When you don’t recognize a character, the obvious possibility is that it’s an uncommon one. That gave them a perfectly good direction to search.
Zheng Xiao Yu quickly dug out the case file Fang Huan Xing had mentioned.
Everyone crowded around to look. The fusion-disease patient’s name was Miao Chang.
“…”
Those characters weren’t even that obscure!
Zhou Jia Ying teased, “Xiao Xing, did you have a weak subject in school or something? Did you neglect Chinese class?”
Fang Huan Xing straightened a teetering stack of files and didn’t answer.
“Then how’s your English?” Zhou Jia Ying rolled her office chair over and switched on the electronic display in the team leader’s office. “The Anomalous Case Department works both domestically and internationally, so there are a lot of English case files in the system. We can use translation tools, but sometimes you need to check the originals quickly.”
This time Fang Huan Xing answered. “I’m learning English.”
Shang Lu knew Fang Huan Xing had a reading problem, and a compulsive one at that, but he hadn’t expected him to have trouble recognizing ordinary Chinese characters. Fang Huan Xing’s records were classified. Judging by his appearance, Shang Lu had assumed he had attended high school, but now even he was starting to doubt it.
Fang Lan’s adopted son. An experimental subject.
Could Fang Huan Xing have spent all his time cooperating with the Earthcore Research Institute on research, leaving no time for school?
No. Shang Lu remembered that he had once visited the Earthcore Research Institute in person. Every facility there had been extremely humane. Even the chimpanzees had a kindergarten.
So what was going on?
Still, Fang Huan Xing really did seem to be learning English. Back in Xueping, when he had gotten hold of Shang Lu’s identification, the first thing he did was stare at the unfamiliar English words.
Shang Lu suppressed his doubts and decided to ask the kid privately later. First things first. “Diva, put the file on the screen.”
“Displayed,” Diva’s voice said. “I’ve enlarged the font. I know you’re not presbyopic yet. I enlarged it because Zheng Xiao Yu can’t see clearly.”
Shang Lu was sitting far away, yet his gaze instantly locked onto Zheng Xiao Yu retreating toward the corner. “You still haven’t gotten new glasses?”
Zheng Xiao Yu had already been scolded by Shang Lu for not being able to see the screen during their last meeting. He answered weakly, “I haven’t had time.”
He hated this. Diva not only had a venomous tongue, she was also a tattletale. Last time he had tried to get her to help write an investigation log, she had refused and then reported him; Shang Lu had asked him that very day whether he even knew how to do his job.
Damn artificial idiot!
One intern was timid and nearsighted. The other had a reading disorder and couldn’t recognize characters.
Of his three team members, only Zhou Jia Ying was reliable. Team Leader Shang was exhausted. This team was impossible to carry. “Summarize the file.”
Diva obeyed and summarized the case aloud.
The case had occurred half a year earlier. The patient, Miao Chang, had once lived in one of Fog Harbor’s official interference zones—Hua’s Fifth Interference Zone, which had only been formally sealed off this year. As many as ten residents of the area had shown symptoms of fusion disease. Miao Chang’s case had been relatively mild, and after leaving the interference zone, he remained at stage two without further deterioration.
Miao Chang’s search for the so-called Tongxiang North Road Station, along with the episode in which he became mentally disoriented and tried to kill himself by lying on train tracks, had all happened during that period.
With help from the Anomalous Case Department’s Containment Center, Miao Chang had successfully had his third hand removed and returned to normal life. Follow-up visits showed that his body structure remained stable and his fusion disease had not recurred.
Shang Lu said, “Enlarge the images, so nobody has trouble seeing them.”
Zheng Xiao Yu: “…”
Diva enlarged the images.
They were looking at attachments from the case file. As long as something related to fusion disease, the records mostly consisted of close-up images of proliferated tissue, before-and-after surgical comparisons, physical examination reports, and similar material.
Miao Chang’s condition was different from the curly-haired man’s.
