Fu Luo had good habits — even during holidays, she went to bed early and got up early, and she kept up her exercise routine. She was far better than her mother, who often stayed up late.

But that night, Ye Wenlin left a sentence half-said, and it successfully caused Fu Luo to lose sleep.

Why?

What exactly did Ye Wenlin base his judgment on — that the two sides of humanity were going to war?

Fu Luo was diligent and serious. She didn’t have any weak subjects at school — her grades were fairly balanced, so it was easy for her to meet the usual definition of “excellent.” Unfortunately, even if she was excellent, it was the kind of excellence that felt rather mediocre.

Unlike Ye Wenlin. Every time Ye Wenlin got his report card, it was like a one-legged golden rooster — always missing a leg.

Yet Fu Luo was always a bit stubborn. Whenever she couldn’t figure something out no matter how hard she tried, she became even more aware of the massive gap between her and Senior Ye.

The difference between a genius and an ordinary person? That was just too hard to accept.

Fu Luo lay stiffly in bed.

Back when she first joined military training, she happened to encounter a strict and nitpicky squad leader. His only task was to teach the rookies how to stand and march, yet he insisted on treating himself like he was laying the cornerstone of the future military elite. He demanded parade-level posture from everyone.

Before a recruit could stand straight, they weren’t even allowed a pillow. Later, when Fu Luo finally could stand straight, she also picked up a habit — even when sleeping with a pillow, her posture remained rigidly straight, like a zombie whose muscles hadn’t yet had time to atrophy.

She lay stiffly for twenty minutes like a corpse, then suddenly “resurrected” and crawled to the floor in the dark, starting a round of push-ups and sit-ups to burn off excess energy.

Unfortunately, just as she began her second round of sit-ups, Ms. Fu Xiaoxin rudely pushed open her bedroom door.

Fu Luo saw a big pale face with a face mask suddenly appear in the dim doorway, eyes dark and gleaming with a kind of deep bitterness and resentment.

She looked exactly like a forest demon who had mistakenly wandered into the human world!

Startled, Fu Luo instinctively arched her back, tightened her muscles, and moved herself into the corner between the bed and the cabinet. Only then did she switch on the light.

With the light came the familiar roar of Ms. Fu Xiaoxin: “What kind of demon act are you putting on? Banging the floor with all that thumping — are you sick or something?”

...Oh right, forgot to mention — Fu Xiaoxin lived in the unit below Fu Luo.

Fu Luo scratched her head and slowly got up. “Just doing a bit of light exercise.”

She was wearing pajama pants below and a black work vest on top, revealing her flat chest and strong, powerful muscles. One glance was enough to bring a wave of heavy sorrow into Fu Xiaoxin’s heart.

She lunged forward, grabbed Fu Luo’s arm, and twisted it hard in frustration...

...And failed miserably to twist it.

Practically nose-to-nose with Fu Luo, Fu Xiaoxin roared, “Are you determined to turn yourself into a Transformer?!”

Fu Luo took a step back to avoid the flying spit.

Fu Xiaoxin kept yelling: “I sent you to Uncle Luo just so you could learn how to do push-ups?!”

Fu Luo replied blankly, “No, I already knew how.”

Fu Xiaoxin: “...”

After two seconds of silence, she let out an even louder shout: “How dare you talk back to me?!”

Fu Luo quickly clamped her mouth shut and caught the face mask that had been shaken off her mom’s face by her lion’s roar. Carefully, like sticking a window decal, she pressed it back on.

This move seemed to remind Fu Xiaoxin of something. She stomped downstairs, and moments later, returned with a button-sized little box, which she threw in front of Fu Luo. “Take this!”

Fu Luo: “What is it? A button?”

“A button your head!” Fu Xiaoxin tore open a thin film on top of the small box. A faint orchid scent immediately filled the air. The little “button” began spinning rapidly on the table, producing more and more white foam.

Fu Luo edged away and thought, Why is this thing foaming at the mouth?

The bubbles gradually defied gravity, rising into the air. Soon the whole room was filled with orchid fragrance, forming a fragrant mist. After a moment, the mist changed color and condensed into a large, colorful bubble. It floated to Fu Luo’s face and pop! — burst.

Fu Luo instinctively reached out to wipe her face. “Why’d this thing spray all over me?”

Fu Xiaoxin: “That’s the essence! You country bumpkin!”

The country bumpkin stared blankly, confused.

