Chapter 43

Chapter 43

Beyond its urban sprawl, Black Star was home to vast wilderness zones where mutant creatures roamed, providing a significant source of income for mercenaries.

Thus, in the pre-dawn hours, with only a faint glimmer of morning light touching the land, a snaking queue had already formed at the city's exit checkpoint. It was filled with mercenaries, eager to embark on their missions.

Eve and Alice were two among them, having accepted a B-rank mission, ostensibly for practical training.

The wilderness's magnetic anomalies made hovercars unreliable, so they opted for a dual-fuel electric/gasoline off-road vehicle. Alice, brimming with excitement, leaned her head out the window, surveying the bumper-to-bumper traffic ahead. The wind, swirling past, playfully lifted her cowboy hat.

"Wow~" She whistled, clearly unbothered by the wait, instead finding novelty in it. "I can't remember the last time I stood in line. So this is what waiting feels like."

For Alice, this day was undeniably a fresh and novel experience.

Since morning, she had diligently followed Eve's instructions, consciously reining in her Spiritual State. Without its subtle influence, no one randomly approached her for a chat, gang firefights on the streets didn't inexplicably halt in her presence, and cars ahead no longer yielded without reason when she drove out of the city.

The world through her eyes had transformed. The storybook-pink warmth receded, revealing a raw, hurried, deep-gray reality—yet one far more engaging than before.

Eve, however, seemed to find no joy in this. She sat with crossed arms, reclined in her seat, eyes closed, resting.

Her thoughts were less on her companion's peculiar tastes and more on another matter: "By the way, yesterday in Frank's office, you mentioned he 'picked you up' back then. What was that all about?"

"Why are you calling the captain by his name?" Alice, displeased with Eve's overly formal address, turned to face her. "You should call him Captain, like I do."

"...Alright, Captain Frank. Is that better? You're far too protective of him."

"Of course I am."

Alice snorted lightly, then turned back to the window: "I'm protective of everyone in our team—whether it's you, Brother Qi, or Sister Eugene. If anyone offends you, I'll definitely teach them a lesson with my fists. But the captain is different. After all, I owe my place in Upside Down Wonderland entirely to him."

Eve's eyes immediately snapped open with interest, her dark, luminous pupils shifting slightly before settling on Alice. "So what exactly happened? Would you mind telling me about your past with him? I'm quite curious, as the captain doesn't strike me as the helpful type."

"Might as well tell you. Brother Qi and Sister Eugene both know about it. It'd feel unfair if you were the only one who didn't," Alice shrugged. "And your impression isn't wrong. The captain is pretty ruthless most of the time, but our meeting was quite a coincidence."

"What kind of coincidence?"

"I had just arrived at Black Star and ran into some trouble. The captain, who happened to be on a mission, saved me. He already knew Brother Qi and Sister Eugene. They wanted to form a team, but the basic requirement for a mercenary squad is four members. They couldn't find a suitable fourth person for the longest time. While he was complaining to Brother Qi on the phone, I happened to be nearby. I said, 'My spiritual power is S-rank, can I join you?' And then I joined."

Eve: "...Our team certainly trusts people easily."

No wonder the process of bringing her back had been so smooth. They'd agreed on it one day, and the next she was signing a contract. It seemed this team's approach had always been rather haphazard.

Alice let out a "Hah!" Just then, the car behind them, growing impatient, blared its horn, the sound echoing deafeningly.

She drew a gun from her thigh, leaned halfway out the window, and with a "Bang!" shot the rearview mirror of the car behind. Through the slowly rising white smoke, she yelled at the terrified driver: "What're you honking your damn horn for? The gate won't open for another three minutes! Honk again and I'll blow your head off!"

The world around them instantly fell silent.

Eve: "Seriously, blow his head off?"

"Of course not. I'm not that murderous. I just secretly used my ability to plant a group suggestion," she winked at Eve. "That doesn't count as misusing my powers, does it?"

Eve had to admit once again that, no matter the time or place, AOE skills were simply more effective than single-target ones.

The morning light grew brighter, and the wind carried a scent of wild freedom—the checkpoint had opened.

The convoy began to move slowly. Alice pulled her head back inside, hands on the steering wheel, following the line forward. In this era, manually driven cars were considered archaic, but as an experienced mercenary, her skill set seemed remarkably comprehensive. She expertly started the engine and puttered forward, the car stereo playing a slow, melodious Interstellar Era symphony, its tune quite classical.

