All the bodies that had been brought back were neatly laid out in a row. Most of them had already been completely dealt with. They were covered in shrouds. Looking at them, the missing one in the middle was especially striking, like a beautiful woman missing a front tooth. The bed still showed traces of a person having lain there. Lu Qingbai stood by the bed with his arms crossed, the expression on his four-eyed face very grave. 

Hu Bugui stood at the door. When he saw Su Qing come in, he even looked a little awkward—as if someone had been having their way with him. Su Qing grinned at him. Fang Xiu wasn’t at headquarters, Qin Luo was standing far away, and while Xue Xiaolu had been pulling Su Qing by the arm, she ducked behind him. 

Su Qing listened to Xue Xiaolu quietly go over what had happened. As an answer, he gave a rather controlled yawn and rubbed his eyes, feeling that he hadn’t woken up yet. 

After a while, Xu Ruchong came in leading a big group of people carrying a stretcher. Su Qing craned his neck to look. There was a dead man lying on the stretcher—after careful scrutiny, Su Qing didn’t notice anything about this body that made it more unusual than the other bodies. This was just a plain, ordinary square-faced youth, his clouded eyes still open. He didn’t look any cleverer than other people, and he didn’t seem especially strong and mighty. 

Xu Ruchong began snapping pictures of the body with a perverse expression of fanatical novelty-seeking on his face. As he photographed, he pointed here and there, saying, “Last night, after this dear friend stood up, it walked around the halls. The most peculiar thing is that it even knew to avoid all the places with energy detectors and infrared scanners. When the patrols found it, they warned it loudly and even shot it in the leg. And what do you guys guess happened then?” 

Su Qing’s head cleared and he listened with relish as Master Xu told this ghost story. He found that everyone present was looking at Xu Ruchong with a sort of vexed expression, so, finding his conscience, he cheered him on very cooperatively: “What happened?” 

“Come here, come over and look!” Xu Ruchong enthusiastically pulled away the sheet covering the body, then rather boldly pulled on the body’s lower leg. Su Qing’s eyes, which hadn’t quite opened, now opened wide—the skin on the lower leg was the same as that of any person who had died a natural death. It was very pale. But there was no foreign matter. There was no trace of a bullet going in. 

“Did you get the wrong leg?” was Su Qing’s first reaction. 

Xu Ruchong reached out and pulled over a huge instrument, adjusted the lens on it, and aimed at the body’s lower leg. The image clearly showed a bullet hiding its face in the muscle. Xu Ruchong increased the magnification on the screen and tapped out a command. Then the corner of the screen displayed the information from a scan of the damaged bullet—the model was made for special use by the RZ Unit. 

Xu Ruchong said in a satisfied, almost flaunting tone, “Pretty strange. A corpse’s calf gets shot with a bullet, and the flesh closes up overnight, and even wraps the bullet up inside!” 

Su Qing: “…” 

He thought, This multi-functional sexy leg isn’t yours, what are you crowing about? 

Lu Qingbai cut in: “But this man is definitely already dead, and he’s been dead for over seventy-two hours.” 

His voice was a little hoarse, and he seemed as wan as a cabbage. It was evident how violently a walking corpse had overturned his world view. 

Hu Bugui asked, “So what happened last night?” 

Lu Qingbai didn’t answer, gazing at the unusual corpse with a constipated expression. Hu Bugui turned to Xue Xiaolu and said, “First, tell me who this person is.” 

Xue Xiaolu quickly looked down to go through the folder she was holding. “The deceased’s name is Dong Liang… Hm, why does that look so familiar?” 

Su Qing lowered his head and looked the square-faced young man up and down. He asked, “What’s his relationship with Dong Jianguo?” 

“Oh, right, he’s Dong Jianguo’s son. He dropped out of high school and stayed home working with his dad. Apart from him and Dong Jianguo’s wife, there’s also a daughter named Dong Jing who’s just started high school.” 

