Old Karl frowned. Had he fought with his family?
Looking around, it was almost curfew time anyway, and with the sudden Level 2 alert, the streets had instantly emptied—pitch black and deserted.
“Forget it, come with me.”
The kid was drunk. If left alone, he’d either be taken advantage of or arrested by supervisors.
Old Karl locked the bar with a heavy iron chain and walked into the back alley: “Keep up, don’t get lost.”
Sang Jue stepped on Old Karl’s shadow, swaying back and forth: “Are you and Owen friends?”
“I suppose so. Not all ordinary people dislike deviants.” Old Karl led the way. “Some people do lose their humanity after deviation… but overall they’re not bad. They’re protecting us.”
The evil dragon’s head was full of confusion: “Why did you say he wouldn’t want to come back…”
“He has a close buddy named Jon who went out of the city a month and a half ago and hasn’t returned.” Old Karl sighed softly. “They’re very close, and he wants to go find Jon and bring him back.”
“With the city issuing a Level 2 alert, there’s probably some deviant species about to attack. Don’t know how long the lockdown will last. The later he leaves, the smaller his chance of finding Jon, so he probably won’t come back.”
Sang Jue made an “oh” sound, unclear whether he understood.
Old Karl’s home was in a pitch-black building on the thirteenth floor. The place was packed full, with cabinets and tables covered in bottles of alcohol. It looked messy but was actually well-organized and full of life.
“Sit anywhere you like. There’s candy on the coffee table. But don’t touch the alcohol on the cabinets and tables—those are all treasures.”
Old Karl carefully closed all doors and windows, making sure nothing was missed before going into his room and taking out a razor to shave.
Sang Jue’s head was full of the razor’s buzzing… his tailbone felt itchy.
“Alright, kid. You don’t have to go home, but you must contact your family to let them know you’re safe.”
Although he had witnessed Sang Jue tear apart a humanoid contaminant with his bare hands last night, the thin-armed, thin-legged Sang Jue still seemed like a kid who hadn’t fully grown up in Old Karl’s eyes—
Wait, what was that thing hanging behind the kid???
Old Karl frowned: “You’re a deviant?”
He hadn’t noticed when a slender dragon tail had emerged from behind Sang Jue’s bottom, covered in cold scales. Combined with Sang Jue’s face, it didn’t seem threatening at all, but rather delicate and beautiful.
The tail was quite flexible too, currently curved into a question mark shape.
“I… I’m a deviant?” Sang Jue’s brain was too muddled by alcohol to think, and he asked back in confusion.
If it were anyone else hiding their deviant identity and coming home with him, Old Karl would think they had ulterior motives.
According to the Deviant Code established years ago, ordinary people had the right to self-defense against deviants who got too close, and deviants had the obligation to consciously maintain distance from ordinary people.
—Every deviant carries contamination genes in their body. Through blood, unprotected sex, and other means, they could cause irreversible contamination to ordinary people.
But drunk Sang Jue was so adorably dazed that even if he had been deceived, it was hard to get angry at him.
“Forget it, deviant or not.”
With the urgent alarm sounds continuing outside, Old Karl couldn’t possibly kick Sang Jue out at this time.
“Are you sober yet?” Old Karl beckoned, saying seriously, “Hurry up and contact your family to let them know you’re safe.”
“How do I do that?” Sang Jue swished his tail, looking confused.
“Make a call home.” Old Karl was about to laugh.
Sang Jue looked sluggishly at his wrist—the communicator seemed to have been bought for him by someone called Huo Yanji. He fumbled with the communicator inexpertly and dialed the only number in it.
After two rings, the other side answered: “Sang Jue?”
Sang Jue didn’t speak.
Huo Yanji asked: “What’s wrong?”
Sang Jue asked seriously: “She doesn’t want me anymore. Do you not want me either?”
Huo Yanji paused: “Sang Jue, where are you?”
Old Karl didn’t recognize Huo Yanji’s voice. Feeling somewhat helpless, he simply moved closer and explained the situation: “The kid had too much to drink, and the city alarm went off, so I brought him home. I was worried you’d be concerned, so I had him call home to report he’s safe.”
Huo Yanji’s voice was cold: “Sang Jue, is that right?”
Sang Jue played with the tip of his tail: “Yes, yes…”
Huo Yanji’s voice came through the communicator: “Understood. Stay safe, don’t wander around.”
The call ended.
Old Karl felt relieved and was about to say something when Sang Jue had already collapsed on the sofa and fallen asleep.
“Youth is wonderful—out like a light.”
He chuckled and went into the bedroom to get a thin blanket to cover Sang Jue.
Sang Jue slept completely defenseless. Old Karl watched for a while, then couldn’t help but take out an old photograph from a nearby drawer.
