Chapter Text
Daytoy Interplanetary Bookstore is, as always, empty. Save for the 183.6 centimetres of Nerd who owns it.
That’s how people like to refer to him and Xiao Zhan is just fine with that description. He is quite fond of it, actually. Yeah, he is being called a nerd but he is also being noted for his height. The vain part of him is incredibly pleased with it. The business part of him notes that a bookstore owner being referred to as a nerd is a positive thing.
Not that that particular business angle seems to work for his bookstore given how empty it always is. Xiao Zhan is honestly lucky that he has his family’s generational wealth to fall back on. He would never be able to afford the expensive books and have a bookstore otherwise.
Xiao Zhan sits down with his steaming hot cup of tea at the armchair with the book he has been reading for two days. He is already halfway through. In his humble and 183.6 centimetres of nerdy opinion, the public is missing out. Sure, most books are available online and there is no one without a reader-screen these days. But nothing compares to the original copies retrieved from Earth. Xiao Zhan has built up an impressive collection of them and this particular book is so old, some of the pages are coming out. Xiao Zhan flips every page carefully. Let the public miss out, Xiao Zhan is profiting from it anyway.
There is a jingle of bells.
Xiao Zhan frowns. Bells. Now? It is well after lunch time and no one shows up now. People barely show up at any time. He puts his book down carefully with a sigh and looks at his hot tea mournfully. Nothing is quite like freshly brewed tea. He will have to reheat this and it just won’t be the same.
“Welcome to Daytoy Interplanetary Bookstore,” Xiao Zhan rattles off as he rounds the shelves and comes face to face with his customer. His customer who is wearing a dark green jumpsuit with at least one weapon strapped to his thigh. Oh no. Oh no no no, Xiao Zhan knows of these green jumpsuit menaces.
The green jumpsuit menace takes out a badge.
“Agent Wang,” says the man, showing him the badge. “Nice to meet you.”
Fuck.
✵
“I have not done anything illegal, Agent,” says Xiao Zhan as he taps the badge on the scanner and the indicator blinks bright green in a few moments, the screen showing the same details written on the badge. He hands the badge back to him. “May I ask why you are here?”
The agent looks around at the shelves, a touch of skepticism in his gaze. Xiao Zhan tries not to openly bristle. “It is my job to do checks like these. I am sorry to inconvenience you. We just received some complaints.”
“Complaints?” says Xiao Zhan. Those bitchass neighbours of his. Xiao Zhan knew they were nasty. “I have never done anything to be complained about.”
Agent Wang looks a little amused. “Well, we were told that apparently this bookstore is a front for illegal activities.”
“Do you have any proof?”
“We do not,” admits Agent Wang. “But you have supposedly only sold three books in the past six months and yet you do not seem to have any trouble maintaining this bookstore.”
Xiao Zhan groans internally. He knew this day would come. “My family just happens to be rich.” He hopes the agent asks no follow up questions to that.
Agent Wang hums. He takes out one of the books from the bookshelf and Xiao Zhan nearly yells at him for how casually he handles the old and fragile book. “What is the price of this book?”
“You don’t even want to buy that,” says Xiao Zhan. The agent stares at him so Xiao Zhan huffs. “Thirty thousand.”
The agent does a double take. “Sorry? Did you say thirty thousand?”
“Yes.”
“You meant three thousand, right?”
“No, I meant thirty thousand.”
“That is an insane price for a book!”
“That is an acceptable price for an Earth relic. All my books have been sourced from Earth.”
The agent shakes his head in disbelief. “You do realise there are laws regulating the price you can set for products, right?”
“I know. I also know those laws do not apply to original Earth relics. Like I said, I have not done anything illegal.”
Abruptly, the agent starts laughing. “Oh wow. You found a loophole. I bet you just don’t want to sell these books and that’s why you price them so insanely high.”
Xiao Zhan rolls his eyes. “That is pure speculation on your behalf, Agent. I simply happen to know the value of these books.”
The agent grins. “Bet this is also why those people complained about you. They are either miffed about your overpriced books or got suspicious. How often do you update your bookstore with new books?”
Xiao Zhan considers not replying just out of spite. But Agent Wang is, well, an agent and could get him in serious trouble if Xiao Zhan does not comply. And besides he is too proud of his book sourcing capabilities to not say: “Every month, at least.”
“How do you find space to keep them all when you don’t sell anything?”
“I sold three books in the past six months!” says Xiao Zhan. Agent Wang’s smile widens. It is infectious. But Xiao Zhan resolutely does not smile back. “Well it is a struggle sometimes but I love collecting books from Earth.”
“It’s called hoarding,” says the agent. “But then I suppose you are not doing anything illegal. OH MY GOD!”
Xiao Zhan startles as Agent Wang practically flings himself across the cramped space to grab at a book. He cradles this book with much more care and gently flips the pages, his eyes practically shining as he looks through. Xiao Zhan looks at the cover and it is a book about racecars. Xiao Zhan acquired it simply out of principle but when he had tried to read it, he realised many of the terms made no sense to him unless he looked them up properly. He never really got into it very well but Agent Wang has clearly found his favourite thing in the entire shop.
“Oh my stars, this is an original from Earth about the–” Agent Wang rattles off a sequence of words and numbers that must be a model name or something. Xiao Zhan discards it from memory as soon as hears it. “This is priceless! I wish I could buy it.”
Xiao Zhan blinks. “I mean, you can? You are welcome to buy anything you want.”
Agent Wang gives him a deadpan look. “Sure, I can buy this. And then I can go bankrupt for the rest of my life for fun. What is this, like fifty thousand credits?”
“Uhhh,” Xiao Zhan tries to recall. “No. More like a thousand.”
Agent Wang looks at him. He narrows his eyes. “You are lying.”
“I am not lying. I can show you the price in the database.”
“So you price everything here at insanely high prices and this one at a normal, only slightly expensive price? Interesting logic. Do you hate racecars?”
This time Xiao Zhan turns away and picks up his reader-screen, stabbing his code into it. “Look, you can buy it or you can leave it. You may be an agent here to investigate my shop but I do not have to put up with the disrespect, Agent Wang.”
“I didn’t mean any–”
“Investigate me all you want but do not question me on what prices I choose to sell in my own shop, especially when these are Earth relics. I know the law, Agent. Please be mindful of your limits. Your agent status does not make you untouchable and we both know that.”
Agent Wang does not reply this time but Xiao Zhan is too busy browsing through his reader-screen for the right page.
“And if you wish to buy something, take your time and figure out if it is worth your credits. Then let me know.”
Xiao Zhan looks up and Agent Wang is staring back with wide eyes. He is clutching the book to his chest as if he can already not bear to part with it. It is kind of cute. Agent Wang himself is kind of cute. If Xiao Zhan had met him under any other circumstances and if he wasn’t a goddamn green jumpsuit, Xiao Zhan might even have made a move on him.
