[The items you requested have arrived. Do you need them delivered to your room?]
Faceless was in the kitchen when he received this message. He stopped slicing bread. The items came earlier than his estimate of tomorrow afternoon at 6:00. He finished slicing the bread before replying: [No need. I’ll head over now.]
He set the plate and a glass of milk on the table before hastily imparting a few instructions to Ye Muo and hurrying out in his cloak.
Because the logistics department had a lot of precious resources in reserve, they were situated on the top floor. Faceless quickly arrived using the elevator. Just before he knocked, the door was opened.
Faceless tensed for only a moment before he relaxed. “Why are you here, 03?”
It was a young man who had opened the door. He didn’t seem the least bit surprised to see Faceless. Instead, he crossed his arms and leaned against the doorframe like he knew the man was coming.
“What’s with the cold reception for your dear partner? I’ve come a thousand miles to see you.”
Faceless passed by him. “I have things to do.”
03 was used to Faceless being like this by now. He shrugged leisurely like he didn’t care.
Faceless went straight to the person in charge here. Said person immediately stood up and spoke in a hushed voice almost everyone could still hear, “Hello. The items you requested are with Master 03.”
Faceless looked back at the smiling 03 by the door. “I’ll have you know I dropped everything the moment I heard to come deliver these items to you. Your reaction is breaking my heart.”
Faceless stood where he was. After a few seconds, he walked straight past 03 again.
It wasn’t until he was some distance down the hallway that 03 grumbled, “How boring. Just give it to him.”
Only then did Faceless stop, quietly relieved.
Someone took a small box from the shelf in the room and handed it to Faceless.
03 glanced at it disinterestedly before looking away. He probably knew that Faceless requested the data and items left behind by some experiment. Because the project had been declared a failure many years ago, these things were basically of little value and could easily be retrieved from storage.
“What do you want with all these disgusting things?”
Faceless didn’t respond. 03 always hated the experiments of the organization, perhaps because he himself was the product of an experiment.
But 03 didn’t press the issue. He habitually twirled his knife. “I came here on a mission too. A king insect has already built a nest around here. One of its old nests was discovered recently, but it’s already moved on. The higher ups are abandoning this location. I came especially to pick you up. Well? Aren’t you touched?
Faceless tilted his head a fraction. “When are we leaving?”
03 put away his knife. “Anytime’s fine. Let’s go tomorrow. This place is so boring.”
Faceless gave him a look. “You can go stroll around West Street. There’s a fighting ring there where you can kill your opponents. Sounds like something you’d enjoy.”
03 picked up on something sharply. “How rare for you to indulge in this sort of small talk. You still want to stay here for a while?”
Faceless stopped responding. 03 has seen Ye Muo before. To be more specific, anyone here with contact to the outside world could potentially recognize Ye Muo.
He left with the box. When he returned to his room, Faceless fastened all three locks on the door before relaxing.
He crouched down by the door and opened the box. He rummaged through to find the antidotes.
Ye Muo had just finished eating and was washing the dishes. When he came out of the kitchen, he approached Faceless. The man happened to be taking out the antidotes. He opened their secure packaging and carefully inspected them.
Ye Muo seemed a bit intimidated by the needles sealed in the bag. “Are you sick?”
“No, these are for you.”
Faceless put the medications back and looked at Ye Muo. “One injection today, another one a month from now, and the last in three months.”
Faceless’ gaze subconsciously drifted toward Ye Muo’s arm. Ye Muo subconsciously covered his right arm.
Faceless paused before naturally turning his gaze to Ye Muo’s other arm. His words of consolation were not convincing at all. “It won’t hurt.”
Ye Muo hesitated. “Do I have to? What is this anyway?”
Faceless stiffened. He looked away from Ye Muo’s shoulder to the blank white walls. “It’s a vaccine for an infectious disease. You’re just the age to get it.”
“All right then.”
Faceless immediately got up at that. He retrieved the first aid kit from the cabinet and prepared the alcohol and cotton swabs. Then he removed the antidote from its sterile packaging and equipped the needle.
Ye Muo looked at Faceless. “Should we call a doctor?”
The man straightened and came a bit closer to Ye Muo. “No need. I can handle simple injections.”
Only then did Ye Muo slowly spring into action. He only slipped one arm out of his sweatshirt. He bared his shoulder and turned away from Faceless. His gaze trailed around the room before finally stopping on the photo frame on the table.
After the cool sensation of an alcohol swipe, there was a slight pinch of pain.
Faceless’ hands were very steady. He slowly injected the entire dose into Ye Muo’s body before applying pressure with a cotton swab for a while. “I’m going to be a bit busy for now. Be good and stay here. Don’t open the door for anyone. I’ll restock the room with food later.”
