As soon as Luo Hai walked into his office, he felt like his bones were about to fall apart. His legs could barely support his body for another second.
He plopped down in his office chair, rubbing his face in exhaustion, regretting that he had never thought about putting a folding bed in the office. If there was anything that could allow him to lie down right now, he would fall asleep within three seconds.
Since returning to Nantes, he had been working nonstop for over a week.
Various promotions, speeches, interviews, and invitations filled his schedule, and even in the middle of the night, people were calling him to appear on programs. As long as he could squeeze out a little time, he would do one more show, take one more interview—he had barely gotten any sleep these past few days.
Extreme exhaustion made his eyelids droop the moment he leaned back in his chair. After dozing off for two or three seconds, he suddenly snapped awake, rubbing his temples while leaning forward to pour himself a cup of coffee from the machine.
He couldn’t rest yet. There was still too much to do, and only he could do it.
A commotion came from outside the office. Holding his coffee, Luo Hai glanced toward the door from the corner of his eye. Flock, Barney, and Daina were carrying a huge box toward the conference room. Upon closer inspection, the box contained an extravagant three-tiered cream cake.
“This time, the Director really went all out. Even the stingiest person has a day when they finally loosen their grip,” Flock said with a laugh.
“The prosecution office has been in the shadows for so long, finally we can hold our heads high again! Of course, we have to celebrate properly!” Daina said excitedly. “Come on, be careful not to mess it up.”
Only Barney glanced into Luo Hai’s office as they passed by, hesitating before asking, “Should we invite Luo Hai? After all, he’s the real star of this event…”
“No need, right?” Daina quickly glanced in his direction as well. “He doesn’t like these kinds of occasions. Even if we invited him, he probably wouldn’t want to come.”
Hearing this, Luo Hai put down his coffee cup and stood up from his chair.
“Not want to? Not want to eat cake? Who in their right mind would refuse their taste buds such a treat?”
Flock and the others clearly hadn’t expected Luo Hai to respond to their conversation. For a moment, they were all a little stunned, standing there awkwardly with the cake.
Luo Hai, however, chuckled and stepped forward, reaching out to help support the cake. “Did Director Kliman buy this? It’s big enough to feed an elephant.”
“The people in our office eat more than elephants,” Barney muttered. “As soon as word got out that there was cake, people from all floors rushed down. Even the officers on duty at the entrance want to come up for a piece. Once we bring it in, it’ll be gone in three minutes.”
“I’ll help you guys,” Luo Hai said, steadying the top half of the cake box. He blinked playfully, “If this thing falls, it’ll be a major incident. We’d need a hundred police dogs to lick it up.”
The three of them burst into laughter, and the earlier awkwardness vanished as if it had never existed. The atmosphere suddenly became lighthearted and cheerful.
The cold, distant, and unapproachable prosecutor from two months ago seemed to have disappeared. Since his return, he was like a different person—friendly, frequently appearing in public, even showing concern for the small matters in the office that he previously wouldn’t have cared about.
Even Daina, who used to dislike him the most, had to admit that the new Luo Hai was much easier to get along with. He made people want to talk to him.
The four of them worked together to carry the massive three-tiered cake into the conference room, where a large crowd was already waiting. As soon as they saw the cake, a cheer erupted.
Director Kliman stood at the front, her usual stern demeanor replaced by a bright smile. She waved to the crowd. “Today is my birthday, but more importantly, it’s the day our prosecution office has restored its honor and reclaimed its dignity. So, let’s relax and celebrate! If you need anything, just let me know!”
The crowd erupted into cheers. Some rushed to cut the cake, others grabbed paper plates—Flock took the first slice, and the usually dull conference room was suddenly transformed into a lively party.
As one of Kliman’s assistants, Colin was also present. But unlike the others, his smile seemed forced, and when no one was looking, his expression turned sullen.
Several times, he glanced at Luo Hai, who was chatting and smiling with Daina. Whenever Luo Hai looked in his direction, Colin would quickly avert his gaze, pretending nothing had happened.
This Luo Hai felt unfamiliar to him. The Luo Hai he knew would never take part in such a ridiculous celebration, let alone indulge in such extravagance when fresh vegetables were nearly impossible to buy in the entire city.
Not only that, but Luo Hai had even volunteered to help buy drinks for everyone, personally carrying in several packs of beer.
