Just after Su Qing was carried away by two kidnappers from some unknown planet, the door to his apartment, not shut tight to begin with, was once again pushed open by an unknown element. The person who opened the door was a long-legged and vigorous young man wearing a jacket with the zipper open all the way, indistinctly revealing the outlines of two guns at his waist. 

Behind the young man came a tall young woman with her hair in a ponytail. 

The door had been open to start with. It opened wide automatically at a light touch. It was completely empty inside. The young man took out a gun and made a gesture towards the young woman. The two of them went inside one after the other and searched. No one. 

The young man frowned and said towards the watch on his wrist, “Captain Hu, Qin Luo and I have arrived. There’s no one here. The door was open.” 

After a moment, Hu Bugui’s voice came out of the “watch”: “Copy.” 

The two of them left without a sound. 

When Su Qing woke up again, he once more opened his eyes to the sight of dismal white. After a moment of blank staring, he quickly shot up—he remembered; he had been kidnapped. The kidnappers had left him in a little room with no windows. They hadn’t tied him up. He looked down. None of his clothing was missing. Even the thirty-two yuan and fifty cents of spare change in his pocket were still there. 

Su Qing sniffled—he really had caught a cold. He got up, swallowed, and, willing to try anything in a crisis, began to mentally count sheep, as though this move could not only hypnotize a person but could also calm him down. 

Actually, it really did do some good. When he had counted to thirty-eight, Su Qing’s long-inactive brain at last undertook the monumental task of its proper duty. In these dire straits, he outdid himself. He restrained his fear and began to examine his surroundings, considering his circumstances. 

Suddenly, there was a slight movement over his head. Su Qing tipped his head up and saw a security camera in a corner. As he walked around the little room, it followed him closely, swinging left and right, like a pair of eyes hidden in the darkness. 

Su Qing cleared his throat and stood properly facing the security camera. He put his hands behind his back, forced a smile, and sincerely said, “Brothers, I’m only an unemployed youth. I have no family and no profession. I haven’t broken the law, I haven’t cheated on my taxes, and even my last fight was three or four years ago… Of course, I also have nothing to do with the collected public security forces…” 

He thought, it didn’t matter who his kidnappers were; first he would disclaim connection to both sides. He still had this drop of wit. When Su Qing got nervous, he started to babble, as though if he kept talking he could relieve the symptoms of cramp in his calves. He went on at length: “Well…look here, don’t you think there’s been some misunderstanding? I promise you, I didn’t see anyone clearly, not the fellow who knocked me out, and not the fellow wearing the sunglasses. And if I had seen clearly, I wouldn’t go around blabbing. Look at my honest eyes!” 

As he spoke, he got close to the security camera. The security camera had no speakers. It only looked at him coldly. 

Su Qing clutched his hair and racked his brains. He suddenly saw the light. “Oh…this isn’t because of my dad, is it? Oh, hey, in that case, you’ve got it all wrong. My dad’s got some stinking money, but that has nothing to do with me now. It’s been two years since the old man disowned me. The old fellow has already said that even if I kick the bucket, he won’t shed a tear for me. If you’re expecting ransom money for kidnapping me, it’s no use. He’ll be only too happy for someone to clean up after him—ah, of course, I’m not telling you to…” 

At this point, Su Qing’s nonsense came to an abrupt halt, because the door of the little cell opened and two men walked in one after the other. 

The one in front was a middle-aged man in a suit. He had a square face, triangular eyes, and a ferocious gaze. Behind him came a refined man with glasses sitting on the bridge of his nose. 

Su Qing stared. He realized that these two were bandits. 

His brain, which had seen too many cops and robbers films from Hong Kong and Taiwan, immediately came out with—I’m a goner. They didn’t blindfold me. Normally there’s only one fate for the miserable devil who sees what the kidnappers look like—he gets killed off.

Then Su Qing made a subconscious gesture. He covered his eyes and turned his head away. “I didn’t see anything. Haha, my eyes aren’t very good, they start running as soon as I see a strong light. Damn, they’re streaming everywhere. I can’t see what you look like at all.” 

