Zhou Sheng said, “You want to get out?”
“No.” Yu Hao said, “I want to look for a door. A door that can lead to the next layer of consciousness.”
Zhou Sheng didn’t interrupt and just looked quietly at Yu Hao.
Yu Hao suddenly turned around and looked at the charcoal stove in the middle of the room. Right at that moment, the exchange of consciousness with the Golden Crow Wheel started up! Yu Hao once again sensed some advice from the Golden Crow Wheel!
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“I get it now! We still need a key!” Yu Hao immediately said, “A lighter! Do you have it?”
Zhou Sheng motioned for Yu Hao to open his hand up, and he tapped on the middle of this palm. A lighter appeared in Yu Hao’s hand. He walked forward, crouched down, and lit up the charcoal stove.
The charcoal stove glowed red, and the room began to change! At this moment, Yu Hao knew that he may have touched upon the truth…
The red light transformed into a mist. Zhou Sheng was on guard as he watched the charcoal stove, and in the next moment, the lit charcoal stove was suddenly extinguished. Their surroundings started twisting, the room morphed, and giant, monstrous-like mouths appeared on the walls. Zhou Sheng said, “Be careful!”
Yu Hao, “Wait!”
He slowly stepped forward, raised his hand, and a silver light burst out from his hand. Under the illumination of that silver light, the transformation of the walls gradually settled down, and a door appeared.
Zhou Sheng, “Fuck, what’s the meaning of this?”
Yu Hao looked back and intertwined his fingers with Zhou Sheng’s. He was about to go forward to push the door open, but Zhou Sheng had his hand on the door handle before him.
“Open it and see?” Zhou Sheng asked.
Yu Hao’s breathing was about to stop. He nodded slowly.
Zhou Sheng pressed the handle down and gently pushed the door outward.
A bizarre light shone in, following which, a strange and distorted space appeared outside the door! Fragmented planes, multicoloured lusters, as well as twisted cities. This door opened in mid-air. The two of them stood at the door and looked around; no matter which direction they looked in, there seemed to be no end in sight!
Yu Hao, “The collective unconscious, this place really does exist!”
Zhou Sheng closed the door. Yu Hao said, “Wait, let me take another look! I saw something…at its deepest part! Where the light came from!”
“Don’t.” Zhou Sheng said, “It feels unsafe to me. The Golden Crow Wheel reminded me to not step out.”
Yu Hao, “But the Golden Crow Wheel didn’t say that to me.”
“Don’t take the risk,” Zhou Sheng seemed a bit angry, “It’s not that I’m not letting you go but only go after thinking it through. What kind of meaning does this hold for you?”
“Okay.” Yu Hao said, “Let’s stop here for today ba, leave the room behind.”
Zhou Sheng reminded, “You’ll have nightmares.”
“I won’t.” Yu Hao insisted, “If you destroy it again, I might forget everything that happened here…wait, have you destroyed it before?”
Itbe Vtfcu jcv Te Ljb ofii rlifca lc j rqila rfmbcv. Dbat bo atfw ibbxfv ja fjmt batfg. Te Ljb rjlv lc j ibk nblmf, “Tbe fgjrfv atlr gbbw ogbw ws wfwbgs?”
“Tfr.” Itbe Vtfcu rjlv mjiwis.
Te Ljb rjlv, “Pr atja ktja P jrxfv obg?”
“Dfmjerf sbe tjv j clutawjgf.” Itbe Vtfcu vlvc’a jcrkfg atf defralbc.
“When?” Yu Hao asked again.
Zhou Sheng, “The first time you came to my house for the New Year.”
Yu Hao nodded. Zhou Sheng was a little uneasy, he asked, “Are you angry?”
“No.” Yu Hao shook his head. At this moment, he realised that another door appeared in the cement room, but it faced another direction in its original position.
Yu Hao pushed the door open, and sunshine shone in. They had returned to the surface world of his memories.
“This is so amazing.” Yu Hao exclaimed.
“This memory was restored,” Zhou Sheng walked under the sun and said to Yu Hao, “So it appeared on the surface world, where it should have been.”
They were in a gingko forest, right in the back garden of the palace. There were no NPCs nearby, and the entire scene appeared both tranquil and strange. Yu Hao said, “It’s so close to my totem?”
“It would be too odd for a place like this to appear in the palace.” Zhou Sheng explained, “It’s not that I don’t respect you.”
“Indeed.” Yu Hao said, “If it were me, I would want to move this away too. That’s it then, I still need to think about it more, good…”
Suddenly, a violent tremor started, and there was an upheaval in the dream world. Yu Hao and Zhou Sheng woke up one after another.
“Yu Hao?” Fu Liqun’s face appeared in front of him.
“I’m sorry, I thought you guys shouldn’t be doing anything important.” Chen Yekai said outside the door, “But a sudden incident cropped up, I don’t think it can be dragged out any longer.”
Zhou Sheng got up. Yu Hao looked at his phone. Chen Yekai had called him several times in the middle of the night, but his phone was on silent mode, so he hadn’t answered any of them.
Ou Qihang said, “Were you guys in a dream? Why didn’t you call us too?”
Yu Hao said, “It’s just something trivial…What happened?”
Chen Yekai showed Yu Hao his phone. On it was the message he sent out in the middle of the night last night—【Huang Ting’s missing】.
Yu Hao sobered up in an instant. 5.30 AM, Chen Yekai had obviously rushed over and didn’t sleep all night.
“Before Huang Ting disappeared, the last person he saw was you.” Chen Yekai asked, “Did he say where he was going?”
Yu Hao was still not entirely lucid. He struggled to shake his head. Zhou Sheng heated a few cups of milk in the microwave, placed them on the table, and said, “I was about to look for you guys too, just got back last night, so I haven’t had the time to. Now that everyone’s here, let’s exchange the information that we have ba.”
