“Level-one lockdown of the surrounding area! Seal every piece of evidence!”
“Move the entire hospital bed out. Careful, don’t touch the cellular residue on it. Preserve as much DNA as possible!”
“Careful, careful, careful...”
“Senior,” Chen Miao asked in a worried undertone, “are you all right?”
Headlights flashed across the wilderness. Vehicles from the Shenhai City Supervision Office and nearby Supervision Offices had all arrived. Staff in white uniforms hurried back and forth, and the scene was boiling with voices.
The Class A serum could sustain his physical condition for forty minutes at most. By now, its effects had completely worn off. Shen Zhuo’s face was slightly pale, which only made his eyes and brows seem darker and sharper. He shook his head, signaling that he was fine.
“Senior, I’m saying you really shouldn’t fight anymore.” Seeing that no one nearby was paying attention, Chen Miao could not help leaning in anxiously. “That project wasn’t even fully developed. Who knows when the side effects might suddenly flare up? What if—”
Shen Zhuo raised a hand and cut him off, signaling that he did not need to continue. Without another word, he ducked into the command vehicle.
The door slammed shut, cutting off all the noise and prying eyes outside. The compartment was dim and quiet.
Shen Zhuo let out a hoarse breath and unbuttoned his shirt one button at a time.
Across his lean, flat abdomen, the vicious knife wound from the elevated bridge a few days ago had begun to seep blood again before it had even healed. Even breathing made him feel as if his organs were being torn at from within, a dull pain tugging through him.
That was normal. After all, the serum could not make a person truly evolve. Once its effects vanished, the pain and injuries would naturally come back with interest.
One hand pressed over his abdomen, Shen Zhuo half-reclined against the seat. He had just turned slightly, trying to find a position that hurt a little less, when a strong hand suddenly reached over from behind him and covered the back of his hand directly.
In the next instant, warm, soothing healing power passed through his hand and enveloped the damaged area inside his abdomen.
Shen Zhuo turned his head, and his lips nearly brushed Bai Sheng’s jaw.
“I was wondering why you’d snuck into the car alone. Then I came in and saw you already stripping.” Bai Sheng was half-kneeling beside the seat, looking down at Shen Zhuo from very close in the dimness. His voice was low and magnetic, yet the moment he opened his mouth, it carried that familiar teasing smile. “We’re already so close. When you need something, you should come find me right away. Acting this distant really breaks my heart.”
Their hands were pressed together over Shen Zhuo’s abdomen. Shen Zhuo tried to pull the back of his hand out from under Bai Sheng’s palm, but it would not budge at all. He could only tilt his head back slightly. “I have a question.”
Bai Sheng immediately said, “I do.”
“...Since you have a medical ability, why don’t you heal yourself?”
Bai Sheng’s fingers were extraordinarily long. When his palm spread fully open, it could nearly cover Shen Zhuo’s waist. Even in visibility this poor, the dried blood on his fingertips could still be seen. His nails were already cracked from tearing open the spatial coffin bare-handed.
Spatial ability was a firmly established rare, strong Class A ability. In other words, the fact that Bai Sheng could break the coffin with his bare hands was already terrifyingly impressive. If it had been one of those noncombat weak S-Classes overseas today, they probably would have been in serious trouble.
“Oh, that.” Bai Sheng glanced over his own hand, then explained with perfect courtesy, “Because I am a noble man, a pure man, a man of unimpeachable moral character. My medical ability specializes in benefiting others and never myself. In short, it’s relatively weak and only works on other people. It has never taken effect on me, which fully proves my essential nature of serving the people.”
The person called “the people,” Shen Zhuo, fell silent for a moment. “...Next time, you can just say your medical ability didn’t evolve completely.”
“It’s not like I’m a dedicated healer.” Bai Sheng laughed and asked, “What about you, Supervisor?”
“What?”
“How did you get your ability?”
Their breathing was clearly audible to each other. In the dimness, the distant headlights could be seen reflected in both their eyes.
With one of them kneeling and the other lying back, half of Bai Sheng’s body was almost loosely pressing over Shen Zhuo. Although Bai Sheng was smiling, Shen Zhuo knew that if an S-Class wanted to make a move, the distance between exerting force and ending everything was only a single flicker of thought.
