Many years ago, when Su Qing had had no sense of direction, he had gone traveling with his parents. Sometimes he would look down and let his mind wander for a moment, then find that he didn’t know where he had gotten to. Each time he would squat in a corner, waiting for someone to come claim him. 

In B City, leaving the neighborhood where his house was, he had been unable to find his way around. So he had come up with a reason why he couldn’t learn high school solid geometry—his sense of direction and spatial awareness were too poor. He was just born that way. There was nothing to be done. 

But later, he had been forced by circumstances and had unexpectedly become a human GPS—any time and any place, he could accurately reckon his location and direction. When he walked a path, it would automatically turn into a map stored in his mind. Next time, he could walk it even with his eyes closed. He had some understanding of all forms of terrain and building complexes. Even in an unfamiliar little alley, he wouldn’t easily get lost upon stepping in. Whenever he arrived somewhere, he could become a local power with the greatest speed. 

In the future, even if he couldn’t make it in his current profession, with this skill added to his glib tongue, he would still be able to get by as a tour guide. He really had been forced to go all out. 

As soon as he had walked into the interior of the old base, combined with having seen General Xiong’s map, he had already more or less had his bearings. Su Qing took only a glance and knew that all the Utopia bases they had gone to later had been built according to this pattern. 

As he planned his route, he walked forward without a sideways glance. Inside the base, alarms rang more and more fiercely. But Su Qing’s footsteps weren’t at all uneasy.

More and more people passed by Su Qing, pouring outwards. Though outside there was only Hu Bugui by himself, he knew how to follow through. Before doing something, he wouldn’t overlook any cautious preparations, but as soon as he acted, there was no sense in being half-hearted. Neither worried how the other was doing. Doing your own business well and getting out alive was victory. 

Suddenly, Su Qing’s steps paused slightly. He calmly took half a step aside to make way, avoiding the line of sight of a woman heading towards him—it was Jiang Lan. 

Enemies truly were destined to meet. 

He frowned. Compared to the last time he had seen her, Jiang Lan seemed to have gained some weight, but her face wasn’t looking good at all. Her originally pitch-black glossy hair was looking a little dry and yellowed, loosely tied, actually giving this bizarrely powerful psycho tomboy something of a demure air. 

Jiang Lan wasn’t carrying her signature handgun. She was only standing in a corner with a jacket with the Utopia logo embroidered on it draped over her shoulders, arms crossed over her chest, thoughtfully looking outside. 

Everyone was coming and going in a hurry. Su Qing couldn’t stop where he was. He hesitated for a moment, then walked on as though nothing were the matter, boldly brushing shoulders with Jiang Lan. 

The woman’s faint body odor came to his oversensitive nose. Su Qing knew that he couldn’t be nervous. Jiang Lan wasn’t an ordinary person. She was a blue seal. At such a close distance, she would even be able to notice a change in his heart rate. Then he saw Jiang Lan slightly turn her head in his direction. Su Qing raised his hand, his fingers brushing the spot at his waist where a gun was hidden. 

Jiang Lan seemed to sense something. She looked around the crowd of people passing by her, didn’t see any clues, then somewhat doubtfully turned her head again. Su Qing’s raised hand seemed never to have stopped at all. It brushed past the gun and went up, very naturally straightening his cap. 

Then he saw the famous mysterious underground area. Very good, there were eighteen guards standing at the door. If he couldn’t get around them without anyone knowing, he would have to do some fixing up. 

Su Qing took a deep breath and dodged into some nook. In a moment, he had changed his face, put on casual clothes, somehow managed to get himself covered in blood, messed up his hair, and put a pair of glasses on his nose. The glasses were broken on one side. He held an old handgun with only two bullets left in it… The face, however you looked at it, rather resembled the RZ Unit’s rogue doctor Lu Qingbai. 

As soon as he made an appearance in this form, he immediately drew a strong reaction from his spectators—eighteen black gun muzzles simultaneously took aim at him. 

