“What…is that thing?” 

In the ST Base’s control room, everyone was staring dumbfounded at the slowly expanding scope of the map on the screen. 

It embraced the whole world. Dozens of points seemed to throw out countless rays. They linked together like an enormous and malicious spider’s web. 

“What is this?” Fang Xiu asked. 

At the same time, another person asked exactly the same question as Fang Xiu. This person seemed very old—though his true age might perhaps not have been nearly as old and decayed as it seemed, it was as though he had begun to rot at the soul. He sat on a couch, leaning forward, a feverish look on his age-spotted face, looking obsessively at those linked-together points. 

Even 11235 standing next to him couldn’t resist sticking his head out and looking rather curiously. 

“They’re seeds.” There was a communicator arranged on the table. The upper half of man’s body appeared in front of the two of them. This man had a full head of white hair, but he seemed very energetic. He had a pair of rimless glasses on his nose. His eyes were very cold; a layer of glass seemed to be floating on top of them, faintly reflecting light, like the eyes of some cold-blooded animal. 

“Dr. Zheng.” The man turned his head eagerly. 

But Zheng Qinghua turned his head away, looking at the web that was gradually encircling the whole world. He frowned. “I didn’t want to make Utopia appear so quickly. The time may not be entirely ripe. But the area of the central processor has been invaded…” 

Then he laughed. There was a certain unspeakable childishness about Zheng Qinghua’s laugh. “Though I was forced to it, it seems now that making the seeds sprout and blossom ahead of time is no bad thing.” 

The man’s voice trembled a little. “This is…Utopia?” 

“Yes.” Zheng Qinghua’s voice unexpectedly sounded somewhat tender. He extended slender, attractive fingers and brushed the electronic screen, following the threads of the “web.” “These are the seeds that we have buried throughout the world. This may be illusory, and it may be real. When the central processor’s energy field has been radiated out, the ‘seeds’ will grow up rapidly. Different spaces will overlap outside the real space and replace the dimension of reality, and Utopia will be born, relying on the emotional energy of all the humans in the world. This will be a completely different world…” 

“So…will time run backwards?” The man straightened up, his features so excited that they were a little warped. His face was nearly pressed to the communicator’s screen, making him look increasingly ugly. “Will I return to the age of my prime? You can do that, can’t you, Dr. Zheng?” 

The childlike smile on Zheng Qinghua’s face gradually cooled, returning it to an expressionless appearance. He looked coldly at Fei Zhe and indifferently said, “Of course.” 

The man seemed too excited. He suddenly began to tremble all over, his lips turning pale, his whole body stiffening, clutching his collar tightly, his eyes rolling up. 

“Wow,” said 11235. 

Only then did Zheng Qinghua see 11235 standing there like an invisible man. He quietly said, “It’s you? I rarely see you. I guess you had better…find some medicine for him.” 

11235 slowly went up in leisurely fashion and fished a little pill bottle out of a jacket lying on the couch. He roughly opened the man’s mouth. Rather than calling his action “feeding medicine,” it would be more accurate to say that he “stuffed” the medicine in. Then he raised his head and laughed towards Zheng Qinghua. “You’re wrong, I actually haven’t seen a single glimpse of you, Mr. Beast in Human Clothing Doctor. Aren’t you the one who’s as cowardly as a rabbit, hiding yourself all day, only contacting others over communicators?” 

Zheng Qinghua frowned. He wasn’t very accustomed to bantering with crude people like 11235. So he said, “Don’t let him die.” Then he unilaterally turned off the communicator. 

11235 squatted on the floor, watching the man’s face slowly recover as he gasped for breath. He gave a grim laugh and stood back up, picked up his gun, and went back to standing in the corner. 