“...A serum from the Central Research Institute back then. By injecting active meteorite extracts and combining them with human cells, it catalyzed different levels of ability. Even ordinary humans could temporarily use an ability for a few minutes.” Shen Zhuo looked away and said coldly, “But the side effect was that it placed an enormous burden on the human body, so development was halted soon after. I only have a few doses in my possession, as a self-rescue measure for emergencies.”
“Wait, wait.” Bai Sheng immediately heard the illogic in that. “Ordinary human genes won’t evolve even if they come into contact with a meteorite. How could injecting meteorite extract let them use an ability? That makes no sense.”
Shen Zhuo answered offhandedly, “That involves the way evolutionary interferons bind with chromosomes and epigenetic modification of genes. It’s extremely complicated. I can’t explain it to you in a few minutes.”
“...”
The last time Bai Sheng had opened a biology textbook had been before the college entrance exam. For a moment he was half convinced and half suspicious. After a while, his eyes narrowed doubtfully. “...This serum really is made from meteorite extract?”
“What, do you want me to dig the confidential files out of my office drawer and show you?” Shen Zhuo gave him a mocking smile. “Sure. As long as you can understand them. Once we’re back, I’ll start tutoring you from senior-year high school biology. Optimistically, you should be able to understand the first page of the serum development project proposal before you turn forty. Good luck. I believe in you.”
Bai Sheng: “...”
Shen Zhuo was someone who was not obvious on first contact, but after a few encounters, one would discover that he possessed an utterly reckless brand of venomous, cutting speech. More wonderfully, most people were only vicious downward and not upward. He, however, carried out dimensional suppression against everyone equally. It did not matter whether the other party was wealthy enough to rival nations or powerful enough to shake the sky. In his eyes, they were all treated exactly the same.
Unless one had grown up surrounded by countless people fawning over, pleasing, and even adoring him, it would be impossible to develop such an arrogant disregard for everyone.
Bai Sheng’s teeth itched. Looking down from above, he studied Shen Zhuo’s cold face. The distant lights traced the corners of his eyes like fine-line ink painting, darkening and fading like a crow’s wing carving a curve across snow.
In that instant, Su Jiqiao’s sigh rang in Bai Sheng’s ears again: “If we hadn’t been fortunate enough to evolve, people like us might never have had the qualifications to say a single word to Senior Shen in this lifetime...”
It was as if something gently struck Bai Sheng’s heart, knocking loose a feeling he could not describe—slightly tingling, yet carrying a sourness underneath.
I’m really asking for it, he thought.
Everyone likes gentle, considerate, understanding little green-tea types, but I just think this person who won’t even bother acknowledging me is impossibly beautiful. And I still rush to stick myself to him. Am I really missing something in my five elements?
“...Fine. You promised to show me those files later.” Bai Sheng gave a faint laugh through his nose, his expression perfectly normal. With a casual motion, he patted Shen Zhuo’s side. “Back to the point. I advise you to stop hiding things. That Mr. Rong keeps sending people after you again and again. Maybe it has something to do with this serum. You’d better come clean with me as soon as possible—”
A phone suddenly rang. It was Yue Yang.
A subtle look flickered through Shen Zhuo’s eyes. He made a gesture at Bai Sheng to be quiet, then held the phone without answering.
The call disconnected naturally. Immediately afterward, it rang again. He still did not answer.
“Why are you—”
Shen Zhuo raised one finger, signaling for him to stay out of it.
Only when the ringtone sounded urgently for the third time, with messages popping up one after another as the phone kept ringing until it was about to hang up, did Shen Zhuo leisurely press the answer button and stingily offer one word:
“Hello?”
Yue Yang’s rapid-fire questioning came from the other end. “Why didn’t you answer just now? I saw the system report a level-one alert in the Shenhai suburbs. How are your injuries? Where are you now? Are you safe?”
“...” Bai Sheng was amazed. Now this is a real eye-opener.
After so many years of mental torment, Chief Yue still hasn’t gone insane. That level of endurance is truly beyond ordinary people. I wonder if he dug up Shen Zhuo’s ancestral grave in the central district back then.
Shen Zhuo stood, waved at Bai Sheng, gave a perfunctory expression of thanks, then opened the door and strode out of the vehicle. Even from far away, Bai Sheng could still hear Yue Yang’s heavy, urgent voice coming through the phone:
“I just called Chen Miao. He said you handled it yourself. Why didn’t you notify the central district directly for support—”
“It’s already handled.” Shen Zhuo stepped through the wild grass and mud, walking toward a spot not far away from the crowd. He stood in the deep-night wilderness, the corner of his mouth curving with unclear meaning. “Thanks to Mr. Bai’s help. It was resolved very smoothly.”
