YT YouTube2Text

YouTube2Text → Transcripts → I Have Absolute Control Over My Body—Hormones, Glands, Hair, Bones, Even My Cells!

I Have Absolute Control Over My Body—Hormones, Glands, Hair, Bones, Even My Cells! — Transcript

by Bablak Bonsignore · 30,409 words · 4,374 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

Open in transcriber Summarize with AI Download SRT/VTT

Full transcript

0:00I can control my own body, though the
0:01control is a bit more conceptual than
0:03physical. From hormones to glands, from
0:05hair to bones, every inch of flesh and
0:07every single cell inside me is under my
0:08full control. As long as I know how, I
0:10can boost my body's athletic ability. I
0:12can dehydrate extra tissue and squeeze
0:14it outside my body to make tools. I can
0:16twist my facial muscles and completely
0:18remake my features. I can send out nerve
0:20threads to control other people's
0:21bodies, and I can even set off ahead of
0:23schedule the time bomb hidden in our
0:25genes. At first, I could only roughly
0:27sense and influence systems like
0:28digestion, breathing, and hormones. Now,
0:30my skill is fine enough to control body
0:32fluids and tissue structures at the
0:33micron scale, as long as it stays within
0:35my body's reach, as long as it is still
0:37connected to me. Every part that comes
0:39from inside me obeys my commands
0:40completely. I have also given myself a
0:42height of 6'1" and a flawless face, and
0:44without straying far from my original
0:46looks, I am even a little handsome. Even
0:48when I need to injure myself or twist my
0:50body into unnatural shapes, I can
0:51temporarily cut the nerve signals that
0:53carry pain, so I feel nothing at all.
0:55That includes this time. The wounds all
0:57over my body and the blood I kept
0:58coughing up, I did that to myself on
1:00purpose. Honestly, if I wanted to,
1:02taking down those thugs in a short time
1:04would be no problem. Even 30-some stab
1:06wounds would not matter, because my body
1:07repairs itself anyway. The reason I did
1:09not fight back is first that we live in
1:11a society ruled by law. Second, I am
1:13still bound by my identity as a high
1:15school student. In recent years, the
1:16rules for judging excessive self-defense
1:18have been very clear. If it were ruled
1:20mutual combat afterward, I would be in
1:22trouble. Besides, I hope to use this
1:23injury as a chance to escape my school
1:25for a while. Over the past month, I have
1:27discovered that my control over my body
1:29is tied to my brain power. The sharper
1:30my thinking, the finer the things I can
1:32sense and manipulate. But the brain is
1:34the one part of my body I do not dare to
1:35modify freely. Once I tried to fine-tune
1:37my cerebral cortex, and I nearly stopped
1:40myself from thinking. To control a body
1:41part, I have to hold a matching command
1:43in my mind, and what got disrupted was
1:45my brain's ability to think. In other
1:47words, I almost trapped myself in an
1:48endless loop. Since then, I train my
1:50mind mainly through crazy amounts of
1:52studying and problem-solving. It is a
1:53hassle, sure, but it is much safer. I
1:55cannot change the brain structure
1:57itself, but I can temporarily lower my
1:59fatigue, wipe out negative emotions, and
2:01speed up memory consolidation. That
2:03gives me a learning efficiency ordinary
2:04people simply do not have. In 1 month, I
2:06have studied all kinds of random
2:08knowledge from every field. My memory,
2:10my calculation power, and my abstract
2:11reasoning have all leaped forward. As
2:13for ordinary high school exams, I can
2:15now score close to full marks in every
2:17subject. I just have not had the chance
2:18to show my real level in front of anyone
2:20yet. If an ordinary person pushed their
2:22brain this hard, waste would pile up
2:23inside it to a shocking degree. But, I
2:25have long been skilled at cleaning and
2:27restoring my brain without touching its
2:28structure. As I began developing my
2:30brain, my grip on my body deepened, and
2:32a new problem surfaced. The school's
2:34backward primitive curriculum cannot
2:35keep up with my far-ahead pace. Before
2:37each class, I only need to flip quickly
2:39through the lesson plan or practice
2:40sheet, and I understand the whole lesson
2:42before the bell even rings. I can even
2:44guess how the teacher will teach, and
2:45exactly when they are most likely to say
2:47what, and reality does turn out almost
2:49exactly as I predict. Day after day, it
2:51feels like watching a TV show I have
2:52already binged many times. Of course, I
2:54get restless and bored. I also tried
2:56using the breaks to memorize the books I
2:58had secretly brought to school:
2:59Introduction to Computer Science,
3:00Principles of Economics, The Complete
3:02Book of Human Anatomy, and Introductory
3:04Lectures on Psychoanalysis. Then, during
3:06class, I would break them down in my
3:07head and digest them slowly. But, that
3:09was still too slow. The slow pace, the
3:11strict classroom rules, everything is
3:13blocking me from digging out my full
3:14potential. I do not want to keep wasting
3:16my time in class. I want to break free
3:18from the school's control. But, Destiny
3:20Experimental High School is the classic
3:21stiff old-fashioned type. When I went to
3:23the Academic Affairs Office and
3:25explained why I was there, they flatly
3:26refused to let me take a test to prove
3:28my level. Go back to class. If every
3:30student came to us like you, think how
3:32much trouble we would have. If we make
3:33an exception for you, the whole school
3:35would fall into chaos. Just do better on
3:37the next monthly exam. That will say
3:38more than anything you tell us. That was
3:40a little different from what I had
3:41expected. Those scenes in web novels
3:43where the hero gets special treatment
3:44and skips class, all lies. Worse, the
3:47school keeps squeezing the students'
3:48rest time even harder. Even on holidays,
3:50they require voluntary extra classes
3:52until 10:00 at night. Even my classmates
3:54complain bitterly about it. The politest
3:55thing anyone says is something like,
3:57"The school administrators can go to
3:59hell." I seriously considered picking a
4:00lucky day and performing a leap of faith
4:02right off the school building to
4:03pressure the school with real action.
4:05After all, I really can make my body
4:07burst open in a spectacular way without
4:09actually getting hurt. The only real
4:10difficulty was how to keep the school
4:12from covering it up. But before I
4:13finished planning, on my way home from
4:15school, some clueless punks robbed me at
4:17knife point. I get sleepy and somebody
4:18hands me a pillow. Perfect timing. So,
4:20why wait for a lucky day? No time like
4:22the present. I did not fight the muggers
4:24directly, yet in the end I did them more
4:26damage than any punch could. Even if
4:28they had simply dropped me and walked
4:29away, it would have been fine. The alley
4:31had no cameras, but the roads nearby
4:33surely did, right? Enough to catch them
4:34leaving the alley, right? I could have
4:36crawled painfully to the mouth of the
4:37alley, then lain there unconscious and
4:39covered in blood all night until someone
4:41found me the next morning. That way the
4:42story might have blown up even bigger.
4:44Hey, guy in black, I am not the one who
4:46ruined you. This crazy age of extra
4:48classes did. The voluntary extra classes
4:50detail that slipped out after I was hurt
4:51made sure the school could not bury the
4:53story right away. Once I recovered
4:55enough to use my phone, I was searching
4:56for industry knowledge in different
4:58fields to study harder when a news alert
5:00about me popped up. A Destiny High
5:01student is attacked late at night on his
5:03way home and critically injured. The
5:05city education bureau urgently bans
5:06illegal extra classes at all primary and
5:08middle schools. The story of how I
5:10nearly lost my life because of extra
5:12classes running too late has already
5:13caused a huge uproar across Destiny
5:15City. Luckily, although I am already 18,
5:17I started school late and I'm still a
5:19junior. If I had been a senior about to
5:20take the National College Entrance Exam,
5:22I cannot even imagine how far this would
5:24have exploded. The city also issued an
5:26urgent notice. All primary and middle
5:28schools are strictly forbidden from
5:29holding extra classes on holidays or
5:31weekends. Evening study sessions and
5:33other on-campus activities must also let
5:35out by 8:30 at night. People at other
5:36schools and in other classes see this as
5:38a happy surprise. But in my class group
5:40chat, the mood feels a little strange.
5:42Maybe it is because the one who got hurt
5:43is their own classmate, and cheering
5:45freely in the chat while the victim is
5:46right there would be a bit rude. People
5:48keep tagging me in the chat to ask what
5:50happened. Some even wonder if I am dead.
5:52I do not answer. I usually just skim the
5:54messages on my screen and go right back
5:55to my training and absorbing knowledge.
5:57If I popped up to talk with them, I
5:59would get bombarded with random
6:00questions, and dealing with that would
6:01be a pain. The constant notifications
6:03would also disturb my studying, so I
6:05might as well pretend I do not see them.
6:07My parents who work away from home
6:08rushed back as soon as they heard the
6:10news to handle everything. Relatives and
6:12neighbors came to visit, too, along with
6:13school administrators who hurried into
6:15my room carrying bags and bags of gifts.
6:17Sometimes my hospital room was even
6:19busier than the school, but there I
6:21asked to be left alone, claiming I felt
6:23dizzy. That way nobody could say a word
6:24when I secretly check my phone. During
6:26that time, I also heard that the mugger
6:28in black had given up his three
6:29accomplices. Their families talked with
6:31my parents and offered generous
6:32compensation, hoping to win the victim's
6:34forgiveness. The school knew it could
6:35not escape blame, so it paid part of the
6:37compensation, too. Added together, and
6:39after medical bills, about 180,000 yuan
6:42was left. My parents did not take the
6:44money. They left it for me to spend
6:45freely. Meanwhile, I kept healing my
6:47injuries slowly, at a pace no doctor
6:49could notice. A week later, I was
6:50discharged without a hitch. My family
6:52had already requested more than a month
6:54of leave for me, and I still have over
6:55three weeks left. Before leaving, they
6:57even offered to hire someone to look
6:59after my meals and daily life, but I
7:00politely declined. Out loud, I said I
7:02could take care of myself, but what I
7:04was really thinking was that back home,
7:05I would have plenty to do that nobody
7:07should see. Out of the hospital and back
7:09in my quiet home, I spend long hours at
7:11my computer, digging up information and
7:12studying ever deeper, more obscure
7:14subjects. Mostly medicine and biology,
7:16though I touch on other fields, too. And
7:18all the while, I keep practicing control
7:20over my own body's structure. It is far
7:22more efficient at home. In less than
7:23three days, I can already with intense
7:25focus roughly sense the genetic
7:27structure inside a single fixed cell or
7:29a patch of cells. How much I can tamper
7:30with it is still limited for now, but
7:32that is enough. Naturally, as my
7:34research goes deeper, I have set my
7:35sights on humanity's ultimate goal for
7:37thousands of years, eternal life. Since
7:39I have such a unique advantage, I can
7:41start by testing ways to extend the
7:42human lifespan, and not just mine. Other
7:44people's lives should be extended, too.
7:46Now, even a fatal wound heals as fast as
7:48a scratch on me. I have already gone far
7:50beyond the legendary athletes of
7:51internet lore. Only the recovery speed
7:53and the mental energy it costs depend on
7:55how serious the injury is. The only
7:57thing I am not sure can heal after
7:58damage is the brain. In theory, it can
8:00still die of old age. So, researching
8:02life extension is truly necessary.
8:04Better still, I can add years to other
8:06people's lives, too, and win fame and
8:08fortune I never dared to dream of. This
8:09investment cannot lose. Outside my 10th
8:11floor window, the noise of traffic and
8:13honking drifts up from the street below.
8:15This faint white noise plays every day,
8:17like the endless heartbeat of a city
8:18that lives 9-5. The holidays are over. I
8:21check the time. My classmates must be
8:22starting their group jogging drills by
8:24now. I gaze out the window, drifting for
8:26a moment, then turn my eyes back to the
8:27pimple-sized lump on my left arm. Inside
8:30this lump, my tissue cells are speeding
8:31up their own time. I do not mean the
8:33cells simply age and die faster. I am
8:35changing their biological age, step by
8:37step, into what my cells would look like
8:39at 20, 30, and 40. The telomeres at the
8:41ends of the chromosomes are shrinking
8:42fast, and the methylation patterns at
8:44certain DNA sites are changing. I watch
8:46these changes closely. By analyzing the
8:48methylation level at specific sites, you
8:50can estimate a person's biological age,
8:52according to the most advanced published
8:54research in the field. With precise
8:55enough measuring technology and
8:57algorithms, the error should in theory
8:58stay within 15 years. Either way, I have
9:01read a huge amount of related material.
9:03After special training, I can also read
9:04the methylation state and quickly
9:06calculate in my head which age of mine
9:07the cells in the lump match. By my
9:09estimate, the signs of aging should
9:11clearly visible around 50 to 60, but the
9:13abnormality appears at around 41. The
9:15cells inside the lump suddenly begin to
9:17die off in a rush, a process called
9:19apoptosis. Even the healthy arm tissue
9:21outside the lump is affected, and it
9:23kills itself along with them. It happens
9:24so fast that I freeze for a moment
9:26before I react. What is going on? Did my
9:28cells crash out from stress and jump off
9:30a building? I check the material on my
9:32phone and think it over again and again.
9:33I am sure nothing is wrong with my
9:35experiment. Let me try again. I dissolve
9:37the lump full of dead cells, build a
9:38fresh one, and start the acceleration.
9:40So, what if cells commit suicide? If you
9:42will not do it, plenty of other cells
9:44will. But this time, my focus is razor
9:46sharp. 20, 30, 40, and again trouble
9:48hits at 41. As the methylation state
9:50becomes the same as last time, part of
9:52my gene sequence suddenly codes for a
9:54peptide only a few dozen amino acids
9:56long. A few molecules of it are enough
9:57to trigger the cell suicide program. If
9:59this happened not in a lump on my arm,
10:01but in my entire body, then from the
10:03outside, I would die silently within a
10:04few hours. My whole body withering and
10:06aging as if drained dry. What on earth
10:08is going wrong? I change the experiment
10:10setup, growing lumps in different places
10:12on my body, and try many times. The
10:14result is always the same. When my cells
10:16reach the state of 41, they begin to
10:18kill themselves together. I dissolve
10:19every lump on my body and stare at the
10:21sky for a long time. Am I not supposed
10:23to live past 41? Do I have some strange
10:25disease? Of course, I do not believe my
10:27short life comes from having borrowed 80
10:29years of lifespan, like in some web
10:30novel. There must be another reason. I
10:32can already run a basic medical
10:34diagnosis on my whole body. I know I am
10:36healthy in every way, with no sign of a
10:37terminal illness. Could it be some kind
10:39of inherited disease? My parents are not
10:41here now, but back in the hospital I had
10:43foreseen that I might need this. So, I
10:44had secretly collected their cells, too.
10:46The method was to compress fat inside my
10:48body into a dense, tough form, and twist
10:50it, shaping it into fat threads thinner
10:52than a strand of hair. I sent them out,
10:54wrapped them quickly around a single
10:55hair, and pulled it out with the
10:56follicle. For someone who can adjust his
10:58own eyesight, this tiny move, as precise
11:00as surgery, was easy to keep hidden. And
11:02I am extremely fast. If they felt
11:04anything on their scalp, they would
11:05think it was just a tiny insect flying
11:07past. That included the relatives and
11:09teachers who came to visit. I stole
11:10cells from all of them without a trace,
11:12and kept them alive in a culture chamber
11:13I had set aside inside my body. In the
11:15short stretch before discharge, when I
11:17was allowed out of bed, I even stole
11:19cells from other patients in the
11:20hospital. And by sneaking a look at
11:22their charts, I memorized their basic
11:23information, including their ages.
11:25Inside the culture chamber in my body,
11:27these cells are neither recognized and
11:28killed by white blood cells, nor starved
11:30to death. Earlier, I used these cells to
11:32study the methylation clock. I combined
11:34it with the known donor ages and kept
11:36training my brain to quickly calculate
11:37the matching age from methylation
11:39levels, shrinking my error. Now, it is
11:40time to put these cells to further use.
11:42First, I pull out one of my own hairs.
11:44Following an explanation I found online,
11:46I try to turn hair follicle cells into
11:48stem cells using my own body. Other
11:50people's cells run out one by one, so it
11:52is better to test on my own first. After
11:54endless trial and error, by evening I
11:55finally managed to reverse highly
11:57specialized cells like hair follicle
11:59cells into induced pluripotent stem
12:01cells inside my own body. These cells
12:03can divide forever and turn into any
12:04type of cell. Then it takes me two more
12:06days to get the cells I collected from
12:08other people to divide and differentiate
12:09into all kinds of tiny tissues. During
12:11the reversal and redifferentiation, the
12:13original methylation clock inside each
12:15cell gets wiped clean along the way. But
12:17that is fine. I can start from scratch
12:18and speed them up again to the state of
12:20each donor's age. Now, the acceleration
12:22begins. I make my parents' cells start
12:24to age, too. Before long, they are easy
12:26to recognize as an old person's cells.
12:27Honestly, at first I did not hold much
12:29hope for this test. My parents were born
12:31in 1978 and 1984. Both are long past 41,
12:35so they should not have a sudden strange
12:36illness in their 40s like mine. But the
12:38same thing happens again. This time the
12:40cells die at 73 and 67. It is the same
12:43for everyone else whose cells I
12:44collected, without exception. Each
12:46person has a fixed death age of their
12:47own, ranging from 50 to 90. As the
12:49experiment goes on, my expression grows
12:51heavier and heavier. Will everyone I
12:53picked really drop dead from some sudden
12:54strange illness one day? Is there a
12:56pattern in these numbers? I calculate in
12:58my head. I was born in 2010. So when I
13:00turn 40, the year will be 2050. 2050.
13:03Wait, it seems my parents' death points
13:05will land around that time, too. I check
13:07the math again. I have not made a
13:08mistake. Earlier, to train myself to
13:10judge age from the methylation clock, I
13:12had asked around for the exact ages of
13:13my relatives and friends. By my
13:15estimates, everyone's time of death also
13:17lands around 2050. Right. I also looked
13:19up online the birth dates of the school
13:21administrators and grade deans at
13:22Destiny Experimental High School. That
13:24put the last piece into the puzzle of my
13:26guess. Everyone will die of a sudden
13:27illness in 2050. I feel a little dazed.
13:30I stand up from my chair and sit down
13:31again. No, stay calm. Maybe my testing
13:34method itself is flawed. Maybe everyone
13:36will be perfectly fine in 2050 and I
13:38just slipped up somewhere while
13:39experimenting inside my own body. After
13:41all, this is too bizarre. It is better
13:43not to jump to conclusions. Still,
13:44checking it is absolutely necessary. I
13:46get moving right away. I change my shoes
13:48and head out the door. 9:45 in the
13:50morning, Golden Phoenix Residences. Good
13:52morning, Mrs. Bailey. Dean dear. Mrs.
13:55Bailey, my elderly neighbor, holds a dog
13:56leash and smiles kindly. Are your
13:58injuries any better? Much better. See, I
14:00can even go out for a walk. I crouch
14:02down. The big golden retriever on her
14:04leash nuzzles her hand affectionately.
14:05Good boy, Sunny. Eat this. I pat the
14:07dog's head, pull out an open pack of ham
14:09sausage, and feed it to the golden
14:11retriever. As I pull my hand back, a
14:13flesh tendril slips out from the back of
14:14my hand and swallows the saliva on the
14:16wrapper in a flash. 11:23 in the
14:18morning, New Century Plaza on South
14:20Everbright Road. I stroll along the edge
14:22of a green belt and come face to face
14:24with a small black white kitten. The
14:25kitten is only a few months old. It
14:27stares up at me warily, slaps its front
14:29paws on the ground, opens its tiny
14:31mouth, and lets out a warning hiss. I
14:33strike fast and snatch the kitten into
14:34my palm. My reflexes are now several
14:36times faster than a cat's. The kitten
14:38struggles hard, its sharp claws raking
14:40across my skin, but they do not leave
14:42even a white mark. It twists its head
14:43around and keeps hissing at me. But the
14:45instant its mouth opens, I swipe a flesh
14:47tendril quickly along the inside of its
14:49cheek and collect a cell sample. The
14:51kitten instantly makes a face like a
14:52zombie that just bit into garlic. Good
14:54kitty. It even knows to open its mouth
14:56for me. 1:57 in the afternoon, the
14:58entrance of Agate Lake Park. Sensing me
15:00coming, a few sparrows by the road
15:01flutter up in alarm and land in a tree.
15:03I look up. Fat threads made of densely
15:05compressed fat stretch from my palm into
15:07the tree and quietly wind around one
15:09sparrow, round and round. Then they
15:10suddenly tighten and bind it firmly. The
15:12sparrow shrieks scare its companions
15:14away. I pull my hand back and the
15:16retracting fat threads carry the sparrow
15:17into my palm. Cheap cheap cheap cheap.
15:19The sparrow flaps its wings in my palm.
15:21I pluck one feather, then let the
15:23sparrow go and watch it vanish into the
15:24sky. 3:54 in the afternoon, the fresh
15:27market. How much is this fish? To keep
15:29the fish seller from noticing that a
15:30thread-like tendril is tugging scales
15:32off one fish, I pointed a different fish
15:34in another direction to draw her
15:35attention. The fish seller scoops up
15:36that fish, slams it dead against the
15:38counter, and puts it on the scale. 9
15:40yuan for half a kilo. 15 yuan
15:42altogether. Thank you. Now that I have
15:44the scales, I toss out a casual
15:45pleasantry and turn to leave. Hey!
15:47Behind me, the fish seller's voice rises
15:49sharply. What is wrong with you, young
15:51man? I turn around to make sure she is
15:52talking to me. What did I do? She could
15:54not have caught me stealing the scales,
15:56right? You are not buying? No, it is too
15:58expensive. I already slammed the fish
16:00dead. How am I supposed to sell it now?
16:02Hurry up and pay. I did not ask you to
16:03kill it. I glare coldly at her. This
16:05woman is completely unreasonable. She
16:07refuses to back down. Then why did you
16:09point? When you point, I take it you are
16:10buying. Pointing does not mean I am
16:12buying, okay? Look at you, a grown man
16:14who does not even know not to point at
16:16fish. Were you raised with any manners?
16:18Pay up and stop hurting my business. She
16:20says that last sentence almost like an
16:21order. I am not buying. I am annoyed
16:23enough to get tough, too, and I turn to
16:25leave. She drops the bag with the fish,
16:27chases after me, and grabs the hem of my
16:28shirt. You are not going anywhere. She
16:30screams at the top of her lungs at
16:32everyone around, and every eye turns our
16:33way. Everybody look, judge this for
16:35yourselves. This young man is big and
16:37tall, and he is bullying me. He bought
16:39fish and will not pay. Is there no
16:40justice left? The people around me point
16:42at me and whisper. That young man looks
16:44decent enough. How could he do this?
16:46What kind of parents raise someone like
16:47that? Tut, tut. Kid, take some advice.
