Chapter 33
Bai Sheng: “It’s all because I care too much about giegie~”1The term “giegie” is a homophone for “哥哥” (gēge), which means “big brother” or “brother” in Chinese.
A man in his early thirties, dressed in gray clothes and carrying a takeout bag, turned the corner of a dusty, low-ceilinged corridor, took the stairs three steps at a time, and stopped in front of his own security door.
A faint whimper of a dog came from the crack of the door. It must be the two dogs he had adopted from a rescue group the day before. Unfortunately, the person who had given them up was an old lady. At her age, even if he managed to extort nude photos, he wouldn’t be able to sell them for much. But it was a good thing that both were large dogs this time. Torturing large dogs was more satisfying. These days, the clients who ordered custom videos didn’t like to watch the torture of small dogs. The bigger, the better for selling…
I have to get Huang Kaiqi to come and pick up the dogs early tonight, the man thought.
After all, I’m just a planner. I don’t get my hands dirty. If the neighbors keep hearing dogs barking, they’ll get suspicious.
He mentally calculated how to deal with these two dogs, his mind flashing with several novel, cruel, and profitable methods. For a moment, his nerves became excited. He hummed a little tune and pushed open the door, but the next moment, his steps stopped short:
“Who’s there?”
In the living room opposite him, a girl in a high school uniform sat on the sofa. Two scrawny large dogs snuggled at her feet, their numerous wounds already bandaged. They were wagging their tails at her affectionately.
“You… you are…”
The girl lifted her eyelids, her gaze cold and piercing. “Zhang Zongxiao?”
Her face was fair and beautiful. In that instant, Zhang Zongxiao recognized who she was—the very same girl from a few days ago, the one they had extorted a half-nude photo from!
How did she find her way here!
Zhang Zongxiao was instantly thrown into chaos, but his panic was quickly replaced by ferocity and arrogance. He grabbed a crowbar from beside the door and, with a cold smile, looked at the girl. “Yo, you missed your brothers so much you came looking for us to play? It just so happens we’re free today, so we’ll accompany you…”
The crowbar suddenly flew out of his hand, as if controlled by an invisible force, and swung at him with lightning speed—
Smack!!
Zhang Zongxiao’s mouth and nose spurted blood as his head slammed heavily against the door.
That blow was really vicious. It was unclear whether it was a few seconds or a few minutes before he barely regained consciousness from the dizzying pain. Blood poured continuously from his nose and mouth, his mouth full of his own broken teeth.
“…” He trembled violently, trying his best to get up, but then a foot stretched out in front of him and stepped on his chest, pinning him back to the ground.
The girl weighed the crowbar in her hand, examining the dark, rusty bloodstains, as if seeing the desperate struggles and splattered brains of countless small creatures under this iron rod.
She smiled. “Do you know what symmetrical revenge is?”
Zhang Zongxiao opened his mouth, but apart from intermittent groans of pain, he couldn’t make any sound.
Of course, he couldn’t. The upper and lower rows of teeth on his right side were completely shattered, and a clear fluid was constantly flowing from his nasal passages. It was cerebrospinal fluid.
“In 1776 BC, the Code of Hammurabi was carved on a basalt stele by the ancient Babylonians: ‘If a man destroys the eye of another man, they shall destroy his eye. If one breaks a man’s tooth, they shall break his tooth.’ Thirteen hundred years later, the ancient Romans improved upon symmetrical revenge in the Twelve Tables, believing that if one damages another’s limb, the offender’s four limbs should be broken to be considered a blood debt paid in blood.”
“—There is only one minor flaw.”
The girl’s movements were unhurried. She held the tip of the crowbar above Zhang Zongxiao’s eyeball, looking down at the terrified, trembling man at her feet:
“Symmetrical revenge generally only occurs between those of the same class, but you really can’t be compared to innocent beasts.”
Zhang Zongxiao let out a desperate, muffled plea for mercy, his pupils reflecting the sharp tip of the crowbar. The girl’s lips curved into a gentle smile:
“I grant you the same treatment as a beast. You should be supremely honored.”
The corridor was dark and messy, and the iron doors of each household were tightly shut.