Su Qing looked back and briefly met Qin Luo’s eyes. Qin Luo frowned and raised a hand to point at her own wrist. “Captain Hu, we saw Dong Jing last time. I think she was wearing something on her arm.” 

“Is Dong Jing still alive?” Su Qing asked. 

Hu Bugui picked up his coat at once and draped it over himself. Resolutely, he said, “Su Qing, come with me. Xu Ruchong, get the tech department to cooperate with the treatment center, and get this…this…” 

Calling it a person would be wrong, and calling it a ghost would also be wrong. So Hu Bugui paused faintly. “Figure out why the hell it got up and walked around.” 

Contrary to Su Qing’s expectations, Dong Jing was actually still alive. She had become the sole fish to slip the net in this convoluted human experimentation business. Hu Bugui and Su Qing drove back to the cramped anthill-like residential area. Before they had turned into it, they saw Dong Jing on her way back from school—the little girl still wore her adolescent syndrome expression and a whole stack of things on her wrist, not minding the weight. From her appearance, she must have still have been clueless about the deaths of her father and older brother. 

Su Qing went to open the car door, but Hu Bugui held him back. “This time when we’re out in the field, no matter what happens, you can’t act alone, do you hear me?” 

Su Qing gave him a very rippling wink, crooked his fingers, and lightly scratched his palm. “Yes, sir!” 

Hu Bugui stiffened his face and woodenly got out of the car with him, though looking closely, his movements were a little paralyzed. In view of this person’s prior misdeeds, Hu Bugui believed that he was only feeling uneasy and had decided to get up to some tricks; he wanted to get someone in bed as a diversion and had no other intentions. 

It must be said that after countless imaginings and misunderstandings, Captain Hu had for once finally guessed right—after considering, he suddenly said out of nowhere, “Su Qing, after you get settled at the RZ Unit, you should think carefully about your future.” 

Su Qing paused in his steps and turned to look at him, then asked, “What? You’re even worried about my private life? Captain Hu—are there certain…concrete arrangements that concern you?” 

Hu Bugui felt that he had been flirted with, but he couldn’t flirt back—that wasn’t his style, and he thought it would be unsuitable, so he only looked confused. 

So that wretched child Su Qing found a new source of entertainment and shamelessly continued: “Look, everyone’s so busy now, and there aren’t many chances to get out. We’re all very lonely. Resolving the problem internally is an efficient use of resources—look, I won’t lie to you, I’ve pursued my studies quite a bit over the last three years. Do you want to try me out again?” 

Sternly, Hu Bugui said, “Stop making trouble.” 

Su Qing reached out and touched his butt, then rapidly withdrew before Captain Hu could grab his wrist. Lowering his voice, he said with a sly smile, “Captain Hu, do you know what it means when someone’s pupils dilate? Don’t pretend to be a gentleman.” 

“You just made me angry,” said Hu Bugui. 

“Wow! You’re very angry,” said Su Qing. 

Hu Bugui felt that there was truly nothing he could say, so he quickly walked past him without a sound. He heard Su Qing behind him give a hypocritical dry cough and cheekily say, “You see, a man gets irritable when he represses himself too long. It’s not beneficial to the harmonious progression of our work.” 

Hu Bugui gave him a vicious glare. Su Qing immediately shut his mouth, looking at him innocently. His eyes spun, and, pointing towards Dong Jing, he said, “Ah, Captain Hu, the witness takes priority. You can take care of me when we get back.” 

Perhaps Hu Bugui was making something out of nothing, but he felt that when Su Qing said the words “take care of,” they carried a self-evident profound meaning. 

Suddenly stopped by two men, Dong Jing froze, then hugged her bag to her chest a little warily and took a step back. Then she saw Su Qing, hesitated for a moment, and finally said, “You’re…that person who came to our house the other day?” 

Su Qing was no longer grinning mischievously. His face grave, he said to her, “Dong Jing, this is very serious. Take off those bracelets you’re wearing right now and let me take a look at them.” 

