Cheng Weizhi froze, for a time not knowing where to start. Su Qing didn’t press him, only sat quietly across from him, like when they had been back at the grey house—Su Qing always curious, always raising questions even if he only half understood, and Cheng Weizhi able to speak on any topic, student and teacher both benefiting. 

After waiting for a while, Su Qing took advantage of Cheng Weizhi’s pause to organize his words to quietly observe his facial expression while he selectively revealed and concealed what had happened with the living dead man the night before: “We’ve been investigating a case these past few days. Oh, I mentioned it to you last time. We suspect that Utopia is carrying on human experimentation, researching an external energy crystal. There are many victims involved in this. They’re all dead now. All the bodies were delivered to headquarters, and the weird thing is, one of them, who was supposed to have been dead for more than two days, suddenly stood up last night. And when he was shot in the calf by the patrols, the leg’s muscles and epithelial tissue healed on their own.” 

As Su Qing spoke, he took out a cigarette and gestured to Cheng Weizhi, only lighting up after he indicated that he didn’t object. He held it between his finger in a practiced gesture, took a long drag and breathed out, then crossed one leg over the other, leaning back in his chair in relaxation, using the smoke to faintly obscure his scrutinizing gaze. 

He suddenly felt a little tired and thought somewhat self-mockingly that it was as though because he was a swindler, he thought that no one on earth could be trusted—like the old man sitting across from him. Back when he had been a powerless person with nothing but anger and hot blood, he had been willing to use his life to protect him. But now he was looking at him with this gaze full of suspicion and scrutiny, leading him bit by bit to tell him the “truth” he wanted. 

What was the truth?

Was the truth after all that he had rejected that past destitute self, or was it that that past real self had rejected the repulsive professional swindler of the present? 

Cheng Weizhi didn’t know about his overcomplicated inner world. He nearly held his breath as he listened, then urgently asked, “And then what? How is that person now?” 

Su Qing paused, then said, “He isn’t. He’s still a corpse that couldn’t be more dead. But we followed the clues and found something left out in the cold. Something like an energy hub. It’s likely that the remaining energy in the solid-state medium within the body was activated by the hub and formed a circuit, creating a cycle inside his body analogous to a blue seal.” 

Cheng Weizhi frowned. “But his nerve tissue couldn’t be stimulated to repair itself.” 

Su Qing nodded and tapped ash out of his cigarette. “Dr. Lu said that nerve tissue is the hardest to repair. Do you think it’s possible that there wasn’t enough energy to activate it?” 

Cheng Weizhi nodded very, very slowly. 

Su Qing quickly followed up: “In other words, this unknown energy is strong enough to kill a man, but it isn’t sufficient to save his life—so according to this logic, since the energy stored in my double core energy crystal system could stimulate my whole body, then it must have been over the threshold of what could kill me. I think that inference is right?” 

Cheng Weizhi looked at him. 

Su Qing didn’t speak, either, only silently and took a slightly fierce drag on his cigarette. The only sounds in the room were from Cheng Ge’s paintbrush and the rustling of paper. 

“Child, what are you trying to ask?” Cheng Weizhi asked after a long time. 

“This is what I don’t understand,” said Su Qing. “Energy can’t vanish out of nowhere. It can only be converted to another form. What is the actual difference between a double core energy crystal system and a single one? Why does one form of energy kill, while the other saves?” 

Cheng Weizhi’s expression became serious. He slowly shook his head. “No, your line of thought has gone astray—what activates the energy crystal within the human body can be called a certain kind of stress. There must be certain physiological characteristics. But it also needs external factors for activation. However much vitality it has, it may also harm the human body. It can’t be compared to the external energy crystal you’re talking about. Can you accept that explanation?” 

Su Qing shook his head. “It’s not just that. Don’t fob me off. Everyone had the solid-state medium inside them, and they were all laid out together. Why was he the only one who stood up?” 

However little Cheng Weizhi understood worldly wisdom, he could still feel the sense of intimidation Su Qing was gradually revealing. He could only continue: “Do you know about bone transplants? The world’s population is so large, but finding a compatible donor is very hard. Naturally the probability will be a little higher between blood relations than between unconnected people.” 

Su Qing smiled. “So you mean that the carrier of the energy hub formed a ‘matched pair’ with the emotional type of the deceased?” 

Cheng Weizhi frowned. “The energy hub had a carrier? You didn’t say so just now…” 

Su Qing cut him off: “In other words, I survived back then because there was something like an energy hub near me, and it just happened to match the type of my energy crystal. Actually, the probability of that is even lower than winning the lottery.” 

Seeing that Cheng Weizhi didn’t answer, Su Qing laughed aloud. “What a coincidence—that energy hub was you. Uncle Cheng, I’ve never believed in coincidence. I know that if you scientists are looking at statistics and detect something of ‘low probability,’ you’ll believe it couldn’t happen. That’s the way science handles things. I didn’t get that wrong, did I?

“Well, I’m a layman anyway, it doesn’t matter if I did get it wrong—but Uncle Cheng, tell me the truth. You didn’t end up in the grey house just because of a meal from McDonald’s, did you?” 

Cheng Weizhi lowered his head. Looking closely, his hands were actually trembling a little. After a long time, he sighed, then quietly and incongruously said, “It’s not everyone who can have an energy crystal activated. One in five people can produce a grey seal, but how many people can produce a blue seal?” 

Su Qing remembered a part of the materials he had seen in the RZ Unit’s files, so he said, “The government’s view is one in a hundred thousand.” 

“So blue seals are equivalent to a category of people with a genetic mutation—the essential function of genetic mutation is to give a species limitless possibilities for evolution, to increase the likelihood that the species will survive a major change to its environment. But humans, from a certain point of view, can be said to have already escaped their natural environment. They live in a comparatively stable artificial environment. So to borrow a term from topology, the probability of a genetic mutation moving in a positive direction is constantly approaching zero.” 