A few seconds later, a blood-curdling, terrifying scream pierced the silence. The rats by the trash can were startled and scurried away.
·
Wee-woo, wee-woo—
The sharp siren sound approached from a distance. Two cars from the Supervision Office sped into the community like sharp arrows. Before they could come to a screeching halt, Chen Miao had already led his men out of the car.
“Team one, block the front door. Team two, block the back door. Each team, send two people to guard the elevator and fire escape.” Chen Miao ordered as he walked. “That bastard Zhang’s family lives in 1505. The rest of you, with me!”
“Yes, sir!”
The well-trained supervisors split up and moved. Chen Miao took the lead, rushing into the residential building’s corridor, his brow tightly furrowed. The file he had taken from Shen Zhuo earlier flashed through his mind again.
[Zhang Zongxiao, lives in Ganjingzi District, frequently active in various rescue groups, pretends to be a pet doctor on his social media to cheat rescuers out of money for medicine. In reality, he is the main producer of animal torture videos.]
[Zhang Zongxiao is responsible for adopting cats and dogs and designing torture plans, Huang Kaiqi is responsible for implementation, and Wang Ping is responsible for contacting buyers. These three people belong to the same torture gang.]
“But this Zhang guy is not important.” In the office before they left, Shen Zhuo opened the file to the second page. The girl’s photo was covered from the neck down, leaving only a pale face staring coldly at Chen Miao. “—She is the dangerous one.”
“Why?” Chen Miao was full of doubt.
Shen Zhuo didn’t answer directly, just waved his hand without looking up.
Bai Sheng, who was leaning back in his office chair with his legs crossed, immediately took out a voice recorder from his pocket and handed it over with both hands in a very polite manner. Shen Zhuo took it and pressed the play button. The voice of an supervisor came out:
“Are you sure she’s not? Take another look?”
The principal of Boyi High School: “Please listen to me, she really isn’t. We’ve already checked twice…”
The supervisor was a bit anxious. “But when the accident happened at noon today, this girl was right at your school gate, wearing your school’s uniform, and even carrying a school bag!”
“Oh my, she really isn’t our student,” the principal wished he could swear an oath. “All the teachers in our school have been arranged to do an identification, and no one can recognize her. We even asked the teachers who were on leave at home! Please listen to me, who knows where she got that uniform and school bag. She really isn’t from our school!”
“What, this little girl was impersonating a student?” Chen Miao’s scalp almost exploded. “Then doesn’t this mean…”
“Yes, everything was planned.”
Shen Zhuo gently tossed the recorder back to Bai Sheng, his tone not surprised at all. “The time, the place, the character setup, the attack process, all the details were perfectly designed. She probably had a hundred ways to easily kill Huang Kaiqi, but she chose the bustling street intersection at noon today, just a few hundred meters from the Shenhai City Supervision Office. She even calmly came up to thank me after being attacked and, by the way, gave us a hint about the animal fur.”
Chen Miao opened his mouth in shock, finally managing to squeeze out a sound. “But… but why?”
Shen Zhuo’s ten fingers, wrapped in black gloves, looked very slender. He gently closed the folder. “We can’t be sure yet, but one thing is certain: she wants to attract our attention.”
“She’s targeting the Shenhai City Supervision Office.”
“Room 1505!” “Here!”
Chen Miao’s steps halted abruptly in front of the security door of room 1505. Several supervisors exchanged glances.
“Zhang Zongxiao?” Chen Miao knocked on the door, making a loud thudding sound. “Zhang Zongxiao!”
No one answered from inside.
Without any hesitation, Chen Miao pounded on the door again and asked directly, “Sister, we mean no harm. Are you in there?”
“…”
A few families from down the corridor peeked out curiously, but when they saw Chen Miao and his team wearing the white uniforms of the Supervision Office and the metal collars of Evolutionists, they immediately jumped back in fright and hurriedly closed their doors.
“Chen-ge,” one of the supervisors asked almost silently, “what should we do? Break down the door?”
Chen Miao turned his head and whispered, “Yang Xiaodao?”
The boy, with a blank expression, was pushed forward from the back of the crowd. He was still holding the dinner Bai Sheng had lovingly stuffed into his hands before they left—a bag of Raccoon Brand crispy noodles with a packet of pickled mustard greens. That cheap, trashy father had even forgotten to add two ham sausages for him.