16:49Just pay up quickly so nobody has to end
16:51this badly. Exactly. The murmuring keeps
16:53drifting toward me. She has my clothes
16:55clamped tightly in her hands. I try to
16:57break free and fail, and I instinctively
16:59shove her. Let go. You dare touch me? Go
17:01ahead and try. Do you dare hit me? Hit
17:03me. She thrusts her face up at mine, a
17:05hint of smugness in her expression. Let
17:07me tell you, I am an old woman. Think
17:08very carefully before you lay a hand on
17:10me. Understand? Hmm, that actually gives
17:12me an idea. I look around and see that
17:14people nearby have been drawn in by the
17:15commotion. With timing and place so
17:17perfect, I decide to take the very plan
17:19she just offered, faking an injury to
17:21shake her down. When she kicks me
17:23venting her anger, I seize the moment.
17:24My legs give way and I collapse,
17:26spitting blood, my face turning pale.
17:28Ah, even the woman gripping my shirt
17:30almost gets dragged down with me. She
17:32staggers upright and stares at me on the
17:33ground, blood pouring from my nose and
17:35mouth, my face ashen. Her expression
17:37freezes. Only one thought is left in her
17:39blank mind. This is bad. Someone is
17:41dying. Um, if you do not want the fish,
17:43forget it, okay? She kicked me. Ow, I
17:45cannot take it. Stop her. Do not let her
17:47run. This is not over until she pays. I
17:49cry out in agony. The fish seller cannot
17:51help grumbling in her head. Those were
17:53supposed to be my lines. The trip out
17:54has brought me cells from all kinds of
17:56creatures, plus a surprise windfall of a
17:58few thousand yuan. I repeat the earlier
18:00experiment. Because reference data is
18:01scarce, I cannot use exactly the same
18:03method to judge the ages that animal
18:05cells correspond to, but I can at least
18:07be sure that the accelerated time of
18:08these cells has gone far beyond 2050.
18:10Some have even passed their animals'
18:12natural lifespan limits by a wide
18:13margin. Yet the cell suicide I saw
18:15before never shows up again. When I try
18:17human cells again, they die right on
18:19schedule at 2050. So this is unlikely to
18:21be an error caused by my actions or
18:23experiment details. Otherwise, why are
18:25the animals fine and only human cells
18:27fail? It also occurs to me that, since I
18:29run the experiment inside my own human
18:30body, something I have missed may be
18:32interfering only with human cells. But
18:34even after I strip out and isolate
18:36everything unnecessary in my culture
18:37chamber, my own cells included, and even
18:39control conditions like temperature and
18:41humidity with precision, making sure
18:42that apart from the test cells
18:44themselves, the environment is no
18:45different from an ordinary biology lab,
18:47the result does not change. Humans, and
18:49only humans, die together from cell
18:51suicide in 2050. After a whole day of
18:53busy work, I lean back in my chair lost
18:55in thought. A time bomb has been buried
18:57in our genes. I think it over and over,
18:59and time bomb is the only phrase that
19:00fits this hidden mine buried in people's
19:02genes. No matter how old someone is,
19:04once that person reaches the age that
19:06matches the year 2050, their genes fire
19:08off a baffling command that kills them
19:09within a short time. It is exactly like
19:11a bomb counting down to 2050. By this
19:13pattern, someone born this year dies at
19:1523. Someone born in 2048 may not even
19:18live to three. Researching life
19:19extension methods now is pointless. As
19:21things stand, apart from the elderly who
19:23will die of old age before 2050, nobody
19:25will live to see their natural death.
19:27When the time comes, the sun will still
19:28rise and the earth will keep turning. On
19:30this ancient stage that has lasted 4.6
19:32billion years, nature will be fine.
19:34Buildings and technology will be fine
19:36and everything will stay intact. Only
19:38humanity itself will vanish completely
19:40in terror and despair. A trait that
19:41targets only humans cannot possibly have
19:43evolved naturally. It clearly carries
19:45the marks of deliberate manipulation.
19:47But who could possibly have both the
19:48motive and the power to harm all of
19:49humanity? I cannot even tell from any
19:51experiment what makes their gene
19:53sequences begin to code for those
19:54cell-killing components at the age that
19:56matches the fixed year. There must be
19:57some trigger, right? But the gene
19:59segments do not seem to receive any
20:00signal. It is as if they suddenly go
20:02mad. And this is me. For anyone else,
20:04even a professional researcher, there is
20:06almost no reason to push young cells
20:08quickly into an old cell state. Even if
20:10they tried, they would hardly have the
20:11technology to pull it off. Even if they
20:13succeeded, they would assume the cell
20:14death came from some other accidental
20:16factor. And they could never observe the
20:17whole process at my scale to find the
20:19pattern. I have no doubt. I may be the
20:21only person in the whole world who
20:22realizes how serious this is. I think
20:24for a moment and a key detail suddenly
20:26comes back to me. I seem to have fallen
20:27into a thinking trap. I still cannot be
20:29sure that every human being carries this
20:31time bomb in their genes. True, I have
20:33tested many kinds of human cells. Both
20:35the cells as collected and the cells
20:36after differentiation cover all sorts of
20:38cell types. But there is one thing they
20:40all share that I have not stepped
20:41outside of. Every cell I collected, like
20:43my own, comes from ethnically Chinese
20:45people. People online like to joke, this
20:47must be an American plot. It is just for
20:49fun. But facing this situation, I have
20:50to seriously consider every possibility.
20:53I need to test some foreigners, too. But
20:54where nearby can I find a large number
20:56of foreigners, enough to collect plenty
20:58of cells in a short time? I lower my
20:59head in thought and search on my
21:01computer for a while. Soon I have a
21:02target, Destiny University. It is a
21:04famous school in the country, divided
21:06into several parts, including the
21:07International College. The International
21:09College has students from more than 30
21:11different countries, covering almost
21:12every ethnic group in the world. I take
21:14the subway to Destiny University. Inside
21:16and outside the gate, top students from
21:18every major keep streaming in and out.
21:20Mixed in with the crowd, wearing a set
21:21of newly bought clothes, I wander
21:23outside the gate as if I have nothing to
21:24do. I pretend to glance casually at a
21:26college student who has just scanned his
21:28face and is leaving campus. My eyes
21:29follow him for a moment, then quickly
21:31pull back. I have reshaped my eyeballs
21:33and my vision is greatly enhanced. I
21:35take in every detail of that student's
21:37face clearly. I burn his features into
21:38my memory and wander around the roadside
21:40for a few more loops. Meanwhile, my
21:42facial structure gives off soft, dull
21:44sounds that only I can hear. When I come
21:46back, my whole face is completely become
21:47that student's. I pass the face
21:49recognition at the gate without trouble
21:51and slip into Destiny University.
21:52Dappled tree shadows fall on both sides
21:54of the path and the cool breeze of
21:56golden autumn brings a fresh scent. Amid
21:58the coming and going, birdsong overhead
21:59mixes with the rumble of suitcase wheels
22:01on the ground, making a background sound
22:03full of campus life. Infiltration
22:05successful. Past the university gate, I
22:07look left and right, in no hurry to act
22:08right away. My face belongs to a real
22:10Destiny University student. To avoid
22:12running into anyone he knows, I turn
22:14right as soon as I enter the gate and
22:16duck into a quieter path. Even if
22:17someone stares at my face for less than
22:195 seconds, they will never notice my
22:21features slowly twisting and reforming
22:22like clay. A few minutes later, I circle
22:24back to the crowded main road and blend
22:26in among countless ordinary students. My
22:28face now is neither that student's,
22:30which I copied earlier, nor my own
22:31original look. It belongs to a young man
22:33who is ordinary in every way. Someone
22:35who disappears into any crowd. Now,
22:37nothing can go wrong. I open my phone's
22:39front camera and check myself. I am very
22:41happy with my current look. Among all
22:42the uses of my power, face shifting is
22:44one of my favorites and it is incredibly
22:46versatile. At the high end, I can fool
22:48spy agencies. At the low end, I can pull
22:50petty sneaky stunts. I can even pose as
22:52a girl and catfish my buddies until they
22:54are hooked. But, I am getting off track.
22:56After checking my current face, I put
22:57away my phone and pull a clipboard and a
22:59pen from my new jacket, looking every
23:01bit like a note taker. Looking over the
23:02crowd, I lock onto a group of white
23:04international students walking together.
23:06I adjust my expression and walk up to
23:07them. Once I reach them, I change my
23:09voice and speak in fluent English.
23:11"Excuse me, I am doing a sociology
23:13survey project for class. Do you mind if
23:15I ask you a few questions?" One of the
23:16students gives me a single look, waves
23:18me off half-heartedly, and puts on a
23:20distant expression. "No, we are busy."
23:22Halfway through his gaze freezes, and
23:24the rest of his sentence is forced back
23:25down his throat. Right there, in full
23:27view of everyone, I pull out a bright
23:29red 100 yuan bill and hold it up in
23:31front of his face. "Oh, I wonder if this
23:32little bit of money is enough to borrow
23:34a few minutes of your time?" I wear a
23:35knowing smile that says I get what you
23:37want. "Enough! Of course it is enough."
23:39The student's eyes light up and his
23:40impatient look instantly brightens. I
23:42really do read people well. He flashes a
23:44warm smile too and takes the money from
23:46my hand. "Actually, I am not that busy.
23:48It would be an honor to be interviewed.
23:49Go ahead, friend. What do you want to
23:51ask me?" I get into the role, straighten
23:52the paper on my clipboard, and first ask
23:54this student for the crucial details,
23:56his nationality and date of birth. I
23:58write them down. Then I ramble through
24:00some unimportant questions and scribble
24:01away with great seriousness, exactly as
24:04if I am really running a survey. "What
24:05are your hobbies? Are your daily habits
24:07different at home and here in China?
24:08What do you eat here?" In the middle of
24:10the questions, I deliberately lure a few
24:12of the students into staring at my
24:13clipboard. That keeps their attention
24:14busy, so they never notice my thread
24:16sneaking out to pull their hair. My tiny
24:18moves go completely unnoticed. I look
24:20just like a petty sneak thief, and a
24:21literal one, stealing other people's
24:23hair. A few minutes pass. After I take
24:25hairs with their follicles from each of
24:27them in turn and store them inside my
24:28body, I put away my clipboard,
24:30satisfied. "Okay, that is all my
24:31questions. Thank you for your
24:33cooperation." Uh-huh, no big deal. The
24:35student who got the money walks off with
24:36a spring in his step, grinning. Another
24:38student, the one who got nothing,
24:39squeezes forward, points at himself with
24:41hopeful eyes. "Are you going to keep
24:43interviewing us?" No. I shake my head
24:45quick and clean. I knew that when I
24:46asked people about their birth year and
24:47ancestry, nobody will have the patience
24:49to answer for free. So, for this survey,
24:51I took a little over 15,000 yuan out of
24:53my 180,000 yuan vault and carried it
24:56with me. I am going all in. At 100 yuan
24:58per interview, I can collect cells at
25:00least 150 times, and one interview may
25:02bring in more than one person. And that
25:04last interview told me his friends share
25:06his age, nationality, and ethnicity. So,
25:08I lose my interest in asking more. Their
25:10hair is already in my hands anyway. Why
25:12spend a few hundred more yuan? That is
25:14what I think. But when they hear my
25:15answer, the other students' faces slowly
25:17darken, and their hopeful smiles vanish.
25:19What is that supposed to mean? When I
25:21first stopped them, they had planned to
25:22treat me like air, but one of them was a
25:24little more polite and was about to turn
25:26me down nicely. And that guy ended up
25:27getting the money. The rest had thought
25:29I would keep paying to question them.
25:30So, they had waited patiently until now.
25:32They had even planned how to spend the
25:33windfall. And now I just brushed them
25:35off. Is this some kind of joke on them?
25:37Are you messing with us? We waited for
25:38you this whole time, and now you will
25:39not ask us anything. Is that really
25:41okay? They mistake me for a Destiny
25:43University student, so they quickly
25:45reach an agreement. If an ordinary
25:46student like me clashes with foreign
25:48students like them, then no matter how
25:49right I am, the school's final ruling
25:51will surely lean their way. In that
25:53case, they can be as tough as they like.
25:54And in the end, nothing will happen to
25:56them because plenty of people will back
25:57them up. I am the one who has to
25:58seriously wonder whether I still want my
26:00diploma. I am about to leave when I find
26:02nearly every path blocked. I frown.
26:04Trying to bully me? The ringleader gives
26:06a contemptuous smile and asks his
26:07friend, "Huh, did we hit him?" "No."
26:09Then did we curse at him? He asks
26:11another friend. "No, we did not." The
26:13ringleader steps closer, lowers his
26:14voice, and asks, one word at a time,
26:16"Which eye of yours saw us bullying
26:18you?" I ran out of patience a long time
26:20ago. I slide a few steps to the side,
26:22reach a row of abandoned metal railings
26:23along the wall, and raise my right fist.
26:25Explosive power up. Surface hardness
26:27reinforced. Pain signals cut. Repair
26:30function on standby. A series of changes
26:32quietly happens inside my fist. Yet on
26:34the surface, it looks perfectly
26:35ordinary. Punch. The next second, my
26:37fist swings, and it smashes a railing
26:39several centimeters thick clean in two.
26:41Bang. With a trembling explosive crack,
26:43the students' legs go weak, and their
26:44eyes suddenly clear. What just happened
26:46in that one second? That railing must
26:48have fallen and broken on its own,
26:49right? It must have. They cannot believe
26:51their eyes. Then they look at my hand.
26:53Except for slight redness and swelling,
26:55it is completely unharmed. Anything
26:56else? I roll my wrist, my face showing
26:58no pain at all, and calmly sweep my eyes
27:00over the group. My expression seems to
27:02say, "Move aside now, or that railing
27:04will be your role model." After a few
27:06seconds frozen in the stiff air, one of
27:08the students finally works up his nerve,
27:09steps forward, and knocks on the row of
27:11metal pipes. Once he figures out what
27:13the pipes are made of, he whips around
27:14and shoots the others a terrified look.
27:16These are the real thing, solid and
27:18hard. It seems this guy did not just
27:20pick some cheap defective one to hit.
27:21They stare at each other in horror, and
27:23doubt creeps in. Could those novels be
27:24right that Chinese people can really
27:26cultivate immortality? They think back
27:28to how casually I pulled out 100 yuan
27:30for a so-called class assignment, and
27:31their imaginations finally kick in. Does
27:33this guy have some kind of powerful
27:35background? Can Destiny University even
27:37keep him under control? Worse, before
27:38the school even starts to punish me, if
27:40a real fight breaks out, will they even
27:42survive it in one piece? That is a real
27:43question.
27:45Never mind, a misunderstanding, just a
27:47misunderstanding. With that thought, the
27:48same group that just surrounded me so
27:50menacingly cautiously backs away a few
27:52steps. When they see I have no plan to
27:53come after them, they scatter like
27:55frightened birds and flee the scene
27:56without daring to look back. I stay
27:58where I am and watch their backs shrink
27:59into the distance with real interest.
28:01They run fast. I have no plan to chase
28:03them. I turn my eyes to the railings
28:04beside me. With that punch, the muscles
28:06and bones in my right hand tore apart on
28:08the spot. No surprise, but they were
28:10repaired in an instant. Besides the one
28:11I smashed, more than half of the
28:13railings in this row are worn, cracked,
28:15bent, or even missing entirely. Who
28:16knows how many years they have endured
28:18or how many heavy blows they have taken.
28:20They must have been abandoned long ago.
28:21In that case, this should not count as
28:23destroying public property, right? I
28:25think to myself. I am actually a person
28:26with a strong sense of public duty. I
28:28even pick up trash I see lying near the
28:30hospital, like discarded red envelopes.
28:32It is just that they sometimes happen to
28:33have cash still inside. Also, the
28:35students who just ran off may still hold
28:37a grudge and refuse to let this go. They
28:39might report the whole thing to the
28:40school any minute, but I am not worried
28:42at all. I do not belong to Destiny
28:43University anyway. What can its pressure
28:45and punishments do to me? Even if
28:47Destiny University wants to use its
28:48cameras to find out that I am an
28:50outsider who sneaked in, that will not
28:51be easy. As they say, learning never
28:53ends. After greatly developing my brain
28:55through studying and mental training,
28:57besides foreign languages I now speak as
28:59well as my native one, I also picked up
29:00the basics of a few other skills by
29:02reading up and browsing bookstores. One
29:04of them is basic counter-surveillance.
29:05Now I am highly sensitive to cameras and
29:07other recording devices and good at
29:09avoiding them. When a camera enters my
29:11sight, sometimes I feel watched before I
29:12even realize why, like a cat that
29:14bristles the moment it sees a cucumber.
29:16Unless a camera is deliberately hidden
29:17very deep, I notice it the instant it
29:19enters my view. From experience, I can
29:21roughly judge what area it covers and
29:22steer clear of that zone in time. At the
29:24same time, I use my surroundings to keep
29:26myself from standing out, and on the
29:28surface I still walk upright and openly.
29:30I can keep even a corner of myself out
29:31of a camera's view without looking so
29:33shifty that the people around me get
29:34suspicious. Forget Destiny University,
29:37which is busy standing up for its
29:38foreign students. Even the police, if
29:40they wanted to pick me out of the
29:41footage, would have to work very hard.
29:43The only problem is, why do I feel even
29:44more like a petty sneak thief? Setting
29:46aside the small detail that it all looks
29:48pretty pathetic at first glance,
29:49counter-surveillance is very useful in
29:51real action. I owe all of this to my
29:53trait that no amount of overworking my
29:54brain ever causes trouble. As long as I
29:56do not tempt fate and rebuild my brain's
29:58structure with my body control, my
30:00brain's potential is almost unlimited.
30:01Besides, counter-surveillance is not
30:03only about dodging cameras. It also
30:05means sensing when people are watching
30:06or following me. Several hours pass.
30:09After interviewing dozens more students
30:10in a row and with plenty of cells in
30:12hand, I slowly begin to realize that
30:14someone is secretly following me. Maybe
30:16that person thinks they have hidden well
30:17all along. They pretend to be just
30:18passing by, pretend to check their phone
30:20and admire the scenery, but to me the
30:22tail is as obvious as a flashing neon
30:24sign, as if they are afraid I will not
30:26see them. And my hearing and sense of
30:27smell have been specially enhanced.
30:29Whether I catch the rhythm of footsteps
30:30or analyze the scents around me, I could
30:32tell with my eyes closed that the same
30:34person has been hovering behind me for a
30:35long time, but I do not rush to turn
30:37around and expose them. Instead, I look
30:39around and and straight for the
30:40cafeteria. At the cafeteria entrance, I
30:42suddenly make a sharp right angle turn
30:44and slip into a gap between buildings
30:46barely wider than an alley. I make sure
30:48no camera or outside eyes can notice me.
30:50I gather and compress flesh from inside
30:51my body at my palm, shape it into a
30:53rope, extend it upward, and wind it
30:55around a security window above. Pulled
30:57by the flesh rope, I climb the wall and
30:58finally hang in midair, hiding behind an
31:00air conditioner unit. I compress my body
31:02inward, making myself small enough to
31:04stay hidden. As gamers say, the
31:06counter-terrorists never look up, and I
31:07am tucked into a blind spot. So, even if
31:09someone looks up, they will not see me.
31:11Before long, a sneaky figure arrives
31:13outside this remote gap and peeks around
31:15into the empty dead end. It is a college
31:16girl with shoulder-length hair and
31:18beautiful flirty eyes. A faint scent of
31:20lavender clings to her, an exact match
31:21for the scent of the tail I noticed
31:23earlier. She walks a few more steps
31:24inside, lost, looking left and right at
31:26the solid wall, and confirms that the
31:28deeper end has no exit leading anywhere
31:30else. "Where did he go?" The girl gazes
31:32around in a daze, completely unaware
31:34that something is quietly moving above
31:35her head. Seeing she has walked into my
31:37trap, I silently swing around behind her
31:39from above, pulling my flesh rope, and
31:40drop to the ground. "Looking for me?" I
31:42ask, unhurried. The sudden thud of my
31:44landing and my question make her jump.
31:46She turns around. The guy who vanished
31:48into thin air is now standing behind
31:49her, and surprise flashes across her
31:51face. How did he get behind me so
31:53suddenly? "Um, being caught following me
31:55seems to embarrass her, and her voice
31:56turns halting and awkward. I saw you
31:58talking to a lot of people and then
32:00giving them money. Can you tell me what
32:01you were doing?" So, that is it. Hearing
32:03her answer, I understand. It seems she
32:05is just an ordinary student who noticed
32:06me and got curious about why I'm acting
32:08like a walking cash giveaway. There is
32:10no harm in telling her. I use the same
32:12story as before. "I am doing a sociology
32:14survey project. I need to ask people
32:16some questions. The money is so they
32:17have the patience to answer everything I
32:19ask." "What kind of questions? Can you
32:21ask me?" Facing her hopeful eyes, I
32:22shake my head firmly. "My part right now
32:24is mostly about foreigners. The part
32:26about fellow Chinese is already
32:27finished." She does not give up. Nervous
32:29as she is, she still tries again. "Um,
32:32look, one more sample should not matter,
32:33right? Could you?" She has a point, I
32:35think. Fine. I take out my clipboard,
32:37thinking it over. But there is no
32:39payment after the questions. Can you
32:40accept that? Then forget it. Seeing her
32:42disappointed face, I know she will not
32:44agree. So, I step aside to let her
32:45leave. Suddenly, another thought hits
32:47me. There is one favor you can do for
32:49me. The pay is the same, 100 yuan. Do
32:51you want the job? Yes, tell me. The girl
32:53perks up with excitement again. I nod.
32:55Okay, then take me to find the foreign
32:57teachers and professors on campus. The
32:59more the better. Can you do that? I
33:01think back on the foreigners I have met
33:02all day. They're almost all young
33:04students with a very narrow age range
33:06and no middle-aged or older samples.
33:07Maybe foreign professors stay in their
33:09labs and offices, which is why they are
33:11so hard to run into. Sure, I will take
33:13you right now. Thanks to this local's
33:14guidance, I meet almost every foreign
33:16professor at Destiny University. Under
33:18the same excuse of paid interviews, I
33:20collect cells from every one of them.
33:21Only a few professors are away from the
33:23university for now, so I do not meet
33:25them. After who knows how long a busy
33:26work, I say goodbye to the last
33:28professor and walk out of the science
33:29building. The sky, which was already
33:31growing dim, has turned completely
33:32black. Thank you. Under a street light
33:34beside the science building, I
33:35generously press a bill into the hand of
33:37the girl who guided me, but she does not
33:39seem ready to leave. Can we exchange
33:41contact information? She takes out her
33:42phone and asks hesitantly, "If you need
33:44help with anything later, you can find
33:46me again." No need. I refuse without
33:48much thought. The face I used to sneak
33:50into Destiny University is fake. I do
33:51not even know if I will ever come back
33:53here. How can I give away my real
33:54contact information? She still wants to
33:56say something, but I can no longer hear
33:58a word. A sudden development has pulled
34:00me in, and all my attention is now
34:02inside my own body. The experiment
34:03result is abnormal. Ever since I
34:05swallowed other people's cells, besides
34:07meeting more people at Destiny
34:08University, I have also been secretly
34:10running the cell acceleration experiment
34:12inside my body at the same time. After
34:14learning everyone's birth year from the
34:15interviews, I found that their cells,
34:17almost without exception, also started
34:19the cell suicide program at the age that
34:21matches 2050. Only one person is an
34:23exception. Why is this person's cell
34:24time bomb delayed by a full 10 years?
