Su Qing thought that his consciousness was like a sea. Normally it was calm and tranquil, as long as the wind didn’t rise. If it did, the slightest movement could induce a boundless hurricane. Then, hints of the enormous black hole hiding under that mirror-like stillness would faintly appear. 

How much sadness could one person bear in a lifetime? 

Sometimes Su Qing thought that the painful events in the past hadn’t truly passed. It was only that with the passage of time, the memories were no longer fresh. They had all become yellowed old photographs, pressed beneath the numerous and complicated activities of his consciousness. Otherwise, why would all his former feelings be so vivid in his mind when stimulated by a single touch? 

He could feel something like a faint electric current passing through his whole body, not painful, only slightly numbing. And he felt once again that sense of emptiness, like that day he had lain on the ice-cold instrument, as if he had shed his body and entered a half-sleeping, half-waking state. Something was constantly attacking his brain, as though it was clogging his body with all its might. 

Gradually, Su Qing felt the pain Cheng Weizhi had spoken off. His eyes were open, but he couldn’t see anything clearly. With his remaining awareness, he couldn’t tell whether he was crying. He only felt extremely pained and extremely sad. 

He wanted to cry aloud, but his body wouldn’t take orders. Despair, like a shoot, grew from his heart, dyeing all his memories a boundless dim grey. 

An indistinct voice sounded in his ears, calling his name: “Su Qing, Mama’s little fellow…” 

A door seemed to appear before his eyes, dismal white. Su Qing hesitantly reached out to push it open and saw that once-beautiful woman, her head bald from the chemo, looking at him yearningly. Her neck was very thin, as though it couldn’t hold her head up anymore. She tried desperately to raise her head from the pillow and failed time after time. Her body was stuck full of transparent tubes, as though her life was tied in place. The tubes couldn’t be undone, or else her life would scatter. 

The woman beckoned to him: “Come, come to Mama.” 

A pair of hands dropped lightly on his shoulders. Su Qing turned to look. It was Su Chengde. He seemed to have shrunk, returning to his cowardly and confused youth. He hesitated, then walked step by step to the side of the hospital bed. 

Su Qing remembered, this was the last time he had seen his mom—

The woman raised a skinny hand. Su Qing immediately bent down, took her hand, and put it on his head. She smiled softly and laboriously. “Eat well and grow tall, like your dad…” 

These were her last words. 

Su Qing began to cry, but the sound of crying seemed to come from other mouths. It was all around, crowding his mind. The whole world of his consciousness echoed with bitter cries rising and falling in succession, keener and keener, more and more resonant, scraping his mind and body like an inexorable tornado. Su Qing felt that the young self in his consciousness was going to be torn apart by the wind. 

In that moment, a strange voice suddenly rose in his heart, saying to him, “Don’t get confused.” 

Don’t get confused…about what? 

Don’t get confused about these voices, these feelings. They belong to others. If you can’t withstand them, you’ll be assimilated by them and become worthless. 

“Eat well and grow tall, like your dad…” 

“It’s all right. Mom is gone, but Dad loves you.” 

“Get the hell out of here! Get out! I have no son like you. I make no claims of kinship on you. Starting today, you can call whoever the fuck you want your dad—call a dog your father if it pleases you. I, Su Chengde, have no son like you!” 

“Su Qing, let’s break up—” 

“Su Qing, don’t get confused.” 

“Su Qing…”

“Su Qing…”

Su Qing desperately curled up and covered his ears, but the cries were as inescapable as ulcers on the bone. He began to shout inwardly: “Fuck your grandmother, Chen Lin! All you blue seals go fuck yourselves! You’re going to the depths of hell! Miserable deaths for all of you! I don’t want to think about it anymore… I don’t want to think anymore… I beg you… No more…” 

When Chen Lin realized that things had gone overboard, the indicator needle on the little box had reached the critical level, swaying violently. Su Qing was kneeling on the ground, spasming all over, eyes open wide and gaze empty. His fingers were digging into his chest. If not for the thickness of his clothes, Chen Lin nearly suspected he would have dug out his own heart. 

Chen Lin stared. This had never happened with the grey seals he had brought before. Generally speaking, Type 2 Grey Seals, as “sadness types,” didn’t have so violent a reaction as “anger types” or “fear types.” The average person would be dulled. Violent and self-harming actions were very rare. 

Chen Lin immediately cut the connection between Su Qing and himself and grabbed Su Qing’s arms, holding him down. 

Su Qing began to struggle unconsciously. A person out of his mind was always much stronger than normal. Chen Lin was nearly thrown off. He suddenly had a preposterous thought: That bunch of fatheads at the company couldn’t have gotten the type wrong, could they? Is this brat really a Type 2? 

There was nothing he could do. He had to take out the switch of the magnetic neckband and give Su Qing a light prod. Su Qing stumbled and fell into his arms. He seemed to regain consciousness somewhat; at any rate he settled down. 

He looked blankly in some unknown direction, his long, thick lashes wet with tears, a fine and fragile beauty emerging on his face. Chen Lin suddenly felt his heart soften. He sat on the ground and embraced Su Qing, tentatively patting his back. 

Su Qing’s head fell slowly as though he were exhausted. He indistinctly spoke two words. He said: “I’m sorry.” 

Chen Lin suspected he hadn’t heard clearly. He bent his head and brought it close to his mouth and heard this young man as beautiful as a work of art issuing a belated apology to someone over and over. He sighed, a rare gentle expression appearing on his face. As though humoring a child, he softly said, “It’s all right, it’s fine now, it’s over.” 