Fu Xiaoxin, trying to stay patient, instructed, “After you evenly spread the essence, then put on the mask.”

The foaming button had now unfolded into another big pale face mask. Fu Luo widened her “country bumpkin” eyes, hesitating.

Fu Xiaoxin shouted again, “Hurry up! It’s not like I’m asking you to defuse a bomb. What are you dawdling for?”

Fu Luo finally mumbled, “...I... I don’t think I washed my face tonight.”

There was a moment of eerie silence in the room, then an eardrum-shattering scream: “Fu Luo! You went to bed without washing your face - are you even human?!”

One minute later, the door to Fu Luo’s room was slammed shut, leaving behind a room full of essence fragrance and a big-masked “man”, sitting stiffly on the floor against the bed.

As the footsteps faded into the distance, Fu Luo listened carefully, then quickly tore off the face mask and took a deep breath like someone drowning. With that thing on, she felt like her nose had been blocked and had been holding her breath the whole time. Her face was turning purple.

That one deep breath pulled in the pungent scent without warning, stabbing into her nose. She turned her head and let out a huge sneeze.

What a dreadful night!

Fu Luo silently resolved to buy her mom some lozenges tomorrow. If she kept yelling like this all day, she was definitely going to roar herself into a throat infection.

She wiped the goo off her face casually, opened the materials Ye Wenlin had given her, and sorted out everything after the space exile army invaded Earth. Following Senior Ye’s filing order, she began studying from the very beginning.

Holding her e-reader, she walked to the corner of the room, folded a pillow towel into a square, placed it on the ground, and did a headstand against the wall, slowly diving into study.

She was determined to find the answer herself.

The next day, Fu Luo, with dark circles under her eyes, greeted all the handsome guys and pretty girls as usual. Under their curious, panda-watching stares, she checked all the work robots in the office. With the help of a search engine and instruction manuals, she fixed a few unfamiliar minor issues. Then she slipped into Teacher Robin’s office and once again buried herself in her e-reader.

As for her identity, the staff in Teacher Robin’s office had already formed a satisfactory theory — except for Xiao Zhu, everyone believed this “expert” must be a mechanic the boss had privately hired because he wasn’t satisfied with the building’s maintenance team.

But Fu Luo hadn’t been sitting long when Teacher Robin called her over.

“Today, you and Xiao Zhu are coming with me.” Teacher Robin was checking his impossibly large makeup kit. “There’s a job — at Colonel Yang’s house. I think I saw you knew him last time...”

Fu Luo’s expression immediately looked like she’d just swallowed a bitter melon.

"Can I not go?" she asked softly.

"Not go? Why?" Robin didn't notice her facial expression and asked strangely, "Colonel Yang even specifically requested you by name."

The corner of Fu Luo's mouth twitched, certain that she must have left some strange impression in her future boss's mind.

Of course, one can't go to a big client's place "bare-faced". When Robin uttered these three words, Fu Luo felt he was practically accusing her of being "bare-bottomed".

Robin first threw her a set of strange clothes that looked a bit androgynous. After she changed into them, he pressed her into a chair.

Xiao Zhu watched eagerly from the side. Robin rudely pinched Fu Luo's chin, looked her over, and although he was trying to restrain himself, he couldn't help but reveal a few hints of disdain. Then, like a master about to transform the decayed into the magical, the mud into bricks and tiles, he sighed, rolled up his sleeves, flexed his fingers, and lifted his chin at Xiao Zhu, "Tell them, those who are interested can come and observe."

This sentence opened Fu Luo's hour-and-a-half long ordeal. Robin, wearing gloves as thin as cicada wings, held various tools in his hands, making gestures on Fu Luo's face, occasionally making various formulaic explanations.

Fu Luo felt like a corpse on a dissection table in a medical school.

"When doing someone else's styling, what you should think about is not how to change her, but how to capture the person's own unique aura, highlight and beautify it. You can't force a melon to be sweet. Everyone has a unique aura. Find that answer and your whole plan will have a direction."

The interns were quickly recording on their palm-sized terminals. Fu Luo interjected, "Sir..."

Robin said amiably, "Yes?"

Fu Luo: "I know a person whose most essential aura is just an asshole. May I ask how this plan should be set?"

"..." Robin sighed and said in a gentle voice, "Child, you'd better just shut up."

