Chapter 45: The Secretary Panics

With all the moderators @-ing them, Luo Ran could only return a string of ellipses.

Luo Ran was a little worried — he’d been in a hurry to find something for verification and forgot that this limited-edition jacket only had two in existence.
After all, he was the one who took care of all of Lucas’ clothes except for his underwear.
His focus was on finding good-looking clothes with suitable designs which Lucas would like and feel comfortable wearing, so he hardly cared about whether they were limited edition or not.

Keeping to the principle that talking more meant making more mistakes, he didn’t speak up and just kept watching.

@One Tender Blossom: Finally came out! Why don’t you give an explanation?

Lucas sneered as he typed out an arrogant string of words.

@Lucas: I’m the real fucking person! Can my own clothes be fake?! My secretary bought it for me!

@One Tender Blossom: Oh, another crazy one.
Cutie, I suggest you ship CPs rationally.

Lucas: ???

@Triumphant Once Again: Hahahaha if you’re the admiral, then I’m Secretary Luo! Can we start doing this and that o(*////▽////*)q

Lucas: ?????

Sneering again, Lucas used the permissions he received from the Starnet Administration Bureau to check that ‘False Truths’.

Humph, he just wanted to see which idiot was pretending to have his clothes.

IP：6276e01-983k

Location: Imperial Capital_West_District A

Real name: Luo Ran

“…”

“…???”

What the hell, his secretary stubbornly insisted he didn’t like him, but still used his jacket as verification.

Lucas more or less understood what was going on.
This group should be… his and Luo Ran’s matchmakers?

A huge group of people who thought they were in a relationship and liked watching them be in a relationship?

Lucas thought it was kind of weird.

Why did they like to see other people in a relationship? Not to mention that he and Luo Ran weren’t together yet.

But Luo Ran was in the group.

So he also liked to watch their relationship?

Luo Ran fell in love with him?

Oh ho.

He snorted coldly.

This little bastard.

Tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk…

After thinking on it, Lucas thought that he should do what Shen Xiluo recommended and show his graciousness as an alpha towards everything the other person did, including how they sneakily took his jacket to show off their affection.

@Lucas: Yeah, mine’s fake.

Even though the jacket was on Lucas’ body at this very moment, he had zero hesitation.

@One Tender Blossom: ???

@Lucas: I bought a fake, what, can’t I?

@One Tender Blossom: …Uh, why are you so proud to buy a fake? Don’t you know you shouldn’t do this!

Lucas checked the user again — huh, Rong Duo, what a daring little girl to talk to him like this.

Others in the group also began to clamour.

XXX: Cutie, please try not to buy fake goods!

XXX: Oh, you’re even using the admiral’s name… come on, our admiral is brilliantly handsome, mighty and domineering! Not like this chittering idiot!

The chittering idiot Lucas had no time to type a reply before suddenly being kicked out of the group chat.

Lucas: ?????

Lucas was furious.
A single glance at the backend data showed that the one who kicked him was Triumphant Once Again.

He messaged Zhou Mingkai on the spot.

Lucas: Zhou Mingkai your brain has a mf problem, right?! Why’d you kick me!

Zhou Mingkai: ????

Zhou Mingkai: Bro, I’m working out at my own house, living out my healthy days, who’d have the guts to run to the company and kick you, isn’t that asking for death.

Huh, working out? Zhou Mingkai clearly said in the group that he was watching a movie, he saw it before he was kicked out!

Lucas: The hell you’re working out!

Lucas: [image]

It was a screenshot of Lucas being kicked out of the group.

The other side was silent for a long time, then–

Zhou Mingkai: What the fuck???? What the fuck!!!!!!

Zhou Mingkai: AAAAAAASKJDFAAH BRO! BIG BRO!!!!

Zhou Mingkai: dhkmzlq

Lucas: What’s doing this and that.

He was sincerely curious.

Zhou Mingkai: ASDJSK BRO IT’S NOT LIKE THAT AASDFDSASDF!!

Zhou Mingkai: Big bro why’d you come here?! Don’t join this kind of group!

Even if he were beaten to death, Zhou Mingkai wouldn’t dare to add Lucas back in.

Zhou Mingkai: Please stay far away from us silly fools!!

Zhou Mingkai: …no wait, then False Truths is the one who bought fake goods? Then I’ll go kick him now and give you justice!

Lucas: No, his is also real, he’s Luo Ran.

Zhou Mingkai: …

Lucas: If you dare say it or kick him, you’re finished.

Zhou Mingkai: ……

Zhou Mingkai, wanting to but unable to cry, hurriedly pulled back the hand that was about to kick Luo Ran out of the group.

What kind of human suffering was this?

His ship was sailing!

Wuwuwu, what a wonderful love.

The experience was indeed painful yet joyous!