Yu Hao forced himself to drink some milk first, then said quickly, “The inside story is really complicated…but I didn’t expect this, why did he go missing? Why did they catch him?”
“Speak slowly,” Ou Qihang said, “Don’t be anxious.”
Yu Hao started recalling from the afternoon when he met Huang Ting. Fu Liqun had just heard the inside story as well, and when everyone heard the part where Huang Ting was sick, they all fell silent for a moment.
“He asked me to contact a doctor for him.” Chen Yekai said, “Is he that ill? Have you seen the medication he’s taking?”
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Yu Hao shrugged and narrated almost everything about Huang Ting and the Golden Crow Wheel. Everyone was silent. Zhou Sheng looked at Chen Yekai and said, “Not much different from what we had guessed.”
Chen Yekai looked grave. Fu Liqun said, “Ask that doctor what he’s suffering from.”
Chen Yekai nodded, then looked down and started texting on WeChat. Ou Qihang said, “He won’t be locked up by his own superior, and it wouldn’t be Sheng Ge’s superior either…”
“Qin Guodong’s pretty familiar with him.” Zhou Sheng said, “He hasn’t even locked me up yet, let alone him.”
“The only possibility left is that guy surnamed Zhao.” Ou Qihang said, “I’ve seen him before, not long after what happened with us.”
Fu Liqun said, “Something feels wrong.”
Ou Qihang said, “I think so too.”
Yu Hao raised his hand, “Me too.”
“Me too??” Chen Yekai said anxiously.
Yu Hao, “I’ve felt like something was off from the very beginning. It’s too weird. Ever since we left the south, no one has come looking for us. Regarding this matter, Ren Chong, Zhao Liang, and Qin Guodong should all understand it very clearly, yet not one of them tried to launch a preemptive strike by coming to look for Zhou Sheng — something must be wrong.”
Ou Qihang said, “Could they have some sort of special conspiracy, so they’re afraid of alarming us?”
Zhou Sheng, “Maybe. Kaikai, did they send you the medical record?”
“What does it say?” Fu Liqun asked.
“Aplastic anemia.” Chen Yekai said, “Damn it, that guy told me it was pneumonia!”
“Doesn’t he have health insurance?” Yu Hao said, “He should be able to afford treatment ba.”
Chen Yekai chatted with the doctor for awhile and didn’t even look up as he replied, “After he saw the doctor for it, he waited for a bed to become available. Bone marrow matching was suggested, but he didn’t even recuperate properly…” Then a call came. Chen Yekai answered, chatted for a while, and said, “Yes, right, I’ll think of a way to find him.”
After hanging up, everyone stared at Chen Yekai. Chen Yekai said, “Ren Chong.”
Zhou Sheng, “Has Zhao Liang looked for you?”
Chen Yekai was stunned. “How do you know?”
The corners of Zhou Sheng’s mouth lifted slightly. He and Chen Yekai looked at each other. Chen Yekai answered, “He came to our college in person during the day yesterday.”
Everyone was stunned at once. Yu Hao asked, “What did he say?”
Chen Yekai answered, “He invited me out for a cup of coffee. I was busy with class then and didn’t have the time to entertain him, so I refused.”
Yu Hao thought that they really had escaped a calamity. If Chen Yekai had agreed to leave with him, he may have been locked up just like Huang Ting. However, this proved that Zhao Liang had already lost some of his power and connections within the organisation, so he didn’t dare take away and detain people in broad daylight.
“Go into dreams to find Huang Ting?” Chen Yekai asked Zhou Sheng.
Zhou Sheng leaned against his chair, swaying back and forth, and didn’t say a word as he ruminated about it.
Ou Qihang said, “It’ll be easy to handle if we knew where he was. From the fact that he did not dare to take Uncle Kai away immediately, we can tell that it shouldn’t be a case of abusing his authority for personal gains.”
Fu Liqun, “Just afraid that…what if he doesn’t know where he is either?”
“Why did they capture him?” Zhou Sheng said, “We need to think carefully about that point first.”
“They should have caught him because they wanted to fish out what I said from him.” Yu Hao said, “But since they want to know, why didn’t they come straight to me? Did they have to go to such lengths to find a third party?”
Zhou Sheng said, “Everything in this situation is so ridiculously murky and doubtful.” Then he looked up again and looked at Chen Yekai. Chen Yekai narrowed his eyes, “Perhaps because aside from Yu Hao’s news, they also wanted to obtain inside information on Ren Chong’s side?”
Everyone stopped talking again for a moment. Zhou Sheng pondered for a while. Yu Hao felt like their minds were connected and could subtly understand what Zhou Sheng was thinking.
Yu Hao, “You’re afraid that something’s trying to lure us over into a trap? But what kinds of traps can there be? I don’t get it. If they want to cause trouble for us, can’t they just send some men out to catch us? We don’t have any authority or power at all, how can we even resist?” Then he shrugged.
Zhou Sheng grasped the Golden Crow Wheel and didn’t make a decision for a long while. Everyone was waiting. Zhou Sheng kept the Golden Crow Wheel and said, “Not for now.”
Zhou Sheng glanced at Chen Yekai, “Let’s investigate separately first.”
“Okay.” Chen Yekai was extremely worried about Huang Ting, but he didn’t refute Zhou Sheng’s decision.
“You’re in charge of Zhao Liang.” Zhou Sheng said, “I’ll look for our boss. Yu Hao, look for Lin Ze and make some inquiries. Haven’t you already asked him once before?”
“No definite news.” Yu Hao frowned, “I’ll go hurry Ah Ze again ba.”
“The two of you will…” Zhou Sheng thought about it, but Ou Qihang said, “I’ll go look for the doctor from before to ask. I think that hypnosis doctor is quite familiar with Ting Ge, I may be able to get some important clues from him.”
“Then I’ll go to the other hospital ba.” Fu Liqun said, “To ask about his condition.”