“Do you want me to give you a discount?”
“What? No. I can afford a thousand credits,” says the agent, snapping back to life. His face goes all shifty. The green jumpsuit menace who seemed so menacing and intimidating just a moment ago with his official badge and strapped gun and dark eyes now looks like nothing more than a harmless, boyish racecar enthusiast. His ears are a little red. “I am not poor, gege.”
Xiao Zhan coughs. “Excuse me? Did you just call me gege?”
“Well, you have not introduced yourself yet,” says Agent Wang. He is flipping through his book again, eyes trained studiously on the pages.
“Don’t act cute with me, Agent. You already know my name. You came here to investigate me.” Xiao Zhan is beginning to get a headache. “So, do you want to buy the book?”
Agent Wang looks up and nods. He comes to the counter and Xiao Zhan flips his reader-screen towards him with the purchase form already pulled up because he knew Agent Wang was going to buy the book. Agent Wang takes the reader-screen from him and Xiao Zhan cautiously takes the book to hold it while Agent Wang fills out his details.
He isn’t sure at first whether Agent Wang would let him hold his precious book but the man seems to be fine with it.
“My name is Wang Yibo, by the way,” says the agent, looking up and pinning Xiao Zhan with… a glare? Why is he glaring at Xiao Zhan when Xiao Zhan is selling him a nice book?
“...Okay,” says Xiao Zhan. Maybe Agent Wang is glaring at him because he is holding his book. Nevermind that he has not paid for it yet. Xiao Zhan keeps the book down on the counter and pats it gently. The man does have firearms on him after all.
He points at the bottom of the screen. “Just sign there, Agent.”
Agent Wang looks down and signs. “I will have to come back later to check up on the other books. I don’t think I can afford buying multiple Earth relics back to back but I can browse around, right?
Xiao Zhan sighs. “Yes. This bookstore is open to all.”
“Great. Then I would have to trouble you with my presence.”
If this is Green Jumpsuit’s way of investigating his bookstore then so be it. His peace and quiet will be disturbed over the course of the next few weeks but he supposes he will have to put up with that. As long as he does not uncover Xiao Zhan’s real identity.
Or is it just a ticking clock until Xiao Zhan is discovered?
He packs up the book nicely and shoves in a couple of bookmarks into the bag before handing it to Agent Wang. “Thank you, Agent.”
“No, no, I am buying this as a civilian,” says Agent Wang. He is shifting from one foot to another in a remarkably un-agent-like manner. He is so confusing. “I will be back soon. As a civilian.”
Please do not be back soon, Xiao Zhan prays as Green Jumpsuit finally exits his shop.
✵
Agent Wang does not return for weeks and Xiao Zhan is relieved.
Generally interplanetary agents (the ones who wear green jumpsuits and have the jurisdiction to show up unannounced) do not stay for more than a few weeks at a planet, let alone a specific place on that planet. J75 is a small planet and Agent Wang must have left already. Maybe Xiao Zhan was deemed not suspicious enough to warrant more investigation. Thank the stars. Now Xiao Zhan can finally relax and drink his steaming hot tea and read his old books in peace.
There is a jingle of bells.
Xiao Zhan freezes. He does not dare get up to see who it is even as footsteps travel around the shop. Maybe it’s not the agent. Maybe it’s just a random customer who is genuinely looking at books. Maybe Xiao Zhan doesn’t even need to get up because the customer would find all the prices (understandably) atrocious and leave without a word. Xiao Zhan has also found some customers don’t like it when the owner hovers around them. He has all kinds of reasons to not get up. He can hide away like a coward.
“Uh, Xiao Zhan?”
Xiao Zhan resists throwing his book down with difficulty. It is him. It is that goddamn Green Jumpsuit again.
He puts down the book and his tea and for a wild moment considers stomping his foot childishly. What interplanetary agent stays at a place for more than three weeks? This is a pure outrage. Xiao Zhan is outraged.
“Xiao Zhan, hello? Store owner? Gege?”
So many years… so many years of living in peace on this planet but now a borderline inappropriate agent calling him 'gege' is going to hound him everyday. Xiao Zhan sighs, utterly defeated. “I’m here.”
The footsteps pause and then they rapidly sound closer until Green Jumpsuit bursts into the small alcove in Xiao Zhan’s bookstore where he keeps his armchair and coffee table in the classy style that Xiao Zhan has seen in many interior designing books. Green Jumpsuit looks fresh and bright and even more boyish today and… is not wearing his green jumpsuit today. He is in civilian clothes.
Surely, Xiao Zhan was not so suspicious that they assigned him an agent undercover? But what is the use of sending Agent Wang undercover? Xiao Zhan already knows he is an agent.
“Welcome, Agent Wang,” says Xiao Zhan, wearily.
Agent Wang waves his hand dismissively and perches himself on the bench opposite him, a book in his hand. “I’m not on duty. And I told you I would be back as a civilian.”
Xiao Zhan supposed he did, though Xiao Zhan did not believe him then. He barely believes him now. Agent Wang is wearing a black shirt half-tucked into a pair of dark, ripped jeans. His hair looks styled and there is a twinkling earring dangling from his left ear.
He looks… he looks a little bit like he is on a date.
“Just to make sure,” says Xiao Zhan. “You do NOT have a gun with you today, right?”
Agent Wang chuckles and looks up at him. “You are funny, gege.”
That was not an answer.
“Can I check your badge again? I want to make sure you really are Agent Wang and not an imposter,” says Xiao Zhan, frowning.
Agent Wang pouts and holds out his wrist. “I am here as a civilian, Xiao Zhan gege. You can check. I am Wang Yibo, not Agent Wang.”
What is happening, thinks Xiao Zhan hysterically as he gets his scanner. He returns and holds Agent Wang’s wrist to place the scanner properly. He thinks he sees the guy bite his lip from the corner of his eye but when he looks up, Agent Wang’s face is neutral, if a little self-satisfied.
The scanner confirms that this is indeed Wang Yibo, visiting planet J75 on a personal trip. Wait, pause, personal trip? Shouldn’t it say he is here for investigative purposes or an agency mandated trip or even just a job related trip? Agent Wang was definitely here to investigate his shop the other day.
“Aren’t you on this planet for a job related matter?” asks Xiao Zhan, frowning at the screen of his scanner. Is his scanner broken? Is Yibo’s chip not updating? Something is wrong here.
“Nope.” Agent Wang stands up with a bounce and pushes the book at Xiao Zhan’s chest. Xiao Zhan has to scramble to juggle the scanner and the book in his hands. “This is a personal, civilian trip. I am on vacation.”
This is genuinely the most confused Xiao Zhan has ever been. Is Wang Yibo lying? Or was he really on a personal trip? What, he just decided to put on his agent uniform and visit Xiao Zhan’s bookstore on his vacation that day to give him a scare?
“Is there any section for sports or extreme sports? Can you show me to it?”
