Chapter 41

Chapter 41

The next day, at the first hint of dawn, a knock echoed at Eve’s door. It was Alice, dressed in a brown jacket and sage-green palazzo pants, her long brown hair neatly braided into two pigtails. A simple disguise lent her an air of understated charm.

"Good morning, Xiao Qing," Alice leaned against the doorframe, a smile playing on her lips. "How did you sleep last night?"

"Slept well, thank you for asking," Eve replied, still in her bathrobe, having just washed her face before rushing to open the door. "Wait here while I change."

Five minutes later, Eve re-emerged.

She was clad in a multi-pocketed tactical shirt, its many compartments presumably holding her newly acquired alchemy materials and other lightweight self-defense weapons. Alice noticed the beam saber that had been at her waist yesterday was now stored elsewhere, a subtle cylindrical bulge visible beneath her sleeve cuff.

Alice clearly didn't appreciate the aesthetic. "Are you going to set up a stall, Xiao Qing?"

"...It’s for protection," Eve shot her an exasperated look. "Against Venom Fang, the group we just made enemies with yesterday."

"Oh, them. But they probably won’t have time to bother us lately."

"Why?" Eve asked curiously. "Actually, I’ve been wondering how you ended up crossing paths with them in the first place."

They left the hotel together, Alice even warmly bidding the receptionist goodbye before linking arms with Eve and musing aloud, "Well, how do I put it? It started when I took a job not long ago. The client had a long-lost relative suspected of being kidnapped by Venom Fang. My task was to verify if it was true, and if so, to rescue her."

"Even mercenaries do that kind of work?" Eve marveled. "I thought you just fought monsters and killed people. I didn’t realize you were so versatile."

"We’re highly professional elite mercenaries," Alice said solemnly. "But anyway, I went undercover in Venom Fang. That organization is... you can’t just see them as human traffickers. Not that human trafficking isn’t awful, but they’re far more evil."

"Body dismemberment, smuggling rare exotic creatures and sentient species, shipping for space pirates, even human experimentation—they’ll do anything for money."

Alice sighed, "They’re utterly depraved! I couldn’t stand it, so I freed a whole ship of their ‘cargo,’ blew up one of their bases, and went rogue. Even their Young Master had to rush back to manage the damage control. The group they sent after me yesterday was probably all the assets they could allocate recently, and now they’re all dead."

"Not all dead—one got away," Eve reminded her.

"Doesn’t make much difference. I have a pretty good idea who escaped; he’s a rookie operative. Anyway, Venom Fang won’t have the bandwidth to pursue us for a while. By the time they’re free, I’ll be out of reach."

Eve looked at her in surprise. "You’re leaving the Carol system?"

According to the plot, Alice wasn’t supposed to leave Black Star until after Lorca’s death. Ludwig, passing Carol 123 while handling his brother’s affairs, would fall in love with Alice at first sight and use every means possible to take her away from Black Star.

She hadn’t expected Alice to already be planning her departure.

"Yep, my dream isn’t to stay on Black Star forever. I want to go study on the capital planet."

Alice flashed her a radiant smile, two small dimples appearing, sweet and full of promise: "After all, I’m still young. The future is wide open."

They turned into a tube building squeezed between skyscrapers. The sky was overcast, acid rain pattering against the energy shield covering the city. The concrete and steel tube building stood like an upside-down coffin, its dark entrance seeming ready to swallow anyone who entered.

In the dim environment, the only brightness was Alice’s eyes, like liquid honey, when she turned back.

Her pigtails swayed in front of Eve as she spoke in a light, cheerful tone, brimming with boundless hope for the future.

Eve gazed at the rebellious cowlick sticking up on Alice’s head and suddenly asked, "Have you ever wondered about my background, Alice?"

"It’d be fake if I said I hadn’t, but I assume you’ve got some powerful background. Why ask suddenly? Feeling moved and ready to come clean?"