The latter had been close to a high-concentration interference source and undergone positional overlap in a short period of time. The uniqueness of his reality had been destroyed extremely quickly, almost as though two realities had overlapped directly, which was why the proliferated torso had even retained the fabric of his clothes.
Miao Chang, by contrast, had lived in an interference zone for a long time and slowly grown an additional limb, making his condition more similar to Tao Ran’s.
The extra hand had grown from the right side of Miao Chang’s waist. It could grasp and grip, had full sensation and pain perception, and looked badly deformed.
Zhou Jia Ying and Zheng Xiao Yu both looked somewhat uncomfortable.
Fang Huan Xing, however, stared fixedly at the photographs as though he intended to examine every last detail.
“The two cases weren’t very far apart in time,” Shang Lu said. “But like Li Bei Shan, Miao Chang had fusion disease, and both of them mentioned places that don’t exist. There has to be a connection. Jia Ying, contact Miao Chang later and see what you can learn. Don’t tell him about Li Bei Shan. Have him start from the first time he went looking for Tongxiang North Road Station, and get as much detail as possible.”
Zhou Jia Ying said, “Okay.”
Shang Lu then said to Zheng Xiao Yu, “Go to the Containment Center and pull Miao Chang’s detailed examination records. Send the data to the Analysis Center and have it compared with Li Bei Shan’s data and the module’s.”
Zheng Xiao Yu hurriedly said, “Got it.”
Fang Huan Xing looked over, waiting for Shang Lu to give him an assignment.
Shang Lu said, “Go write the investigation logs from the last few days.”
What Fang Huan Xing received was not exactly serious work.
Anyone could see that those investigation logs were hardly urgent.
“What’s with that expression?” Shang Lu wanted to laugh. “I told you ages ago to write the investigation logs. You’re the one who forgot. If reading is difficult, I’ll make an exception and let you dictate them. If there’s anything you don’t know how to do, have Diva help.”
Zheng Xiao Yu: “?”
He was going to make a scene! What kind of blatant favoritism was this?!
The team members filed out of the office one after another.
Shang Lu stopped Zheng Xiao Yu. “You stay. I need to talk to you.”
Zheng Xiao Yu’s heart lurched. Was Team Leader Shang going to make him finish today’s work and tell him not to come back tomorrow?!
He dragged his feet until everyone else had left. Then Shang Lu told him to close the door.
Zheng Xiao Yu was one step away from swearing an oath to heaven. “Team Leader, I’ll get new glasses as soon as I get off work today, I promise! I’ll be sharper from now on. I absolutely won’t put off anything you assign me! If I don’t understand something, I’ll definitely ask more questions, and I won’t shake at crime scenes anymore—”
“Stop.”
Shang Lu pulled open a drawer, took something out, and tossed it over.
Zheng Xiao Yu caught it in a hurry and stared. It was actually a vehicle key.
The key to a very expensive vehicle!
“It’s a bike I used to ride. I had someone bring it over today. It’s in the underground garage; you’ll see it when you go down,” Shang Lu said. “Use it for transportation from now on. Wear your helmet and be careful. Once you become a permanent employee, if you get the chance, it’d still be better to move somewhere closer to the Anomalous Case Department.”
Zheng Xiao Yu was stunned. “T-Team Leader?! You’re giving me a motorcycle?”
So that was why Team Leader Shang had asked before whether he had a license!
Shang Lu said, “What are you imagining? I’m lending it to you.”
Zheng Xiao Yu was delighted and completely satisfied. “That makes more sense. I’d be happy just getting to touch a bike that expensive!” His face flushed with excitement as he scratched the back of his head. “I just heard that you’re… really rich, Team Leader, so I got the wrong idea.”
Shang Lu didn’t hide things from his own people and wasn’t modest about it either. “Even a third-generation rich kid can’t casually give away something worth several hundred thousand. Besides, technically I’m borrowing that bike myself right now.”
He had run away from home, after all.
