Down on basement sector B1 of the Monster Control Bureau, the staff watched Captain Qiu emerge from the director’s office looking utterly despondent. Assuming he had just caught a massive scolding, they all watched him step into the elevator with profound sympathy.
No one dared to go in and brave the director’s wrath. Even his secretary set her files aside, deciding it would be much safer to hand them in after lunch.
Yet, when Director Xie walked out a few minutes later with the corners of his mouth practically curving up to the sky—clearly in a spectacularly good mood—everyone was left utterly baffled.
Qiu Nan stared at his bank account balance in the elevator. He stared at it again when he stepped out. He checked it as he walked down the corridor, and he checked it one more time the moment he got back to his own office.
What’s the point of looking? It’s not like staring at it will make the numbers grow!
Annoyed, he tossed his phone onto the desk and buried himself in the sofa.
Are all rich people this incredibly stingy? Would it have killed him to let me owe him for just a few days?
Now, his entire net worth wasn’t even enough to cover the cost of washing off the mark, let alone everything else he needed it for.
Down on the B3 corridor, Mi Zhu peeked through the door to look inside. Seeing that Qiu Nan was there, he knocked lightly and walked right in without waiting for an answer.
“Qiu’er, how did it go yesterday? Is the cut on your face okay?” he asked, plonking himself down next to Qiu Nan and lowering his voice.
Qiu Nan shook his head.
“What’s wrong? Why the long face?” Mi Zhu reached out and gave his shoulder a friendly shake. “The director sorted it out for you, didn’t he?”
Qiu Nan nodded.
“I knew it! The moment I saw the director’s grand aura yesterday, I knew the man would get it handled, no problem!” Mi Zhu marveled.
Qiu Nan stared blankly at the water glass on the coffee table for a while before suddenly saying, “Xiao Mi, I want to go get the mark washed off.”
Mi Zhu paused, then took it as a given. “Then go get it washed! You were supposed to do that anyway, that goes without saying, right?”
“Um, can you lend me some money? I’ll probably.” Qiu Nan counted on his fingers. “Probably be able to pay you back by the end of the year.”
“Damn, do you even view me as a brother?” Mi Zhu laughed out of sheer exasperation. “And here I thought it was some life-or-death crisis. How much do you need?”
“One hundred thousand yuan.”
Mi Zhu’s laugh choked right back down his throat. His voice trembled as he repeated, “One—hundred—thousand?”
Qiu Nan knew Mi Zhu wasn’t exactly rolling in cash. He had a large family to support. Otherwise, as a Beta without the naturally robust physique of an Alpha, he wouldn’t have risked joining the field team just for the high hazard pay.
After all, little maniacs like Qiu Nan were a rare exception.
“Well, eighty thousand would work too.” Qiu Nan recalculated his budget. If he pinched pennies in the coming months, he could probably make it through.
Mi Zhu pursed his lips and brooded over it for a moment. Finally, he gritted his teeth. “Fine! I’ll bring it to you tomorrow!”
“Thank you! Xiao Mi! Daddy will treat you to lunch!”
Overjoyed, Qiu Nan threw his arms around him in a tight hug. Mi Zhu frantically tried to peel the human plaster off his body, terrified that he might accidentally upset the director’s massive jar of jealousy again.
Having just ridden an emotional rollercoaster, Qiu Nan was now on cloud nine with his problem resolved. He decided to use the lunch break to treat Mi Zhu to a nice meal.
Mi Zhu kept insisting, “No need, no need, just a token gesture is fine,” so the venue for their feast shifted from the hotpot restaurant two blocks away to the Bureau’s cafeteria.
Qiu Nan tapped his meal card rapidly at the counters, filling the table with an absolute mountain of food. Even after all that, it only came out to a grand total of eighty yuan. Under the bewildered stares of everyone around them—who looked at them like they were absolute lunatics—the two of them dug into their grand banquet.
Wu Jiada was entirely shocked when he passed by their table with his tray. “Yo! Captain Qiu, did you move your birthday party to the cafeteria?”
Qiu Nan beamed, using the tip of his chopsticks to point at a plate of sweet and sour fish. “Come on, Captain Wu, join us! It’s my treat, but don’t forget to bring a red envelope!”
Laughing and mocking him, Wu Jiada walked off to find his colleagues from Squad Three, firmly convinced that Qiu Nan had lost his mind today.
Once Wu Jiada was out of earshot, Mi Zhu glanced at the date on his phone in surprise. “Holy crap, he actually guessed right. It really is your birthday today, Qiu’er! We have to celebrate this properly!”
Qiu Nan stuffed a piece of sweet and sour fish into his mouth and looked up at him. “Aren’t we celebrating right now?”