Colin had no idea what had happened during those three weeks, what kind of experience could make someone change so drastically. He wanted to march up to Luo Hai and ask him what was going on. But he was just an unconfirmed assistant, someone with no real authority in this place.
He couldn’t even afford to leave in protest—if he lost this job and its salary, he had no idea how he would support his ailing mother.
The celebration lasted for over an hour, and most of the massive cake had been devoured. Even though it was still the middle of a workday, the prosecutors had drunk themselves into oblivion, slumped over the tables in a drunken haze.
Silently, Colin cleaned up after them, tossing the trash and empty bottles into a plastic bag before wiping down the conference table. When he finally finished and looked up, he found himself meeting Luo Hai’s gaze.
Luo Hai had also had a few drinks, but his eyes were eerily clear, as if he were completely unaffected by the wild party. He smiled at Colin and stood up from his chair.
“Can you help me carry the leftover beer back to my office?”
Colin glanced at the remaining two bottles. They hardly required an extra person to carry. A feeling of resistance welled up in him, but after hesitating for a moment, he still nodded.
Luo Hai walked ahead, while Colin followed behind, carrying the two bottles. Luo Hai pushed open the office door, and Colin, keeping his head down, set the bottles on his desk before turning to leave.
“Busy? There shouldn’t be much work today, right?” Luo Hai called out to him, turning on the coffee machine and pouring a cup before handing it over. “It’s been a while. Sit down for a bit.”
Since Luo Hai had said so, Colin couldn’t refuse. He nodded, took the coffee, and sat down on the sofa.
The office fell into silence, a stark contrast to the noise in the conference room earlier.
“The situation outside is unstable—protests are happening everywhere. Be careful,” Luo Hai said in a low voice.
“You should be the one being careful,” Colin couldn’t help but say. “Running around doing interviews and appearing on shows all day long in times like these… it’s easy to become a target.”
Luo Hai caught the underlying sarcasm in Colin’s words, but he merely smiled calmly. “Time waits for no one. The more tense the situation gets, the more someone needs to guide the public and tell them the truth.”
Colin fell silent for a moment, his fingers unconsciously tightening around the coffee cup. “Maybe. But things have gotten out of hand.”
Luo Hai looked at him, his tone still neutral. “Is that so?”
Colin hesitated for only three seconds before voicing his true thoughts.
“Maybe Lightwing really is a dangerous organization, but I don’t believe that all Omegas in the world are guilty. Every gender has both good and bad people. You can’t just declare that all Omegas are evil because of that. If we followed that logic, then Alphas, statistically the most crime-prone gender, should all be thrown in prison too, shouldn’t they?”
After Colin finished speaking, Luo Hai remained silent for a long time. The prolonged silence solidified in the cramped room, and Colin didn’t even dare to breathe too loudly, a terrible sense of foreboding welling up in his chest.
He really shouldn’t have said those things. In the prosecution office these days, a single careless word could lead to severe consequences. How could he have been foolish enough to bring this up with Luo Hai? If Luo Hai so much as mentioned it to Doyle or any other prosecutor, he wouldn’t just lose his job—he could very well end up in prison.
But instead of getting angry, Luo Hai chuckled softly. He didn’t express any opinion on Colin’s words, instead lifting his head and asking a question that sent shock waves through Colin’s mind.
“Colin, if I were an Omega, what would you think?”
Colin’s eyes widened in disbelief. He could hardly believe those words had come from Luo Hai.
The implications hidden behind that question were too terrifying to think about. Countless details he had previously overlooked surged into his mind, making his heart pound and filling him with an overwhelming sense of danger.
They absolutely should not be discussing this. Not only was it inappropriate, but it was also incredibly dangerous. He should turn around and leave Luo Hai’s office immediately, pretending he had never heard a thing.
“You don’t have to be afraid. There’s no one else here—no one will hear our conversation,” Luo Hai said in a low voice. “I just want to hear your true thoughts.”
Colin took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. He repeated the action several times, adjusting his emotions before finally lifting his head to meet Luo Hai’s gaze seriously.
“I think I’d be happy,” he said. “Because that would mean that Nantes and the prosecution office are not beyond saving—that there is still someone willing to risk their life to resist this rotten city. If that were the case… I would believe that even in the darkness, hope still exists.”