Zheng Xiao Yu had heard about that. Respecting the boundary, he didn’t ask anything further and nodded hard. “Mm! Thank you, Team Leader. I’ll take really good care of it!”
Shang Lu added, “Oh, right. When you have time, keep an eye out and get a sense of the situation. Depending on what he needs, see if there are any study materials that would work for him—preferably things he can listen to instead of read, or even materials that are mostly pictures.”
Zheng Xiao Yu immediately knew this was for Fang Huan Xing.
Now that he had more courage and was no longer feeling inferior, he even dared ask his team leader, “So, Team Leader… what exactly is the relationship between you two? Is Fang Huan Xing really a connection hire?”
They ate together, lived together, and had both parachuted straight in.
“You can think of him that way,” Shang Lu answered. “His situation is special. Please look out for him.”
Zheng Xiao Yu instantly understood. “Got it!”
Fang Huan Xing had barely warmed his chair before Zheng Xiao Yu came back out wearing an intoxicated smile. “Our team leader is such a good person. He’s handsome, capable, and thoughtful too. No wonder people say he’s a ‘central air conditioner’—he’s warm to everyone! He really is a great man! I admire him so much!”
Elio’s Notes: “Central air conditioner” is Chinese internet slang for someone—usually a man—who is warm and attentive to everyone, sometimes with the implication that his charm is indiscriminate.
Fang Huan Xing: “…”
So… a man and a man.
Unexpectedly, Zheng Xiao Yu leaned closer again and said in a secretive, vaguely suggestive tone, “Don’t worry, Xiao Xing. Team Leader is good to all of us, and he’s even better to you. Don’t get jealous, okay?”
Fang Huan Xing didn’t like men.
In the end, Fang Huan Xing’s investigation log still required Diva to step in.
Zheng Xiao Yu passed his workstation twice, and each time the corner of his mouth twitched. As an AI, Diva was excellent at getting work done, but every time she opened her mouth she hit people exactly where it hurt. Rumor had it that the team leader had deliberately tuned her this way to encourage self-reflection and attention to detail.
How to put it… anyone who had ever dealt with Team Leader Shang’s Diva eventually developed the urge to march into her server room and yank out the plugs.
Yet she was astonishingly patient with Fang Huan Xing.
Diva said, “Yes, investigation logs really are this simple. Only interns need to learn the format. Once you’re familiar with it, you can leave the recording to me. You won’t even have to write anything yourself—just tell me what to do. Xiao Xing is so smart; you’ll definitely learn it very quickly.”
Fang Huan Xing said, “Shut up.”
The truth was, as an advanced artificial intelligence, Diva had thoughts of her own.
Nothing soft or hard worked on Fang Huan Xing, so faced with his cold indifference, she could only abandon every tactic and lay everything out honestly.
At nine that evening, several waves of coworkers had already come and gone from the main office. Even the trash-collecting robot had exhausted itself enough to recharge three times, yet Shang Lu still hadn’t left work.
Knock, knock.
Someone knocked on the office door.
Shang Lu looked up. “What is it? Hungry? Order whatever you want to eat. I’ll reimburse you.”
Fang Huan Xing said, “I want to get off work.”
Right.
They were superior and subordinate, and they were roommates.
And now Shang Lu was also his guardian.
He really did have to keep an eye on this kid. He couldn’t let Fang Huan Xing take a taxi home by himself.
Shang Lu had no choice but to say, “Give me two minutes,” but by the time he came out of his office, Fang Huan Xing had already disappeared. Shang Lu took his coat downstairs. In the parking garage, someone was leaning beside the white pickup truck, already visibly impatient.
Team Leader Shang updated his job description yet again: full-time chauffeur.
“Get in.” Shang Lu called him over. Once Fang Huan Xing was in the passenger seat, he started the truck. “Do you want to go straight home, or get something to eat? I know a noodle place nearby that’s pretty good.”
Fang Huan Xing didn’t answer the question. “Just drive.”
The truck left the Anomalous Case Department. Fang Huan Xing directed him. “Turn left.”
