Lightning split the lead-gray clouds. The air was filled with the salty, fishy smell that came before the rainy season.
The little boy crouched under a tree in the garden, his small, snow-white face expressionless, his black eyes motionless as he quietly watched ants form a long line and crawl toward higher ground.
“...Six years old and still can’t talk...”
“With such a high-IQ family, how did their youngest son turn out to be mentally disabled...”
People’s whispers drifted over from afar, then vanished at the end of the corridor. The little boy reacted as if he were deaf, until a young man’s voice sounded above and behind him.
“What are you doing?”
The little boy turned around.
Behind him stood a man in his early twenties, tall, with black hair. His face had very obvious mixed features, sharp and severe, and his pupils were a rare gray-green, like the sky brewing a storm at that very moment. His gaze fell on the little boy’s hand.
A honey candy had melted in the little palm. He was holding the candy against the ground near the ant nest, and some of the ants that had just crawled out changed course, moving in groups toward his hand.
“...Slow,” the little boy forced out one word.
His thoughts were too vast. At his age, his language system simply could not keep up. After a long while, he turned and pointed at the slope of earth not far away, stumbling through a few words. “Behind... rain... melted, molecular heat, diffusion...”
“You’re trying to say the worker ants in the back won’t make it to high ground before the rain falls, so you melted the honey candy to accelerate molecular thermal motion, thereby increasing the molecular diffusion rate and attracting more ants into your hand so you can carry them to the slope?”
The little boy nodded hard. The man’s face, looking down from above, was reflected in his black pupils.
“The olfactory sensory neurons inside an ant’s antennae rank among the highest-functioning in nature, and the nerve endings of their odor receptors come into contact with glomerular clusters. In other words, increasing the molecular diffusion rate is not very useful for attracting ants. Also.”
The man bent down, seized the little boy’s hand, and flung it. The melted honey candy flew into the grass between the dirt slopes.
“You gave the ants too much honey.” His voice was stern. “They won’t thank you. They’ll only get stuck and die in the sugar, idiot.”
Bean-sized raindrops came pelting down. The ant colony that had not yet migrated was scattered at once.
The little boy was at a loss. He tried to scoop up the soil, but there was no time. He tried to grab the ants, but they immediately bit his palm. In the chaos, he crushed several ants to death before the man seized his arm and dragged him back beneath the corridor.
The whole world was drowned beneath gray-white curtains of rain. No one knew that an ant colony had fallen apart there, disappearing completely in the blink of an eye.
The little boy’s eyes widened. Moisture gathered in their terrified depths.
“Ants in this world have their own path of evolution. Interfering with natural selection out of ignorant kindness is doomed to be a mantis trying to stop a chariot. Do you not even understand something that simple?”
“...”
The man looked down at the child with folded arms, not hiding his helplessness or impatience. After a long while, he exhaled and murmured, “Forget it.”
That softness and sentimentality must be additional symptoms brought on by low intelligence.
“Go back to the secure level,” he ordered. “The experiment has reached a critical stage. Don’t come out and interfere with other people.”
Splash—
The underground secure level was vast and quiet. The sound of running water was especially clear.
The little boy stood on a stool in the bathroom and washed his hands, as if he had long since grown used to this quiet and loneliness. Then he suddenly saw a moving black dot on the inside of his wrist and widened his eyes.
It was a tiny ant.
A light that could almost be called joy burst from the little boy’s eyes. Carefully, he pinched up the ant, put it inside a transparent glass cup, then ran into the bedroom and quickly searched out a piece of candy. He placed it carefully into the cup and lay there, watching the ant extend its feelers toward the candy.
A tiny, insignificant miracle of life.
The little boy smiled. In the mirror, his small face was brimming with happiness as he murmured to himself, “All... all of us... are... ants...”
He gave up and closed his mouth, as if he had no intention of making things difficult for his language-organizing function anymore. Then he jumped down from the stool and ran out of the bathroom with quick, thudding steps, leaving behind only an excited little back.
You and I are both ants in this world. There is no essential difference between us. Who is to say evolution cannot have a path of peace?
The little boy did not look back, so he did not see the figure in the mirror behind him freeze without moving.
After a long while, it slowly withdrew its smile and straightened. Its face gradually became very strange. Its pitch-black eyes stared fixedly in the direction the little boy had left. After a long time, its mouth split open in a smile, revealing white, chilling teeth.
“Shen Zhuo...”
It rasped with great interest, as if after so many years on this Earth, it had finally tasted something quite special and very interesting from this young observation subject.
“Shen. Zhuo—”
Boom!
