It was easy to find Kou Tong. Huang Jinchen tore a photo off the wall of Kou Tong’s bedroom, put it in his wallet, went to a nearby bustling area with bars and other places to go cruising, then asked everyone in turn. 

Their circumstances were very complicated now. Huang Jinchen was certain that though Kou Tong had gone out to relieve his worries, he still wouldn’t dare to go far. 

To make this process easier, he also adjusted his expression while looking at the screen of his phone, making himself look as pained and hard-pressed as possible. He complained tearfully to everyone he met, “My fellow and I had a fight today, and to get back at me, he ran out in a fit of pique to get a bit of this and that, I’m very miserable now, very disturbed… Don’t pay attention to how clever he looks, he’s actually not quite right in the head, if he got kidnapped and sold, he’d even help them count the money! What will happen if he gets taken advantage of? Ahhh, I’m so worried.” 

He went through three streets. Practically everyone knew that there was such an “overaged feeble-minded child” who had gone missing, and his so-and-so not only wasn’t shunning him, he was totally infatuated, persistently looking for him, going around with a photograph asking everywhere. 

It must be that good things come to those who work hard…or perhaps that the lowly are unmatched? 

By coincidence, a bartender remembered this person and gave Huang Jinchen a very hesitant glance, because from what he had seen, this fellow was not only not especially feeble-minded, he was very skilled in seduction. At a glance, he had picked out the best-looking person in the bar and acted decisively, succeeded smoothly and relentlessly, then left.

Huang Jinchen sighed gloomily. “It’s all the fault of TV dramas. But it’s one thing for others to imitate them—how can he also imitate them?” 

The bartender saw the light somewhat. 

Huang Jinchen wiped the corners of his eyes, where there were no tears. He lowered his head, and very melancholically said, “What do I do? His brain isn’t very good, and he’s attractive. There will definitely be people bullying him and taking advantage of him!” 

The bartender expressed deep sympathy. 

Then Huang Jinchen, on the verge of tears, looked up. “Can you tell me which places nearby you can rent rooms at?” 

Ten minutes later, carrying a small piece of paper and a detailed map, Huang Jinchen walked out in self-satisfaction. Another fifteen minutes after that, he found the location of his target. 

Kou Tong was single, well-off, and attractive. He was very relaxing and pleasant to be around. Simply put, he was a very charming adult man. Adding in his unconventional loafer’s habits, you could practically predict that this person’s private life wasn’t especially restrained. Now moreover it seemed that he was an omnivore, making no distinction between men and women. 

Huang Jinchen had always thought that there were some people of the sort you couldn’t resist taking a second look at when you passed them in the crowd, but the vast majority of them, if you were to compare them to things, were like jewel-bedecked ornaments, like gold chains the width of a thumb and diamond rings the size of a pigeon’s egg. 

They were eye-catching. Anyone would be able to see their value. But when you had worn them long enough, they would become boring. 

But some people were very concealed, like a type of low-key, understated expensive watch. Even if you wore it regularly, it would still be mostly covered by your sleeve and only occasionally glimpsed by those with a mind to see who could tell good from bad; only then could their restrained luxury be understood. 

Regardless of the rest, being with a person like this would first of all make you feel that you had excellent taste. 

Kou Tong was just such a person. 

But because Master Huang was very narcissistic, he took for granted that not just anyone would have his taste and vision, would understand how to appreciate an elegant work of art. So many mediocre people—even if they met the highest quality product the mortal world had to offer, it would be like a cow chewing peonies—pure waste. 

Given this understanding, at the thought that right now Kou Tong was perhaps very indiscriminately having a one-night stand in some little hotel with a person picked up from who knew where, the self-professed subway entertainer and folk artist Huang Jinchen felt awful. 

He simply wished to grow wings and fly up to block any conduct that obstructed his appreciation of beauty. 

When Huang Jinchen found Kou Tong, Kou Tong was wearing practically nothing but a wide-open long-sleeved shirt. Through the gap in the curtains, his slim but powerful-looking waist was visible, as well as his half-revealed legs, looking even more slender and straight. From the standpoint of flirtation and provocation, he looked perfectly methodical, extremely sexy. 

