Incorrect Intelligence

The next evening, in the back alley of the Dreamlight Hotel.

Old Li, the Resistance's second-in-command, caught sight of them from a distance and nearly jumped out of his skin.

"Whoa!"

He raised an arm to shield his eyes. "What are you wearing? You scared me half to death!"

Annie, stepping into the alley, almost rolled her eyes on the spot.

If they were risking the curfew to come out, there was no way she was putting a robe back on. She was dressed in a neat shirt and trousers, her figure on full display.

The locals were used to Omegas covering up their bodies, so even though Annie's outfit could be considered formal, it was quite revealing in Old Li's eyes.

They were Resistance members, and still so conservative. She couldn't be bothered to argue.

Annie was speechless, but she understood that Old Li was a native of New Thebes. He was young, and he'd been raised on Twilight's education.

You couldn't expect everyone to have advanced thinking; recognizing that terrorists were wrong was already progress.

So she got straight to the point: "Where is he?"

Old Li cleared his throat. "He's, uh, in the warehouse. I'll take you there."

Though he didn't dare look directly at Annie, he didn't forget the task at hand. Old Li walked ahead, making a point of keeping his gaze fixed on the towering Arthur.

"The warehouse is a bit messy, but it's a good place to hide someone—mind your head."

Arthur, having learned from experience, ducked his head before passing through the warehouse's low doorframe.

Annie followed close behind.

She stepped over the threshold and looked up—

Directly facing the door was a dazzling array of "those" kinds of toys.

The smell of cheap perfume mixed with rubber hit her in the face. Most of the items on the shelves were either hot pink or vivid pink. There were oddly shaped leather goods and shackles, whips and paddles, exaggerated dolls and silicone toys, and bottles and jars with suggestive packaging.

Annie: "..."

Well, well! So this was why a couple's hotel needed a warehouse.

No wonder. So this was where all the merchandise from the vending machines was usually kept!

The whole warehouse was crammed full of miscellaneous "small goods." The shelves were crowded and boxes were piled on the floor. Annie had to bend down just to avoid getting hit in the head by a doll's arm sticking out from the top shelf. If it was this much trouble for her, it was even worse for Arthur Kane, who was nearly two meters tall.

The enclosed space had poor ventilation, and the cheap perfume was making the Alpha irritable.

"Where's the man?" Arthur demanded rudely.

"This way."

It wasn't Old Li who answered, but a woman emerging from the depths of the warehouse.

Annie followed the voice: She was around thirty, sharp and clean-cut. As she approached, Annie distinctly caught the scent of... a certain Alpha.

She couldn't place the smell; something like pomegranate wine.

"Mr. Kane, Ms. Annie," the woman said as she stepped forward. "Finally, I get to meet you. I'm He Ziyun."

She was an Omega, already marked, which was why she carried an Alpha's imprint.

Annie understood. Seeing that Arthur wasn't speaking, she took the initiative: "Boss He, we're here to see the scientist."

Boss He closed her eyes briefly.

"You two aren't ordinary mercenaries," she said with certainty. "Ordinary mercenaries wouldn't have survived Luke Garner's suicide attack. You're after the gene weapon. Which one is it—Federation or Empire?"

Straight to the point. Good. Annie liked people who were direct.

It was also a relief: at least this bunch of Resistance fighters, who were mostly at the level of cannon fodder, had a leader with some brains!

"I'm afraid I can't disclose that, Boss He—"

"She's not obligated to tell you."

Arthur cut in, his tone cold and hard, interrupting Annie's polite preamble. "You don't have a choice."

Boss He let out a dry laugh. "We can get into the city without you, Mr. Kane."

Arthur: "Luke Garner will demand you hand him over."

The warehouse fell silent for a moment.

Annie, standing nearby, rubbed her forehead vigorously.

It was true enough, but did he have to be so blunt about it? It wasn't like offending the Resistance would do him any favors.

She really didn't understand Arthur Kane's way of dealing with people. It was like he thought everyone in the world was his enemy.

But Arthur had hit a nerve with Boss He.

Rescuing the scientist wasn't actually a good thing for the Resistance faction in the city.

Clearly, Boss He's people weren't much of a fighting force, and their skills weren't exactly top-notch. Rescuing the scientist had only been a stopgap measure.

The City of the Radiant Sun was better for hiding than the Gobi Desert, but hiding the scientist was just the beginning.

What came next?

Obviously, they hadn't developed an antidote yet; otherwise, they wouldn't need to hide the scientist at all—they could just spread the formula directly.

And there was no way to continue research in a warehouse full of "those" toys.

What Boss He had to do wasn't just keep Twilight from discovering the scientist. As Arthur had said, she also had to make sure Luke Garner wouldn't storm into the City of the Radiant Sun to snatch him.

Who knew what the radicals were capable of? Luke Garner had used orphans as suicide bombs. His methods weren't much better than a terrorist's.

So Boss He had no choice.

No matter who Annie and Arthur really were, she had to ask for their help.

It was still a bit dicey.

Annie found it increasingly troublesome. Ensuring the scientist's safety was one thing; getting the antidote was another matter entirely.

Unless it came to the last resort, she still didn't plan on killing Arthur Kane and forcibly taking the scientist back to the Empire—it would surely trigger a war.

"Where's the target?" Annie got straight to the point. "Let us see him first."

