This was the first time Kane had spoken since stepping into the store.
Alice was sharp-witted and instantly sensed the extraordinary nature of this customer. Although she didn’t know Griffin’s true background, after a few interactions, she also had some guesses in her heart.
At this moment, seeing Griffin call him “Boss” with a rather respectful demeanor, a terrifying conjecture suddenly flashed through her mind.
A chill spread up along her spine, and Alice instinctively looked at Griffin, her eyes full of appeal.
The athletic female warrior shook her head slightly to comfort her, while giving her a look indicating that she should leave as soon as possible.
Alice understood immediately, used her finger to make a zipper-pulling gesture across her lips to mime silence, pressed the temporary suspension indicator light at the door, and retreated quickly and silently.
Only when Alice’s figure completely disappeared did Griffin say in a low voice, “Boss, we’ve always planted underground operatives in the north; mobilizing them won’t be a problem. However, wasn’t it just discussed earlier to temporarily pass on the route of going for the purification stones?”
“Some changes came up.”
Kane didn’t state it explicitly. He leaned against the counter, his gaze seemingly falling casually on the curtain of the fitting room compartment.
“Sooner or later. Valeri has also been getting a bit too arrogant these past two years; it’s a good opportunity to use this to knock some sense into him.”
His expression was originally cold and stern, but when the sound of Xavier’s muffled complaints drifted from the compartment, his expression softened imperceptibly. His brow smoothed, the oppressive aura around him dissipated somewhat, and his tone added a few parts of relaxed patience as he asked, as if making casual small talk:
“I heard Gu Shen mention some time ago that he upgraded the gravity-adjustment chip for you. Now, after cross-star-system navigation, are the tidal fluctuations still as frequent as before?”
“There’s still a gravity-adjustment period of one to two star-calendar days, but the condition is much more stable than before, and the critical threshold of gravity fluctuations triggering physical mutation has also been raised a lot.”
“That’s good. This batch of purification stones might be helpful to you as well.”
Griffin fell silent. Every limb and bone of hers seemed to still perceive the intense stimulation from past passive transformations, the flashbacks of scarlet images in her mind, and the scene of being rescued from the executioner’s rack by the boss when her life was hanging by a thread.
For a long time, she suppressed the surging emotions and said in a low voice, “Thank you, Boss.”
Meanwhile, inside the small and exquisite fitting compartment, Xavier was changing his clothes.
After picking and choosing several times, either the color matching wasn’t to his liking, or the fabric texture was rough and cheap. After tossing about for a while, a bit of impatience gradually accumulated in his heart, and he couldn’t help muttering and complaining in a low voice.
Just at that moment, the conversation between Kane and Griffin drifted in from outside.
He grew curious, slowed down his movements, and listened quietly.
After listening for a while, statements like “gravity” and “tidal value” were completely foreign concepts to him, but he did catch the key information—
Kane had intended all along to intercept that batch of magic ores in Valeri’s hands; he hadn’t acted specially for his sake.
An inexplicable feeling of stuffiness climbed uninvited into his heart, vaguely harboring a trace of displeasure.
It seemed Kane was not entirely submissive and devoted to serving him; this was clearly slighting his authority!
Xavier changed into the final outfit with rough and crude movements.
Lifting his eyes to look into the mirror, the person in the mirror was still the familiar appearance from his memory, except that his figure was shrunk by multiple folds. Under his heightened temper, the fangs on both sides of his lips extended slightly out of control, reflecting a cold, sharp edge.
He subconsciously ground his teeth, but caught sight of a tiny speck of scarlet quietly condensing in the depths of his eyes, and paused slightly.
Recovering his wits after a brief moment of trance, he sneered inwardly.
Why bother caring about Kane’s original motive for doing things? Kane was merely his temporary ride, not even up to par with a blood servant serving him closely. As long as his own goal could be achieved, wouldn’t that be enough?
He let out a light “tch,” and meticulously smoothed down his hem and creases.
