break free.

But this damn bed was too sturdy. He'd bent the headboard, yet still couldn't snap it off.

And his rage hit its peak when Annie strolled back in the door.

At that moment, Arthur genuinely wanted to snap Annie's neck.

But emotions were contagious.

Her perpetually indifferent expression made Arthur feel like a fish flopping in its death throes, only giving the Omega more entertainment.

Pointless.

The Alpha slowly let out a heavy breath, and the head he'd raised dropped back onto the bed.

"Calmed down?" Annie finally spoke, her tone gentle. "If you're calm, I'll unlock the cuffs. Arthur, I didn't mean to humiliate you. I just didn't want to die."

She chose not to mock or accuse him—no point adding fuel to the fire at this moment.

A little strategic vulnerability did, as expected, improve Arthur's expression considerably.

With his anger subsiding, his blue eyes swept over. "Let me go."

Annie curved her lips. "Alright."

Her light weight pressed onto the edge of the bed, the mattress sinking slightly. Annie leaned down, reaching toward the button at the headboard.

Despite the headboard being bent and warped, the button still clicked.

The mechanism dutifully released the handcuffs.

His wrists suddenly light, Arthur Kane lunged up from the bed!

He sprang up like a jumping fish, sitting up at terrifying speed, and his powerful hand locked precisely onto Annie's neck.

That slender, pale throat, firmly in his grip. Arthur could crush Annie's neck bones without more effort than it took to bend the headboard.

But—

Annie didn't flinch.

The petite Omega didn't even change her breathing rhythm. She knelt at the edge of the bed, letting Arthur's frame loom over her, merely lifting her chin to gaze at him with those black eyes.

So calm, as if she were certain Arthur wouldn't actually kill her.

Against his own judgment, Arthur realized he truly hadn't made the move.

Damn it!

He gritted his teeth, but the perfect moment to strike had already passed.

Annie's hands covered his wrist, her soft fingertips gently tracing the red marks left by the cuffs.

"Thank you for not attacking me, Arthur."

She even broke into a smile, his reflection mirrored in her dark eyes. "You're far stronger than me. I only did that because I didn't want to be killed by you... There's medicine in the backpack. Let me apply it."

The faint, feather-light touch pressing on the lash marks stung a little, but mostly itched—and the sensation matched her docile posture perfectly.

Arthur snorted dismissively.

The words "you're far stronger than me" smoothed away the last shred of anger in his heart.

Did she even need to say it?

And besides, Arthur hadn't planned to kill her.

He wasn't stupid. He understood the significance of the gene weapon antidote. It would trigger war no matter which side got its hands on it—how could Arthur, a veteran of the front lines, not understand something so simple? He'd only intended to temporarily cripple Annie's hands and feet.

If she couldn't move, she couldn't secretly contact Meridian.

It was precisely because Arthur hadn't intended to kill that Annie had been given the opening to counter him.

He'd originally wanted to settle the score, but looking at the little Omega's pitiful, delicate state...

She really was weak. Fine. Arthur decided to let it go.

"I'll apply the medicine myself." He released her neck. "What did the Resistance say?"

Finally, the organ in that pretty little head was working again!

Only then did Annie truly relax.

She relayed the commission succinctly, then summarized, "The task is simple, but the people aren't reliable. I got some intel, but we need to find a way out."

Arthur frowned. "It's not that simple. I'm going with you tomorrow."

Annie: "...You can't see the governor's wife."

No way. A married Omega couldn't just meet anyone, let alone an Alpha like Arthur with pheromones off the charts.

"She's the governor's third wife," Arthur repeated Annie's words.

"Yes, so?"

"Hado always kept his wives as pets; that's how it was with the first two," Arthur said. "And the one truly running the city is Twilight."

No further explanation was needed. Annie immediately understood.

Arthur was a native of New Thebes—he knew this city better than she did.

So the governor was a stereotypical conservative Alpha, the kind who wanted to lock Omegas in a cage.

And the City of the Radiant Sun was administered by the Twilight organization; the governor had little real power to begin with.

Then why was his third wife not only allowed to socialize with outsiders, but also authorized to let her friends bring people into the city?

Something was definitely wrong!

Annie instantly went on alert: had they noticed she was monitoring, and set a trap on purpose?

"Follow the plan for now," Arthur said decisively. "Get ready, and head to the Governor's Mansion."