“Um, sure,” says Xiao Zhan, putting down the book and the scanner. He does not know about extreme sports but there is definitely a section for sports in his bookstore. Xiao Zhan browses through that section occasionally but he has not organised them into proper subsections. When he shows Wang Yibo the section, however, the man clearly does not give a fuck about subsections. He just starts poring over the book spines. “So, uh, how come you visited my store to investigate the other day when you were on a personal trip?”
“I was on duty then. I didn’t get time to come back here due to other cases on this planet needing my attention. So after I reported back to my headquarters, I applied for a leave. It took a while to finalise but now I am here on a personal trip.”
Xiao Zhan needs to sit down. “What?”
“I said, I didn’t get time–”
“I heard what you said,” says Xiao Zhan faintly. Wang Yibo shrugs. The entire time he spoke he did not look away from his beloved sports section shelves. He takes out a book.
He looks gorgeous today, all lean and lip tint and smelling frankly divine. Xiao Zhan supposes ‘vacation’ does explain the fit and cologne. But who comes on vacation to this tiny, mostly residential planet?
“Wang Yibo,” says Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo immediately turns his head to look at him. “Don’t tell me you took a leave from work and flew back to this planet just to come to this specific bookstore again. There are many bookstores, most of them situated on far more interesting planets to visit. Why would you come to J75?”
“You have a good collection, what can I say?” says Wang Yibo. “Also you finally called me Wang Yibo. Next step is calling me Yibo.”
“What?!”
“Calm down, we can build up to that.”
“Build up to– Wang Yibo, how many days are you planning to stay on this planet?”
“Well,” Wang Yibo turns back to his book and appears to think about it, “for now I have stated that I want a month long vacation. But I am prepared to extend it, depending on,” he pauses a little, “circumstances. I think they will grant me that since I never take leaves from work and my superiors are constantly telling me to take a vacation. I have finally found a reason to have that vacation.”
“That reason being my bookstore?” Xiao Zhan’s voice pitches up embarrassingly at the end.
“Daytoy Interplanetary Bookstore is one of the greatest treasures of humanity,” says Wang Yibo, without a touch of irony.
“You– A month… You mean an Earth month?”
“Well yeah, obviously. An Earth, Gregorian calendar month. We use the month metric for official purposes. Surely, you know that?”
“I do, I know,” says Xiao Zhan. Any moment now, he will wake up from this insane dream. “It’s just… a month is a long time to spend on this planet.”
“You think I shouldn’t be taking such long vacations?”
“Well,” says Xiao Zhan, weakly. “You are an agent. You should be solving crimes, right?”
Wang Yibo grins at him. “Don’t worry, gege. I solve plenty of crimes when I am on duty. I am one of the best ones in the agency. One time I was at the scene of a shootout on a planet pretty close by, on J12. I had to–”
Wang Yibo seems to forget his book browsing and launches into an account of his top ten heroic moments. Xiao Zhan looks at him in disbelief. Who the hell brags this much? It’s almost like he is trying to impress Xiao Zhan. Xiao Zhan, who was already pretty intimidated by him when he first showed up here. Although he doubts he will ever be intimidated by this man again. His smile is much too adorable and the barrage of words is quickly veering Wang Yibo away from the category of ‘dangerous’ to ‘maybe see if he lets you squish his cheeks?’
And that is a dangerous thought in its own way. Danger, crackles his circuits with an electric blue pulse and Xiao Zhan wonders if he should turn his face away to shield his eyes. But he trained himself to not have the lights show up in his eyes. It should be fine. This is fine. Wang Yibo here in his bookstore for no apparent reason is fine. He is a customer. Xiao Zhan should treat him nicely like he would treat any other customer.
He smiles and interrupts Wang Yibo. “Want any beverages? Tea, coffee, soda?”
Wang Yibo blinks, his entire face so free of guile that it fires off another round of electric blue. Xiao Zhan sustains himself through it and makes himself wait for Wang Yibo’s response.
✵
Earth has been uninhabitable for a little over a thousand Earth years by now. Xiao Zhan knows this because the Earth clock in his reader-screen tells him so. It also tells him what the exact Earth time is, down to milliseconds. Every planet that humans inhabit at present might have their own length of days and years but Earth time is kept track of everywhere in the Cluster.
Xiao Zhan chose to live in J75 because its days and years are the closest approximate to Earth time. Each day is 24.5 hours long and each year consists of 361 days. It is much smaller than Earth in terms of size, but then most of Earth’s surface was taken up by the oceans. The water bodies on J75 are sparse but at least they are present and sufficient. Very little of the water on J75 comes from off-planet. The star J75 revolves around resembles the Sun the Earth revolves around in many ways. The air composition is largely similar to Earth’s when it used to be a habitable planet.
Xiao Zhan is not the only one who is on J75 because of a nostalgia for Earth. J75 attracts many people who want to live on a planet which feels the most like Earth without having to spend too many credits. Xiao Zhan is rich but he doesn’t want to advertise the fact that he is. And living on a planet which naturally imitates many of Earth’s features is loads better than living on a planet artificially controlled to behave like Earth. Xiao Zhan has been on A01. It is so artificial that Xiao Zhan feels that Earth could not have felt this way no matter how similar A01 is made to act like it.
Xiao Zhan checks his wrist-screen. It has been approximately 4 Earth hours since Wang Yibo has stepped foot into his bookstore and he still hasn’t left. Xiao Zhan doesn’t know how to politely ask someone if they are ever planning to leave the premises.
“The bookstore closes in half an Earth-hour,” says Xiao Zhan, slightly desperate. He needs to feed his cat. He needs to feed himself and he has no leftovers tonight so he needs to cook. If not for Wang Yibo, he would have already closed the shop and started his nightly routine.
Wang Yibo pauses in the middle of browsing the sci-fi section. The sci-fi section in his bookstore is large mainly because Xiao Zhan likes to amuse himself by reading what humans back then thought the world would be like in the years to come. He has built quite the sci-fi collection here.
Wang Yibo peers at him from the epicentre of the section. Something about his face makes Xiao Zhan feel like he has kicked a puppy.
“Sorry, I got caught up in exploring,” says Wang Yibo, coming out now. “I’m gonna be out of your hair right away.”
“Where are you having dinner?” asks Xiao Zhan, for no reason. When Wang Yibo looks a little confused, he hides a smile. “J75 has very similar cycles to Earth. We have three basic meals in a day. One of them is called dinner.”
“I know what dinner is,” says Wang Yibo, but he is smiling now. Xiao Zhan feels something in his heart ease up. “I don't know, maybe I will find some eatery nearby.”
“Where are you staying?” There are not a lot of hotels on J75 because not a lot of tourists come to this planet. Wang Yibo is probably living in some cheap motel.
