Wang Huan waited for news from that star pirate group, her whole person inexplicably restless.
When the star pirates’ message came through, she steadied herself, and only then saw that photograph. Wang Luan was covered in blood, lying in a pool of it; judging by the amount of bleeding, death was absolutely inevitable.
Wang Huan felt a surge of delight, yet still found it hard to be fully at ease without seeing it with her own eyes.
The other side urged her to transfer the remaining payment. Wang Huan sent a demand: “According to our agreement, you are to bring the body to me for inspection.”
The reply from the star pirates was exceptionally irritable: “xx it! The man’s already dead and you want to welch on the deal! There’s no body, the body was destroyed. He x’ing hell, we ran into enemies halfway and several of our people died—who had time to worry about a corpse? Not only do you have to transfer the remaining payment, you also have to pay compensation for losses! Otherwise don’t even think about leaving here in one piece!”
Listening to the hooligan tone on the other end, Wang Huan cursed under her breath. As expected of star pirates from the chaos zone—no morality at all, a bunch of faithless ruffians.
She wasn’t afraid of these few star pirates coming to cause trouble, but she was worried that these brainless star pirates really wouldn’t let it go, making the matter blow up and draw the attention of other members of the Wang family in her circle.
What’s more, she was about to meet that mysterious person in charge very soon. Stirring up trouble over money at a time like this would be more loss than gain.
ততততততততততত
“If I send it like this, will the other side really pay?” Ping Xiaoshan asked. “If they insist on not paying, I’ll go to the meeting address he gave and make a scene—let’s see if he pays then!”
For the convenience of later verifying the body, Wang Huan had indeed given an address.
Ping Xiaoshan had taken the deposit, his sister’s medical expenses were covered, yet he still felt very sorry toward Liu Luan, thinking that no matter what, he had to help her get the remaining payment.
Wang Luan had just finished the job of destroying the body and waved a hand at him. “No need to make a scene. You definitely won’t find him. If they pay, great; if they don’t, forget it. Anyway, with the unregistered transaction cards we took from other people, we still made a profit.”
The two parked the star pirate ship on some uninhabited desolate planet. Besides looting the bodies, Wang Luan also dismantled more than half of the valuable usable parts from the star pirate ship. This way, they saved a large sum of money, enough to soothe the psychological damage she’d suffered from this unwarranted disaster.
She called Ping Xiaoshan onto her own ship and left the place.
“Take the money and go to some more prosperous sector to get your sister treated. Just in case, lie low outside for a while before coming back.”
“I know, you don’t need to worry. We’re used to doing this kind of thing.” Ping Xiaoshan patted his chest, then suddenly widened his eyes at the communicator in his hand. “They actually transferred the remaining payment!”
He checked it with the unregistered transaction card—every cent was there. Large transactions were extremely common in the chaos zone, all shadowy dealings, so transfers arrived very quickly, convenient and efficient, with no security guarantees.
Whoever obtained an unregistered transaction card could use it, indirectly encouraging robbery and theft incidents in the chaos zone.
Wang Luan glanced at the amount, calculated the gains from this trip, and also revealed the satisfied smile of an old farmer after a good harvest. Now the funds for modifying her ship were directly secured.
Wang Huan was completely unaware that she had acted as an ATM this time. She believed Wang Luan’s death about seventy to eighty percent, thinking that after meeting the mysterious person in charge, she could go verify it once more before returning to the imperial capital.
Speaking of this mysterious person in charge, after waiting here for several days according to the request with no news, Wang Huan was almost getting impatient. But recalling Wang Siyu’s cautious attitude when she came, she had no choice but to continue waiting patiently.
Before that mysterious person in charge came to her, today she had to first handle the purchase of the blue crystal mine. Although it was only a surface-level task, it still needed to be completed as soon as possible.
Madam Qi Xin, who owned the blue crystal mine, was an omega and a somewhat well-known local merchant. They had arranged to meet at an ordinary high-end restaurant, its only special feature being that opening the window gave a view of the famous sleepless dance city of the Great Spring Sector.
Wang Huan didn’t take this kind of small merchant from a remote place seriously. Her identity as someone from the Wang family of the imperial capital star naturally gave her a sense of superiority over others.
She brought only two bodyguards to the appointment and didn’t plan to stay here long. As long as the price was right, a blue crystal mine was not an issue.
“Madam should know my identity. Our Wang family has come with sincerity—you can name your price,” Wang Huan said bluntly upon seeing the person in the room.
Madam Qi Xin, wearing blue crystal jewelry, stood up and smiled at her. “Sorry, Miss Wang Huan. Inviting you here today isn’t to discuss the blue crystal mine. It’s because our godson has arrived—he wants to see you.”
“Godson?” Wang Huan’s heart skipped. She subconsciously looked toward the two bodyguards standing at the door.
As if she hadn’t seen this, Madam Qi Xin lightly tapped the wall bell. Amid the dinging sound, someone walked out through a hidden door. Seeing that there was only one person, Wang Huan first relaxed instinctively. But when she clearly saw the face of the newcomer, her pupils suddenly constricted.
It was him—Yan Qiongyu!
Wang Huan had only seen Yan Qiongyu once, at his engagement banquet with Wang Luan.
Back then, her impression of this 3S-level omega was merely that his temperament and looks were outstanding, gentle and elegant—a kind of harmless beauty meant to be collected and admired. No one would think that way anymore now.
Beneath that perfect, harmless face was something else entirely, something that made one’s skin crawl.
Perhaps because she knew what this person had done, Wang Huan always felt that the Yan Qiongyu before her had changed greatly compared to the Yan Qiongyu she’d seen more than two years ago. Traces of elegance could still be found, but the gentleness was completely gone.
A pale, gaunt face, pitch-black eyes, and a faint yet unmistakable scent of blood clinging to him.