The man lying on the floor gasping recovered at last. He gradually opened the hand tightly clutching his collar and raised his head to look at the ceiling. His eyes were a little clouded, a little blank. Then he slowly turned his head and looked woodenly towards 11235, his eyes meeting those of the fierce young man. He opened his mouth and whispered, “You wouldn’t betray me. You’re the only one who won’t betray me…” 

11235 looked at him with a trace of a cold smile, like an indifferent audience member. The man shook his head nervily. “No…no, you’re different. You aren’t a man, you’re a gun. A gun won’t betray you, as long as you keep it in good repair, give it bullets. So as long as I give you money, you’ll kill anyone I want you to kill. Yes…as long as I give you money, as long as I have money…” 

11235 didn’t respond. He gradually restrained the smile on his face and tilted his head slightly, looking the man over. He suddenly thought this man was a little pitiful. He seemed to have everything—money, fame, power—and soon, the whole world would be controlled and influenced by him, but he was still afraid. 

Because all the things he relied on weren’t his. 

All these bright and shiny things hadn’t come with him at birth and couldn’t be taken along after death. He could be stripped of them at any time. In fact, when you thought about it, this old man had nothing but a decaying, deteriorating body. 

At this time, after going through a brief period of disorder, the situation at the ST Base had been stabilized by Zhong Shiliang and Hu Bugui. 

“Chang Dou, explain this to us.” 

Chang Dou’s lips were a little pale. He turned a deaf ear to this sentence of Hu Bugui’s. Sometimes, when people reached a certain degree of anxiety, their minds would go blank and only focus on one thing. Chang Dou took no notice of the other people present. He smoothly changed the page on the big screen, and a string of formulas incomprehensible to others blinded their eyes at a brutal speed. Only Cheng Weizhi could still contribute to the discussion. 

Suddenly, Chang Dou furrowed his brow tightly. This made his profile seem considerably less childish, making him suddenly look like being called an elite was starting to turn into reality. 

“This is insane.” Cheng Weizhi shook his head. 

“What’s the current situation?” Zhong Shiliang asked again. 

Chang Dou changed the screen back to the original page. The web on the map was constantly taking shape. At the points of overlap, something was slowly widening its scope. “An unknown, different space. Like the place Su Qing and Ji Pengcheng fell into. According to my calculations, it will spread over the whole globe within four hours. This is an alternate space, sustained by some kind of energy…” 

“It’s likely to be emotional energy,” Cheng Weizhi put in. 

“Right, it’s likely to be emotional energy. Then it will overlap with the real world. I understand what Utopia is doing—their blue seals are like motors, maintaining the stability of this space. It must have a central processor, and the person who controls this central processor controls the laws of this whole space. It…” 

Kou Tong abruptly turned his head and looked at Zhong Shiliang. “Instructor!” 

Zhong Shiliang waved a hand. “You don’t need to say it, I understand.

“I understand.” This officer with an ordinary face in the crowd raised his head. His eyes seemed to pierce through the huge screen. Then he quietly said, “I’m a soldier. I’m loyal to this country and this country’s people—the whole country, and the whole world, has many people like me.” 

He seemed to sigh quietly. “Regardless of that…no matter what Utopia is thinking, people like us can’t let this world be controlled by some person. The alternative is horrifying. There will inevitably come a day when we’re forced to do things that go against our consciences.” 

Zhong Shiliang turned his head and looked at Hu Bugui. “There are only four hours. Come up with a plan. No matter what price must be paid, I can match it—Captain Hu, you have full authority to direct this operation. If…” 

He gave a low, cold laugh. There was a bloodthirstiness in his smile that was completely different from his usual correctness. “Then let’s all shoot each other, die together, and go ask for forgiveness.” 

Hu Bugui neither nodded nor shook his head. He only immediately turned to Kou Tong. “Dr. Kou, please prepare to send a document to all internal personnel, then draft another document to pass on to the public through the media.

“Qin Luo, go find Fei Zhe.” Hu Bugui paused for a while. Qin Luo’s heels were already coming together out of habit as she planned to follow his order. Her eyes were still clear. Though she was an adult, her world was still so simple that it seemed to contain only two points and a line. There was only aiming and shooting, and obeying orders, doing the right thing according to her simple worldview. She still didn’t know how to speak and didn’t know how to get along with strangers. 

Just then, a person standing in a corner walked over to pass Qin Luo a yellowing, old-fashioned folder, then salute her and turn to go. Zhong Shiliang said, “Fei Zhe’s information is inside. You can use it as reference.” 

“Reference?” Qin Luo stared blankly. She suddenly turned to look at Hu Bugui. “Are you sending me to monitor this person?” 

