He smiled like a suspicious stranger bearing gifts. Su Qing quailed inwardly and subconsciously wanted to touch his neck, but he held out with all his might.
After speaking, Chen Lin turned silently and went into the kitchen—Su Qing had never thought that there would be human food in the house of the rarefied Lord Chen. Then he saw Chen Lin take bags of bread and milk out of the fridge. He put them on the table and said, "I haven't been back in a long time. There's nothing but beer in the fridge. You can make do with eating this."
Su Qing tore open the bag of bread and carefully pinched a supposed "slice" with his nails. The thing had been there for who knew how long. It was hard as a rock and raining crumbs. So Su Qing automatically turned over the bag of milk and checked the manufacturing date. As expected, it was expired. Looking carefully, it was a Sanlu product, too1.
Chen Lin meanwhile took off his coat and walked half-immobilized into the bedroom with his shoulder dripping blood. He got out a first-aid kit, sat on the couch, and began to take care of his wound.
After a day of being tossed around, Su Qing was so hungry his front was sticking to his back. He thought that his teeth were still in good condition, so he sat there and began to crunch on this prodigious bread jerky. After nibbling half a slice, his cheeks felt sour, and he stopped, surreptitiously glancing at Chen Lin while he took a break.
Chen Lin looked like a four-eyed pretty boy, but his figure was actually quite impressive. He had taken his shirt off and wiped away the blood, revealing beautiful, firm muscles. Su Qing for the first time saw a genuine article "blue seal." It was under Chen Lin's collarbone, also half-moon shaped, about the same form as a grey seal, but it wasn't bright blue at all; it looked a little dim.
Chen Lin took off his broken glasses and tossed them aside. His eyes were faintly bloodshot, making the lines of his face look hard and unfeeling. He was very uncommunicative. He took something like a pair of tweezers from the very high-tech-looking little first-aid kit and aimed at his wound. He pressed twice on the "tweezers." The thing emitted a quiet sound, and a clamp automatically popped up from the end of it, poking right in.
Su Qing bared his teeth. I hope it hurts like hell, you son of a bitch, he thought.
As though he had felt something, Chen Lin looked up at him. Su Qing quickly averted his gaze like a guilty thief and gnawed on the bread jerky like a rodent grinding its front teeth. Luckily Chen Lin had no mental energy to spare to pay attention to him. Faint cold sweat rose on his face. He let go of the "tweezers." As if it had its own consciousness, the thing stayed in his wound, automatically searching for the bullet inside.
After a moment, there was a quiet sound, and the "tweezers" fell from Chen Lin's shoulder, taking a bloody bullet with them.
Su Qing heard Chen Lin let out a long breath.
Chen Lin leaned back against the couch and closed his eyes for a while. He didn't bandage his wound. Su Qing inadvertently glanced at the wound and was so surprised that the bread jerky fell out of his mouth—the wound was closing up at a speed visible to the naked eye, the cells splitting faster than cancer cells. In less than five minutes, it had healed.
Chen Lin's blue seal became even dimmer. His wound was better, but his face looked worse. It may have been because of the lighting, but it actually seemed ashen pale.
With the bread jerky in his mouth, Su Qing opened his eyes wide and looked at him. He couldn't resist asking, "You...can heal yourself? Without stitches or bandages?"
Chen Lin raised his eyes—it was as if his eyelids were unusually heavy. He glanced at Su Qing and nodded.
Su Qing considered, then couldn't resist asking another question: "So...you can heal any damage by yourself?"
This time Chen Lin spoke. His voice was a little hoarse, and he spoke much slower that before. A little feebly, he said, "In principle, as long as there are no foreign objects in my body, I can heal anything that isn't a fatal wound."
Su Qing, struggling to ignore the unpleasant odor, gulped down the "elderly" milk, thinking, No wonder he's rich. I hear the cost of meat is rising. If you can cut off a bit and regrow it again and again like this, you could go out and sell meat. It's doing business without overhead.