34:26This is different from every other
34:28person I have sampled before. Who is
34:29this person? I memorized every lump and
34:31its owner long ago. Writing on the
34:33clipboard was only for show. Even
34:34without notes, my photographic memory
34:36lets me recall any detail at any time.
34:38So, I remember almost at once the owner
34:40of these cells is the half-Chinese,
34:42half-American student. I sampled him at
34:44a little past 4:00 in the afternoon. It
34:45is worth noting that I also met and
34:47sampled a few other mixed heritage
34:48students like him, but only this one
34:50case shows the delayed cell suicide.
34:52First, I rule out the chance that he
34:53lied about his age. I can already
34:55roughly read a donor's age from their
34:56cells. I only ask for birth years to
34:58make my data more precise. This
35:00student's methylation clock matches the
35:02age he told me almost exactly, and there
35:03is no way it is off by nearly 10 years.
35:06In that case, the only explanation is
35:07that for some reason he will survive 10
35:09more years after Judgement Day. Could he
35:11be connected to the end of the world
35:12somehow? Or is there something special
35:14about him? Either way, it seems the
35:15secret lies with this person. My heart
35:17starts to race with excitement. I feel
35:19the thump, thump, thump inside my chest
35:21and steady my heartbeat. I clench my
35:22fist and turn around, my gaze growing
35:24firmer little by little. Hey, wait. But
35:26right after that, I realized something
35:28else. Before coming to Destiny
35:29University, because of fixed thinking, I
35:31had almost only imagined three cases.
35:33Only a certain ethnic group survives,
35:35only Chinese people fail to survive, or
35:37nobody survives, whatever their
35:39nationality. I had also considered the
35:40case where only one or two people
35:42survive, but I never thought it through.
35:44So, to save time and to keep people from
35:45suspecting that I was using a petty 100
35:47yen to trick them out of their identity
35:49information, I only asked about
35:50ethnicity and nationality. I never asked
35:52anyone for a name or student number. So,
35:54now I have a problem. How do I find the
35:56one who may be tied to Doomsday? Several
35:58hours have passed, and the campus is
35:59crowded. If I go back to where I met him
36:01and track him by scent, would that even
36:03work? I frowned and thought, turned my
36:04head and find my guide still standing
36:06beside me. Huh? Why are you still here?
36:08Phone in hand, she looks at me, her eyes
36:10full of hope. What I mean is, even if
36:12you do not need my help later, can we
36:13still be friends and chat sometimes? Is
36:15that okay? Hearing that, I get the
36:17general idea. Does she think I am rich
36:19and want to collect more of my gold
36:20coins? I had meant to describe his looks
36:22and have her keep helping me find that
36:23mixed heritage student at Destiny
36:25University. But on second thought, now
36:26that I have found a future doomsday
36:28survivor, even I do not know how deep
36:30this water runs. At the pessimistic end,
36:32this could easily involve hidden
36:33organizations on a global scale or even
36:35non-human races and civilizations. If I
36:37drag an innocent bystander into this
36:39carelessly, what if she loses her life
36:41by accident? From here on, this has to
36:42be my problem alone. I need to find a
36:44way to shake her off. Shaking her off is
36:46not hard. Wait here a moment. What is
36:48it? I need to use the restroom. I go
36:50back into the science building and step
36:51into the men's restroom. Out of the
36:53corner of my eye, I catch the mirror
36:54above the sinks and I notice that the
36:56girl who followed me cannot come in, but
36:57she stays right outside waiting for me.
36:59No footsteps fade away outside the door,
37:01which only confirms it. Fine, let her
37:03wait out there on her own. I take off my
37:05jacket and turn it inside out. I bought
37:07this one specifically for tonight. It's
37:08reversible. Two completely different
37:10colors on each side. Silver gray on one,
37:12deep blue on the other. Add face
37:14shifting, a new hairstyle, and a small
37:16height adjustment, and I look like a
37:17completely different person. Just to be
37:19safe, I don't even leave through the
37:20front door. I open the bathroom window
37:22instead. I check there are no cameras or
37:24passersby outside, then shrink my bones
37:26and slip through the bars of the
37:27security window. I land, return to my
37:29normal size, and close the window, all
37:31in one smooth motion. Time to get to
37:32work. Once I'm clear, I already know how
37:34I'm going to track down that exchange
37:36student. I turn a corner and head
37:37straight ahead with a clear destination
37:39in mind, making my way to the gym by the
37:41sports field, where I stop in front of a
37:42row of machines mounted on the wall.
37:44While collecting cells, I heard the girl
37:46mention offhand that this is where
37:47Destiny University students check in for
37:49workouts using face scans just like the
37:51main gate. Besides his scent, I clearly
37:53remember the mixed-race student's face
37:54and voice. Under cover of darkness, I
37:56quickly shift my face and lean in toward
37:58the facial recognition scanner. There's
37:59a beep. The machine registers a
38:01successful check-in, and the screen
38:03instantly displays the student's name,
38:04ID number, photo, and other basic
38:06information. So, his name is Aiden Ping.
38:08I stare at the screen. Ping is an
38:10unusual Chinese surname. It looks like
38:12it comes from his Chinese father. Now
38:13that I have a name, things get easier.
38:15During my time undercover at Destiny
38:17University, I've already learned the
38:18campus layout and know exactly where the
38:20international dorms are. My clothes, my
38:22face, my voice, none of it matches
38:24before. Even if I run into the students
38:26I clashed with earlier, they won't
38:27recognize me. Even so, when I cross most
38:29of the campus and spot several police
38:31officers standing outside the
38:32international dorms, I instinctively
38:34freeze mid-step. A large crowd has
38:36gathered around the dorm building as if
38:37something big has happened. At the
38:39center of the ring of onlookers, several
38:41grim-faced officers are the focus of
38:42everyone's attention, talking with
38:44school staff. My eye twitches. I never
38:46actually hit anyone. Surely this isn't
38:48about that. Did those students actually
38:50pull a fake injury scam on me? Then I
38:51remember I've completely changed my
38:53appearance and deliberately avoided
38:54every camera along the way. I tell
38:56myself there's no need to panic. I move
38:58a few steps closer, close enough to make
38:59out from a distance what the officers
39:01and teachers are saying. He's already
39:03left campus, and you still can't reach
39:04him, right? We've asked his classmates
39:06and roommate. He left alone. The gate
39:08scanner shows he left at 4:30 in the
39:10afternoon. The cameras only caught him
39:11getting into a car. Go pull the footage
39:13from the guard station. I pick out the
39:15key details from the noise and let out a
39:16breath. It sounds like a student has
39:18gone missing. He acted strangely, then
39:20suddenly left campus, likely lured away
39:21by someone, and no one can reach him
39:23now. Either way, the police clearly
39:25aren't here for me. I keep moving toward
39:26the dorm, meaning to ask around about
39:28Aiden, but I stop again just short of
39:30the entrance. Amid the scattered
39:31chatter, a puzzled question drifts into
39:33my ears. Isn't that Aiden kid the son of
39:35some big international CEO? He's not
39:37exactly short on money. How did he get
39:39scammed? That's a lot to take in. A
39:40flash of shock crosses my eyes. My scalp
39:43starts to prickle, and my expression
39:44turns grim. The missing student is Aiden
39:46Ping, the exact person I'm looking for.
39:48I'd only just discovered something was
39:50off about him, and now someone's already
39:51snatched him. I listen again to the
39:53distant crowd to make sure I heard
39:54right, and a chill runs through my hands
39:56and feet. Is this a coincidence? But as
39:58I keep listening, I realize it isn't
40:00much of a coincidence at all. At least
40:01on the surface, it makes perfect sense.
40:03From the conversations around me, I
40:05learn that a pyramid scheme has
40:06apparently surfaced recently in Destiny
40:08City. It's not just Aiden, not just
40:09Destiny University. Students at other
40:11schools across the city have gone
40:13missing after falling for the same scam.
40:14Before the news I triggered about a high
40:16schooler badly injured by illegal extra
40:18classes, this scandal had been one of
40:20the city's top concerns. Aiden's father
40:22runs a major international corporation,
40:24a family with serious status. For now, I
40:26have no idea whether Aiden's status as a
40:28wealthy heir has anything to do with his
40:29extra 10 years after doomsday, but one
40:31thing is clear. Aiden isn't fond of his
40:33background, and he hates being seen as
40:34some spoiled heir who just lives off his
40:36family's money. Desperate to step out of
40:38his family's shadow, Aiden probably
40:40wants to prove he can succeed even
40:41without his rich biological father
40:43backing him. So, even after a string of
40:45failed investments and business
40:46ventures, the moment the scheme promised
40:48him a big payoff, he threw himself into
40:49the scammer's arms without hesitation.
40:51Aiden is blunt and can never keep
40:53anything to himself. So, his parents and
40:54classmates found out about his plan
40:56almost immediately. No matter how hard
40:58everyone tried to warn him it might be a
40:59scam, Aiden refused to listen and kept
41:01pouring his heart out to strangers, even
41:03carrying this whole just wait until I
41:05succeed and prove you all wrong
41:06mentality, like the hero of some
41:07wish-fulfillment story. Worried, his
41:09parents asked the school to keep an eye
41:11on him, only for Aiden to suddenly take
41:12off without warning. According to
41:14everyone, Aiden left campus at 4:30,
41:16less half an hour after I'd pulled a
41:18hair sample from him. The moment his son
41:20went silent, Aiden's father, a
41:21heavyweight in the business world,
41:22scrambled to pull every connection he
41:24had, getting the police and the school
41:26to help track his son down as fast as
41:27possible. As a powerful figure, Mr. Ping
41:29carries more than enough weight to make
41:31things happen. And with Aiden's status
41:33as an international student and his
41:34mixed heritage, if something happened to
41:36him, the fallout would be far bigger
41:37than for an ordinary student. So, even
41:39without solid evidence yet, and with no
41:41idea where the scheme's hideout even is,
41:43the police have no choice but to push
41:44forward with the investigation at
41:46Destiny University. So, that's how it
41:47is. From a distance, using my enhanced
41:49hearing, I pieced together the whole
41:51picture from the crowd's conversation,
41:52and my mind starts turning. Inside me,
41:54the verification stage of the
41:56accelerated cell experiment has already
41:57wrapped up. After repeated trials, no
41:59matter how I adjust the environmental
42:01parameters in the culture chamber,
42:02Aiden's cells always trigger the time
42:04bomb in his genes around the
42:05corresponding age in the year 2060, the
42:07same result as before, a full 10 years
42:09later than an ordinary person. Given the
42:11situation, Aiden's extra 10 years might
42:13come from his parents or from someone
42:14they know in high society or possibly
42:16from this pyramid scheme he's recently
42:18gotten tangled up in. Maybe this whole
42:19scheme is just a cover hiding some
42:21deeper connection to humanity's
42:22doomsday. Without more evidence, both
42:24possibilities remain suspicious. And if
42:26it's the latter, then now that they've
42:28taken Aiden, the lead I worked so hard
42:29to find could slip away. After all, this
42:32is about the extinction of humanity. A
42:33few tricks up their sleeve wouldn't be
42:35surprising. I need to move fast. I sort
42:37through my plan. First, find the
42:38scheme's hideout and collect cell
42:40samples from everyone inside one by one.
42:42If that doesn't work, I'll look for a
42:43chance to approach Aiden's family
42:45instead. On top of that, once I find
42:47Aiden himself, I'll see what I can get
42:48out of him directly. From my brief
42:50encounter with him, my first impression
42:52matched exactly what everyone else says
42:53about him. He loves rambling on about
42:55anything and he'll talk to just about
42:57anyone who listen. Since Aiden's own
42:58personality already led him to blab
43:00excitedly about his big money-making
43:02plan to anyone nearby, he'll find it
43:04even harder to keep anything from me,
43:05especially since during my time off
43:07sick, I picked up skills like reading
43:09microexpressions and other behavioral
43:10cues. My enhanced senses give me
43:12countless ways to pick up on someone's
43:14physical tells. It's nearly impossible
43:16for an ordinary person to fool my
43:17built-in lie detector. Whatever Aiden
43:19might be hiding, I'll be able to spot it
43:21at a glance. I also breathe a small sigh
43:23of relief. Good thing I used the gym's
43:24check-in scanner, not the main gate,
43:26when I borrowed his face to learn his
43:27name. That one small decision has saved
43:29me a lot of trouble now because while I
43:31can check the surrounding scent to make
43:32sure the real Aiden isn't nearby before
43:34scanning, avoiding a face-to-face
43:36collision, there's nothing I can do if
43:37someone who actually knows him spots
43:39that borrowed face. That's why I avoided
43:41high-traffic scan points like the main
43:42gate or the dorm entrance, choosing the
43:44relatively out of the way, less crowded
43:46gym instead to avoid running into anyone
43:48who knows him. Now that Aiden's gone
43:49missing, the school won't bother
43:51checking his gym check-ins, which he
43:52only uses for morning runs, but they
43:54will check his gate records. If I had
43:56scanned at the main gate instead, then
43:57after 4:30, Aiden's most recent gate
43:59record would have been overwritten by me
44:01impersonating him and the school and
44:02police would likely have traced it
44:04straight back to me, someone who should
44:05have nothing to do with any of this. I
44:07have to admit that was a close call.
44:09Having gone over it all, I can only hope
44:10the upperclassman whose identity I used
44:12to sneak onto campus doesn't end up
44:14scanned by this scheme, too. Time to
44:15move. With a plan for what comes next, I
44:17leave the international dorm and head
44:19toward the main gate. I approach the
44:20guard station, keeping my distance, and
44:22adjust the internal structure of my
44:24eyes. My eyes work like a telescope,
44:26letting me see clearly through the
44:27window as an officer replays the
44:28surveillance footage on a computer
44:30inside. If I want to, even from outside
44:32the guard station, I can see the screen
44:33more clearly than the people standing
44:35right in front of it. My ears pick up
44:36the voices inside, too. That's the car.
44:38Right, they're already tracing it
44:40through the traffic cameras along the
44:41route. I memorize the car's appearance
44:43from the screen, license plate included.
44:45Then I shift my face to match a student
44:46who just scanned in through the gate
44:47nearby. Once he moves on, I walk up to
44:50the gate and scan out, leaving campus
44:51with his face. I make my way to where
44:53the car had been parked in the footage,
44:54lean down slightly, and take a deep
44:56breath reading the air. No good. I shake
44:58my head slightly. Too much time has
45:00passed. Aiden's scent has faded to
45:02almost nothing, and the whole area is
45:03thick with competing smells. I can't
45:05tell which trace belongs to the car that
45:07took him, especially now with the sky
45:09darkening. A long line of food stalls
45:10has sprung up around the gate, flooding
45:12the air with a chaotic mess of smells
45:14that only makes it harder for me to sort
45:15through. Grilled skewers, fried snacks,
45:17savory pancakes, the smells blend into
45:19one mouth-watering symphony, and
45:21honestly, it's making me hungry. For
45:22now, this scent trail has pushed past
45:24even my limits. I straighten up, and my
45:26ears suddenly pick up something new from
45:27the guard station in the distance. We
45:29found the car. Where? I scan back
45:31through the gate, listening closely to
45:32the voices inside the guard station. It
45:34ended up on South Riverside Road. Might
45:36have gone into the urban village. The
45:38officer is on a call now. Eavesdropping
45:40on a phone that isn't on speaker is
45:41harder for me, so I have to move in
45:43closer just to make sure I don't miss
45:44anything important. Whoever's on the
45:46other end has already moved fast and
45:47tracked down the car's owner, but the
45:49owner has nothing to do with the people
45:50who took Aiden. Just some random driver
45:52who'd picked up a passenger. Based on
45:54the driver's memory and the cameras
45:55along the route, they've now pinpointed
45:57exactly where Aiden got out. The officer
45:58at the guard station is getting ready to
46:00regroup with the others. Once they head
46:02out, I follow quietly, playing the part
46:03of an ordinary student. We've lost him
46:05on the cameras for now. Standing at a
46:07distance, I listen in as the different
46:08police units regroup and compare notes,
46:10picking up the latest update. I slip
46:12away from the crowd, and instead of
46:13heading for one of Destiny University's
46:15gates, I make my way toward the wall
46:17along the edge of campus. This time, I'm
46:18not leaving through the face scanner,
46:20because if I did, the unlucky student
46:22whose face I borrowed might get a
46:23bizarre notification right as he's
46:24drifting off to sleep, telling him he's
46:26somehow not on campus. What? I scanned
46:28out through the front gate? Since when?
46:30Something like that. I figure it's best
46:31not to drag some innocent bystander into
46:33all this, so I stick to my usual
46:35instinct for dodging cameras. And as I
46:36move into more remote areas, fewer and
46:38fewer students are around. Under cover
46:40of darkness, I quietly shift my face and
46:42build as I go, until I come to a stop
46:44right at the wall. The wall ahead is
46:46bordered by a strip of greenery
46:47stretching a few meters out, planted
46:48with several tall trees. Through the
46:50swaying branches in the dark, I can make
46:52out barbed wire coiled along the top of
46:53the wall. Ever since I found Aiden here,
46:55a survivor hiding in plain sight, I've
46:57been operating under the assumption that
46:59Destiny University might have other
47:00hidden enemies, too. I've already used
47:02both sides of my new jacket, and to
47:04avoid a scenario where, if I'm spotted
47:05climbing the wall, the school starts
47:07scrutinizing students dressed similarly,
47:09which could draw attention to everything
47:10I've been investigating so far, I switch
47:12to a third disguise entirely. I take the
47:14jacket off completely, roll it up tight,
47:16and stuff it under my shirt as a fake
47:18belly. To keep the beer belly from
47:19looking out of place, I round out my
47:21posture and cheeks to match, making
47:23myself look heavier all over. By the
47:24time I'm ready to climb, I don't look
47:26anything like myself anymore. I look
47:27more like my 2,000-year-old namesake,
47:30Dong Zhuo. My hefty new frame takes a
47:31running start. One foot landing in the
47:33greenery, then grips the wall and climbs
47:35steadily upward. Hey, what do you think
47:37you're doing? A sharp shout rings out,
47:39and a flashlight beam sweeps across the
47:40wall, catching my climbing figure square
47:42in its glare. After a split second of
47:44stillness, I move faster up the wall,
47:46like there's a rocket strapped to my
47:47feet. This surprisingly nimble fat man
47:49clears the top of the wall in a blink
47:51and vanishes to the other side. The
47:52barbed wire doesn't even seem to slow me
47:54down. What major are you in? You can't
47:56climb the wall here. I hear the furious
47:58shout from the other side. The moment I
47:59land safely, I don't let myself relax
48:01for even a second. I pump my thick,
48:03heavy limbs and burst forward, covering
48:05over a thousand meters in seconds,
48:07weaving through several streets before
48:08ducking into a quiet, out-of-the-way
48:10corner of the city, where I shift back
48:11from Dong Zhuo into Dean. They shouldn't
48:13be able to catch up now. I put my jacket
48:15back on. After that burst of exertion,
48:17my face isn't flushed and I'm not even
48:19winded. My lungs draw in steady, deep
48:20breaths, pulling in oxygen with maximum
48:22efficiency. My mind sharpens with each
48:24breath. And once again, the image of all
48:26humanity slowly mummifying to death
48:28twenty-some years from now flashes
48:29before my eyes, pushing me to move
48:31faster. South Riverside Road should be
48:33around. I pull out my phone and pull up
48:35the route online. I follow the
48:36directions, taking the subway and then a
48:38bus, and about half an hour later, I'm
48:40standing at a bus stop on South
48:41Riverside Road. Aiden's scent is here,
48:43faint as it was back at the gate. I head
48:45down the street to the west and my
48:47attention eventually settles on the old
48:48district not far ahead. It's home to a
48:50sizable urban village, one where the
48:52surveillance isn't nearly as thorough as
48:53elsewhere. And it's exactly where the
48:55police lost track of Aiden. Looks like
48:57I'll have to search house by house,
48:58going by scent alone. Of course, I won't
49:00force my way into anyone's home. At
49:02most, I'll check for his scent right at
49:03the door. And once I've pinpointed
49:05exactly where he is, I'll figure out how
49:06to get inside. I cross the road, slip
49:08into an unremarkable alley, and step
49:10into the urban village. With every step
49:12forward, the roar and glow of the city
49:14fall further and further behind, until
49:15only patches of scattered light remain,
49:17slicing through the darkness like a cage
49:19made of light. After a few turns, my
49:21expression turns serious. I'm on the
49:22right track. The deeper I go, the
49:24stronger Aiden's scent becomes. Even if
49:26he isn't here right now, it means he
49:27either left recently or spent a long
49:29time here. In the dim light, I quicken
49:31my pace, finally coming to a stop
49:32outside a courtyard gate. Not only is
49:34Aiden's scent strongest here, but from
49:36several blocks away, I could already
49:38pick up sounds no ordinary person could
49:39hear. Come on, boss, share a little with
49:41everyone about your So, you see, working
49:43a regular job the normal way just
49:45doesn't cut it anymore. It's not your
49:46fault, it's the times we live in. So, is
49:48he convinced? When's he coming in?
49:50Beyond the pitch, there's a chaotic mess
49:51of other noise, too. A quick read tells
49:53me at least a dozen people are packed
49:55inside this house. Unlike every other
49:56quiet, ordinary home around it, this one
49:58is clearly nothing like a normal
50:00residence. Standing outside the
50:01courtyard wall, I take a deep breath in
50:03the direction of the house, and my brow
50:05immediately furrows. That's an
50:06overpowering smell of unwashed bodies.
50:08I've heard plenty about these scheme
50:09dens. To cut costs or make control
50:11easier, they usually don't let that many
50:13people bathe properly. And with so many
50:15bodies packed together in one place for
50:16who knows how long, the smell alone is
50:18almost enough to bring tears to my eyes.
50:20I'm nearly certain now this is the place
50:22I've been looking for. But even after
50:23lingering by the wall for a long while,
50:25I still haven't heard Aiden's voice. Is
50:27he not even here? But then how do I
50:28explain the scent? Did they knock him
50:30out? Or surely no one's trying to
50:32silence a doomsday survivor for good?
50:33After a moment's thought, I decide to
50:35see for myself exactly what's going on
50:37inside. To avoid tipping anyone off, I
50:39don't climb the wall this time. Instead,
50:41after confirming there are no cameras
50:42around, I gently tap my temple, letting
50:44both my eyeballs quietly slip free from
50:46their sockets. The two eyeballs hover in
50:48midair, each still linked to me by a
50:50thin extended connection, swaying like a
50:52pair of graceful snakes as they glide
50:53over the wall, sweep across the
50:55courtyard, then extend toward the house.