The other end of the phone immediately fell silent. Shen Zhuo almost waited with interest for the other man’s reaction.
“...” Only after a long while did Yue Yang speak. Aside from a slight dryness, his voice had already covered every emotion beneath cold self-control. “That’s good. Please thank Mr. Bai for his righteous assistance.”
As if he had not heard the complicated taste in Yue Yang’s words at all, Shen Zhuo changed the subject as if nothing had happened. “I have something to ask you.”
“What is it?”
“Have you heard the name Rong Qi before?”
Yue Yang frowned. “Never. Why?”
Shen Zhuo said, “Three years ago, on May 10—the night before the Qinghai test site explosion—Fu Chen and Su Jiqiao left the central district and went to Quanshan County Health Center to meet a patient named Rong Qi. You didn’t know about this?”
Given Fu Chen’s status back then, there would definitely have been records if he left the central district. Yue Yang thought back for several seconds, then said hesitantly, “I really don’t remember. Maybe they were carrying out official business? I’ll probably have to retrieve the mission files from three years ago.”
“Then go retrieve them. Find a way to look into Rong Qi’s identity records and family relationships.” Shen Zhuo paused, then said flatly, “This is very important to me.”
He lowered his head, preparing to end the call. Yue Yang must have sensed it, because he blurted out in haste, “—Shen Zhuo!”
Shen Zhuo’s movement stopped.
The other end of the call quieted. Only Yue Yang’s uneven breathing could be heard. Several times, he seemed to want to say something, only to swallow it back. After a long while, he finally said impulsively:
“Shen Zhuo, I’ve actually always—”
The noise from the distant scene drifted away on the night wind, turning into a faint background.
After a moment, Yue Yang spoke again. One could hear that he had barely forced himself to change the subject at the last second. “...I wanted to ask you something. Didn’t you say last time that you were going to expel that Bai Sheng from Shenhai...”
“What?” Shen Zhuo laughed softly. The warm breath by his lips almost seemed to brush past Yue Yang’s ear. “Do you want to show concern for me again on behalf of your dead brother, Chief Yue?”
In an instant, Yue Yang went rigid. For a long time, he could not say a single word.
“Bai Sheng is Shenhai’s person now. As long as I don’t drive him away, he’ll stay in Shenhai. As for when to expel him, or whether he should still be expelled at all...” Shen Zhuo glanced back at the command vehicle in the distance and said lazily, “I alone have the final say.”
“...I understand.” Only after a long time did Yue Yang’s low, hoarse voice come from the other end of the phone. “I’ll look into Fu Chen and Su Jiqiao’s departure records for May 10 three years ago.”
Shen Zhuo directly ended the call.
The night over the wasteland was vast. Above him, the starry sky stretched boundlessly, the Milky Way crossing the heavens and flowing toward the unknown universe.
Shen Zhuo stood there quietly without moving, his back to the distant, brightly lit scene, looking into the endless darkness ahead like a long river. No one was around in the wilderness. No one could see the expression on the Chief Supervisor of Shenhai City’s face at that moment. Only after a long time did he let out a long breath and close his eyes without a sound.
The wind swept across great swaths of wild grass, the rustling like a tide rising in the dead of night, carrying scattered, distant memories with it until they flooded every inch of his senses.
—The Qinghai test site explosion.
No one knew the omens before the upheaval. Every sinister clue had been blasted into ash by the explosion, leaving only strange glimmers that occasionally flashed from the depths of time.
...
“Isn’t Brother Fu being way too attentive to our Director Shen? Running around him every day, drawing blood whenever he’s told?”
“No helping it. Without serum from those high-ranking evolutionists, the HRG Plan probably won’t even complete the first stage of data simulation...”
Whispers came on the wind, then howled away again.
The laboratory was orderly. Researchers hurried in and out. Fu Chen lay on his back in a chair, exposing a strong arm as arterial blood flowed through the tubing toward the centrifuge.
“Director Shen.” An assistant came over quickly, voice light and tense. “We can’t draw any more. It’s already one thousand cc. If we keep going, something will happen!”
Twenty-six-year-old Shen Zhuo stood with both hands in the pockets of his white medical coat. His features were beautiful, like ink spilled across snow-white paper, and there was an innate coldness and detachment in his expression.