Eve continued her undisturbed slumber, even naturally turning over so the back of her head faced the car door.

From Alice’s vantage point, a downward glance revealed Eve’s calm, slender eyelashes, their tips glinting silver in the sunlight filtering through the window.

Her fingers tightened unnaturally on the leather-wrapped steering wheel before slowly relaxing. She said with forced casualness: "Hey, Xiao Qing, I have a proposal."

Eve didn’t even open her eyes: "Shoot."

"If I do well in this practical training, will there be a reward?"

"......"

Though she felt like a middle school homeroom teacher, tempted to ask, "Kid, who exactly are you doing this for?", Eve suppressed the urge to retort and instead asked: "What reward do you want?"

"I want to hear about your past."

Alice stared straight ahead, her gaze unwavering, but her tone was soft and gentle: "Because I want to tell you about my past, Xiao Qing. Let’s exchange stories."

Exchange pasts?

Eve seemed lost in thought. After a long silence, she let out a noncommittal "Oh."

The reply was too blunt, and both fell silent for a moment. The drumbeats from the car stereo grew more intense, overpowering the sound of the off-road vehicle’s tires grinding against the ground as they drove steadily into the distance.

-

"B-rank mission: capture three dream eaters, preferably alive."

Eve read the mission details from her terminal while unloading two high-powered tranquilizer rifles from the vehicle. Most mutant creatures in the wilderness had thick, tough hides, requiring specialized needles to penetrate their flesh.

Dream eaters were a type of wilderness mutant creature that could not be artificially bred. They resembled bears but were smaller in size with protruding snouts.

True to their name, their racial talent was dream-making—creating illusions to disorient people. Their actual offensive capability was relatively low among mutant creatures, but their innate talent was troublesome. The employer also requested live captures, hence the B-rank assignment.

Eve had a rough idea why the dream eaters were being hunted.

These beasts possessed an organ called a dream sac, a precious, high-level alchemical ingredient. Harvesting it fresh from a live specimen yielded the best results.

Since the employer was an alchemist, the reward was naturally substantial, nearing the lower threshold of an A-rank mission. After all, everyone knew alchemists were never short of cash.

Coupled with the fact that it played to Alice’s skills, the two quickly agreed on this mission.

The north wind swept across the land. Eve tightened her collar against the draft, her bangs blown about by the wind, seemingly with a mind of their own.

She nimbly climbed a half-withered tree—the best spot nearby to get a full view of the area—and looked down at Alice from above: "Dream eaters like to go out together as a family, usually foraging in the morning. They’re timid and release hallucinogenic pheromones when scared. Are you sure you don’t need my help?"

"No problem. I’m a gold-ranked mercenary," Alice expertly loaded tranquilizer-filled rubber bullets into her gun, test-fired one, and squinted confidently. "Their hallucinogenic ability is a lower rank than mine. It won’t affect me."

"No, what I mean is you need to knock them out before they exhaust the hallucinogenic pheromones in their dream sacs."

She sat cross-legged on the withered brown branch, looking down at the confident Alice: "A dream eater only takes thirty seconds from releasing pheromones to emptying its dream sac. I’ll count the seconds for you up here. If you don’t take them down within the time limit, I’ll take the shot for you, but that means you fail the practical training."

"Such a strict instructor."

Alice raised her hand and summoned her Spiritual State. The queen bee, like a golden ornament, clipped onto her braid. As spiritual power was channeled, the bee’s eyes gradually shifted from bright gold to translucent pigeon-blood red.

The morning light was faint, and dust and wild grass rolled across the land.

She focused her gaze into the distance. Over time, several short, brown-black figures emerged from small holes in the earthen mounds, cautiously sniffing and inching forward.

The Luna Butterfly also landed on Eve’s shoulder, ready at any moment.

"One, two, three, four—four dream eaters, the whole family," she said from her perch on the treetop, spiritual power concentrated in her eyes, allowing her to see farther and clearer than Alice below. "We only need three. We can let the smallest one go."

Alice flashed an OK gesture.