Boss He glanced warily at Arthur.

She was certainly uneasy, but Arthur's "You don't have a choice" had hit the mark. The Resistance leader let out a soft sigh and turned around.

"Mr. Qiu, come out," Boss He called toward the back room. "They're not enemies."

The locked inner door clicked open.

The door creaked open a crack, and a thin figure squeezed out.

A Beta.

Annie didn't catch any scent. He was an ordinary person, a male in his twenties, unremarkable in appearance, with a slightly disheveled look to his clothes and face.

He didn't look like any scientist, and... Annie frowned. Had she seen this face somewhere before?

"Mr. Qiu Wannian," Boss He introduced. "This is the one we rescued—Mr. Kane?!"

Boss He couldn't finish her sentence.

Because Arthur Kane, standing at the warehouse door, suddenly moved.

He closed the distance in three long strides, crossing most of the warehouse. A sudden surge of metallic, burning scent made Annie's hairs stand on end—at this critical moment, it wasn't a heat. It was Arthur flying into an inexplicable rage.

The same pheromone shocked the already-marked Boss He even more.

"Arthur Kane, what are you doing?!" Without a second thought, she drew her sidearm.

For a split second, Annie also thought Arthur was about to attack.

No need to think twice—the Peace Star must have issued the same mission as the Meridian.

But...

Just as Annie was about to activate the collar's shock function, she stopped.

Because Qiu Wannian, having barely steadied himself, turned tail and ran the moment he saw Arthur Kane!

"Boss He, don't move!" she called out in warning, her voice calm.

Annie's composed order made Boss He's hand on the trigger pause. Arthur seized the opportunity and grabbed Qiu Wannian, who was trying to flee, pinning him down!

Qiu Wannian, in his twenties, was about 1.8 meters tall, but in front of Arthur, he looked like a scrawny grasshopper.

The Alpha reached out with his long arm and slammed the man hard against the nearby boxes.

A cascade of colorful, oddly shaped sex toys spilled onto the floor as the cardboard boxes were crushed.

What the hell was this?!

Annie couldn't bear to watch and pressed her hand to her forehead.

Two grown men rolling around in a pile of that stuff—the scene was too absurd. She really didn't want to look.

"A scientist?!" Arthur Kane ignored the obscene toys scattered around him, letting out a cold laugh. "Since when did you earn a degree in prison, Qiu Wannian?"

Boss He was stunned. "What... you two know each other?"

Annie suddenly snapped back to reality.

She remembered now!

At the same time, her contact lens auto-magnified, recognizing the face Arthur had pinned to the floor.

[Qiu Zinian, Federation citizen, age 26, male Beta.

Charges: multiple counts of theft and fraud, multiple arrests and imprisonments. More information...]

Annie dismissed the pop-up.

She'd seen this guy before, alright—on the Galactic Empire's wanted list.

The Federation's notoriously infamous thief and con man, who'd fled to the Empire after being wanted. He'd been chased all the way by Arthur Kane, who'd caught him and dragged him back during a mission deep inside Ziwei Star.

That was exactly three years ago, when Annie had been in the logistics department, on her first field assignment, and had run into Arthur.

"What scientist? I never said I was a scientist, and I'm not one either!"

Qiu Wannian, his arm twisted behind his back by Arthur Kane, squirmed and yelled in pain but still managed to shout, "Listen to me, ouch—I've got the antidote formula on me, I'm just missing the raw materials. Let me go, I'm not a criminal this time!"

Arthur snorted. "As if I'd believe you?"

Annie: "Let him talk, Arthur."

Qiu Wannian nodded desperately. "Right, let me talk! This pretty lady here is a lot smarter than you big lummox—ouch, ouch, okay, okay, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'll talk properly!"

Only then did Arthur ease up, just short of breaking Qiu Wannian's arm.

He still didn't let go, using his knee to pin Qiu Wannian's waist, holding him to the ground. But at least Qiu Wannian could pull his arms free now, rubbing them as he lay on the floor and complained: "If I'd known it was you, I wouldn't have come to this damn Gobi Desert. I haven't even gotten a lick of profit out of it."

"Cut the crap," Arthur urged. "How did you get out of prison?"

"Escaped, of course..."

Qiu Wannian's righteous retort had barely left his mouth when his ear, pressed to the ground, twitched.

It wasn't just him. Arthur also looked up.

His blue eyes moved past Annie to the warehouse entrance. At the same time, a sound like an owl's hoot rang out from outside the door, unusually loud.

Boss He's expression shifted. "Quiet. It's Twilight's people doing a street patrol."

The warehouse fell into dead silence.

Only Qiu Wannian, lying on the ground, had a sudden flash of inspiration.

Three years ago, he'd been caught by Arthur Kane. Three years later, he'd run into him again. Qiu Wannian knew better than anyone the reputation and methods of this mad dog.

This guy would blow up everyone around him without a second thought! There was no way he was sticking around for that.

So, without a second thought, Qiu Wannian reached out and grabbed something.

The toy on the next shelf over was one of those lifelike dolls. Without thinking, he slapped his hand right on its chest.

In the dead-silent warehouse, a loud, obscene, human-like sound effect suddenly rang out.

Annie: "..."

Arthur: "............"

Amidst the blaring sound effect, the owl call outside the door grew more urgent.

Now even Annie could hear distinct footsteps approaching from just outside the warehouse!