Zhou Sheng said, “Okay, let’s all set out then. Wait for my signal.”
So they all dispersed. Yu Hao carried his backpack and went to the company. Situ Ye had accompanied Jin Weicheng to an interview, while Lin Ze kept watch in the office. Once he saw Yu Hao, he asked, “What is it? Something happened?”
Yu Hao, “Is it that obvious?”
“You look terrible.” Lin Ze said, “Didn’t you see the report this morning?”
Yu Hao remembered that he had forgotten to read the news today. Lin Ze handed him a newspaper.
“It’s published already?!” Yu Hao cried in surprise, “So fast!”
On the newspaper was the feature Yu Hao did on pyramid schemes. Lin Ze said, “The scale of this reprint and societal topic is even larger than the one we did last time. Do your own analysis of the popularity ba.”
Yu Hao couldn’t think about his own feature at all now, so he simply answered, “Okay”, while he kept worrying about Huang Ting’s safety. Lin Ze didn’t ask any further either, and the two of them sat quietly in the office. Clacking sounds made when tapping on the keyboard could be heard once in a while. Yu Hao wanted to ask Lin Ze about his previous request for information on Zhao Liang, but he was worried about whether it would be too direct to just ask him so suddenly like this.
“The editor will report after the 15th.” Lin Ze said, “You can relax a bit more then.”
“That’s great.” Yu Hao forced out a smile, and the two of them fell silent again. Yu Hao had worked with Lin Ze for nearly half a year and understood his style very well — as long as he doesn’t take the initiative to ask for help, Lin Ze has always been very patient and will leave the opportunity to solve the problem up to the person themselves, but once Yu Hao does ask for help, Lin Ze will concern himself with it till the very end.
He didn’t want to drag Lin Ze down, nor did he want to get Lin Ze involved with this bizarre case.
“Do you need a day off to rest?” Lin Ze asked.
“I just rested, it’s okay.” Yu Hao began analysing his piece’s popularity. Reporters were all looking for him to ask him about news regarding the South. Every time breaking news gets published, people would come out in droves to uncover the truth. Sometimes, Yu Hao feels that China is not bereft of good reporters, it just lacked a few who would charge forward. If they successfully charged onto the front of public opinion, the huge army behind them would drive over with a mighty vigour. They wouldn’t care if it was about melamine or jumping off buildings because of pyramid schemes, once the reporter army arrives, they would be able to crush you into nothing within minutes.
“Is there any news,” Yu Hao said, “about the Zhao Liang I inquired about last time?”
Lin Ze replied to his WeChat while answering him without even looking up, “Your feature for the next issue?”
Yu Hao didn’t reply. He knew that he had to be very careful with this conversation. Lin Ze said, “Sometimes, having no news is also a kind of news in itself.”
Yu Hao suddenly understood. In not getting a reply after so long, it’s not that Lin Ze didn’t help him investigate, but it’s that after discovering the exact details, he didn’t want to tell Yu Hao in order to protect him!
“Change the topic ba.” Although Lin Ze didn’t know what Yu Hao wanted to do, he didn’t doubt Yu Hao’s ability to stir trouble up in the slightest.
“He’s from the CCDI?”
“No.” Lin Ze answered, “They have no special relationship with the CCDI.”
“Hold on…” Yu Hao said, “Aren’t they a Special Investigations organisation under the central authorities?”
“Organisation?” Lin Ze looked up and gazed at Yu Hao.
Te Ljb rjlv, “Ktf olgra alwf P wfa atfw kjr lc Tlcu Jlas.”
“Ktfs kfca vbkc ab lcnfralujaf atf wjaafg gfujgvlcu Ye Qfltbcu?” Olc If gfqilfv.
Te Ljb, “Tbe xcbk?”
Olc If, “Gbc’a obgufa atja P’nf gfjv sbeg gfrewf. Cgf sbe regf sbe kjca ab ilrafc? Te Ljb, P’v jvnlrf sbe cba ab abemt atfw.”
Yu Hao, “I have a friend…”
“The cop who came that day?” Lin Ze said.
Yu Hao knew that he couldn’t hide anything from Lin Ze. If he had to say who among the people he knew could see through the nature, causes, and consequences of something at a glance, then one of them would be Huang Ting, and the other would definitely be Lin Ze. Zhou Sheng won in how he was much more cautious in his considerations than they were. He wouldn’t make a decision regarding anything without prior deduction.
“Yes.” Yu Hao said, “I’ll be very cautious, tell me ba.”
“He’s your friend,” Lin Ze said, “but to what extent?”
“He’s someone who was willing to believe in me when I was wronged.” Yu Hao answered.
“Sometimes, it may not be that they believed in you, but that they believed in their professional instincts.” Lin Ze said, “But in that case, I can roughly tell you the news I had gotten. I already asked around for you before the New Year…”
Zhou Sheng rode a shared bicycle, his suit jacket fluttering in the wind with a black sports bag on his back. He returned the bike outside an alley, swiped his door card, and entered the company. He nodded at his colleagues, knocked on the door, and entered the office of the person-in-charge, Xiao Jian.
Xiao Jian was putting on lipstick while facing a mirror and didn’t even glance at Zhou Sheng. Qin Guodong was there as well. Zhou Sheng pulled a swivel chair over and said, “I think…”
“The boss has been waiting for you all morning.” Xiao Jian said, “I’ll go out for a bit.”
Zhou Sheng watched Xiao Jian. Xiao Jian smiled meaningfully at him, then walked past him to go out. Qin Guodong made some tea at his desk. Zhou Sheng picked up a glass kettle and went to one side to fetch some boiling water.
“We were discussing about converting you to a full-time post.” Qin Guodong’s voice was both steady and powerful, “You’ve been working for a while, how do you feel about the company?”
“It’s like a criminal syndicate,” Zhou Sheng said, “but I like it. Director Qin, I think, you’ve been waiting for me so long in your office not to talk to me about converting to a full-time position, right?”