The queen bee, which had seemed lifeless, began buzzing its wings at an extremely rapid pace, emitting a dense, high-pitched hum. Alice’s figure blurred and spread out like an ink drop dissolving in water, diffusing in all directions before fading into obscurity. However, Eve remained unaffected by the queen bee’s influence and clearly saw her dart forward like an arrow released from its bow, swiftly closing in on the dream eater family.

Since the gel rounds were fragile, the optimal firing range for the tranquilizer gun was between 10 to 15 meters. A dream eater could empty its dream sac in just 30 seconds, and four dream eaters together could create a large illusion capable of covering an entire residential area. Of course, illusions weren’t a problem for Alice—what she needed was to approach as quickly and stealthily as possible, then aim and shoot.

Given the distance between them, this seemed nearly impossible, so Eve had planned an alternative route for her.

When the distance closed to within a hundred meters, the largest dream eater sensed something amiss. These small creatures, due to their weak combat abilities, possessed extremely sharp senses. The queen bee’s concealment ability was inferior to that of the Luna Butterfly; it could only deceive opponents visually, which wasn’t enough against beasts with keen senses of smell and hearing.

The large dream eater let out a short cry, and the four dream eaters huddled together, forming a small, furry hill. A slightly sweet-smelling pheromone erupted.

The countdown began!

Blood-red countdown numbers appeared on Eve’s wrist terminal.

The Luna Butterfly’s antennae twitched slightly, and a gentle breeze swept by. The tree branch where the black-haired girl had been was now empty.

Alice’s heart was also racing with excitement—this was her first time formally tapping into her Spiritual State’s core ability. As she sprinted, her consciousness gently brushed against the queen bee’s tendrils, mentally asking, "Can we do this?"

The golden, eerily beautiful Spiritual State responded with docile assurance.

A vast wave of mental dominance spread outward like a tide. The dream eaters froze completely. Though their bodies remained alert, their minds repeatedly assured them that nothing was amiss, even coaxing their dream sacs to retract back to their normal state.

19 seconds left!

Alice leaped into the air, her movements smooth and agile, elegant as a professional dancer. At the apex of her jump, she raised the gun to her eye, aligning the sights along the three-point line—

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Three shots in rapid succession.

Alice landed steadily.

The three larger dream eaters wobbled and collapsed. The remaining small dream eater, with its back turned to its fallen family, remained completely unaware.

"This ability is really a bit eerie… no wonder it was banned."

A hand reached out from nowhere and gently patted the small dream eater’s head. Its tiny mind went blank, losing all consciousness, and with a thud, it too fell to the ground alongside its family.

The hand belonged to Eve.

She was thoughtfully replaying what she had just observed.

The rustle of footsteps approached. Alice walked over, her expression still dazed, still immersed in the profound sensation of her deep connection with the queen bee. The feeling of tapping into such immense power at the deepest level of consciousness both terrified and fascinated her.

"I felt it, Xiao Qing," she clenched her fist and suddenly exclaimed joyfully, "I know how to use my ability now, I really do!"

"Congratulations," Eve’s train of thought was interrupted. She turned to look at the excited girl and nodded, "You did very well in this field exercise. I’ll treat you to a big meal as a reward when we get back."

"Yeah, yeah!"

After walking cheerfully for a few steps, Alice suddenly realized something was off. In three quick steps, she leaped onto Eve’s back from behind, squeezing the soft cheeks of the person beneath her in disbelief, exclaiming, "Wait, that’s not the reward we agreed on earlier. Don’t try to change the subject!"

"Did I ever agree to what you said before?" Eve grunted, her tone indifferent.

"How can you be like this?" Alice widened her honey-gold eyes, "But you didn’t refuse either! That counts as tacit agreement. You’re being so unreasonable."

What slander—who between them was truly the unreasonable one? Eve was left speechless.

With Alice hanging on her back and dragging a bag containing three dream eaters, she trudged slowly toward the distant off-road vehicle, resembling a resilient scavenger burdened by ungrateful descendants, her figure casting a long shadow under the slanting morning sun.

After horsing around for a while, Alice noticed that Eve was carrying her steadily without complaint and began to feel a bit embarrassed. Still, she didn’t want to let her off that easily. She shifted her position, lying on Eve’s back, and curled her fingers to play with a strand of Eve’s hair.