Su Qing’s voice gradually fell. Chen Lin felt him curl up in his arms as though about to fall asleep. Just then, Su Qing woke up, moved, and struggled to raise his head. 

Chen Lin thought he wanted to express something. He carefully lifted his chin with his fingers and asked, “What is it?” 

Then he heard Su Qing precisely articulate: “Chen Lin, fuck your uncle.” 

Then his head fell and he fainted away. 

Chen Lin stared, but he didn’t feel angry. Instead, he was somewhat pleased. He thought, This brat really does have spirit. Then he actually couldn’t resist laughing silently. His brows, always slightly drawn together, parted—because someone had coveted his uncle. 

Chen Lin, his emotions calm, sat on the roof. His view was wide and his arms were full. A breeze came from somewhere and lightly brushed the hair at his temples. He was surrounded by scattered instruments. He began to entertain himself. 

This very scene was captured on camera. 

In the busy RZ Unit, a young man wearing glasses with ridiculously wide frames turned his head, his expression somewhat excited. “Captain Hu, we have a lock on the location. There’s an 80% chance that this is the missing person you were tracking.” 

Hu Bugui was leaning against the door. His gaze left Su Qing on the screen. He turned to go. “Send the address. Everyone prepare to move.” 

Two men and one woman stood to follow him. These were the RZ Unit’s three field agents—Fang Xiu, Qin Luo, and Liao Chenyuan. 

The man in wide-framed glasses stared, then quickly jumped out of his chair and chased a few steps after Hu Bugui. “Captain Hu, don’t be so swift and decisive. Let me finish. The energy fluctuations are very small this time compared to previous ‘feasts,’ and the ‘monitor projection’ caught someone. I suspect…” 

Hu Bugui turned back and looked at him. His gaze was so incisive that it scared the glasses-wearing comrade’s weak heart into a quiver. His left foot tripped his right foot and he fell flat on his face, wrung like a fried dough twist. 

Fang Xiu squatted down and poked his head. “Lao Xu, what do you suspect?” 

The man who had fallen flat pushed up his drooping glasses and earnestly said, “I suspect this is a trap.” 

Fang Xiu put a hand on his head and stroked it. He sighed. “It must have been hard work thinking that up with your IQ. Congratulations… Hey, Captain Hu, wait up.” 

Hu Bugui was already pressing forward indomitably, taking his heroes with him to jump into the trap.

The man with glasses sat on the ground looking worried. Xue Xiaolu ran over to apply a bandaid to the place he had scraped while falling. 

Xue Xiaolu said, “Technician Xu, even though you’re ‘the consolation of love’ for that Fang Xiu, you still don’t have to put yourself to so much trouble.” 

Bespectacled Xu angrily said, “Have you ever thought that that group of field agents thinks with their muscles? They’re boors charging around like farm animals, boors!” 

Xue Xiaolu said comfortingly, “Yes, yes, Master Xu Ruchong. We’re nerds, and nerds will save the world. Should we sink to their level?” 

Xu Ruchong grunted, thought, then quickly climbed to his feet and charged in front of his computer screen. “No good, I have to think of a way to widen the range of the ‘projection’ as soon as possible.” 

Xue Xiaolu came over and stared curiously. “Master Xu, I heard this ‘monitor projection’ technology was just approved by the higher-ups. Can we apply it here? That’s keeping up with the times.” 

Xu Ruchong seemed to want to squeeze himself into the screen. He absent-mindedly agreed. “Yeah…this is my patent…” 

Xue Xiaolu was dumbfounded. Then she also stroked Xu Ruchong’s head as though wanting some of that magic to rub off on her. Finally she looked at the back of this deity’s head, then silently picked up the first-aid kit and left. 

Chen Lin was staring into space hugging the unconscious Su Qing. Then his gaze sharpened, and a smile came into the corners of his mouth. He thought, Here it comes.  

The plan for the feast had been proposed by Shi Huizhang. The six of them would go their separate ways; there was no need to say what the purpose behind sending Chen Lin to such an obvious location was. Chen Lin picked up Su Qing, glanced at the scrapped instruments, and suddenly took a stride. His figure moved quickly, flitting like a shadow. The next moment, he was standing at the edge of the roof. 

A blue seal’s senses were several times stronger than an ordinary person’s. He looked down from on high, and his gaze fell on a speeding military vehicle not far away. 

Then he saw the person driving the car. 

“Jackal…I’ll give you a big present, how about that?” After he said this, he suddenly leapt down from the roof. Holding Su Qing, he set foot on the wall of the building. The soles of his shoes changed shape, firmly grabbing the wall like a gecko, and he tore along at a speed invisible to the naked eye. 

Hu Bugui had an earpiece in his ear, and a small screen in the car was connected directly to Xu Ruchong. They all saw Chen Lin vanish in midair. 

Hu Bugui, holding the steering wheel, divided his attention and said to Xu Ruchong, “Follow him.” 

Xu Ruchong said, “It won’t work, Captain Hu, the range of the new technology is…” 

“I’m not listening to your nonsense,” said Hu Bugui. “What are you going to do?” 

There was no answer from the other end. Only the clatter of a keyboard remained. Five minutes later, an image of Chen Lin’s form once again appeared on the small screen in front of everyone. The signal was a little unsteady. 

Xu Ruchong said, “I’m sorry, Captain Hu, the technology is immature. I can only maintain it for about five minutes…” 

Before he finished his sentence, the unit members in the car had automatically braced themselves. When Hu Bugui slammed on the gas pedal, everything in the car began to float as the car leapt up, making turn after turn in a disastrous state fit to bring about a multi-car collision.