Su Qing slowly raised his hands, pointing the mouth of his worn-out gun heavenward. Then, as though he had thrown out his back, he squatted down extremely slowly, then put the gun on the ground. 

The two guards standing at the very front exchanged a look. One walked over, and the other kept his gun aimed at Su Qing, providing cover for his companion. After confirming that there was no danger, he kicked the gun away and picked Su Qing up off the ground and searched him roughly. 

Su Qing breathed violently a few times. His lips were even shaking, as though he had been terrified. His eyes spun very quickly. Cold sweat appeared in layer after layer on his forehead as the guard’s gun brushed against him. Using an alarmed voice of altered pitch, he said, “I…I want to see Dr. Zheng, I have very important business with him!” 

He seemed not quite able to catch his breath. If someone had put a hand on him now, they would have found that he was constantly trembling all over. The guard searching him felt him over from head to toe without finding any dangerous articles, then looked at his companion. He asked, “Who are you?” 

“My…my name…” Su Qing’s throat bobbed visibly. “My name is Lu Qingbai, my credentials are in…my left-hand shirt pocket. You can take a look…take a look.” 

Actually, it wasn’t only Lu Qingbai. Su Qing had a bit of a habit of storing up fake IDs. Anyone who was reasonably familiar to him was unfortunately entered into this stash of his that didn’t see the light of day. The more familiar, the more there were—for example, he had several fake IDs for Captain Hu. He could take one of these realistic things out any time and walk out the door to do a bit of something inharmonious and illegal. 

His disguise conceived on the fly wasn’t at all perfect. Someone who wasn’t familiar with the original might not be able to tell the difference when comparing against a seriously distorted ID photo, but an acquaintance would have seen at a glance that he was a knockoff. 

Su Qing had gambled on the fact that Lu Qingbai wasn’t the traitor—if both their technological and medical staff had been in the other side’s hands, then that really would have been hilarious. Everyone would long ago have gone home, gotten cleaned up, then lain down and died. 

The guard took the ID out of his shirt pocket. Seeing the “RZ Unit” printed on it, his expression altered at once. He kicked the back of Su Qing’s knee and watched him fall forward without any means of resistance. Then he put his gun to Su Qing’s temple. “You’d better not be playing any tricks.” 

Su Qing pushed up the crooked and half-broken glasses. The broken lens made a small cut on his cheek. The blood flowed from his cheek down to his chin. His face looked mottled with bruises and half covered in dirt. The original color of his skin was simply invisible. His body wasn’t moving at all, but the veins in his forehead were pulsing. “Can’t you read? I’m only logistical technical staff! Technical staff!” 

His chest went up and down fiercely. He looked like he was putting on a show of bravery while terrified inside. Hoarsely, he continued, “A friend got me in here, I can’t tell you who it is. They wanted to take me directly to see Dr. Zheng, but there were suddenly…suddenly gunshots outside…ahem…” 

He raised a trembling hand and gripped the gun pointing at his head. “I’m telling you, I have very important business with Dr. Zheng. Do you want to be responsible for holding up important matters?” 

Though this young man in glasses was in a sorry state, his hand clutching the gun shaking like a stalk of wheat, when he said these words, there was something unexpectedly strange and fierce in his eyes that made the guard sway in spite of himself. 

Su Qing frowned inwardly. He knew that he was rushing a little, but with matters at this stage, he had to fight a quick battle. He glanced out of the corner of his eye at the other guards all focused on him, calculating how well he would be able to charge out of here if he was seen through. 

Just then, a female voice suddenly came from behind him. It gloomily said, “Let him go. I was the one who brought him in.” 

Su Qing stared, his spine stiffening imperceptibly. He recognized this voice. It was Jiang Lan. Evidently Jiang Lan’s words still held some power. The guards surrounding Su Qing simultaneously stepped back. Su Qing lowered his head slightly, avoiding Jiang Lan’s eyes, and totteringly got to his feet. He took a step forward and deliberately stumbled, seeming so scared he couldn’t even get his footing. 