Lightning lit the hospital-room window stark white. Then thunder crashed through the night sky, shaking the earth.
The next moment, the life monitor began beeping rapidly. A nurse shot to her feet. “The patient is conscious. Report to the Supervision Office, now!”
On the hospital bed, Shen Zhuo’s face was pale and haggard. Slowly, he opened his eyes.
“Wait,” a low male voice came from the corner of the room.
The two nurses unexpectedly stopped. In the armchair against the wall, Bai Sheng wore a black T-shirt and training pants, his long legs crossed. He was casually playing with a small metal object in his hand. “You two can go rest. Thank you for your hard work. No need to call anyone over.”
“But...”
“Go.”
The nurses hesitated badly, but this was a hospital dedicated to evolutionists. No one dared disobey an S-Class’s will. Lower-class members of the same kind submitted almost by instinct.
The two nurses exchanged a glance and looked toward the pale, motionless profile on the hospital bed. In the end, they retreated uneasily.
The door clicked shut. In the dim hospital room, only two people remained, one sitting and one lying down.
The night was like a boundless ocean. Heavy rain hammered the glass window, yet the air under the dim bedside lamp was quiet and stagnant. Shen Zhuo’s mind was hazy and blurred. After a long while, he said softly, almost as if talking in his sleep, “...I think I had a dream...”
Bai Sheng asked, “What dream?”
“It was raining. The mud in the garden was wet. I’d become very small. There was someone with gray-green eyes...”
Memory was like a fish flicking through light and shadow. In an instant, a clue appeared, then vanished without a trace.
“...I don’t remember the rest.” Shen Zhuo murmured, “So many years ago... I forgot all of it.”
He closed his eyes. A moment later, he opened them again, seeming slightly more awake. “Why are you here?”
“Why am I here?” Bai Sheng said with a smile, standing and stretching lazily.
He was like a lion slowly rising to its feet. The powerful lines of his muscles were all hidden in shadow, radiating an oppressive sense of casual suffocation. With one hand, he easily pressed Shen Zhuo, who was just about to get up, back onto the hospital bed.
“You were unconscious for six hours, and the outside world is already turning upside down. Chen Miao and the others were scattered by me to every jurisdiction for emergency stabilization. The fastest they can get back is half an hour.”
“A lot can happen in half an hour. Besides, in your current physical condition, learning obedience and cooperation would be better for you.”
Bai Sheng finally lifted the small object he had been playing with the whole time in front of Shen Zhuo. It was the syringe he had picked up from the scene. The metal tube was branded with the letter S.
“The so-called Human Regeneration Plan, HRG Plan for short, refers to this serum that can make an ordinary human temporarily possess an ability after injection. I guessed right, didn’t I?”
“...” Shen Zhuo stared blankly at the syringe and said nothing.
“Not talking?” Bai Sheng looked down at him gently. “Then I’ll talk.”
“When you were abducted at Quanshan County Health Center, you injected a Class A serum. The serum’s source was related to Zhang Wenyong. The evidence is that after evolving, you temporarily possessed Zhang Wenyong’s weather-control ability. The lightning you brought down against Noda Shunsuke came from that.”
“As for this serum that raised you to S-Class, it should be related to Fu Chen. Although your physical condition isn’t enough to display an S-Class’s full combat power, it was enough for you to use the upright and inverted crosses. That’s why, after Fu Chen died, rumors claimed you possessed part of his ability.”
Outside the window, wind and rain raged. Inside the room, the atmosphere seemed frozen solid.
“I had someone test it.” Bai Sheng bent down and looked at Shen Zhuo from close range. “This serum contains evolutionist serum. Am I right, Supervisor Shen?”
The two of them were very close. Bai Sheng had one hand around Shen Zhuo’s throat, his thumb rubbing over the skin of his neck with neither light nor heavy pressure.
Under the dim yellow light, it even gave the false impression of warmth and harmlessness.
“...Answer me one question.”
Shen Zhuo finally spoke slowly. Every faint tremor of each syllable in his throat pressed directly against the web of Bai Sheng’s hand.
“Do you think peace can exist between humans and evolutionists?”
Bai Sheng narrowed his eyes and stared at him. After a moment, he said, “I think true peace has never existed in human history, but that doesn’t stop us from holding on to hope. What exactly are you trying to say?”
The corner of Shen Zhuo’s pale mouth curved slightly, though only for an instant.
“Peace exists in only two circumstances. One is on top of piled flesh and blood. The other is under extreme deterrence. That is why the HRG Plan exists.” He looked at the empty injection tube in Bai Sheng’s hand and said hoarsely, “You guessed correctly. HRG refers to this serum that allows humans to evolve temporarily... but it has a flaw.”
