Si Qi had already prepared a whole slew of responses, but he was completely floored by the two words “robbery.”

“Don’t move,” Chi Yao’s voice was impatient. “Transfer all the money from the store’s account to me.”

Si Qi’s neck was locked, and his gun had been kicked to a corner, completely out of reach.

“The store’s accounts are cleared daily. Today’s earnings have already been transferred to the boss’s account.”

Chi Yao: “Then you must have cash, right?”

Si Qi: “We don’t accept cash.”

Chi Yao took two steps closer, pressing the man against a freezer and looking down at him. “No money, huh?”

A pain shot through Si Qi’s back, and he sucked in a breath. “I already called the police when I came in. If you don’t want to get caught, get out now!”

Chi Yao sneered. “That lock looks pretty valuable. Go and dismantle it. If you don’t dismantle it, I’ll dismantle you.”

The chilly tone, paired with Jing Xi’s naturally cold voice, sounded particularly sinister in the dim kitchen.

Si Qi was stunned.

How could there be such a twisted robber!

If they couldn’t get money, they’d even take the lock!

Jing Xi walked over unhurriedly and stood beside Chi Yao, giving him an indifferent glance.

“What’s the point of dismantling a lock? Let’s dig out a kidney. The kidney of a teenage omega is the most valuable.”

Chi Yao: “…”

You’re the ruthless one.

The two tall alphas stood in front of him like two walls.

Si Qi began to panic.

Jing Xi drew a combat knife from Chi Yao’s leg pouch and twirled it deftly between his fingers.

“You hold him down, I’ll do the digging.”

Chi Yao asked seriously, “Do you know how to dig?”

Jing Xi: “I’m very good at it.”

Chi Yao: “Last time you said you were digging out a kidney, you ended up digging out a stomach.”

Jing Xi: “I’ll look carefully this time.”

Listening to their serious conversation, Si Qi broke out in a cold sweat.

“Don’t do anything rash! The charges for robbery and assault are different!”

Jing Xi let out a low humph, scoffing at the words.

“When you’re deep in debt, you don’t worry. When you’ve dug out a lot, you don’t care about one more or one less.”

Chi Yao dragged Si Qi to the stove, pressed him face down, and yanked up the hem of his shirt.

“Hurry up, the AI guards will be here soon.”

The combat knife in Jing Xi’s hand scraped against the metal countertop, making a piercing sound.

“Let me see, is it better to dig from the left or the right.”

Si Qi’s hands were pinned behind his back, and the back of his neck was held down, rendering him immobile.

When he felt something cold and sharp touch his lower back, his composure instantly shattered.

“I’ll dismantle the lock! I’ll dismantle it right now! I’ll give you the money too! I haven’t even had a boyfriend yet, don’t dig out my kidney, waaaaah—”

Chi Yao looked up and met Jing Xi’s eyes, blinking.

[Bullying a teenage omega, have you no shame, Major General?]

Jing Xi raised an eyebrow, not feeling the least bit guilty.

[I’m just cooperating with your act.]

Chi Yao: “…”

A moment later, the two waited there, watching Si Qi tearfully open the door and then dismantle the lock with tools.

Chi Yao took the opportunity to rush in and rummage through the small room.

“There’s nothing valuable in here anymore,” Si Qi said with a tearful, aggrieved voice. “Are you going to dismantle the surveillance terminal too?”

Chi Yao: “Isn’t a surveillance terminal money? Dismantle it.”

Jing Xi: “…”

This guy was so proficient. He probably did this when he was robbing people before, right?

He looked at Si Qi.

This omega’s marksmanship was good; he would be considered an expert among ordinary civilians.

Even if someone was good with guns in a holographic game, they might not be able to handle a real gun. His skills were definitely not trained in a game.

“Your marksmanship is pretty good. Who taught you?” Jing Xi asked.

Si Qi had no intention of answering a robber’s questions. His mind was repeatedly replaying the night’s events.

He had been on high alert ever since the anomaly at the research institute two days ago. He had been staking out the place these past few days to see if anything else would happen, but he hadn’t expected his own shop to be the first to have a problem.

He had thought it was related to the anomaly at the research institute, but he didn’t expect it to be robbers.

And looking at the current situation, they might have run into real robbers.

Just as he was thinking, his peripheral vision caught the short-haired robber starting to play with the combat knife in his hand again. He shivered and immediately answered, “I’m self-taught.”

Jing Xi: “Where did you get the gun?”

Si Qi: “You can buy them anywhere online.”

Jing Xi: “Yours is a 086, modified from a Thor E3. The E3 is supplied to the military. You can’t buy it online.”

A glint appeared in Si Qi’s eyes, and he bit his lip, refusing to speak.

In the room, while Jing Xi was distracting Si Qi, Chi Yao had Xiao Hong connect to the surveillance terminal and copy all the data.

