I Am Ander, Mr. Mu Xiu

"I want to ask you a favor. I have a child here. After the incident is over, can you help arrange a place for him?"

"A child? An illegitimate child? How old are you?"

Selina's shocked voice came from the other end of the phone.

"A homeless child I met by chance," He Ao glanced at the little boy who was rummaging through things nearby. He had just talked to Selina for a while about tracking Mu Xiu, and now he was finally getting to the little boy. "You might need to arrange something then. I don't know what the system is like here in Dawn City."

"No problem," Selina seemed to be on the move, as there was the sound of wind rushing past. "Oh, by the way, did you find a metal test tube nearby? The Criminal Investigation Division said that the Dancer herself came here to trade a 'Talent Sequence 34: Waiter' secret medicine with a client. It should have been in a metal test tube."

"Talent Sequence? Waiter?"

He Ao was a little confused.

"Waiter is one of the advanced sequences of 'Talent Sequence 9: Listener'. As for Talent Sequence, it's a bit complicated to explain. You can understand it as a method to become an extraordinary person. I'll tell you about it in detail after the matter is over. Oh, right," Selina paused, and carefully warned,

"If you find the 'Waiter' secret medicine, don't try to take it. Just put it away. The death rate is very high if you take a secret medicine that is beyond your level. Also, be careful not to damage it. If the secret medicine leaks out, it might cause a contamination incident."

"Okay," He Ao nodded lightly. He looked at the little boy who was shaking the silver test tube and trying to fill it with water. "I'll be careful."

"Alright," Selina took a breath. "I'm going to find Mu Xiu. That guy didn't appear on the defensive line we set up. He's hiding a bit deep."

"Okay, be careful," He Ao casually reminded her, and then as if he suddenly remembered something, "Oh, right, Selina, what's your social security number?"

"Why are you asking that?"

Selina was a little confused.

"I'm asking you to do something, so naturally I have to give you benefits. Send it to me."

He Ao smiled.

"You can even deposit money into my social security?" Selina's side became noisy, as if she had discovered something. She conveniently sent her social security number to He Ao. "Alright, that's it. If you recover, go to the hospital as soon as possible. Don't delay. It's easy for small problems to turn into big problems."

"Okay."

He Ao hung up the phone, operated his wristband, and then walked towards the little boy, reaching out his hand, signaling the little boy to show him the test tube.

"What's wrong?"

The little boy was a little confused, but still gave him the silver test tube.

He Ao carefully looked at the structure inside. It was very clean, with no residue, and the little boy had been playing with it for so long without anything happening. This test tube seemed to be without risk.

"This might be dangerous. I'll keep it for now."

But just in case, He Ao still put away the test tube.

"Hey," the little boy immediately became anxious. "You're even snatching a child's things?"

"A trade," He Ao smiled, unlocked his wristband, and handed it to him. "This smart wristband is yours as collateral."

"Really?"

The little boy looked at him suspiciously.

"This is also for you," He Ao took out the ordinary standard pistol, opened the magazine, saw that there were still eleven bullets left, then put on the safety and handed it to the little boy.

"???" The little boy was a bit confused. He looked up at He Ao in bewilderment. "Did you hit your head?"

"This is your reward for saving me."

He Ao smiled and patted the little boy's head, signaling him to follow.

The little boy took the gun in confusion and followed He Ao, walking out of the building.

This was an abandoned industrial building on the edge of Aston District. Standing on the street in front of the building, you could even clearly see the towering wall of the barrier.

He Ao used his wristband to call a taxi for the little boy and set the destination to the Federal Bureau of Investigation building.

"Want some fried chicken legs?"

He Ao put the somewhat bewildered little boy into the taxi.

"Yes," the little boy looked at him suspiciously. "What do you want to do? Kidnap me and sell me?"

"Then do you trust me?"

He Ao looked at him with a smile.

"Sort of, you look like a good person," the little boy blinked. "So where are you taking me? There are no buses after 2 AM, and I won't be able to get back then."

"I'm taking you to see a big sister. When you get to the destination, sit in the lobby downstairs for a while, and a big sister will come find you," He Ao put the wristband back into the little boy's hand. "Just give her the wristband then, and she'll treat you to fried chicken legs and settle the reward for saving me!"

"Oh, I see," the little boy suddenly understood. "You don't have money, your girlfriend does! You're a kept man!"

He Ao: ?

He hit the little guy's head and signaled the taxi driver to drive away.

"Why aren't you coming with me?"

As the taxi started, the little boy inside poked his head out of the window and asked in confusion.

"I'm here,"

He Ao turned back, looked at the dilapidated industrial building behind him, and gave a light chuckle,

"Waiting for someone."

"Inspector Selina!" A fully armed police officer walked up to Selina and saluted. "Nothing, we've blocked all routes, nothing, not even in the sewers."

"How could this be," Selina was stunned. The deployment map of the entire police station and the Federal Bureau of Investigation began to appear in her vision, with dense red dots covering the entire route. "Unless Mu Xiu's destination isn't the Hope Building."

But if it's not the Hope Building, where could he go?

Selina zoomed out the map again, and the map of the entire nearby block appeared in her vision. Most directions were blocked by them. Mu Xiu absolutely couldn't get through without being discovered.

Where else could he go?

Suddenly, her gaze noticed a gap in the deployment, which was the path they had been chasing Mu Xiu along.

Because they had been chasing along this path, everyone had already passed through it, so the deployment was minimal, the security was lax, and everyone's attention was on the road ahead leading to the Hope Building.

"Ander!"

Selina realized something. She spun around abruptly and rushed back frantically.

***

Dull footsteps echoed within the silent building.

A man, covered in several scorched marks with only a few strips of cloth barely covering his body, walked into this corner.

He squatted down, gazing at the blood on the ground that had already darkened.

He pressed his finger onto the blood, and a faint red glow emerged from his fingertip. As the glow spread, the blood on the ground gradually began to stir.

He took out a blood-colored, wriggling compass-like object from his pocket, placed it on the fresh blood, and sucked up the surging blood.

Bang bang bang—

Crisp footsteps sounded again in the night. A young man in a neat combat uniform slowly emerged from the shadows. He smiled as he looked at the man.

"First formal meeting, I'm Ander, Mr. Mu Xiu."