Wang Huan sat stiffly in place. When she unintentionally met his gaze, an inexplicable fear arose in her heart. She watched Yan Qiongyu walk over and sit opposite her, while Madam Qi Xin silently withdrew.
Yan Qiongyu placed his hand on the tabletop. A ruby ring on his finger was especially eye-catching, its rich red like flowing blood. His long fingers tapped the table twice. “Wang Siyu’s information. Give it to me.”
Seeing that ruby ring, Wang Huan understood. The person Wang Siyu had sent her to meet was precisely him. Wang Siyu had been in private contact with him all along!
She was shocked by Wang Siyu’s boldness, yet at the same time not entirely surprised—after all, she had already made various guesses before coming.
Wang Huan said nothing. She removed the wristband she was wearing and placed it on the table.
Yan Qiongyu used the ring on his hand to open the wristband, took out a small chip, and checked it with his smart brain. The dense cipher formed of strange patterns was something Wang Huan couldn’t understand, nor did she look closely, quietly waiting instead.
Before long, Yan Qiongyu put the chip away and said, “Tomorrow, Qi Xin will hand over the certification for the blue crystal mine to you. There will also be a batch of agents that will be transported back to the imperial capital star together with the blue crystal.”
Wang Huan hesitated, then nodded. “I understand.”
Wang Siyu had already explained the matters that required attention, but he had never said that this person was Yan Qiongyu. Thinking of Wang Luan she had seen here, a thought stirred in her heart. Since they were both here, was it possible that Wang Luan and Yan Qiongyu had not actually separated?
Just thinking of this possibility made Wang Huan feel tense.
Was Yan Qiongyu still in contact with Wang Luan? Did he know that Wang Luan was already dead? Would he know that she was the one who had hired star pirates to kill Wang Luan?
Seeing Yan Qiongyu place a new chip into the wristband, Wang Huan couldn’t help probing, asking, “Back then, you left together with Wang Luan. Do you know where she is now?”
Yan Qiongyu looked at her. Wang Huan had a feeling that earlier he hadn’t really been looking at her at all, and only now was he truly seeing her—and that kind of gaze was extremely uncomfortable. It was filled with probing scrutiny, like an ice blade that could split open a person’s brain.
Thinking of his 3S mental power, Wang Huan knew her abnormality would be noticed. She grew even more nervous and unconsciously added an explanation: “I don’t mean anything else by it, I’m just asking.”
Just asking? Why would she bring up Wang Luan out of nowhere? The probing in her expression… she had already seen Wang Luan.
Yan Qiongyu took out the chip, slowly re-entered several patterned symbols on it, and when he put it back into the wristband, he gave a soft laugh and asked, “You care a lot about Wang Luan?”
Wang Huan’s expression stiffened. “…She is my sister, after all. Siyu also cares about her.”
“Take this back to Wang Siyu,” Yan Qiongyu said as he stood up. “Return to the imperial capital early. This place isn’t peaceful.”
The tone Yan Qiongyu used made Wang Huan’s heart pound in fear.
Even without him saying it, Wang Huan instinctively sped up the handling of the blue crystal mine matter. Early the next morning, she left the fringe sector, not hesitating to burn a large amount of energy for space jumps, just to get back to the imperial capital star as soon as possible.
She knew that regardless of whether Wang Luan was dead or alive, she could no longer involve herself in that matter. Otherwise, it would be too easy to invite disaster upon herself.
ততততততততততত
After separating from Ping Xiaoshan, Wang Luan flew her ship back to the Little Wu Sector. Her place wasn’t large enough to dock a ship, so she rented a warehouse at the spaceport, planning to carry out the ship modifications there.
But before the modifications, there was another issue—she needed to go back and treat the wounds on her body first.
Facing more than a dozen star pirates, even though she was prepared, it was still unavoidable that she’d suffered some minor injuries. Her arm, as well as the side of her lower abdomen and waist, bore burns from energy guns. If she hadn’t reacted in time, they wouldn’t have been burns, but penetrating wounds.
Wang Luan, who had previously suffered gunshot wounds as well, felt this wasn’t a big problem. The bleeding had already stopped. It was just that, in order to dismantle parts from the star pirate ship, she had rubbed the wounds again, seeping some tissue fluid, so they needed to be wrapped up and isolated for treatment—this would make it more convenient to work.
Yan Qiongyu had come at a bad time this time, running right into Wang Luan doing a second round of wound cleaning.
His movements were as light as a cat’s. Wang Luan had her head lowered, cleaning the seepage from the wound, and didn’t notice him at all. It wasn’t until she smelled a waft of floral fragrance and lifted her head that she saw him standing at the doorway holding a bouquet of flowers.
“!” Wang Luan yanked the blanket over and covered herself.
She wasn’t wearing anything on her upper body while treating the wounds!
Yan Qiongyu put down the flowers in his hands, casually took off his outer coat, and walked toward her, lifting the blanket on her body and tossing it aside.
Looking at his calm, unruffled expression, Wang Luan didn’t know whether to cover herself or not. She hunched her shoulders awkwardly.
Yan Qiongyu gently pressed on her shoulder, took the medicine from her hand, and spoke in an especially gentle tone: “I’ll do it.”
He half-crouched in front of her to help apply the medicine. When he drew closer, Wang Luan caught the fresh floral scent on him, the same as the flowers he’d brought this time. She didn’t know where he managed to get different kinds of fresh flowers every time.
It hurt a little when the wound was touched. Wang Luan looked at Yan Qiongyu’s lowered lashes, bent her upper body forward, and leaned her head against his shoulder and neck, rubbing against him.
Yan Qiongyu lifted one hand to stroke her head, his fingertips brushing through her hair, filled with a gentle, soothing intent.
