Little Pink Starfish

“Why did you move the Colonel aside again?” Boss Xiao shouted as he stepped into the store.

At that moment, An Zhe had just sat up in bed. He rubbed his eyes and replied softly, “I can’t sleep well with him next to me.”

“You’re pretty particular,” Boss Xiao walked over and knocked hard on his skull. “Weren’t you hugging a head to sleep just a few days ago?”

An Zhe didn’t say anything. He buried his head back into the blanket and didn’t come out again.

A head was just a head. Lu Feng was Lu Feng. As someone who’d been repeatedly targeted by the Judge, An Zhe didn’t need a reason to be afraid of him.

Boss Xiao: “Docking your pay, then.”

An Zhe had no choice but to climb out of bed again and slowly put on his coat.

Boss Xiao’s tone turned frivolous again: “I say, don’t bother trying to charm any mercenaries—just work properly with me.”

An Zhe: “Why?”

Boss Xiao hadn’t said that yesterday.

“You look too soft. Tsk. Not gonna work,” Boss Xiao said. “Those mercenary punks will bully you.”

An Zhe: “Why would they bully me?”

Boss Xiao: “Because it’s fun, obviously.”

With that, he gave An Zhe’s head another knock.

An Zhe frowned. He thought Boss Xiao’s actions just now already counted as bullying.

But he had no choice. He was like a parasite now, relying on Boss Xiao’s wages—so he obediently got up to wash and prepared to start the day’s work.

Today was the thirtieth day of mannequin production. Which meant, by tonight at the latest, they had to finish the Judge mannequin and deliver it.

Ten days earlier, Boss Xiao had already finished the torso and limbs—mostly done by An Zhe under his guidance. Once complete, they selected a matching simulation part from the store’s inventory and combined it with the mannequin. Finally, through the black market, they obtained a perfect replica of the black uniform. Now, the Judge mannequin had a flawless body, only lacking a head.

At the moment, An Zhe was holding the mannequin’s head, checking the alignment of the hair he had personally implanted. Meanwhile, Boss Xiao had started the hot melt furnace, stirring a transparent gel in a small white porcelain pot with one hand, and dripping in green dye with the other. At first, the dye formed a dark green blob in the pot, then extended countless fine tendrils outward, gradually spreading evenly throughout. The gel turned pale green, then darkened.

After finishing the hair check, An Zhe had nothing else to do, so he watched the color change while recalling the color of Lu Feng’s eyes.

In bright light, they were a cold green—like green leaves frozen inside translucent, white-tinted ice blocks in winter. Whenever Lu Feng looked at him with those eyes, An Zhe would start to feel cold.

In dim evening light, Lu Feng’s eyes would appear a deep, rich forest green—like a deep lake hidden in the night, holding countless unknown secrets.

As he watched the color deepen, An Zhe said, “That’s good.”

Boss Xiao chuckled, turned off the heat, and said, “You’ve got a good eye.”

An Zhe said nothing, handed over the mold. The translucent gel was poured into a spherical mold to cool and set, then embedded in the whites of the eyes. The two eyeballs were complete.

The eyes were then installed into the mannequin’s sockets. The eyelashes had also been individually implanted by An Zhe. Now, the black lashes half-covered the green pupils, the cold expression vividly lifelike. It looked so real that An Zhe grew anxious and quickly picked up a black military cap to place on its head.

Next came joint calibration and facial contour detailing. The mannequin was finally complete at 7 p.m. An Zhe quietly stared at it, and the mannequin silently stared back. He felt it had already become the Colonel himself.

The mannequin—so lifelike it was indistinguishable from Lu Feng—was folded and placed into a rolling suitcase. Boss Xiao clapped his hands and said, “Delivery time. I’ll get Jin Sen to deliver it—he’s cheap.”

—Jin Sen was the young man in black who sold phones and delivered the Judge’s data to Boss Xiao.

However, Boss Xiao’s calls to him went unanswered, again and again.

Boss Xiao’s brows furrowed: “What’s going on?”

“Did he get caught?” He tried calling Hubbard, but the earpiece only said: “The number you dialed has left the base. Please leave a message.”

Boss Xiao looked over at the tablet on the workbench, deleted all the photos with a few swipes, and told An Zhe: “Something’s off. We need to offload this fast. No other tasks tonight—you’re coming with me.”

And so An Zhe returned to Zone 6 for the first time in a month.

Building 13, Unit 4, Room 312 was the client’s address. The suitcase was heavy. He and Boss Xiao took turns carrying it up the stairs to the third floor. Unlike his former residence in Building 117, this one was full of women. On the way up, they passed several of them—most with short hair, tall builds, and sharply defined features. Seeing them made An Zhe think of Du Sai again.

Du Sai had been a special woman—tall, yet more slender than anyone else he had seen, and with a fuller chest. That contrasting softness was rare even on the third underground floor.

He noticed Boss Xiao was also eyeing the women boldly. Finally, he said, “There’s no second Du Sai.”

An Zhe didn’t respond and gently knocked on the door of Room 12: “Hello, we’re here to deliver something.”

No answer.

He knocked louder: “Hello, delivery from the underground third floor.”

Still no response.

Boss Xiao stepped forward and pounded on the door: “Anyone there? Delivery!”

Silence.