“Oh, here and there,” says Wang Yibo, shrugging the question off. Xiao Zhan frowns. That sounds a lot like Wang Yibo is just sleeping in his spacecraft parked anywhere on the planet. Given he is on a personal trip and he cannot be anything more than a junior agent, he must be here on a pretty small craft.
In other words, Wang Yibo is suffering.
Once again, why someone as young and adventurous as him would want to come to a boring residential planet on his vacation is beyond Xiao Zhan.
“Let me treat you to dinner,” comes out of Xiao Zhan’s mouth before he can stop it. Minutes ago he was dying to see Wang Yibo leave and now he is inviting him to stay longer. It’s just that… Wang Yibo may be a green jumpsuit menace but without his green jumpsuit he is just a really endearing menace. Xiao Zhan does have a heart even if it is a quarter powered by battery.
Wang Yibo’s face brightens up almost comically. “I couldn’t possibly impose on you any further…” he tries but Xiao Zhan knows it's a token protest. His face completely gives him away.
“I insist,” he says with a smile.
“Okay,” says Wang Yibo right away, cheerfully. Xiao Zhan suppresses a laugh. Wang Yibo really is cute.
“You know, Agent Wang, you really should have come upstairs to properly investigate me that day,” teases Xiao Zhan as he leads Yibo up the rickety staircase. The staircase is honestly the only downside of this quaint but surprisingly spacious little place he found on this planet when he was searching for a good place to set up his bookstore. It's tiny and spiral and while that is charming, Xiao Zhan had a hell of a time taking things upstairs with little help. Now, it creaks ominously under the weight of two people. “You didn’t even ask what is upstairs. Quite shabby work, if I am being honest. Are you sure you did all those impressive things on duty that you talked about earlier?”
“Questioning my valour! I did not need to come upstairs though. I saw the truth in your heart,” says Wang Yibo solemnly.
Xiao Zhan nearly misses a step. The truth in your heart he says. If only he knew the actual truth of Xiao Zhan’s heart. And brain and basically his entire body composition.
“Also, please don’t go back to calling me Agent Wang,” whines Yibo as Xiao Zhan unlocks the door and him in. “It’s so weird.”
Xiao Zhan laughs. “It’s your title.”
“Yes, to most people,” says Wang Yibo as he curiously looks around the small space. The bookstore may be spacious but the place upstairs is decidedly not. “Wow, Xiao-laoban, you have decorated the place so well!”
“Not gege anymore, I see.”
“If you wanted me to call you gege– IS THAT A CAT?”
Jianguo comes out of the bedroom in a flurry of white and grey but stops short when she sees Wang Yibo. Wang Yibo slowly crouches down and extends a hand but Jianguo runs away to hide behind a chair.
Wang Yibo looks up at Xiao Zhan with a pout. “Your cat hates me.”
Xiao Zhan feels a surge of fondness so strong that it’s a wonder he doesn’t keel over. “She is just shy, Wang Yibo. I will introduce you to Jianguo properly later.”
“Jianguo, wow, cute name. Suits her, she is so tiny!” Wang Yibo now looks at the paintings hung around the walls. Xiao Zhan likes framing them. Barely any of the wallpaper can be seen anymore. “Where did you get these paintings? They look great. Very nice artstyle.”
Xiao Zhan walks up to stand beside Wang Yibo, feeling almost as shy as Jianguo is. Maybe Wang Yibo is just a shyness inducing person. “I made them.”
“What? No way, you are a great artist!” gushes Wang Yibo. Xiao Zhan wonders how he can sound so genuine while gushing like this. “Books, arts, looks, you’ve got it all, huh?”
That was definitely flirting. Xiao Zhan laughs. “I don’t write books, Wang Yibo. I just read some of them.”
“I like a well-read man,” says Wang Yibo. Then he freezes and flushes deeply. “I– I mean– Like well-read men are… You are– You are very well-read and that makes you– Uh–”
Things are beginning to get more and more clear even though they become confusing in other ways. What do you mean Wang Yibo took a personal trip to this planet all because he had a crush?
Xiao Zhan shouldn’t let it get to his head. Sure, maybe he has a little crush on Xiao Zhan. That does not necessarily mean he came to this planet solely to meet him again. That would be insane. More likely that Wang Yibo was truly impressed with his book collection.
“I do like to read,” says Xiao Zhan, putting Wang Yibo out of his misery. Wang Yibo is not making eye contact anymore and is aggressively staring at each painting hung on the wall. Xiao Zhan suddenly remembers the way he was glaring at Xiao Zhan the other day when he bought the racecar book. He has to suppress a smile against the epiphany to not embarrass the poor dude any further. Wang Yibo does not seem to understand that he looks borderline threatening when he has a crush.
The painting Wang Yibo is poring over currently is a wide shot of a figure sitting on a ledge looking at the night sky filled with stars. The figure is drawn from behind and has no distinctive features. The only distinctive features are in the stars, some of them in a variety of colours. There are red stars, blue stars, yellow stars. All shining against a dark background.
“I feel like this one is supposed to mean something,” says Wang Yibo, after a moment. “The stars, the guy… is that you?”
Xiao Zhan laughs it off, feeling uneasy. He hadn’t expected Wang Yibo to so easily interpret that there is a deeper meaning to the painting.
“It’s just some guy, Wang Yibo. Maybe even a girl. Who knows? Come on, I will set up dinner. Do you like fried rice?”
Maybe he fools Wang Yibo, maybe he doesn’t. Does it matter? Wang Yibo simply has a small crush on Xiao Zhan. And even if Wang Yibo ended up having a massive crush, even if Xiao Zhan is kind of interested in this dashing, handsome, confident agent, it’s not like they can do anything about it.
Most people see him as unnatural, something that shouldn’t be alive. Xiao Zhan doesn’t necessarily disagree. Why would Wang Yibo, a literal agent, see it any other way?
✵
Xiao Zhan watches as Wang Yibo digs into the fried rice with relish and showers Xiao Zhan with flowery compliments which get more egregious by the second. The table they are eating at is small, because Xiao Zhan never really expected to host anyone in his living space ever, and Wang Yibo happens to be quite a restless person. He keeps swinging his legs and accidentally hitting Xiao Zhan’s feet with his own. Xiao Zhan isn’t entirely convinced it’s an accident however, especially after the second time.
Wang Yibo is fun, Xiao Zhan decides. Despite the fact that Xiao Zhan is hosting, Wang Yibo keeps serving Xiao Zhan food, declaring he is only returning the favour since Xiao Zhan cooked. He also fed Xiao Zhan’s cat some food from his plate. Suddenly Jianguo has forgotten all about stranger danger.
“I see how it is,” says Xiao Zhan, staring at the little furball in Wang Yibo’s lap, making tiny noises of contentment. “Didn’t take you long to forsake your loyalty to me.”
Wang Yibo grins as he pets Jianguo with one hand. “I am the new favourite, you might as well accept it now.”
“Of course you are. Stop spoiling my daughter!”
