Subway Station

On the twenty-third of the month, Chunming Metro Line 23, Xiaozhuang Station.

Sun Hang, Wang Xiyi, Zhong Ling, and Xue Yue—three people and one anomaly—sat on a bench on the waiting platform, silently watching the scattered passengers getting off the subway.

It was 10:26 p.m. This was Xiaozhuang's second-to-last train, with eight minutes remaining until the final train.

Most of these passengers looked exhausted, white-collar drones who had just finished working overtime. Compared with the exorbitant rents downtown, housing in Xiaozhuang, out in the suburbs, was much cheaper. Many young people who came to Chunming City to chase their dreams but were short on cash chose to settle in places like this.

The biggest downside of living here was having to get up more than an hour earlier than coworkers living downtown every morning, changing trains several times before reaching the office. But compared with the cheap rent, that inconvenience seemed insignificant.

A young man in a wrinkled suit, carrying a laptop bag, glanced at Sun Hang's group. A trace of surprise flashed through his eyes. Zhong Ling and Xue Yue were striking even without makeup, the sort who stood out in an ordinary crowd. As for Old Wang, although she was dressed very conservatively, with an oversized hood and a mask that exposed only her eyes concealing her dragon horns and facial scales, her astonishing proportions could not be hidden. Even without seeing her face, passersby could not help taking another look at her long, crossed legs—regardless of gender.

The young man finally shifted his gaze to Sun Hang, his surprise turning into puzzled envy. Perhaps, in his eyes, Sun Hang was some rich second-generation playboy with a wild lifestyle, able to gather three completely different types of beauties around him just by stepping outside.

In the end, though,