Chapter 17: Su Qingyue

The sunlight over Capital Star was fine.

Sang Ling stood waiting near the bus stop closest to home, eyes narrowed against the light, her long, straight lashes casting a small shadow across her face.

Her earpiece was playing the news—a report on the Zerg attack from two days prior. The death toll had surpassed one hundred. Over two hundred civilians missing. Among the Alpha soldiers who had fought, thirty-two dead, four missing.

The anchor was still anxiously emphasizing the rising frequency of Zerg attacks when Sang Ling heard, through her earpiece, the low growl of an approaching engine.

She raised her eyes. A deep black Flying Car with clean, flowing lines was roaring toward her. Even its silhouette alone radiated expense.

The car stopped. The door swung open slowly of its own accord, and from the driver’s seat Su Qingyue removed her large black-framed sunglasses, rested a hand on the wheel, and inclined her head slightly. “Get in.”

Sang Ling dropped neatly into the passenger seat and shut the door. “Good afternoon.”

“Good afternoon, Your Excellency.”

Su Qingyue started the car, and a fierce surge of acceleration pressed Sang Ling back into her seat—confirming, yet again, that this vehicle had cost a fortune.

“You look very handsome today.” Su Qingyue engaged the Flyer’s autopilot, freeing her attention, and turned to her.

Sang Ling laughed. “Really?”

“Of course. Your taste is excellent.” Su Qingyue tilted her head. “That opal brooch especially—it suits you perfectly.”

“May I see it?” she asked, courteous.

“Sure.” Sang Ling agreed generously and was about to unpin the brooch and hand it over—but in the next second, Su Qingyue leaned across toward her.

The Beta with the shoulder-length black hair wore a black suit dress, her back perfectly straight, every gesture carrying that particular aloofness of the elite class. And now she was very, very close.

Sang Ling could nearly catch the faint fragrance of her hair.

And that was precisely Su Qingyue’s purpose.

Wanting to see the opal was, of course, a pretext—nothing more than an excuse to close the distance. But when she actually drew near, she caught it: a faint iris scent rising from the brooch.

Betas had no pheromones of their own, but they could smell the pheromone scent of Alphas and Omegas. For someone like Su Qingyue, a darling of heaven since birth, training in discerning pheromones had never been lacking.

That natural, clean fragrance on the brooch was nothing like the blended perfumes on the market.

This was an Omega’s pheromones.

So she’s declaring territory, is she? Su Qingyue sneered inwardly.

But she was no fool. If that Omega and Sang Ling had truly gone that far, there were a hundred better ways to announce her existence than a tiny brooch straining to be noticed.

She straightened up, her expression unchanged, as if she knew nothing at all, and continued chatting with Sang Ling.

“The apartment viewing will be very quick. We can go to that ice cream shop right after.”

Sang Ling replied politely, “Oh.”

She genuinely had no idea what else to say.

“That shop has a lovely atmosphere. Good for taking in the scenery at a leisurely pace.”

Sang Ling: “Mm.”

She was starting to feel the awkwardness now, her fingers tracing the lines of the car door.

Truthfully, this was only her second time meeting Su Qingyue. Last time, the cosplay commission and the Zerg attack had filled every moment; playing Chu Zhou, Sang Ling could say anything to her without a shred of pressure.

But today she had come as herself, and she found herself at a loss, with no idea what to talk about.

Fortunately, Su Qingyue was not the type to be awkward. Her expression never flickered as she kept the conversation going. “Besides ice cream, is there anything else you’d like to eat, Your Excellency? I can have it delivered to the shop ahead of us.”

That reminded Sang Ling. She sat up straight, recalled Lin Jinxu’s instructions, and forced herself to speak. “You’ve already done me such a huge favor. Today, the ice cream’s on me.”

On this one point, Su Qingyue showed a rare stubbornness.

Please. When had CEO Su ever let anyone else pay?

“Saving my life is a debt that picking out an apartment could never begin to repay. If you hadn’t specifically refused, I would have bought that apartment outright and gifted it to you.”

Seeing her resolve, Sang Ling stopped insisting—and the atmosphere inside the car promptly sank back into that same ambiguous awkwardness.

Honestly, it would be easier to just play Chu Zhou, Sang Ling thought. At least when I’m cosplaying someone else, I don’t get stage fright.

Fortunately, Su Qingyue’s expensive Flyer lived up to its price, and CEO Su regarded speeding tickets with sublime indifference. The apartment building soon appeared.

Su Qingyue got out and moved to open Sang Ling’s door—but the Alpha was already a step ahead of her.

Before them stood an eleven-story apartment building—remarkably restrained in an interstellar era where hundred-story towers grew like weeds.

“The Su Family had a stake in developing this building. I personally oversaw the project.”

Su Qingyue introduced it as they walked. “It was designed from the start for successful business elites. Security features were the top priority.”

She nodded to the guard posted at the entrance. “We paid special attention to anti-Zerg measures. Every wall is triple-reinforced, and the security doors are the best on the market.”

When she talked about her work, she was fluent and commanding, her eyes practically glowing.

Sang Ling found herself nodding along. Working women really are the most attractive. The old saying never lies.

The apartment they were viewing today was on the tenth floor, two units per floor. The door across the hall was coated in thick dust—clearly vacant for a very long time.