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Qin Guodong scooped the tea leaves out of the tea can and said, “Looks like Xiao Huang is your good friend. You can’t even spare some time for pleasantries?”
Zhou Sheng kept silent. Qin Guodong made tea seriously, as if nothing had happened.
“I thought he had a good relationship with you.” Zhou Sheng said, “If you’re not willing to care about it, I won’t waste your time.”
Qin Guodong, “What’s more important — Xiao Huang’s safety or yours?”
Zhou Sheng said, “Depends on the situation. Do I seem like a reckless person?”
Qin Guodong answered, “If Yu Hao was included?”
Zhou Sheng stopped talking. Qin Guodong poured tea for him, thought for a bit, then said, “I reminded you time and time again for you to safeguard your personal belongings properly, but it still got taken away by Lao Ren in the end. Zhou Sheng, I feel like sometimes, you’re not as smart as I thought. If I knew that this would have happened…”
“Then it would’ve been safer if it were locked up in your safe,” Zhou Sheng smiled, “right?”
Qin Guodong said, “Even if you give it to me, what use would I have for it? Zhou Sheng, are you still unclear of some crucial points regarding some things? It’s only when you have that thing with you, then no matter if it were Zhao Liang or Lao Ren, no one would dare touch you and wouldn’t dare touch anyone close to you either. You have to shoulder the responsibility of Xiao Huang’s capture yourself.”
Zhou Sheng kept silent, his brows furrowing.
Qin Guodong said, “I remember that there was once a son of God in ancient Greece called Antaeus. As long as he stood on earth, he could draw strength from the ground unceasingly. In the end, Heracles had no way of making him leave Earth, so he strangled him to death.”
Zhou Sheng remained silent the whole time. Qin Guodong continued, “Now, they’ve successfully taken away the most important source of power for you, so their next step is to take you away. It’s only a matter of time.”
Zhou Sheng finally spoke, “Even you can’t stop them?”
“I can only try my best.” Qin Guodong said, “Lao Ren and I are just collaborators. With Zhao Liang, there is barely any room for negotiation.”
“Don’t you want to take it for yourself?” Zhou Sheng said, “To tell you the truth, Boss, I didn’t trust you very much at first.”
Qin Guodong looked at Zhou Sheng and revealed an ambiguous smile.
“If I want the brainwave integrator, I would’ve taken it the first day you came to Beijing. Would I have waited till now?” Qin Guodong answered.
Zhou Sheng replied, “That’s not necessarily true. After all, if you were to fail, I would just need to hide in a place where no one was around. It’s not like you guys would be able to go without sleep ba?”
Qin Guodong said, “You’re underestimating my professional ability too much, Zhou Sheng. If I really wanted to do it, I’ve never failed before in my life.”
Zhou Sheng, “But there’s no use even if you took it, since only I can start it up. The best way would be to catch me as well and force me to turn it on, go into your dream, and take you along for research. But once you hand the initiative over to me, uncontrollable things would happen.”
“That’s true.” Qin Guodong answered, “Ren Chong and Zhao Liang spent a long time racking their brains but still couldn’t figure out a way to crack those strange tricks of yours. However, I have no desire for your treasure at all.”
“I believe that now.” Zhou Sheng pondered for a bit, then said, “Why don’t you want it?”
“There’s no ‘why’.” Qin Guodong stated, “There are certain things gentlemen would and would not do. What difference would there be from a robber if one utilises their power to openly snatch something good after seeing it in someone else’s hands?”
“That really doesn’t seem like how someone who has stayed in the organisation for so long would think.” Zhou Sheng sighed.
“Which is why I left.” Qin Guodong said.
Zhou Sheng, “……”
Yu Hao frowned while listening. Lin Ze scratched his head, evidently unable to reach a conclusion for the three men.
Yu Hao, “So they were an investigation agency at first.”
Lin Ze nodded. “Yes, their full name was ‘Special Investigation Unit’. They were a little like a secret service, but they were an affiliated intelligence organisation. With a three-man team as their core, they were initially responsible for monitoring some matters that special agents found inconvenient to intervene in because of orders from the top, as well as to analyse and transmit a small amount of information for other organisations. A three-man team, you can guess where they learned it from.”
“The former Soviet Union.” Yu Hao said, “So they were established very early.”
Lin Ze replied, “They weren’t the first generation of leaders, of course, but after the proposal for sectoral reform, this team was about to be dissolved.”
Yu Hao, “When was that?”
Lin Ze said, “Maybe in recent years? It’s very normal for the roles of an organisation to be duplicated, become redundant, and undergo all sorts of restructuring. The Special Investigation Unit had a lot of power, but they seldom intervened in ordinary cases. The last time was for Ou Weihong’s case.”
Yu Hao said, “Then what do they usually do?”
“Nothing much,” Lin Ze said, “or they might have done something, but I can’t find out with my sources.”
“Which department are they under?” Yu Hao said, “That’s what’s most important.”
Lin Ze wanted to say something but reined it in. He slightly raised an eyebrow at Yu Hao and said, “In any case, you just need to know that this so-called ‘Special Investigations Unit’ is also under the influence of even higher authorities.”
Yu Hao, “How high are they?”
Lin Ze didn’t answer his question in his reply, “So I’d advise you not to provoke Ren Chong. Even if the other two are gone, unless there’s a higher-up in the newspaper who’s willing to cover you, it’ll still be very dangerous. But once it involves that level, it won’t be as simple as just a piece of news.”
Yu Hao said, “I’ll change my question then. Why did they leave?”
“Disagreement in ideologies?” Lin Ze said, “Switched allegiances? Or they didn’t want to be involved any deeper. After Ou Weihong’s case, among this team, Qin Guodong was rumoured to have started his own business that works with the government. But the Zhao Liang you want to investigate had vanished without a trace. However, according to my deductions, he didn’t leave the country. Since he had held such a job before, he wouldn’t be allowed to leave China. The last one, Ren Chong, still remains in the team.”