"Fine, if you don’t want to talk about it, forget it. But I didn’t mean to pressure you—I just wanted to share my past with you," she said unhappily. "You know what? I’m actually not from the Empire. My hometown is in the neighboring Chaos Star Sector, which rebelled and broke away a long time ago."

Eve made a noncommittal "Mhm" to show she was listening.

"So perfunctory," Alice poked her cheek discontentedly before sighing. "Listen carefully, okay? Besides our captain, not even Brother Qi or Sister Eugene know about this. You’re the second person in the entire world to know."

Eve used her free hand to perk up her ears, using action to show she was genuinely paying attention.

"My birth family… wasn’t great. My dad would hit me when he was drunk, and my stepmom scolded me every day. I have a younger brother too, and he followed their example by bullying me. I also had a fiancé with a terrible reputation—my stepmom only wanted me to marry him because his family was rich. But I ran away. I didn’t see it myself, but I’m sure my family had it rough after I left."

Alice spoke slowly, her tone heavy.

"My birth family was also a blended family—biological dad, stepmom, and a younger sister," Eve interjected unexpectedly. After a moment’s thought, she felt that Cecil somewhat resembled Alice’s fiancé in role, but there was no need to bring him up specifically.

She needed to prevent any possibility of these two meeting prematurely.

"Wow," Alice expressed surprise, "So you also came to Black Star because of your family?"

"You could say that."

"That’s good, then. I guess we’re both in the same boat—when a place becomes unbearable, we just run. The universe is vast; there’s always somewhere to belong," she laughed lightly. "But when I first arrived at Black Star, I probably had a rougher time than you."

"A year ago, I sneaked onto a cargo spaceship and came to this Black Star. I was new here, penniless, and lacked street smarts. While stuck at customs, someone offered to help me get a work visa. He was holding a stack of licenses I couldn’t understand and seemed like a legitimate company rep, so I went with him. Turns out he was a human trafficker—that’s why I hate traffickers. Because of him, I also learned that here in Black Star, this lawless place, even official stamps can be bought if you have money."

"Luckily, my luck wasn’t all bad. Within two days, that trafficker was killed by our captain during a mission. Seeing I had nowhere to go, he took me to a nearby fast-food joint for a meal. While we were eating, Brother Qi called. The two of them were arguing over the comms about not being able to find a fourth team member. Well, you know the rest—they recruited me on the spot to fill out the roster. Come to think of it, Brother Qi and Sister Eugene only know I was picked up by the captain to make up numbers. They don’t know I was trafficked once."

Eve said, "I don’t think they’d look down on you if they knew."

"But they’d just feel sorry for me, and then they’d be extra nice to me. That feeling is just too weird. But you’re different, Xiao Qing. I feel like you and the captain are similar—aside from some formulaic kindness, you’re both emotionally quite detached people."

Alice grinned, rubbing Eve’s face. "I like it when people are nice to me, but I don’t want it to be because of some specific reason, like sympathy or pity for my circumstances. It’d be great if they were nice for abstract reasons—like admiration, or simply because they find me pleasing. Anyway, some kind of baseless fondness that I can accept without any psychological burden. But most people are very concrete emotional beings—they need a logical excuse to invest emotionally. I guess that’s why I used to make people like me for no reason."

Eve: "I honestly never imagined there was such a devious reason behind it."

Who would have thought the sweet, innocent heroine of a Mary Sue novel was actually an ultra-powerful mental dom.

"I’m not sure how to comment on your past," she finally managed to say as she trudged with difficulty to the off-road vehicle, "but I think you’ve rested enough now. You can get off my back."

"So, are you still treating me to a meal when we get back?" Alice asked.

Eve turned her head, fixing her with a death glare—the left eye clearly said "No," the right eye said "Get lost."

Alice burst into laughter, doubling over. She was about to say something else when her gaze was caught by the metal ear clip on Eve’s earlobe. The small, plain hoop began flickering on and off abruptly, like some kind of urgent signal.

She pointed to her own earlobe, her smile fading as she asked in confusion, "Xiao Qing, your ear clip seems to be malfunctioning."

"It’s not malfunctioning; it’s an alchemical device."

Eve removed the ear clip.

She stood still for a moment, holding the small metal ring, her expression unreadable. After a long pause, she reattached it to her ear and replied, "It’s nothing—let’s head back first."

Although she said that, Alice felt that Eve’s mood seemed to have suddenly soured.