Ye Muo made a sound of acknowledgement, “I can’t open the door anyway. You make sure to lock it everytime.”
Faceless fell silent. He quietly and gently pressed the cotton swab down until Ye Muo suspected his wound had healed before letting go and packing everything up.
“You might feel some discomfort later. Go take a nap.”
Ye Muo made a sound of acknowledgement. It might just be his mind playing tricks on him, but he did start to feel tired and weak.
Today was another overcast day. It was even drizzling lightly outside. Perfect weather for a nap.
Faceless escorted Ye Muo to his room and placed water and some food on the bedside table. Only when he set down the tray did he notice the differences in Ye Muo’s room.
A used can filled with soil had appeared at some point on the cabinet. A tender blade of grass was carefully being grown inside.
One of the two pillows on the bed had been repurposed into something for Ye Muo to hug while he slept. It was tucked under the blanket with him judging by the small bump.
The subtle changes made Faceless feel something he hadn’t in a long time. His originally stagnant life was slowly starting to thaw again.
Faceless leaned over and checked on Ye Muo again before leaving.
Faceless closed the door, then sat down at the table and put the medications back. He kept two of the remaining three doses with him.
There were two more injections needed. He needed to hide Ye Muo well during this time.
……
Four or five people walked down the street with filming equipment. One of the men was walking backwards in front of the camera.
“We are currently in the Exile Sectors on junk planet X543. Although it’s a junk planet, there are many people living here. The countries that own this planet have given us permission to shoot. We will now take a look around to familiarize everyone with the surroundings. When the route has been planned, we will start the live broadcast.”
The man lowered his voice and said to the camera, “Actually, we have two locals accompanying us. They are behind us right now. Their presence is a condition of this broadcast. I’m sure you understand. However, I still think they can act as our guides.”
His companion interjected, “I think this place is about the same as the fringe planets where we’re from, just older. However, the increased police presence here makes it feel less dangerous.”
“That’s because we’re in the city centre, no?”
The man explained to the camera, “The city centre is where the troops of all the countries on this junk planet are stationed. Let me ask if they can take us to see other places. I made sure to exchange for local currency beforehand.”
He speedwalked to the people following them not far behind. Then he came back. “They agreed to take us to the outskirts of the city for a look, but they suggested that we hire more people to serve as bodyguards. I agreed, though I doubt it’ll be necessary.”
They took a hovercar to the outskirts of the city. The mountains of garbage could be seen from very far away.
The group of reporters were shocked as soon as they arrived by the overcrowded buildings and the people living in them like rats. It had just rained and the ground was still wet. A pungent odour emanated from some places.
They were too conspicuous. Everyone was staring at them unabashedly.
The only reason they weren’t surrounded was probably due to their guides and hired bodyguards.
The man looked up at the tall and narrow buildings. He bumped into a child when he took a few steps back. By the time he subconsciously apologized and turned to check on the other party, the child had already disappeared into the crowd.
The guide looked on coldly. “You just got robbed.”
The man touched his pocket. His pocket watch was gone. Only now did the guides and the bodyguards come over and surround them.
“Over there is West Street. There are a lot of shops open there. It’s relatively safer for rich people like you. Do you want to go have a look?”
The group exchanged looks before agreeing in the end.
They walked some distance before entering a store.
The camera focused on the man. “I chose this store at random. It seems to be selling handicrafts?”
picked at random, this seems to be a craft shop?”
The man was a little hesitant. There were all kinds of tidbits here with no two the same. The shelves on all four walls were piled high with stuff.
The shopkeeper sat behind a counter also covered with stuff. He glanced over. “It’s all salvaged from the dumps. Who knows? There might be treasure in here.”
“Interesting…”
The man casually picked up a small statue before setting it down again. He browsed the shelves some more. One of his companions leaned over. “What’s that? It looks like it might be worth something.”
He was pointing to a broken sword that only had the handle left. The craftsmanship was exquisite with detailed carvings as well, but it was still very comfortable to hold.
“There’s even something engraved on it.”
Everyone huddled together. The camera was brought over as well. Dark traces covered the sword handle, and the store wasn’t well lit to begin with. One person managed to piece out the words.
“X-Xavier Grantz.”
Everyone went quiet. One person finally broke the silence, “Wow, counterfeiters these days dare to imitate anything.”
Only then did the atmosphere ease.
The man looked at his companions. “You can’t possibly think this is the real thing, right? Don’t be so gullible. This is obviously fake. The sheen is a dead giveaway. The colour is so dull. And setting aside everything else, His Little Highness had this sword on his waist when he went to the rift frontlines.”
They strolled around a few more shops before going back to their lodging and uploading the footage to the galactic network.Â