Zhou Sheng said, “You want to get out?”
“No.” Yu Hao said, “I want to look for a door. A door that can lead to the next layer of consciousness.”
Zhou Sheng didn’t interrupt and just looked quietly at Yu Hao.
Yu Hao suddenly turned around and looked at the charcoal stove in the middle of the room. Right at that moment, the exchange of consciousness with the Golden Crow Wheel started up! Yu Hao once again sensed some advice from the Golden Crow Wheel!
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“I get it now! We still need a key!” Yu Hao immediately said, “A lighter! Do you have it?”
Zhou Sheng motioned for Yu Hao to open his hand up, and he tapped on the middle of this palm. A lighter appeared in Yu Hao’s hand. He walked forward, crouched down, and lit up the charcoal stove.
The charcoal stove glowed red, and the room began to change! At this moment, Yu Hao knew that he may have touched upon the truth…
The red light transformed into a mist. Zhou Sheng was on guard as he watched the charcoal stove, and in the next moment, the lit charcoal stove was suddenly extinguished. Their surroundings started twisting, the room morphed, and giant, monstrous-like mouths appeared on the walls. Zhou Sheng said, “Be careful!”
Yu Hao, “Wait!”
He slowly stepped forward, raised his hand, and a silver light burst out from his hand. Under the illumination of that silver light, the transformation of the walls gradually settled down, and a door appeared.
Zhou Sheng, “Fuck, what’s the meaning of this?”
Yu Hao looked back and intertwined his fingers with Zhou Sheng’s. He was about to go forward to push the door open, but Zhou Sheng had his hand on the door handle before him.
“Open it and see?” Zhou Sheng asked.
Yu Hao’s breathing was about to stop. He nodded slowly.
Zhou Sheng pressed the handle down and gently pushed the door outward.
A bizarre light shone in, following which, a strange and distorted space appeared outside the door! Fragmented planes, multicoloured lusters, as well as twisted cities. This door opened in mid-air. The two of them stood at the door and looked around; no matter which direction they looked in, there seemed to be no end in sight!
Yu Hao, “The collective unconscious, this place really does exist!”
Zhou Sheng closed the door. Yu Hao said, “Wait, let me take another look! I saw something…at its deepest part! Where the light came from!”
“Don’t.” Zhou Sheng said, “It feels unsafe to me. The Golden Crow Wheel reminded me to not step out.”
Yu Hao, “But the Golden Crow Wheel didn’t say that to me.”
“Don’t take the risk,” Zhou Sheng seemed a bit angry, “It’s not that I’m not letting you go but only go after thinking it through. What kind of meaning does this hold for you?”
“Okay.” Yu Hao said, “Let’s stop here for today ba, leave the room behind.”
Zhou Sheng reminded, “You’ll have nightmares.”
“I won’t.” Yu Hao insisted, “If you destroy it again, I might forget everything that happened here…wait, have you destroyed it before?”
Itbe Vtfcu jcv Te Ljb ofii rlifca lc j rqila rfmbcv. Dbat bo atfw ibbxfv ja fjmt batfg. Te Ljb rjlv lc j ibk nblmf, “Tbe fgjrfv atlr gbbw ogbw ws wfwbgs?”
“Tfr.” Itbe Vtfcu rjlv mjiwis.
Te Ljb rjlv, “Pr atja ktja P jrxfv obg?”
“Dfmjerf sbe tjv j clutawjgf.” Itbe Vtfcu vlvc’a jcrkfg atf defralbc.
“When?” Yu Hao asked again.
Zhou Sheng, “The first time you came to my house for the New Year.”
Yu Hao nodded. Zhou Sheng was a little uneasy, he asked, “Are you angry?”
“No.” Yu Hao shook his head. At this moment, he realised that another door appeared in the cement room, but it faced another direction in its original position.
Yu Hao pushed the door open, and sunshine shone in. They had returned to the surface world of his memories.
“This is so amazing.” Yu Hao exclaimed.
“This memory was restored,” Zhou Sheng walked under the sun and said to Yu Hao, “So it appeared on the surface world, where it should have been.”
They were in a gingko forest, right in the back garden of the palace. There were no NPCs nearby, and the entire scene appeared both tranquil and strange. Yu Hao said, “It’s so close to my totem?”
“It would be too odd for a place like this to appear in the palace.” Zhou Sheng explained, “It’s not that I don’t respect you.”
“Indeed.” Yu Hao said, “If it were me, I would want to move this away too. That’s it then, I still need to think about it more, good…”
Suddenly, a violent tremor started, and there was an upheaval in the dream world. Yu Hao and Zhou Sheng woke up one after another.
“Yu Hao?” Fu Liqun’s face appeared in front of him.
“I’m sorry, I thought you guys shouldn’t be doing anything important.” Chen Yekai said outside the door, “But a sudden incident cropped up, I don’t think it can be dragged out any longer.”
Zhou Sheng got up. Yu Hao looked at his phone. Chen Yekai had called him several times in the middle of the night, but his phone was on silent mode, so he hadn’t answered any of them.
Ou Qihang said, “Were you guys in a dream? Why didn’t you call us too?”
Yu Hao said, “It’s just something trivial…What happened?”
Chen Yekai showed Yu Hao his phone. On it was the message he sent out in the middle of the night last night—【Huang Ting’s missing】.
Yu Hao sobered up in an instant. 5.30 AM, Chen Yekai had obviously rushed over and didn’t sleep all night.
“Before Huang Ting disappeared, the last person he saw was you.” Chen Yekai asked, “Did he say where he was going?”
