AN: Oh my god! Is this an upate? Heck, it is! Shock! Just read.

Chapter 3: The Inner Workings of HQ

Same day...3pm...

"Also, there's a whole pile of old junk for you to file for the library archives..." Lu Xun was ordering Zhou Yu around, Zhou Yu shaking his head miserably. It was one thing to mock the strategist's height...but it was a completely different thing to try and outsmart him. As usual, Zhou Yu wondered why Zhang He, as incompetent as he is, managed to find all the useful people for his team. Of course, Zhang He was quite pleased, as Zhou Yu contributed effectively to team morale, with Xiao Qiao working harder than ever.

"So, Lu Xun, how went the interrogation?" Zhang He asked his assistant.

"Zhang Jiao was a tough nut to crack...but nothing is impossible to me." Lu Xun grinned mischievously and triumphantly. "We got some info on dealings and stuff...still hafta sort through them first and assign priorities." Zhang He nodded in response.

"Good work." And he walked off grinning triumphantly. "Take that, stupid head honchos..." he muttered proudly and quietly to himself. Lu Xun so his boss group leader walk off, and shook his head. Only the first case, and Zhang He's acting all smug. But then again...he's always been smug. He resumed looking through his files, when, suddenly, a large pile of pamphlets landed on top of his work in front of him.

"Well met, Gan Ning, Zhen Ji..." Lu Xun greeted, pretending to look innocent. Gan Ning cursed.

"Enough with the formalities, kid, here's your stupid pamphlets." He breathed. Zhen Ji looked rather bushed as well. Lu Xun raised an eyebrow, suspicious of what could have happened.

"Did you get into a fight at the corporation...?" He asked slyly. Silence followed. Lu Xun knew he was right. His eye twitched. His temple veins pulsed. They knew this wasn't going to be good. Those were the two initial signs of a demonic Lu Xun. All because he has poor anger management skills.

"They were harassing Zhen Ji! It was purely self defense!" Gan Ning cried for dear life. Zhen Ji nodded frantically. Lu Xun calmed himself.

"In that case, I see why you whooped their arses." Lu Xun was all nice again. Sigh of relief. Lu Xun remained oblivious to his anger management problems. Gan Ning then looked at Lu Xun's pamphlet's strangely.

"Oi...why the hell do you need these stupid pamphlets anyway...!" he demaned. Lu Xun gave him a look of disbelief.

"What! Come on, there could be some kind of code in it! Or secret or something. You can't be too cautious." he answered in a matter-of-fact tone. Gan Ning couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"You seriously believe that...those...or...advertisements, have something..."

"Yes and no. Doesn't hurt to give it a look through."

"Right. Well, doesn't matter, just give us our stuff." Gan Ning spoke for both him and Zhen Ji. Lu Xun gave them a look of pure innocence. Zhen Ji rolled her eyes. Lu Xun never goes back on his word, but...

"Go ask Zhang He, he'll give them to you." Lu Xun's voice was as sweet as honey. His promises never involved his own money...just Zhang He's. Gan Ning and Zhen Ji gave a simultaneous sigh. Well, Zhang He would still give it to them...murmering about his own death. He'll do it only because Lu Xun was worth his money. Lu Xun abused this fact.

"Well, I'll see ya around." Gan Ning said, turning to leave.

"Work hard." Zhen Ji said as she followed Gan Ning. Lu Xun raised an eyebrow at her back.

"Huh? Work hard! I ALWAYS work hard! I work for a lazy, narcissistic prick! And his two assistants are useless!" Lu Xun muttered loudly. Unfortunately, Da Qiao and Xiao Qiao heard him. They looked as if they were from the burning legions of Hell. Lu Xun thought he felt a piercing glare directed at his back. He turned, and met to savage avengers. He smirked.

"Well met, Sun Ce! Zhou Yu!" he cried out suddenly, looking behind the girls. The girls suddenly forgot their anger and turned around, beaming.

"Where?" They said at the same time, only to find no one there. They resumed being angry at Lu Xun, with added venom due to his deception, only to turn around to find the young strategist gone. Smoke bellowed out of their noses.

"We'll kill him."

"Damn straight."

Meanwhile...under a secret trap door beneath Lu Xun's desk that leads to a web of secret tunnels that provides access to all areas in the building including the head offices and the female change rooms...3.15pm...

"Fools! They will never find out about this place!" Lu Xun whispered triumphantly. He noticed a moving shadow. The shadow was definitely owned by a tall male, hair tied in a pony tail, hair piece. Possibly of the age of twenty seven, considering there was only one other person who knows of the secret web.

"Zhang He...are you going to peek in the female change rooms, again!"

The shadow ran away.

Later...5pm...outside 3K HQ...

"My favourite time of day...home time!" Lu Xun cried with glee. He and Zhang He also left the building at five, the girls even earlier. It was their policy. Zhou Yu and Gan Ning happened to come out after them. Gan Ning had a large grin on his face.

"Thanks, Zhang He, for the booze! It's great stuff...!" Gan Ning said, slightly pissed, throwing his arm over the shoulders of the dandy and gave him a head noggin. Zhang He cringed from the alcohol breath.