Chen Lin took no more notice of him. He leaned back looking like a portrait of the deceased. The only sounds in the room were Su Qing's gnawing and the bread jerky's cracking. After around half an hour, a car honked its horn outside. Su Qing froze, but Chen Lin opened his eyes like a risen corpse and stood bolt upright. He picked up his cast-off shirt and wrapped it around himself. To Su Qing, he said, "We're going back."
Then, as though he had remembered something, he took the controller for the magnetic neckband from his pocket. Su Qing's hands shook. His heart rate leapt straight to 140. He had only one thought—it's over, he'll see through me.
Just then, Hu Bugui's voice suddenly came from the communicator: "Don't be scared."
It had been fine as long as Hu Bugui didn't make a sound. When he suddenly spoke, Su Qing, unaccustomed to having a spiritual guide, was so startled he plopped down on the ground. His rapidly beating heart gave a thump and nearly stopped beating. But Chen Lin pressed on the controller a few times, then looked back as though nothing were the matter and said to Su Qing, "Your prohibition is lifted. You can leave."
Hu Bugui's voice sounded in his ear again: "Don't be nervous. Though the magnetic neckband is broken, some of its surface functions can be imitated through the communicator and the shock ring you're wearing. We can even keep him from finding out temporarily. Our technical staff are keeping an eye on it for you."
Su Qing blankly dusted off his bottom and got up of the ground. He thought this planted agent business really was a racket. Each second was a trial for body and mind. A few more times like this and Chen Lin wouldn't have to make a move; his soul would be scared right out of his body and up to the heavens.
Chen Lin stood at the door waiting for him. His eyes fell on Su Qing. As Su Qing was about to step over the threshold, fortune smiled on his efforts. Without guidance, he made a gesture—he stopped his foot in midair, then slowly withdrew it. He grabbed the doorframe with one hand and looked out fearfully—in his understanding, someone who had suffered because of this thing would have a mental block about it.
He had something to hide and didn't dare to look directly at Chen Lin. His heart rate was rapid. He was uncertain and afraid. Like this, he really did succeed in misleading Chen Lin. The latter, showing rare patience, said, "You can leave now."
Then, leaning on the door, Su Qing totteringly extended a foot like an eighty-year-old lady. The bloodstains he had left behind were still at the door. He paused, then finally shuffled out—if you didn't know better, you would have thought he hated to leave this precious territory.
The car from the base was waiting at the gate. Su Qing was blindfolded as before. In darkness, he ignorantly changed hands several times and at last returned to the blue seals' base. The blindfold was removed. He found himself standing in front of the grey house once more.
It was already very dark, with only a sliver of light remaining on the horizon. The evening star had risen. There had been a big crowd leaving the base, but on the way back the ranks had dwindled severely. Only he and Chen Lin were left. Chen Lin didn't speak, standing with his hands behind his back, looking up at the sky at a forty-five degree angle, like an obnoxious and clueless little philosopher.
When Su Qing thought that his life was in the hands of that little philosopher, he felt that he was a heavy weight suspended in midair, his chances of survival relying entirely on the god of probability.
He was weary and exhausted, and his digestive system was sending up red lights, the hard bread jerky and expired milk sticking in his stomach. All his big and small wounds began to ache.
Su Qing looked up at the towering grey house and thought profoundly that he was truly crazy.
Just then, Hu Bugui's voice came from the false earring again. The signal wasn't very good, as though something was disrupting it. He only briefly said, "Stay calm. Don't be scared."
But how could I not be scared? Su Qing thought. I don't have your steel-plated skin that can snap teeth at one bite.
A wind gradually rose. Su Qing felt chilled. Whatever functions the little objects on him had apart from what Hu Bugui had said, Su Qing thought that Hu Bugui, like Chen Lin, could sense his unsteady mental state. After a pause, Hu Bugui added, "We're locating. It won't take long. Don't worry."
No matter what he was saying or doing, or even if he was sitting there doing absolutely nothing, this person gave off a sense dependability. Though Su Qing thought he was an infectious agent of bad luck, as he slowly got used to his voice, he still felt a little calmer. He bit his lip, clutched his hair, and scrubbed his face.
Then, Chen Lin, who hadn't moved in ages, as if he had turned into Amah Rock2, at last lowered his head, considered, and turned to say to Su Qing, "Come on. You'll come with me for now."