Footsteps approached behind them. An Zhe turned around and saw a middle-aged woman in gray. “Hello, do you live here?” he asked.

She shook her head, looked at the door. “Looking for her?”

“Yes,” said An Zhe. “She ordered something. We’re here to deliver it.”

Her face was expressionless. She glanced at the suitcase and asked, “What is it?”

“High-end goods. Can’t say more,” Boss Xiao said. “She’s not home? When will she be back?”

The woman’s lips pressed tight. She didn’t respond right away.

Boss Xiao grew impatient. “She—”

“She’s dead. You didn’t know?” the woman said abruptly.

The air went still.

“Dead?” Boss Xiao’s voice jumped after a pause. “Then who’s paying the balance?”

The woman smirked and said, “She was killed by the Judge. Go ask him for it.”

Boss Xiao looked like a duck being strangled, suddenly speechless.

An Zhe, meanwhile, froze.

He stared at the woman. “What was her name?”

The woman ignored him, turned to swipe open her door with her ID, and went inside. Just before the door shut, two syllables came through.

“Du Sai.”

Once again, An Zhe recalled the expression Du Sai had worn before her death when she looked at Lu Feng. He didn’t know what to say. Boss Xiao also fell silent. After a while, he sighed. “You know how much this job was worth?”

An Zhe: “No.”

“More than the Hubbard order,” Boss Xiao said, half-lidding his eyes as he looked at the suitcase. “She played around with so many men but ended up really falling for someone.”

“Du Sai said the Judge once saved her,” An Zhe said.

“Foolish,” Boss Xiao sighed, shaking his head. “Someone like that Judge—if he saved her, it was just because he had to kill an alien. She’s not a little girl anymore. She should’ve known better. Not worth it.”

An Zhe didn’t respond.

Why Du Sai liked Lu Feng, he didn’t understand either. But compared to others, Lu Feng was… different. In a way he couldn’t explain.

After a pause, Boss Xiao said: “She’s gone. What about the goods? Can’t throw it away. If it’s discovered, the Tribunal will come after me.”

An Zhe: “Take it back to the shop?”

“Absolutely not.” Boss Xiao shook his head. “Jin Sen’s gone dark. I’m worried.”

Then he looked at An Zhe. “Didn’t you live in Zone 6?”

He lifted the suitcase. “You don’t stay there. No one’ll see. You take it home for now. Leave it there. If no one checks in a few days, we’ll find a buyer.”

An Zhe: “And you?”

Boss Xiao looked at his watch, frowning. “I’ve gotta go—last train’s soon.”

An Zhe thought it over. It made sense. He didn’t actually live there. Locking the mannequin inside should be fine.

Boss Xiao patted his shoulder. “You got this.”

And off he went.

But it turned out An Zhe did not “got this.”

Zone 6 was a ring. Building 13 and 117 weren’t far apart—which is why Boss Xiao trusted him with delivery. But the mannequin was solid and extremely heavy. He dragged it at a snail’s pace. By the time he reached Building 117, it was fully dark.

Everything was shadowy. Only the aurora provided faint outlines of the buildings. Standing before the unit door, thinking of dragging it up to the fifth floor, An Zhe felt hopeless. It was so heavy.

He turned around, away from the pitch-black stairwell, planning to rest a bit.

Suddenly, hot breath hit his back as someone hugged him tightly.

“An Ze!” It was Josie’s voice.

“I saw you from the window and came right down,” Josie held him tight. “Where’ve you been? Why didn’t you tell me? I’ve been looking for you.”

He caught his breath and continued, “You can’t leave again. Where did you go?”

Boss Xiao was right. Josie saw An Ze as his personal property.

An Zhe said calmly, “Please let go.”

But Josie only tightened his grip.

“Still mad at me?” he said.

An Zhe hadn’t replied when Josie whispered, “I’m sorry. However you want me to apologize, I’ll do it. An Ze, I love you.”

An Zhe: “…”

Boss Xiao was right again—he really did want to sleep with An Ze.

“Thanks,” An Zhe said. “I have someone now.”

“Really mad?” Josie chuckled. “You always like to tease me when you’re mad.”

An Zhe was truly fed up. He struggled, but Josie forcibly turned him around. “Look at me, An Ze.”

Bang!

A gunshot rang out.

Josie flinched and instinctively let go, scanning the surroundings.

An Zhe looked too. Beneath the shadow of a nearby building, a figure stood—someone who had just fired a shot into the air. The figure approached. Tall, straight, and very familiar.

Only military personnel were allowed to carry guns inside the city.

And among them, only one group had the right to shoot at will.

An Zhe thought: he had run into the Judge’s patrol again—what luck.

Before he could think more, a familiar cold voice spoke: “Who is he to you?”

An Zhe: “Neighbor.”

Lu Feng stopped in front of him.

At such a close distance, anyone could recognize the Judge.

He felt Josie stiffen beside him.

“AD4117, my comm ID,” Lu Feng said lazily. “If something like this happens again, and you choose to contact me, he’ll be arrested for molestation.”

An Zhe looked up, still in a bit of shock. But since he was a military colonel, he did have the duty to maintain order.

He said, “Okay.”

Behind him, Josie tensed even more.

But An Zhe no longer cared.

Because—Lu Feng’s hand was lightly resting on the suitcase handle.

He said flatly, “Want help carrying it upstairs?”