Liu Daqing was a warmhearted person. Bringing Su Qing to live with him after their chance encounter was just one item on the list. He was also very honest. He had never told a lie and judged others on the basis of himself, believing that they wouldn’t lie, either. He believed everything anyone said, taking everything seriously. 

He didn’t have much money, but he was really so foolish that he frequently caught the eyes of swindlers—for example, some taxi drivers got together to gamble near their home and particularly liked to bring him in to play, then trick him out of his money using some extremely low-tech means. Later, Mrs. Liu found out and chased him through eight streets with a frying pan, nearly splitting Liu Daqing’s head open before she considered him sufficiently cautioned. 

Today, Tu Tutu was once again kept back by the teacher after school let out—because he had put a worm in a female classmate’s cup of water. By the time Su Qing had collected the whelp and brought him home, it was already near seven in the evening. He had been worried that the whole family would be waiting, but when he got home, Liu Daqing hadn’t come back yet. 

Liu Daqing’s two children were playing outside, and Mrs. Liu was waiting at the dining table. The food was already getting cold. She looked anxious, but she still welcomed Su Qing. “You’re back!” 

Su Qing took Tu Tutu firmly by the scruff of the neck and tossed him inside, determined to settle the account with him. He turned back to Mrs. Liu. “Is my big brother not back yet? Should you call him and ask where he is?” 

Mrs. Liu frowned. “I called. No one picked up. I don’t know if his phone’s run out of power or what.” 

Su Qing gave an “oh” and took no notice. After all, someone like Liu Daqing, who had neither money nor looks, saved other people the trouble of worrying about him. So he calmly turned away to deal with the defiant Tu Tutu. He righteously threatened him: “Little devil, listen carefully. If you make me go to your school and humiliate myself again, I’ll string you up and beat you, do you believe that?” 

Tu Tutu said, “Hmph! As if you’d dare!” 

Su Qing: “…” 

He really didn’t dare. This pudgy little child was soft all over. Su Qing was worried he would slip up and kill him. 

He took a deep breath and pointed at Tu Tutu’s nose, scolding: “Putting worms in a little girl’s cup, how impressive! What’s the point of bullying a little chit in your class who weighs less than twenty pounds? Why don’t you go put glue on your two-hundred-pound homeroom teacher’s chair if you’re so great?” 

Tu Tutu, confident that justice was on his side, said, “Who says I didn’t put glue on it? He just doesn’t know it was me.” 

Su Qing: “…” 

He jumped up in exasperation to grab Tu Tutu. “You fucking little whelp, when I’ve dealt with you, you won’t know how many eyes Ma-wangye¹ has…” 

Tu Tutu wasn’t about to resign himself to his fate. He began to run. Sadly, his legs were too short, and the space was too cramped. He couldn’t perform. Su Qing captured him before he had run two steps. Su Qing lifted the little devil entirely and suspended him in the air, smacking him on the butt where the flesh was thickest. 

Tu Tutu: “Wah—” 

Mrs. Liu quickly stepped in to mediate. “Hey, brother, if you have something to say to him, then say it. Why hit the child?” 

Seeing that there was someone to support him, Tu Tutu wailed even more lustily. Mrs. Liu’s two children came in from outside and craned their necks to observe the men’s singles match. 

Just as the house was turning into chaos, someone burst in breathlessly. Leaning against the door, he yelled, “Sister-in-law, your Lao Liu’s in trouble!” 

Su Qing stared. He knew this person—he had worked on the same construction site as him. His name was Xiao Yu. He was on good terms with Liu Daqing, a good fellow. 

Seeing them just standing there, Xiao Yu panted for breath, then continued: “Lao Liu got into a fight, I don’t know how. They had backup. There are lots of people, and they’re going to beat him to death!” 

Mrs. Liu’s face turned white. 

Now Su Qing had no time to match his strength against the little whelp. He tossed Tu Tutu aside and held Mrs. Liu back. “Don’t worry, sister-in-law, I’ll go take a look.” 

—In the field of fighting and brawling, Su Qing had tempered himself into an expert in the grey house. Now he thought he had ascended yet another level. 

Mrs. Liu tugged at his sleeve. The inside of her head was paste. She had no ideas. Su Qing gave Liu Daqing’s eldest son a push. “Keep watch with your mom and look after your sister.” Then he followed Xiao Yu, and they went to the place where the incident had taken place. 

They saw six or seven delinquents with bricks, steel pipes, and other such common weapons beating and kicking Liu Daqing, who was curled into a ball. The one in the lead had a head of hair like a feather duster. As he kicked Liu Daqing, he said, “That’s what you get! That’s what you get!”

Then he felt a hand fall on his shoulder. The feather duster turned his head and saw a delicate-featured young man looking at him expressionlessly. He didn’t react, only said one word: “You…” 

Somehow, there was a great change in the universe. Under the influence of gravity, he firmly embraced Mother Earth. When he opened his mouth, he dropped a spare part—a bloody front tooth. 

He howled for his mom in pain. The other delinquents exchanged looks, abandoned Liu Daqing, and slowly gathered around Su Qing. 