Bang! Bang! Chen Miao pounded on the door two last times and said loudly, “Sister, we’re breaking down the door. If you’re behind it, get away!” Then he pointed at the security door towards Yang Xiaodao, meaning, go ahead.
Traditional hydraulic door breachers had many inconveniences, such as needing to be charged, being heavy to carry, and not being suitable for complex terrain. If an ability were used, traditional abilities like freezing, lightning, or fire would inevitably cause collateral damage. Chen Miao’s ice arrows, for example, would leave a mess of ice shards that were troublesome to clean up afterwards.
But using the green, healthy, environmentally friendly, and energy-saving Yang Xiaodao had none of these concerns. As expected, the boy, with a wooden face, lifted his foot, and in the next instant—BOOM!!
The entire security door flew out like a cannonball, crashing into the living room with a loud bang.
“Don’t move!” “Shenhai City Supervision Office!” “Don’t move, hands up!”
The crowd rushed in through the dust. Chen Miao, at the head of the pack, rushed into the entryway, his gun sweeping across the messy living room. No one.
Reports from supervisors in different directions came in at the same time: “Study is clear!”
“Bedroom is clear!”
“Bathroom is empty!”
—The entire house was empty, with only dust motes lingering in the air and a faint, residual smell of blood.
At this moment, Yang Xiaodao’s voice came from behind. “…Hey.”
Chen Miao turned around and followed the direction Yang Xiaodao was indicating.
On the floor tiles behind the door was a pool of dripping blood, mixed with specks of white, broken teeth.
A ruptured, cloudy sphere lay on the ground. Chen Miao slowly squatted down and stared at it for a moment.
It was an eyeball.
·
“That’s the situation.” Half an hour later, Chen Miao’s helpless voice came from the other end of the phone. “Zhang Zongxiao was beaten up and then taken away while unconscious. From the community’s surveillance footage, the person who took him was the little girl in the school uniform, dragging the dog-like Zhang Zongxiao with one hand and carrying a dripping crowbar in the other… I have to say, the little sister is a bit of a badass.”
In the Supervision Office office, Shen Zhuo sat behind his large desk and let out a silent breath.
“Got it,” he said faintly. “Have Director Wang assist in checking the surveillance. You guys can withdraw.”
“Yes, sir!”
It wasn’t surprising, actually. A little girl with an unknown background but meticulous methods, obviously with a high IQ, wouldn’t be so easily caught, especially since the clue of the animal fur was deliberately left by her.
If the Supervision Office hadn’t found anything suspicious from those few dog hairs, if they hadn’t been able to trace the torture gang through Huang Kaiqi, she would probably have had to find another way to give them more hints, so that the Supervision Office would notice her actions as soon as possible.
The little girl clearly wanted the Supervision Office to chase after her, but why?
Where did she plan to take Zhang Zongxiao?
Shen Zhuo finished the last of his miscellaneous tasks for the day, briefly browsed through the records of Evolutionist-related illegal crimes and civil disputes in Shenhai City for the past half-month, and finished approving the reports. It was already past eight o’clock.
He turned off his computer but did not get up to leave the office. Instead, he reached out again for that case file, leaned back in his armchair, and carefully flipped through it page by page, pondering. When he reached the timeline of the torture gang’s chat logs, he suddenly felt a subtle sense of incongruity.
However, just as he was about to look closer, there were two knocks on the office door, followed by a familiar, teasing voice:
“Yo, beauty, what are you doing? Haven’t eaten yet?”
Shen Zhuo looked up.
Bai Sheng was leaning against the office doorframe, young, energetic, and extraordinarily handsome. He was holding a huge takeout bag in each hand, filled with no less than a hundred skewers. The unique aroma of barbecue filled the entire office.
“…” Shen Zhuo said, “You really make yourself at home, Mr. Bai.”
“Of course,” Bai Sheng walked into the office, kicked open the large armchair in front of the desk with his foot, and smiled. “I’ve always seen myself as the future master of the country and the successor of socialism.”