50:57For any ordinary person, having your
50:59eyeballs pop out like this would mean
51:00instant blindness. But I can extend the
51:02channel connecting them to me even as
51:03they travel further out, keeping the
51:05eyes linked to my body the whole time,
51:07streaming everything they see back to me
51:08in real time. And to keep the feed from
51:10distorting over that distance, I
51:12fine-tuned it further, sharpening both
51:13the clarity and the smoothness of the
51:15picture. At this point, my eyes
51:16basically function as a pair of
51:18low-latency 4K live human
51:22eye already out-resolves 4K. My two
51:24cameras settle on either side of the
51:25house, hovering by two separate windows,
51:28peering through the gaps in the
51:28curtains. Where is he? My eyes roam the
51:31room searching. In one room, a
51:32middle-aged man, already brainwashed by
51:34the scheme, walks up to a podium to
51:36enthusiastic applause. Facing the crowd,
51:38he proudly shares his success story. As
51:40Lucian once said, "Whoa, what is that?"
51:42Ah, as he happens to glance toward the
51:44window, he suddenly notices a wide,
51:46unblinking eye staring straight at him
51:47through the gap in the curtains. The man
51:49freezes in terror, his notes slipping
51:51from his hand and hitting the floor. His
51:52face crumples like he's been
51:53electrocuted and he looks about to cry.
51:55What's wrong? The others stare baffled
51:57at the man's trembling panicked face,
51:59then follow his terrified gaze toward
52:01the curtain behind him. There's someone
52:02outside the window, the man stammers.
52:04Honestly, given the shape of what he
52:05just saw, he isn't even sure whatever's
52:07out there is human. A young guy near the
52:09window pulls back the curtain, opens it,
52:11and leans out to look around. There's
52:12nothing here. Confused, he glances
52:14around one more time. What he doesn't
52:16realize is that he's only looking for a
52:17person, so his search stays shallow and
52:19misses the real thing. Because if he'd
52:21looked just a little more carefully into
52:22the darkness above, he would have
52:24spotted an eye hovering there in midair,
52:26watching him, watching everyone in the
52:27room. That would have turned this into a
52:29full-blown horror story. Once the
52:30puzzled group closes the window again, I
52:32pull both eyeballs back from beyond the
52:34wall. A rush of tears rinses the dust
52:36off them, and then I guide them back
52:37into place. I blink a few times and roll
52:39my eyes. Good, everything checks out
52:41fine. Besides scaring one unlucky guy
52:43half to tears, this little recon run
52:45wasn't a waste. First, the moment that
52:47window opened, I seized the chance to
52:48extend a few nearly invisible nerve
52:50threads into the room, and using my eyes
52:52to guide them, I precisely plucked hair
52:54samples from everyone present. Right
52:55now, inside me, a new round of the
52:57accelerated experiment has already
52:59begun. On top of that, I never spotted
53:01Aiden himself, but I did see his clothes
53:02on a table in the corner. The exact
53:04outfit he was wearing this afternoon
53:05when I interviewed and sampled him.
53:07Aiden isn't here, but his clothes are. I
53:09narrow my eyes. Why would they strip his
53:11clothes off? And where exactly are they
53:12hiding him? I lean back against the wall
53:14and think it through. Slowly, a detail
53:16I'd nearly overlooked on the way here
53:17surfaces in my mind. Besides the area
53:19around this house, there's another
53:21street where Aiden's scent was also
53:22unusually strong. The very spot where I
53:24first picked up his trail and followed
53:26it here. But now, mapping out the whole
53:27urban village in my head and looking at
53:29it from above, I notice something odd.
53:31South Riverside Road, where the police
53:33first spotted Aiden getting out of the
53:34car, doesn't actually pass by that first
53:36spot where I picked up his scent on the
53:37way from there to this hideout. Even I
53:39only stumbled onto that spot because I
53:41was wandering around following the
53:42scent, taking the long way around. So,
53:44here's the question. If it's not even on
53:46the way, why was Aiden there at all?
53:48Piecing these clues together now, I can
53:49rough out what must have happened. Since
53:51Aiden's been brainwashed by the scheme
53:53and given how loose-lipped he is by
53:54nature, he almost certainly blurted out
53:56everything to his captors, his family's
53:58wealth, and just how seriously his
53:59parents took the possibility of him
54:00being scammed before he vanished.
54:02Everything he told them would have set
54:03off serious alarm bells in the scheme's
54:05ranks, making them realize the police
54:07would hunt for Aiden far harder than
54:08they would for anyone else. In their
54:10hands, he's practically a ticking time
54:11bomb. The police likely traced Aiden's
54:13route through the cameras all the way to
54:14the edge of the urban village, but once
54:16inside, the lack of cameras makes the
54:17hideout hard to pin down. Though, that
54:19doesn't mean the scheme members feel
54:20completely safe, either. Under normal
54:22circumstances, even if the police show
54:24up here, this crew of a dozen or so has
54:26its own way of handling it, making it
54:27hard to catch them red-handed. That's
54:29part of why schemes like this are so
54:30hard to wipe out in one sweep. But this
54:32time, the police have a clear, specific
54:34target, Aiden, backed by a powerful
54:36family. If the police show up and find
54:38Aiden himself right here in this old
54:39house, that's a serious problem for
54:41them. So, they've had no choice but to
54:42bring Aiden into this camera-blind
54:44hideout in the urban village first. And
54:46while the police haven't arrived yet,
54:47change his clothes and have someone else
54:49move him to another hideout entirely.
54:50That way, even if Aiden later shows up
54:52on camera somewhere else, no one will
54:54think twice about it. They might have
54:55even bought him a black wig specifically
54:57to disguise his image on camera, hiding
54:58his unmistakable blonde hair. Once I've
55:00worked all this out and realizing the
55:02police will eventually track this place
55:04down on their own, I decide there's no
55:05need for me to intervene here, and I
55:07leave the hideout without hesitation. I
55:08follow the scent Aiden left behind,
55:10tracking it away from South Riverside
55:12Road. Judging by how fresh the trail is,
55:14Aiden can't have left this spot long
55:15ago. I keep following it, leaving the
55:17old district from a different direction.
55:19My original plan was, if Aiden's scent
55:21faded out again or thinned past the
55:22point of tracking, I'd find a way to
55:24leave the police a lead, letting them
55:25carry the search forward while I
55:27eavesdrop remotely on their findings,
55:28looking for my own chance to reach
55:30Aiden. But his scent never really thins
55:31out. That tells me he and whoever took
55:33him have been on foot or on a bike this
55:35whole time, never in a closed vehicle,
55:37which also suggests their destination
55:38probably isn't far. If Eventually, I
55:40arrive at the entrance to a complex
55:41called Brightview Gardens. Looking up
55:43rows of apartment towers, each over 20
55:45stories tall, rise against the night
55:47sky. Their windows lit in a scattered,
55:49uneven pattern across the buildings.
55:51Around the entrance, Aiden's scent
55:52doesn't stretch off in any other
55:53direction. I carefully circle the whole
55:55complex once more, and by scent alone, I
55:57confirm Aiden never left through any
55:59other gate, and never climbed over any
56:00wall, either, which means unless he
56:02tunneled out or sprouted wings, he has
56:04to still be somewhere inside. Of course,
56:06I can't just follow the scent straight
56:07to the door and then pretend I overheard
56:09a scheme operating inside before calling
56:10the police. That would be hard to
56:12explain. Explaining why I'm even in this
56:14complex is easy enough. Even if someone
56:16realizes I'm not a resident, I can just
56:17say I'm out for an after-dinner walk.
56:19But heading straight into one specific
56:21building, up to one specific floor,
56:23stopping at one specific door, and just
56:24happening to overhear one specific
56:26conversation, that's a lot harder to
56:28justify. I need to set up a believable
56:29scenario first, so I figure I need a
56:31plan to drive them out of the apartment
56:33before they even realize an outsider's
56:34in involved. Then arrange a believable
56:36chance encounter downstairs, spot
56:38something suspicious, and call it in.
56:40How exactly do I pull that off? Wait. As
56:42I finish my loop and near the entrance
56:43again, my eyes land on a convenience
56:45store and a small grocery by the road,
56:47and an idea instantly clicks. After
56:49checking a few things on my phone to
56:50confirm it'll work, I walk into both
56:52stores one after the other, walking out
56:54with two bulging bags, and strolling
56:55right through Brightview Gardens front
56:57gate, plain as day. Resident
56:58verification here isn't strict, and the
57:00guard doesn't stop me. Following Aiden's
57:02scent, I find the right building, stand
57:04at its base, and listen closely to
57:05whatever's happening above. Just settle
57:07in here for now. So, we start making
57:09money tomorrow. Out of the scattered
57:10noise from over 20 floors of residents,
57:12I quickly pick out Aiden's voice, and
57:14roughly pinpoint which floor and area
57:16he's on. So, he really is here. I give a
57:18small nod. I don't linger at the base of
57:20the building. Instead, I wander a bit
57:21further into the complex, like I'm just
57:23passing through, then slip into another
57:25building's underground garage, ducking
57:27into the triangular space beneath the
57:28stairwell to work on something. After
57:30roughly 20 minutes of work, I head back
57:31to street level, keeping tabs on Aiden's
57:33voice the whole time, confirming they
57:35haven't left. From the fragments of
57:36conversation I can make out, it sounds
57:38like an ordinary pyramid scheme, nothing
57:40about doomsday, genes, or anything
57:42suspicious like that. Fine, that can
57:44wait. Getting him out comes first. I
57:45dodge the cameras and slip my body into
57:47the greenery, staying hidden. I wedge
57:49myself into a gap between two protruding
57:51walls of the building, curling into the
57:52corner, completely swallowed by shadow.
57:54The wall behind me isn't pure black, but
57:56with the poor lighting and the dark of
57:58night, no one's likely to spot someone
57:59hiding here. I peel off my jacket and
58:01shirt, pressing my back flat against the
58:03wall, letting a suction cup tendril
58:04extend from my back and lock firmly onto
58:06the rough, uneven surface of the
58:08building's wall. A sudden rush of
58:09heaviness hits me as the ground drops
58:11away fast beneath my feet, and my view
58:12opens up all at once. As I rise,
58:14Brightview Gardens spreads out below me,
58:16and beyond it the nighttime skyline of
58:18Destiny City stretches into the
58:19distance. The cars on the road below
58:21look like slow-crawling beetles,
58:23headlights poking out ahead of them like
58:24a pair of antennae. The tendril at my
58:26back moves with quick, nimble precision,
58:28scaling the wall far faster than any
58:29elevator, carrying me up to the rooftop
58:31in the blink of an eye. Actually, if I
58:33wanted to reach the top without ever
58:34showing up on the elevator or stairwell
58:36cameras, there's an even more direct
58:38option. Push off the ground with a burst
58:39of speed no ordinary person could
58:41manage, and let the sheer momentum
58:42launch me straight up past the 20th
58:44floor. Sure, my body would take some
58:46damage from that, but by the time I
58:47passed the 10th floor, the injury would
58:49already have healed on its own. The only
58:51issue is the sound. A jump like that
58:52would be loud enough to sound like
58:54something exploding, and that's the kind
58:55of thing that draws attention. So, I
58:57stick with the quieter method instead.
58:58Reaching the top, I arch back into a
59:00flip and land steadily on the rooftop.
59:02My night vision eyes sweep the area.
59:04Just like most complexes, there's no
59:05camera up here. I make a quick call.
59:07Barely anyone comes up to a spot like
59:09this on purpose, so it's unlikely to be
59:11under any special watch. With that
59:12settled, no extra precautions are
59:14needed. I quickly locate the vents
59:16opening on the roof. I shape a small
59:17part of my body into a screwdriver,
59:19detach it, remove every screw, and pull
59:21the louvered cover free. Once the
59:23screwdriver merges back into my body, I
59:25I to shift and reshape myself, growing
59:27slender and pliable until I can slip
59:28headfirst into a vent barely a few
59:30decimeters wide. In the movies, the
59:32vents people crawl through are usually
59:33at least 70 centimeters wide and tall,
59:35the kind found in factories, malls, or
59:37office buildings. Residential vents, by
59:39comparison, are absurdly narrow,
59:41sometimes barely wide enough to stuff a
59:42pillow through. But the one sneaking in
59:44this time is me. Not only can I shrink
59:46my body thin enough to fit through a
59:47passage like this, I don't even need to
59:49crawl on hands and knees. I just let the
59:50muscles touching the vent walls ripple
59:52and pull me forward, and that rippling
59:54motion is even quieter than hands and
59:55knees would be. Whether it's the near
59:57vertical main shaft running through the
59:58whole building or the horizontal
1:00:00branches leading into each unit, I move
1:00:01through them all with ease. As for the
1:00:03debris, rust, grime, and stale air
1:00:05filling the vent, for me, it's
1:00:06practically as if none of it is even
1:00:08there. Following the sound of Aiden and
1:00:09his captors, I quickly reach the vent
1:00:11section leading to unit 2102. Unit 2102
1:00:14has four bedrooms and a living room, and
1:00:16from the sounds alone, I can tell there
1:00:17are seven or eight people in there
1:00:18besides Aiden. I'm already fully
1:00:20prepared to drive every one of them out
1:00:22of the building. I extend a tendril,
1:00:23latch its suction cup on the the check
1:00:25valve, and pull it open toward me.
1:00:27Click. With the valve open, I send out a
1:00:28second tendril. Unlike the first, this
1:00:30one's tip has been reshaped into a
1:00:32structure built for continuous airflow.
1:00:34In short, a built-in bellows growing
1:00:35straight out of my own body. At the
1:00:37delivery end, I've packed it full of
1:00:38something I bought and modified earlier,
1:00:40stretching the flexible opening until it
1:00:42bulges. Packed tightly together, the end
1:00:44pointing toward unit 2102 has been lit,
1:00:46kept under careful control so it only
1:00:48smolders, never bursting into open
1:00:50flame. What burns off isn't ordinary
1:00:52smoke, either. It's a thick, biting
1:00:53cloud of chili smoke. That's exactly
1:00:55what I was doing back in that parking
1:00:56garage the whole time. My hands move
1:00:58faster and more precisely than any
1:01:00ordinary person's, so this tedious job
1:01:02gets done in no time. The tendril's tip
1:01:04keeps pumping steadily, sending the
1:01:05pungent chili-laced smoke pouring
1:01:07straight into the kitchen. Under my
1:01:08control, the tendril works with the
1:01:10efficiency of a professional exhaust
1:01:11fan, and before long, the entire kitchen
1:01:13is thick with smoke. Powered by the
1:01:15tendril's fan-like force, the smoke
1:01:16keeps spreading fast, pushing into the
1:01:18living room and every other room beyond.
1:01:20Once the first batch burns out, I
1:01:22immediately send in another tendril,
1:01:23already loaded with a second round of
1:01:25chili material. Woosh, woosh, woosh. The
1:01:27tendril kicks into full power, flooding
1:01:29the whole unit with searing acrid smoke.
1:01:31The effect is immediate. Before long, I
1:01:32hear pure chaos breaking out beyond the
1:01:34vent. "Itchoo, itchoo, hack, cough.
1:01:36What's going on? Snaggletooth, put out
1:01:38that garbage cigarette of yours now.
1:01:40What cigarette? I'm brushing my damn
1:01:41teeth. Whoa, what the hell is burning?"
1:01:43Amid the drifting smoke, coughs and
1:01:45sneezes ripple through the apartment,
1:01:46mixed with muffled groans and curses.
1:01:48Plenty of people inside can barely keep
1:01:50their eyes open through the smoke, and
1:01:51for a moment, even their words come out
1:01:53garbled. Amid the stumbling footsteps,
1:01:55the rattling sound of windows being
1:01:56thrown open rings out here and there. It
1:01:58takes a good while before they're able
1:01:59to talk normally again. "Phew, what the
1:02:01hell just happened? The smoke seems to
1:02:03be coming from the kitchen. I'll go
1:02:04check." I hear footsteps approaching the
1:02:06kitchen. "Whoa, seriously, whose place
1:02:08is this coming from? What is even
1:02:09burning?" The man who reaches the
1:02:11kitchen clamps a hand over his mouth,
1:02:12his voice muffled, his squinting eyes
1:02:14already glistening with tears, brow
1:02:16knotted tight. He forces himself to
1:02:17reach out and flip on the range hood,
1:02:19then hurries out of the kitchen,
1:02:20determined not to spend one more second
1:02:22in there. Back in the living room, he
1:02:23and the others who can still form
1:02:25sentences crowd around the windows,
1:02:26greedily gulping down fresh air while
1:02:28furiously cursing whatever neighbor is
1:02:30apparently cooking up some kind of
1:02:31kitchen disaster next door. "Who fries
1:02:33that much chili? Are they insane? How
1:02:34many people died in there for them to do
1:02:36this? Does anyone else get to breathe
1:02:38around here?" None of them have any idea
1:02:39that the source is actually someone
1:02:41hiding in the vents pumping chili smoke
1:02:42straight in. After all, even a child
1:02:44would struggle to crawl through that
1:02:46vent. The possibility never even crosses
1:02:48their minds. Someone gets angrier the
1:02:49more he thinks about it and heads for
1:02:51the door to confront the neighbor, but
1:02:52the others stop him before he can leave.
1:02:54What they're doing here isn't exactly
1:02:55legal. The last thing they need is to
1:02:57draw attention from anyone nearby, but
1:02:59staying put isn't really an option
1:03:00either, because my second wave of attack
1:03:02is already underway. This time, the
1:03:04chili smoke pours out from the bathroom,
1:03:05turning the living room just outside
1:03:07into a hazy cloud-wrapped mess. The
1:03:09people in the living room, thinking the
1:03:10air had mostly cleared, get caught
1:03:12completely off guard the moment they
1:03:13head back inside. Another epic coughing
1:03:15fit hits without warning. "Cough, ow."
1:03:17Their throats and lungs burn like fire,
1:03:19and every one of them starts cursing
1:03:20under their breath, tempers flaring.
1:03:22"Damn it, I can't take this anymore. Go
1:03:24turn on the exhaust fan." One of them,
1:03:26clearly the one in charge, claps another
1:03:27guy on the shoulder, pushing him toward
1:03:29the bathroom. But his nose wrinkles, and
1:03:31something confused flickers across his
1:03:32twisted expression, and he suddenly
1:03:34grabs the other man, yanking him back.
1:03:36"Wait, what is it?" "The smell's off."
1:03:38The man's face stiffens. "It smells like
1:03:40a gas leak. Nobody touch any
1:03:41electronics. I mean it, don't touch
1:03:43anything." The whole room tenses. They
1:03:45carefully sniff the air, and sure
1:03:46enough, buried under the acrid chili
1:03:48smell is a faint whiff of rotten eggs.
1:03:50"What's going on? It can't be our gas
1:03:52line, can it?" "No idea." The man covers
1:03:54his nose and mouth, carefully easing the
1:03:56door open. But flipping any switch right
1:03:57now could spark an explosion. "Are all
1:03:59the windows open? Everyone get
1:04:01downstairs right now. All of you
1:04:02scatter. I'll call the fire department
1:04:04once you're clear. Oh, and" seeing the
1:04:06group already fitting Aiden's wig back
1:04:07on to make a run for it, he adds, "don't
1:04:09take the elevator. Everyone use the
1:04:11emergency stairs. Got it?" "Yeah." The
1:04:13rest file out one by one. Faces are
1:04:15still pale with lingering fear. The man
1:04:16who'd flipped on the range hood earlier
1:04:18looks especially shaken now, more than
1:04:20anyone else. He'd actually switched on a
1:04:22device during a supposed gas leak, and
1:04:24the fact it never triggered an
1:04:25explosion, that's pure dumb luck, and he
1:04:27knows it. Hearing the chaotic stampede
1:04:28of footsteps heading down the stairwell,
1:04:30I know I've gotten what I wanted. I pull
1:04:32the tendril back in, my body winding
1:04:34backward through the vent, retracing my
1:04:35path up to the rooftop. Actually, once I
1:04:37used up the first batch of chili
1:04:39material back in the bathroom vent, I
1:04:40stopped releasing smoke from that
1:04:41tendril entirely. The tendril I kept
1:04:43pumping air through in the bathroom
1:04:45looked from the outside like it had
1:04:46nothing left in it, but really it was
1:04:48still holding something else, also
1:04:49bought from that same convenience store.
1:04:51I use it to generate, inside my own
1:04:53body, a gas with the reek of rotten
1:04:55eggs, and I pump that into unit 2102 as
1:04:57well, faking the smell of a gas leak.
1:04:59Real gas has no smell of its own. People
1:05:01can only detect a leak because an
1:05:02odorant is deliberately added as a
1:05:04warning. What I've created isn't a
1:05:05perfect match for that real warning
1:05:07smell, but with the whole apartment
1:05:08already choked with chili smoke, that
1:05:10small difference is easy to overlook. I
1:05:12can't yet replicate the exact warning
1:05:14odorant, so I've settled for a cheaper
1:05:15substitute that's easier for me to
1:05:17produce. This substitute isn't harmless
1:05:19on its own, so I keep the concentration
1:05:20extremely low when releasing it, making
1:05:22sure the people outside the vent can
1:05:24smell it without anyone actually getting
1:05:25hurt. While I'm staging this fake leak,
1:05:27there's no ignition source anywhere in
1:05:29the vent and no other hazard left behind
1:05:31either. Climbing out of the vent, I use
1:05:32that improvised screwdriver to put the
1:05:34cover back in place, then head down the
1:05:36same way I came up, riding the tendril
1:05:37like an elevator. Once I land safely, I
1:05:40calmly put my clothes back on and make
1:05:41my way toward Aiden, who's already
1:05:43outside the building. Among the crowd, I
1:05:44spot Aiden instantly, the same one I
1:05:46crossed paths with back at Destiny
1:05:48University. He has the distinct features
1:05:50of someone mixed race, his blond hair
1:05:52hidden beneath a black wig, breathing
1:05:53hard just like everyone else after
1:05:55fleeing all the way down from the
1:05:56smoke-filled 21st floor. My own face
1:05:58looks nothing like it did before, and
1:06:00even my jacket is showing a different
1:06:01color than the one I had on when I first
1:06:03interviewed him. So, as I stroll
1:06:04casually through the crowd of evacuated
1:06:06scheme members, quietly plucking hair
1:06:08samples from every one of them, Aiden
1:06:09has no idea the person standing before
1:06:11him now is the same one who'd once
1:06:12stopped him with questions. The same
1:06:14goes for when I pass right by him,
1:06:15feigning a stumble, my flailing right
1:06:17hand yanking his wig clean off. "Oh,
1:06:19sorry about that." I scramble back up,
1:06:21apologizing over and over, then glance
1:06:23down at the wig in my hand with mock
1:06:24surprise, my eyes flicking back and
1:06:26forth between it and Aiden's golden
1:06:28curls. Caught with his real hair color
1:06:30exposed, Aiden looks dazed, saying
1:06:31nothing, just stepping back half a pace
1:06:33in confusion. Instead, the man beside
1:06:35him lunges forward, snatching the wig
1:06:37out of my hand, shooting me a fierce
1:06:39glare. "Watch where you're going." He
1:06:40shoves the wig back onto Aiden's head,
1:06:42pushing him along, muttering under his
1:06:43breath, "Don't say a word. Just move,
1:06:45move." It seems they're all terrified of
1:06:47letting Aiden show his face to anyone
1:06:49outside their circle, but after
1:06:50everything I've done to finally drive
1:06:52them out of that apartment, there's no
1:06:53way I'm letting them slip past me now. I
1:06:55let out a sudden wide-eyed ah, like I've
1:06:57just remembered something, striding
1:06:58forward to block Aiden's path, my eyes
1:07:00burning into his face. "Aiden, you're
1:07:02Aiden, right?" Meeting my gaze, Aiden
1:07:04blinks, confused, and asks in perfect
1:07:06Mandarin, "Do you know me?" Yeah,
1:07:08"You're exactly who I'm looking for." I
1:07:09fire off the line I'd already rehearsed
1:07:11over and over, ready to test the waters.