Wang Yibo doesn’t stop grinning. If anything he grins harder and shakes his head cheekily at Xiao Zhan to say no.
Yellow. Crackling yellow, with some other colours. A little bit of the white that he associates with Jianguo, maybe. Xiao Zhan blinks. There are new colours in there that he cannot make sense of. A hint of red too, but red has never made him feel satisfied like this. He dearly hopes none of it accidentally shows up in his irises.
The next time Wang Yibo’s foot collides with his, Xiao Zhan hits back. The agent nearly chokes on his mouthful and Xiao Zhan hurriedly refills his glass of water but when he looks up, Xiao Zhan sees excitement on his face, clear as day.
It’s unfair. It’s unfair that the first person Xiao Zhan has been interested in even remotely, the first person who seems to be actively seeking out Xiao Zhan, is a fucking agent. Xiao Zhan internally rolls his eyes. The stars never made things easy for him after all.
“What are you doing after this?” asks Wang Yibo, mouth full and cheeks bulging with food. It should be disgusting. It's not. Xiao Zhan has to bite back his smile before answering.
“I am going to sleep, Wang Yibo. As most people do. Please tell me you find time to sleep between all your daredevil acts.”
“Of course I sleep, it’s important to be well rested to catch bad guys,” replies Wang Yibo. Xiao Zhan has his doubts regarding how much Wang Yibo sleeps but he nods anyway, as if he is happy with the answer. “And anyway, do you sleep? I bet you read books late into the night.”
“Ah, Wang Yibo!” complains Xiao Zhan. This time he is the one to kick Yibo with his foot first. “I am feeding you. Is this how you act with people who host and feed you? Please be more courteous.”
“That’s not a no. Bookstore-gege, you should sleep more.”
Xiao Zhan chokes at bookstore-gege. What an utterly ridiculous name. Why does Xiao Zhan like it so much? Wang Yibo seems to be on a mission to bestow as many names on Xiao Zhan as possible.
“Be kinder to me, Agent Wang!”
Wang Yibo cackles. Thankfully he has swallowed the food in his mouth already and did not laugh with his mouth full. No matter how cute and attractive he is, Xiao Zhan is certain that particular visual would not have been welcome.
By the time Wang Yibo is leaving, it is quite late but Xiao Zhan finds he does not mind. Wang Yibo is giving some last minute scritches to Jianguo’s chin and when he stands up straight again, he shoots Xiao Zhan a look so blatant, he wonders how it took him so long to figure out that the agent has a crush on him. Xiao Zhan is certain he is blushing a little. Fucking hell. Someone please tell Wang Yibo to shut his face.
He didn’t realise all it would take is one day of spending time with this person to start liking him so much. He didn’t realise he missed human company so much. Wang Yibo, he thinks, is interesting and exciting.
He gets interrupted from his thoughts by a bump downstairs. Xiao Zhan tenses and Wang Yibo’s face goes abruptly serious on seeing his expression.
“Are you expecting someone?” asks Wang Yibo, voice low. Xiao Zhan shakes his head.
As if on cue, something like an avalanche rings out from downstairs, as if whoever it is has knocked down several shelves. Xiao Zhan grits his teeth. Those are precious books down there.
“I’ll go downstairs and check,” says Yibo.
Xiao Zhan nearly says no and that he can handle his own problems but figures that Yibo will know how to better deal with intruders, being an agent and all.
“Fine but I am coming downstairs with you,” says Xiao Zhan. He picks up Jianguo and locks her in his bedroom, much to her dismay. When he looks back, Wang Yibo looks deeply uncertain. “Look, don’t tell me I shouldn’t deal with thieves in my own bookstore.”
“I can handle it on my own, though.”
“I know you can, I just want to be there anyway.”
Yibo looks worried. “It could be dangerous. What if it’s not just some petty thief but a serious criminal?”
“Agent Wang, I will be fine.”
“Okay. Just stay behind me.”
Xiao Zhan smiles. “As you say, Agent.”
They share a brief glance of mirth before moving downstairs slowly.
There are no more noises from downstairs but that only deepens Xiao Zhan’s anxiety. He just cannot shake the feeling that something is seriously off. Apparently, he is not wrong to think so either because Yibo looks tense too. Or at least the back of his shoulders look tense. (Xiao Zhan has let him take the lead like the dutiful civilian he is.) If Agent Wang has the instinct that something is wrong here, then there must be something to it.
The lights are dimmed but not turned off. Xiao Zhan would have turned them off any other night after closing his shop but Yibo’s presence meant that he wanted to see him off before properly closing. Whoever it is that broke in did not trigger the bell that is attached to the door.
The creaky staircase unfortunately cannot be quietened. Both of them step as softly as possible but some creaks do make through. Once they reach the ground floor, Yibo signals for Xiao Zhan to stay still for a moment. They both strain to hear any further noises but there is nothing.
They make their way to the door slowly. Xiao Zhan cannot make out which of his shelves have fallen down in the dim lighting. Most of them look fine anyway. Maybe nothing is going on. Maybe the noise was from one of the neighbouring blocks and it just sounded like–
“Take cover!”
Xiao Zhan blindly follows Yibo’s order, just barely registering that something sneaked up on them from behind. Something large and metallic and vaguely humanoid and oh boy. Is that a robot?
Xiao Zhan takes cover behind one of the shelves, blocking the robot from the view, but it soon comes into view anyway because it can obviously move. It is clearly targeting Xiao Zhan as well because it spares Wang Yibo barely a glance. Its fingers are fashioned into something that apparently shoots and it points at Xiao Zhan–
Yibo hurls himself at the thing’s arm just in time to aim the barrel away from Xiao Zhan and a loud crash makes Xiao Zhan wince. My precious books. Then Xiao Zhan shakes his head at himself and scrambles away. Yibo does something complicated to the ‘wrist’ of the robot and pops the hand clean from its hinge, making it land a few feet away from Xiao Zhan’s shoes.
The robot has had enough of Yibo and pushes him away violently enough to make him crash loudly into another shelf.
What the fuck is this thing? Why is it after Xiao Zhan for no reason? It is obviously a robot from close quarters but it probably passes as human from far away. It’s enormous, yes, but could be mistaken as a really tall and big person if you are not paying attention. It is meant to be stealthy, but doesn’t do a very good job of it. Xiao Zhan tries to think why someone would send a hitman robot after him, especially one which is as low quality as this one. It doesn’t even blend in with human beings to be properly disguised.
The robot advances on Xiao Zhan again. Xiao Zhan gives the detached hand an almighty kick and sends it skidding away. Not that the robot seems to need it. Its other hand is also a firearm. Wonderful.
