Chapter 2 - 2 - Information-Runner
The next morning, he went to the small market and stood in the corner. This was the place he would usually find work. People come to him to find information and he would happily find it for them. Even if the information was illegal, he would easily find it using different means.
He stood and stood for a long time, but he was not getting any gigs. Sighing, he climbed over to a nearby terrace and pulled out his phone. "Hmm, let's see if this solar charger works." he plugged his phone in and waited patiently.
In just second he heard a small chime of the phone charging. "Whoa, two packets of noodles are so worth it." he switched it on and opened his gallery. There was nothing spectacular there. Just a few selfies of his and his parents' pictures, but what he wanted was not these..
He thoroughly searched until he found the folder he wanted. The small hidden folder was named AOT. "Finally I get to see some action," he clicked on a random episode. "Oh my god, I can finally watch my darling Eren,"
As he watching he slowly spoke out each of the dialogues in tune with the characters. "Eren Jaeger!" he loudly shouted.
"Hump childish." A small voice whispered.
Zou Yue felt a long shadow on his face, hiding the sun completely. He carelessly looked up.
A pretty lady in blood red dress stood in front of him. Her beautifully styled hair fluttered behind her as she peered down at him.
"What do you need, young miss?"
"I want you to find information on someone," she said, and handed him her phone. It was the newest model iPhone. He carefully held it and glanced at the photo. "His name is Fan Xui,"
"You want me to find to about our leader?" he confusedly whispered. He had gotten many requests, but this was the weirdest of them all. "All his information is widely know n to the public," he said and gave her back the phone.
"No, I want deeper information on him. Make sure to find out what he likes and dislikes. What he likes to eat, what he does when he wakes up? I need them all," she said, with her eyes narrowed.
Somehow Zou Yue felt a weird vibe from her. 'Should I accept it or not?' while he was contemplating it the lady threw out a few packets of bread and instant noodles. He nervously held them in his hand.
"This is just an advance. If you finish the job well, I will give you twenty loaves of bread and ten packets of instant ramen," she said with a wide smile.
"Deal, come collect the information three days from now," he whispered, and hugged the food tight to his chest.
When the girl finally left, he tore a packet of bread and scoffed down a handful. "So much food for just this simple task? Darn La Trexa might have wished me luck,"
After having some more of bread he carefully hid the food inside his clothes. He crushed the noodle packet and made sure it was easy to store. As for the bread, he sat on it so that it was deflated and stuffed it inside the holes of his old torn padded jacket.
"Let's get to work, shall we," he stood up and stretched his tight muscles. The wound on his leg had already healed and the scratches on his hand scabbed over. He scratched them off to reveal milk white skin underneath.
Zou Yue panicked at this. "No, no, no, But I took so much effort to suntan." he bent down and smeared black dirt all over his white hands. Even so, the newly healed skin remained pink and flawless. "Fuck,"
Being weak and beautiful is the greatest danger in this new world. He poured some water into the dirt and continued smearing it on his hands until he was almost muddy. He then took out a small prosthetic clay box from his duffle bag and carved out a huge scar that ran from the top of his left eyebrow to the end of his chin.
"Where is the glue," he pulled out all the contents of the bag and took out a small almost dried up bottle of glue. He squeezed out a dollop, smeared it on the scar he made and stuck it on his face. After doing so, he proceeded to mask his beautiful face with the muddy mixture he made earlier.
He pulled out a broken shard of mirror and glanced at his wretched reflection. "Now that's perfect,"
He happily packed it all up and rushed out to do his job.
Zou Yue peaked through his binoculars at the back haired figure on the other building opposite to him. "Toast with peanut butter, hmm, that's noted," he scribbled messily on a small tissue.
The young man on the other side of the lens was the most powerful ability user amongst the humans Fan Xui. Ten years ago, when the mutated beasts and undead causing the population to decrease drastically. This young hero arose amongst the masses and built this safe ground, the G city base.
There are other human bases that operated around the world but their G base was worldwide known only because of this young ability user.
"Fan Xui seems normal till now,"
He watched the young man leave the room. He swiftly jumped down from the terrace of the building and ran closer to the headquarters to get a better view of his subject.
He saw a stylish Off-road drove out of the headquarters. Since the glass was tinted, he was not able to see inside but with the Porsche logo on the top, he knew who exactly was in this vehicle.
"Drives a costly Porsche car in an apocalypse." He mumbled as he scribbled down his observing. He silently chewed on a piece of bread as he kept writing more observation notes.
The car that went past slowed down a little, and the windows lowered. Fan Xui glanced at the homeless man scribbling something with a happy smile on his face. "Search who he is and what his purpose is."
The young man next to him glanced out curiously. "What is it Fan-ah? Is he bothering you? Shall I have someone dispose of him?" he placed a hand gently next to the Fan's hand, but he dared not touch.
Fan Xui frowned and moved his hand away. "Just check on him. Don't go overboard,"
The beautiful young man hummed with a dazzling smile on his face. "Fan-ah, do you know that the western frontiers are doing well? It must be because of Hui's presence."
"Liwei, stop talking." Fan Xui massaged his forehead and laid against the headrest.
After the off-road vehicle drove away, Zou Yue glanced up with his eyes wide open. "Can't believe he spotted me. Goodness, I really shouldn't have taken up this job," he mumbled, holding his pounding heart. But he had already eaten the payment, so he had to finish it.
He stood up and patted the crumbs off of his shirt. "Nothing to worry, I can still be undetected."
The work for the day was over he happily rushed home to his small mushroom house and to his little la Trexa.
The next day Zou Yue got up early and went to spy on his target. "Peanut butter toast again... hmm I am seeing a pattern here." This guy Fan Xui was actually repeating the same routine. He would eat peanut butter toast in the morning, a small bowl of rice with sauteed vegetables for lunch, and a simple roasted potato and a glass of wine for dinner.
He noted it all of this down vigorously while happily swaying his legs in the wind.
Fan Xui gazed into the distance at the small figure on top of a roof top happily scribbling something. "he is scribbling so much, I wonder what he writes about?"
"Fan -ah," a soft voice whispered from the doorframe.
Fan Xui did not bother looking back. His eyes were all on the curious young lad.
"Fan -ah, what are you looking at?" Liwei curiously peered out the window, but before he could see anything Fan Xui closed the drapes.
"There is nothing to see. How is the situation in our agriculture plant?" he went straight to business.
Liwei's doe-like eyes watered a little from his inattentiveness. "They are doing well," he said sadly.
"Hmm, tell Qian in." He said and waved him off, not noticing the young man's dejected appearance.
Soon, a bulky man rushed in. His beard shook in the wind as he smirked at him. "Brother Fan! I heard you brushed off Liwei's advances again."
"I don't need to meddle with unwanted feelings," Fan Xui whispered while he was reading though a butt load of documents. "Sit,"
Qian sat down unceremoniously. "If you want to know about the research facility, it has been doing great the newest drug testing is going flawless,"
"I guess it from that smile on your face," Fan said without looking up. "Is it effective?"
"As per the reports I got, it has been working wonders with the beasts we have captured, but it's too soon for human trials," Qian said with a pout.
"Don't rush it. Research takes time,"
"But humanity can't afford to lose any,"