A clinic somewhere in Xueping.
The wound on Shang Lu’s arm had been cleaned and treated, then closed with seven or eight stitches. It looked fairly gruesome. What no one had expected was that the formidable, ever-composed Team Leader Shang was actually afraid of needles. The moment the doctor brought one out, his face went pale and he could barely stay seated.
Fang Huan Xing stood several steps away, working on his third hamburger—something Shang Lu had just asked the police to buy. Thoughtfully, he had also asked them to pick up a cheap secondhand phone and transferred his SIM card into it.
The nurse beside him asked with concern, “Team Leader Shang, are you all right? Do you need a minute?”
Shang Lu turned his face away. “Keep going. I’m fine.”
The nurse said painfully, “Then could you please loosen your grip? You’re about to break my arm.”
Shang Lu let go. “…Sorry.”
Fang Huan Xing ate while reading every word of the posters pasted across the clinic walls. Seeing this, he looked puzzled, studied Shang Lu’s pale face, then withdrew the evil hand he had been reaching toward a fourth hamburger and reluctantly performed one act of kindness.
Shang Lu finally survived the stitches. The doctor covered the wound with gauze and a waterproof dressing and warned him that it might leave a scar. Shang Lu didn’t care about that, but then the doctor added, “Once you get back home, don’t forget to get your rabies shots on schedule.” Shang Lu’s vision went dark all over again.
After finally recovering, the starving Shang Lu at last escaped the terror of needles and managed to stand and walk under his own power. He picked up the paper bag from the white-bearded old man’s place and looked inside.
There was only one pitiful little box of fries left.
“Fang Huan Xing.”
Shang Lu’s teeth itched.
“Is your stomach a black hole?”
Fang Huan Xing had held back for a long time, but in the end he really couldn’t help himself. Shang Lu had only himself to blame for moving so slowly. Fang Huan Xing blinked, quickly stuffed the rest of the hamburger into his mouth until both cheeks bulged, then calmly went back to reading the posters as though nothing had happened.
Shang Lu: “…”
Who was going to steal it from you?! How many times has this happened already?!
As a mature adult, Shang Lu could only refrain from arguing with an ungrateful kid. He reluctantly chewed a couple of fries, then took several sips from the Coke Fang Huan Xing hadn’t finished.
For some reason, Shang Lu kept getting the feeling that the kid had been looking at him like he wanted to knife him the entire way.
It was already afternoon. The sky remained gray and overcast, but the rain had stopped. Order had long since returned to the streets, though small groups of people were still lingering around with enormous cameras and telephoto lenses, photographing the mirage that remained suspended along the skyline.
Shang Lu found a small hotel near the clinic and rented a room by the hour. A filthy young man walked in with an equally filthy teenager, the latter wearing a backpack and looking every bit like a student. The young woman at the front desk’s mouth twitched.
The little hotel wasn’t anything special. Perhaps because the two of them were so dirty, the staff actually charged them an extra fifty yuan “cleaning fee.”
Fang Huan Xing looked as though he had never stayed anywhere outside before, silently studying everything around him.
Shang Lu used his phone to arrange a delivery in advance, buying two changes of clothes from a fast-fashion shop. Then he told Fang Huan Xing to shower first while he began answering the phone calls that had been ringing nonstop.
When he turned around, Fang Huan Xing was already taking off his shoes.
The teenager had absolutely no sense of propriety. He didn’t seem to care that someone else was in the room, nor had he considered that the curtains were still open. Standing in the hallway between the bathroom and bedroom, he kicked both shoes aside, grabbed the hem of his pajama top with both hands, and started pulling it upward.
Shang Lu clicked his tongue. Still talking on the phone, he casually walked over and pulled the curtains shut.
Only then did Fang Huan Xing seem to understand something. He lowered his hands and went into the bathroom to undress. A few seconds later, one hand reached out from inside, grabbed the backpack that had been sitting on the floor, and dragged it into the bathroom too.
Shang Lu: “…”
The call concerned new progress in an old case, and one of Shang Lu’s team members was reporting the details. The moment he hung up, a call from a superior came through. This time, it was his direct superior, Chen Ting Zhao, Director of Hua’s Department of Anomalous Incident Control.
“Xiao Shang, did you get him?” Director Chen asked. “I heard from the Xueping police that there was a shootout this morning. Are you two all right?”
The anesthetic in Shang Lu’s arm had already worn off and the wound was hurting again, but he answered carelessly, “We’re fine.”
“When are you coming back?”
“An hour at most before we set off. I’m about to contact a rental agency. The Department’s pickup is gone, so you’ll have to authorize another vehicle for me.”
“A wrecked car is nothing. As long as you’re safe, that’s what matters,” Director Chen said. “I’ll approve a replacement as soon as you get back. I couldn’t hand a confidential assignment like this to anyone else. You worked hard this time. The old lady called this morning and was terribly worried about you. I think you should take a few days off—”
“No need for leave,” Shang Lu said. “If you really care about me, recruit a few more people for my team.”