When Xiao Zhan glances at Yibo, he is training a gun at the robot with one hand, his other hand seemingly stuck under something. An instant later there is the loud crack of a bullet hitting the body of the robot, which unfortunately only dents the side plating. It raises its other hand and Xiao Zhan tries to duck for a shelf again but he trips and lands on his ass instead. The robot is now looming over him. Yibo is getting to his feet but he will not reach in time and maybe Xiao Zhan is taking the last few breaths of his life and this cannot be how it all ends, there has to be something, something that Xiao Zhan can search for, some switch he can flick to turn this all around–
Xiao Zhan searches and searches and then pulls.
The robot abruptly freezes. Its eyes go even deader than before and Xiao Zhan can sense how it has been halted in place, as if his circuits have been crossed and physically knotted together. That is impossible but what is possible is that Xiao Zhan somehow used his semi-artificial brain to snap something. He doesn’t even know what he did, just blindly acting on instinct.
Yibo reaches the robot, kicks it down easily now that it is just a pliant hunk of metal and plastic, and opens the nape plate to power it down. It is not until Xiao Zhan hears the actual sound of the thing shutting down does he finally relax.
“Lights to hundred percent,” calls out Xiao Zhan and the dim lights intensify to full brightness around them.
Yibo gets to his feet while still training his gun at the crumpled thing, as if afraid it will spring back to life. Then he looks at Xiao Zhan. “You okay?”
Xiao Zhan nods.
Yibo smiles a little. “At least try to stand up before you say that.”
“Ah yes, right.” Xiao Zhan slowly gets to his feet and realises he landed pretty hard on his butt. Well. Nothing seems broken. Just a bruised ass. Could have been worse. He could have been dead. “I’m fine.”
Yibo nods and looks back at the robot. After a few moments of it truly not trying to come back to life again, he sighs and puts his gun away.
“So you did have a gun on you.”
Yibo looks at him, a little surprised, and then breaks into a smile. “Yeah, well. I didn’t say no.”
“No, you didn’t. You just didn’t wanna scare me by saying yes.”
Yibo looks sheepish. “Yeah. Sorry about that. I don’t go anywhere without at least one weapon on me.”
“Well, you saved my life with it. Thank you.”
Yibo looks a little confused. “Actually, I didn’t. The shot didn’t do anything. I couldn’t aim at anything vital enough to stop it. It just stopped on its own as if it malfunctioned.”
“Maybe a delayed reaction to the shot,” says Xiao Zhan. He is now scared for other reasons. Please, please don’t let Wang Yibo figure out what really happened.
“Maybe,” says Yibo, looking uncertain. He puts his gun away and crouches down to examine the plate he opened to shut it down. He stares at it for a few moments. “This robot is definitely not from this planet.”
Xiao Zhan stops breathing for a second. “What?”
“It’s not… Hang on.” Yibo takes out a handset that is no doubt agency provided because it also seems to function as a scanner. “Yeah. I was right. Not issued in J75.”
Xiao Zhan knows what planet it was issued on even before Yibo says it.
“It was issued on planet X9.”
✵
“Why was a robot from X9 trying to kill you, Xiao Zhan?”
Xiao Zhan inhales sharply. “Maybe it was a mistake.”
“I doubt that very much. It broke into this exact block and lured you downstairs with artificial sounds before targeting just you. If it was sent after me, it wouldn’t have waited for me to get here before attacking me and it damn well wouldn’t have made a beeline for you when we both came downstairs. I feel like this robot was programmed to wait until you closed your shop, break in and then lure you downstairs before sneaking up on you and killing you. Do you have a lot of enemies, Xiao Zhan?”
Wang Yibo’s voice is taking a distinctly interrogative tone. Xiao Zhan looks at the ignored glass of water on the table. “No, I don’t,” he says. He doesn’t remember making any enemies, especially not after moving to J75. If he had enemies before that, why didn’t they attack sooner?
The truth is, he doesn’t have enemies. Just people who have decided to hate him. And those people are all the way over at…
“Any enemies on X9?”
Xiao Zhan’s eyes snap to Yibo. “What? Why would you– I don’t–”
“Well, the robot is issued from X9 and your records show that you used to live in the X Subcluster before this. So…”
Xiao Zhan tries to calm himself down. Of course. Agent Wang probably did basic research on him before he came here. Xiao Zhan faked his records to show as X1 but it wasn’t easy to fake his entire Subcluster. He figured just changing X9 to X1 would be enough. And the robot is from X9. There is an obvious conclusion to be drawn here.
“I don’t think I do,” says Xiao Zhan, as calmly as he can. It’s not a lie, strictly speaking. He didn’t go around making enemies on X9, or anywhere for that matter. It’s not up to him who decides he is an enemy of the domain.
Blue, blue, blue, red? More red. Oh, the red is growing alarmingly. This is not a good sign. Xiao Zhan needs to be alone.
He lowers his eyes, desperately scared he will reveal himself through them. He is probably coming off shady as hell and he can only hope that Yibo reads it as a reaction to near-death experience and not someone who is trying to hide something. Lots of somethings.
A hand wraps around his on the table. Xiao Zhan looks up to see Yibo making a somewhat apologetic face.
“I’m sorry, you must be feeling awful right now and I started treating this like a case. But I do think it’s worth investigating. I think I should send the robot to my headquarters.”
Blue. BLUE.
“No, uh, there is no need. I’m sure it was just a mistake.”
Yibo looks slightly exasperated. “I mean even if it was, we should still find out why a murderous robot was on the loose, right? I can just drop it off at the nearest station and let the local officers figure it out, but this is clearly an interplanetary issue. And I am already here. Why not just let the agency handle this?”
There isn’t much to argue about here. Xiao Zhan has a lot of fears about what the agency can uncover. Xiao Zhan’s real home planet, his history with X9 and its biggest empire, the real reason as to why the robot ‘malfunctioned’, why Xiao Zhan can afford so many Earth relics… the list goes on. But he cannot argue with Yibo’s logic or the cold, hard facts. And besides, yes, they should find out why murderous robots from X9 are on the loose on J75. Xiao Zhan is not the only one who could have gotten hurt tonight.
“Fine,” says Xiao Zhan, with a sigh. “Thank you, Yibo.”
Yibo looks relieved and nods. He gets up from the table. Then he drops right back into his chair.
Xiao Zhan blinks. “Uh. What-?”
“You called me Yibo,” says Yibo, with so much enthusiasm that Xiao Zhan breaks into a giggle.
“Well, yes, Yibo, I did,” says Xiao Zhan. He himself doesn’t know when Wang Yibo became Yibo in his head but it seems right. “Don’t make me regret it.”
“I would never.” Yibo looks fervent. “We are friends now. It’s official. What should I call you though? Gege? Bookstore-gege? Xiao Zhan gege? Zhan-ge? Xiao-laoshi? Xiao-laoban? Zhanzhan?”
“Oh my god, stop.” Xiao Zhan holds up his hands in protection. “You can just call me Xiao Zhan, you know? That’s my name.”
“Yeah but it’s so formal,” says Yibo, like he is deeply aggrieved by it. “It’s alright. I will cycle through them all and decide which one fits. See you later, Zhanzhan!”
