Chapter 35

Chapter 35

Jia'er finally squeezed through the throng. The moment he laid hands on the goods, someone snatched them away. "Mine! I got it first!"

His eyes reddened with frustration, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't wrestle the goods back. Seething, he glared at the Materials and Energy Department, demanding justice, but all he received was Mathea's cold indifference.

Dejected, Jia'er hung his head and rejoined the queue. By the time his turn came again, the shelves were bare—not a single chance left for him.

For a moment, his vision blurred, as if the very weight of Mathea was crashing down, suffocating him. He covered his face with trembling hands, muffled sobs escaping him, yet none of the passing laborers spared him a glance.

He stood there crying for a long time before, with a sense of resignation, he slunk back to his corner to wait, as if such an occurrence were a daily routine.

Yet, when he passed the Vanguard members holding their Contribution Point slips, he couldn't help but slow his steps, eyeing them enviously. Unexpectedly, he spotted Su Xu among them—and Su Xu had been looking in his direction, as if he'd noticed him long ago.

"Su Xu..." Jia'er froze for a moment, the accumulated resentment and bitterness in his chest surging into pure hatred.

His eyes blazed with fury as he strode toward Su Xu, his voice dripping with malice. "You're the one who did wrong, yet you're still alive—why do I have to suffer like this?"

"I ended up like this because of you!"

"Su Xu, I'll kill you!"

But the moment Jia'er stepped out of the laborers’ transport lane, a guard from the Materials and Energy Department struck him with a baton.

The guard eyed Jia'er disdainfully, snapping impatiently, "Don't you know laborers aren't allowed to leave the transport lane?"

Jia'er didn't answer. Instead, he pointed at Su Xu and shouted, "That man betrayed Mathea! He's the one who truly belongs in the laborers’ district!"

The guard followed Jia'er’s finger, saw Su Xu, and recognized him. But wisely choosing not to provoke a Vanguard member who had just brought back an anomalous creature from an unknown zone, he struck Jia'er's back again, coldly barking, "First, you left your work zone without permission, violating regulations. Then, you ignored my question. You're stripped of today's meal vouchers and all your points. For the next five days, you're barred from working at the supply platform."

He pointed toward the suspension bridge leading to the laborers’ district. "You! Now! Get back there!"

"Without meal vouchers or points, I'll starve! Mathea wouldn't allow you to mistreat citizens like this!" Jia'er refused to back down, convinced he had done nothing wrong.

The guard sneered. "You're a laborer, not a citizen of Mathea."

"I..." Jia'er stammered, shaking his head and muttering, "I don't want to be a laborer, I don't..."

The guard barked an order. "Two laborers—drag this one back."

Jia'er struggled, but ever since being exiled to the laborers’ district, he hadn't had a single full meal. He barely had the strength to resist as he was dragged toward the bridge.

His furious glare never left Su Xu, as if his eyes alone could flay him alive. "Su Xu, you've ruined countless lives! You'll get what's coming to you!"

With the incident of a laborer daring to confront a Mathea citizen now resolved, all eyes on the supply platform turned to the other figure involved.

Though Su Xu sympathized with Jia'er’s current plight, the actions of "Su Xu" were, ultimately, not his own. From the moment he woke up, he had been paying for "Su Xu's" deeds, still bewildered by the full picture. He truly had little room for guilt toward Jia'er.

He was, indeed, heartless.

Had he naively chosen to trust You Ni Garden and returned to his former Vanguard post, it wouldn't be Jia'er in the laborers’ district today—it would have been him.

Su Xu stood calmly, indifferent to the stares, which were mostly disdainful and curious, fixed upon him.

But his cold detachment, colder than the machines themselves, gave nothing away. Soon, those around him lost interest—Roger’s mutated human was far more intriguing.

To Su Xu, most humans were no different from moths, willingly drawn by curiosity, eagerly pursuing their own desires.

Su Xu’s gaze lifted, finding Apa among the laborers. A silent exchange passed between them.

Apa nodded, understanding, and hid the items Su Xu had brought back behind a trash bin near the suspension bridge.

"To bring back that sample, I nearly got strangled to death by the monster’s tentacles! Good thing I found my gun in time—three shots right into its mouthparts! Bang, bang, bang!"

Roger’s voice was loud, as if he wanted everyone on the supply platform to hear him.

Su Xu looked over upon hearing the commotion, seeing Roger excitedly recounting his heroic capture of the monster to the researchers at the sample reception.

Yet the researchers remained utterly uninterested. Only when Roger finally ran out of breath did one of them ask, "What's your name?"

Roger paused, then raised his voice, answering, "Roger! My name's Roger!"

Su Xu couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth. The research center hadn't been listening to Roger from the start. Did Roger not realize this, perhaps even thinking they were just confirming his name?

The researchers didn't rush to take the monster away. Instead, they collected a few samples to send back to Mathea first, seeking Professor Gabriel's opinion.

Just as Su Xu had guessed, the moment the researchers left, Roger stood with hands on his hips, preening.

"They're definitely going to tell Professor Gabriel about my achievement!"

Even after Squad Ten received their receipt and settled their dispatch, Roger continued to chatter endlessly.

He endlessly repeated his tale of capturing the mutated human, while his teammates’ initial awe and praise had clearly turned into thinly veiled indifference.

After receiving Roger’s payment for silence, Su Xu didn't even bother to feign agreement, much less join Roger’s celebratory meal. He excused himself by claiming the monster had left him too shaken and he needed to rest, then headed toward the dormitory area.

Su Xu had always been a loner. If he had joined them, the others would have been uncomfortable, so they were glad to see him go.

Though it was foolish to pass up a good deal, Su Xu knew better than to take anything from Roger.

He walked to the dormitory area, changed clothes, put on a mask, and then left, heading directly for the Materials and Energy Department’s cargo elevator. He expertly returned to the supply platform, then crossed the suspension bridge to the laborers’ district.

Apa, having finished his work, was already waiting at a stall. The moment he spotted Su Xu, he immediately stood up and waved.

Seeing him about to call out, Su Xu instantly placed a finger to his lips, shushing him, for he noticed Jia'er, newly returned to the laborers’ district, was nearby.

Given Jia'er’s current predicament, if he knew that Su Xu and Apa were collaborating, he would surely expose them in hopes of returning to Mathea.

Curled up in a corner, Jia'er had nowhere to go even back in the laborers’ district. He didn't belong here—he didn't want to be here.

Clutching his growling stomach, he stared longingly at the steaming pots in the communal kitchen, praying for even scraps of leftovers today.

Suddenly, someone stood before him, looking down.