"Gan Ning! They discovered this miraculous product called breath mints!" he cried indignantly. Lu Xun raised an eyebrow.

"Wait...Gan Ning, were you drinking in the middle of work again!" He asked, unimpressed. Gan Ning shook his head.

"Heck no...I only sampled it..." Gan Ning denied. Zhou Yu scoffed.

"Yeah...he sampled the whole keg."

"Typical."

"Such ugliness."

Then they heard a commotion from behind the building. All four young men ran around it, only to find it was a marital quarrel between Zhen Ji and Cao Cao's son, Cao Pi. Well...ex-marital quarrel. They're divorcees. Zhang He yawned.

"Bah, and I thought it was something interesting." He turned to leave.

"This is old news." Zhou Yu followed suit.

"Hah! Things get boring fast these days..." and Lu Xun chased after them. On a tipsy Gan Ning remained because his relfexes were slowed. Zhen Ji crossed her arms and looked angrily at Cao Pi (they didn't know Gan Ning was still there)

"Cao Pi, I told you again and again, it's so over to the point that we divorced, you agreed, and I'm having a great life without you!"

"Look, I know that you're the type to jump from one boss's son to the other, I mean remember Yuan Shao's boy?" Cao Pi grabbed Zhen Ji's arm. "So just be pleased that I want you back, cos no one will want you, you slut!"

"Oi! That's no way to speak to a lady...!" Gan Ning cried out. "Slut or not!"

"Damn straight, Gan Ning!" Zhou Yu turned around and remarked, anything gentlemanly was second nature to him. He even held classes for the gentlemanly-challenged, and already wrote a best-selling lifestyle book to teach men on such. Then he realised what Gan Ning just placed himself into. So did Zhang He and Lu Xun.

"Oh, jeez..." Lu Xun murmured. "That's the last time I give him booze..." Zhang He fumed.

"Excuse me? Young man, I GAVE HIM THE BLOODY BOOZE!"

"Good, so whatever consequence come out of this, it's entirely your fault." Lu Xun said cunningly. Zhang He shook his fist at such devious behaviour.

"There's no beauty in deception, you...you...midget." Lu Xun froze. He turned to Zhang He slowly, grinning insanely, eye twitching, raspy breathing, temple's pulsing.

"Midget...?" It was taboo to call Lu Xun midget. He can handle any insult, as long as it wasn't directed at his height. "I'M ONLY SEVENTEEN! I'M A LATE SPROUTER! I HAVEN'T GOT MY GROWTH SPURT YET!"

"Calm down, Lu Xun. Kill Zhang He later, we have a pirate to save." Zhou Yu interrupted Lu Xun's anger burst. Lu Xun calmed down almost immediately. He looked at Gan Ning, and gave a small chuckle.

"Zhou Yu, I think we're a tad bit late." he commented, as they all looked at Gan Ning pull Cao Pi's ears and his pants and threw them across the street, giving him a large kick on the behind at the same time. Zhang He cringed.

"Such inelegance. What crude methods. Are we so low that we must live as animals!"

"Technically speaking, we are." Lu Xun pointed out. Zhang He glared.

"Quiet. I know that. I am not as foolish as everyone else thinks." Zhou Yu and Lu Xun rolled their eyes. Yeah right. Cao Pi ran for his life, looking furiously back to Gan Ning.

"I'll get you! You can have that stupid woman too!" and he left. Gan Ning was confused. What woman? There was only Zhen Ji who was female...and Zhang He would classify, but the nurses told them he was all male. Then he remembered he was saving a lady. He only saw her back though. He looked at Zhen Ji. She was steaming mad.

"Um...did I just save you...by accident?" Gan Ning needed clarification. Zhen Ji stomped her foot.

"I've never been so humiliated! I can definitely put up with Cao Pi's antics, but to be rescued by you, a crude, rude, ex-pirate is the worst! I can never live like this! THAT'S IT! I'M GOING TO -" All four men grabbed her before she did anything rash.

"Don't commit suicide because of me!" Gan Ning cried. Zhen Ji looked confused.

"Suicide? As if. I was think of gorging on food." Pause. They let her go. Then she slapped Gan Ning across the face.

"That's for rescuing me." And she left. Gan Ning rubbed his cheek, burning a hole into the woman's back with his eyes.

"Pfft...on second thoughts, I think I was subconsciously saving Cao Pi from that woman." Gan Ning cursed. The other three just looked at him with smirks stretched across their faces. Lu Xun was first to speak.

"Gan Ning got bitch-slapped..." he sang. Truly a seventeen year old. Zhang He frowned.

"Language, Lu Xun, language."

AN: Oh my god! What an utterly pathetic piece of writing! Well, this was just a filler to understand (some) of the workings of HQ, and the mind of our very beloved short-stop strategist, Lu Xun (marry me). Short, useless, except for a few detail swhich actually come into play. As for the character ages, they were taken from Dynasty Warriors 4 Empires. God bless character profiles. If you see errors, this chapter wasn't proofread. More interesting junk soon. Till next time, ja-ne.