“Not that one.”
Yibo grins. “Okay. Bye, Zhan-ge!”
✵
Xiao Zhan wonders how good Yibo's investigation skills are.
He hopes they are terrible, for his own sake. When he left X9, he had the chance to change his name to something… anything else. He didn't because it would have made paperwork and bank stuff complicated for him. He did manage to fake his papers and records to show X1, but that's as far as he went. He hoped that would cover it and the people of X9 would be only too happy to watch him go. That they would never create an issue for him once he was off-planet and off the whole damn Subcluster.
But now he is just stuck hoping that Yibo is terrible at the investigation part of his job. Even then, other people in the agency can figure it out. Xiao Zhan is beginning to regret giving in to Yibo's suggestion.
He sighs and sits up. His insomnia is getting the better of him again. With insomnia comes the downward spiral of anxious thoughts and catastrophic imagination. What he needs is a few minutes of silence. What he needs is to drain his energy a little.
He hates doing this because it reminds him of his own inhuman nature but tonight he has to. He focuses on all the appliances in his house, even the AI model that runs the basic functions of lights and electricity in his bookstore/apartment. He is pretty sure this ability of his to wirelessly tap into the grid-lines of energy is what enabled him to snap that robot's circuits or whatever it is that he did.
Nevertheless it moves his energy levels to almost dangerously low. For some reason his 'system' or whatever it is registers danger as the colour blue. Probably because his lower energy level corresponds to a lesser ability to project stronger, less easily scattered colours like red. Whatever it is, it has been the norm for him ever since he got his implants.
He sighs and looks for his reader-screen. There is this setting on most reader-screens to make it ultra-reflective. Who needs actual mirrors when you've got a reader-screen?
Xiao Zhan prefers actual mirrors. They are not very common however, so Xiao Zhan couldn't just buy a bunch of large mirrors and make a mirror palace. Unfortunate. He has to settle for calibrating his reader-screen in such a way that it reflects and magnifies every tiny speck of colour into a larger hologram. Reader-screens are, to be fair, more programmable to specific visual settings than mirrors.
He looks into the screen and pulls back his control. Then he captures it with a click and looks up to see the hologram erected around him.
His eyes are an open door to all the emotions he is feeling at any given moment. There are probably a lot of shades in there that Xiao Zhan can't even see because despite having implants, his brain only interprets the range of colours that is within human perception. As he suspected, blue shines everywhere around him in a ghostly spiderweb pattern. There are some hints of red too, some merging with orange in little globules. That makes sense. He is extremely annoyed by this whole situation. He just wanted peace, now gigantic robots are after him. There is some purple floating around but Xiao Zhan knows he has no time and, by his own choice, no energy for them right now. Good. He wants to sleep.
He blinks. Is that… green? It peeks out from behind other colours, like it is not fully formed yet. Its ink seems to be spreading across the webs, however, like something has started inside his own mind while Xiao Zhan wasn't paying attention.
He has never seen green in his holograms before. He didn't even know green signified anything for him. That is… strange.
He shrugs and puts his reader-screen and the hologram away. Green can wait. His sleep is right here.
✵
"I had the robot picked up by an agency ship," says Wang Yibo, entering the store with a jingle of bells and finding Xiao Zhan pacing around the door anxiously. "Hopefully we will be getting news from them soon."
Xiao Zhan nods. "And uh, did you find out anything more once you took the robot away from the store?"
Yibo shakes his head. "Nothing, Zhan-ge." Xiao Zhan can't even appreciate the obvious delight Yibo takes at calling him that. "It's a standard issue robot from J75. Well, given it's enormous size, not quite that standard. But nothing much out of the usual. Although…" Xiao Zhan pulse jumps. "I did open the back plating and realised the wires were all weird, like something vital got disrupted or disconnected inside. The only possibility is my bullet doing some damage but that doesn't quite seem right. I don't understand what caused the robot to stop like that."
Xiao Zhan attempts to level his tone. "Well, it stopped, didn't it? Thank the stars. I was almost about to be past tense. Hey, Yibo, would you like lunch? I kept the shop closed today to clean up the mess from yesterday."
"Oh?" Yibo perks up. Xiao Zhan congratulates himself on a risk well taken. Yibo is now distracted. "Inviting me to your house again, Zhan-ge? How forward of you."
Xiao Zhan smiles. He can't help but be a little amused by the obvious flirting Yibo is displaying. He is dressed up in another killer look today and he is clearly looking to seduce Xiao Zhan's brains out sooner or later. Xiao Zhan is flattered, he really is, but worry nags at the back of his mind. Yibo doesn't seem to have figured out much so far and the robot is off-planet as of now but what if Yibo is hiding something? What if Yibo has figured out, at least partially, what is going on and is keeping Xiao Zhan in the dark to find the right moment to arrest him with plenty of evidence or worse, take him back to X9?
He would rather be in a fancy agency prison than go back to his home planet.
"Are you alright?" asks Yibo.
Xiao Zhan shakes himself. "Yeah, yeah. I'm good. Come upstairs, Yibo."
Yibo shrugs and follows Xiao Zhan upstairs. His demeanor seems to be the same so Xiao Zhan hopes it's a good sign. "So, where is your daughter?"
"Napping," says Xiao Zhan, relaxing slightly. "She is tired out from chasing a sunbeam the whole morning."
Yibo laughs. "Okay, I promise I won't disturb her but can I just look at her?"
Xiao Zhan can't say no to that face, which is a quick and rather humbling realisation. It has only been one day of socialising and getting into near-death experiences together.
"She just has the cutest, shortest legs," Yibo goes on, oblivious to Xiao Zhan's epiphanies. "So unlike her father." He gives Xiao Zhan a sidelong glance and giggles.
Xiao Zhan raises an eyebrow. "Wang Yibo, do you want to say something to me?"
"Yeah, gege. You have the longest legs ever. So long."
Xiao Zhan bites his lip to stop his smile but the shit-eating grin on Yibo's face is too much. "Shut up, you gremlin. Come, meet my daughter."
"She is in the bedroom? Wow, she is on your bed too."
"She is the real owner, she just lets me use the bed sometimes," says Xiao Zhan with a dramatic sigh.
"Does she let… other people use the bed too?"
Now. NOW–
Before Xiao Zhan can find the breath to stutter about that, Yibo has crouched half on the bed, face close to a sleeping Jianguo. He is lucky Jianguo wasn't awake for this stunt.
After peering at her little face for a long time, Yibo nods to himself and steps back. "Just as cute as yesterday." He is so ridiculous.
Then Yibo's smile fades away and grows serious. "Wait, do you have a leak in your room?"
Xiao Zhan turns to look at the corner Yibo is staring at. A dark stain is spreading from the corner. It looks like a normal water stain but it's huge and it wasn't there in the morning and that wall isn't even shared by the bathroom or kitchen. Even as they watch it, the stain spreads.
