At the counter of the Spear Tavern,
"You were visited by the Zealous Thief yesterday?"
One-Eye asked, quite astonished.
"Yeah, that little thief was slipperier than an eel; he actually slipped through my grasp," Alexander said, drinking his crimson wine with a hint of frustration.
A Lower Nest thief actually escaped from his hands.
This made Alexander a bit flustered.
Though Reyna had some issues, her psychic abilities were somewhat decent.
Alexander could fight her to a standstill, yet he couldn't catch a mere thief.
It seemed Ashford's Lower Nest might be experiencing some internal competition.
"I'm shocked that you actually caught the Zealous Thief red-handed."
One-Eye's surprise didn't lessen.
"Some people say the Zealous Thief possesses some kind of precognitive ability."
"He can sense in advance when a victim will return home and when a theft will absolutely not be discovered."
"That's why no one has ever seen the Zealous Thief in the act; all that's usually left for the victims is a melted iron door."
Alexander frowned upon hearing this.
The Zealous Thief's precognitive ability sounded quite powerful.
He could precisely avoid danger and choose the right time to commit a crime.
At least it sounded better than Reyna's unreliable precognitive dreams.
Alexander glanced at Sanguinius and asked,
"Oi! Buddy."
"Did you find anything? Is it Chaos corruption?"
"..I'm not too sure either," Sanguinius said, his tone lacking confidence.
"Not sure".. This answer was quite intriguing.
Alexander stroked his chin, temporarily pushing this confusion to the back of his mind.
He didn't want to play a game of cat and mouse.
Alexander looked at One-Eye, tapped the table, and asked, "What did your boss say?"
"It can be done," One-Eye nodded and said.
Before Alexander could ask for the price, One-Eye changed the subject.
"My superior can issue you two passes to the Upper hive."
"These passes will be very useful, more useful than you imagine."
"You can go directly to the checkpoint entrance, and the PDF there will give you the passes."
Hearing One-Eye's words, Alexander's brows furrowed slightly.
The PDF, the Planetary Defense Force, will give us passes?
Alexander scrutinized One-Eye.
One-Eye's superior was quite high-ranking.
A guess suddenly popped into Alexander's mind, but he didn't voice it.
"What are the requirements?" Alexander asked, tapping the table.
"He wants to meet you, in the Upper hive," One-Eye said calmly.
"He's that bold?"
Alexander couldn't help but laugh.
"He's not afraid I'm a minion of the Hellworm?"
When Alexander uttered the name Hellworm, he noticed One-Eye's body stiffen slightly,
as if the name contained some kind of curse.
He took a deep breath before continuing to speak to Alexander: "You even know that..."
One-Eye leaned slightly closer to Alexander and lowered his voice, saying,
"Don't say its name loudly; the Hellworm will hear it..."
Alexander's eye twitched slightly; it seemed his guess was correct.
One-Eye was Governor Augustus Flax's man.
"I was wondering if you were an Inquisitorial spy. Turns out you're the Governor's man."
"..I am. I used to be a guard at the Governor's Palace in the Top hive."
One-Eye nodded gently, stroking his single eye.
"But I was an unqualified guard. Under the Governor's leadership, we wanted to kill the Hellworm."
"But when we actually faced the Hellworm... it was still very small then, but we were still afraid."
"At that time, I seemed to see a monster that embodied all the evil in the world, and we all trembled before it."
One-Eye sighed.
His eyes seemed to reflect the terrifying figure of the Hellworm.
The young Gene Stealer Patriarch was prostrate in the palace, extending its claws.
"It was in that brief moment of trembling that the Hellworm used its claws to take one of my eyes and escaped into the Lower Nest through the pipes..."
"Everything now is due to my past mistake. I betrayed everything the Emperor taught and let a blasphemous xeno escape."
"The Governor gave me a chance to correct this mistake. Almost all of our guards from back then went to the Lower Nest to search for traces of the Hellworm."
"But most of my old comrades from back then have already been eliminated... I am one of the few survivors."
One-Eye fell silent for a moment,
as if the fear from the past was consuming him again.
Alexander stared at One-Eye, waiting for him to speak.
"I know you also have a conflict with the Hellworm."
One-Eye suddenly smiled.
"Heh heh, even if there's no conflict, just knowing what kind of monster the Hellworm is is enough..."
"We can cooperate, Alexander," he said. "The Governor wants to discuss cooperation with you."
"We all want to fight the Hellworm, don't we?"
"These passes are the beginning of our cooperation."
"What about the money? How much for two passes?" Alexander waved his hand and said.
One-Eye was slightly taken aback.
"The Governor doesn't care about such trivial money..." he said.
"That won't do, name your price!" Alexander said decisively.
One-Eye was stunned for a moment, then he gestured a price.
"No, add more! It needs to be more expensive!"
"Those are two passes from the Upper hive, how can you not sell them for more?"
Alexander said righteously.
One-Eye hesitated for a while, then gestured an even higher price.
"Two passes to the Upper hive, legal and compliant."
Alexander gestured a price to Reyna, which was double the price One-Eye gave him.
Reyna looked surprised, staring at Alexander's quote for the two Upper hive passes in disbelief.
"Two Upper hive passes... and they're actually legal and compliant."
Reyna's gaze was a bit evasive, as if she couldn't believe it.
"But this price..."
There was some hesitation in her tone.
"Don't worry, I haggled hard to get you this price."
"The best price for family."
Alexander pointed to the price on the table, saying with a sincere expression.
He actually felt a bit unsure himself.
He didn't have an accurate concept of the price of an Upper hive pass.
Doubling it, a hundred percent profit selling to Reyna, was it too expensive?
"Your bargaining skills are too amazing!"
Reyna couldn't help but exclaim.
"The smuggling I looked into cost more than this..."
"Are your passes reliable?"
Listening to Reyna's hesitant words, Alexander's eye twitched slightly, and a wave of regret washed over him.
Damn, I said it too cheaply!
"Cough, cough, cough."
Alexander quickly coughed twice and said,
"What I meant was, that's the price for a single pass."
"For the two of us, it has to be doubled!"
The doubt in Reyna's eyes instantly vanished, and a smile appeared on her face.
She said quite happily, "That's more like it."