* * *

Luo Ran, watching this inexplicable farce playing out before him that ended with the one called ‘Lucas’ being kicked out, felt torn between laughter and tears.

Never mind, he thought, he’d be safe as long as the other person with the jacket didn’t show up, and if they did, then he could just quit the group.
It was only a throwaway account.

Ding dong——

Luo Ran was about to go offline when a notification sounded again.

He’d muted the chat, so this was probably someone tagging him.

Admin @Triumphant Once Again has granted @False Truths VIP status

Admin @Triumphant Once Again has granted @False Truths the title [Mascot]

@Winter’s Autumn Sun: ??

@One Tender Blossom: ??

@Triumphant Once Again: heheheh, it’s nothing, just making it up to this little cutie! We almost misunderstood him just now!

Luo Ran hesitantly replied with thanks, then went to bed.

* * *

Luo Ran rested for a night, and when he went to the office the next day, Lu Cheng and the investigation team’s captain came to find him with an update.

Andika was currently staying in a rehabilitation centre, undergoing psychological counselling and drug detoxification.
His treatment involved recalling the events of that day in order to face his fears and overcome them.

Among his memories was a key clue.
Andika said that he saw three women led by a man through a side door in the rear garden.
He himself was hidden out of sight and access to that place was restricted, so logically, there shouldn’t have been any outsiders there.

But not only were there outsiders, there were four of them — and why had they sneaked through the rear garden?

Various forces were gathered for the banquet, so the Empire had an especially tight grip on security that day.
A group of people like that shouldn’t have been able to move freely.
How could they have got in?

The investigation team had immediately questioned the guards on duty at the rear garden that day, only to be told that everything was business as usual and they hadn’t seen anyone.
They had obviously been bribed, and by a high-ranking officer at that, who had enough power to order the guards in this area to allow that group of people to go in.

So what was their purpose?

At the same time, another report came in with a great breakthrough.

Of course, only Lucas felt this way.

The captain of the investigation team handed his report to Lucas and said, “We’ve collected confessions one by one, and successfully filtered out a valid piece of information.

“There was another person on the same floor as you, Admiral — the young Zerg prince who came for the banquet was also resting in his room.
According to him, when he went out to get a drink, he saw a man wearing white.
We checked the time and found that it was indeed within the target range.”

It took so long to confirm the colour of the person’s clothes because it truly was very difficult to contact the Zergs.
Their race lived in another galaxy, and were in constant warfare.

Luo Ran’s heart skipped a beat.

Lucas slapped the table with a sneer.
“Very good!” he exclaimed.
They’d finally found something useful!

“Then I don’t need to teach you what to do next, right? Quickly get a list of names and check them one by one!” Lucas leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms.
“Don’t let a single one go!”

“Yes sir!”

The investigation team had already ruled out a lot of people before, but now with an obvious feature like ‘white clothes’, their list had shortened by quite a bit.

After the captain and Lu Cheng left, Luo Ran glanced at Lucas with a smile.
“Then I’ll go too.”

“Wait.” Lucas frowned at Luo Ran, who wore a simple white suit, and started in a questioning tone, “That day, you…”

With his heart caught in his mouth, Luo Ran somehow kept a calm expression as he asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Did you wear white that day?”

“I didn’t,” Luo Ran replied with lowered eyes, “did you forget, Admiral? I wore blue, an aqua blue.
Adjutant Lu even praised it as very beautiful and said it was special because I usually wear white, not blue.”

Fortunately it was hot that night, Luo Ran thought.
Because of the heat, he’d taken off his white coat when he went upstairs to find Lucas, leaving a blue undershirt.

“…Ah.”

After Luo Ran left, Lucas realized that he was quite stupid.

Tsk, did he go crazy?

Luo Ran was a beta, he had nothing to do with the omega from that day.

He just…

Lucas frowned.
Maybe he just wanted that person to be Luo Ran, so he couldn’t help asking.

He rubbed at his temples.

* * *

Luo Ran plunged back into his work.
At present, the most important thing was to keep up with the investigation team’s progress into the person wearing white.

He thought it over for a long time, and ultimately decided not to step in.

Things weren’t so simple.
Since he was currently hidden in the dark, it might be good to have Lucas keep digging into this, in order to see what the mastermind behind the drugs wanted to do.

Then Luo Ran made another trip to the research institute.

“By the way, I was too busy yesterday, and that blockhead Shen Xiluo kept following me, so I didn’t get the chance to ask.” Xia Zhi had finished collecting all the information and signatures for his reports with Shen Xiluo, so he was now on break, and chose to spend that time pulling Luo Ran into an out-of-the-way corner to chat.
“What’s going on with you and the admiral? You’re dating?”

“…”

Luo Ran was very exasperated that he had to explain this to literally everyone.