"Nope," Eve said mercilessly. "I just felt like toying with your curiosity."

"Hey! You’re really too…"

Eve finished for her: "I’m too wicked."

Alice shot her a look that said she should know it herself.

After climbing four floors, they stopped before a low door. Alice took a key from her pocket and inserted it into the lock. The rusty mechanism grated noisily as she turned it.

Careful not to use too much force, she struggled with the key while explaining to Eve, "Our team is small, and we usually live together. But we each have other properties too—mercenaries make enemies, so it’s good to have multiple safehouses."

"But I think living with teammates is more fun than living alone. Once you officially join, want to move in with us?"

Eve withheld comment on the shabby tube building and only said, "We’ll see."

Watching Alice struggle with the door, Eve couldn’t help commenting, "Mercenaries make good money. Why do you all live in such an old place?"

Alice countered, "Don’t judge by appearances—have you watched much sci-fi?"

"Not really."

"Alright, no imagination. Today, I’ll broaden your horizons."

She finally turned the lock. With one last stuck point, Alice punched the lock directly. With a loud "clang," the security door slammed against the wall and bounced back, only to be stopped by her elbow.

"That last punch is the special way to open this door," Alice leaned against the wall, making space. "Alright, Xiao Qing, welcome to the Upside Down Wonderland."

The top-ranked mercenary team—Upside Down Wonderland.

That Alice was part of this team wasn’t a surprise to Eve.

The interior was nothing like the dusty, old hallway outside. Eve was stunned the moment she stepped in—it was like entering a technological wonderland. The two floors had been bought out and merged, with virtual projection technology used to its fullest: shimmering waves, holographic fish swimming mid-air, and opulent decor. Every gem embedded in the stair railings was a node connected to the indoor system, light beams bouncing off their cuts to form the room’s interactive light system.

By the door stood a handsome male android with neatly groomed wolf-cut hair and an alabaster complexion.

Dressed in a sharp black-and-white butler uniform, he held a towel and knelt respectfully as they entered. "Welcome home, Master. Welcome, honored guest."

"Morning, Xiao Zhong," Alice replied casually, naturally extending her foot for the android butler to change her shoes. Noticing Eve standing frozen, she asked, "Xiao Qing, why aren’t you coming in?"

"..." Eve said woodenly, "I’m admiring what you call luxurious, despotic living."

The novel said the female lead lived a dangerous existence on Black Star—so who was this Black Star princess comfortably having a pretty android kneel to serve her?

She hadn’t even lived this well with the Medici family!

"Haha, once you get used to mercenary life, you’ll see this is nothing," Alice laughed. Hearing the noise at the door, a drowsy young man with heavy dark circles under his eyes peeked out from a room, his curly hair a mess. Squinting, he asked, "Little Alice... who’d you bring?"

"The one I told you about last night—our new teammate, Lu Qing."

Not very interested, he glanced at the black-haired girl by the door, said "Oh," and ducked back inside.

"Who was that? He didn’t seem very interested in me," Eve asked.

"Brother Qi, Qi Ying, codename Black Ice. He’s our network tech specialist. He’s not interested in anything except games and food."

Alice briefly explained, "Our team is small—just four before, following an elite approach. Unless it’s a big job, we usually work separately. Sister Eugene isn’t here today, but she said she’s on her way back after hearing about the new teammate."

Worried that Qi Ying’s casual attitude might make Eve uncomfortable, she quickly added, "The captain’s in the office on the second floor. I’ll take you to see him soon. He’s really nice, not like Brother Qi. Don’t worry."

What was there to worry about? It was just a short-term gig.

But Eve still replied, "Okay."

The android butler Xiao Zhong got Eve some slippers too. As they made their way through the room filled with flashing lights and blaring sounds, Alice suddenly seemed to remember something and smirked. "By the way, Xiao Qing, did you post a looking-for-group post on the black market yesterday?"