The girl was startled. “Huh?” 

Su Qing pointed to Hu Bugui and said, “I told your mom last time that we were planning to sell building materials. You heard, right?” 

Dong Jing nodded hesitantly. Su Qing continued: “Some building materials are radioactive, especially ones made of marble and stuff like that. It harms people. This is something we need to understand for our work, you understand?” 

He was fabricated, of course, and of course Dong Jing was completely at sea. But an average girl of her age, on seeing a member of the opposite sex, especially a very attractive one, would nod even if she didn’t understand. So Dong Jing nodded. 

Having gotten just what he wanted, Su Qing pointed to Hu Bugui and said, “This is the anti-radiation expert we hired. My wife saw your bracelets last time and read up a little after, so our expert heard about it and insisted that I take him to have a look.” 

Dong Jing foolishly turned her head to look at Hu Bugui. The latter looked stern and earnest, and, especially with Su Qing next to him for comparison, he looked very reliable. She thought about it, felt that all the stuff on her wrist was worth hardly any money, so she took it all off and gave it to Hu Bugui. 

Hu Bugui stealthily pressed down on the new model energy detector that the tech department had worked through the night to update. Supposedly it should at last be able to react to these mysterious bracelets. He checked each of the assorted bracelets one by one, including some with bells hanging off, carefully noting the movement of the energy indicator on his watch. 

When he was checking a nearly transparent bracelet with a light blue sheen, the indicator needle suddenly turned at a wide angle. Hu Bugui said heavily, “You can’t wear this thing anymore. Who gave it to you?” 

“…My brother,” Dong Jing said. “Why, what’s wrong with it?” 

Hu Bugui looked at Su Qing, indicating that he should pick up. When it came to lying through your teeth, Captain Hu really couldn’t manage it. 

Su Qing said, “Silly girl, it’s radioactive! The expert confirmed it. Do you still dare to wear it?” 

Dong Jing raised her eyebrows. Her originally somewhat uncertain expression suddenly turned cold. She coolly said, “So what if it’s radioactive? An early death means an early reincarnation. I don’t think life is all that interesting anyway.” 

Su Qing observed her expression and immediately said, “You don’t get it, little sister. If you’re exposed to radiation, you won’t necessarily die. There was this girl once who wore these things to look good, and all her hair fell out. Her head was as bald as a lightbulb!” 

Hu Bugui looked down at him. 

As expected, Dong Jing was horrified. Su Qing continued: “There was also a guy who got tricked. They put radioactive flooring in his house. And guess what happened? Less than two months later, his whole body was covered in sores, and his skin fell off piece by piece. You could peel layers off his face with a touch. It was all bloody. Eh, how dreadful…truly dreadful.” 

Hu Bugui turned his face away. 

Su Qing wasn’t finished yet: “Also, do you know about vitiligo…it’s not like vitiligo. Vitiligo is no big deal, I’ll tell you, this is much more serious than that, I’ve seen someone…” 

Dong Jing instantly expressed a desire to draw a line between herself and the bracelet. They could take it wherever they wanted. A teenage girl didn’t have much concept of life and death. She might not be afraid of dying. But she would definitely be afraid of having her hair fall out and turning ugly. 

Hu Bugui asked, “Did your brother say where this thing came from?” 

Dong Jing shook her head. “He said someone else gave it to him, and that it’s refreshing and slimming.” 

Su Qing and Hu Bugui exchanged a look—another pulse from the external energy crystal. 

The two of them asked a few more questions and turned to go. Dong Jing suddenly remembered something and said behind them, “Oh, I remember, I think my brother mentioned some kind of blue woman…blue what?” 

“Blue seal?” Hu Bugui blurted out. 

“Oh, yes, that’s it.” Dong Jing tilted her head slightly. “What’s that?” 

Su Qing waved a hand and smoothly said, “Oh, that, just something to do with residence registration.”