Hu Bugui and Su Qing froze simultaneously. 

It was frighteningly tranquil all around. Su Qing could practically hear the frantic beating of his own heart. He looked into Chen Lin’s eyes and felt that his mouth was a little dry. “What…what are you talking…” 

Chen Lin laughed coldly and took the magnetic neckband’s controller from his pocket. Su Qing was extremely nervous and therefore outperformed himself. The image of that woman Shi Huizhang had throttled to death with the neckband flashed rapidly through his mind. The moment Chen Lin pressed down, he began to imitate it. 

He had to clutch his neck with his fingers. It would only look real if he drew blood… Ow, it hurt—he had to gasp for breath, but he also had to act like he couldn’t breathe. His breaths had to be very short. Then he had to slowly fall to the ground clutching his neck, twitching all over. After a while he had to add in rolling around…

Hu Bugui heard Lu Qingbai whistle. “Nice going, kid! It’s so realistic.” 

The RZ Unit’s field personnel were stealthily approaching “area 5.” Fang Xiu, arms crossed, was sitting next to Hu Bugui. Through Hu Bugui’s glasses and the vehicle’s video system’s sharing function, he was also watching Su Qing. He couldn’t resist asking, “Captain Hu, what if we sent some people…” 

Hu Bugui was silent for a moment, then shook his head. 

“We can’t alert the enemy too early,” he said. He paused, then added, “He’ll be all right.” 

In under two months, Hu Bugui had seen him transform at an astonishing speed from a dissipated, decadent unemployed youth into his present state—brave, steadfast, each step falling on the most frightening boundary of his inner being, exceeding his limits again and again. 

Hu Bugui clenched his fist and suddenly broke off the video, putting the glasses on his nose, not letting Su Qing’s circumstances disturb the others any longer. “Team 1 will infiltrate the target area on foot. Xu Ruchong, I need you to break through their signal blocking within an hour. Everyone else, stand by and await orders!” 

But Su Qing’s strenuous performance didn’t receive approval from its sole audience member. Chen Lin stood by watching coldly, offering up neither applause nor coins. His expression was apathetic. Then he kicked Su Qing’s shoulder with the tip of one foot. “Get up, don’t play dumb.” 

Like a mechanical toy whose pause key had suddenly been pressed, Su Qing froze. He didn’t know where he had slipped up. Countless reasons instantly flashed through his head, and at last he came up with a conclusion: oh no, I forgot to roll my eyes up! 

Chen Lin leaned against the wall with his arms crossed in front of his chest and slowly said, “The magnetic neckband is in fact invisible, and if it’s broken, it can be hidden for a time. Your friends even helped you simulate the geographical circle function, so when I ‘undid’ the house’s restriction on you, I was fooled. But I forgot to tell you, when the magnetic neckband is activated, it creates bioelectricity. At this close a distance, I should be able to sense it.” 

So it wasn’t because he forgot to roll his eyes up—since he had been seen through, Su Qing simply rolled over, sat up, and rudely said, “What have you got to show off about? Bragging that you’re a human radar?” 

Chen Lin ignored his provocation, only looked him over from above. After a long moment, he asked, “When did you stop being afraid of me?” 

“I’ve been scared out of my fucking wits over and over. This time I don’t have any left to be scared out of. What else are you going to do to me?” Su Qing wiped the dirt off his face and said, “I was the one who brought the RZ Unit’s stuff in days ago. They know everything now, anyway, what they should know and what they shouldn’t. What do you think happens now?” 

Chen Lin didn’t respond. 

Su Qing wasn’t planning on paying attention to him. He thought, could Chen Lin really let him off?—He couldn’t even dream of such a possibility. 

So he calmed down instead. He didn’t look at Chen Lin’s expression, continuing on his own: “I’ve spent over twenty years as a useless layabout. Starting from birth, my doom has been to only accomplish this one thing. It’s obvious that no one is going to care whether I live or die—it’s for the better if no one cares, or else I’d have to start getting out photographs and leaving painful last words behind, ‘tell so-and-so I love them.’ This way I can do without.” 

Chen Lin was still looking silently at the delicate-featured young man. Su Qing sat there in a dire predicament, a pure smile like an overgrown boy’s gradually appearing on his face, with the particular recklessness and unconcern of youth, dazzlingly beautiful. “I think this is worth it. I’m going to go see Grandpa Marx, and I’m taking all you sons of bitches and your big base with me. When I get there, I’ll be able to face the old man seriously and say, I have nothing to be ashamed of before the revolutionary martyrs. I, Su Qing, am also a true man…” 

True Man Su’s speech was too impassioned. He was choked by his own saliva and began to cough. 

Hu Bugui sat quietly in the military jeep, not making a sound, listening to him speak, his nails unconsciously breaking through the flesh of his palms. 

Chen Lin suddenly leaned down and lifted Su Qing, who was breathlessly laughing and coughing at the same time, then roughly lowered his head and kissed him on the mouth. Not to be outdone, Su Qing used his tongue to file his teeth. Returning tooth for tooth, Chen Lin bit through his lip. Like a dogfight, each got a mouthful of blood. Then each retreated, one trying to catch his breath, the other tilting his head and spitting out bloody saliva. 

Chen Lin looked at him. “I’ve only just now realized that you rather suit my tastes.” 

Su Qing said, “Ugh.” 

A smile flickered and vanished on Chen Lin’s face. Then he pulled Su Qing up and headed out in long strides. Su Qing stumbled a few steps after him, realized that Chen Lin really wasn’t planning to do anything to him, and couldn’t resist asking, “Aren’t you…worried about your base?” 

