Right on Target (TARGET)
Inspector was true to his word and arrived promptly.
"Your med kit is ready," Dong Fang opened the back door and climbed in while speaking to Xiao Gu. "Hang in there, buddy. Let me take a look at the wound."
"That bite was spot on," Xiao Gu's face was deathly pale and his arm trembling slightly from the pain. "Are you sure you can handle this?"
"With the boss watching," Dong Fang opened the med kit, "I don’t have a choice. We need to get this bug off. Think you can hold back from puking later?"
Xiao Gu gasped, "I feel like puking right now."
The black worm had a simple structure. To remove the needle, its outer layer had to be peeled away first to expose the infusion mechanism. Though it sounded straightforward, the process was downright revolting, with blood and fluids likely splattering everywhere.
"Its infusion tube is thin," Su Heting heard Inspector approach him. "Let me handle it."
The space between the seats was cramped, and Su Heting’s shoulder brushed against Inspector’s. He saw Inspector’s clearly defined wrist hovering near his hand, exuding a cold aura as he prepared to take the short knife from him.
Su Heting was sparing with words. "Fine."
Inspector reached out, gripping Su Heting’s hand. His fingers slid forward, touching the sticky, bloodied blade. "Got it."
Su Heting withdrew his hand, his fingers filthy, but a lingering chill remained on the back of his hand.
Inspector lifted his gaze, glancing at Xiao Gu. "Close your eyes. Don’t puke—it’ll be a mess to clean up in such tight quarters."
Xiao Gu’s nose was watering and his eyes tightly shut. "I wasn’t planning on opening them! Go ahead, boss. I won’t look!"
Inspector immediately began slicing through the worm’s skin.
Su Heting kept his eyes fixed on Inspector’s hands, watching the blade cut through the soft flesh… He lasted only a few seconds before quickly turning his head away.
—Ugh.
The black worm’s infusion tubes were embedded in its flesh, curving slightly. Each tube connected to a different injector and tangled together near the head. Its exterior was nothing more than a layer of flabby, wrinkled skin, resembling rubber gloves in texture—so loose it barely clung to the flesh when peeled away.
The car was filled with a pungent, fishy stench.
"The suction cups at the base have metal rings—we can keep those for later use," Dong Fang, oddly fascinated, remarked. "These fangs could even be repurposed as chopsticks..."
Xiao Gu nearly retched. "Stop talking!"
Dong Fang chuckled. "Waste not, want not."
His joking lightened the mood somewhat.
Inspector worked with practiced efficiency, disposing of the black worm in minutes. He packed the removed parts into an isolation bag, sealed it, and said, "Time to pull the needle."
The needle extraction was even more intense than the skinning.
At first, Xiao Gu was lucid enough to banter and complain with Dong Fang. But as time passed, his arm began to swell and the burning pain gnawed at his consciousness until he slipped into a semi-conscious state.
"Annihilation Day..." Xiao Gu muttered deliriously. "Blew up the old world... My wife and kid..."
"Your wife and kid are in the Survival Zone," Dong Fang kept a close eye on Xiao Gu’s temperature. "We’ll see them once we get out."
"We..." Xiao Gu slumped against the seat, lips moving weakly. "When..."
The car fell quiet as Xiao Gu’s murmurs fragmented. Su Heting only caught the words "humans" and "boss".
"Soon, soon," Dong Fang reassured casually, activating the cooling mode. Masked, he glanced at Su Heting and Inspector. "You two should go wash up and disinfect. Get Hua Zhi to come help me keep an eye on him."
Su Heting asked, "Is he okay now?"
"It's fine," Dong Fang paused for a moment. "We got lucky this time."
＊＊＊
Su Heting got out of the car and only then realized he was drenched in sweat. He found a hose at the automated car wash across the street, crouched down, examined it briefly, and cold water came gushing out with a splash.
The sun here was blazing overhead, making the ground shimmer with heat waves. Su Heting couldn’t stand the heat—his ears folded back as he listened to Inspector instructing Yu Cheng to handle the weapon crate.
Su Heting washed his hands for a while, rinsing the grime from between his fingers, then moved on to the backs of his hands.
"My time’s almost up," he said to the footsteps behind him. "I probably won’t make it till the next nightfall, so I’ll say goodbye to you in advance."
