Qin Luo looked at the bulging kraft paper pouch, looked at the little boy in front of her blinking his big eyes, stared blankly, then said in a whisper, “For…for me?” 

This young lady was one of the RZ Unit’s core field agents. She was tall and wore her hair in a high ponytail. When it came time to pull a gun, she seemed capable and dashing, like one of Charlie’s Angels. But when she was speaking with others, she always seemed lacking in self-confidence. Her voice was weak, and she had trouble communicating with strangers. Lu Qingbai said she had social anxiety. The symptoms were especially obvious when faced with the opposite sex—even if the member of the opposite sex in front of her wasn’t tall enough to reach her chest. 

The little boy had his cap on crooked and was dressed up like a little punk. He was chewing a piece of gum. Like a little grown-up, he said, “I don’t know, a guy gave it to me. It must be a love letter.” 

Qin Luo’s face flushed red at once. Her skin was pale. Like this, she looked as though she had been boiled. However, while social anxiety was an impediment, Qin Luo knew perfectly well that she was on duty now, and this was likely to be important evidence, so she took it. The little boy extended a hand and gave her a look that said “you get me.” 

Qin Luo looked back at him. When they had been staring at each other for an age, the little boy finally realized that this woman had grown up under a rock. Her thoughts were on a completely different wavelength from his. So he puffed out his chest and said, “Sister, I’m tired from running errands. Where’s my service fee?” 

Only then did Qin Luo see the light. Flustered and sweating, she rummaged around for her purse. Just then, a hand reached over and put twenty yuan into the little boy’s outstretched hand. The little devil clicked his tongue and thought, What, are you sending off a beggar? But when he looked up, he saw the strapping Captain Hu Bugui standing there looking grave. So he stuck out his tongue, dejectedly took the money, and went, thinking, Good grief, is he catching her cheating? 

Hu Bugui took the pouch and put it to his ear, listening to a moment. He got out a detector and performed a simple inspection through the pouch. He found that it didn’t seem to contain any dangerous articles, then tore it open. When he had heard what there was to hear and read what there was to read, his expression changed. 

“It’s him!” 

Qin Luo watched in bewilderment as their captain suddenly said this sentence, then turned and left, quickly ordering, “Tell everyone to withdraw from this street. Contact Cheng Weizhi, ASAP! Block communications, say it’s a routine safety check, find a…” 

At this point, Hu Bugui paused. Even though Qin Luo couldn’t be considered especially good at reading expressions, she could still tell he wasn’t in a very good mood. After a long moment, she heard him say, “Forget it, no need, if he gave you these things, he’s definitely gone on ahead.” 

His steps were long. Qin Luo had to trot to keep up. Hu Bugui had his head slightly lowered, his eyes watching the ground. He seemed to be clenching his teeth. His profile had a tense, fierce arc. Then Qin Luo heard Hu Bugui suddenly sigh. She nearly thought she had heard wrong. She turned her head in astonishment, then heard him almost inaudibly say, “I’ve actually already seen him…” 

Though Su Qing’s performance in the restaurant had been flawless, with Hu Bugui’s principle of it being better to get the wrong person than to miss a chance, after he had left, he had sent two RZ Unit members to follow him. But that night, Hu Bugui had received a report saying that they had lost him. Then he had realized that something was wrong. 

In his mind, Hu Bugui again and again reviewed the whole course of encountering that person, then letting him slip out right from under his nose again. He thought of that “middle-aged man”’s every look, every movement, but he couldn’t think of how Su Qing had done it. He also couldn’t think of where Su Qing had gone during these three short years and what he had experienced. 

The RZ Unit’s efficiency in maneuvering was very high. That very night, there was a great shift in the universe, and they moved from one city to another. Xue Xiaolu very efficiently contacted Cheng Weizhi. Given the emergency situation, they brought father and son directly to the RZ Unit headquarters. 

Hu Bugui, not stopping for a moment, returned with Qin Luo. Before he had taken a sip of water, he strode into the conference room, startling Cheng Ge, who was curled up on the couch putting together a jigsaw puzzle. He opened his mouth and cried, “Ah-ah!”, nearly bursting into tears. Xue Xiaolu quickly brought out her angelic smile and patted him on the back to comfort him. 

Hu Bugui nodded to Cheng Weizhi and sat down solidly next to the conference table. “Professor Cheng, let’s make a long story short. Based on reliable inside information, I believe that you are currently in danger.” 

Cheng Weizhi opened his mouth, a little stunned at this sudden attack. 

Just then, Fang Xiu also came through the door. His eyes swept the conference room as though confirming that there were no outsiders. Then he cautiously got out a thin folder and put it on the table. He looked at Hu Bugui, his expression a little solemn.

Hu Bugui nodded to him, and Fang Xiu began: “I’ll go first.” 

He opened the folder. The topmost file was Su Qing’s. In the photo, he was still twenty-four years old, wearing an insolent smile. Fang Xiu picked his file out and set it aside. “Three years ago, we breached a blue seal base in one fell swoop, obtaining a considerable amount of valuable information from it. Working with our comrades in the technological department, in recent years, we have been specially targeting them, inventing a great deal of new assistive tools. You could say that it has allowed us to take the initiative, and ‘Utopia’ has been in hibernation all this time.” 