“Take some people along,” Hu Bugui said, “as well as a sniper rifle. If necessary, you decide for yourself how to act. Don’t go out of contact. If you run into the abnormal space areas, Chang Dou will tell you how to avoid them.” 

“Yes, sir.” Qin Luo didn’t hesitate. She turned and left. She understood that Hu Bugui’s order to her had been “assassinate.” 

Many bad guys had died by her gun—murderers, robbers, drug traffickers. This was her first time going to assassinate a politician—but she thought that there was no difference. Could a man who could casually kill even his own daughter be any good? 

“Chang Dou, will you and Professor Cheng consult over how to deal with this thing?” Hu Bugui reminded him, “We only have four hours.” 

“I know…I…” Chang Dou desperately clutched his hair. 

“I can help with this.” A female voice suddenly came from the door. Hu Bugui turned to look and saw two guards escorting a person inside—it was Jiang Lan. In order to prove her harmlessness, Jiang Lan had been led the whole way at gunpoint with her hands raised over her head. Only when Hu Bugui waved a hand did the guards lower their guns. 

“How did you find this place?” Lu Qingbai couldn’t resist asking. 

“You didn’t usually take much care to avoid me when you discussed things,” Jiang Lan said lightly. She had already given birth. Her figure seemed slightly more plump than before. Her slightly harsh features had also become considerably more pleasing because the contours of her cheeks had rounded out. 

Hu Bugui frowned. They hadn’t avoided her when discussing the basic trivialities of life, but she definitely couldn’t have overheard the proper business. 

But Zhong Shiliang shook his head. “Was it Kou Tong?” 

Jiang Lan froze and looked at this stranger. Zhong Shiliang smiled grimly. “Enough, don’t cover up for him, he’s…eh.” 

Jiang Lan lowered her head slightly. “I just want to…let my child live in a normal society.” 

In the end, being a blue seal had turned out to be hereditary. That adorable little kid that seemed no different from other chubby babies had been born with a stamp. 

Jiang Lan unbuttoned her collar and revealed the half-moon-shaped blue seal under her collarbone. Lu Qingbai took a glance and couldn’t resist going over like a lecher—the designs on her blue seal had changed entirely, turning into the form of a whirlpool, revolving rapidly. 

“I think you must have known for a long time that the blue seal energy crystal system is incomplete. The energy absorption is passive and needs external interference, so now all the blue seals in the world are like me, unable to control their energy crystal system. As soon as that…space that you’re talking about spreads out, we’ll turn into human motors, imprisoned forever in a half-living state,” Jiang Lan said calmly. “It doesn’t matter either way for me, but my child has just been born. He’s just become a person and doesn’t know yet what that’s like. I can’t let him…” 

Hu Bugui immediately stood up. “So Su Qing…” 

“Su Qing is fine.” Cheng Weizhi held down his shoulder and explained, “Su Qing’s energy crystal system is complete. It forms its own circuit. It won’t be compelled by the intervention of external forces.” 

Chang Dou quickly asked, “Can the link be broken? Do the other blue seals know? Are they willing for it to be like this?” 

Jiang Lan laughed. “The blue seals were made by Zheng Qinghua. Of course he has ways of controlling us. Do you still remember the microchips Dr. Lu helped me remove?” 

At the time, in order to prevent Utopia’s people from tracking the microchips on Jiang Lan, Lu Qingbai had in fact spent three or four days removing over sixty big and small microchips from her before she was finally “clean.” 

“This link was created at the same time as the blue seal. There’s no way to break it—unless you dig out every blue seal’s energy crystal,” Jiang Lan said. “But I’ve heard some things. I know that there are two ways to make this space collapse. One is to destroy their central processor. I’m afraid that won’t be easy. There’s another way—if you can get an equally great energy, you may be able to cancel out the impact of the blue seals’ emotional energy.” 

“Young lady, what do you mean by an equally great energy? Would nuclear energy do, for example?” Zhong Shiliang asked. 

Before Jiang Lan could speak, Cheng Weizhi picked up. 

