"Home"

Jiang He lived in the wealthy district, where standalone villas stood everywhere. Quite a few windows were still lit, and uniformed patrol squads could occasionally be seen, slender metal batons hanging from their waists.

Whenever he passed a patrol squad, Su Chen could feel their obvious, suspicious scrutiny.

But his expression remained calm, betraying no timidity. The clothes he wore also suited the atmosphere of the place, so no one came up to question him.

After leaving the wealthy district, the streets became much wider.

They also grew dimmer. The yellow glow of the streetlights flickered unsteadily, the gaps between them unusually vast, and in some places, the shadows were nearly pitch-black.

His gaze fell on a car parked by the roadside.

Su Chen walked over and knocked on the window. The driver glanced at him, seeming somewhat puzzled. "Su Chen?"

"It's me." He nodded.

The driver looked at his clothes as though he recognized them. He hesitated, then inwardly sighed at how much more adventurous the mistress had become.

"Let's go."

The car door opened, and Su Chen sat in the back seat, looking around. Its structure was not much different from that of an ordinary car.

The driver brushed his palm across the dashboard. With a hum, the vehicle trembled slightly, the scenery on both sides rapidly sank away, and they lifted into the air.

"...Mm, to the outer city. Take Route C-7. It's clear right now..." the driver muttered. Through the window, Su Chen could not make out much below, but the light sources overhead had become much brighter.

Whoosh—

The force pressed Su Chen back into his seat. His gaze swept outside the window, and only then did he see clearly that the stretching bands of light really were steel tracks. Some kind of transport should run along them during the day.

"Beyond the city lies endless fog. Anything could be in it—mutated monsters, machines..."

He tried to recall what little information he had about this world. The original owner knew little as well. Those inexplicable mists seemed to cut everything off.

Had this world suffered some catastrophe to become like this, or had it been this way from the beginning?

The original owner's memories held no answer either. He only knew that it had been this way ever since he was born.

"Still..." Su Chen frowned slightly. In the original owner's memories, he had not been a native of Southwind City. He had come from somewhere else when he was five or six, though the memories in his mind had already become very vague.

"In other words, the outside world isn't absolutely dangerous, but it's not something I can come into contact with either."

He did not know how much time passed before he felt the vehicle tremble slightly. They had already landed.

"We're here." The driver was very polite.

"Thank you." Su Chen got out, and cool air rushed into his lungs.

This place was far from artificial light and even darker. He could barely make out the surroundings. On both sides stood dense clusters of gray shacks, figures moving indistinctly among them, while the road was riddled with potholes.

This was where he lived—the edge of the outer city, commonly known as the slums.

Following his memories, Su Chen found several familiar landmarks and headed toward his home.

Under the special conditions of the outside world, the city practically did not allow people who merely drifted through life to exist.

Whether families or individuals, everyone had to possess some useful value. Allowing them to remain unconditionally until adulthood was already Southwind City's greatest mercy.

After reaching adulthood, they either served as cannon fodder to scout through the fog. If they were lucky enough to return, they could cling to life for another half year.

"Su... Su Chen?" A somewhat familiar voice came from the shadows.

Su Chen stopped walking. His "home" seemed to have arrived.

"Why are you dressed like that?"

Apparently confirming his identity, several ragged figures darted out from nearby. They all looked young.

Huang Peng... Black Dog... one name after another surfaced in his mind.

"You... got into Southwind Academy?" one of them asked cautiously.

Thoughts flickered through Su Chen's mind. Although the original owner had grown up here, because of the environment, he and most of the others could only be considered "pretend friends."

Seeing him remain silent, someone seemed to let out a faint sigh of relief. Then another person teased him.

"I said it before—trading your body for a future isn't impossible. But you're a man, after all. A place like Southwind Academy isn't somewhere people like us can get into."

"It's fine even if you didn't get in. Didn't you say that woman was pretty? You didn't lose out."

"Exactly. And you got these clothes too. They should be worth quite a bit. Let me borrow them..."

As he spoke, someone reached out and tugged at Su Chen's coat, seemingly intending to strip it off him.

Su Chen frowned. His arm shook slightly, and the person who had reached for him staggered backward before tumbling crookedly to the ground with an "Ow!" He then roared angrily, "What are you doing?"

The sudden commotion made the surroundings fall silent.

"Heh, you slept with that slut once and really think you're above everyone else now?"

"Forget it. He didn't get what he wanted, so he's in a bad mood. Don't provoke him. Go back to sleep."

"..."

The crowd dispersed, and the sounds around him gradually died down. Su Chen's expression remained indifferent as he accurately found his "home" in the darkness and pulled aside the tattered cloth covering it.

Following his memories, he found a lamp. Once its faint light came on, he felt somewhat more comfortable.

Calling it a "home" was generous. It was merely several sheets of metal propped together, with so little space that even sleeping required curling up.

There was still congealed white porridge in the small pot on the ground.

Shaking his head, he did not care much and simply crouched there.

"Brother Su Chen..." The tattered cloth was lifted, and a tiny figure walked in. Her belly was round and bloated, while her face was covered in soot.

Seeing Su Chen, she seemed to freeze for a moment, standing there without speaking.

"...Little Pigeon?" Su Chen called tentatively.

"Ah..." She jumped in fright. "Brother Su Chen, you... you look... pretty good like this..."

She muttered, then cautiously glanced around before pulling out a package from beneath her fairly clean clothes and stuffing it into Su Chen's hands.

"These are for you," she said softly.

"Where did you get food?" Su Chen looked at the canned goods in the package. Southwind City only distributed two meals a day to them, barely enough to fill their stomachs.

Yet the package contained neatly wrapped canned food. To people like them, it was extremely valuable.

"I have a secret to tell you. Don't tell anyone else..." Little Pigeon leaned closer, her eyes shining as she whispered, "I'm leaving here soon..."

"Where are you going?" Su Chen could not help frowning.

"...Sister Xiaoxi... will take me away..." She lowered her head, seeming somewhat guilty as she fidgeted. "But right now, she can only take me..."

Sister Xiaoxi?

A figure emerged in Su Chen's mind: someone with a soot-blackened face, dry hair, and an unsmiling expression.

She had also been one of the slum dwellers, but now she should be called Bai Fengxi.

No one knew what incredible luck she had stumbled into, but she seemed to have caught the attention of some important figure in the city. She had been sent to Southwind Academy and renamed Bai Fengxi.

This was a secret. Hardly anyone here knew about it.

He was not particularly familiar with her. Most of their interactions had involved Little Pigeon, and Little Pigeon had been the one to tell him these things.

Though the original owner had kept the secret tightly, he had still been somewhat affected by it. That was why he had ended up in Jiang He's bed.

"That's good." Su Chen relaxed slightly.

"Don't worry. Once I figure out a way, I'll take you away with me," Little Pigeon hurriedly added.

"Don't worry about me. Just take care of yourself." Su Chen's voice was gentle. Little Pigeon had wandered here with a large group of people several years ago, and the original owner had taken good care of her.

She put on a stern expression to show that she was not just saying it, then turned and left.

Su Chen smiled faintly, set the things aside, and opened the panel.