1:07:13"They told me to tell you, if you're
1:07:14willing to come with me right now to
1:07:15pick something up, we can push your
1:07:17timeline back to 2065. You in?" Hearing
1:07:19this, not only does the man shoving
1:07:21Aiden along look baffled, but Aiden
1:07:23himself seems completely lost. "Huh?
1:07:252060 what? Go where? Who are you even
1:07:27talking about?" he asks, confused. I
1:07:29don't answer. Instead, I press harder.
1:07:31"You're really not coming with me?"
1:07:32Aiden opens his mouth like he's about to
1:07:34say something else, but the man beside
1:07:36him has already caught on, fixing me
1:07:37with a wary stare while quickly nudging
1:07:39Aiden. Getting the hint, Aiden quickly
1:07:41swallows whatever question he had and
1:07:42shakes his head. "I'm not going, and I
1:07:44don't know you." Fair enough. Having
1:07:46exchanged just those few words with him,
1:07:48and having stayed locked in on his
1:07:49facial expressions and breathing the
1:07:50whole time, I conclude he isn't faking
1:07:52it, and he's not using those three
1:07:53questions as some kind of coded exchange
1:07:55with me, either. Makes sense, really.
1:07:57Knowing Aiden's personality, anyone who
1:07:59knows him even a little would never
1:08:00trust him with a real secret. Even I,
1:08:02from what I've learned about him lately,
1:08:03can tell he's the type to swear up and
1:08:05down he'll keep a secret, then blurt it
1:08:06out 5 minutes later without even
1:08:08realizing it. Just like how the scheme
1:08:09members had already told him to stay
1:08:11quiet, and yet the moment I called his
1:08:12name, his first instinct was still to
1:08:14blurt out, "Do you know me?" Naive as he
1:08:16is, he genuinely has no idea what's
1:08:17really going on. No need to push any
1:08:19further, then. All right, never mind.
1:08:21Turned down, I spin around without
1:08:22hesitation and walk off along the path
1:08:24through the greenery, never looking
1:08:26back. But leaving that easily only makes
1:08:27the man beside Aiden more suspicious. He
1:08:29watches me go, then waves toward the
1:08:31open area behind him, signaling another
1:08:33accomplice over, pointing in my
1:08:34direction and murmuring something low.
1:08:36Got it. The accomplice nods and falls
1:08:38into step behind me, footsteps light. He
1:08:40trails me the whole way, through the
1:08:41greenery, all the way to the playground
1:08:43inside Brightview Gardens, finally
1:08:45ducking behind a mini castle structure
1:08:46to watch from hiding. I act like I have
1:08:48no idea I'm being watched, settling onto
1:08:50a swing, rocking lazily back and forth,
1:08:52phone pressed to my ear. "Hello, is this
1:08:54the police? I found Aiden Ping from
1:08:56Destiny University here at Brightview
1:08:57Gardens. He's wearing a black wig, and
1:08:59there are some other people with him. If
1:09:00you haven't already brought him back
1:09:02from the Scheme's hideout, then those
1:09:03people with him are probably the Scheme
1:09:04members. What? No, I'm not a Destiny
1:09:07University student. How do I know Aiden?
1:09:09Well, here's the thing. I'm not a
1:09:10student there, but I follow their campus
1:09:12forum, and I just saw a post saying
1:09:14Aiden was probably scammed by some
1:09:15pyramid scheme. That's how I found out.
1:09:17Yeah, there was a photo of him. Sounds
1:09:19like his family had someone post on the
1:09:20forum offering at least 20,000 as a
1:09:22reward for anyone with solid leads on
1:09:24where he is. The whole campus and half
1:09:26the city outside it are looking for him.
1:09:27You guys didn't know? I should qualify
1:09:29for the reward with this, right? Great.
1:09:31So, if you could just let Mr. Ping know
1:09:32it was me later, I'd appreciate it.
1:09:34Yeah, my name's Dean. Get over here
1:09:35quick, all right? Bye. I'd already
1:09:37worked out how to explain knowing about
1:09:39Aiden in the first place. Since I've
1:09:40already flagged Destiny University in my
1:09:42mind as a hot zone where enemies or
1:09:43other suspicious figures might be
1:09:45hiding, I followed the university's
1:09:46campus forum just to stay on top of
1:09:48whatever's happening there. Anyone
1:09:50determined enough could dig up the
1:09:51forum's account through the right online
1:09:52communities, but my own way of finding
1:09:54it was a lot more direct. I spotted the
1:09:56forum's content on another student's
1:09:57phone screen from a distance, and
1:09:59without even getting close, my sharp
1:10:00eyes read the account number straight
1:10:02off it. If the police ask, I can just
1:10:04say I learned about this whole mess,
1:10:05already blowing up across campus,
1:10:07through the forum. And the post really
1:10:08does mention Aiden by name, so
1:10:10everything checks out under scrutiny. On
1:10:12top of that, I actually spotted myself
1:10:13on the forum, too, or rather
1:10:15descriptions of myself. Plenty of
1:10:16students had posted about noticing some
1:10:18mystery classmate roaming campus today,
1:10:20stopping people with questions and
1:10:21handing out cash by the hundreds. It's
1:10:23true, I saw it myself. He kept asking
1:10:25questions and handing out money. Gave
1:10:27people thousands, easy. I had to head to
1:10:29class after that, so I don't know what
1:10:30happened next. I noticed him, too, but
1:10:32didn't think much of it. Wish I'd gone
1:10:34up and talked to him now. Does anyone
1:10:35know what major this guy's in? What year
1:10:37is he? Plenty of people are curious just
1:10:39who this mystery classmate really is,
1:10:41asking around for my name, where I am
1:10:43now, how to reach me, and most
1:10:45importantly, is he investigating
1:10:46anything else next? Will anyone else get
1:10:48a shot to help? I wonder if the girl I'd
1:10:50shaken off earlier is among them. Too
1:10:51bad the photos on the forum are all
1:10:53pretty blurry, and even if someone had a
1:10:54clear shot of my face, it'd just be
1:10:56whatever face I'd been wearing at the
1:10:58time. No such person exists at Destiny
1:11:00University. Once I finish the call and
1:11:01hang up, I hop off the swing and stroll
1:11:03off a few steps, looking every bit as
1:11:05relaxed as before, then suddenly whip
1:11:07around toward the playground slide and
1:11:08shout, "Who's there? Come out!" The man
1:11:10hiding behind the slide startles, peeks
1:11:12out to see me already closing in, and
1:11:14bolts, footsteps pounding fast against
1:11:16the ground. I'd actually spotted him a
1:11:17while ago. I let him eavesdrop on
1:11:19purpose, then baited the confrontation
1:11:21so I could use it as cover to move
1:11:22against them, holding him up long enough
1:11:24that Aiden couldn't be moved anywhere
1:11:25before the police arrived. The man
1:11:27sprints back the way he came, gasping
1:11:29for breath as he tears toward the open
1:11:30lot where the others are waiting,
1:11:32shouting, "Big trouble, scatter now! Get
1:11:34that Aiden kid somewhere hidden, fast!
1:11:36Heat's on, scatter!" "What's wrong?"
1:11:38"That guy just called the cops." He's so
1:11:39focused on getting the words out that he
1:11:41assumes, without even thinking, I'm too
1:11:43far behind to catch up this fast,
1:11:44convinced he has all the time he needs
1:11:46to warn the others. So, when I shoot
1:11:47forward like an arrow, planting myself
1:11:49right in his path and sticking out a
1:11:50foot to trip him, he has no time to
1:11:52react. His own momentum sends him flying
1:11:54forward, arms spread wide, slamming
1:11:56face-first into the ground. "Oh, damn!
1:11:58My ankle." He pushes himself up on his
1:12:00arms, clutching his leg, and hissing
1:12:01through his teeth, unable to get back
1:12:03up. At first, the moment they hear their
1:12:04friend say the police are coming, the
1:12:06rest of the group panics, instinctively
1:12:08scattering in every direction. But, once
1:12:10they spot me, just one person chasing
1:12:12them down alone from a distance,
1:12:13something starts to feel off. They slow
1:12:15down and it dawns on them, if they can
1:12:17just get Aiden safely relocated, the
1:12:19rest of them haven't technically done
1:12:20anything that criminal, have they? As
1:12:22long as there's no evidence proving
1:12:23they've broken any law, what can the
1:12:25police really do to them? After all,
1:12:26they're just ordinary folks running a
1:12:28legitimate business, or so they tell
1:12:29themselves. And even in the worst case,
1:12:31if the police do end up hauling them in
1:12:33for something, surely a whole group of
1:12:34them can handle just one person before
1:12:36the cops even show up. This stubborn kid
1:12:38in front of them clearly seems
1:12:39determined to stop Aiden. Fine, then,
1:12:41stall him for a bit, rough him up a
1:12:43little, then make their exit. Plenty of
1:12:44time for that. With that decided, they
1:12:46stop scattering and instead start
1:12:47converging on me, shouting impatiently
1:12:49as they come. "Hey, what do you want?
1:12:51Who are you? What school are you from?
1:12:53What are you doing messing with us? Get
1:12:54lost, you hear me? I look at their
1:12:56hostile faces, completely unfazed.
1:12:58Interesting. So, instead of running,
1:12:59they're coming straight for me. Huff,
1:13:01huff. Aiden is running for his life. He
1:13:03sticks close behind the guy who
1:13:04supposedly promised to make him rich,
1:13:06cutting a winding path through the
1:13:07sprawling complex, heading urgently for
1:13:09a new hideout. The reason for all this
1:13:11panic is that someone had overheard from
1:13:12a distance that the stranger who'd
1:13:14randomly approached Aiden earlier had
1:13:16recognized him and quietly called the
1:13:17police. It's obvious the police will do
1:13:19exactly what his parents want and drag
1:13:21him back home. At first, Aiden was just
1:13:23curious what that stranger's bizarre
1:13:24words were even supposed to mean, but
1:13:26now that he knows the guy called the
1:13:27cops behind his back, all he feels is
1:13:29resentment. Whatever the man was even
1:13:31talking about, he's just one more person
1:13:33trying to stop him from seizing this
1:13:34chance to make money. Aiden can't wrap
1:13:36his head around it. Why does it bother
1:13:37so many people that he wants to earn his
1:13:39own fortune? Living off his parents'
1:13:40wealth and status, even getting into
1:13:42Destiny University through the
1:13:43international student track he'd never
1:13:45have qualified for otherwise. People
1:13:47call him a spoiled do-nothing brat who
1:13:48only knows how to spend money, but the
1:13:50moment he tries to actually earn
1:13:51something on his own, suddenly
1:13:53everyone's scrambling to stop him,
1:13:54insisting he's just been scammed. Is he
1:13:56just not allowed to earn his own success
1:13:58as far as they're concerned? Just
1:13:59thinking about how everyone boxes him in
1:14:01from every angle makes Aiden's blood
1:14:02boil. Lean on his father's money and
1:14:04people judge him. Try to build something
1:14:06himself and people judge him, too. No
1:14:08matter what he does, it's never good
1:14:09enough for them. Aiden Pink can guess
1:14:11exactly how this is going to go, knowing
1:14:13his family's personality and attitude.
1:14:15To drag him back home, they'll stop at
1:14:16nothing, including posting a reward at
1:14:18his school for any tip about him. By
1:14:20now, the whole campus probably knows,
1:14:21and everyone assumes he got scammed.
1:14:23They're probably mocking him on the
1:14:24campus wall right now, tearing him
1:14:26apart. Fine, let them laugh. When he
1:14:28comes back having built something on his
1:14:30own, let's see what they say then. That
1:14:31thought pushes his feet faster through
1:14:33the dark. Tonight, he absolutely cannot
1:14:35let them take him back. The guys from
1:14:36the scheme close in on me, faces twisted
1:14:38with irritation and anger, like they've
1:14:40been pushed past their limit. Most
1:14:41people who see faces like that, even if
1:14:43they aren't scared, would think twice
1:14:45and back off to avoid trouble, but all
1:14:46of them together don't intimidate me one
1:14:48bit. I keep chasing Aiden Ping without
1:14:50slowing down a hair, as if these men
1:14:51simply don't exist. And, when they start
1:14:53shouting at me and raise their hands
1:14:55like they're about to swing, I just drop
1:14:56into a sudden squat as they lunge, and
1:14:58their hands grab nothing but air. Then,
1:15:00I keep my left leg folded and shoot my
1:15:01right leg straight out, holding a
1:15:03perfect Ip Man squat. While holding that
1:15:05position, my left ankle keeps working
1:15:06non-stop. My left foot hops at high
1:15:08speed, carrying me in Aiden Ping's
1:15:10direction, while my whole body keeps
1:15:11spinning. One rotation, two, three. A
1:15:14spinning leg sweep that covers ground
1:15:16and attacks at the same time. I keep
1:15:17rotating as I move forward at a steady
1:15:19pace, and every man who comes close gets
1:15:21swept flat onto the ground. It takes a
1:15:23solid few seconds before the men stagger
1:15:24back to their feet and process what just
1:15:26happened. By then, their jaws have hit
1:15:28the floor. How can anyone squat on one
1:15:29leg and still hop, move forward, and
1:15:31keep spinning, all at once? Any one of
1:15:33those moves is hard enough to do
1:15:35smoothly in an Ip Man squat, and I'm
1:15:36doing all three at the same time. Is
1:15:38this guy actually trained? What style is
1:15:40this? Why does it look so bizarre? They
1:15:42don't get it, but they're shook. Don't
1:15:44don't go near him. I think he's trained.
1:15:45Let's just stay back. Battered and
1:15:47rattled, the men hold their distance and
1:15:48watch. After what I just did to them,
1:15:50none of them dare follow. From the way I
1:15:52spun like a top, they can tell I was
1:15:53holding back. I was focused on chasing
1:15:55Aiden Ping, and I never came close to
1:15:57full strength. If I actually fought them
1:15:59for real, I might not beat this many men
1:16:00at once, but I'd definitely put one or
1:16:02two of them through absolute hell.
1:16:04Nobody wants to be the guy who sticks
1:16:05his neck out. They haven't even started
1:16:07making the big money yet. Why risk their
1:16:08lives now? They've stopped following.
1:16:10Once I feel the interference is gone, I
1:16:12come up out of the squat hop and switch
1:16:14back to running up right. And, my path
1:16:15opens up instantly. I follow the fresh
1:16:17scent and the source of the footsteps,
1:16:19weaving through the tangled maze of
1:16:20buildings. Then, I launch myself
1:16:22forward, bursting out from behind the
1:16:23bushes in the landscape strip. Aiden
1:16:25Ping is still sprinting, and before he
1:16:27can react, my hand clamps around his
1:16:28wrist. Stop running. My voice comes out
1:16:31flat and calm, nothing like the violence
1:16:32of the movement. The police are almost
1:16:34here. A normal person wouldn't hear it
1:16:36yet, but in my ears, the sirens in the
1:16:37distance are already unmistakable. Let
1:16:39go. Aiden Ping roars, yanking hard at
1:16:41the arm I'm holding. I really don't get
1:16:43it. Why are you all so jealous of me? I
1:16:45spend my family's money, you're like
1:16:46this. I start earning my own money,
1:16:48you're still like this. Even furious,
1:16:50Aiden Ping can't stop talking. The
1:16:52complaints pour out of him. If you need
1:16:53money, go earn it yourself. Why do you
1:16:55keep tripping me up? Oh right, you can't
1:16:57get ahead so you can't stand watching
1:16:58anyone else get ahead. That's it, isn't
1:17:00it? Aiden, don't waste your breath. The
1:17:02man beside him is a lot more practical.
1:17:04He doesn't say another word. He just
1:17:05launches a kick straight at me. Yes,
1:17:07Aiden Ping cheers. From where he's
1:17:09standing, it looks like the kick lands.
1:17:10My body tilts sideways and I go down,
1:17:12but the recruiter feels something
1:17:13completely different. To him, it feels
1:17:15like the instant my body touches his
1:17:17shoe, I fall away on my own in the exact
1:17:19direction of the kick. There's no
1:17:20resistance to push against. His kick
1:17:22catches nothing. His leg slides right
1:17:24out from under him and he drops into
1:17:25half a split on the spot. Ah, his
1:17:27ligaments snap tight and the flash of
1:17:29pain nearly breaks a cold sweat across
1:17:31his face. It takes him a while to get
1:17:32steady again and before he can even
1:17:34think about what just happened, he looks
1:17:36up and what he sees freezes him
1:17:37completely. I did let go of Aiden Ping's
1:17:39wrist when I went down and now I'm lying
1:17:41in the middle of the landscape strip,
1:17:42but I'm not getting up and blood keeps
1:17:44spilling out of my mouth. You, you, my
1:17:46voice is barely a thread. My throat
1:17:48sounds like it's pooled with blood and I
1:17:49can't push out a full word. Even Aiden
1:17:51Ping realizes that next to a man
1:17:53bleeding out, all his grievances and
1:17:54anger suddenly mean nothing. Boss, you
1:17:56gave him internal bleeding. What do we
1:17:58do now? The recruiter looks at the blank
1:18:00panic in Aiden Ping's eyes and his own
1:18:02head goes foggy. With everything
1:18:03happening at once, his brain won't quite
1:18:05turn over. If they get caught now, that
1:18:07stacks another charge on top, doesn't
1:18:08it? No, hurting someone this badly might
1:18:10bump it from a side charge to the main
1:18:12charge. Forget it. Move. Keep moving. He
1:18:14hardens his nerve and waves Aiden Ping
1:18:16forward. Huh? Hold on. Something is
1:18:18holding his foot in place. Aiden Ping
1:18:20looks down. I look broken and weak, but
1:18:22my hand is locked around his ankle and
1:18:23the grip is shockingly strong. He's got
1:18:25me. Shake him off. I can't. What?
1:18:27Confused, the recruiter steps over and
1:18:29crouches down to pry my fingers loose,
1:18:31but my fingers are like iron pliers. No
1:18:33matter how he claws at them, they don't
1:18:34budge. He really won't let go. He lifts
1:18:36his foot ready to stomp a few times,
1:18:38then hesitates and sets it back down.
1:18:40After something that strange, he has no
1:18:42idea what will happen if he attacks me
1:18:43again. If this lands him a charge for
1:18:45silencing a witness, that's a
1:18:46catastrophic trade. The two of them are
1:18:48stuck, pinned in place because of me,
1:18:50unable to leave. Maybe we just carry him
1:18:52with us? After a standoff that feels
1:18:54endless, Aiden Ping finally offers a
1:18:56solution that isn't one. Then he turns
1:18:57around and the man who promised to make
1:18:59him rich is gone. Boss, where'd you go?
1:19:01Aiden Ping is still confused when the
1:19:03sirens outside Brightview Gardens grow
1:19:04sharp and clear. The recruiter heard it
1:19:06coming and he dumped Aiden Ping and ran.
1:19:08Now it's Aiden Ping's turn to go blank.
1:19:10Red and blue light floods the exit of
1:19:11the complex, flashing in quick bursts
1:19:13across the wall by the gate. Nobody
1:19:15move. At the gate of Brightview Gardens,
1:19:17I stand beside a patrol car, injured,
1:19:19held up by an officer. Every time I lift
1:19:21my head, I meet Aiden Ping's dark stare,
1:19:23the kind that says he'd love to beat me
1:19:24senseless. After that happens one too
1:19:26many times, I finally say it. Could you
1:19:28stop looking at me like that? Aiden
1:19:29Ping, surrounded and firmly guarded,
1:19:31says nothing. It's only because the
1:19:32police are watching that all he does is
1:19:34glare. His chest heaves hard, but he
1:19:35doesn't charge over and put a fist in my
1:19:37face. I was clearly knocked out by that
1:19:39kick, and even unconscious, my hand
1:19:41stayed locked on Aiden Ping's ankle and
1:19:42refused to let go. Then the police came
1:19:44in from outside and identified him, and
1:19:46the guy who hadn't moved a muscle
1:19:47suddenly woke right up. I brushed the
1:19:49dust off myself with perfect poise and
1:19:51told the arriving officers, like nothing
1:19:53had happened at all, that I was the one
1:19:54who called it in. It's hard not to take
1:19:56that personally. Anyone who got hit with
1:19:57something that infuriating right as they
1:19:59were about to escape would understand
1:20:00exactly how he feels right now. Even a
1:20:02goalie doesn't block this hard. Who does
1:20:04something that shameless? And now what
1:20:06about the two of them at home? It's too
1:20:07late to say anything. Once they haul him
1:20:09back to school, Aiden Ping won't just
1:20:10lose his shot at making real money and
1:20:12proving himself. The story that he got
1:20:14conned will become accepted truth among
1:20:15his classmates, and he won't be able to
1:20:17show his face. And he'll probably be
1:20:19watched so closely that he never gets
1:20:20off campus again. The more he thinks
1:20:22about it, the more he hates me. Oh, come
1:20:24on. Why is Destiny City's good Samaritan
1:20:26such a jerk? Huh? You again? An officer
1:20:28finishes taking statements elsewhere,
1:20:30comes back to the gate, and recognizes
1:20:31my face in the streetlight. What are the
1:20:33odds, Officer Bruno? I remember this
1:20:35middle-aged officer, too. His name is
1:20:37Bruno Barnes. Back when I was in the
1:20:38hospital, he questioned me several times
1:20:40about the mugging. We know each other
1:20:42reasonably well by now. Aren't you
1:20:43supposed to be resting at home? Those
1:20:45injuries can't be healed yet. Officer
1:20:46Bruno looks me up and down, studying me
1:20:48with a trace of worry. Nope. I lift my
1:20:50shirt and show the bruises and wounds on
1:20:52my stomach. Still not fully healed. I
1:20:54had erased every one of those injuries
1:20:55the moment I left the hospital. I just
1:20:57built them back a few minutes ago. So,
1:20:59I'd still look like a patient. I just
1:21:00went out for a walk after dinner. The
1:21:02doctor said moderate activity beats
1:21:03lying in bed all day, and I can run and
1:21:05jump fine now. I'm pre-explaining
1:21:07everything I did on the security cameras
1:21:08tonight, even though Officer Bruno may
1:21:10never watch that footage. Is that so?