“It requires large amounts of evolutionist serum as a culture medium.”
“Whose serum is used determines whose ability is obtained.”
Rolling thunder exploded across the sky, like a pitch-black ocean shaking with a crash.
“...” Bai Sheng’s deep gaze glimmered faintly in the shadows. After a long while, he gave a short laugh. “Darling, you really are a beauty with a viper’s heart.”
Shen Zhuo said, “Call it whatever you like. Science does not shift according to my personal will. Now.”
Maintaining that posture of being forced to lie back, he gave the order wearily and calmly. “Let go of me and step three meters back, or I’ll give you a vicious shot.”
Something ice-cold pressed against Bai Sheng’s.
He lowered his eyes and glanced down.
It was the muzzle of a gun.
This was the Supervision Office’s special round. It was not fatal to an S-Class, but at the very least, it could leave a certain organ with pain it would never forget for the rest of its life.
After a three-second stalemate, Bai Sheng slowly raised his hands and retreated half a step.
“Not touching you from head to toe while you were unconscious really was my fault for having too high a moral standard. I guarantee it won’t happen next time.”
Shen Zhuo said mildly, “We’ll discuss next time when next time comes.”
Holding the gun, Shen Zhuo sat up. The countless wounds on his body had already been healed at any cost by the very highest-level medical abilities. Faint red scars could be seen beneath his collar, but the Chief Supervisor had no sense of fragility after waking from unconsciousness. From the gun muzzle to his voice, he was very steady. “Back up. Sit down. I will satisfy that disgusting curiosity of yours, provided you learn... obedience and cooperation.”
“...”
Bai Sheng retreated step by step back to the wall and sat in that armchair. He spread his long legs openly, not caring at all that the other man’s gun was still pointed at a vital part of him, while openly looking Shen Zhuo up and down.
“The Human Regeneration Plan was originally a research project that had already continued for thirty years. Its original intention was to optimize human genes and extend the average lifespan. Then, five years ago, one hundred thousand people worldwide underwent sudden evolution, and world peace suffered an enormous shock. To protect humans, who are as weak as ants before evolutionists, HRG changed direction under my leadership. All research was directed toward a single goal.”
Shen Zhuo said slowly, “Allowing ordinary people to obtain abilities.”
Back then, when the high-ranking ability users at the research institute heard that statement, more or less all of them had shown expressions of mockery, opposition, absurdity, and disbelief.
But Bai Sheng did not.
He rested his elbows on the armrests, laced his fingers in front of himself, and narrowed his eyes attentively.
“Three years ago, the theoretical simulation calculations achieved a breakthrough success. We developed a genetic interferon that allowed humans to temporarily obtain abilities, also called an ability-promoting drug. But because the serum’s effective duration was too short, and because it required large amounts of serum as a culture medium, I strongly advocated keeping it temporarily confidential to prevent laboratories in every country from wantonly capturing evolutionists to use as blood livestock—at least until those two flaws were resolved.”
“However, there was a mole in the research institute. Experimental progress was leaked repeatedly, especially the part concerning serum.”
Bai Sheng’s expression shifted slightly. He had anticipated what came next.
“After that, as expected, extremist evolution-protection organizations tried to stop the HRG Plan at all costs. Because of that, I encountered several waves of assassinations. By luck, I survived all of them, until the last one.”
Shen Zhuo was silent for a moment, then said, “The last one was the Qinghai test site explosion.”
Bai Sheng said nothing. Slowly, he rubbed his thumb over the web of his hand. After a long while, he asked, “Did you ever catch that mole?”
“No,” Shen Zhuo said. “Intelligence searched the research institute three times from top to bottom and has found nothing to this day.”
“...”
Bai Sheng frowned and pondered for a moment before asking, “Did you ever suspect that mole was connected to Fu Chen or Su Jiqiao?”
“Under an enticement this large, no one can escape suspicion. Anyone might want me dead. The mole could be anyone, even those senior researchers who wrote their wills before entering the project.” Shen Zhuo’s voice was calm. “But none of that matters now, because the other party already achieved their goal. After the Qinghai explosion, I was expelled from HRG. The research institute, as the only neutral and independent institution between humans and evolutionists, completely lost its research authority over HRG from then on.”
He did not mention that cruel torture or the bloody chaos of everything that had happened. But Bai Sheng noticed his left hand move unconsciously, clenching faintly in the dimness.