“I am,” Chen Lin said without looking back. “I’m worried the RZ Unit won’t be able to catch them all in one fell swoop.” 

As he spoke, Chen Lin let go of Su Qing and let him walk by himself. He wasn’t worried that he wouldn’t follow. He said softly, “This is an enormous system. I told you, ‘energy’ is at its heart. Another step forward, it’s likely to do with an energy source. An energy source is an issue that can incite a war between two countries. It’s not as simple as you imagine.” 

Su Qing’s reaction was direct: “You mean there’s more than one base?” 

Chen Lin looked at him. He neither nodded nor shook his head, only said, “Even if you knew, you still wouldn’t have the power to attend to it. Asking is only creating needless worry for yourself.” 

Su Qing frowned. “It’s not creating needless worry. I’m up for the slaughter.” 

Chen Lin said, “In fact, we all live on a mountain surrounded by clouds and mist. The mist is just too heavy, so they can’t see what’s hanging above them, so they think they’re living at the mountain’s peak…” 

Hearing this, Su Qing knew he was getting pretentious again. 

He heard Chen Lin continue: “But if you see it, what can you do? Apart from knowing that you’re an ant, apart from suffering even more, what else is there?” 

This man full of perplexity and suffering was for once speaking at length from the heart, but sadly the person walking behind him could only think of picking up a club and taking a swing at the back of his head… So you see that people’s mental outlooks are always different. 

Chen Lin took Su Qing back to the rooftop from before. Su Qing suspected he had accurately decided that the RZ Unit’s attention was all on the base, with none to spare for him, so he had gone out to forage. For the second time, Chen Lin connected the line to Su Qing and laughed bitterly. “You know, during ‘hunts,’ I establish a particular kind of connection with little greys. Since we collect emotions that appear in pairs, and I’m more sensitive to emotion than an ordinary blue seal, in that moment, I even feel as though…our brain waves are joined together.” 

Su Qing couldn’t suppress a bit of a tremor. He wasn’t scared of death, but he was scared of this—this might turn him into a lunatic. So Chen Lin’s slightly sentimental sighings appeared more and more repulsive in his eyes.

Chen Lin sighed. “This gives me a mistaken feeling, as though only this one person can enter my world. As though we rely on each other for survival. Especially because Type 2 Grey Seals are rare, and I’m likely to only have one little grey at a time. You know…I could even believe that I genuinely care for you.” 

He looked up at Su Qing, the deep-rooted chill in his eyes receding a little, revealing a trace of frail sincerity. But his listener didn’t appreciate the kindness. 

Su Qing said, “…Fuck!” 

Chen Lin began to laugh silently and connected himself to the instrument’s other end. “But whether it’s a mistake or reality, I still have to use you to get energy for a second time.” 

…even though up to this point, there was no precedent for a Type 2 Grey Seal surviving a second feast—generally, before their energy crystal exploded, they would die from the powerful invasion of external emotions. Sadness was an emotion with an infectiousness that was truly too harmful. 

“Do you know why that is?” Chen Lin asked. 

Su Qing’s lips were white. He was desperately keeping himself from displaying any fear. Gnashing his teeth, he said, “Because you’re an asshole!” 

“That’s right,” Chen Lin said. Then he pressed the button. “Who said otherwise?” 

There seemed to be something invisible and untouchable in the air that pressed on him like a landslide. This time Su Qing’s reaction was even more violent than the last. 

“You’ve let everyone down. You shouldn’t exist. Your birth was a mistake…” 

“No one will remember you. Your birth was obscure and your death will be without glory. You accumulated merit in your last life, and in this life you came back to this world, wasted twenty years’ worth of feed, and you’re going ignorantly to your death leaving nothing behind.” 

“Even if you survive, you have no future. What can you do? Who cares what you do? Who will notice whether you succeed or fail?” 

“You want to save others, but you can’t even save yourself. You’ve never accomplished anything. When did you start thinking of yourself as a hero? Don’t be so arrogant. If you’re a hero, then the streets are full of Ultramen. Who can you save? Who will thank you?” 

Su Qing couldn’t stand it any longer. He began to scream. The blocking device inside him self-destructed at once. The computer Lu Qingbai had linked up remotely to the blocking device crashed on the spot. Hu Bugui’s furious shout was already coming from the other end: “What’s going on? Didn’t you say that the blocking device…” 

“The blocking device isn’t all-powerful.” Lu Qingbai was a little frantic, choking as soon as he opened his mouth. “Everyone’s circumstances are different, their reactions to each feast are different. Some people have increasingly violent reactions, and others become increasingly numb. Anyway, the blocking device can only ward off a part of the harm. If the technology existed to ward it off entirely, do you think the blue seals would be so stupid? With their high level of technology, wouldn’t they have such a thing for themselves so they wouldn’t need cleaning?” 

Hu Bugui’s eyes were red. “So now, he…” 

“What are you asking me for? The blocking device broke, and they’re thousands of fucking miles away from me. Who do you think I am? Sun Wukong?” Lu Qingbai was raving mad, going around and around in circles like a donkey pulling a millstone, yanking at his hair as he grumbled on. “How could he have such a big reaction the second time, how could it be such a big reaction… Shit, you just kissed the man, and now you don’t care whether he lives or dies.  When Lao Bao beheaded Chen Shimei, why didn’t he save some for you, too¹?”  

But Hu Bugui was silent. After a moment, he took a deep breath and forced his voice very low. He said, “All divisions…continue to operate according to the original plan.”