Chapter 14: Flag
Hero Association, D-City.
Lu Zheng yawned and slumped over his desk, taking a quick nap.
Because of the kiss Dr. Alien planted on his cheek last week, his two lovely coworkers had been tormenting him endlessly for the past two days.
Relentless interrogation, suspicion, and accusations—no matter how hard he tried to explain, nothing could clear away their doubt.
Heaven knows, he really had no relationship with Dr. Alien beyond being arch-enemies!
Who knew why that lunatic decided to kiss him?
Lu Zheng shifted uneasily over his desk.
Sure, the whole thing gave him a headache, but… it was the first time he’d ever been kissed by a girl, and Dr. Alien—well, she had looked pretty cute that day.
He couldn’t pretend there weren’t some… complicated thoughts in the mix.
"All you ever do is daydream at your desk."
Miss Qiu Yu walked by with a cup of milk, stirring it slowly as she sat across from Lu Zheng. She carefully blew on the surface before taking a sip.
“Ah—”
Miss Qiu Yu scrunched up her face as the hot milk burned her tongue. She stuck out her pink little tongue, pouting from the heat.
After another careful blow, she glanced up at Lu Zheng across the desk.
“You’ve got enough time to think about your little lover, but not enough to write your monthly mission summary?”
Just thinking about that overly flirtatious moment at the restaurant between Dr. Alien and Lu Zheng made her mouth sour with jealousy.
“How many times do I have to say it—I have nothing going on with Dr. Alien! At most, we’re just enemies!”
“Sure, sure! Just good ol’ dinner-sharing, kiss-on-the-cheek kind of enemies!”
Qiu Yu’s tone grew even more bitter.
Dr. Alien went from gender-swapped to lip-to-lip in just three or four hours.
Meanwhile, she had spent years by Lu Zheng’s side since childhood, and even that wasn’t enough to surpass what that woman did in one afternoon.
The sense of unfairness gnawed at her.
And when Lu Zheng saw her expression turn gloomier, he only grew more helpless.
“I’m innocent! Besides, just a few hours before that, Dr. Alien was still a man! I’m desperate, sure, but I’m not that desperate!”
“Ugh, stop. Don’t remind me! I feel sick just thinking about it. Go write your stupid report!”
If anything, Lu Zheng’s explanation only made Qiu Yu angrier.
She wasn’t afraid to admit defeat—but losing in love to someone who was literally a man just hours earlier?
She collapsed onto the table, gloomily stirring her cup of milk while sneakily watching Lu Zheng, who now sat upright and was dutifully typing his report.
I totally deserved to lose to a man.
She sank deeper into self-loathing.
She had planned to greet Lu Zheng properly that day.
She’d even practiced her lines in front of the mirror for hours.
But the moment she saw his face, her mind had gone completely blank. Everything she’d rehearsed just disappeared.
What a hopeless failure she was.
Qiu Yu raised her cup and chugged the milk in one gulp.
Clunk.
She slammed the cup down hard enough to startle Lu Zheng.
Trying to avoid making things worse, Lu Zheng lowered his head even further, hiding behind his monitor.
He checked the time. It was about when Dr. Alien usually made her move.
He subtly scooted back his chair, getting ready to sneak out—but just then, a sharp alarm blared through the room.
Qiu Yu snapped out of her emo spiral, muttered a few words under her breath, and snapped her fingers.
A glowing 3D map of the city floated into view. A blinking red dot appeared in a warehouse near the outskirts.
“Dr. Alien again. Go find your little lover,” Qiu Yu muttered, slumping back down and waving Lu Zheng off.
“She’s not my little lover,” Lu Zheng groaned, pulling out his pixel-screen helmet and heading for the door.
“Then go deal with your darling, kissy-faced nemesis.” Qiu Yu rested her head on her arm, glaring at his back.
Then she mumbled, letting her words slip out unfiltered: “Just don’t come back with a kid.”
Lu Zheng stumbled so hard he nearly fell. He pretended not to hear and quickly fled the Association.
Outside the D-City branch, he pulled out a die and tossed it into the air.
He caught it and shoved it back into his pocket without even checking the result.
“Godspeed again…? Why is it always Godspeed when it’s time to visit Dr. Alien? What, does fate want me to kick her door in?”
Lu Zheng remembered how she used to whine when he broke down her lab door—back when she was still a man. And now, he accidentally imagined her current appearance instead.
Maybe… just ring the doorbell this time?
He slapped himself.
“No! It gave me ‘Godspeed,’ so I must kick the door! I can’t let her looks affect my judgment! Otherwise, things’ll really get messy!”
He stretched, ready to dash to the warehouse when a familiar voice stopped him.
“Yo, Brother Lu Zheng, going to see Dr. Alien again?”
Ye Qin walked up, bags full of groceries in hand.
Lu Zheng gave a resigned nod. He didn’t even want to explain anymore.
With a swish, he vanished from the spot, sorted Ye Qin’s groceries by type, then bolted toward Dr. Alien’s evil lair.
“Still, thanks for helping out, Brother Lu.”
Ye Qin waved in the direction of the warehouse and stepped inside the branch building.
As soon as she entered, she saw Qiu Yu sprawled across her desk.
Figures.
“Didn’t you say we’d pretend it never happened?” Ye Qin asked, raising an eyebrow.
“How do you expect me to just forget something like that?” Qiu Yu mumbled.
Ye Qin sighed.
That whole kiss incident had been one-sided. It wasn’t even real proof of anything. But Qiu Yu was stuck—emotionally trapped, unable to move forward.
There wasn’t much Ye Qin could do, except wait for her to figure it out.
“Woooo—” The sharp alarm went off again.
Both women turned to the floating city map.
Another red dot—this time near the city’s edge.
“Well, that’s rare.”
Apart from Dr. Alien, D-City hardly ever had supernatural crime.
Ye Qin stretched, ready to go.
“Word is, some Free Alliance punks snuck past the front line,” Qiu Yu warned. “Be careful not to slip up.”
“Relax! I got this!”
Ye Qin didn’t think much of it.
D-City was too far from the Hero Association’s front lines. Unless those guys had teleporters, there’s no way they could’ve made it here already.
“I’ll take care of this punk and head home afterward. You and Lu Zheng should have plenty of time,” Ye Qin teased.
“Put that aside for now. Just take this chance and give it your best shot.”
“Even if you two got married and it didn’t work out—you could always divorce. You haven’t even started yet.”
Qiu Yu nodded. That was what she’d been telling herself that morning too.
“Text me when you get back.”
“Nothing to worry about~”
Ye Qin waved and headed out.