Fortunately, Jiang Lan only took one look at him, then flashed her own credentials. She took Su Qing by the shoulder and briefly said, “Let us pass.” 

The guards didn’t dare to stop her. They turned and made a passage to let the two of them in. Jiang Lan’s seemingly soft and slender hand was like a vice, firmly gripping Su Qing’s shoulder as though about to embed itself in his bones. Su Qing couldn’t help frowning, but he didn’t dare to avoid it. He didn’t know what this psycho woman was thinking. 

Come to think of it, it was a strange thing. Utopia’s research had produced many blue seals, including the already dead Chen Lin, that abandoned lunatic Hu Bugui and the others had caught, and Gui Song, who had mysteriously died at the heart of the explosion. They all seemed like cheap experiments that could be discarded at will. It made Su Qing not quite able to work out the relationship between the blue seals and Utopia. But when he had seen Shi Huizhang and Jiang Lan last time, he had sensed that there was a class problem among the blue seals. 

Even Shi Huizhang had had to give way to Jiang Lan to some extent, and now she could approach the very heart of the base without any obstruction. 

This tigress was a blue seal. Su Qing calculated, how could he get her…

Jiang Lan, holding onto him, walked faster and faster. Su Qing noticed that she was avoiding the surveillance installations. Fortunately, this base had been constructed a very long time ago. The surveillance installations weren’t very complete. When they came to an abandoned building, Jiang Lan suddenly pushed him into a corner. Su Qing stumbled two steps and stood firm, his back lightly pressed to the wall, silently looking at the woman in front of him with none of the discomfort he had shown before. 

Jiang Lan lowered her voice, but her tone was urgent. “Who are you?” 

Su Qing relaxed his shoulders and laughed softly. The broken glasses on his nose slid down. “Miss Jiang, weren’t you the one who brought me in? How can you not know who I am?” 

Jiang Lan stared at him without blinking. Her appearance had changed considerably. Only those eyes were the same as before. Su Qing had once despised that look in her eyes most of all. He thought that there was a kind of beastliness in her eyes, like a spotted leopard. It was blunt and powerfully aggressive, with a kind of indifference that seemed to come from the jungle. She didn’t see human lives as lives and did whatever she pleased. 

But now he suddenly found that Jiang Lan wasn’t actually all that frightening a person. She really was a beast. But however powerful a beast was, couldn’t humans still put it in a zoo? 

“You said you’re with the RZ Unit.” Jiang Lan’s eyes were fixed on the half-exposed credentials hanging off his collar. 

Su Qing raised his eyebrows and unhurriedly said, “What, do you want to check my credentials?” 

“What did you come here for?” 

Su Qing became less and less nervous, because he had found that this woman he had felt rage and terror towards didn’t have a very quick mind. She asked her questions so directly. So he smiled widely and perfunctorily said, “Our superiors have frozen all the RZ Unit’s activities. I’m still young. Naturally I have to consider my future. Don’t you think so, Miss Jiang?” 

Jiang Lan stared. 

But Su Qing narrowed his eyes slightly. “On the other hand, why would you so indiscriminately bring an unknown individual into…such an important area of your base?” 

Jiang Lan instantly raised her head, staring at him ferociously. 

Su Qing lowered his voice even further, almost whispering. “If I have the opportunity, do you think that I need to consult with Dr. Zheng…” 

Before he had finished saying this, Jiang Lan’s fingers flashed out like a knife, stabbing towards his underbelly. Su Qing dodged and saw her fingers leave fine lines on the wall—it looked like she had meant to disembowel him. 

The two of them began to fight within a tiny range. The space was limited, and neither of them dared to make noise. It was like they were putting on a pantomime. It was a rather intense back and forth. Jiang Lan quickly grabbed Su Qing by the shoulder, her sharp nails cutting into his flesh like knives. Su Qing turned and aimed a kick at her underbelly. 

Just then, Jiang Lan took a very big step back, carefully guarding her underbelly, glaring at him vigilantly. 