Yu Hao was still not entirely lucid. He struggled to shake his head. Zhou Sheng heated a few cups of milk in the microwave, placed them on the table, and said, “I was about to look for you guys too, just got back last night, so I haven’t had the time to. Now that everyone’s here, let’s exchange the information that we have ba.”
Yu Hao forced himself to drink some milk first, then said quickly, “The inside story is really complicated…but I didn’t expect this, why did he go missing? Why did they catch him?”
“Speak slowly,” Ou Qihang said, “Don’t be anxious.”
Yu Hao started recalling from the afternoon when he met Huang Ting. Fu Liqun had just heard the inside story as well, and when everyone heard the part where Huang Ting was sick, they all fell silent for a moment.
“He asked me to contact a doctor for him.” Chen Yekai said, “Is he that ill? Have you seen the medication he’s taking?”
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Yu Hao shrugged and narrated almost everything about Huang Ting and the Golden Crow Wheel. Everyone was silent. Zhou Sheng looked at Chen Yekai and said, “Not much different from what we had guessed.”
Chen Yekai looked grave. Fu Liqun said, “Ask that doctor what he’s suffering from.”
Chen Yekai nodded, then looked down and started texting on WeChat. Ou Qihang said, “He won’t be locked up by his own superior, and it wouldn’t be Sheng Ge’s superior either…”
“Qin Guodong’s pretty familiar with him.” Zhou Sheng said, “He hasn’t even locked me up yet, let alone him.”
“The only possibility left is that guy surnamed Zhao.” Ou Qihang said, “I’ve seen him before, not long after what happened with us.”
Fu Liqun said, “Something feels wrong.”
Ou Qihang said, “I think so too.”
Yu Hao raised his hand, “Me too.”
“Me too??” Chen Yekai said anxiously.
Yu Hao, “I’ve felt like something was off from the very beginning. It’s too weird. Ever since we left the south, no one has come looking for us. Regarding this matter, Ren Chong, Zhao Liang, and Qin Guodong should all understand it very clearly, yet not one of them tried to launch a preemptive strike by coming to look for Zhou Sheng — something must be wrong.”
Ou Qihang said, “Could they have some sort of special conspiracy, so they’re afraid of alarming us?”
Zhou Sheng, “Maybe. Kaikai, did they send you the medical record?”
“What does it say?” Fu Liqun asked.
“Aplastic anemia.” Chen Yekai said, “Damn it, that guy told me it was pneumonia!”
“Doesn’t he have health insurance?” Yu Hao said, “He should be able to afford treatment ba.”
Chen Yekai chatted with the doctor for awhile and didn’t even look up as he replied, “After he saw the doctor for it, he waited for a bed to become available. Bone marrow matching was suggested, but he didn’t even recuperate properly…” Then a call came. Chen Yekai answered, chatted for a while, and said, “Yes, right, I’ll think of a way to find him.”
After hanging up, everyone stared at Chen Yekai. Chen Yekai said, “Ren Chong.”
Zhou Sheng, “Has Zhao Liang looked for you?”
Chen Yekai was stunned. “How do you know?”
The corners of Zhou Sheng’s mouth lifted slightly. He and Chen Yekai looked at each other. Chen Yekai answered, “He came to our college in person during the day yesterday.”
Everyone was stunned at once. Yu Hao asked, “What did he say?”
Chen Yekai answered, “He invited me out for a cup of coffee. I was busy with class then and didn’t have the time to entertain him, so I refused.”
Yu Hao thought that they really had escaped a calamity. If Chen Yekai had agreed to leave with him, he may have been locked up just like Huang Ting. However, this proved that Zhao Liang had already lost some of his power and connections within the organisation, so he didn’t dare take away and detain people in broad daylight.
“Go into dreams to find Huang Ting?” Chen Yekai asked Zhou Sheng.
Zhou Sheng leaned against his chair, swaying back and forth, and didn’t say a word as he ruminated about it.
Ou Qihang said, “It’ll be easy to handle if we knew where he was. From the fact that he did not dare to take Uncle Kai away immediately, we can tell that it shouldn’t be a case of abusing his authority for personal gains.”
Fu Liqun, “Just afraid that…what if he doesn’t know where he is either?”
“Why did they capture him?” Zhou Sheng said, “We need to think carefully about that point first.”
“They should have caught him because they wanted to fish out what I said from him.” Yu Hao said, “But since they want to know, why didn’t they come straight to me? Did they have to go to such lengths to find a third party?”
Zhou Sheng said, “Everything in this situation is so ridiculously murky and doubtful.” Then he looked up again and looked at Chen Yekai. Chen Yekai narrowed his eyes, “Perhaps because aside from Yu Hao’s news, they also wanted to obtain inside information on Ren Chong’s side?”
Everyone stopped talking again for a moment. Zhou Sheng pondered for a while. Yu Hao felt like their minds were connected and could subtly understand what Zhou Sheng was thinking.
Yu Hao, “You’re afraid that something’s trying to lure us over into a trap? But what kinds of traps can there be? I don’t get it. If they want to cause trouble for us, can’t they just send some men out to catch us? We don’t have any authority or power at all, how can we even resist?” Then he shrugged.
Zhou Sheng grasped the Golden Crow Wheel and didn’t make a decision for a long while. Everyone was waiting. Zhou Sheng kept the Golden Crow Wheel and said, “Not for now.”
Zhou Sheng glanced at Chen Yekai, “Let’s investigate separately first.”
“Okay.” Chen Yekai was extremely worried about Huang Ting, but he didn’t refute Zhou Sheng’s decision.
“You’re in charge of Zhao Liang.” Zhou Sheng said, “I’ll look for our boss. Yu Hao, look for Lin Ze and make some inquiries. Haven’t you already asked him once before?”
“No definite news.” Yu Hao frowned, “I’ll go hurry Ah Ze again ba.”
“The two of you will…” Zhou Sheng thought about it, but Ou Qihang said, “I’ll go look for the doctor from before to ask. I think that hypnosis doctor is quite familiar with Ting Ge, I may be able to get some important clues from him.”