He paused and looked at Cheng Weizhi. A nervous atmosphere spread through the conference room. Only Cheng Ge wasn’t affected. His intelligence was very low. He had practically no way to live on his own. But his memory for pictures exceeded that of the average person. In hardly any time at all, he had put the several-thousand piece-jigsaw puzzle together. Then he looked at Xue Xiaolu with a crooked, happy smile, making Xue Xiaolu find him another box and reward him with a bag of chips. 

Fang Xiu continued: “At that time, there were nine surviving grey seals, including one who was seriously injured and died on the way when rescue efforts failed. We later simulated the blue seal activator, attempting to manufacture another miracle, but for some reason, likely because some unknown condition was absent, the same miracle did not occur again. So far, of the eight rescued grey seals, apart from Su Qing and Tu Tutu, who went missing three years ago and whose whereabouts are currently unknown…” 

“What?” Cheng Weizhi nearly stood up. 

Hu Bugui waved a hand. “You can’t say their whereabouts are unknown. I saw him two days ago. He’s still safe now. If we can’t find him, Utopia can’t find him, either.” 

Fang Xiu cleared his throat and opened the next file, continuing the topic under discussion. “Of the remaining five, apart from you, Professor Cheng, two were severely mentally traumatized and may never recover. They are currently still in the RZ Unit’s medical treatment center. The remaining three…” 

Fang Xiu lined up the three remaining files on the conference table. Zhao Yifei’s was in the center. Under her picture was a glaring red word: “Deceased.” 

The short-haired girl in the photograph was obstinately pursing her lips as though having a fit of pique against someone. 

Cheng Weizhi slowly extended a hand and picked up Zhao Yifei’s file. “This young lady, she…she…” 

“Not only her,” said Fang Xiu. “Of the other two, one has disappeared, and the other is dead. Cause of death is suicide. At present we can’t eliminate the possibility that the cause was the psychological trauma from the energy crystal. But the three guardians of the person who disappeared all died under mysterious circumstances. We have yet to discover their causes of death.” 

Hu Bugui took out the recording device Su Qing had sent him and played the recording. When it ended, for a full half a minute, no one in the whole conference room spoke. After an age, Hu Bugui raised his head. “We have reason to believe that this ‘Number 4’ is you.” 

Cheng Weizhi looked up at him in confusion. 

Xu Ruchong, hugging a notebook and leaning against the wall, suddenly spoke: “Teacher, why don’t you come stay at headquarters with your son?” When he had spoken, he looked at Hu Bugui and saw that he had no intention of opposing him. Then he pointed at the ceiling and quietly said, “They’ve suddenly become active after lying low for three years. We suspect…that it’s likely we have an internal problem.” 

Cheng Weizhi looked at him in disbelief, simply thinking that nowhere in the world was safe. He glanced anxiously at Cheng Ge. The latter was harmlessly holding the completed puzzle. He looked at it for a while, then turned it over completely and began to chew on a puzzle piece. 

Xue Xiaolu quickly reached out to rescue the piece and used a lollipop to plug his mouth. Cheng Weizhi sighed. “I just want…just want to live without anxiety for a few days.” 

Xu Ruchong’s tail drooped as though he had done something wrong. “Teacher, I’m sorry.” 

Cheng Weizhi sighed again, his eyes roaming over the conference room for a while. Then they fell on Su Qing’s photograph. Pointing to the file, he asked, “What about that child? Will he be in danger?” 

Hu Bugui raised his head, his eyes meeting Cheng Weizhi’s directly. His voice wasn’t loud, but it extremely firm as he said, “We’re going to find him.” 

Cheng Weizhi remained at the RZ Unit headquarters. That afternoon, Hu Bugui took a call from the RZ Unit’s direct superior, General Xiong, asking him to protect at any cost the survivors from the blue seal base. Hu Bugui hung up the phone and tilted his head back to stare emptily at the ceiling for a while. Then he took a photograph from the middle section of his desk. It was the very photograph from Su Qing’s file. At some point, he had made a copy and furtively hidden it in his desk. 

Time hadn’t made this person fade from his life; instead, it had left a deep, deep gouge. 

At this moment, he didn’t know yet that the person they were turning over heaven and earth to find was exhausting his resources planning to infiltrate the RZ Unit headquarters. 

Su Qing guessed that when Hu Bugui received his tip, he would take Professor Cheng to the headquarters in the interest of safety. But he had a similar guess to the RZ Unit’s members—that there was an enemy agent within the military. Of course, infiltrating the RZ Unit headquarters was no easy mission, because that would be Utopia’s goal as well.  

Su Qing urgently returned, threw some money at Ji Pengcheng, and asked him to take care of Tu Tutu for a while longer. He quit “Li Meng”’s job and traveled through the night to the location of the RZ Unit headquarters. 

He found a hotel to stay at for one night, slept a full five hours, felt that he was alert and awake, then cautiously began to plan.