This outfit had a well-fitting cut and decent texture; it was finally barely passable.
Xavier flicked the curtain aside and walked out.
Hearing the movement, both people who had been talking turned to look at him.
Xavier was wearing a cool-toned, silver-white silk shirt matching his hair color, with the collar slightly open to reveal his slender neck lines. The faint dark patterns embroidered on it emerged with a delicate, cold shimmer under the light and shadow, fully displaying nobility.
A wide, vintage-carved leather waist cincher was buckled around his waist, featuring clean lines that outlined his slender and taut waistline.
Kane’s gaze first fell onto that waist cincher, slowly lingering for a couple of rounds before noticing that Xavier’s complexion didn’t look too good. He swept a casual glance down his body, and seeing that his shoes were also complete, he asked, “Don’t like it?”
“It’s barely wearable at best.”
Xavier’s tone was cold, detached, and indifferent as he replied, “We’re going to change out of it anyway; it’s just a matter of sooner or later.”
With that, he completely ignored the hand Kane extended toward him, stepping instead toward Griffin, raising his chin slightly with a haughty tone, “Pick me up.”
The exceptionally pretty and exquisite little intelligent entity after changing clothes immediately shook the warrior’s firm inner resolve. Griffin didn’t think much of it and instinctively reached out to catch him.
However, the moment Xavier took a step forward, a bone-articulated hand cut across midway, forcefully blocking Griffin’s movement.
Kane reached out directly, aggressively pulling the struggling Xavier into his palm. His face darkened slightly, his tone laden with thin anger and a hint of incomprehension, “What temper are you throwing again?”
The man’s brow bone was sharp and his eye sockets were exceptionally deep. Once he didn’t deliberately conceal his sharpness in front of him, that violent and oppressive aura between his brows washed over him head-on.
Xavier hadn’t expected Kane to suddenly flare up.
Looking at the man with chilling eyes before him, in a flash, that cold and suspicious appearance from their first meeting surfaced before his eyes once more.
Xavier’s expression turned cold as well.
Thinking about it carefully, this fellow had always possessed such an arrogant and heartless personality. It was only because he had requests of him that he would put on an act and pretend to be gentle.
Thinking of how he had fallen asleep soundly inside the other’s coat pocket, Xavier felt certain that his brain must have been clogged with the most foul-tasting, inferior blood back then to have tacitly allowed this fellow’s unbridled approach.
His heart was filled with annoyance, yet constrained by his pride, he refused to spill his true feelings. Xavier only said coldly, “Mind your own business. What I want to do doesn’t require you to point fingers. Once we get back to the Blood Blade, prepare a separate room for me.”
Kane stared into his pale-golden pupils for a long time, and seeing that no special scarlet color had condensed within them, his originally tense jaw slightly relaxed, his tone slowing down, “After the room is prepared, are you still going to throw a tantrum?”
“I am not throwing a tantrum. You fellow, clearly you’re the one throwing a inexplicable fit!”
The more Xavier thought about it, the angrier he got, angrily kicking away Kane’s fingers. Amidst the movement, his cold, slippery silver hair wound down and draped across the back of Kane’s hand, stirring up a slight tingling numbness.
Kane subconsciously loosened his grip, but seeing Xavier nearly dropping, he quickly followed up and caught him securely.
Landing in his palm, Xavier subconsciously kicked out at him again.
Kane’s fingers tightened; instead of letting go, he firmly enclosed the petite body in his palm.
He simply figured that this little intelligent entity’s personality setting was inherently perverse; even when making requests, he sounded as though everyone owed him thirty million star-credits. He couldn’t be bothered to quibble with this little thing.
It was just that Xavier’s non-stop attempts to break free really made one irritable.
Kane let out a heavy breath of frustration, and immediately dialed the communications of the Blood Blade’s logistics department, instructing his subordinates to clear out a separate living quarter right next to his own bedroom.