“After that, Nielsen saved me despite all opposition and forcibly appointed me Supervisor of Shenhai City. Because he saw the United Nations Security Council’s desire for HRG. He knew that one day I would become an important bargaining chip for him against the Security Council, allowing him to preserve his own position as director-general.”
“And sure enough, not long ago, the United Nations Security Council saw the global trend of evolutionists growing stronger and humans growing weaker. So they began secretly restarting HRG, working behind the scenes to try to buy off the senior researchers from back then. They hoped to use this serum to form a human special ability force, then go to war against evolutionists.”
Shen Zhuo laughed, with undisguised exhaustion and mockery.
“...Wait. Is this serum you’re talking about also effective on evolutionists?” Bai Sheng narrowed his eyes sharply and asked, “Otherwise, why would Rong Qi want the HRG Plan too?”
Shen Zhuo said mildly, “Yes. Congratulations, you’ve thought of the same thing as Rong Qi. Truly worthy of an evolutionist’s thought pattern.”
Bai Sheng ignored the mockery and only stared at him.
“The principle of HRG ultimately comes down to breaking through genetic ceilings. Since it can break through the human ceiling, naturally it can also break through an evolutionist’s ceiling. So in theory, as long as the large-scale dependence on serum can be resolved, it is possible to create a serum that allows evolutionists to undergo second evolution.”
At this point, Shen Zhuo curled his lip in irony. “For instance, a Class D like Liu Sanji. If Rong Qi forcibly raises him to Class A, he dies horribly from DNA double-helix breakage. But through an injection, there are basically no side effects. Imagine if all one hundred thousand evolutionists in the world injected it and leapt ranks into Class A, or even into S-Class...”
One hundred thousand S-Classes.
Bai Sheng’s little finger twitched involuntarily.
“War would break out immediately. Evolutionists would undoubtedly eliminate humans and become the masters of Earth. After another century or two, an Earth ruled by evolutionists would not even leave a trace that seven billion humans had ever existed, just as today we can only see incomplete Neanderthal skulls in museums.”
“...”
Bai Sheng sat in the armchair. Looking carefully, one would find his spine was stiff.
Shen Zhuo stared at him, his voice cold and clear as the gleam of a gun muzzle.
“Do you understand now? The so-called HRG Plan is actually the nuclear deterrence of the evolution era. The best state we can imagine is that the Security Council does not obtain it, and neither do the evolutionists. The sword of Damocles remains forever suspended in the sky by a single thread. If nuclear deterrence exists, peace exists. Seven billion ants and evolutionists coexist beneath the shadow of that giant sword.”
Outside the window, wind and rain were dark as night, the roaring thunder shaking the heavens. This hospital room, however, was like a lone boat in the storm, sailing toward the boundless sea ahead.
Shen Zhuo stood. His left hand, holding the gun, was terrifyingly steady. Step by step, he walked forward, looking down as he pressed the muzzle against Bai Sheng’s heart.
“Now tell me, S-Class.”
Shen Zhuo bent down and asked softly beside Bai Sheng’s ear, “Now that you know the true secret of the HRG Plan, do you covet its power too?”
“...”
“Will you be like that ambitious Rong Qi, deluding yourself into thinking you can grip the hilt of the sword hanging from that thread?”
In the dimness, only their overlapping breaths could be heard. Then the gun muzzle pressed against Bai Sheng’s heart clicked softly.
A round slid into the chamber.
“...”
After a long silence, Bai Sheng laughed as if a mystery that had hung over him for a very long time had finally been confirmed. There was even a trace of relief in it.
He reached out and gripped the barrel with neither light nor heavy force. “Do you remember what I said before, Chief Supervisor?”
One stood above and one sat below. There were only inches between them. Each could see his own reflection directly in the other’s pupils.
“I’ve always wanted to follow you. Ever since the first time I saw you in the newspaper back then. Because they all said that Supervisor Shen of Shenhai City was not only very good-looking, but also especially gentle and friendly. Under his jurisdiction, Shenhai City’s evolutionists had never erupted into conflict with humans. Peace had always been maintained very well.”
“When crisis came, Supervisor Shen was willing to sacrifice himself to protect the civilians within a three-thousand-meter radius. And I am willing to protect that Supervisor Shen.”
Bai Sheng lifted his other hand and gently stroked Shen Zhuo’s face, his gaze seeming to pass through Shen Zhuo’s pupils and look straight into his entire soul.
“—As long as he swears he will forever stand between humans and evolutionists. When waves crash against the dam and the human tide surges backward in retreat, if he alone holds a sword and walks against the current, I am willing to become the shield before him.”