“No good,” Cheng Weizhi said. “The principles by which the space is constituted are very complicated. It would be hard to use energy that doesn’t come from the same source…” 

“If we need such a great quantity of emotional energy, where would we go to find that many blue seals?” Fang Xiu asked. 

“Emotional energy, emotional energy…oh!” Chang Dou suddenly leapt up. “The life chrysalis! The life chrysalis would work!” 

Fang Xiu’s expression changed. He slapped him on the back of the head. “What are you babbling about?!” 

Chang Dou seemed to remember something. He went blank. “Oh, right…” 

But Zhong Shiliang put in a question: “Chang Dou, what you talking about?” 

“It’s…a thing we encountered before. Utopia was using them to detonate the blue seal bases. They made an enormous life chrysalis system that could absorb the ‘twenty-one grams’ of substance from the human body. It only needed one blue seal’s energy crystal to convert a large quantity of emotional energy.” 

“Are you sure that energy would be enough?” Zhong Shiliang’s expression became grave. 

“This…probably wouldn’t hinge on the energy crystal. Dr. Lu and I researched it. It must depend on the ‘twenty-one grams.’ This is the most mystical thing about the human body, so…” 

This time, Zhong Shiliang interrupted him: “Can you get this life chrysalis system?” 

“The RZ Unit headquarters has…some things.” Hu Bugui muttered silently for a moment. “We seized them before. Dr. Lu and I have both seen the life chrysalis system.” 

“I can reconstruct it,” Lu Qingbai said, “but where will we get the energy crystal?” 

“Here.” Jiang Lan suddenly laughed. 

“You’ll die!” Chang Dou almost screamed. 

But Jiang Lan only looked at him calmly. For some reason, Chang Dou understood what she meant—death…was actually nothing serious. 

“Then there’s the ‘twenty-one grams.’ This the human body’s substance of life. No one knows how much it’s fatal to lose, and no one knows what after-effects it will have, and…” 

But Zhong Shiliang didn’t listen to the rest. He only turned around and strode out in big steps. Lu Qingbai couldn’t resist calling him back. “What are you going to do?” 

“Assemble a suicide squad.” General Zhong didn’t look back. 

“Dr. Lu, we only have four hours. Transfer an armed team to the RZ Unit headquarters and take what you need. I want you to simulate that life chrysalis system immediately.” Hu Bugui stood up. 

“I’m a fucking doctor! I don’t kill people!” 

Hu Bugui looked at him. The originally seething Lu Qingbai saw the look in his eyes and suddenly couldn’t say anything else. After a long time, Hu Bugui at last quietly said, “We may only die in another way.

“We’ll set about it from two sides. Fang Xiu and Professor Cheng, come with me. We’re going to their so-called ‘central processor.’ Maintain contact. Chang Dou, you’ll oversee things here at the base. I need firsthand data—no matter what happens.” Standing, his broad shoulders seemed able to hold up the sun and bring daybreak to the black sky. “Shall we go and have a meeting with that lunatic who’s planning to create a new world, see what right he has to take away all the world’s emotions?” 

Less than two hours later, an enormous life chrysalis took shape. 

Of course this hadn’t been accomplished by Lu Qingbai alone. The RZ Unit’s entire medical team, as well as countless high-level experts who had faintly known the inside story about the RZ Unit and voluntarily assembled after a message that went out at light-speed over the whole globe, added to the framework of the life chrysalis. 

In the ST Base, in the RZ Unit headquarters, in Africa, the Americas, Europe, in every corner of the whole world. 

Jiang Lan removed her jacket and walked onto the high platform. She looked like a martyred saint. Her eyes calmly swept the people below with their heads tilted up to look at her. Then she sat down. Countless tubes and wires connected to her body, as though trying to fill up every inch of her skin. 

Kou Tong watched as Zhong Shiliang was the first to stand beside a simple “chrysalis.” The signature sunshine smile suddenly vanished from his face. 

“Instructor,” he called quietly, feeling as though something was blocking his chest. His glib tongue seemed to turn mute. 

Zhong Shiliang only looked at him, smiled, and crouched to squeeze into the “chrysalis.” 

He lay down flat with his arms crossed over his abdomen. His gaze swept over Kou Tong’s face. Then he closed his eyes as though preparing to sleep.