Xiao Zhan's pulse accelerates all the way to the top and in-built alarms ring out. He knows exactly what that is. His fingers don't need to do a chemical analysis to know.
His fingers probably won't survive to do a chemical analysis of it. Because that is not water. That is acid. And not just any acid either.
"Fuck!" Xiao Zhan turns and picks up Jianguo, who wakes up with a loud yowl but thankfully is too shocked to fight back. He bolts from the room and starts towards the spiral staircase.
He stops short at the head of the stairs.
Yibo has come running after him. "Xiao Zhan! What happened? Why are you— Wait, there is a stain climbing up your stairs. I definitely don't remember this being here when I used them earlier."
"That is no stain," mutters Xiao Zhan bitterly. "That is warfare."
"What?"
"Someone wants to kill me."
Yibo looks down at the stain inching towards them, looks back at Xiao Zhan and then flattens his lips. No doubt he has finally figured out what Xiao Zhan is. Now Wang Yibo will want to throw him into a prison for… well, Xiao Zhan hasn't committed identity theft or whatever but certainly he has done something which will warrant an arrest and then the subsequent trial will find a way to indict a–
"Yibo!" screeches Xiao Zhan as Yibo, without much warning, turns around and lifts Xiao Zhan on his back, like a piggy-back ride. "What are you doing?!" Arrest methods are getting rather interesting these days.
"Trying to save your life!" says Yibo. He is struggling a little under Xiao Zhan's weight, which isn't surprising considering Xiao Zhan is a little taller than him, but he doesn't drop him and he slowly steps down the stairs. Xiao Zhan clings tightly and safely does not come in contact with the acid. Once they are downstairs, he still doesn't put Xiao Zhan down. Instead, he carries him all the way over to the main doors, opens them and carries Xiao Zhan over the threshold of the bookstore.
Only then does he put him down.
✵
"So. I believe I deserve some answers."
Xiao Zhan shoots him an irritated look from where he is sitting on the curb outside the bookstore. "What? Like why is everyone trying to kill me?"
"For starters, yes."
"I don't fucking know, okay? I behaved. I still behave. I don't go around making enemies. Believe it or not, I don't go looking for trouble. I sit in my damn bookstore, reading my damn books and minding my damn business."
"Yet, some people have decided they wanna kill you. Or maybe," Yibo pauses, pondering, "only one person wants to kill you."
"Amazing. Only one person. That's one too many!"
Yibo huffs. "I know, I know. I will try my best to get to the bottom of this."
Xiao Zhan deflates. Yibo saved his life. More than once. What is he doing, yelling at him? Sure, he is frustrated but that is no reason to lose it on the one guy who has been nothing but nice to him. "Thanks, Yibo. I don't suppose I can go back into my bookstore for the foreseeable future?"
Yibo looks apologetic. "No. I have to seal it. It's a crime scene at this point."
Xiao Zhan nods, feeling a little miserable. Now he has to look for a different place to stay at. Maybe a different planet to stay at, now that someone from stupid X9 has figured out where he is living peacefully. He doesn't even know when he can get back to his precious Earth relics again. All because of some stupid robot acid.
Xiao Zhan feels himself freeze. Oh, right.
"Um, Yibo?"
Yibo is currently facing the wide open doors to the bookstore, hands on his hips, turned away from Xiao Zhan and the cat in his lap. "Yeah?"
"Don't you wanna know why that chemical… would affect me?"
Yibo turns around partially to meet his eyes. "You have some fancy implants. Big deal. Most people do. Not many on J75, sure, but in Subcluster A, for example, it is exceedingly common."
"Right," says Xiao Zhan. Of course. Implants. That's what he has. Technically everyone has a wrist implant.
He wonders if Yibo realises that Xiao Zhan is mostly held together by his implants or if he is really that stupid for an agent. He has a feeling it's the former.
What now?
If that acid had touched Xiao Zhan, that would have been the end of him. Not only would it have raced through his body and found every unnatural thing in his body and destroyed it, it would have also destroyed the circuits connecting his human bits to the non-human ones. Which means Xiao Zhan would have been left in worse shape than he was when he needed all those implants to begin with.
Which means Xiao Zhan would have already been dead by now.
He clutches Jianguo tighter. She seems to sense how stressed he is, cause she doesn't complain at all. She is the best. His princess. His everything. His only family.
And now Yibo knows… to some extent.
"I have always been wanting this acid thing to stop," Yibo goes on and Xiao Zhan jolts back to reality. "People with pacemakers exist! Hell, we all have a chip in our wrists too. The whole Cluster is just so paranoid that they will stoop to anything just as long as it means weeding out the supposed robots."
Xiao Zhan looks at him with surprise. He has never heard any authorities or local officers speak against such tools and measures, so explicitly. Does Yibo mean that? Or is this a ploy?
"So, what implants do you have?" says Yibo, turning around to face him instead. Xiao Zhan almost jumps. "Is it possible that your implants have made you these enemies, unknowingly? I can't tell what implants you have looking at you but maybe people who know dislike you for them?"
Xiao Zhan coughs. It is the only possibility, actually. But he can't tell Yibo that because then Yibo will know just how dependent on implants he is. Even his brain function is held together by implants, which is why he is considered the most cyborg of all cyborgs. The lowest form. A lot of people think that his brain takes the help of AI, which is not true at all. However, it is true that at this point Xiao Zhan himself might be a little AI.
"I don't want to discuss my medical history," he says, as politely as he can manage. "I hope you understand. But yeah, it is possible."
Yibo nods. "I understand. But can you tell me which planet you got those implants in? Is it X9? It is one of the more traditional planets so it would be understandable if you made enemies there by getting implants. But if you lived on X1, why would you travel all the way to X9 to get implants?"
Xiao Zhan gulps. Fuck. Fuck. Yibo is so close to the truth now. Too close. If he does a little more purposeful digging into Xiao Zhan's exact medical history, he will know everything. He will know that his official records lie. That is surely an interplanetary offense.
"I—" he starts, heart beating a little too fast, his vision a little too blue. And then his vision genuinely blacks out for a moment and a frightening spark of blue jolts through him, like a lightning strike. His hands shake and he is pretty sure he drops Jianguo.
Yibo catches him just in time before Xiao Zhan can hit his head on the damn curb. "Woah! Zhan-ge! Hey, it's okay, it's okay. You are safe now. Hey, Xiao Zhan?"
Xiao Zhan weakly blinks up at him. He feels like he has no control over his body whatsoever, frozen by blue all over. He feels it within himself, the paralysing fear of being found out, hunted down, eliminated for good. He refused to go down without a fight but is a fight worth having if it chases him for the rest of his life?
"Zhan-ge?" says Yibo, his voice sounding a little winded. "You— Your eyes… Hey, are you okay?"
No, he is not. Xiao Zhan's eyelids feel so, so heavy. He lets them shut.