Part 2: Irises on the verge of blooming.
“Talking back is also an unnecessary matter.”
Pei Yuan picked up the glass of warm water, raised it in a toast to Cen Zhixu, and said, “It is only right to add a tiny variable to the Chief’s orderly life.”
She tilted her head back and gulped down more than half the glass, her Adam’s apple rolling up and down. With another swallow, the entire glass was empty.
Cen Zhixu pulled the blanket draped over the sofa, wrapped it around herself, and scooted forward.
One of her legs was bent, while the other hung down, the tip of her foot pressing against the long-pile carpet and grinding gently.
Thin silk wrapped around her toes, outlining distinct bone ridges. Her toes turned slightly, pressing a small indentation into the plush pile.
Pei Yuan suddenly remembered that on the day she moved in, the little assistant seemed to have given a warning:
The long-pile carpet spread across the room was custom-made specifically for Cen Zhixu, tuned through several rounds of testing, with five or six batches of samples rejected back and forth.
The cleaning machine sanitized it every three days. Shoes had to be removed and sterilized before entering the room. Normal walking indoors was allowed, but jumping, dragging things, and repeated stepping on the exact same spot were strictly prohibited.
Cen Zhixu seemed to genuinely enjoy stepping on soft things, whether it was furry blankets or other things.
“Would you like to eat something?” Pei Yuan sat down on the other side of the sofa and said, “My cooking isn’t top tier, but it passes.”
She thought for a moment and added, “Or do you prefer nutritional supplement rations?”
“No, this is enough.”
Cen Zhixu pressed against the rim of the cup and took another sip, her upper lip stained with an extremely thin layer of milky white.
“Drinking it for the first time, not bad,” she said.
Pei Yuan was slightly startled: “What?”
“Milk.” Cen Zhixu twirled the glass cup, watching the liquid surface sway shallowly, and said, “I haven’t had real milk before.”
The tip of her tongue swept across her upper lip, licking away that barely perceptible milk stain. “Very sweet.”
Pei Yuan’s gaze lingered for a moment on those soft, red lips covered with a watery sheen, then quietly shifted away. “By the way.”
“I added some things to the fridge, juice, meat, and vegetables. Chief is welcome to come over for free meals.”
Cen Zhixu nodded slightly without speaking. The milk in her cup rocked and rocked, growing a little shallower.
Pei Yuan went back to her room to change clothes.
When she walked out, the milk was gone. On the coffee table, three transparent empty inhibitor injectors that had already been used now sat in a row.
The previously rich fragrance of irises was gathered and suppressed by the medicine, resembling an impending rainstorm. The dampness remained, but it no longer poured down.
Cen Zhixu leaned back into the sofa, wrapped in her small blanket, holding the empty cup. With a twist of her wrist, she handed it to Pei Yuan.
“As you command, Chief.” Pei Yuan smiled and took the glass cup from her hand.
She swept the empty inhibitor injectors into the trash can, took the empty cup, and turned into the kitchen.
Cen Zhixu pulled the blanket up a bit, burying herself in it, her nose pressing against the fabric.
A trace of scent clung to it.
Very faint. Citrus-toned, slightly warm, like fruit peel warmed by sunlight.
It was left behind unintentionally just now when Pei Yuan leaned against this side.
Late at night, Pei Yuan lay in bed. The mattress was very soft, the quilt very warm, and the pillow fluffy to perfection.
Yet she could not sleep at all.
Pei Yuan rolled over, buried her face into the pillow, paused for a few seconds, and then irritably rolled back over.
She could always catch a hint of floral fragrance.
Faint yet rich, cold yet clinging, blooming wildly, or irises on the verge of blooming.
The patch of skin on her lower abdomen, right where she had been stepped on, was still faintly warm.
Hot, hot enough that she could still trace the path of the silk sliding across her shirt, crushing past inch by inch.
From her lower abdomen, to her inner thighs, all the way to the backs of her knees.
All the way down, unhurried, as if where the destination was did not matter to her at all.
Pei Yuan closed her eyes.
In the darkness, the floral scent grew even clearer, caressing her, licking her, sinking into her embrace.
Pei Yuan took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.
Mole was right. Surrounded by the pheromones of an Omega with high compatibility, the decay rate of inhibitors truly exceeded expectations.
And right now, she was sleeping in that Omega’s home.
Inescapable.
The next day, Pei Yuan opened her bedroom door.
The sofa was empty. The cleaning machine was busy on the carpet, the blanket was neatly folded, and the long boots and outer coat were nowhere in sight.
Pei Yuan stood in front of the sofa for two seconds, sniffing the faint iris fragrance, licking her canine teeth, and grabbed her bag for work.
It was another boring day as usual.
Pei Yuan was dozing off at her workstation, propping her head up with her vision blurring as her marking stylus slipped from her hand.
“Host, you should wake up,” the system suddenly spoke up, “your supervisor is walking toward your workstation.”
Pei Yuan gave a start, immediately straightened up, pulled up the work interface, and began pretending to work.
Five seconds later.
The supervisor drifted past holding coffee, looked at the hardworking Pei Yuan, nodded with satisfaction, and drifted off to the next workstation to keep watch.
The crisis averted, Pei Yuan let out a long breath.
She leaned back, lazily sinking into the backrest, picking up her marking stylus and shaking it. “System, love you, that was a huge help.”
The system replied: “This is my duty.”
“Speaking of which,” Pei Yuan tilted her head, “System, are you a Maid of the Marsh, or my Fairy Godmother?”
“Taking such good care of a newcomer who just entered the city, appearing when I was at the end of my rope, helping me find a place, finding a job, doing your absolute best.”
She said it with tearful eyes, almost needing a handkerchief to wipe them away: “In this cold White Tower City, only you are especially good to me. I really love you so much.”
The system responded: “Thank you for your recognition, but I am not a character from a fairy tale.”
“You can understand me as a lifestyle-assisted intelligent system, providing you with information retrieval and suggestions.”
Pei Yuan let out an mm, twirling the marking stylus between her fingertips, drawing small circles one after another.
“However, I am quite curious.”
Her eyelashes curved upward, lightly dropping a sentence: “System, what kind of relationship do you actually have with the Eye of Order?”
“Colleagues? Superior and subordinate? Or are you a part of it, like an extension, a subprogram, or something similar?”
Pei Yuan paused: “Mmm, no, that’s not right.”
She smiled toward a nonexistent entity: “You are much more powerful than the Eye of Order, aren’t you?”
The office was very quiet, punctuated from time to time by the clicking of mice or marking styluses, with someone occasionally yawning.
No one else could hear them.
Pei Yuan twirled her pen: “The patrol guard told me that the Eye of Order is unidirectional. It collects data, performs analysis, and outputs alarms. That is all.”
“But you are different.”
“You can converse with me fluently, analyze situations, discern environments, offer suggestions, and even occasionally mock me a little.”
“The Eye of Order could never do those things, right?”
Pei Yuan said with a grin: “Isn’t it strange? A city-level supervisor is somehow less smart than a regular junior employee’s lifestyle assistance system?”
The twirling pen tip abruptly stopped.
Pei Yuan released her grip, and the marking stylus plummeted onto the desktop, producing a crisp sound with a sharp smack:
“Where on earth did you actually come from?”