1:21:12Bruno frowns and presses further.
1:21:14Nothing happened to you after you called
1:21:15it in? He can see that I'm pale and that
1:21:17another officer is holding me upright.
1:21:19He's starting to suspect I've badly
1:21:20misunderstood the word moderate in
1:21:21moderate activity. Probably nothing. I
1:21:24say it with deliberate uncertainty. Oh,
1:21:25right. I think someone kicked me. Then I
1:21:27passed out. When I woke up, you were all
1:21:29here. I glance down at the dark patch on
1:21:31my blue jacket, the one that smells like
1:21:33blood, and add, "And I think I coughed
1:21:34up blood again." Is that right? A vein
1:21:36twitches on Bruno's forehead as he turns
1:21:38a hard stare on Aiden Ping. He knows the
1:21:40caller was lying at Aiden Ping's feet
1:21:41when they arrived. He just didn't
1:21:43recognize that it was me. Aiden Ping
1:21:45looks away and makes a vague grunt,
1:21:46which counts as half a confession. I did
1:21:48cough up blood, true. And I'm just about
1:21:50making him sick enough to throw up, too.
1:21:51And you need to be more careful. Bruno
1:21:53turns back to me with a heavy, earnest
1:21:54warning. You're still injured. Don't
1:21:56wander this far from home, and
1:21:58definitely don't get tangled up in
1:21:59something like this. Your place is
1:22:00several subway stops from here, isn't
1:22:02it? It is. When this wraps up, can you
1:22:04get home on your own? Do you want us to
1:22:05drive you? No, thanks, Officer Bruno. I
1:22:07shake my head. I can get back myself.
1:22:09The last train hasn't run yet. Bruno
1:22:11still isn't satisfied. His hand moves to
1:22:13his radio. Either way, you're hurt. Let
1:22:15me get someone to take you to the
1:22:16hospital for a checkup. I don't want
1:22:18anything else going wrong. Sure. Thanks
1:22:19for the trouble. I don't refuse, and
1:22:21they put me in another patrol car and
1:22:23send me to the hospital to get examined.
1:22:25I'm not worried a hospital exam will
1:22:26reveal the countless little lumps inside
1:22:28me. The culture chamber is growing other
1:22:30people's cells. Based on the distance to
1:22:31the nearest hospital and normal driving
1:22:33speed, I have more than enough time to
1:22:35finish the remaining accelerated
1:22:36experiments inside my body. Then I can
1:22:38tuck the other people's tissue somewhere
1:22:39inside me where nobody will find it.
1:22:41Besides, a hospital is a great place.
1:22:43That's what I think the second I step
1:22:44out of the car and catch a rectangular
1:22:46shadow on the ground in the distance. I
1:22:48say I urgently need the restroom, take a
1:22:49few turns through the hospital, circle
1:22:51around to it, and pick the red envelope
1:22:53up off the ground. I open it, and sure
1:22:55enough, there's a note inside. Open this
1:22:57and I'm lending you 5 years of my life,
1:22:58and underneath it sits 100 yuan. The
1:23:00settlement I received earlier came to
1:23:02more than 180,000 yuan, and today I've
1:23:04been burning through cash like water.
1:23:06But the instant I open that envelope, it
1:23:08still feels like pulling a jackpot out
1:23:09of a loot box. I suppose this is what
1:23:11people mean when they say free food
1:23:13tastes best, and found money is the
1:23:14reddest of all. And this time the person
1:23:16who left it is an honest vendor. In
1:23:18every red envelope I've picked up since
1:23:19I was a kid, somebody was borrowing life
1:23:21from me. This time the owner generously
1:23:23does the opposite and lends his own life
1:23:25to me. 5 years of it. Well, in that
1:23:26case, how could I possibly waste such a
1:23:28kind gesture? I happily pocket the cash
1:23:30with 5 years attached, and even while
1:23:32I'm enjoying it, I realize that
1:23:33scavenging money at hospitals will never
1:23:35cover the hole in my budget.
1:23:36Investigating the time bomb in our genes
1:23:38is going to mean fighting people, openly
1:23:40or in the shadows. 180,000 yuan is an
1:23:42operating fund. Even with the 20,000 the
1:23:44Ping family owes me tonight is nowhere
1:23:46near enough. I need a way to use my
1:23:48abilities to make money fast without
1:23:50drawing attention. And no, I don't mean
1:23:51hauling bricks, delivering takeout, or
1:23:53tightening bolts on a line. I have a
1:23:55massive advantage at all of those, but
1:23:56the money comes too slowly to cover
1:23:58what's ahead. Could I quietly become a
1:24:00mercenary or a bounty hunter and take
1:24:01gray area jobs, or keep manufacturing
1:24:04organs and selling them off the books?
1:24:05My mind runs through a lot of options,
1:24:07but when I circle back and rejoin the
1:24:09officer, I have to shove the money
1:24:10problem aside. The experiments have
1:24:12finished, and the results say a second
1:24:13doomsday survivor has appeared. When I
1:24:15eavesdropped on the hideout and heard
1:24:17nothing suspicious, I had already
1:24:18prepared myself for these people having
1:24:20nothing to do with the gene bomb. I
1:24:21collected their cells anyway, purely to
1:24:23be safe, so my final conclusion would be
1:24:25airtight. And it turns out one of them
1:24:26has a very big problem. I never asked
1:24:28any of them for exact birth dates, but
1:24:30the moment I collected their cells, I
1:24:31estimated their ages from the
1:24:33methylation clock. And one man's cells
1:24:35are set to trigger the cell death
1:24:36program around 2065. Even allowing for
1:24:38margin of error, that runs far past the
1:24:40limit set for ordinary humans. He
1:24:42outlives Aiden Ping. That man wasn't at
1:24:44the hideout in the urban village. He was
1:24:46at Brightview Gardens, one of the
1:24:47several who evacuated because of the gas
1:24:49leak. Completely unremarkable in the
1:24:51crowd. After checking in and paying at
1:24:52the desk, I sit waiting on a metal
1:24:54hospital chair with the officer who came
1:24:56with me right beside me. I take out my
1:24:58phone and look like I'm scrolling
1:24:59through short videos, but inside I'm
1:25:01working hard to recall everything about
1:25:02the man who lives to 2065. His face, his
1:25:05scent, his voice. I wasn't paying
1:25:07special attention to anyone at the time,
1:25:09but I still automatically memorized
1:25:10which sample belonged to which person.
1:25:12And I can replay every single word that
1:25:14voice said, start to finish. Even going
1:25:16over it again and again, I find nothing
1:25:17suspicious anywhere. The most I learn is
1:25:19that the others call him by a nickname,
1:25:21Snaggletooth. And when my squatting leg
1:25:23sweep knocked him down, this so-called
1:25:25Snaggletooth went over exactly as easily
1:25:26as everyone else. So he's like Aiden
1:25:28Ping at Destiny University, an ordinary
1:25:30person blending into the crowd. Judging
1:25:32by appearances alone, neither of them
1:25:34seem special in the slightest. At most,
1:25:35Aiden Ping stands out for his wealthy
1:25:37background and his painfully simple
1:25:38mind. As for what makes Snaggletooth
1:25:40special, I don't know yet. So what do
1:25:42the people who survived past 2050 have
1:25:44in common? And why does Snaggletooth get
1:25:46roughly five more years than Aiden Ping?
1:25:48I won't have answers until I dig into
1:25:49Snaggletooth a lot deeper. I also don't
1:25:51know whether the police caught him after
1:25:52the scheme scattered out of Brightview
1:25:54Gardens. If they did and I move fast
1:25:56enough, I might still find a chance to
1:25:57listen in or catch a glimpse of
1:25:58information about him. But if they never
1:26:00find Snaggletooth, or they bring him in
1:26:02and release him for lack of evidence,
1:26:03then I'll just have to keep
1:26:04investigating on my own. Still, the
1:26:06first time is clumsy and the second time
1:26:08is easy. After tonight, I'm confident
1:26:10that as long as someone hasn't gotten
1:26:11far, I can run them down. Worst case,
1:26:13I'll grow a fresh wound somewhere the
1:26:14hospital isn't examining tonight. Then
1:26:16I'll describe Snaggletooth's face to the
1:26:18police and say he's the one who cut me.
1:26:19As long as the details hold up, it
1:26:21works. Nobody in that scheme is a decent
1:26:23human being anyway, and Snaggletooth may
1:26:25well be tied to a conspiracy to wipe out
1:26:27the human race. Helping put him behind
1:26:28bars is not a waste of police resources
1:26:30at all. I think all this through while
1:26:32cooperating with the doctor's tests, and
1:26:34in the end they confirm nothing is
1:26:35seriously wrong with me. Stay a little
1:26:37longer for observation. If nothing comes
1:26:39up, you can go. Okay. With the exam
1:26:41finished, I wait in the hallway outside
1:26:42the exam room. That's when a man who
1:26:44introduces himself as a lawyer shows up
1:26:46at the hospital and finds me in the
1:26:47hallway. "Excuse me, you're Dean,
1:26:49correct?" I nod. "That's me. You're
1:26:50looking for me." "Mr. Vincent Peng,
1:26:52Aiden's father, asked me to deliver this
1:26:54to you. He and Mrs. Peng are extremely
1:26:56busy with work, so they can't come in
1:26:57person right now." The lawyer takes a
1:26:59check out of his briefcase and hands it
1:27:01to me. "Thank you." I take it and glance
1:27:02down. The amount reads 50,000 yuan. I
1:27:05quickly push down my excitement and ask,
1:27:07"Um, the campus wall said 20,000. Why is
1:27:09it so much more?" Inside I'm thinking,
1:27:11"Don't tell me the campus wallet Destiny
1:27:13University skimmed to cut off the top."
1:27:14"Here's the thing. Mr. Peng said your
1:27:16tip led the police straight to Aiden's
1:27:18location, and you held him there on the
1:27:19scene. He feels this is the least he can
1:27:21do." The lawyer smiles. "And when Mr.
1:27:23Peng heard you were injured because of
1:27:24this, he insisted on covering your
1:27:26medical bills as well." He asks the
1:27:27officer beside me exactly what they
1:27:29already paid, and insists on reimbursing
1:27:31every bit of it. After settling the
1:27:32payment, he comes back and says, "One
1:27:34more thing. Would you be willing to
1:27:35leave your contact information? Mr. Peng
1:27:37can't get away at the moment, but he'd
1:27:39like to take you to dinner another day
1:27:40and thank you personally. He asked me to
1:27:42see how you feel about that." The
1:27:43thought that won't be necessary flashes
1:27:45through my head for exactly 1 second.
1:27:46Then it hits me. Isn't this a perfect
1:27:48opportunity to get close to Aiden Peng's
1:27:50family? I'd already planned to find a
1:27:51way to reach his family after making
1:27:53contact with the scheme. I've confirmed
1:27:55there's a doomsday survivor inside the
1:27:56scheme besides Aiden Peng, but that
1:27:58doesn't prove there isn't one in his
1:27:59family, too. And why did Snaggletooth
1:28:01use the scheme to approach Aiden Peng in
1:28:03the first place? Does it have something
1:28:04to do with his family? Is there
1:28:05something unusual about the Peng
1:28:07household? All of that needs answers.
1:28:09Sure. I agree without hesitation. Borrow
1:28:11a pen and paper from the exam room next
1:28:12door and start writing. Here's my phone
1:28:14number, my school and class, and my home
1:28:16address. I hand the note to the lawyer.
1:28:18My reasoning is this: if someone in
1:28:20Aiden Ping's family turns out to be an
1:28:21enemy, then even if I leave the address
1:28:23off, anyone over there who targets me
1:28:25could dox me easily with that kind of
1:28:26power. So, I might as well write it out
1:28:28in detail and make sure they can reach
1:28:30me smoothly. All I need is for any
1:28:31potential enemy in that family to find
1:28:33nothing suspicious about me when we
1:28:34finally meet face-to-face. After leaving
1:28:36the hospital, I still have to ride back
1:28:38to the precinct to give a statement.
1:28:40We're still a good distance away, and
1:28:41before I even step out of the car, I can
1:28:43hear what's happening inside from across
1:28:44the street. Aiden Ping's parents, too
1:28:46busy running an empire to show up, sent
1:28:47someone to collect him. And the members
1:28:49of the scheme who scattered in every
1:28:50direction, including the ones back at
1:28:52the urban village, have mostly been
1:28:53rounded up. By the time I finish my
1:28:55statement and walk out of the precinct,
1:28:57everything I overheard has given me the
1:28:58basic file on Snaggletooth. His real
1:29:00name is Ray Coleman, 34 years old, from
1:29:03out of province. Someone else in the
1:29:04scheme picked Aiden Ping up from Destiny
1:29:06University and showed him around. But,
1:29:07the man who first marked Aiden Ping and
1:29:09set the whole recruitment in motion was
1:29:11Ray. His story holds up perfectly. He
1:29:13saw a naive, easily fooled kid with what
1:29:15looked like a deep network of
1:29:16connections, so he set out to lure him
1:29:17in. If I didn't know that both he and
1:29:19Aiden Ping are survivors, I'd almost
1:29:21have bought that explanation. Listening
1:29:22in from several rooms away, the thing is
1:29:24the police apparently haven't found
1:29:26anything noteworthy on Ray's phone or
1:29:27his other devices yet. At most, there's
1:29:29evidence of him conning other people.
1:29:31Before I leave, I write down every scrap
1:29:32of intel I heard about Ray, down to the
1:29:34smallest detail. All of it could matter
1:29:36later. Only when the interrogation
1:29:37pauses for the night do I leave the wall
1:29:39corner I've been staking out a few
1:29:40meters away. To prevent leaks, the walls
1:29:42around an interrogation room are usually
1:29:44packed with soundproofing, and this
1:29:45place is no exception. So, when I'm not
1:29:47inside the precinct, the only way to
1:29:49hear anything is to press against the
1:29:50wall about 10 m out, staying clear of
1:29:52the cameras. And sometimes what I catch
1:29:54is incomplete. By the time I walk away,
1:29:56the last train has long since gone. But,
1:29:58even if the subway were still running, I
1:29:59wouldn't go quietly home. I find a hotel
1:30:01nearby, use my ID number showing I'm
1:30:03already 18, and pay for a single room.
1:30:06The hotel is close enough to the
1:30:07precinct that even sitting in my own
1:30:09room, I'll still hear it when they get
1:30:10ready to question Ray again. Then I can
1:30:12rush to my stakeout spot near the
1:30:13precinct and listen in. I need to stay
1:30:15here and keep listening for a while
1:30:17longer. Looking back now, I think I made
1:30:18a mistake. When I deliberately dropped
1:30:20the words live to 2065 to test Aiden
1:30:22Ping, I did it because I hadn't heard a
1:30:24single suspicious conversation before
1:30:26that. Somewhere in the back of my mind,
1:30:28I'd already written off everyone else in
1:30:29the scheme as irrelevant. That's why I
1:30:31said it out loud. At that exact moment,
1:30:33Ray wasn't next to Aiden Ping. He'd
1:30:34scattered in a different direction along
1:30:36with the rest of them. The distance
1:30:37between us wasn't close, but it wasn't
1:30:39far either. At that range, an ordinary
1:30:41person would have trouble hearing me,
1:30:42but I can't be sure. I can't rule out
1:30:44that Ray heard something he shouldn't
1:30:45have. Thankfully, Ray is locked up now.
1:30:47He almost certainly can't communicate
1:30:49with anyone, and he can't move around
1:30:50freely. Even if he heard something and
1:30:52flagged it, it'll be hard for him to tip
1:30:53anyone off anytime soon. I'm staying at
1:30:55the Meridian Hotel near the precinct
1:30:57precisely so I can keep eyes on him at
1:30:59all times. The moment anything stirs,
1:31:00I'll be the first to know. Looks like
1:31:02there's no sleeping for the next couple
1:31:03of days. Not a real problem, though. I
1:31:05don't need much sleep to begin with, and
1:31:07I can erase almost all the damage that
1:31:08long-term sleep deprivation causes. I go
1:31:11upstairs, walk down the hallway, stop,
1:31:13and open the door with the key card. I
1:31:14step into the room and reach for the
1:31:15light switch. My hand freezes in midair.
1:31:18What is this? My eyes narrow as I look
1:31:19out into the dim single room ahead of
1:31:21me. I wait a few seconds, then shut the
1:31:23door behind me, and let the room fall
1:31:24completely dark. Then I move in close
1:31:26and inspect the corner by the headboard,
1:31:28the underside of the desk, and the dead
1:31:30center of the shower head in the
1:31:31bathroom. To my eyes, every one of those
1:31:33spots is glowing red. Compared to a
1:31:34normal person, my retinas are sensitive
1:31:36to infrared light close to the visible
1:31:38spectrum. That infrared emitted for the
1:31:40camera's night vision is invisible to
1:31:41ordinary people. I spot it instantly.
1:31:43Pinhole cameras. I study the red dots in
1:31:45my field of view and think, "You really
1:31:47can't let your guard down anywhere." If
1:31:49I hadn't noticed these, and my body did
1:31:50something unusual in this hotel tonight,
1:31:52and it got recorded, and that footage
1:31:54spread, I'd have an enormous problem.
1:31:56How does the Meridian Hotel sit this
1:31:57close to a police precinct and still
1:31:59pull something this brazen? Are they
1:32:00worried the walk to booking would be too
1:32:02long once they get arrested? And this is
1:32:03clearly a single room. Two people aren't
1:32:05usually in here doing anything worth
1:32:07filming. So, what's the point of the
1:32:08hidden cameras? I hang the shower head
1:32:10back up and think through what happens
1:32:11if I call the police right now. Hello
1:32:13police, I found hidden cameras in this
1:32:15hotel. Understood, we're on our way.
1:32:17Wait, Dean, why are you still here? You
1:32:19didn't go home? Oh, Officer Bruno, I was
1:32:21just absolutely not. You're reckless kid
1:32:23running around out here every night.
1:32:25What if you get hurt again? I'm having
1:32:26someone drive you home. And then, even
1:32:28if I turn around and come straight back
1:32:30the second they drop me off, I could
1:32:31still miss critical intel on Ray or a
1:32:33change in his movements. Forget it. The
1:32:35thought kills any plan to report it
1:32:36tonight. Never mind pinhole cameras,
1:32:38even if I watched a murderer walk past
1:32:40my window right now, I'd have to weigh
1:32:41how to tip off the police indirectly
1:32:43without leaving a trace. As for the
1:32:45cameras, they can stay a little longer.
1:32:47Once this whole business is over, I'll
1:32:48come back, gather evidence and report
1:32:50it. I file that dead away quietly, but
1:32:52even without reporting it, I'm not
1:32:53letting this scummy hotel off easy
1:32:55tonight. I stay out of the camera's
1:32:56angles and split a few needle-shaped
1:32:58pieces off the bone inside me. I draw
1:33:00them out of my body, pinch them between
1:33:01my fingers, and take aim at every spot
1:33:03glowing red. Shk, shk, shk. I stab again
1:33:06and again with terrifying speed and
1:33:07force until even the bone needles in my
1:33:09hand snap clean apart. The pinhole
1:33:11cameras are destroyed under the impact
1:33:12until they can't even emit red light
1:33:14anymore. Done. Once I'm certain none of
1:33:16them can record anything, I melt the
1:33:17broken bone needles back into my body. I
1:33:19sweep the room one more time thoroughly,
1:33:21and only then do I turn on the lights.
1:33:23The hotel is the guilty party here. Even
1:33:25if they notice the cameras are wrecked,
1:33:26they can't do a thing about it. Facing
1:33:28the loss, they'll have to swallow it and
1:33:29smile and eat the cost themselves. And
1:33:31they'll spend every minute afraid I
1:33:33might expose them. If this scares them
1:33:34into pulling out every hidden camera in
1:33:36the building, even better. Then nobody
1:33:37who checks in here gets filmed before I
1:33:39come back for a surprise inspection.
1:33:41Another day of contributing to public
1:33:42safety in Destiny City. In a decent
1:33:44mood, I take a shower and wash off all
1:33:46the grime from crawling through the air
1:33:47ducts. I wash my clothes while I'm at
1:33:49it, then lie down on the bed still
1:33:50monitoring every sound from the
1:33:52precinct. Smashing those cameras just
1:33:54gave me an idea. So did making a
1:33:55screwdriver on that rooftop to pull off
1:33:57the vent panel. Together, they point to
1:33:58one problem. Once tissue separates from
1:34:00my body, I lose control of it almost
1:34:02immediately, and I certainly can't make
1:34:04it repair or reshape itself. The
1:34:06screwdriver I made from a rib shed bone
1:34:07dust off its surface while I worked, and
1:34:09the cross-shaped tip nearly gave out.
1:34:11And even the parts still attached to me,
1:34:12like the fat rope I used to lower
1:34:14myself, can't be kept perfectly intact.
1:34:16The best I can do is patch them right as
1:34:18they're about to snap. In a lot of
1:34:19situations, I need to improvise tools on
1:34:21the spot, and they simply aren't strong
1:34:22enough. The human body is too fragile,
1:34:24and anything made from it breaks just as
1:34:26easily. So, how do I strengthen my own
1:34:28tissue in hardness and toughness until
1:34:30it at least approaches certain metals?
1:34:31Making sure my thinking doesn't
1:34:33interfere with the eavesdropping, I pull
1:34:34out my phone and start researching. I
1:34:36already spent a lot of money on a paid
1:34:37subscription, so I can browse and
1:34:39download advanced academic papers in
1:34:41almost any field anytime. After hours of
1:34:43filtering through them, a rough approach
1:34:45starts to take shape. My tissue is
1:34:46carbon-based, built on a carbon
1:34:48backbone. If I dehydrate a small piece
1:34:50aggressively, the way firewood, and
1:34:52reduce it down to a lump of pure carbon,
1:34:54then its structural complexity drops far
1:34:56below that of a living cell or even a
1:34:57gene. At my current level of control, I
1:34:59can just barely manage a crude
1:35:01arrangement at the atomic scale. It
1:35:02won't be true diamond, but the hardness
1:35:04gets close enough. Then I pull calcium
1:35:06from my bones and other areas, mix it
1:35:08fairly evenly into the carbon lattice,
1:35:10and end up with a custom biomaterial
1:35:11that roughly meets my requirements. The
1:35:13finished product hits the hardness I
1:35:14need without snapping easily. Inside my
1:35:16body, it can be shaped into a crowbar, a
1:35:18dagger, whatever I need, then peeled out
1:35:20and used. I run experiments for several
1:35:22more hours, adjusting through failure
1:35:24after failure, while the rejects pile up
1:35:26inside me. Finally, by midmorning the
1:35:28next day, I've got it. I'm holding a
1:35:29dark gray cube that pushed its way out
1:35:31of my own flesh. It's no bigger than a
1:35:32stick of gum, and it has a noticeably
1:35:34stronger sheen than a rock off the
1:35:36street. This is the final product. For
1:35:37now, this will do. After running a few
1:35:39simple physical tests on this body
1:35:41stone, I decide it needs basically no
1:35:43further improvement. The material is
1:35:44more than enough for blunt weapons or
1:35:46blades, and it won't show visible wear
1:35:47from driving screws or sharpening edges.