At the same time, Ye Wenlin, who was about to take a special ride back to the Dagger headquarters, sneezed. He rubbed his nose and muttered, "Who's scolding me?"

The girl next to him immediately handed over a tissue with a faint medicinal fragrance, "Are you catching a cold?"

"How could I, my vaccine hasn't expired yet." Ye Wenlin affectionately brushed a strand of the girl's long hair behind her ear and said in an abnormally gentle voice, as if possessed, "You go back and take good care of yourself, wait for me."

The special ride let out a long whistle and slowly started up. Ye Wenlin was still looking out the window, reluctantly looking at the girl on the platform, waving at her until he could no longer see her.

Only then did he withdraw his gaze somewhat wistfully and called Fu Luo. Who knew what she was busy with over there that she didn't answer.

Ye Wenlin thought for a moment and sent a message, "Your senior brother is gone, take care of your sister-in-law for me... although she may not necessarily wait for me."

As soon as this message showed it was successfully sent, the seats in the cabin began to adjust automatically, and the attendant's voice came on, "Please pay attention, comrades, we are about to make the first acceleration..."

The special ride let out a huge roar and in the blink of an eye flew out of the atmosphere from the dust and clouds. Ye Wenlin closed his eyes and silently bid farewell to Earth's last peaceful times in his heart.

On Earth, the hustle and bustle continued as before.

When Fu Luo was allowed to stand up from the chair, she felt a sense of release from prison, especially since the onlookers unanimously gave some kind of ambiguous applause.

She lifted her arms, at most only able to stretch them level, lifting up her arms would get them stuck, which made her feel a bit constrained.

It felt like being tied up by clothes...

And on the face, Robin had put makeup on her.

The last time Fu Luo wore makeup in this life was when the teacher put a flower cat face on her for a school group performance in the third grade of elementary school. After that, she never suffered such torture again.

There was something on her lips that she always wanted to lick, and it seemed like something was plastered on her face, which made her always worry that the makeup would fall off, and she didn't dare to have even the slightest expression, completely turning into a person with a frozen face.

Robin finally found a pair of glasses frames without lenses for her to wear, grabbed her hair, looked her over, and said arrogantly, "Sixty points. There's not much time to tidy up, just do it simply, barely presentable."

"Wow, so handsome and beautiful." Xiao Zhu caught up in time, found the right angle to flatter hard, and turned back to ask Fu Luo, "Right?"

Not at all...

Fu Luo straightened the flamboyant glasses frames and looked at herself in the mirror, changed clothes, made up, and unrecognizable even to her mom, quite depressed.

She felt that she might really not understand so-called "fashion". Anyway, she thought it was quite good before, just looked a bit like a man, but looking closely from the front, you could still see the look of a girl, probably just an ordinary girl who was a bit rough. In ancient times when agriculture had not achieved mechanization, village girls and peasant women were all this kind of rough, nothing wrong with that, very normal.

But after Robin's careful crafting of the so-called "androgynous style", she felt that she had suddenly become neither male nor female, turning into an extraordinary freak.

Thinking back to what Teacher Robin said about "capturing a person's most fundamental temperament", Fu Luo's stomach started to ache. Could it be that her temperament was just a faint aura of a ladyboy?

The truth doesn't have to be so bleak, right?

Teacher Robin's group and the awkward Fu Luo thus arrived at the Yang family's place.

The Yang family's estate was located in the most central part of the city, with a large courtyard above ground and a dozens of acres artificial wetland park behind it, clearly showing they were the wealthiest of the wealthy.

This was not surprising. Although Fu Luo had not deliberately gossiped, it was said that Colonel Yang Ning was only thirty-seven years old this year, a young man... one could even say a youngster. To reach this position, besides having the capability himself, his family background was certainly not a blank slate.

Yang Ning personally came out to greet them. This man appeared somewhat gloomy when not smiling, but extremely amiable when he smiled, seeming to have even more affinity than the receptionist girl of Teacher Robin, making people feel very comfortable. He spoke with moderation, neither arrogant nor humble, as if Robin's group were not service staff he hired, but his old friends.

He even recognized Fu Luo, who was in disguise-like makeup, after only meeting her once. After looking her over with a smile, Yang Ning gently and encouragingly commented, "Very good, our Second Department also has its own honor guard. If you joined, you would outshine them all."

This praise made Fu Luo's liver ache.

Being on duty was already a huge pain, and being in the honor guard... that would be worse than being a ladyboy under Uncle Luo!