The photo showed a family of three, with the older man being Old Karl himself.
Old Karl wasn’t actually that old—he had just been worn down by years of decadence, making him look weathered, so everyone called him that as a nickname.
He was only fifty-two, and in his youth had been an idealistic young man with aspirations, just like his lover.
At twenty, he had prepared to undergo genetic testing to become a deviant, but by unfortunate coincidence, his lover became pregnant.
This was a big deal on the surface—pregnant women on the surface were extremely vulnerable, and the children born might not be healthy enough.
It was his fault; he had been too careless.
But for various reasons, the child was still born, at the cost of the mother’s death.
Old Karl gave up becoming a deviant. He didn’t want a child who had already lost his mother at birth to lose his father someday in the future.
He trapped himself in the city, opened a small bar, and watched the child grow day by day—grow to be as big as Sang Jue.
His son, like his former self, had heroic dreams. Despite his dissuasion, the boy accepted gene fusion and then died on his first mercenary mission.
Having lost his wife and then his son, Old Karl continued to tend his small bar, occasionally taking on mercenary jobs to find precious brewing herbs.
He watched people come and go in the bar, familiar faces constantly replaced by new ones.
The friends drinking with you right now might very well be the last time you see them.
…
“Knock knock—”
Sang Jue was awakened by the knocking. He sat up and shook his muddled head. His hand seemed to touch something—he grabbed the slender tail and stared at it blankly for a few seconds.
“!” How did his tail come out?!
Old Karl had already opened the door and was talking with someone outside.
Sang Jue was startled and quickly retracted his tail, while recognizing the visitor’s scent: “Deputy Zhang?”
Zhang Min stepped past Old Karl, confirmed that Sang Jue was properly dressed and hadn’t suffered any harm, then smiled gently: “The general sent me to deliver some things.”
Old Karl hadn’t expected Sang Jue to be a military officer’s child. He tactfully stepped aside and went to the balcony to tend to his own things.
After a short nap, Sang Jue was basically sober—after all, it was fruit wine under five degrees. If he didn’t wake up, Old Karl would start suspecting he had accidentally added sleeping drugs.
Sang Jue still remembered the earlier phone call to report his safety. He walked to the door and accepted what Zhang Min had brought—a vial of sobering medicine and a very sharp long dagger.
“You look sober already, so you probably don’t need the sobering agent.” Zhang Min said. “The dagger is from the general for your protection. Don’t trust others too easily.”
Old Karl was a good person—Sang Jue could sense the clean aura about him.
He nodded obediently: “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Zhang Min’s communicator rang. He answered: “General… yes, everyone’s safe. The bar owner is fine too.”
Sang Jue blinked in confusion. What did he mean the bar owner was fine too?
“Stay safe. I’ll go first.” Zhang Min turned toward the elevator.
“Goodbye…” Sang Jue closed the door in confusion.
Zhang Min, entering the elevator, hadn’t ended the call.
“General, I don’t understand.” He pressed the first floor button. “Sang Jue’s genetic test results are out—no problems at all. Why do you still suspect him…”
“Did I say I suspected him?” Huo Yanji stood by the high city wall, gazing into the distance, his tone flat. “Didn’t I just ask you to confirm whether they were in trouble?”
Zhang Min fell silent.
Having worked beside Huo Yanji for nearly ten years, he understood his general’s style to some extent.
Inside the room, Old Karl poured a glass of water for the bewildered Sang Jue and comforted him: “Your father cares about you a lot—he even sent someone to check on you. But he’s probably too busy with military affairs to come pick you up himself.”
Sang Jue said seriously: “He’s not my father.”
He and Huo Yanji had species barriers—Huo Yanji couldn’t possibly give birth to such a fierce evil dragon as him.
“Oh!” Karl looked ten years younger after shaving. “No wonder your voice sounds so young. Your brother? The voice sounds familiar, like I’ve heard it somewhere…”
Sang Jue blinked and changed the subject: “How long do we have to stay inside?”
“Maybe two or three days, maybe a week or half a month,” Old Karl shrugged. “If you’re bored, watch cable TV, though it might not be new to someone from your kind of family.”
“…” Actually, it was quite novel; holographic projection was already widespread on his home planet.
Old Karl pressed the switch, and a familiar face suddenly appeared on the poor-quality screen.
A reporter was interviewing Huo Yanji: “General Huo, have you and General[mfn]Both Huo Yanji and Huo Jiangmian are generals, but Huo Jiangmian holds a higher rank and more authority within the military hierarchy depicted in the story. Huo Yanji is a high-ranking general (Lieutenant General or Major General), while Huo Jiangmian is a full General and district commander.[/mfn] Huo Jiangmin deployed detailed protective plans against this bird assault?”