Ten minutes later, Chi Yao, holding the lock, and Jing Xi, holding the surveillance terminal, swaggered out of the shop’s front door.

Hearing the sound of crying again from behind, Chi Yao turned his head to look.

Si Qi was staring at the lock in his hand, his heart breaking.

Chi Yao, sitting in the driver’s seat, waved at him. “Keep up the good work. We’ll be back in six months.”

“Please don’t come back! Waaaaah—”

Si Qi finally broke down, sitting on the floor and crying loudly.

Having bullied someone to tears, Chi Yao’s stuffy mood from the whole evening finally eased a bit.

“Do your lovers all have masochistic tendencies?” Jing Xi asked out of the blue.

Chi Yao looked over, confused.

Jing Xi said flatly, “Otherwise, I can’t understand why an alpha like you would have lovers.”

Chi Yao: “…”

In the shop, after they left, Si Qi looked at the ransacked store and dialed a communication number with red eyes.

“Bro, our shop got robbed!”

On the screen, a dazed Liu Sichen sat up in shock. “Who the fuck is so blind?!”

Si Qi sobbed, “They didn’t leave a name, but they often dig out kidneys, and they said they’ll be back in six months. You have to investigate quickly!”

“Dig out kidneys?!” Liu Sichen’s eyes widened.

Si Qi nodded. “They also dismantled our door lock.”

Liu Sichen saw the empty doorknob on the screen, and a breath caught in his throat. He almost fainted.

“My lock that cost hundreds of thousands! What kind of fucking robbers are these? They have no class!”

Si Qi wiped his tears and nodded obediently. “They also recognized my modified gun. They look like old pros.”

Liu Sichen’s expression stiffened, as if he had thought of something.

“Nothing else was discovered, right?”

Si Qi shook his head. “No. Although they also dismantled the surveillance terminal, the terminal automatically destroys data upon abnormal power loss.”

“They even dismantled the terminal?” Liu Sichen thought he had misheard. “Just watch me fuck up these bastards!”

Si Qi: “Be careful, bro.”

Liu Sichen: “You think I’m afraid of them?”

Si Qi: “Protect your kidneys.”

Liu Sichen: “…”

In the car, Chi Yao listened to the bugged audio played by Xiao Hong and couldn’t stop laughing.

“Xixi, are you really not going to join me? All we need is a name and we can debut.”

Jing Xi scanned through the recent surveillance footage at the fastest speed.

“They might not be the same group.”

Chi Yao: “How so?”

Jing Xi shook his head. “Too weak. If it was a lookout point set up by the research institute, this level of defense would be useless.”

When the alarm went off, he had expected a large group of AI guards to rush in, but it was just one omega, and his ability to handle pressure was very poor. He didn’t seem professionally trained.

Chi Yao: “But his equipment is very good.”

The lock had a dual anti-theft program, the gun was modified, and even the sensor guns installed in the shop were well hidden.

Jing Xi: “It’s likely some small group with an unknown objective.”

Chi Yao tapped his fingers on the steering wheel and said, “Xiao Hong, can you get any information on Si Qi’s brother?”

After a moment, a virtual window enlarged, and the image of a young beta with messy hair appeared.

Chi Yao frowned. “This person looks a bit familiar.”

Jing Xi: “You’ve seen him?”

Chi Yao thought back carefully, then shook his head. “I haven’t seen him, but he looks familiar.”

The car drove all the way back to the hotel. Jing Xi glanced at the rearview mirror.

Seeing the lock and the surveillance terminal in the back seat, he was reminded of the omega’s aggrieved, crying face.

He had actually done it.

Not only did he steal things, but he also made an omega kid cry.

A dark mark on his history.

“What do we do with the stuff?” Jing Xi asked.

Chi Yao: “What do you mean, what do we do? We sell it.”

Jing Xi: “…”

The two removed their disguises and, pretending to have just come back from a nightclub, walked into the hotel lobby with their arms around each other’s shoulders.

Once in the elevator, Jing Xi motioned for him to let go.

But not only did Chi Yao not let go, he suddenly pressed him against the metal wall.

Although his face was covered by a biological film, he could still vaguely make out his own face.

Being stared at from such a close distance by this face, Jing Xi was resistant.

Noticing the surveillance camera in the elevator out of the corner of his eye, he said in a low voice, “Don’t act drunk.”

Chi Yao propped his hands on either side of him, gazed into his eyes, and leaned closer, a smile playing on his lips.

“Only you’re allowed to act drunk, but I’m not?”

Jing Xi tried hard to distance himself from this face. “Stop fooling around. I’m not your lover.”

Chi Yao’s eyes swept over his face. “It’s okay, I can still make a move on a brother.”

Jing Xi: “…”

The elevator suddenly stopped. Jing Xi glanced at the floor number; it wasn’t theirs yet.

The elevator doors opened, and two people walked in.