"Yeah, why?"

At first, Eve didn’t understand why Alice was making such a teasing face. But when she remembered what her black market username was, her mouth twisted.

A mercenary’s codename was their black market ID—she had almost forgotten the ridiculous nickname she had casually chosen.

Fortunately, she was always good at pulling herself together. After just a moment of embarrassment, she put on a confident face and said calmly, "You reminded me. I’ll delete that thread as soon as I finish meeting the captain."

Alice cackled.

When they reached the office at the very end on the second floor, Alice knocked on the door first and called out, "Captain, it’s me. I’ve brought Miss Lu."

"The door’s unlocked. Come in."

A clear, pleasant male voice rang out—it sounded quite young.

Alice pushed the door open, and Eve looked straight inside, meeting the gaze of the young man behind the desk as he lifted his head. He was stunningly good-looking, with eyes as clear and transparent as if rinsed with water. Though he had the most common brown hair and brown eyes, his gorgeous features reminded Eve of someone she had met just a few days earlier.

They looked so alike—or was it just because they were half-brothers?

The gentle smile on the young man’s face froze the moment he saw Eve’s face, like he'd seen a ghost.

And indeed, it was like seeing a ghost.

His brother’s almost-fiancée, who was supposed to be safely on the capital planet, had suddenly shown up in this dump like Black Star. Short of a corpse climbing out of its grave, what could be more shocking than this?

Alice, still unaware of the suddenly tense atmosphere, was as relaxed as a little animal soaking in a warm bath at home, her usual sharpness completely gone. She continued cheerfully, "Xiao Qing, this is our captain, Big Brother Frank, codename Silver Hand. Captain, this is the poster you saw on the black market yesterday—the one you found interesting, with the ridiculously long username. You even joked that it was very straightforward."

She had intended to lighten the mood with a playful remark, but Frank, who was usually quick on his feet, seemed as if his tongue was tied. He stared at Eve for a long time without responding.

Even Alice began to sense that something was off. She asked doubtfully, "Captain… why are you making that face? Do you know Xiao Qing?"

If this stalemate continued, the truth would surely come out.

Eve sighed heavily inwardly, then strode forward, tightly grasping Frank’s hand—the one still holding a pen—and said with heartfelt warmth, "No, we don’t know each other. It’s just that Captain Frank looks like the older brother of someone from my hometown, so I was stunned for a moment."

She held Frank’s hand firmly, shooting him frantic looks behind her back while facing away from Alice. "I’ve been drifting around alone on Black Star, and it’s rare to see someone who reminds me of family back home. I just felt a sense of familiarity, that’s all. The captain and I don’t know each other—we’ve never met before, right, Captain Frank?"

—Don’t just stand there stunned! She came alone, and it’s not like she’s here on some mission. Respond, hurry up and respond!

His hand aching from her grip, Frank snapped out of it with difficulty, coughing awkwardly twice before nodding, trying to sound natural. "Yeah, I also thought Lu Qing… looks like my younger sister back home. She just seemed familiar, that’s all."

"Really?" Alice still seemed doubtful.

Aside from both being good-looking, these two didn’t really have much in common.

Frank countered, "Don’t you trust me, Alice?"

"Alright, of course I trust you. After all, you were the one who took me in back then," Alice patted the table and pouted. "Since she seems familiar, hurry up and get her paperwork done for Lu Qing. We have other things to do."

"…"

"Come on, hurry up!"

Not signing would make him lose credibility in front of Alice, but signing meant bringing a possible plant—maybe even sent by the main house—right to their doorstep.

The snow-white contract lay on the table. Urged by Alice, Frank stiffly tightened his grip on the pen.

Two pairs of eyes were fixed on him—one completely clueless, the other smirking like she knew something.

Frank began to sweat. The captain of the top mercenary squad, who had brought despair to countless people, was experiencing for the first time in his life what it felt like to be stuck between a rock and a hard place.