The appearance of the youth under him couldn’t be seen, but his yells made a listener break out in gooseflesh. Huang Jinchen frowned, feeling that he could be said to have come in time. This scene truly was too sickening. To describe Master Huang’s feelings, it was like a lover of calligraphy seeing an authentic Wang Xizhi¹ put on a bench and sat on. 

…Though it seemed that this authentic work was doing it of his own free will, Huang Jinchen still felt that this was a real fucking eyesore. 

So he made a very dramatic entrance. Like a trapeze artist, clinging to the wall, he broke the window of Kou Tong’s third-floor hotel room with a kick, then simply raised the curtains and went in, his movements and conduct extremely aggressive and obvious. Breathing from the diaphragm, he yelled, “Caught in the act!” 

The follow-up to this doesn’t bear speaking of, because in doing this thing, Master Huang…truly was too despicable. 

At any rate, twenty minutes later, the youth was gone. Kou Tong came out of the bathroom dripping cold water, casually wrapped in a bathrobe, the smile as universally appealing as cash gone from his face. He was giving off an air of “I’m in a very bad mood,” fiercely eviscerating Huang Jinchen with a gaze that looked as if he was beholding a class enemy. 

He plopped down into a chair, crossed one leg over the other, lit a cigarette that may have been pre- or post-coital, then tersely said, “Say whatever you have to say!” 

Huang Jinchen looked him over. After a while, he leaned forward, put his elbows on his knees, laced his fingers together and propped his chin on them, and very solemnly said, “Kou Tong, I want to say something to you. No matter what happens, a person ought to have self-respect. A person with self-respect, whether he’s feeling aimless or worried, can’t be knocked down. With enough time, everything will pass. I think you must see the sense in that.” 

Kou Tong stared at him dumbfounded, even forgetting to put his cigarette in his mouth. He seemed hardly to dare believe that proper speech like this could come out Huang Jinchen’s mouth! 

 Huang Jinchen smiled. In the dim, suggestive lighting, his features seemed deeper than usual. “A person’s life is very long—here, give me one, too—and sometimes there’s stress. For example, when you might not see the light of day tomorrow. When you go to sleep every night, you hear the slightest sound of a door outside and feel nervous and immediately start awake, clutching the gun under your pillow, as if you can’t live without it. 

“You change places every day so no one will find you.” Huang Jinchen breathed out a mouthful of smoke. His whole face was hidden behind the smoke, and his somewhat cold-looking eyes had warmed considerably. He softly said, “Actually, in a game, each person can’t only be a killer. There’s no one who can avoid getting involved forever and remain in control of the whole plot. When killing others, you have to prepare to be killed by others. It’s a painful way to live.” 

Through the smoke, Kou Tong looked carefully at his expression. According to his professional expertise, he judged that Huang Jinchen was speaking nine parts falsehood and one part truth. So he didn’t respond, only sat there waiting to see how he would go on. 

Huang Jinchen continued deeply: “But I think that if a person has to spend his whole life that way, that’s too miserable, isn’t it?” 

Kou Tong nodded cooperatively. 

Taking advantage of the opening, Huang Jinchen said, “So in a person’s life, he has to live among beauty. There are many things that can be kept back in the endless passage of time, clung to and appreciated, for example, a piece of music, a landscape, a painting, or…” 

He stood up, stubbed his cigarette out against the wall in total disregard for public spiritedness, and put his hands on the armrests of the chair Kou Tong was sitting on. Through the somewhat long hair half-covering Kou Tong’s forehead, he looked into his eyes and said like a noble lover, “…a person.” 

Kou Tong raised his head and looked at him. He stood his ground, heartlessly thinking, Fuck, I just played this trick myself, is retribution in this life really so fast?

Huang Jinchen kept looking into his eyes. He stopped in midair for two seconds, calculating—when you had seen the flower, it would be too much of a pity not to pick it. So he continued lowering his head and very provokingly kissed Kou Tong’s slightly smoke-flavored lips. 