Fu Chen’s face had already begun to pale. As if sensing something, he turned his head from the recliner.
—At that exact same moment, a smile suddenly appeared on Shen Zhuo’s cold face. He looked encouragingly at Fu Chen, the curve of his lips perfect, his eyes filled with warmth. Even the assistant beside him stared blankly.
“He’s S-Class. He won’t die that easily.” Judging by Shen Zhuo’s expression alone, no one would have imagined how ruthless his tone was. “Keep drawing.”
Beep-beep-beep—
The blood-pressure alarm rang out urgently. The laboratory immediately fell into commotion, and researchers stood one after another.
“No, we can’t draw any more!”
“Stop! Stop!”
Someone trotted over with glucose. “Thank you, Chief Fu, thank you. You’ve really worked hard...”
Shen Zhuo seemed somewhat regretful, but he did not show it. He stepped forward quickly and supported Fu Chen, frowning in concern. “Are you all right?”
Fu Chen’s entire arm was cold. He let out a hoarse breath, then suddenly reached out and scooped Shen Zhuo up.
The world spun. Shen Zhuo was pressed into the recliner. Fu Chen looked down at him with a smile. “What good does it do you if you draw me to death, hm?”
Shen Zhuo braced one hand against him and staggered to his feet.
“Drink this glucose and rest for a while.” As if he had heard nothing, Shen Zhuo straightened his front, his expression normal. “I’ll see you out.”
“...No, Director Shen is way too ruthless.”
“One thousand cc...”
Only after Shen Zhuo personally escorted Fu Chen out of the laboratory and their figures had gone far away did the researchers dare to voice their stunned remarks.
The early-summer sky was full of stars, and the chirping of night insects sounded by their feet. The faint fragrance of locust blossoms came on the wind from afar, passed through the tree-lined path, and vanished into the depths of the night.
Their shadows stretched beneath the streetlamps. Fu Chen smiled and asked, “How have you been lately?”
Shen Zhuo was clearly the sort of person who threw people away after using them. Now that he had obtained the serum, he was too lazy to bother with expressions, and he could not even be bothered to exchange a few pleasantries. “The first stage of theoretical simulation calculations has successfully concluded. Next, we’ll begin small-scale product development. But at present, this serum still can’t free itself from requiring large amounts of evolutionist serum, so the key is keeping it confidential. To the United Nations Security Council and the International Supervision General Administration, we still have to say we’re tackling critical problems, with little hope of success.”
Fu Chen nodded. He frowned as if wanting to speak, then hesitated. After a long while, he still could not help asking:
“But how did I hear that the project’s progress has recently been leaked again?”
Shen Zhuo breathed out and said nothing.
Fu Chen had already gotten the answer from his silence. “Repeated leaks. Did a mole get into the institute?”
“Intelligence has carried out three carpet searches and still can’t find the mole.” Shen Zhuo said flatly, “Too many people have their eyes on the HRG Plan. The Security Council hopes it succeeds. The International Supervision General Administration hopes it fails. Every faction’s agents are tangled together, all watching this laboratory...”
“Shen Zhuo.” Fu Chen abruptly stopped and looked at him, stressing each word. “If this continues, you’re going to die!”
Shen Zhuo did not answer.
“No one wants a Sword of Damocles hanging over their head. Once the secret that the serum theory has succeeded leaks, they’ll try every possible way to stop the HRG Plan from continuing. They may even kill without hesitation. Every minute and every second, you’ll be living under the threat of assassination. Do you understand?”
“...”
“Have you thought about this? The Human Regeneration Plan may be realized one day, but you might not live to see that day.”
The Milky Way stretched endlessly across the night sky, distant stars rotating on their ancient tracks. Shen Zhuo looked up at them, hands in the pockets of his white medical coat. After a long time, he suddenly asked, “Do you think peace can exist between humans and evolutionists?”
Fu Chen froze.
“No.” Shen Zhuo gave his own answer. “There is only peace under nuclear deterrence. Without the atomic bomb, there is no peace.”
“There are seven billion ordinary humans on this planet. In the eyes of evolutionists, they’re no different from seven billion ants. One ant must stand up and become the deterrent. That is the most crucial meaning of the HRG Plan.”
Shen Zhuo’s natural volume was not high, and he did not speak quickly. His build was not powerful; on the contrary, he was somewhat slender. But when he stood there, he often gave people the feeling that even if raging wind and wild waves came straight at him, he could still move against the current alone.