“Then I’ll go to the other hospital ba.” Fu Liqun said, “To ask about his condition.”
Zhou Sheng said, “Okay, let’s all set out then. Wait for my signal.”
So they all dispersed. Yu Hao carried his backpack and went to the company. Situ Ye had accompanied Jin Weicheng to an interview, while Lin Ze kept watch in the office. Once he saw Yu Hao, he asked, “What is it? Something happened?”
Yu Hao, “Is it that obvious?”
“You look terrible.” Lin Ze said, “Didn’t you see the report this morning?”
Yu Hao remembered that he had forgotten to read the news today. Lin Ze handed him a newspaper.
“It’s published already?!” Yu Hao cried in surprise, “So fast!”
On the newspaper was the feature Yu Hao did on pyramid schemes. Lin Ze said, “The scale of this reprint and societal topic is even larger than the one we did last time. Do your own analysis of the popularity ba.”
Yu Hao couldn’t think about his own feature at all now, so he simply answered, “Okay”, while he kept worrying about Huang Ting’s safety. Lin Ze didn’t ask any further either, and the two of them sat quietly in the office. Clacking sounds made when tapping on the keyboard could be heard once in a while. Yu Hao wanted to ask Lin Ze about his previous request for information on Zhao Liang, but he was worried about whether it would be too direct to just ask him so suddenly like this.
“The editor will report after the 15th.” Lin Ze said, “You can relax a bit more then.”
“That’s great.” Yu Hao forced out a smile, and the two of them fell silent again. Yu Hao had worked with Lin Ze for nearly half a year and understood his style very well — as long as he doesn’t take the initiative to ask for help, Lin Ze has always been very patient and will leave the opportunity to solve the problem up to the person themselves, but once Yu Hao does ask for help, Lin Ze will concern himself with it till the very end.
He didn’t want to drag Lin Ze down, nor did he want to get Lin Ze involved with this bizarre case.
“Do you need a day off to rest?” Lin Ze asked.
“I just rested, it’s okay.” Yu Hao began analysing his piece’s popularity. Reporters were all looking for him to ask him about news regarding the South. Every time breaking news gets published, people would come out in droves to uncover the truth. Sometimes, Yu Hao feels that China is not bereft of good reporters, it just lacked a few who would charge forward. If they successfully charged onto the front of public opinion, the huge army behind them would drive over with a mighty vigour. They wouldn’t care if it was about melamine or jumping off buildings because of pyramid schemes, once the reporter army arrives, they would be able to crush you into nothing within minutes.
“Is there any news,” Yu Hao said, “about the Zhao Liang I inquired about last time?”
Lin Ze replied to his WeChat while answering him without even looking up, “Your feature for the next issue?”
Yu Hao didn’t reply. He knew that he had to be very careful with this conversation. Lin Ze said, “Sometimes, having no news is also a kind of news in itself.”
Yu Hao suddenly understood. In not getting a reply after so long, it’s not that Lin Ze didn’t help him investigate, but it’s that after discovering the exact details, he didn’t want to tell Yu Hao in order to protect him!
“Change the topic ba.” Although Lin Ze didn’t know what Yu Hao wanted to do, he didn’t doubt Yu Hao’s ability to stir trouble up in the slightest.
“He’s from the CCDI?”
“No.” Lin Ze answered, “They have no special relationship with the CCDI.”
“Hold on…” Yu Hao said, “Aren’t they a Special Investigations organisation under the central authorities?”
“Organisation?” Lin Ze looked up and gazed at Yu Hao.
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“Ktfs kfca vbkc ab lcnfralujaf atf wjaafg gfujgvlcu Ye Qfltbcu?” Olc If gfqilfv.
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Yu Hao, “I have a friend…”
“The cop who came that day?” Lin Ze said.
Yu Hao knew that he couldn’t hide anything from Lin Ze. If he had to say who among the people he knew could see through the nature, causes, and consequences of something at a glance, then one of them would be Huang Ting, and the other would definitely be Lin Ze. Zhou Sheng won in how he was much more cautious in his considerations than they were. He wouldn’t make a decision regarding anything without prior deduction.
“Yes.” Yu Hao said, “I’ll be very cautious, tell me ba.”
“He’s your friend,” Lin Ze said, “but to what extent?”
“He’s someone who was willing to believe in me when I was wronged.” Yu Hao answered.
“Sometimes, it may not be that they believed in you, but that they believed in their professional instincts.” Lin Ze said, “But in that case, I can roughly tell you the news I had gotten. I already asked around for you before the New Year…”
Zhou Sheng rode a shared bicycle, his suit jacket fluttering in the wind with a black sports bag on his back. He returned the bike outside an alley, swiped his door card, and entered the company. He nodded at his colleagues, knocked on the door, and entered the office of the person-in-charge, Xiao Jian.
Xiao Jian was putting on lipstick while facing a mirror and didn’t even glance at Zhou Sheng. Qin Guodong was there as well. Zhou Sheng pulled a swivel chair over and said, “I think…”
“The boss has been waiting for you all morning.” Xiao Jian said, “I’ll go out for a bit.”
Zhou Sheng watched Xiao Jian. Xiao Jian smiled meaningfully at him, then walked past him to go out. Qin Guodong made some tea at his desk. Zhou Sheng picked up a glass kettle and went to one side to fetch some boiling water.
“We were discussing about converting you to a full-time post.” Qin Guodong’s voice was both steady and powerful, “You’ve been working for a while, how do you feel about the company?”
“It’s like a criminal syndicate,” Zhou Sheng said, “but I like it. Director Qin, I think, you’ve been waiting for me so long in your office not to talk to me about converting to a full-time position, right?”
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Qin Guodong scooped the tea leaves out of the tea can and said, “Looks like Xiao Huang is your good friend. You can’t even spare some time for pleasantries?”