The entire Supervision Office was currently most worried about the day Shen Zhuo’s fish-farming skills would backfire, and everyone would lose Bai-ge, this S-class golden thigh. Therefore, they did everything they could to curry favor behind his back—Chen Miao even knew to get an extra cup of bubble tea for Bai-ge, and Bai Sheng could even enter and exit the Supervision Office without swiping his access card, with the guards vying to open the door for him.
“Eat up.” Bai Sheng spread the barbecue all over the table. Abalone, oysters, and beef crabs were a dazzling array. There was even a large sea bowl of live lobster congee. “Man is iron, food is steel. It’s not good for your health to go hungry. Here, try these two skewers.”
Shen Zhuo said, “I don’t…”
“I ordered them specially for you. Lamb kidneys.”
The air was silent. Shen Zhuo looked at the two skewers of grilled lamb kidneys in Bai Sheng’s hand and, after a long moment, answered politely, “Thank you, my kidney function is fine. I don’t need any supplements. You can have them yourself.”
“What are you thinking, Supervisor Shen?” In an instant, Bai Sheng showed an expression of utmost innocence, shock, and confusion. “Lamb kidneys are rich in iron, which can ensure the number of red blood cells and improve blood oxygen and brain thinking efficiency—why are you so sensitive about kidney function?”
“…”
Shen Zhuo was speechless for a long time, looking at the great actor Bai’s utterly sincere face. Finally, he said slowly, “There’s something that’s been puzzling me for a long time.”
“Uh-huh?”
“Before you evolved to S-class, how did you manage to live to adulthood without being beaten to a pulp?”
Bai Sheng winked playfully, personally served Shen Zhuo a bowl of lobster congee, and smiled. “I’m very rich.”
Bai Sheng, the great young master of the Baihe Group, was the sole heir to a huge family trust. According to his parents’ will, if he were to unfortunately die, the vast majority of his fortune would be donated, not a penny left.
Therefore, the only requirement for Bai Sheng from those around him since he was a child was: stay alive, don’t die.
This might not be a big deal for a child from a normal family, but for Bai Sheng, it was too difficult. This was because he was born with a sassy mouth and was practically begging for a beating. He was famous in the upper social circles for his social butterfly syndrome. In kindergarten, he had once led a group of rich kids to line up and play with electrical outlets. When he saw two gangs of hooligans fighting on the street, he couldn’t help but go up and tease them, making them so angry that they stopped fighting and joined forces to chase after him.
It was only because his family was rich enough to hire professional bodyguards in three shifts that he was able to grow up without being beaten to death with a brick. Even so, he had almost given his own uncle a heart attack.
It turns out that being too sassy does have its karmic retribution. Five years ago, Bai Sheng went on a solo trip to the mountains for some free-hand rock climbing. While others were halfway up the mountain, he had to be a show-off and climb to the top. As a result, in the middle of the night, a meteorite from the sky pierced through three layers of his camping tent, bounced up, and hit him right on the back of the head, knocking him into a state where he couldn’t take care of himself. If it hadn’t been an evolution source meteorite, his head would have been gone on the spot. Even so, he was in the hospital for half a month before he woke up, and when he did, he had evolved into a rare S-class.
After years of torment, the suffering had turned to joy. All the investors in the trust company cried with happiness—although it was really annoying that this bastard could evolve; at least he wouldn’t get himself killed for his sassy mouth anymore.
Bai Sheng was a standard carnivore. Perhaps because he had evolved into an S-class, his demand for meat was simply limitless. He swept through most of the barbecue on the table at a speed that looked elegant at first glance but was in fact as brutal as a storm. He looked up and saw Shen Zhuo still slowly drinking his congee, flipping through the case file on the table with one hand.
“Look at you, your eating habits are so bad. You’re so distracted even when you’re eating.” Bai Sheng took out two bottles of Wahaha AD Calcium Milk from his pants pocket, personally handed one to Shen Zhuo, and asked with a grin, “Dessert after the meal, want some?”
Shen Zhuo was suspicious. “Where did you get these?”
“I won them from the barbecue shop owner’s kid in a stone-skipping contest.” Bai Sheng wagged his index finger and emphasized, “I won two bottles specially!”