Kou Tong didn’t dodge, feeling that the taste was all right. Because his nightlife interests had been disturbed by Huang Jinchen, he began to rapidly consider whether to take him to account. He weighed the merits and demerits for a while. When Huang Jinchen’s poorly-behaved tongue was making its way into his mouth, Kou Tong came to a decision—forget it. 

He put a hand on Huang Jinchen’s firm chest and uncompromisingly pushed him away. 

“Sorry, I have a principle.” The principled Dr. Kou righteously said, “The rabbit doesn’t eat next to its warren.” 

Huang Jinchen: “…” 

Kou Tong yawned, stood up, and got under the covers with absolutely no sense of crisis. He instructed, “It’s too late tonight. I’m not going home to sleep. Leave money to fix the window before you go.” 

Huang Jinchen got a stack of bills out of his pocket and put them under an ashtray without so much as looking at them. Watching Kou Tong lie on his side and get ready to go to sleep with no sense of danger, he suddenly remembered what had recently happened in this very same bed and found that he was hard! 

It seemed that that aggressive yet elegant and leisurely half-naked rear view could stimulate a man’s desire for conquest to the greatest extent. Huang Jinchen couldn’t resist imagining…what would it be like if he switched positions?

“I’ve put the money on the table.” Huang Jinchen felt that his voice was a little dry, so he licked his lips. “Requesting to warm your bed!” 

Kou Tong opened his eyes and glanced at him. He visually estimated the width of the bed and decisively said, “Nope, I kick in my sleep.” 

“All right, go ahead and kick!” Huang Jinchen pounced shamelessly, hugging Kou Tong through the covers and rubbing against them. “Just one night. We can squeeze in.” 

Kou Tong wrestled a hand out of the covers and tried to push him by the shoulder. Huang Jinchen brazenly refused to budge, holding his wrist and clinging. 

Just then, Huang Jinchen’s fingers slid up. He suddenly felt a spot on Kou Tong’s forearm that was…uneven. So he casually rolled up Kou Tong’s sleeve. Kou Tong, who had been pushing him as though playing around, suddenly sat up in bed and threw Huang Jinchen off. 

Huang Jinchen’s arm had been thrown against the nightstand, but he was a little dumbfounded. 

Though it had only been the blink of an eye, he had still seen the criss-crossed scars on Kou Tong’s arm. No wonder he kept his shirt on even when going to bed with someone. 

“You…” He spat out this word, then automatically shut up, because he had seen that Kou Tong’s face was frighteningly pale. 

The two of them were awkwardly silent. Just then, the whole bed abruptly began to shake. Kou Tong nearly rolled off. Huang Jinchen scooped him up, but in the end the two of them fell to the ground together. The lightbulbs and fluorescent lamps exploded at once. The room went black. Then the whole room began to shake fiercely. There were screams all around. 

“What’s going on?” Huang Jinchen asked loudly. “Is the space unstable again?” 

The glass over their heads suddenly broke. Huang Jinchen bent down, drew his neck back, and held Kou Tong down with half his body, amounting to covertly protecting him. He covered his head. 

There were countless crisp sounds of shattering. Many things burst. It was as if there was some invisible wave in the air, exploding things one after another. 

“It’s not unstable. I’ve seen this once before.” Kou Tong held down Huang Jinchen’s shoulder. “Stand up, let’s jump out the window.” 

The two of them jumped out of the window one after another. The whole block was affected by the explosions. The people covering their heads and fleeing weren’t in the minority. 

“It’s a chain collapse caused by the projection’s conscious subject planning to kill themselves,” Kou Tong said quickly. He let the crowd of people like headless flies pass. “It’s one of the people who got pulled in with us.” 

He raised his head, looked all around, then found a beam of light rising to the sky in the northwest. He pulled at Huang Jinchen. “Over there!” 

“Chief, what are we going to do?” Junior Master Huang humbly asked for instruction. 

“Prepare for a crisis intervention.”