1:35:49I I the final production process for
1:35:51this material into my memory. Then I
1:35:53hold the little cube above my head, up
1:35:55against the window, and study it with
1:35:56the blue sky behind it. I'll call you
1:35:58graystone. Anything inside my body, bone
1:36:00included, twists like modeling clay
1:36:02under my control. Though because bone is
1:36:03harder, it fights back more when I bend
1:36:05it. And once graystone comes out of the
1:36:07final step inside me, it resists
1:36:09reshaping even more than bone does while
1:36:10it's still in my body. It isn't
1:36:12impossible to change. Graystone just
1:36:14deforms very slowly, and it drains a
1:36:16serious amount of mental effort. So if I
1:36:17want a specific shape, I have to lock
1:36:19that shape in before the material
1:36:20becomes graystone. Once I figure that
1:36:22out, I start using the same method to
1:36:24make more complex shapes. Before long, a
1:36:26graystone key surfaces from my palm,
1:36:28slightly larger than the little cube.
1:36:30Looks like I'll need to load up on
1:36:31calcium before making graystone tools
1:36:33from now on. I feel out the changes
1:36:34inside my body carefully. A small cube
1:36:36or a key is fine, but if I ever need
1:36:38something big like a hammer or a
1:36:39crowbar, I'll have to keep pulling
1:36:41calcium from everywhere else. That could
1:36:43easily leave me with osteoporosis and
1:36:44similar problems. I can compensate for
1:36:46minor issues like that, but if the
1:36:48shortage grows, I might not have enough
1:36:49raw material left the next time I need a
1:36:51tool on the spot. On top of that,
1:36:52graystone is not only hard to reshape
1:36:54once I absorb it back into my body, it's
1:36:56very hard to break down. So after I'm
1:36:58done with a graystone tool, there's no
1:37:00point reclaiming it. Foreign objects
1:37:01that enter my body can generally be
1:37:03controlled, too. It's only a question of
1:37:04how much effort it takes. Even if the
1:37:06object isn't eaten and digested
1:37:08normally, but merged straight into my
1:37:09flesh from outside, it becomes part of
1:37:11my body after a while, and I can
1:37:12manipulate it. Beyond the parts that
1:37:14were always mine, there's other
1:37:15biological tissue, cells taken from
1:37:17other people, raw or cooked animal meat,
1:37:19plant roots, stems, leaves, and so on.
1:37:22Once those fully merge into my body, I
1:37:24gain control over them quickly. But
1:37:25plastic, steel, stone, things the
1:37:27digestive system struggles to break
1:37:29down, still take a long time to become
1:37:30controllable after merging into me. And
1:37:32usually I burn enormous mental effort
1:37:34just to shift one tiny detail. I tested
1:37:36all of this out long ago. Beyond that,
1:37:38there's one more test I've considered
1:37:39running. If any part of my body becomes
1:37:41uncontrollable once it separates from
1:37:43the main body, then how exactly is the
1:37:44main body defined? Is it the part with
1:37:46the greatest mass, the greatest volume,
1:37:48or the part that contains my brain?
1:37:50Instinct says it's the last one, but I
1:37:52keep putting the test off. The method is
1:37:53simple enough. I just follow in the
1:37:55footsteps of Louis the 16th and separate
1:37:57my body at the neck. Then I see which
1:37:59half I can't control, and the answer
1:38:00comes on its own. But whatever the
1:38:02answer turns out to be, cleaning up
1:38:03afterward would be a nightmare. The
1:38:05blood spraying out of whichever half I
1:38:06lose control of would be nearly
1:38:08impossible to handle, even alone at
1:38:09home. And even with an answer, the
1:38:11question just spawns more questions.
1:38:13What if my body were split into two
1:38:14perfectly equal halves? Or what if even
1:38:16my brain were divided into several
1:38:18pieces? There's no way to test all of
1:38:19that one by one. On top of that, this
1:38:21operation exposed another limitation
1:38:23beyond fragile tool materials. Every
1:38:25time I change my appearance, I have to
1:38:27change clothes to match, and each look
1:38:28is usually single use. Changing is a
1:38:30hassle, and I can't carry enough
1:38:32clothing around with me. Take
1:38:33infiltrating Destiny University.
1:38:35Stretching it as far as it goes, I got
1:38:36three looks: the silver-gray side of the
1:38:38jacket, the navy side, and stuffing
1:38:40everything into my stomach to play the
1:38:42big-bellied heavy guy. In deeper
1:38:43investigations down the road, even
1:38:45carrying one or two reversible pieces
1:38:47won't be enough to support all the
1:38:48identities I'll need. What's more, if I
1:38:50ever need to shift my face into someone
1:38:52who actually exists, I'll probably also
1:38:53need to switch into that person's unique
1:38:55clothes or uniform on the spot. It's all
1:38:57such a hassle. So, I have a half-baked
1:38:58idea. What if after absorbing enough
1:39:00fabric, my body could weave specific
1:39:02clothes on its own whenever I need them?
1:39:03Coats, pants, hats, socks, even shoes?
1:39:06Eh, never mind. That's too much work,
1:39:07more complicated than making gray stone
1:39:09even. Sure, I could compress the raw
1:39:11fabric into dense little blocks and hide
1:39:12them in my body without any visible
1:39:14bulge, but weaving the actual clothes
1:39:15inside me would need to match
1:39:17factory-level quality. The colors,
1:39:18patterns, and trim would all have to
1:39:20hold up to scrutiny, and I'd need to
1:39:21make them fast, too. That's hard even
1:39:23with how sharp my mind is right now. No
1:39:24telling how long I need to practice to
1:39:26get it right. I'll shelve that for
1:39:27later. There's another reason I stopped
1:39:29thinking it through. The sun was already
1:39:30high in the sky, and I finally heard it.
1:39:32Sounds from the precinct, signaling they
1:39:33were about to resume questioning Ray.
1:39:35There it is. I snap to attention, pull
1:39:37the key card from the wall slot, and
1:39:38slip out the door. Crossing the hotel
1:39:40lobby, I don't feel anyone's eyes
1:39:41tracking me, and I don't pick up on any
1:39:43obvious guilt or anger, either. Maybe
1:39:45whoever set up the pinhole cameras
1:39:46hasn't noticed I wrecked them yet, or
1:39:47maybe they're just not in the lobby
1:39:49right now. I don't dwell on it. Just
1:39:50sprint down the street to the corner
1:39:51where I eavesdropped last night. It's
1:39:53daytime now. The corner's still a camera
1:39:55blind spot, but there are people walking
1:39:56by now, and me pressing my ear to the
1:39:58wall for ages would draw attention. So,
1:39:59instead of pressing against the wall
1:40:01like last night, I grow a string of gray
1:40:02stone shaped like a stethoscope inside
1:40:04me, tuck both ends into my ears, and
1:40:06press the other end flush against the
1:40:07wall that backs onto the precinct. After
1:40:09a round of footsteps heading toward the
1:40:10interrogation room, I finally hear what
1:40:12I've been waiting for. "Ray, we
1:40:13recovered most of the deleted data on
1:40:15your phone. Who's this contact in your
1:40:17account named DGLQ? Why'd you delete
1:40:19him?" "What contact?" "The one who sent
1:40:20you Aiden's personal information. Look,
1:40:22right after DGLQ sent you Aiden's file,
1:40:24you had the rest of your crew lure him
1:40:26to your place. Isn't that right?" My
1:40:27focus sharpens instantly. Just as I
1:40:29suspected, someone really was pulling
1:40:31the strings behind Ray steering the
1:40:32scheme to target Aiden. At this crucial
1:40:34part, I press the stethoscope harder
1:40:35against the wall. I want to hear how Ray
1:40:37explains this. A few seconds of silence,
1:40:39then Ray's faint voice comes through,
1:40:41dazed in a way I can't tell is real or
1:40:42fake. "I I don't know. I really don't."
1:40:44"If you don't know him, why'd he message
1:40:45you? And why'd you delete him?" The
1:40:47interrogator's voice is sharp. I can
1:40:48practically picture a fierce scowling
1:40:50face just from the tone. "I don't know
1:40:51why he suddenly messaged me. I don't
1:40:53even know who this person is." Ray
1:40:54answers with a trace of anxiety in his
1:40:56voice. "Too bad I'm not inside the
1:40:57interrogation room. If I were, I could
1:40:59tell for sure whether Ray's lying. Right
1:41:01now, his voice just sounds a little off,
1:41:02nothing more. With the soundproofing, I
1:41:04can't catch much detail." "Didn't you
1:41:05recover my phone data? Then you should
1:41:07be able to see I never sent him a single
1:41:08message, start to finish. He only sent
1:41:10me that one message about Aiden, totally
1:41:12one-sided. He's the one who added me in
1:41:13the first place, out of nowhere. I don't
1:41:15even know who he is, let alone how he
1:41:17found my account. When he sent that
1:41:18random message, I figured it was some ad
1:41:20or sales pitch, so I just deleted him.
1:41:22But later, I happened to notice what
1:41:23he'd sent and realized it might actually
1:41:24be useful. So, I did a little digging
1:41:26and found the information about Aiden
1:41:28checked out. That's when I thought maybe
1:41:29we could make him a target." "Seriously,
1:41:31look, this time, barely half a day after
1:41:32we brought Aiden over, you guys caught
1:41:34us, right? So, So tell me you don't know
1:41:35who that person is. Honestly, I'm
1:41:37starting to wonder if that message was
1:41:38bait. If you guys used it to draw us
1:41:40out. Through the stethoscope, Ray's
1:41:41confession sounds like he's bearing his
1:41:43soul. At first listen, it almost holds
1:41:45up, but the more he talks, the more
1:41:46holes I spot. And clearly, the officers
1:41:48in the room are thinking the same thing.
1:41:49After letting Ray talk for a while, they
1:41:51press further into the details. One of
1:41:52them asks the exact question I'm
1:41:54thinking. You said from the start you
1:41:55had no idea who DGLQ was, right? Then
1:41:58why, after he added you, didn't you even
1:41:59ask who he was? There was a long gap
1:42:01between him adding you and him messaging
1:42:03you. Why didn't you ever message him to
1:42:04ask? That's because the first few words
1:42:06out of Ray's mouth shake, but his voice
1:42:07steadies quickly after. "I'm busy all
1:42:09the time and I get tons of messages, so
1:42:11I glanced at it once and mostly forgot
1:42:12about him. I figured he'd explain who he
1:42:14was eventually. And honestly, I was
1:42:16worried he might be one of your people
1:42:17sent to test me. So as long as he stayed
1:42:19quiet, I didn't dare message him first.
1:42:21I was scared of walking into a trap."
1:42:22Whether that answer scrapes by or not,
1:42:24the officer immediately fires off the
1:42:25next sharper question. "Our records show
1:42:27you read DGLQ's message at 11:27 a.m. on
1:42:30August 27th, but you didn't delete him
1:42:32until September 14th, right when you
1:42:34started plotting the scam against Aiden.
1:42:36Why the gap of over 2 weeks?" Ray pauses
1:42:38a beat or two before explaining. "I
1:42:39thought I'd already deleted him. Then I
1:42:41remembered what he'd sent seemed off,
1:42:42and when I went to check it again, I
1:42:44realized he was still there. So once I'd
1:42:45noted down everything about Aiden, I
1:42:47deleted him for real." "How was that
1:42:48so?" The officers settle into a
1:42:50thoroughly professional rhythm,
1:42:51constantly shifting the angle and
1:42:52phrasing of their questions, even
1:42:54circling back to the same question with
1:42:55different details and order, asking it
1:42:57over and over. "You said earlier you
1:42:59deleted him because you thought he was
1:43:00spam. Once you knew he wasn't, why
1:43:01delete him again? You said you suspected
1:43:03he was a trap we'd set, so you deleted
1:43:05him anyway. But if you suspected it was
1:43:06a trap, why'd you still use his
1:43:08information to go after Aiden? Once you
1:43:09delete someone, the whole chat history
1:43:11clears and they vanish from your contact
1:43:13list. So how did you go back to look at
1:43:14what he'd sent after you thought you'd
1:43:15already deleted him? You said you
1:43:17usually uncheck the clear chat history
1:43:19option, so it would still show on your
1:43:20main page. That's what you mean, right?
1:43:22But when we got your phone, DGLQ was
1:43:23already gone from your main page. If
1:43:25that's your habit, then the only
1:43:26explanation is you scrub that chat trace
1:43:28right before we caught you. So why'd you
1:43:29do that?" I can't help but silently
1:43:31think, "Beautifully done." Even setting
1:43:32aside why I'm eavesdropping, getting to
1:43:34hear a show this good is worth it on its
1:43:36own. Ray might be a slick con man, but
1:43:38at best he's just a street smart thug
1:43:39who's clawed his way through back
1:43:40alleys. He's never had any real training
1:43:42in handling interrogation. Round after
1:43:44round of questioning, and the more he
1:43:45talks, the more mistakes he makes. The
1:43:47holes in his story keep widening. Plenty
1:43:49of contradictions start piling up, too,
1:43:50as flaw after flaw gets picked apart.
1:43:52Combined with the officer's occasional
1:43:54scolding and pressure, Ray's mental
1:43:55defenses finally start to crack. "Fine,
1:43:57I'll tell you everything." His voice
1:43:58breaks as he finally caves. "I really
1:44:00don't know who this person is, but I
1:44:01have met him. He's the one who said he'd
1:44:03add my account and message me. He told
1:44:04me to use my crew to lure Aiden in." The
1:44:06officer presses immediately, "How did
1:44:08you two meet? Why would you follow his
1:44:09orders?" Ray's voice trembles. "It was
1:44:11sometime in June, I think. You know how
1:44:12it is. We mostly target college
1:44:14students, but back then most of them
1:44:15were about to leave for summer break,
1:44:17and I'm not even from around here. I
1:44:18don't know anyone in Destiny City, and I
1:44:20was stressing out because I couldn't hit
1:44:21my quota. So, while I was rushing around
1:44:23different campuses looking for targets
1:44:24who hadn't left yet, I ran into someone.
1:44:26He seemed to clock exactly what I was
1:44:27doing just from one look, but he handed
1:44:29me enough cash to cover 3 months of
1:44:31quota. He told me that when the time
1:44:32came, I should go after his target and
1:44:34lure him to our place. Exactly like he
1:44:35said, I saw the money and just said yes
1:44:37on the spot." "Did you two exchange
1:44:38contact information?" Ray's voice
1:44:40carries a faint edge of fear. "I don't
1:44:42think I know him at all, but he seemed
1:44:43to know everything about me. He never
1:44:44even asked for my contact. He just said
1:44:46he'd send me the target's information
1:44:47later, and once I memorized it, I should
1:44:49delete him. He said his name would be
1:44:50four letters, and as soon as I saw it,
1:44:52I'd know it was him. I did ask him how
1:44:54I'd reach him if he deleted him. What if
1:44:55he had something new for me later? But
1:44:57he said not to worry. He'd always be
1:44:58able to find me. Told me not to sweat
1:44:59the small stuff. Just do what he says,
1:45:01and the money's good is guaranteed."
1:45:03Through the stethoscope, the officer's
1:45:04voice carries doubt. "And you just
1:45:05trusted him? That's probably how you got
1:45:07suckered into the scheme in the first
1:45:08place." "Yeah, but I already had the
1:45:10money in hand, and he left right after
1:45:11paying up. Didn't do anything to me, so
1:45:13and if he was just messing with me, then
1:45:15I basically got free money out of it,
1:45:16didn't I? So, the way I figured it,
1:45:17whatever he told me to do, I'd just do
1:45:19it. As long as he wasn't trying to lure
1:45:20me off alone somewhere to lock me up, I
1:45:22figured I'd be fine." A stretch of
1:45:24silence follows. It sounds like the
1:45:25officers are writing something down.
1:45:27"Where did you two meet? What did he
1:45:28look like? Did he sound like a local
1:45:29from Destiny City? Ray thinks back. It
1:45:31was near Destiny University. I ran into
1:45:33him while I was scouting the area.
1:45:34There's an abandoned construction site
1:45:35not far to the west. We went there
1:45:37afterward to talk it through. His accent
1:45:39was standard Mandarin, I think, but he
1:45:40wore a baseball cap and covered his face
1:45:42with a mask and sunglasses. I never saw
1:45:44what he looked like. He was a man,
1:45:45around 6-ft tall, on the lean side.
1:45:47Nothing special about his voice. I
1:45:48honestly don't remember the exact date
1:45:50in June, but it was definitely before
1:45:52Destiny University students had all left
1:45:53for break. Check my movements from that
1:45:55time. Pull the camera footage. You
1:45:56should be able to find the guy I'm
1:45:58talking about. The officer asks again,
1:45:59"Besides what you've told us, what else
1:46:01did he do? What else did he say? Did you
1:46:03have any other contact with him after
1:46:04that?" Ray thinks it over, then answers
1:46:06blankly, "I don't think so." The
1:46:07officers keep going, pulling every
1:46:09detail and exchange back up for review,
1:46:10just like before, occasionally circling
1:46:12back to catch him off guard, framing
1:46:14things he'd already answered as brand
1:46:15new questions from a different angle.
1:46:16But this time, Ray's answers don't
1:46:18contradict each other. If anything, the
1:46:19extra details he lets slip without
1:46:21meaning to end up clearing up a few of
1:46:23the shakier spots from earlier.
1:46:24Everything lines up now, which tells me
1:46:26Ray hasn't been lying. This is pretty
1:46:27much all he knows. He has no idea about
1:46:29the 2050 doomsday, and he hasn't even
1:46:31noticed anything different about himself
1:46:32compared to everyone else. I reach my
1:46:34conclusion, and honestly, that works out
1:46:36fine. Even if Ray's hearing is sharp
1:46:37enough to have caught what I said to
1:46:39Aiden, he's unlikely to think much of
1:46:40it, and he's even less likely to repeat
1:46:42it to anyone. Once the DGLQ portion of
1:46:44the interrogation wraps up, the officers
1:46:45move on to questions about the scheme's
1:46:47higher-ups and past scams, none of which
1:46:49concerns me. I keep the stethoscope
1:46:51pressed to the wall anyway, just in case
1:46:52any new information about DGLQ suddenly
1:46:54comes up. As for the investigation into
1:46:56the mysterious account, that happens
1:46:57outside the interrogation room, and
1:46:59those areas aren't soundproofed, so I
1:47:01can hear everything clearly without even
1:47:02needing the stethoscope. After a while,
1:47:04the investigation turns up results. They
1:47:05do confirm Ray's movements near Destiny
1:47:07University on June 17th, but there's
1:47:09barely any footage of the other man. He
1:47:11seems to have deliberately dodged the
1:47:12cameras, making him impossible to trace.
1:47:14The account was registered with an
1:47:15untraceable virtual number, and the
1:47:17online activity shows clear signs of
1:47:19being deliberately scrubbed. He only
1:47:20ever added one contact, Ray, using an
1:47:22exact match search. From what I pick up
1:47:24afterward, the police have tentatively
1:47:26pegged this DGLQ, the one targeting
1:47:28Aiden, as a business rival of the Ping
1:47:29family, and they're planning to dig in
1:47:31that direction. Fair enough, they don't
1:47:32know about the gene bomb, and they have
1:47:33no idea nobody lives past 2050, but
1:47:36Aiden and Ray can make it past that
1:47:37point, so a misjudgment like this is
1:47:39only natural. By the time I hear all
1:47:40this, Ray's interrogation has already
1:47:42wrapped up again for the day. I'm no
1:47:43longer crouched by the wall near the
1:47:45precinct, either. I'm back at the hotel.
1:47:46Whoever's behind this clearly has
1:47:48serious technical skill and a sharp
1:47:50sense for counter surveillance, too. I
1:47:51order takeout in my hotel room,
1:47:53high-calcium milk and bone broth to top
1:47:54up my calcium. Normally, the idea that
1:47:56bone broth boosts calcium is a common
1:47:58myth. The calcium in animal bones barely
1:48:00dissolves into the broth, so it's
1:48:01actually less effective than dairy or
1:48:03soy products, but I'm the exception. The
1:48:04moment bone hits my mouth, my body
1:48:06breaks it down directly, no chewing
1:48:08required. It skips my throat and stomach
1:48:09entirely. The calcium gets absorbed
1:48:11straight into my body. Now that I've
1:48:12gotten so skilled at controlling my
1:48:14body, normal digestion just isn't
1:48:16efficient enough for me anymore for
1:48:17materials I need in a hurry, since my
1:48:19body never rejects anything. It's far
1:48:20more efficient to just shove the food
1:48:22straight into my body and break it down
1:48:23with direct control, but I still keep
1:48:25organs like my stomach and intestines
1:48:26around. I'm saving those for tactics
1:48:28like spraying stomach acid at enemies
1:48:30down the road. By the time I finish the
1:48:31bowl, there isn't a single scrap of bone
1:48:33left in the container. While my body
1:48:34restocks on raw material, I keep turning
1:48:36over everything I just heard. Going by
1:48:38what Ray described, if his ability to
1:48:39live until 2065 was deliberately granted
1:48:42by this DGLQ, then so far I haven't
1:48:44managed to pin down exactly when that
1:48:45person could have made the move. It's
1:48:47not that there weren't opportunities,
1:48:48there were too many of them. Ray never
1:48:50mentioned being injected with anything
1:48:51by DGLQ, and from how things look now,
1:48:53that probably really didn't happen. Or
1:48:55maybe DGLQ pulled it off without Ray
1:48:57noticing at all. From the moment the two
1:48:58of them met near Destiny University to
1:49:00when they parted ways at the
1:49:01construction site, there was plenty of
1:49:02time for DGLQ to quietly make a move.
1:49:04There are other loose threads, too. DGLQ
1:49:07clearly used Ray as nothing more than a
1:49:08tool to get to Aiden. Aiden is the real
1:49:10center of all this, and Ray is just a
1:49:11pawn. So, why did Ray end up with more
1:49:13extra years than Aiden? That doesn't add
1:49:15up. And before Aiden was even lured away
1:49:16from Destiny University, my cell sample
1:49:18already showed he'd live until 2060.
1:49:20Could it be that Aiden had his lifespan
1:49:22secretly extended sometime during his
1:49:23earlier in-person meetings with people
1:49:25from the scheme? From listening in on
1:49:26other interrogations, I learned that
1:49:28before Aiden was lured away this time,
1:49:30he'd actually met up in person with
1:49:31several people from the scheme a few
1:49:32times. Dinners, conversations, getting
1:49:34fed their pitch and propaganda. He just
1:49:36never set foot in any of their hideouts.
1:49:38If someone really did seize one of those
1:49:39moments to hand Aiden 10 extra years,
1:49:41any of those meetings could have been
1:49:42the opportunity. That person might not
1:49:44even have been part of the scheme at
1:49:45all. They could have just passed by as a
1:49:46total stranger and done it in passing.
1:49:48Why would DGLQ go out of their way to
1:49:50extend Aiden's lifespan specifically?