Su Qing stared, unable to work out what "come with me" meant. He looked at him foolishly. Chen Lin frowned. A trace of brutality appeared in the slightly greenish depths of his eyes, making him seem suddenly savage and frightening. Wasting no more words, he grabbed Su Qing by the collar and dragged him away. Su Qing stumbled a few steps after him, choked so he couldn't catch his breath, barely keeping a grip on Chen Lin's wrist, leaving a trail of uneven footprints behind him.
He began to panic. What was Chen Lin thinking? He wasn't going to let him return to the grey house? Then what about Teacher Cheng? And where were the other blue seals and grey seals? Was Tian Feng still alive?
Suddenly, Chen Lin let go. Su Qing kept struggling from inertia and abruptly took a step back. He barely managed to keep his footing. The next moment, he heard the roar of helicopters. He lifted his head and saw some helicopters preparing to land. Chen Lin's expression was dim and unreadable.
Su Qing had a profound understanding of this person's capricious moods. He stood there not even daring to breathe loudly, pretending to be part of the background.
The helicopters landed. Su Qing saw several staff members wearing "Utopia" uniforms hurriedly get out. Then four or five white coats ran over from somewhere and lifted a person out from inside—it was the dumb lump of muscle Li Gu, who had come carrying a gun to kidnap Su Qing.
Li Gu's whole body was covered in blood, but his eyes were open very wide. It was unclear whether he was breathing. He had a look like his eyes were about to burst from their sockets from rage, and his arms and legs twitched from time to time. Some terms along the lines of "burst cordon" and "spatial laceration" came to Su Qing's ears.
The other blue seals and grey seals followed them. Jiang Lan looked especially grim—she had returned alone; another little grey had been written off.
Su Qing had no time to attend to the others. He craned his neck to watch Li Gu being lifted away, feeling faintly joyous. Teacher Cheng was supposed to be Li Gu's grey seal. If the big idiot bit the dust, that would be for the best! He surreptitiously took another glance at Chen Lin and thought, If you went along with him, the world would be a more perfect place!
But before his daydream had ended, he heard a sharp scream.
The hair on the back of Su Qing's neck bristled. He turned to look along with the others. It was Shi Huizhang's little grey, who had been scared into boldness by the outing and was actually attempting to run. All of Shi Huizhang's little greys were women, and this was a long-haired, large-eyed beauty, though her current appearance wasn't so attractive.
Shi Huizhang had activated the magnetic neckband around her neck. Su Qing and the other grey seals, each with a different expression, stood there looking on, unable to do anything—she flailed desperately on the ground, her eyes beginning to roll upwards. After a while, she no longer had the strength to flail, only breathed in big gasps like a dying fish, twitching, her face purple.
Shi Huizhang attached no importance to her. He didn't even look at her. Instead, his ruthless gaze was fixed on Chen Lin. The woman twitched for a while, then gradually stopped moving. Froth bubbled from her mouth. The color of her skin was no longer visible in her face, as though all her blood vessels had burst, turning her face a horrible purple.
Su Qing stood there watching her pupils begin to cloud over and couldn't resist taking a step back—he knew she was dead.
The other grey seals were either frightened or numb. Tian Feng suddenly knelt down and began to wail, snot and tears mixing on his round face. He looked both ridiculous and despairing.
Shi Huizhang snorted heavily and spat on the woman's corpse. Su Qing secretly clenched his fist. But Chen Lin only calmly glanced at the others. Without looking back, he said to Su Qing, "Come with me."
Thus did he act as though no one else was present.
Jiang Lan suddenly called him back: "Chen Lin, you only have this one little grey to use now."
Chen Lin paused in his steps and nodded to her to indicate that he had heard, amounting to a show of deference. Then he ignored her warning.
Translator's Note
1The Sanlu Group (三鹿集团) was a Chinese dairy company that shut down in 2008 after a contaminated products scandal. Assuming the novel is set around when written—2010—that milk is ancient. Assuming it's set any later, it's time to bring in the HAZMAT squad.
2望夫石, lit. "the stone gazing out for her husband," a natural rock formation in Hong Kong.