“…”
“No, thank you.” Shen Zhuo said with a blank expression. “That’s the only barbecue shop in the three nearby streets. Everyone in the entire Supervision Office orders late-night snacks from his place. Remember to have Chen Miao buy two bottles of Wahaha to return tomorrow, otherwise your photo will be hung at his shop entrance for a year as a public display.”
Bai Sheng didn’t care at all about his flawless 360-degree perfect photo being publicly displayed for a year. He had even already made plans with his new friends to have another stone-skipping contest next time. He slurped down his bottle of AD Calcium Milk and leaned over to see Shen Zhuo still looking at the case file. He asked with interest, “Any discoveries?”
Shen Zhuo put down his spoon, leaned back in his chair, his brows slightly furrowed. “I always feel like something is off.”
Bai Sheng was not surprised. “Because the photo was photoshopped?”
Shen Zhuo glanced at him, the meaning being, how did you know?
The nude photo was indeed photoshopped, but after Huang Kaiqi’s computer was taken away by Director Wang, the photo had been censored, and no one had a chance to examine it closely. The only possibility was that an S-class’s dynamic vision was too terrifying. In the thousandth of a second that the chat log was opened at Huang Kaiqi’s house, he had already seen the photoshop traces from the photo.
But judging from Bai Sheng’s personality, his first reaction would more likely be to avert his eyes, not even observing whether the photo was photoshopped or not.
“Just a guess.” Sure enough, Bai Sheng shrugged. “This little girl is too smart. I guess she must have many ways to deal with different problems, and photoshopping a picture isn’t that difficult.”
Shen Zhuo nodded, his ten fingers loosely intertwined on the table. “That’s why I feel it’s off.”
“How so?”
“Too hasty.”
The two were across the desk from each other. From this angle, the line from Shen Zhuo’s chin to his neck extended gracefully in the light and shadow, until it disappeared into the deep shadow of his collarbone.
Bai Sheng propped his chin, staring intently at that small patch of skin as if not looking for a second would be a disservice to his nightly regrets of looking at photos. He asked nonchalantly, “Where was it hasty?”
“Three days, three people, three different times and places. From planning to action, there was not a single moment of delay. The efficiency was astonishing. But in contrast, Huang Kaiqi’s chat log shows that Zhang Zongxiao pretended to be a loving person and tricked the stray cat from the little girl 20 days ago, and then immediately started extorting nude photos. In other words, from realizing they were a torture gang to carrying out her revenge with her ability, this little girl waited for a full half-month.”
“It’s not like her,” Shen Zhuo leaned back in his armchair and shook his head. “Besides, she even sent a photoshopped nude photo during this period, obviously to stall for time.”
Previously, she had tried every means to delay, and now she suddenly retaliated so quickly. This contrast was not just a little off; it was a huge disparity.
“Hmm,” Bai Sheng thought absent-mindedly for a moment and asked, “Could it be that she hadn’t made up her mind before, and it was only three days ago that she finally realized the kitten had been tortured and killed, and that’s why she started retaliating so swiftly?”
“—She hadn’t made up her mind,” Shen Zhuo sneered. “Her ability is so strong. She could have just gone to their door, taken the cat back, and crippled these people. Why couldn’t she make up her mind?”
Bai Sheng, enlightened, finally understood a little. “So you think…”
“I think there’s something wrong with her ability.” Shen Zhuo paused and said, “Two possibilities. The first is that Wang Ping and Huang Kaiqi’s ‘rabies’ was not her doing. The half-month delay before was her looking for a helper. But judging from the fact that she went to find Zhang Zongxiao alone, this possibility is not high.”
Bai Sheng asked with interest, “And the second one?”
Shen Zhuo pondered for a moment and said slowly, “The second is that she was responsible for the two’s ‘rabies’, but in the half-month before that… she didn’t have this ability yet.”
Their eyes met, and they both knew they were thinking of the same person.
—Liu Sanji.
“It can’t be another secondary evolution, can it?” Bai Sheng rubbed his chin, looking a little surprised. “The only one I know who can suddenly give people abilities is that surnamed Rong. Could it be that this time it’s related to your ardent admirer again?”