“...I understand.”
Fu Chen gazed at him. After a long while, he let out a long sigh and said quietly, “Since you’ve already made your decision, then no matter what happens, I’ll do everything in my power to protect you. I absolutely won’t let you die.”
Shen Zhuo glanced at him without giving any response, then lifted his foot and walked forward.
Following the small path filled with the scent of flowers at night, they walked out through the school gate. Not far away, under the streetlamp, a Central Supervision Office official car had already been waiting for a long time.
“Right.” Fu Chen did not immediately walk toward his own official car. Instead, he stopped and looked at Shen Zhuo, hesitating. Only after a long while did he laugh once. “We’re leaving for the Qinghai test site next week. It’s your first time going out on a mission. Did you pack everything you need?”
Shen Zhuo gave a noncommittal sound. “Why?”
“...” Fu Chen seemed not to know how to begin. After a moment, he still could not help coughing once. “There’s something.”
Shen Zhuo raised his brow.
Fu Chen took a deep breath and finally made up his mind. “Look, we’ve known each other for so long, and you know what the higher-ups mean. After we come back from Qinghai this time, could you just go ahead and—”
Beep-beep!
A car suddenly honked not far away. Then the window rolled down, revealing Su Jiqiao’s smiling, crescent-eyed face. He pointed at his watch and called out with a bright laugh, “—It’s ten o’clock! Hasn’t the institute closed the gates yet?”
Fu Chen stiffened.
He seemed not to have expected that Su Jiqiao was sitting in the car. A trace of unnaturalness flashed through his eyes, but it was only a fleeting detail.
Shen Zhuo quietly took half a step back. “Go on, Chief Fu. I’m heading back to the lab.”
“...Ah, you’re going back?” Fu Chen hesitated where he stood, clearly reluctant. After taking two steps, he could not help turning back to remind him, “Then I’ll talk to you after we come back from Qinghai. Remember.”
Shen Zhuo did not answer. His gaze shifted lightly past Fu Chen’s shoulder. Su Jiqiao, who had always been gentle and kind, with a warm, approachable smile and wide popularity since their school days, was now staring motionlessly at him. His gaze was dark and straight, and deep in his eyes seemed to be something indescribable.
But Shen Zhuo had always treated Su Jiqiao as if he did not exist. He turned and walked back along the path he had come from.
Even after he had walked very far, he could still feel the other man’s gaze fixed on his back, cold and chilling, following him like a shadow.
...
That was the last brief interlude before fate turned.
Several days later, Fu Chen and Su Jiqiao mysteriously appeared at a remote township health center and met Rong Qi, who at the time was still lying unconscious on a hospital bed, skeletal and wasted. No one knew what they had gone there to do.
Only twenty-four hours after that, the Qinghai test site exploded. Fu Chen’s body was obliterated, and Su Jiqiao suffered a severe brain injury that left him in a vegetative state.
Shen Zhuo survived a private torture interrogation by sheer luck, was then expelled from the Central Research Institute, and the Human Regeneration Plan was forced to stall.
When Shen Zhuo, newly appointed as one of the world’s ten permanent Supervisors, arrived in Shenhai City, evolutionists dreaded him, feared him, hated him through gritted teeth. They maliciously discussed that rarely beautiful face and all manner of bloody, filthy speculations. But no one knew the exact details of what had happened on that deep early-summer night before fate changed.
Shen Zhuo exhaled hoarsely, pressed hard against the scar on the back of his left hand, and opened his eyes.
“Supervisor.” At that moment, rustling footsteps sounded behind him. A Supervision Office officer was stepping quickly through the withered grass and came over to report quietly. “The scene has been sealed off. The wire hospital bed that may still contain DNA has also been loaded into the vehicle according to biochemical-weapon standards. Do you have any other instructions?”
“...”
The Chief Supervisor of Shenhai City stood in the vast night. From behind, his expression could not be seen. Only after a long while did the officer hear him ask, “What about Liu Sanji?”
“He still has one breath left. He’s been escorted into the ambulance. Brother Bai asked whether we can head back now.”
Shen Zhuo repeated, “Brother Bai?”
The officer almost bit his own tongue. “I mean—Mr. Bai... Bai...”
Shen Zhuo gave a soft scoff, finally turned around, and walked toward the brightly lit scene in the distance.
“Go back and find the Witch of Italdo. Have her use her medical ability.” He said flatly, “Your Brother Bai hurt his hand a little.”