After staring blankly, Su Qing’s gaze followed her tightly clutched hands and fell on her underbelly. After a moment, a meaningful roguish expression appeared on his face. 

“Oh,” he said quietly, “I think I understand a little. What, Miss Jiang, are you bringing in outside aid so urgently because you’ve recently encountered a little problem?” 

Jiang Lan bit her lip. 

Su Qing thought that after so many years of vice, the god of moral character had at last recalled that there had once been a pious version of himself who had spent all day worshipping Chun-ge¹. He considered for a while, then took a tissue from his pocket and wiped his face. The bruises, like dirt on his face, were all rubbed off. Then he removed something from the corners of his eyes, and his eyes, pulled long and narrow, resumed their original appearance. 

Jiang Lan stared dumbfounded at the person who had changed in front of her eyes…and the person he had changed into was someone she knew. She couldn’t resist raising a hand and covering her mouth. 

“You…” she said. “It’s you?” 

Su Qing saw her expression that looked as if she had seen a ghost and thought in some satisfaction, Oh, how times fucking change! 

But time was tight. He didn’t have time to play around scaring her. He only threw down what he was holding and quietly and succinctly said to Jiang Lan: “Take me in to see Zheng Wan’s body. After that, I can listen to your request.” 

Jiang Lan stared. “Zheng Wan?” 

“That precious body your old sugar daddy Zheng is hiding in the basement.” Su Qing turned and listened. He found that the gunshots in the distance seemed to have weakened and couldn’t resist starting to worry. Rapidly, he said, “Zheng Qinghua must have been here. I’m asking you, did he take Zheng Wan’s body away?” 

“That woman’s body can’t be moved,” Jiang Lan said. “It’s still in the basement, but the basement is forbidden, I can’t just…” 

—As expected. It was no wonder that Zheng Wan’s body had been sealed up all these years. 

“Take me as far as you can. The rest doesn’t concern you.” 

Jiang Lan clenched her teeth. “Can you guarantee…” 

Su Qing laughed grimly. “You’re welcome not to agree.” 

This sentence choked Jiang Lan. She looked at this man and thought that she didn’t recognize him anymore. Many years had passed. It was very hard for her to recall how that young man shaking with fear in the grey house had looked. She only vaguely remembered his attractive features that made people passing him in the street want to have another look at him. But inside he had been a useless pretty boy who couldn’t do anything and was afraid of everything he saw. 

But now, Su Qing was dressed in rags, covered in blood and dirt, with an already dry little cut on his cheek. Looking closely…this was still the same person, but it was as if his inner core had changed. He was powerful, composed, even…a little frightening. 

“Come with me.” At last, Jiang Lan clenched her teeth, turned, and ran in a certain direction. 

Blue seals moved extremely fast. It was very hard for the old base’s ordinary surveillance installations to catch their figures. Following her, Su Qing even felt he was having some difficulty. 

Jiang Lan was moving through a little path in the abandoned building. She turned and ducked into a half-closed door, then approached the elevator, sticking to the wall. She pried open the doors, jumped, and grabbed the cables. She climbed two lengths down and looked back to ask Su Qing, “Are you up for it?” 

Su Qing laughed derisively and nimbly climbed onto the cable. The two of them climbed to the third underground floor like monkeys. When they landed, they hardly made a sound. 

Jiang Lan said, “The first underground floor’s alarm system is very complete. You can’t charge in. But now it’s different. There are some researchers down here. They have IDs that can open the barrier. If you can get one of them, you can go in. I’ll wait for you here. If you can get out, I’ll take you back up.” 

Su Qing looked at her and curved his eyes in a smile. “Thank you.” Then he jumped down. 

Three minutes later, a “researcher” with a slightly stiff expression unlocked the third underground floor’s barrier. An enormous movement of mechanical springs sounded in his ears. Layer after layer of metal door pulled open in turn. He raised a foot and walked in, but when his foot touched the floor, it didn’t make any sound.