Zhou Sheng kept silent. Qin Guodong made tea seriously, as if nothing had happened.
“I thought he had a good relationship with you.” Zhou Sheng said, “If you’re not willing to care about it, I won’t waste your time.”
Qin Guodong, “What’s more important — Xiao Huang’s safety or yours?”
Zhou Sheng said, “Depends on the situation. Do I seem like a reckless person?”
Qin Guodong answered, “If Yu Hao was included?”
Zhou Sheng stopped talking. Qin Guodong poured tea for him, thought for a bit, then said, “I reminded you time and time again for you to safeguard your personal belongings properly, but it still got taken away by Lao Ren in the end. Zhou Sheng, I feel like sometimes, you’re not as smart as I thought. If I knew that this would have happened…”
“Then it would’ve been safer if it were locked up in your safe,” Zhou Sheng smiled, “right?”
Qin Guodong said, “Even if you give it to me, what use would I have for it? Zhou Sheng, are you still unclear of some crucial points regarding some things? It’s only when you have that thing with you, then no matter if it were Zhao Liang or Lao Ren, no one would dare touch you and wouldn’t dare touch anyone close to you either. You have to shoulder the responsibility of Xiao Huang’s capture yourself.”
Zhou Sheng kept silent, his brows furrowing.
Qin Guodong said, “I remember that there was once a son of God in ancient Greece called Antaeus. As long as he stood on earth, he could draw strength from the ground unceasingly. In the end, Heracles had no way of making him leave Earth, so he strangled him to death.”
Zhou Sheng remained silent the whole time. Qin Guodong continued, “Now, they’ve successfully taken away the most important source of power for you, so their next step is to take you away. It’s only a matter of time.”
Zhou Sheng finally spoke, “Even you can’t stop them?”
“I can only try my best.” Qin Guodong said, “Lao Ren and I are just collaborators. With Zhao Liang, there is barely any room for negotiation.”
“Don’t you want to take it for yourself?” Zhou Sheng said, “To tell you the truth, Boss, I didn’t trust you very much at first.”
Qin Guodong looked at Zhou Sheng and revealed an ambiguous smile.
“If I want the brainwave integrator, I would’ve taken it the first day you came to Beijing. Would I have waited till now?” Qin Guodong answered.
Zhou Sheng replied, “That’s not necessarily true. After all, if you were to fail, I would just need to hide in a place where no one was around. It’s not like you guys would be able to go without sleep ba?”
Qin Guodong said, “You’re underestimating my professional ability too much, Zhou Sheng. If I really wanted to do it, I’ve never failed before in my life.”
Zhou Sheng, “But there’s no use even if you took it, since only I can start it up. The best way would be to catch me as well and force me to turn it on, go into your dream, and take you along for research. But once you hand the initiative over to me, uncontrollable things would happen.”
“That’s true.” Qin Guodong answered, “Ren Chong and Zhao Liang spent a long time racking their brains but still couldn’t figure out a way to crack those strange tricks of yours. However, I have no desire for your treasure at all.”
“I believe that now.” Zhou Sheng pondered for a bit, then said, “Why don’t you want it?”
“There’s no ‘why’.” Qin Guodong stated, “There are certain things gentlemen would and would not do. What difference would there be from a robber if one utilises their power to openly snatch something good after seeing it in someone else’s hands?”
“That really doesn’t seem like how someone who has stayed in the organisation for so long would think.” Zhou Sheng sighed.
“Which is why I left.” Qin Guodong said.
Zhou Sheng, “……”
Yu Hao frowned while listening. Lin Ze scratched his head, evidently unable to reach a conclusion for the three men.
Yu Hao, “So they were an investigation agency at first.”
Lin Ze nodded. “Yes, their full name was ‘Special Investigation Unit’. They were a little like a secret service, but they were an affiliated intelligence organisation. With a three-man team as their core, they were initially responsible for monitoring some matters that special agents found inconvenient to intervene in because of orders from the top, as well as to analyse and transmit a small amount of information for other organisations. A three-man team, you can guess where they learned it from.”
“The former Soviet Union.” Yu Hao said, “So they were established very early.”
Lin Ze replied, “They weren’t the first generation of leaders, of course, but after the proposal for sectoral reform, this team was about to be dissolved.”
Yu Hao, “When was that?”
Lin Ze said, “Maybe in recent years? It’s very normal for the roles of an organisation to be duplicated, become redundant, and undergo all sorts of restructuring. The Special Investigation Unit had a lot of power, but they seldom intervened in ordinary cases. The last time was for Ou Weihong’s case.”
Yu Hao said, “Then what do they usually do?”
“Nothing much,” Lin Ze said, “or they might have done something, but I can’t find out with my sources.”
“Which department are they under?” Yu Hao said, “That’s what’s most important.”
Lin Ze wanted to say something but reined it in. He slightly raised an eyebrow at Yu Hao and said, “In any case, you just need to know that this so-called ‘Special Investigations Unit’ is also under the influence of even higher authorities.”
Yu Hao, “How high are they?”
Lin Ze didn’t answer his question in his reply, “So I’d advise you not to provoke Ren Chong. Even if the other two are gone, unless there’s a higher-up in the newspaper who’s willing to cover you, it’ll still be very dangerous. But once it involves that level, it won’t be as simple as just a piece of news.”
Yu Hao said, “I’ll change my question then. Why did they leave?”
“Disagreement in ideologies?” Lin Ze said, “Switched allegiances? Or they didn’t want to be involved any deeper. After Ou Weihong’s case, among this team, Qin Guodong was rumoured to have started his own business that works with the government. But the Zhao Liang you want to investigate had vanished without a trace. However, according to my deductions, he didn’t leave the country. Since he had held such a job before, he wouldn’t be allowed to leave China. The last one, Ren Chong, still remains in the team.”