“Go straight at the next intersection.”
“Turn right onto the service road.”
The truck finally stopped outside a familiar clinic. It was obvious who had given Fang Huan Xing his instructions. Shang Lu caught the kid by the wrist and tugged back his sleeve. Sure enough, Shang Lu’s watch was still sitting securely on Fang Huan Xing’s wrist.
Shang Lu reached over again and turned the kid’s face toward him.
That was getting a little too intrusive.
Fang Huan Xing frowned, his stark black-and-white eyes fixed on him. “Take your hand off me.”
It was only because he didn’t have a fire axe in his hand. Otherwise, it would probably already have come down on Shang Lu.
The two of them were not actually that close. Shang Lu realized he had overstepped and released him naturally. “So you turned into a GPS, or did you become a spy?”
An Anomalous Case Department earpiece was tucked into the kid’s ear.
The entire chain of events was obvious.
Fang Huan Xing activated his recitation mode. “You have to continue your vaccination today. If you don’t, and you happen to be bitten or scratched by a dog carrying rabies, once symptoms appear—”
Shang Lu cut him off. “I never said I wasn’t getting it. Diva taught you that, didn’t she? Everyone else controls their AI; somehow yours controls you instead. How come I never see you listening to me this obediently?”
For once, Fang Huan Xing didn’t argue. He pressed his lips together, opened the truck door first, and got out.
Inside the clinic, the nurse visibly relaxed when she saw Shang Lu. “It’s so late, I was just about to call you. Rabies vaccinations have to be given on schedule; you can’t miss a single dose. I almost thought you weren’t coming.”
Shang Lu remained elegant and perfectly composed. “I never said I wasn’t coming. Sorry to trouble you.”
The nurse led them into the inner room. The moment she took out the medication and equipment, Shang Lu’s expression began to look slightly wrong.
This time, he didn’t grab the nurse or brace himself on the table.
Because Fang Huan Xing actually walked over on his own, even taking his hand out of his pocket to support Shang Lu first.
Shang Lu was incapable of thinking.
The sensation of the needle piercing his flesh was painfully distinct, accompanied by wave after wave of dizziness. He could only lean against Fang Huan Xing until the cold sweat receded and his mind fully cleared. Only then did he realize that one arm was wrapped around the teenager’s waist.
“Sorry.” Shang Lu went rigid for a moment and released him. “Thanks.”
Fang Huan Xing was even stiffer than he was.
His back was ramrod straight, his abdominal muscles tense, and all four limbs seemed to have turned to stone. It was even more dramatic than when Captain Xie and the others had hugged him at the hospital.
He hated hugs this much, yet he had taken the initiative to come over. Shang Lu could guess why.
The guy was probably trying to express gratitude.
Whether for being taken into Group Seven, being given a place to stay, or something else.
This rebellious teenager with almost no social experience was repaying him in an awkward, twisted way.
“No need,” Fang Huan Xing said stiffly, then complained, “What’s so scary about getting an injection?”
Shang Lu’s dark eyes were calm as he smiled. “Maybe I was sickly when I was little and had too many injections.”
Fang Huan Xing had no idea whether that was true.
In any case, mission accomplished.
They had barely gotten back into the truck when Zhou Jia Ying called. “Brother Lu, there’s a new development! Miao Chang and Li Bei Shan aren’t the only people who mentioned Tongxiang North Road Station. A lot of other people have talked about that place too!”
Shang Lu said, “How do you know?”
“Someone filed a report this afternoon. There’s an anomalous incident at the Tongxiang Street underground mall. Six people are trapped, and the preliminary assessment is spatial folding. The trapped people also mentioned Tongxiang North Road Station,” Zhou Jia Ying said. “Dispatch assigned the case to Group Three. They’re already at the scene. I’m heading there now.”
The two looked at each other. It seemed Fang Huan Xing would not be getting off work anytime soon.
Shang Lu immediately told Zhou Jia Ying, “We’re on our way too.”
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