Inside the bathroom, Fang Huan Xing listened to the conversation outside as he turned on the shower. His clothes were so filthy that even he didn’t want to touch them. The short, soft fabric that was usually comfortable to wear had become heavy after being soaked through with water. The moment he took off his pants, dirty water immediately streamed across the floor.
He stripped off the pajamas in disgust. Something fell from his hood and landed on the tiled floor.
It was a small, flat, round tag attached to a hook.
Fang Huan Xing picked it up.
Engraved on it were the words:
MY DAD IS RICH
199XXXX1536
What was this?
He flipped the tag over. On the other side was the ugly face of a dog, black and wrinkled, with a dark, long tongue hanging out.
Fang Huan Xing had seen things like this on the dogs belonging to old men by the roadside.
A dog tag.
And a tracker.
Steam filled the bathroom.
Half an hour later, the teenager flung open the door in a bathrobe, looking ready to kill someone. His pale face was full of murderous intent—
then became slightly bewildered.
The sharp and capable Team Leader Shang from the Anomalous Case Department was currently sitting on the hotel floor with his back against the wall. He had neither dirtied the snow-white bedsheets nor contaminated the hotel sofa. He was simply sitting there with one leg bent, fast asleep. His injured arm rested across his knee, and the secondhand phone he had just bought was still loosely held in his hand.
Shang Lu looked exhausted. There were dark circles under his eyes, and the bridge of his nose cast a shadow across his profile. He was sleeping deeply.
Even the sound of Fang Huan Xing coming out of the bathroom hadn’t woken him.
How could anyone sleep when someone else was in the room?
Fang Huan Xing couldn’t understand it.
The first thing he saw was Shang Lu’s gun on the coffee table. Fang Huan Xing knew very well that it had no bullets.
Then he looked at the few remaining fries, the empty Coke cup, and the beer inside the transparent mini-fridge beside the bed. The beer came in glass bottles. If one were smashed, it would make a perfectly serviceable weapon.
Only then did his gaze slowly move toward the tightly closed door.
Fang Huan Xing stood there for a full two minutes before someone knocked.
“Hello, delivery!”
The door opened. The delivery driver smiled brightly. “Here are the things you just ordered.”
“Oh.”
The teenager took the large bag, then shut the door with a bang.
The delivery driver jumped. A chill ran across the back of his neck, and he hurried away as fast as he could.
The delivery had cost Fang Huan Xing his chance to slip away.
The moment he turned around with the bag, Shang Lu had already woken up. “The stuff’s here?”
The kid looked displeased. “Yeah.”
Team Leader Shang was thorough when he handled things. Besides buying clean clothes and shoes, he had even thought of Fang Huan Xing’s backpack and bought him another one in the same color.
Fang Huan Xing was secretive while transferring his belongings. Shang Lu deliberately refrained from looking. He only saw Fang Huan Xing finish packing everything very quickly, remove the button badge, and carefully pin it onto the new backpack.
Finally, Shang Lu saw him fiddle with something while facing away, then stand and toss an object into the trash.
Now Shang Lu was curious. He gave the bin what looked like a casual glance.
It was an old-fashioned candy-bar phone with physical buttons. It looked intact, but it had apparently been soaked in water and no longer worked.
It was genuinely surprising for a teenager nowadays not to use a smartphone. It wasn’t even a matter of cost. Old-fashioned phones like that were difficult to buy anymore, and even basic non-smartphones were generally newly manufactured models for elderly users.
There was no telling where the kid had dug up such a retro relic.
Once both of them had washed and changed, they made another trip to a supermarket outside the hotel. This time, Team Leader Shang bought a huge pile of food and hurriedly stuffed some into his own stomach before the kid could finish it all.
By the time they were ready, the rental car had arrived.
This time it was a black sedan with decent performance.
After inspecting it, Shang Lu patted the roof. “Well? It’s not exactly a luxury car, but at least it isn’t the slipper car you hated so much. Satisfied this time?”
Fang Huan Xing had no idea what he was talking about. He opened the rear passenger door and started to get in.
Shang Lu blocked him and shut it again, raising an eyebrow. “What are you thinking? Anyone with a history of running away gets the front seat, thanks.”
Fang Huan Xing walked around the car and climbed into the front passenger seat instead, slamming the door hard to express his dissatisfaction at being supervised.
The moment Shang Lu got in, Fang Huan Xing held something up between two fingers and let it swing back and forth. “Was this dog tag yours?”
Shang Lu pretended not to understand. “What dog tag?”
Of course he had planted it.
Fortunately, he had thought ahead. The kid had obviously seemed unreliable, so back at the apartment, when Fang Huan Xing returned Shang Lu’s gun, Shang Lu had taken the opportunity to tug him closer and slip a dog tag into the ready-made hood of his pajamas.
Bought online.
High-precision positioning.
Error margin: less than ten meters.
Fang Huan Xing raised his hand to throw it out the window.
“Wait—”
Shang Lu caught his arm to stop him. His grip was already secure—
and then suddenly closed on empty air again.