He glanced over casually, and his eyes suddenly narrowed.

Why was Dr. Qiu here?!

Fu Jiubing glanced at the two playing kabedon. Seeing their flamboyant attire, he tugged at his tie, his face impatient.

“No matter the cost, you have to recover the AI’s data.”

Qiu Tianlin stood two steps away from him, looking straight ahead. “Sichen is an expert in this field. His words are credible.”

“What damn expert,” Fu Jiubing sneered. “After so many years, he can still only be your assistant. He’s only half-baked in his professional field, let alone other areas.”

Qiu Tianlin: “But you’ve already commissioned three companies in the past few days, and none of their results were different from what Sichen found.”

Fu Jiubing: “So we have to keep looking!”

Qiu Tianlin: “Then have other colleagues from the research institute accompany you. I still have many experiments to do—”

“Qiu Tianlin, what do you mean?!” Fu Jiubing looked at him angrily. “You’re the consultant! You have a responsibility to sort out any problems that arise at the research institute! Now that this has happened, you—”

Qiu Tianlin’s eyes swept over Chi Yao and Jing Xi, then back to Fu Jiubing.

He said nothing, but he successfully made him stop talking.

From the moment they entered, Chi Yao had noticed that Jing Xi’s expression was not quite right.

Hearing their conversation, Chi Yao immediately confirmed that one of them was the person they had encountered in the specimen room that night.

Although he hadn’t seen his face at the time, he wouldn’t mistake this voice.

The elevator went up floor by floor.

Just as Chi Yao and Jing Xi were listening intently, the conversation on the other side suddenly stopped.

A glint appeared in Chi Yao’s eyes. He cupped Jing Xi’s face with a slender hand and leaned in to kiss him.

Jing Xi had no time to refuse. A sudden warmth touched his lips.

His heart skipped a beat, then began to race.

His fingers twitched, and he raised his hand to push the man away.

“You’re quite drunk. I’ll make you some sobering tea in a bit.”

Chi Yao pulled his hand away and clung to him again, kissing his face several times. He even left a light bite mark with his teeth and slurred, his voice drawling, “I’m not drunk! I just like older sisters.”

Chi Yao buried his face in Jing Xi’s shoulder. He could clearly feel his body stiffen, and he couldn’t help but let the corners of his lips curve up slightly.

Jing Xi: “…”

Are you a dog?

When Fu Jiubing turned his head, he happened to see the two alphas clinging to each other, and his face instantly darkened.

The elevator stopped, the doors opened, and he walked out as if fleeing a plague.

Jing Xi patted Chi Yao’s back. Seeing Qiu Tianlin follow him out, his face darkened.

Why was the doctor who had treated him since he was a child involved with this kind of organization?

And what was this about being a consultant?

Before Fu Jiubing got out, Chi Yao had Xiao Hong stick to his clothes.

The elevator reached their floor, but he clung to Jing Xi with no intention of walking on his own.

Jing Xi took two steps and asked with a blank face, “No strength? Do you want big brother to give you a princess carry?”

Chi Yao: “…”

You win.

He slowly looked up. “I have a lot to do tonight. How could I have no strength?”

Jing Xi: “You can also be the one who doesn’t use strength.”

Chi Yao: “…”

Was it his imagination?

Was this kid’s mouth getting sharper and sharper?

As soon as they returned to the room, Jing Xi was once again pressed against the door by Chi Yao.

Chi Yao gently peeled off the biological mask on his face and looked at him with a smile.

“This face of mine, the more I look at it, the more appetizing it becomes.”

Jing Xi: “I won’t give you a second chance.”

Chi Yao sneered. “Who was it that flirted with me first?”

Jing Xi was not the least bit guilty. “I didn’t bite you.”

Chi Yao brushed his fingers over the bite mark on his face. “You know how unstable your emotions are before your susceptibility period. If you provoke me again, it won’t be your face I’m biting next time.”

Jing Xi: “…”

He averted his gaze and said flatly, “Whatever. No matter where you bite, it’s no loss to me.”

After speaking, he pushed Chi Yao away and walked into the room.

As they passed each other, Chi Yao caught sight of Jing Xi’s slightly reddened ears out of the corner of his eye and smiled.

The old iceberg can get shy too?

Five minutes later, Chi Yao was sitting in the living room of the hotel room, watching the surveillance footage sent back by Xiao Hong.

The night was destined to be sleepless.

Jing Xi came over with coffee, handed him a cup, and casually sat down on the adjacent single sofa.

Looking at the screen, he asked casually, “What do you want to eat?”

Chi Yao: “I can order?”

Jing Xi said with a straight face, “I said, you don’t have to use strength.”

Chi Yao: “…”

He took a sip of coffee and, following his lead, said with a double entendre, “Forget it. You say you don’t have to use strength, but in the end, it takes even more strength.”

Jing Xi: “…”