“With this? Just this? You think way too little of your Daddy! Tonight, Daddy absolutely must treat you to something incredible!” Mi Zhu slammed the table in mock outrage.
Hearing the commotion, the colleagues at the surrounding tables turned to look over with knowing smirks.
This pair of best friends could never quite agree on who the actual “Daddy” was; basically, whoever managed to claim the title first in a conversation won.
“Not going. I don’t even know if this birthday is real, what’s there to celebrate?” Qiu Nan expertly spat out a fish bone. “Besides, you’re already lending me your secret stash of savings. I can’t let you splurge any more. Let’s skip the empty formalities.”
“Well, alright then!” Mi Zhu didn’t push his luck. He raised his glass of orange juice. “Happy twenty-third birthday, Qiu’er!”
Qiu Nan happily clinked his glass against his. “Thanks, son!”
Mi Zhu: “If it weren’t your birthday today, I would destroy you!”
Qiu Nan: “Come at me. I’m already lying down, be gentle!”
The two of them bantered and ate, entirely oblivious to the fact that right behind the pillar just one table away, Xie Yunnian was having a working lunch with Lan Mingliang.
As Lan Mingliang chatted with Xie Yunnian, he was inwardly marveling at how approachable the new director was. The previous directors had never once set foot in the employee cafeteria.
Aside from the occasional sharp, commanding edge expected of a man in his position, this new director carried very little pretense. His cold aura wasn’t directed at anyone in particular; it was just entirely bred into his bones. In reality, he was actually quite reasonable to talk to.
Just as he was thinking this, he noticed the director set his chopsticks down. His expression was growing darker by the second, turning thoroughly grim.
The air was suddenly flooded with a volatile, pungent pheromone scent of green pine, leaving Lan Mingliang—who was sitting directly across from him—to bear the brunt of a suffocating, crushing pressure.
Lan Mingliang swallowed the food in his mouth with great difficulty. “Di— Director, is there sand in your rice?”
Meanwhile, just on the other side of the pillar.
Qiu Nan’s jaw suddenly froze mid-chew. His cheeks were puffed out completely, his eyes went dazed for a split second, and his face twisted into an expression as though he had just seen a ghost.
Startled by him, Mi Zhu slowed down his chewing and blinked. “Qiu’er, did the food in your mouth just assault you?”
Qiu Nan swiftly swallowed his food and blurted out, “I’m full, busy afternoon ahead, gotta go, finish up yourself!” before bolting out of the cafeteria.
This left Mi Zhu sitting alone, staring blankly at a table full of leftovers.
“Wasting food is shameful.”
Mi Zhu patted his stomach to clear some space in his throat, preparing to stuff a bit more down.
But at that moment, a figure loomed over him. Looking up, he found himself staring right at Xie Yunnian.
Mi Zhu hastily put down his chopsticks and glanced left and right, only to realize that at some point, the bustling, noisy cafeteria had fallen completely silent. Everyone else had vanished.
Recalling Qiu Nan’s sudden flight just now.
The prophecy had been fulfilled: it was a world where only the Beta got hurt!
Suddenly seeing the light, Mi Zhu cursed Qiu Nan a thousand times in his heart for being a disloyal traitor, yet he had no choice but to force a polite smile. “Director, what a coincidence! You eat in the cafeteria too?”
Ignoring his useless pleasantries, Xie Yunnian pulled out the chair and sat right where Qiu Nan had been sitting a moment ago. Draping his arm casually over the adjacent chair, he fixed a cold, assessing gaze on the subordinate before him.
Mi Zhu was the only Beta in the entire field department. His performance at work was thoroughly average; he was clearly just coasting through his days.
Xie Yunnian truly couldn’t comprehend how someone like Qiu Nan—a desperate overachiever who would rather pump himself full of suppressants year-round just to pose as an Alpha on the front lines—could be so tightly entangled with a lazy slacker like Mi Zhu.
Moreover, it was painfully obvious that Mi Zhu knew Qiu Nan’s secret. This was what bothered Xie Yunnian the most. He didn’t believe for a second that pure platonic friendship could bring two people this close. There could only be one explanation: this Beta was coveting his little Omega!
This man was acting all casual around Qiu Nan, but he definitely had a hidden agenda. Case in point—he was actually trying to lend Qiu Nan money.
Did the purpose of that money even need to be stated? It was definitely to get his mark scrubbed clean out of Qiu Nan’s gland!
At the thought of this, Xie Yunnian forcefully suppressed the raging fury in his chest. He slowly clenched his fist, tilted his chin up at Mi Zhu, and said coldly, “Shall we have a talk?”