As the building’s owner, Su Qingyue naturally held access rights to every unsold unit.

After a pupil scan, she pushed the door open while saying, “The locks are all the latest biometric…”

The apartment was excellent, of course. Three bedrooms, one living room. Or rather—too excellent. And the price Su Qingyue quoted was far too low. Even Sang Ling started to sense something was off.

She couldn’t help raising the question over ice cream.

The ice cream shop was elegantly decorated, its nearly all-solid-wood interior filling the space with a faint, clean fragrance.

Su Qingyue, seated by the window with a menu in hand, paused for half a beat when she heard the question—then naturally turned to the next page.

“Two scoops of the signature spirit-orchid ice cream, two scoops of matcha, and a pot of lychee black tea.”

She finished ordering and handed the menu to the server, who bowed slightly and withdrew.

“Since we’re on the subject of money,” Su Qingyue said at last, with great seriousness, “there happens to be something I’d like to discuss with you first, Your Excellency.”

“I hear you’re about to enter Major Jiang’s Task Force as a Reservist?”

“Forgive my bluntness, but entering her Task Force while you’re in her debt is not a wise decision.”

At those words, Sang Ling’s lashes fluttered twice, and a sudden edge appeared in the eyes of that ordinarily mild Alpha.

She quickly lowered her lashes, burying the emotion, and smiled. “President Su seems remarkably well informed about military matters.”

The Task Force transfer notice had come down less than a day ago. How did Su Qingyue know?

Given the last time she and Jiang Yunzhao had met—bristling like drawn blades—Sang Ling didn’t believe the Eldest Miss Jiang would have volunteered the information.

Which made Su Qingyue’s sources deeply suspicious. Her influence within the military was even greater than Sang Ling had imagined.

Su Qingyue only smiled, offered no answer, and continued along her own line of thought.

“Major Jiang rose from the youth soldier corps. She’s your age, and she already holds the rank of Major. Her ability goes without saying.”

“Major Jiang’s Task Force has ranked first in the entire military for three consecutive years. Every one of her soldiers is an elite.”

“But…” Su Qingyue feigned hesitation, as if unsure whether she ought to say it.

Sang Ling, exactly as intended, stepped into the trap. “Please, go on.”

“Major Jiang’s Task Force also has the highest non-combat attrition in the military. Plenty of the army’s finest have entered her Task Force full of ambition—only to voluntarily withdraw within a single month, and then spend a long stretch in the hospital afterward.”

Su Qingyue circled the point delicately, her expression pained. “Perhaps the internal competition in Major Jiang’s Task Force is simply too fierce.”

Her words were tactful, but Sang Ling was blunt by nature.

She lifted her eyelids and said, neither lightly nor heavily, “You’re implying Jiang Yunzhao bullies her own people.”

Su Qingyue laughed. “Major Jiang is naturally strict in drilling her subordinates. I’m only advising you not to enter the Task Force while she holds leverage over you.”

A debtor was born a rank beneath her creditor—and stacked on top of the gulf between superior officer and subordinate, Su Qingyue was hinting that Sang Ling’s days in the Task Force would not be pleasant.

An ordinary soldier who couldn’t stomach Jiang Yunzhao’s devil training could resist and resign with a clear conscience. Sang Ling couldn’t—because she still owed Jiang Yunzhao money.

In the high-pressure world of the military, that one point of weakness could deal her a devastating blow.

Sang Ling recalled the Eldest Miss Jiang’s temper and, for a moment, actually found Su Qingyue’s words persuasive. Jiang Yunzhao certainly looked like the type who could do such a thing.

Then why was Su Qingyue warning her? Out of pure kindness?

Sang Ling’s smile didn’t reach her eyes, and she let not a trace of suspicion show. “Then what would President Su propose?”

Su Qingyue, noticing nothing amiss, took out her Light Brain, opened a document, and slid it across.

“Employment Contract.”

Sang Ling read the title aloud.

Su Qingyue folded her hands on the table and leaned forward slightly—a posture of immense pressure. “I intend to establish a long-term employment relationship with you, Your Excellency.”

“If you agree, that apartment can be transferred directly into your name. Your debt to Miss Jiang can be settled by me. And you would receive an additional salary of 500,000 every month.”

“What I can offer goes beyond money. Your Excellency, you seem to have no conception of the Su Family’s power. I can make your career in the military soar.”

“Jiang Yunzhao made Major at twenty because of the Jiang Family’s background and accumulation.”

“Your Excellency—I can make you the next glorious Jiang Yunzhao. Isn’t that practically the life dream of every Alpha?”

Su Qingyue laid out terms of irresistible allure and watched the Alpha across the table silently take the Light Brain, flip through several pages, and show what appeared to be wavering on her face.

The President who commanded the business world remained certain of victory. The law required a Beta like her to address an Alpha as “Your Excellency”—but wealth was what truly determined a person’s standing, and Su Qingyue happened to be very, very rich.

The Beta was fully confident she was about to claim this Alpha. She would be the first Alpha plaything of her life.

But this mild, poor Alpha, after setting the Light Brain down on the table, lifted her head—and the expression on her face was one Su Qingyue found utterly foreign.

Su Qingyue heard her say, with a smile that was cold mockery through and through:

“So this is a sugar-baby contract.”