The bespectacled man couldn’t restrain a laugh. When he laughed, he seemed even less like a bad guy. His gentle and refined bearing made him look more like a young university teacher. The square-faced one next to him, on the other hand, grunted coldly and gave speech: “Settle down. We ask, you answer. Talk nonsense again and I’ll slaughter you.” 

Su Qing nodded as though crushing garlic. “Yes, yes, whatever you say.” 

“What’s your relationship to the jackal¹? And what about that group of bastards at the RZ Unit?” 

Su Qing didn’t dare to remove the hands covering his face. Hearing this, he was completely baffled. “B-brother, who are you talking about? What unit?” 

The bespectacled man gently pushed up his glasses and patiently asked, “This morning, the man who left the hotel with you and opened the car door for you—who is he to you?” 

Su Qing blurted out, “Holy crap, that can’t be right—you can get into trouble cruising for a one-night stand at a bar? I-I don’t have anything to do with that, that Hu Bugui, whoever he is. Really, look at my honest eyes!” 

He got excited, forgot to cover his eyes, and put his hands down. Seeing the false smile of the bespectacled one, he felt cold at heart. He immediately raised his hands again. “My vision is really terrible. I forgot my glasses. And I have a touch of glaucoma. My eyes aren’t much use. You three can set your minds at ease.” 

To win their trust, he had deliberately said the wrong number…

The square-faced man frowned. “Hu Bugui?” 

“Ten to one, it’s a fake name,” said the bespectacled man. He looked Su Qing up and down with apparent interest. 

The square-faced man quietly asked, “Is he talking crap, or is it true?” 

“It’s true, brother, truer than the point of a needle!” Su Qing screamed. 

The bespectacled one looked at him and unhurriedly passed judgment: “It’s probably true. At least, I don’t sense any signs of lying from his emotions.” 

The square-faced man seemed to be in a very bad mood. He cursed under his breath: “Damn it, we finally manage to get the jackal alone, and he finds out. Tell that Gui, if he dares to tip off the enemy next time, I’ll chop him up for dog food.” 

The bespectacled one didn’t respond. Su Qing listened, trembling, not even daring to breathe loudly, afraid that this man would chop him up for dog food, too. His legs were about to soften into noodles. They were barely holding up his weight. The square-faced man cursed for a while, then pointed at Su Qing and said to the bespectacled one, “He’s useless. You take care of him.” 

Su Qing was so scared his heart stopped beating, but he heard the bespectacled man laugh softly. He walked over, pinched Su Qing’s chin, and sized him up at close range. His expression looked as though he was sizing up a little dog being sold at the dog market, fussily appraising his pedigree. He said, “No, since we’ve caught him, let’s not waste him. Jiang Lan and I are both short a ‘little grey,’ so let’s try with him.” 

The square-faced man snorted and seemed to mutter something like “damn homo.” Then he tossed out a “whatever you like” and left. 

Su Qing shakily said, “B-b-brother, if you let me go, I-I-I guarantee that I’ll go to my dad and beg him to thank-thank you, my dad is Su…” 

The bespectacled man took a step back and let him go. He watched the panicked Su Qing slide down to the foot of the wall and quiveringly hug himself into a ball. He cut him off: “In a crowd, one out five people can become a ‘little grey.’ If you do become a ‘little grey,’ there’s also a fifty-fifty chance that you’ll match mine…or my companion’s type. In other words, you have a one in ten chance of survival—what do you think?” 

He didn’t mention what it meant to “become a ‘little grey.’” Su Qing had gambled, but that was for money. He had never gambled with his life. He opened his eyes wide in fear and looked at the smiling man in front of him. Like a mute, he couldn’t say a word. 

The bespectacled man slowly said, “Of course, you have the power to decide. I never force anyone. If you aren’t willing, I can kill you right now. It’ll all be over. It won’t hurt very much.” 

Truly indulgent democracy, Su Qing thought. Was he really going to meet his end like this today? 

Seeing that he still didn’t answer, the bespectacled man extended a cold hand and put it on his neck. He tightened it slowly and asked again, “What do you think?” 