Su Qing digested this for a moment, then asked, “You mean that blue seals are a kind of genetic defect?” 

“Supposing that only the double core energy system is stable, that only it can integrate with the human organism, then the single core energy crystal must have a flaw. The more energy circulates through it, the greater a danger it poses. It’s like a ticking time bomb buried in the human body. Don’t you think that a grey seal being unable to automatically absorb emotion and being unable to convert emotion when forced to absorb it is a form of self-protection for the body?” 

Su Qing listened quietly, but he knew that for him, none of this was the important point. 

Cheng Weizhi buried his face in his hand and wearily said, “Utopia’s research went in the wrong direction. Zheng… They denied the existence of the double core energy crystal system. First because a double core theoretically couldn’t exist, and second because the contained nature of the double core system meant that it wouldn’t be stronger than a blue seal. They believed that strength was one of the criteria for whether a species’ evolution was successful. They overemphasized power and overlooked stability.” 

The look in Su Qing’s eyes turned cold. He seized the critical term: “Zheng?” 

“Zheng Qinghua. A university schoolfellow of mine.” Cheng Weizhi paused. “He’s…a genius.” 

Su Qing remembered hearing this name from General Xiong. “He’s at the core of Utopia?” 

Cheng Weizhi nodded. “The theory of the Utopia Project is his…no, our product. But later we had a disagreement…” 

At this point, like a child who had done something wrong, he looked up in trepidation, checking Su Qing’s expression. But Su Qing avoided his eye. He lowered his head and put another cigarette in his mouth—he simply had no idea what to say. In recent years, he had thought himself halfway clever, but he found that like Nobita, from start to finish, he had been unable to erase his own natural good-for-nothing stupidity. No matter what little gadgets he equipped himself with, he couldn’t make up for it. 

It felt like someone had scraped his heart with a blunt knife, sour and sad. 

“I only discussed a project with him during the early theoretical stage. I would swear before heaven that I have never in my life done anything to violate the law or morality. I… Trust me.” 

Su Qing a little irritably blew out a smoke ring. “So you aren’t a grey seal, either?” 

Cheng Weizhi’s cheeks twitched, and he slowly nodded. “My body was in fact forcibly altered by them. I’m a sort of universal energy hub, but not complete. My function isn’t complete—you know that when implants are forced into the human body, the outcome won’t be ideal—Zheng Qinghua was using this method to poke fun at me. He wanted me to personally validate my theory. But…the other requirements for activating a double core are truly too demanding. I wanted to try to rescue those innocent people, but I failed time after time… I really… I really didn’t…” 

“Why didn’t you say so before?” Su Qing asked. 

Cheng Weizhi suddenly froze. Su Qing seemed to work something out. He flicked his wrist, taking out a handgun. He aimed at Cheng Ge’s forehead. Cheng Weizhi leapt off the couch in fear, not understanding at all why he was suddenly launching an attack. But Cheng Ge was as confused as before. 

Su Qing’s expression was calm, but an almost austere chill came off his body. He slowly removed the safety. The muzzle of the gun was pointing at Cheng Ge’s forehead. The bullet slid into the chamber. 

“S-s-su Qing, what…what are you doing?” 

Cheng Ge raised his head and looked at Su Qing. Then he looked at his father. He still couldn’t work out what was going on. The changes in his pupils and his pulse all came to Su Qing’s eyes and ears. After a moment, Su Qing put the gun down and slightly lowered his head and said to the still shaken Cheng Weizhi, “It seems that it isn’t him, either. Then I understand.” 

Then he stood up and headed out. Cheng Weizhi wanted to stop him and had even extended his hand, but when he opened his mouth, he couldn’t say anything. 

Su Qing went downstairs with his hands in his pockets. He ran into Hu Bugui coming towards him. Hu Bugui frowned. “Where did you go? Why aren’t you in the surveillance room?” 

Su Qing stood one step above him and stared into his eyes for a while. Then, with lightning momentum, he took hold of Hu Bugui’s chin, leaned down, and covered his mouth, even squeezing his tongue in. 

This was going even further than his indecency when he had been drunk. Hu Bugui’s mind buzzed. This time, before his intellect could struggle, it was submerged. There really was no comparison between the present Su Qing and the past; who knew how much experience fooling around had led him to develop his current technique. By the time Hu Bugui recovered, he had been unable to help pressing down the back of Su Qing’s head, pulling him towards himself. 

He gave a start and immediately pushed him away. He took a step back and nearly fell down the stairs. 

Su Qing winked at him. “If it feels good, come right out and say it. You’re so insincere. If you come to my room tonight, I’ll make you feel even better.” 

Hu Bugui took a deep breath. “Su Qing, we need to have a talk.” 

“All right, how should we talk? Top or bottom?” 

Hu Bugui: “…” 

He found that he simply had no way to communicate with this great scoundrel, so he passed by him without a word, inwardly deciding that Su Qing’s name would be next on the unit’s roster for a Party lecture. 

The great scoundrel silently watched Captain Hu’s retreating figure, fantasizing for a while. Then he restrained the smile on his face and slowly walked downstairs. He went alone to the lounge where Xu Ruchong was lying down. He opened the door and took only one look, then gently closed the door from the inside. 

The person in the bed had vanished at some point. Half of the soup in the thermos was gone. The note Qin Luo and Xue Xiaolu had left had been turned over, and there was an address written carelessly on the back, as well as the line “Come alone.” 

As though he had been certain that Su Qing would be the first to come in. 

After Su Qing read it, he rolled the paper up and swallowed it—there was no need for the instruction; he wasn’t planning on taking another person.