1:49:52What's the point? Mulling it over, I
1:49:53suddenly pull out my phone, figuring I
1:49:55should look into what the username DGLQ
1:49:57might actually mean. I spend 5 minutes
1:49:59searching engines and AI tools and come
1:50:00up with nothing. Maybe it's just four
1:50:02random letters mashed out on a keyboard.
1:50:04The thought barely crosses my mind
1:50:05before my fingers are already tapping
1:50:07out those same four letters on my
1:50:08Chinese input keyboard. I glance down
1:50:10and sure enough, the suggestions are the
1:50:11usual nonsense. Things like shoot some
1:50:13hoops, throw the football, light sun,
1:50:15sawed-off shotgun, the Great Filter.
1:50:17Wait, the Great Filter? That term snags
1:50:18on something in my memory. I've heard of
1:50:20the Great Filter theory before. It's one
1:50:22of the ideas used to explain the Fermi
1:50:23Paradox, the question of why humanity
1:50:25still hasn't encountered any alien
1:50:27civilization. The theory holds that any
1:50:28civilization in the universe, on its
1:50:30path from the first spark of life to
1:50:32becoming interstellar, runs into one or
1:50:33more nearly impossible barriers along
1:50:35the way. Whichever species failed to
1:50:37clear those barriers get filtered out,
1:50:38erased completely from the universe's
1:50:40history. People speculate the filter
1:50:41could take many forms. The jump from
1:50:43simple to complex life, natural
1:50:44disasters, rogue AI, nuclear war, and so
1:50:47on. Some of these filters humanity has
1:50:49already cleared, but some still worry an
1:50:50even bigger filter may be waiting
1:50:52somewhere ahead for human civilization.
1:50:54At the same time, the Great Filter
1:50:55theory can also partly explain another
1:50:57puzzle strikingly similar to the Fermi
1:50:59Paradox. If time travel really exists,
1:51:01why hasn't anyone ever encountered a
1:51:02traveler from the future? Setting aside
1:51:04the possibility that the technology
1:51:05simply doesn't exist or that strict
1:51:07rules govern how it can be used, could
1:51:09it be that humanity goes extinct before
1:51:10ever inventing time travel? Surely not.
1:51:12At this point, I almost hope the link
1:51:14between the name DGLQ and the Great
1:51:16Filter is just a coincidence. Because
1:51:17once I connect that term to what's
1:51:19actually happening, it finally hits me.
1:51:20The time bomb buried in human genes
1:51:22really does look like a nearly
1:51:23unbeatable filter. Seriously, humanity
1:51:25is lucky enough to have not been
1:51:26filtered out yet. So, why would someone
1:51:28come along and manually trigger that
1:51:29filter themselves? What's the motive? On
1:51:31top of the shock, I'm genuinely stumped.
1:51:33Setting the motive aside, if some
1:51:34non-human civilization with technology
1:51:36far beyond ours really is planning to
1:51:38wipe out humanity by 2050, choosing to
1:51:40tamper with our genes is still an oddly
1:51:41roundabout way to do it. By all logic,
1:51:43wouldn't straight-up bombardment with
1:51:44conventional weapons be far simpler?
1:51:46Look at how sci-fi novels do it.
1:51:48Destroying the sun, flattening the
1:51:49planet to two dimensions at light speed.
1:51:51So much cleaner, so much more efficient.
1:51:53Compare that to the method they've
1:51:54actually chosen. Even setting aside the
1:51:55question of how they'd tamper with every
1:51:57human's genes in the first place,
1:51:58pulling off a time genetic bomb like
1:52:00this would require the genes to somehow
1:52:02know the person's birth year, track
1:52:03their exact current age, run the math to
1:52:05add those numbers together, and trigger
1:52:06the bomb once the result lands on 2050
1:52:08or whatever the target date it is.
1:52:10Compared to all that, getting the genes
1:52:11to express a peptide that triggers rapid
1:52:13cell suicide is practically the easy
1:52:15part. A huge chunk of the human genome
1:52:17is still a complete mystery. Nobody
1:52:18knows exactly what it does. And a small
1:52:20portion of that is unique to humans
1:52:21alone. Could that be the part designed
1:52:23to serve as the bomb's timer? I still
1:52:24haven't found the actual timing
1:52:26mechanism though. No idea how these
1:52:27functions are even implemented at the
1:52:29genetic level. I've thought about this
1:52:30method myself before as a way to wipe
1:52:32out all of humanity on a timer. The
1:52:34downside is it's way too complicated.
1:52:35Too many hoops to jump through. Nowhere
1:52:37near as fast as carpet bombing. If
1:52:39you've got the time and resources to
1:52:40mess with human genetics, wouldn't
1:52:41something more direct get you the same
1:52:43result? At worst, a more direct method's
1:52:45just messier. It might spill over and
1:52:46affect a few neighboring species along
1:52:48the way. But this gene bomb approach
1:52:49does have one clear advantage. As long
1:52:51as you're human, no matter who you are,
1:52:53no matter how far you flee from Earth,
1:52:54how far you get from the solar system,
1:52:56even if you leave the Milky Way entirely
1:52:57and run off to the neighboring Andromeda
1:52:59galaxy, once you hit that designated
1:53:01age, you're wiped out instantly. No
1:53:02exceptions. It ignores space, ignores
1:53:04distance, something no conventional
1:53:06weapon could ever pull off. In theory,
1:53:07the only ways to slow it down would be
1:53:09cryosleep or getting close enough to a
1:53:10black hole to slow the passage of time
1:53:12itself. Those are the only things that
1:53:14could slow the methylation clock's
1:53:15countdown. So, the way I see it,
1:53:16assuming this alien civilization really
1:53:18exists, their goal doesn't seem to be
1:53:20simply dealing with humanity. It looks
1:53:21more like they just want humans gone,
1:53:23quickly, while leaving every other
1:53:24species and everything else on Earth
1:53:26completely untouched. They won't even
1:53:27introduce a new organism or virus. What
1:53:29exactly are they going for? I chew on it
1:53:31for a bit longer, then firmly give up
1:53:33trying to dig deeper. Forget it. Even if
1:53:34this hostile intelligent species really
1:53:36exists, their motives probably stem from
1:53:38whatever culture and world view is
1:53:39unique to their own kind. I don't
1:53:41understand non-human species, and I've
1:53:42got the blind spots that come with being
1:53:44human. It's only natural I can't figure
1:53:46it out. As for why this unknown
1:53:47civilization's agents among humans would
1:53:49be willing to follow their orders, that
1:53:50part's not hard to understand at all. It
1:53:52always comes down to the same old
1:53:53things: power, influence, a longer
1:53:55lifespan, or maybe the promise of
1:53:57ascending into something more advanced
1:53:58than human. I shake my head. If there
1:54:00really are people out there knowingly
1:54:01helping this along, I'll have to deal
1:54:03with every single one of them sooner or
1:54:04later. Afterward, I head downstairs to
1:54:06the front desk, pay to extend my stay,
1:54:08and settle in for 10 more days. Over
1:54:10that stretch, nothing new about DGLQ
1:54:12turns up from Ray's side. I gradually
1:54:13scale back from round-the-clock
1:54:15eavesdropping to just checking in every
1:54:16few days. Sometimes I also listen in on
1:54:18the officers' discussions and reports
1:54:20outside the interrogation room, just to
1:54:21make sure I haven't missed anything
1:54:23important while I was away. Afterward, I
1:54:24head downstairs to the front desk, pay
1:54:26to extend my stay, and settle in for 10
1:54:28more days. Over that stretch, nothing
1:54:30new about DGLQ turns up from Ray's side.
1:54:32I gradually scale back from
1:54:33round-the-clock eavesdropping to just
1:54:35checking in every few days. Sometimes I
1:54:37also listen in on the officers'
1:54:38discussions and reports outside the
1:54:39interrogation room, just to make sure I
1:54:41haven't missed anything important while
1:54:42I was away. I also learn that precincts
1:54:44all over Destiny City have been rounding
1:54:46up more members of the scheme one after
1:54:47another. I find ways to get close to
1:54:49those locations and pluck strands of
1:54:51hair from the relevant suspects to run
1:54:52accelerated tests. In the end, I confirm
1:54:54that within the entire group, Ray, the
1:54:56only one who had contact with DGLQ, is
1:54:58truly the special case. As for DGLQ, the
1:55:00police get nowhere trying to trace the
1:55:02account directly. They've already
1:55:03started investigating enemies and
1:55:05business rivals of Aiden's parents
1:55:06instead. No surprise. By the time I
1:55:08check out, they still haven't made any
1:55:09real progress. Before checking out, I
1:55:11don't forget to leave the shady Meridian
1:55:13Hotel one last parting gift. Hello
1:55:14police, I found hidden cameras installed
1:55:16in this hotel. I finally make the call.
1:55:18Since the hidden camera in my single
1:55:19room is already destroyed and scanning
1:55:21with my phone no longer picks up any
1:55:23infrared glow, it's hard to use as
1:55:24evidence on its own. And I'm not even
1:55:26sure whether the pinhole cameras in
1:55:27other rooms have actually been removed.
1:55:29So, I book an extra honeymoon suite, the
1:55:30kind done up entirely in pink tones,
1:55:32complete with a round water bed, a
1:55:34double bathtub, and mirrors covering
1:55:35most of the walls. At first, I genuinely
1:55:37don't know whether there are any pinhole
1:55:39cameras hidden in here. The moment I
1:55:40flip off the lights after walking in, my
1:55:42vision floods with what looks like a
1:55:43field of red stars blinking from every
1:55:45corner of the room. It's like standing
1:55:47inside a vault wired head to toe with
1:55:48infrared alarms. That settles it. I'm
1:55:50calling the police. Just as I expected,
1:55:52over a week later when Bruno Barnes
1:55:54shows up on scene and runs into me
1:55:55again, he has no idea I've been staying
1:55:57here this whole time since we last
1:55:58parted ways. His first words are "Why
1:56:00haven't you gone home yet?" They're,
1:56:01"Why did you book a room here?" Officer
1:56:02Bruno takes in the suite's bubblegum
1:56:04pink decor, and every suggestive touch
1:56:06his eyes land on makes his frown deepen
1:56:07a little more. This kid going out of his
1:56:09way to book a place like this, what's he
1:56:11up to now? Don't tell me he's trying to
1:56:12Bruno's dealt with me before, so he
1:56:14knows I'm already past 18. As long as I
1:56:16show ID and pay enough, the hotel has no
1:56:18real reason to turn me away. The problem
1:56:19is I started school late, so I'm still
1:56:21only a junior. And as far as Bruno
1:56:23knows, I've never even dated anyone.
1:56:24After two cases Bruno personally
1:56:26handled, I've already got at least
1:56:27200,000 yuan to spend however I like.
1:56:30"Don't tell me he's got money now, and
1:56:31at exactly this age it's gone and
1:56:32corrupted him?" Bruno's suspicious gaze
1:56:34keeps flicking back and forth between me
1:56:36and the suite. The rest of the team from
1:56:37the precinct is busy sweeping for
1:56:39pinhole cameras exactly like I
1:56:40described. But what Officer Bruno asks
1:56:42me is, "Is anyone else coming to meet
1:56:43you here, huh?" I hear him, and it takes
1:56:45a two-second stare down before I realize
1:56:47he's actually talking to me. I blink
1:56:48back at him, lost. "What do you mean
1:56:50someone else? You're not planning to
1:56:51stay here all by yourself, are you?"
1:56:53Bruno shoots back, frowning. "Yeah?" I
1:56:54glance around the room again, and that's
1:56:56when it finally clicks what Officer
1:56:57Bruno might be thinking. Oh, don't get
1:56:59the wrong idea, Bruno. I just heard some
1:57:00hotels secretly plant cameras in their
1:57:02rooms, so I came specifically to check
1:57:04if that's actually true here. Call it
1:57:05doing my part to keep Destiny City safe.
1:57:07Oh, Bruno visibly relaxes at that. So,
1:57:09it's not that I've gone bad. It's just
1:57:11that after a taste of reward money, I've
1:57:13gotten hooked on reporting people.
1:57:14Still, that realization doesn't exactly
1:57:16put Bruno at ease, either. Listen, your
1:57:17top priority right now is getting your
1:57:19grades back on track. Understand?
1:57:20Keeping the peace is our job. You don't
1:57:22need to worry about it so much. Officer
1:57:24Bruno says it with real weight behind
1:57:25his words. If he doesn't say something
1:57:27now, he's worried I'll keep riding this
1:57:28high and start calling the police every
1:57:30few days, tirelessly adding to their
1:57:31workload. Then again, thinking it over,
1:57:33this kid's been through the ringer,
1:57:34battered by some ugly hidden side of
1:57:36society most people never see. If that
1:57:38left him with some kind of fixation on
1:57:39calling the police and reporting things,
1:57:41well, that's understandable, isn't it?
1:57:42What Officer Bruno has no clue about,
1:57:44though, is that the truth is exactly the
1:57:46opposite of what he thinks. Back then,
1:57:47it was actually me who nearly gave that
1:57:49dark side of society a heart attack.
1:57:50With all that weighing on him, he gives
1:57:52my shoulder a heavy pat. And listen,
1:57:53things have actually been a bit
1:57:55unsettled around Destiny City lately.
1:57:56Until you're fully healed, you better
1:57:58just stay home and behave. Don't go
1:57:59wandering off. Watch out you don't catch
1:58:01someone's attention again. Got it? Got
1:58:02it. I nod along, playing the part
1:58:04perfectly. Of course, staying quietly at
1:58:06home is never actually happening.
1:58:07There's still too much left to deal
1:58:08with. Honestly, pulling back from Ray at
1:58:10this point isn't reckless at all. If
1:58:11anything, in a way, I'm already leaving
1:58:13a little later than I should have. Now
1:58:14that the trail on Ray's end has dried up
1:58:16and the mysterious account can't be
1:58:17traced any further for now. It's
1:58:19probably time I check in on Aiden's side
1:58:20and see if anything new has come up,
1:58:22especially anyone who's recently started
1:58:23showing up around him. Those are the
1:58:25ones worth watching closest. On top of
1:58:27that, during this whole stretch of
1:58:28staking out and eavesdropping near the
1:58:29precinct, I haven't exactly been idle.
1:58:31Besides multitasking my way through
1:58:33learning more knowledge and skills, I've
1:58:34also kept practicing control over my own
1:58:36body. These past few days, I've been
1:58:38ordering high-calcium takeout nonstop,
1:58:40building up a sizable calcium reserve
1:58:41stored in specific spots inside me. I've
1:58:43also gotten my greystone fabrication
1:58:45time down to under 2 seconds. And if the
1:58:47object is smaller, I can go even faster
1:58:49than that. I've tested this
1:58:50specifically. If I ever need to strike
1:58:51an enemy at a distance, I can summon a
1:58:53whole stack of gray stone throwing darts
1:58:55into my hand in under a second. I've
1:58:56also ordered several different pieces of
1:58:58clothing through a delivery app and had
1:58:59them sent to my hotel room, trying to
1:59:01grind them down, compress them, hide
1:59:03them inside my body, and practice
1:59:04weaving them back into new clothes out
1:59:05of flesh. This process is nowhere near
1:59:07as easy as making gray stone, though. To
1:59:09keep the weaving going smoothly, I
1:59:10usually need to reshape my body into
1:59:12something close to a piano running at
1:59:14full capacity, and the clothes that come
1:59:15out still have plenty of flaws in the
1:59:16details, with the colors often bleeding
1:59:18slightly into each other. After long
1:59:20hours of intense practice, here's where
1:59:21I currently stand. Using densely
1:59:23compressed clumps of fabric and dyes
1:59:25stored inside my body, I can produce a
1:59:26simple piece of clothing in under 10
1:59:28seconds. If the design is something I
1:59:29came up with myself, it usually doesn't
1:59:31draw any attention. Nobody looks at it
1:59:33and thinks it's strange. But replicating
1:59:34a specific piece of clothing exactly,
1:59:36down to every detail, is a lot harder.
1:59:38To make sure it passes as
1:59:39indistinguishable from the original at a
1:59:41glance, I need at least a minute or two
1:59:42of back-and-forth correcting to get it
1:59:44right. Given enough time, I can
1:59:45near-perfectly fake the size, shape,
1:59:47color, and pattern of any piece of
1:59:48clothing. I can even replicate how it
1:59:50looks on video, but the actual look and
1:59:52feel of the material itself still can't
1:59:53fully pass for the real thing. Leather
1:59:55especially gives me trouble. Once I
1:59:56absorb it, I can't reshape it quickly,
1:59:58and I can't grind it down and reweave it
2:00:00the way I can with ordinary fabric. So,
2:00:01shirts and pants are manageable enough.
2:00:03Shoes are what I actually struggle with
2:00:04the most right now. Fortunately, people
2:00:06don't usually identify someone by their
2:00:07shoes, and I can always fall back on
2:00:09just changing the color and pattern of
2:00:11my own shoes, or use gray stone tools to
2:00:13fine-tune the sole prints and such.
2:00:14Either way gets the shoes looking
2:00:15different enough from before. On top of
2:00:17all that, I've used the downtime to work
2:00:19out two special skills. One of them is
2:00:20sneaking a look at my phone. Calling in
2:00:22sick isn't a permanent solution. Once
2:00:24the month's up, I'll have to head back
2:00:25to school sooner or later. To keep
2:00:26classes from getting in the way of my
2:00:28own learning, I use my sick leave to
2:00:29work out a new trick. Building on how
2:00:31well I've learned to control my body, I
2:00:32let one of my eyeballs sink down slowly
2:00:34out of its socket, with the rest of my
2:00:36body automatically clearing a path for
2:00:37it. It keeps sinking until it settles
2:00:39somewhere in my chest or abdomen, with
2:00:40the optic nerve staying connected the
2:00:42entire way down. At the same time the
2:00:44eyeball is sinking, my body also pulls
2:00:45my phone into a hollow cavity inside me,
2:00:47automatically clearing out just enough
2:00:49space to hold the phone snugly in place.
2:00:51At the same time, I grow two tendrils,
2:00:53one to hold the phone steady, the other
2:00:54to swipe across the screen and control
2:00:56what's on it. That way, I can sit up
2:00:57straight in class, look like I'm paying
2:00:59full attention, and secretly look things
2:01:00up or read through papers on my phone,
2:01:02keeping up with my own studies the whole
2:01:04time. I don't even need to walk around
2:01:05with one eye open and one closed in
2:01:07front of people. That would raise
2:01:08suspicion fast. I just grow a decoy
2:01:10eyeball out of other tissue to
2:01:11temporarily fill the empty socket
2:01:13instead. As for growing an actual, fully
2:01:15functional new eyeball, that's not
2:01:16beyond me, either. The hard part is
2:01:17getting my brain to extend a fresh
2:01:19bundle of nerves and link up with that
2:01:20third eye's optic nerve, so I can
2:01:22actually see clearly and accurately
2:01:24through that third eye. So, until I can
2:01:25restructure my cerebral cortex and grow
2:01:27functional new nerves, I'm stuck relying
2:01:29on my original two eyes for now. The
2:01:30other skill is building a helmet of
2:01:32graystone right beneath my scalp. I lock
2:01:34it in place inside and out with body
2:01:35tissue shaped into a shock-absorbing
2:01:37structure, protecting my fragile brain
2:01:38on every side. With that protection in
2:01:40place, as long as any future impact
2:01:42isn't too extreme, my brain should come
2:01:43out completely unscathed. That's the
2:01:45theory, anyway. I haven't actually
2:01:46tested in real life just how much damage
2:01:48this helmet can take. So, one night, I
2:01:50quietly sneak into the abandoned
2:01:51construction site near Destiny
2:01:52University. I stand at the edge of the
2:01:54second floor, no railing in sight. After
2:01:56all, practice is the only true test of
2:01:58theory. I look down at the ground 10, 12
2:02:00ft below for a moment, then jump without
2:02:01a shred of hesitation. I plunge down
2:02:03headfirst, aiming straight for the
2:02:04ground the entire way. Thud. My head
2:02:06slams into the ground, and for a split
2:02:08second, everything rings inside my
2:02:09skull. But, the daze only lasts a
2:02:11moment. I quickly patch up every injury,
2:02:12hold my head, and get back on my feet.
2:02:14Thanks to the graystone helmet and its
2:02:16custom cushioning, I give my head a
2:02:17shake and can tell my brain barely
2:02:18registered the hit. To test my thinking
2:02:20next, I pull my phone back out from its
2:02:22own cushion compartment inside my body.
2:02:24I open my notes app, look over the
2:02:25questions and instructions I'd written
2:02:26down beforehand, and quietly work
2:02:28through them. In the end, I find that
2:02:29even after the impact of falling from
2:02:31the second floor, my brain can still
2:02:33solve every prepared question
2:02:34flawlessly. Carrying out complex
2:02:35instructions is no problem, either. My
2:02:37efficiency barely differs from before
2:02:39the fall, and the impact, far from
2:02:40dulling my thinking, actually sparks a
2:02:42flash of insight about something else
2:02:44entirely. There's a saying, "The moment
2:02:45you decide to test a piece of glass for
2:02:47hardness, that glass is already doomed
2:02:49to shatter." My original plan was to
2:02:50keep climbing after the second floor,
2:02:52third floor, then fourth, jumping each
2:02:53time to really push my protection to its
2:02:55limit. But thinking it over now, I can't
2:02:57rule out some margin of error between
2:02:59theory and reality. Better to test with
2:03:00something else first. I open a delivery
2:03:02app, order a few blocks of fresh tofu,
2:03:04pick them up outside, and bring them
2:03:05back to the construction site. I
2:03:07carefully absorb the tofu into my body,
2:03:08doing my best to keep its original shape
2:03:10intact while wrapping it in the same
2:03:12shock-absorbing protection. I coat five
2:03:13of its six sides in a layer of
2:03:15graystone. The one side left uncoated
2:03:17gets a hatch-like structure instead. And
2:03:18on the side directly opposite that
2:03:20hatch, I add a small protruding weight
2:03:21to concentrate the center of gravity.
2:03:23That way I make sure this side always
2:03:25faces the ground when it falls.

About this transcript

This page contains the full transcript of I Have Absolute Control Over My Body—Hormones, Glands, Hair, Bones, Even My Cells! by Bablak Bonsignore, generated from the public captions YouTube serves with the video. The transcript has 30,409 words across 4,374 segments, with the original timestamps preserved so you can click any line to jump to that moment in the embedded player.

What you can do with it

Use the transcript to take notes, quote the speaker, build a study guide, generate a summary with ChatGPT or Claude via the YouTube Summary tool, or export it as a timed subtitle file with YouTube to SRT. You can also re-open it in the transcriber to translate the transcript into 100+ languages.

Free YouTube transcript tool

YouTube2Text is a free YouTube transcript generator — no signup, no daily limit. Paste any YouTube link and get the full transcript instantly, with timestamps, click-to-jump, translation to 100+ languages, AI prompts for ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, and exports to TXT, SRT, VTT, or Markdown.