Su Qing’s first experience of feeling like a “superhuman” was granted by the favor of these gentlemen—only in a real fight would his significantly increased reaction speed, strength, and sensitivity be thoroughly reflected. It was very…addictive. 

When he found that he could send a person flying with a single kick, he gave a yell like Bruce Lee, making Xiao Yu and Da Liu stare at him, dumbstruck. 

Sadly, the extras fighting him weren’t very pleased with their roles. They quickly threw in the towel and quit, leaving behind a classic “just you wait” and heading for the hills.  

The breath caught in Su Qing’s chest from Tu Tutu’s antics was at last released. He felt relaxed and alert. 

Then he worked out how the fight had come about, and he was frustrated once more—Liu Daqing explained that he had run into an old fortune-telling old immortal and had a long chat that he felt was very inspiring for his life. As money was about to change hands, that feather duster had come along, wanting to knock over the old immortal’s stand and calling him an old swindler. 

Liu Daqing’s personal worship for the old immortal had yet to recede. He had gotten worked up and stepped forward on the “old immortal”’s behalf. 

Everyone knew what happened next. 

“So where’s the old immortal?” Xiao Yu asked. 

Liu Daqing only then came around. He looked every which way. “Huh? He was just here, why is he gone?” 

Xiao Yu and Su Qing exchanged a look. They were both speechless. That breath Su Qing had managed to let out stuck once more. The two of them pressed Liu Daqing between them and went back and forth delivering a reeducation. Just then, Su Qing suddenly heard a faint click, like some instrument’s mechanism being triggered. 

He stopped in his tracks and realized that there was someone behind him. Instantly, for some reason, he had an indescribable feeling, and all the hair on the back of his neck stood on end. 

Liu Daqing and Xiao Yu both stopped along with him in confusion. Su Qing forced a smile towards them. “I suddenly remembered the foreman telling me to help him out in private with something. You guys go on. Daqing-ge, tell my sister-in-law when you get home not to wait on me to eat. Have a good talk with her, don’t make her worry.” 

Liu Daqing and Xiao Yu didn’t doubt him. They turned and left. But Su Qing brought out his fastest speed, quickly chasing in the opposite direction. He had faith that as long as this wasn’t a blue seal, the average person would find it very hard to duck his speed. 

Then, turning a corner, he saw a tramp in filthy clothes with a little stick in his hand, rifling through a garbage bin. Hearing someone coming, the tramp only calmly looked up and glanced at Su Qing, then lowered his head and slowly searched through the garbage for his food. 

Su Qing stopped in his tracks and looked this person up and down suspiciously. He watched the tramp get half a loaf of bread out of the garbage, hold it in his hand, then give him another blank look. Then, dragging his feet, he slowly walked away, as though he had nothing to do with anything. 

In a flash, Su Qing suddenly remembered that ever since he had gradually found under Hu Bugui’s guidance that he could faintly feel the emotional changes of people around him, his sense of other people’s presence had become more and more acute. Even if someone could move as silently as Jiang Lan, he could still sense through their emotions that there was someone nearby. 

But this grubby tramp had almost no sense of presence. Su Qing’s heart jumped. He blocked the tramp’s way. “Wait a minute.” 

Just then, a weird expression flickered over the tramp’s face. Before Su Qing’s body could react, he was automatically falling backwards. Then his keen hearing caught the sound of a bullet being ejected from a gun with a silencer. 

The “tramp” had pulled a gun out of his coat, which was so dirty you couldn’t tell its original color. In the cramped alley, he shot at Su Qing three times in a row. 

Su Qing was a good student, but he had just started getting accustomed to his body. And this place was really a little too narrow. There was a sharp pain in his leg, and he fell to his knees. 

But the “tramp” wielding the deadly weapon seemed even more panicked than he was. Not caring whether he hit anything, he shot three times, then turned and ran. The blood from Su Qing’s leg quickly soaked his pant leg. He desperately tried to prop himself up on the wall and stand—I can’t let him get away, he thought, I can’t let him…

He stared fixedly at the “tramp,” his mind a blank apart from this one thought—Su Qing knew that though the RZ Unit’s people were discreetly making inquiries about him, they certainly wouldn’t shoot at him. This person was…

Suddenly, the fleeing “tramp” inexplicably fell to the ground. Then he began to convulse. Under Su Qing’s stunned gaze, he stopped moving after a moment. Su Qing raised himself with a great deal of effort. Dragging one foot on the ground, he shuffled over to look. This man was dead. 

He stared blankly for a long moment, then turned the body over and opened its coat. He saw that this person was wearing a perfectly ordinary shirt; in a very unobtrusive place on the collar the word “Utopia” was embroidered. 

Su Qing searched him and found a palm-sized instrument on him. He tinkered with it for a while and found that this was a surveillance monitor containing a recording of him fighting the delinquents. 

Su Qing’s palms were ice-cold. He didn’t think about this man’s bizarre death again. He only thought of one thing—for some reason, this organization was pursuing him, and, like a virus, they were everywhere, forcing their way through every crack. 

Time to take the little devil and leave, Su Qing thought.