“Can you do that, Supervisor Shen?”
Bai Sheng’s one hand could almost hold Shen Zhuo’s entire chin. His fingertips were somewhat rough as they slid boldly over Shen Zhuo’s skin, rubbing until they reached the edge of his lips.
Under the dim yellow light, the fine dust in the air seemed to freeze. After a long while, Shen Zhuo finally straightened and brushed his hand away.
“I know very clearly where I should stand, and what function I can serve alive and after death.” Shen Zhuo stared down at Bai Sheng, his voice soft and warning. “Anyone who tries to ignite the flames of war—I will find a way to kill him. You had better remember what you said today.”
Knock, knock, knock. A cautious knock sounded outside the hospital-room door.
“Supervisor, are you awake?” someone asked in a low voice. “The International Supervision General Administration called again. Director-General Nielsen is waiting online and wants to speak with you...”
“I’ll settle the account of you letting Rong Qi go when I have time.” Shen Zhuo lowered his voice coldly.
He yanked the gun barrel out of Bai Sheng’s palm and turned toward the hospital-room door.
But at that moment, a sharp gust came from behind him. Before Shen Zhuo could even turn, an irresistible force spun him around. Immediately afterward, with a bang, he was pinned against the door. Outside, the Supervision Office officer started and backed up half a step.
“S-Supervisor?”
Inside the hospital room, Shen Zhuo was pressed tightly against the door. Bai Sheng held his lower back in one hand and trapped him against himself, even forcing his knee between Shen Zhuo’s thighs. In the chaos, Shen Zhuo had no room to struggle at all. He tried to reach for his gun, only to come up empty.
The gun had already fallen into Bai Sheng’s hand as if by magic. He cleanly ejected the magazine and casually tossed it onto the bed.
“You’re leaving just like that? You still owe me an account.” Bai Sheng smiled brightly and tipped up Shen Zhuo’s chin. “Remember that slap?”
His fingers had the force of refined steel. Shen Zhuo frowned, unable to make a sound.
“That was the first time in my life anyone slapped me.” Bai Sheng lowered his head slightly, moving closer, and said softly, “I have to make you taste it too.”
The next second, an irresistible presence swept over him, gentle and careful to the extreme. Their lips and tongues tangled, then parted at once.
Bai Sheng lightly bit the corner of that cool lower lip.
Clang! Shen Zhuo abruptly exerted force and shoved Bai Sheng away. In his haste, even his elbow struck the door panel with a heavy sound.
In the dim corner, there was only rapid breathing. The two of them stood face-to-face. Shen Zhuo’s expression was simply indescribable. One hand instinctively covered the corner of his lips, and if one looked closely, his fingertips were slightly unsteady.
“...”
Bai Sheng looked as if he very much wanted to pounce again. For a few seconds, everything from his shoulder blades to his back muscles tightened dangerously to the limit. But after a moment, he forced it down with all his strength.
After a long while, his Adam’s apple slid visibly. He reached out and fastened the three open buttons on Shen Zhuo’s collar. His movements were careful and gentle. Only when he had fastened the top button did his fingertips press lightly against the side of Shen Zhuo’s neck.
“Your pulse is beating so fast, Supervisor,” he murmured with a smile in his voice.
Shen Zhuo seized his wrist and forced his hand up, making his fingertips leave the skin at the side of his neck.
“I think you haven’t been hit enough.” The Chief Supervisor of Shenhai City’s usually cool voice carried some faint, indescribable note as he reached out and patted Bai Sheng’s handsome young face, mocking softly, “Keep running your mouth like that, and I’m sure you can earn yourself a few more slaps in the future.”
He flung Bai Sheng’s hand away, turned, and opened the door himself. From the blank-faced Supervision Office officer outside, he took the satellite phone and strode away. A moment later, his steady voice came from the end of the corridor.
“Hello, Director-General. It’s me. No need to worry. It’s been handled. Just a small injury...”
The Supervision Office officer’s expression was completely blank. His gaze darted several times between Shen Zhuo’s retreating back and Bai Sheng, who stood in place looking innocent. Only then did he jump with an “ah!” and stumble after Shen Zhuo, rolling and scrambling so hard that his back looked like he was questioning his entire life.
“...”
Bai Sheng slowly withdrew his smile and leaned against the hospital-room doorway with folded arms. One hand unconsciously rubbed the artery at the side of his neck, then touched his burning-hot ear. After a long while, he clicked his tongue.
“What are you so shy for?” he muttered resentfully, staring down the empty corridor.
“...Mine was clearly beating way faster.”