It is said that when you are about to die, you recall the events of your lifetime. As the man’s hand squeezed his neck tighter and tighter, Su Qing slowly began to feel suffocated, but his mind was still blank. There were only a few scenes of his dad poking him in the forehead and scolding while his mother dotingly hid him behind herself, or some scenes of drifting around with his drinking buddies or thoughtlessly messing around with Guo Julin. Each one was like a flimsy outline, gone in a flash. 

It turned out that his whole life had been this flimsy, he thought. 

Suddenly, a tremendous unwillingness welled up in Su Qing’s heart. He laboriously brought up his hands and clutched the hand the man was using to squeeze his neck. Hoarsely, he exerted all his strength to spit out two words: “I…I…I agree!” 

The corners of the man’s lips turned up. He cheerfully let him go. He watched Su Qing curl up on the ground and begin to cough violently. Then he patted him on the shoulder. “Then get up and come with me.” 

Su Qing staggered to his feet and followed the man. The bespectacled man seemed completely unworried. He turned his back to Su Qing and stuck his hands in his coat pockets, walking confidently and easily. Su Qing’s throat burned painfully. Staring at the man’s back, for a moment his rage boiled up into courage, and he calculated, If I jump him now and hit him over the back of the head…

But just then, the man walking in front of him suddenly said without looking back, “Don’t even think about it. If I stayed still and let you kill me, you still wouldn’t necessarily be able to do anything to me.” 

Su Qing gave a start. Cold sweat instantly poured off him. He remembered the miraculous course of his kidnapping and thought, Is this mind reading? This bunch…are they human? 

The bespectacled man looked back and smiled at him. “It’s a good mentality to be afraid of those stronger than you—if you survive, you can tell me your name.” 

He had just spoken when Su Qing suddenly felt a chill behind him. He whipped his head around and saw that a woman had started following him at some point. She was a pretty good-looking woman, but her eyes were like a venomous snake’s, watching him fixedly. 

Su Qing’s neck stiffened into a piece of wood. His legs involuntarily walked forward after the bespectacled man, but his neck maintained its ridiculous position, twisted and petrified, staring at the woman who had appeared out of nowhere behind him and walked without making a sound. 

The fuck… Was this Earth? 

“Is this the new ‘little grey?’” the woman asked.

“I don’t know yet whether it’ll be a success,” the bespectacled man said.

The woman pursed her lips and said a little resentfully, “I don’t want this one. You can see at a glance he’s a pretty boy with less guts than a rabbit. Poor quality.” 

The bespectacled man said in gentle consolation, “You can make do. Those RZ Unit sons of bitches have been too lively of late, and the next ‘feast’ is coming up soon. You can’t be short a ‘little grey.’ Don’t be too picky. I heard one of your ‘little greys’ died just the day before yesterday. Don’t you only have one left now?” 

The woman snorted and said nothing. 

Su Qing thought that those words just now had sounded something like, “We’re going into the mountains to hunt soon. You can’t be short a hunting dog. Don’t be too picky. One of your dogs died just the day before yesterday. Don’t you only have one left now?” 

He instantly felt waves of gooseflesh striving to outdo each other. 

The bespectacled man stopped at the door of a room. He grabbed Su Qing by the back of the neck and pushed him inside. “It will decide whether you survive.” 

Su Qing looked up. There were quite a few cold-faced white coats standing in this room surrounding a sinister-looking instrument. One white coat put on a mask and looked at Su Qing. Pointing to a place on the instrument, he said, “It’s you? Lie down.” 

Su Qing swallowed and shifted his feet, shuffling over one step at a time. He looked at the cold instrument, then blankly looked up again. The woman grew impatient. She was some kind of demon. A swish, and she turned into a residual blur. She had just been at the door, and in less than the time it took to blink, she was standing in front of Su Qing. She picked him up with one hand and flung him onto the instrument. 

Su Qing felt the world spin. The back of his head banged against the hard metal pillow. A droning began in his ears. His hands and feet were icy. He didn’t know what would happen to him. 

Then a sudden trace of numbness began at his feet. Before Su Qing could figure out what it was, he felt a pain like being electrocuted throughout his whole body. He began to scream.