After laying out requirements according to Xavier’s aristocratic tastes, he even intentionally deepened his tone, emphasizing the matter as “highest priority”—every word clear, falling fully into Xavier’s ears.
After hanging up the communicator, Kane lowered his gaze to look at Xavier in his palm: “Satisfied now?”
Seeing him proactively show weakness, Xavier simply figured it was a tactic of deception and disguise, and coldly cast his gaze aside, “Barely acceptable.”
He finally quieted down.
Kane stared at him for a moment, and seeing that Xavier was no longer trying to escape, he expressionlessly placed the little fellow onto his shoulder, casually gathered all the scattered clothes in the fitting room into his hand, and gave Griffin a look. The latter understood immediately and transferred the full amount of star-credits to Alice.
The two stepped out of the shop, split up, and went their separate ways.
Meanwhile, Morell, the captain of the logistics team on the Blood Blade, stood in silence for quite a while after his communicator was hung up, before dizzily asking the deputy captain beside him, “That wasn’t an illusion just now, right?”
The deputy nodded: “Not an illusion.”
Morell: “And I didn’t mishear?”
The deputy nodded again: “You did not mishear.”
Morell muttered: “Then that really is thunder striking over Rift Light Star, the very first time since the creation of the world. Whose room is the Boss clearing out, and he even wants to arrange it right next to his own?”
The Blood Blade was divided into ten areas overall, each with different division of labor and clear-cut order.
Living quarters were centrally located in the second, third, and fourth districts, with the third district exclusively designated for team captains and commanders to reside, carrying special authority.
Meanwhile, Kane lived alone in the second district; the entire area was his private territory.
He was like a fierce beast with an extremely strong sense of territorial awareness, especially when his spiritual sea disorder flared up frequently; his temper was violently unpredictable, and unauthorized entry into the second district was tantamount to proactively provoking and declaring war on the fierce beast.
This was the first time the Boss would actually allow someone else to move into the second district.
The deputy captain beside him worriedly advised, “Brother, stop thinking about it. Do you still remember the highest priority the Boss mentioned just now? Floris City’s cargo-clearing speed has always been the fastest; the Boss will probably be back soon, and time waits for no one!”
“Right, right, right!” Morell’s heart beat wildly, leaving only the five words “highest priority” spinning in his mind. He immediately stood up and hurried out.
He hadn’t taken two steps before he ran into Rain and his group returning.
Rain greeted him, “Yo, Morell, where are you rushing off to in such a hurry?”
“The Boss, the Boss said to clear out a new room, right next to his.”
“What???” Rain’s footsteps came to a halt, sheer, unbelievable shock plastered across his rugged face. “Who is moving in? Damn, who has such high tolerance to go toe-to-toe with the Boss?”
“Idiot, of course it couldn’t be one of our own people.” Morell racked his brain trying to recall the previous communication content, “He said it needs to be arranged more exquisitely, and also prepare aromatherapy or something. What the heck is there like aromatherapy on the Blood Blade, where am I supposed to find that? This isn’t right, who is the Boss bringing back?”
Seeing him rambling further and further off, the deputy pushed him anxiously, and Morell snapped back to his senses, “I won’t talk with you anymore. While we’re still near RX-2, I need to submit an application to go down and make purchases.”
With that, he hurried away with his people.
Rain looked at his retreating figure, suddenly recalling the Boss’s abnormal behavior in that dark alley. He rubbed his chin and asked the lackey beside him, “Say, if a person… um, his temper isn’t very good, but he suddenly starts doing good deeds, why would that be?”
The similarly tall-and-sturdy lackey beside him scratched his head and asked, “Then when he was doing good deeds, was there anyone else around?”
Rain hesitated, “…Suppose so.”
“That means he wants to leave a good impression in that person’s eyes!” The lackey slammed his palm down decisively, “Then he must like that person!”
Rain dropped his jaw, shouting in shock in the bustling corridor: “What, could it be that the Boss has someone he likes!?”
Lackey: “Ah??”
Passing Blood Blade pirates: “Ah???”