Huo Yanji on the screen was as cold as ever: “Of course.”
Old Karl grabbed a bottle of liquor and drank straight from it: “These two brothers are really interesting.”
Sang Jue looked at him blankly. Brothers?
Old Karl smiled playfully: “Huo Yanji openly stated he doesn’t like deviants, but his own brother is a deviant, and a general at that.”
Sang Jue asked: “Who is the older brother?”
“Don’t know,” Old Karl shrugged. “They were born at the same time and have never publicly addressed each other. The officials have never explained. Who’s the older or younger brother, who knows?”
“…” Even twins should have an order of birth.
Old Karl took a swig: “The brothers not only look different, but their personalities are different, and they ended up on completely different paths.”
One is a radical who advocates evolution, the other a guardian who upholds the purity of human genes.
Near the end of the interview, the camera flashed past Huo Jiangmin’s face—indeed, they look different. Huo Yanji is always cold, while Huo Jiangmin always has a smile on his lips.
Old Karl: “They don’t even look like their father.”
Sang Jue suddenly realized: “Huo Feng.”
But Huo Feng disappeared sixty years ago, and Huo Yanji and Huo Jiangmin look only about thirty.
007’s explanatory voice sounded in his ear: [Sorry, I forgot to tell you. Deviants have genetic isolation from everyone else and cannot reproduce. Therefore, before undergoing evolution, all those who pass physical exams have the right to freeze sperm or eggs to ensure the continuation of good genes—Huo Feng is the physiological father of Huo Jiangmin and Huo Yanji.]
So that’s how it is.
“I used to admire Huo Feng a lot. Admiring strength is human nature, so when I was young, I especially wanted to become a deviant, with a passionate hero’s dream.”
Old Karl drank and shook his head with a smile: “But as I got older, I understood a bit more.”
Sang Jue: “Understood what?”
“Huo Feng disappeared a few years before I was born. I never really experienced the era of Huo Feng or witnessed his great achievements. My understanding of him mostly comes from popular stories. I never truly understood what those contributions meant—now that I think about it, it feels a bit like herd mentality.”
As a dragon who didn’t like reading, Sang Jue didn’t understand: “Herd mentality?”
“It’s just the psychology of following the crowd,” Old Karl finished his drink. “When everyone around you says he’s great and worships him, you unconsciously get influenced and regard him as an ideal and goal without really knowing the person.”
Sang Jue: “Is that bad?”
“Good… having a goal is always good,” Old Karl stroked his chin stubble, his pupils cloudy. “But too many people have sacrificed themselves blindly and unknowingly because of this.”
Sang Jue didn’t understand.
Humans are really complicated creatures, always speaking with hidden meanings.
Fortunately, Old Karl had no intention of discussing philosophy with him. He was just a half-buried, decadent old man going crazy in the middle of the night.
“Here’s something fun for you.”
“Hmm?”
Old Karl rummaged through his stuff and threw over a worn, historically atmospheric game console.
Sang Jue had only played holographic games before.
At first, he was unimpressed by this little game console, boredly controlling pixelated characters jumping up and down—hmm?
The X button was worn out: “Why can’t I jump up?”
Old Karl cracked sunflower seeds: “You need a double jump here.”
Sang Jue: “What’s a double jump?”
Old Karl rambled: “This and that, then this.”
The little evil dragon looked up at him.
Old Karl laughed: “What’s the fun in having someone teach you how to play games? You have to figure it out yourself.”
“Bang—” a window was hit.
Old Karl looked and saw Barton from the opposite building.
He walked over and opened a crack in the window: “What are you doing?”
Barton, leaning on the opposite windowsill, waved: “I got some insider news. This time it’s a bird contaminant assault. Should we go down and collect some bird feathers and beaks to sell?”
Old Karl lit a cigarette: “Are you looking for death?”
Barton: “Why be afraid? Don’t we have sonic dispersal devices? There will definitely be many bird carcasses falling. We can collect some rare feathers and beaks, and not have to leave the city for at least a month or two.”
“If you get caught, you’re going to jail!”
“Just be careful. It’s not like we haven’t done it before.”
Neither of the two chatting in the dark alley noticed—a shadow darker than the night suddenly descended overhead.
Sang Jue, who was struggling with how to double jump, suddenly looked up. He heard many sharp sound rhythms connected in a line, hissing and surging, gradually approaching.
“Be careful—”
Before the words finished, a huge gray shadow crossed the alley. Old Karl was knocked to the ground by a huge gust of air, and a half-burned cigarette butt fell into the alley.
The gray shadow passed by, and Barton on the opposite side was still dumbfounded on the windowsill—only he had lost his head.
Bright red blood gushed from the severed neck, and the stiff body fell into the alley, crushing the broken fireworks.
##