“…We’re not.”

“Oh…” Xia Zhi gave a dry smile.
“There was some movement on the blind date network.
I thought you deleted your account because you and the admiral got together.”

“It doesn’t matter if it’s deleted or not.” Luo Ran smiled.
“My parents have been looking around, they put me in contact with another alpha.”

“Hah…?” Xia Zhi stared.
“Y-You’re going on a blind date?”

“Maybe?”

Xia Zhi took a sip of coffee, then said, “Oh, uh… you want to get a partner? Get married?”

“Not as such…” Luo Ran smiled.
“But there’s no need to particularly resist either.”

After drinking half a cup of coffee, Xia Zhi leaned back on his chair with a somewhat subtle expression.
“I thought that you and the admiral… Forget it.”

Luo Ran paused, and couldn’t help asking, “Why does everyone think the admiral and I are together? Even you think so too.
Yes he’s good to me, but not like a lover would be.”

Xia Zhi’s face did something complicated.
“Then does he act like that towards other people?”

Luo Ran stopped short.

“He’s only like this with you, he treats you very well, he obviously likes you a lot.
Besides… you don’t treat others like this either, right?” Xia Zhi asked with a raised eyebrow.
“If an alpha came on to you because of a drug, then planted strawberries on your neck, would you be willing? Could you tolerate it? You’d have already sent them flying, there’s no way they’d be able to take advantage of you.”

Xia Zhi only knew about the hickey situation because Luo Ran went to him for help, asking him for ointment to cover the marks on his lips, wrists, and neck.
But the other thing was…

Luo Ran’s entire body petrified as his eyes widened.

Xia Zhi was torn between laughter and tears.
“You were marked by an SSS alpha but didn’t do anything, yet the admiral is looking for his one-night stand everywhere.
I’m not stupid.
It’s just that you weren’t willing to talk, and this is quite a sensitive thing, so I pretended not to know.”

“…” Luo Ran opened and closed his mouth.
He, who had always been smart, had no idea how to respond.

“Silly Ranran,” Xia Zhi said, “You’ve been with the admiral for too long, you’ve become blind.”

It wasn’t necessarily love, but it also wasn’t necessarily the kind of pure employer-employee relationship Luo Ran thought.

* * *

Luo Ran’s mind was confused even until he returned to the office.

“Luo Ran!” Lucas shouted as soon as he saw Luo Ran and stepped out of his personal office.
“Make me a cup of coffee,” he ordered.

“Yes.” Luo Ran got up immediately, his body moving faster than his brain.

The coffee was done quickly.

After Luo Ran put it on Lucas’ desk, their eyes met for a split second before he quickly looked away.

The atmosphere between them had never calmed ever since they descended from the compatibility scanner.

Luo Ran had been determined to maintain proper distance between them as befitting of an employer and their employee since he acted in front of Lillia, but with the various events since then, he’d let it fall to the wayside.

“Hiss…” Lucas frowned when his shoulder twinged in pain as he reached for the coffee.

Lucas just returned from military HQ, where he was probably training, so his shoulders might have been a little sore.
Luo Ran subconsciously said, “I’ll massage your shoulders for you, Admiral.”

“Okay,” Lucas replied.

Luo Ran stepped forwards, then froze.
He retracted his hand and looked uneasily at Lucas.

Lucas stared back blankly.

A few seconds passed.

“Oh, right.” Luo Ran dug out his terminal.
“Admiral, there are some updates from the investigation team.
According to their investigation, there were 431 male omega that night, of whom 109 have alibis, so we need to chase up 322 people.
Of these, 154 are from the Empire, and 168 are from other places.”

Luo Ran’s tone was solemn, serious, and professional, and he stood upright, just like an excellent subordinate.

Lucas still stared, still blank.

Huh?

Luo Ran continued, “We plan to start investigating from the omega in the Empire.
After all, it’s harder to do things on foreign planets, and would take longer.”

“Hm…?” Lucas, who was gradually being led away, nodded.
“Okay.”

Luo Ran’s voice was steady, with not a hint that anything was wrong.
“As for your schedule tomorrow, Admiral — you have a meeting at the military camp in the morning, a mecha performance in the afternoon, then you have to go back to the office in the evening for a meeting regarding UNK escorts.
I’ll prepare everything for tomorrow, and give you the information for both meetings in advance.”

This way, they didn’t need to meet.

“Okay…?”

“Then, Admiral, I’ll go back first.” Luo Ran smiled at him.
“I’ve already heated your kitchen in the dinner and made a pot of coffee, remember to use it in the morning.”

“Yeah.”

Luo Ran turned and stiffly walked away.

* * *

Five minutes later, Lucas suddenly woke up.

Wait?

Your kitchen in the dinner?

Dinner in the morning????