Fang Huan Xing’s hand flickered into an afterimage and reappeared in its previous position. In the same motion, he reversed the hold and restrained Shang Lu instead. “Was it you?”
Shang Lu said nothing. It wasn’t exactly something to be proud of.
He was a team leader, after all. If word got out, where would he put his dignity?
Fang Huan Xing’s eyes were stark black and white. His face remained almost expressionless, yet somehow he looked unmistakably furious. “You put a tracker on me.”
Shang Lu changed the subject. “You’re not even pretending anymore, are you?”
Fang Huan Xing: “?”
Shang Lu took the dog tag back. “Yes, I know your secret. Aren’t you afraid I’ll tell someone?”
“When did you put it there?”
Shang Lu started the engine and stepped on the accelerator. “So how does it work? I’ve met people who developed so-called ‘superpowers’ because of interference, but none of them were like you. You don’t have fusion disease, yet you can call on limbs that don’t exist. Sometimes you can even return a limb—or your entire body—to a position it occupied before, just like you did now.”
Fang Huan Xing said coldly, “The last person who put a tracker on me is already dead.”
“Was it connected to the Earthcore Research Institute?” Shang Lu asked. “I’ve heard they researched some projects in legal gray areas. How many people know about your ability?”
“I want to get out.”
Shang Lu actually hit the brakes.
Both of them pitched forward from the inertia.
Fang Huan Xing became furious.
But Shang Lu did not unlock the doors. Instead, he dragged the bag of snacks from the back seat and dropped it into Fang Huan Xing’s lap. “See if there’s anything you like. I didn’t buy toast. That’s way too nutritionally one-note for a kid. I’ll drive faster and see if I can get you back in time for a proper hotpot meal.”
With a dark expression, Fang Huan Xing rummaged through the snack bag and chose a packet of chocolate.
He kept eating.
He finished it in a few bites, searched again, and pulled out snowflake crisps, dried mango…
So he likes sweets.
Such a kid. Isn’t he afraid of cavities?
Keeping his eyes on the road, Shang Lu drove onto the expressway.
By evening, the road lights had come on.
The distant skyline of Fog Harbor finally appeared. The prosperous coastal metropolis came into view, a place Fang Huan Xing had never visited before.
Not just Fog Harbor.
He had never set foot in any city in the world.
The teenager gazed out the window in a daze, his thoughts drifting far away.
The sedan merged into traffic, crossed the sea bridge, and wound its way through Fog Harbor’s complicated road network.
A white trapezoidal complex with irregular geometric lines rose ahead, cold and imposing.
It was the Hua headquarters of the Department of Anomalous Incident Control.
Fang Huan Xing sat up straighter, staring fixedly ahead as his back unconsciously tensed.
As Shang Lu drove toward one of the entrances and leaned out for facial recognition, he suddenly said, “The dog tag is mine. I have a dog. His name is San Tiao.”
Fang Huan Xing continued staring ahead. His voice was slightly dry. “You play mahjong.”
“No, I don’t play mahjong.” Shang Lu laughed. “He’s called San Tiao because he only has three legs. I keep him at the Department. He’s adorable. I’ll take you to see him later.”
Elio’s Notes: “San Tiao” (三条) is also the name of the Three Bamboo tile in mahjong, while 三条腿 means “three legs.” Fang Huan Xing hears the name and assumes it is a mahjong reference, while Shang Lu actually named his three-legged dog after the pun.
Ugly as hell, Fang Huan Xing thought.
The car entered the parking lot. Several people were standing not far away.
One of them was Director Chen Ting Zhao. Shang Lu hadn’t expected him to be waiting in person.
Shang Lu also recognized the elderly man beside Director Chen: Xu Bo, a renowned astrophysicist from the Academy of Sciences.
The reception was far more serious than he had expected. Shang Lu instinctively felt that something was complicated here. After parking, he first tried to reassure the person in the passenger seat, who had already bristled like an angry cat. “Don’t be afraid. Wait here for me.”
Who’s afraid?
Fang Huan Xing ignored him, but he didn’t get out of the car either. He hugged his backpack tightly against his chest, arms locked around it.
His gaze looked ready to bore straight through everyone standing opposite him.
Shang Lu got out and spoke to the group for a few minutes. When he returned, he asked Fang Huan Xing to lower the window. “Kid, sorry. I’ll have to take you for hotpot another day.”
“Why?”
The teenager had scrubbed himself clean and was wearing a blue crewneck sweatshirt. His skin was very pale, and the coldness and uncertainty in his eyes were both painfully obvious.
Shang Lu felt a little sorry for him, but he knew that for a teenager with nowhere else to go, this was already a good outcome.
“See that old man with the glasses?” Shang Lu said. “That’s Dr. Xu. He was your mother’s mentor. You should know that what you’re carrying in your backpack is meant to be handed over to him.”
Fang Huan Xing did not deny it.
Shang Lu continued, “Dr. Fang Lan called him before the incident and entrusted you to his care.”
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