Shen Zhuo took a deep breath, an action that fully demonstrated his amazing composure, then calmly repeated, “Speak properly. Don’t be crazy. He is not my admirer. I don’t have that many—”
The internal phone on the desk rang. It was the duty secretary’s office.
“Hello?”
“Supervisor, we’ve received a virtual meeting communication key. The Central Supervision Office is requesting an immediate meeting with you…”
“Who?”
“Uh, it’s Chief Yue.”
The air was silent for a moment. Bai Sheng showed a smile more standard than an emoji and said with a cadence:
“—’I don’t have that many admirers at all’.”
Shen Zhuo covered the mouthpiece with one hand and looked up at Bai Sheng. The latter met his gaze, spread his hands, then leaned back with his legs crossed innocently, as if to say, I’m not going to avoid it. I’m not afraid to see him.
“…”
Shen Zhuo pinched the bridge of his nose and said into the phone, “Connect him.”
A projector on the office ceiling automatically extended, and then countless beams of light appeared, crisscrossing in the air to form a deceptively real three-dimensional virtual projection.
Bai Sheng sat in front of the desk in a pose that could be described as an award-winning actor looking down on the world. His arms were crossed, his long legs were spread wide with abandon, and every strand of his hair was perfect enough to be on the cover of a fashion magazine. His young, handsome, and confident face would probably have made him a top-billed star in a nightclub.
The next moment, Yue Yang’s figure, in a neat and serious uniform, appeared in the office. “Shen Zhuo…”
Then he was stunned.
“Oh my, my apologies, my apologies.” Bai Sheng miraculously changed his expression in a second, quickly retracted his legs and stood up, apologizing carefully and sincerely. “I just happened to be here. Supervisor Shen was so busy all day he didn’t have time to eat. I was so worried, so I just came to bring him some food.”
Then he turned to Shen Zhuo, his eyes shining with the unique seriousness and shyness of a young man:
“It’s all my fault. I was worried that Supervisor Shen was too busy with work and would tire himself out. Ah, Chief Yue must have a lot of work to trouble Supervisor Shen with, right? You two talk, you two talk. Supervisor Shen, remember to rest early after you’re done. See you later!”
Yue Yang: “…………”
A thousand words were stuck in Chief Yue’s throat, but he could only open his mouth helplessly, unable to say anything.
Shen Zhuo held his forehead and gritted his teeth at Bai Sheng. “You, sit down!”
Bai Sheng was waiting for this sentence.
He immediately and obediently sat back down, sitting upright and proper in front of Yue Yang, his hands on his thighs, asking with the dignified, kind, and tolerant manner of a head wife:
“May I ask what business you have with Supervisor Shen, Chief Yue? Any unimportant miscellaneous matters can be handled by me.”
In a daze, Chief Yue felt a sensation similar to Granny Liu2“Granny Liu” is a character from the classic Chinese novel “Dream of the Red Chamber” (红楼梦). The expression is used in modern Chinese to describe someone, usually simple and unsophisticated, who is overwhelmed by new experiences and luxurious surroundings entering the Grand View Garden.3“大观园” (Dà Guān Yuán) is the name of a grand estate in the Chinese classic novel “Dream of the Red Chamber” (红楼梦).
He closed his eyes, forced himself to take five deep breaths, and silently counted to ten in his head. Finally, he managed to break free from the magnificent and terrifying display of the S-class male’s plumage. Only then did he manage to regain his composure and, with a forced cough, said:
“…The surveillance from the Central District Evolutionist Specialist Hospital shows that on the night three days ago, Rong Qi and several of his subordinates appeared at the hospital entrance.”
“According to the surveillance analysis, Rong Qi may have… visited Su Jiqiao’s hospital room.”
Bai Sheng is really counting the people that have a crush with Shen Zhuo HAHHAHA
Can’t defend mc on this one – Mc’s pursuers are really a lot (*/ω＼)
For anyone who was wondering why Shen Zhuo was annoyed by the kidneys: in TCM, lack of yang energy in the kidneys is linked with erectile dysfunction 😉 So basically, he felt that Bai Sheng was questioning his virility (and knowing Bai Sheng, it’s not entirely inconceivable that this was entirely intentional…) 😂
Things you learn by reading fan translated danmei novels 😁