Inspector stared at Su Heting.
Su Heting, still dazed, thought Inspector was reluctant to crouch down. He perked up his ears again, listening for movement as he asked, "Aren’t you going to wash your hands? Come here, I’ll rinse them for you."
After a long silence, Inspector crouched beside Su Heting—even then, he was taller.
Not wanting to lose, Su Heting subtly straightened his back. He generously shifted his feet to make room, gesturing for Inspector to extend his hand.
Inspector obeyed, holding out his hand.
Su Heting looked up, face-to-face with him, and asked in surprise, "Aren’t you going to roll up your sleeves?"
Inspector didn’t move. His dark eyes didn’t even blink, reflecting Su Heting’s outline. Whether it was an illusion or not, Su Heting felt his gaze was different this time—carrying a faint hint of dissatisfaction.
Su Heting: "?"
Did I miss something, buddy?
Inspector waited a moment before saying, "You said you’d rinse them for me."
"...Right." Su Heting clamped the hose between his fingers and, for the first time in his life, rolled up someone else’s sleeves. He fumbled awkwardly, leaving Inspector’s cuffs a crumpled mess, yet seemed quite satisfied. "Forgot about that, sorry. This’ll do—just don’t get them wet."
Su Heting held the hose in one hand and grasped Inspector’s fingertips with the other. Both were grown men, and the sudden handholding felt oddly strange. Thankfully, the cold water helped dilute the awkwardness.
"How long have you been here?" Su Heting suddenly asked. "Four years?"
Inspector lowered his gaze to stare at their hands, his reply as perfunctory as ever. "Forgot."
"Alright," Su Heting shook the hose slightly. "If that’s how you answer, I won’t come back next time."
The moment the words left his mouth, Su Heting’s fingers were gripped tightly by Inspector. The hose sprayed water wildly onto their arms, soaking their sleeves.
After a long pause, Inspector said, "Five years."
Su Heting didn’t understand why five years warranted a handshake, but in the spirit of friendly camaraderie, he resisted the urge to flip Inspector over his shoulder. Instead, he awkwardly hummed, "Hmm—" as if the topic were unbearably heavy.
Inspector asked, "Will you come back?"
Su Heting, as if compelled, hummed again, "Hmm—" as though refusing would mean never getting his hand back.
Inspector seemed skeptical. "Will you wear the bell?"
Su Heting said, "...Yes." Then silently added a "probably" in his mind.
Satisfied with the answer, Inspector let go and took the hose, intending to turn off the water.
Belatedly, Su Heting grabbed Inspector’s sleeve, stopping him. "Don’t you have precognition?"
Just as Inspector was about to respond, a "ding" sounded in Su Heting’s head.
Damn, time’s up.
"Punishment Zone experience concluded."
"Keep breathing, prepare to return to reality.
"Three, two..."
Inspector's coat fluttered slightly as he watched Su Heting's hand loosen its grip before vanishing on the spot.
The pipe continued to gush water, soaking his pant legs.
He stood alone with his fingers empty.
Su Heting plunged into dizziness for the second time, as if he had just stepped off a free-fall ride.
The moment he opened his eyes, he suppressed the urge to retch and steadied himself against the chair. The scorching sunlight was gone, replaced by the cool breeze of the room's air conditioning. The draft chilled his back, worsening his nausea.
"Turn it off," Su Heting buried his face in his arms. "Stop blowing."
"You disappeared in the Punishment Zone for twenty-three hours," the Chief propped her chin on one hand while stirring a cup of cold medicine with the other. "If it weren't for your life monitor still functioning, I'd have thought you were dead."
"Your information tracking is terrible," Su Heting pressed a hand against his aching, empty stomach, raising an eyebrow as he looked up. "I was deep behind enemy lines alone."
The Chief eyed him sharply. "Where did you go?"
"Running for my life," Su Heting said. "After sunset, it's slaughter time—staying in one place is a death sentence. I ran from the upper sector to the lower sector, half-dead from exhaustion. Can we talk after I eat?"
"Cut the crap," the Chief activated a 3D projection of the Punishment Zone, pinpointing a flickering star among the lines. "You met Inspector here, then vanished. Where did you go?"
"I told you, I was running," Su Heting leaned back in his chair, tilting his head slightly. "You said it yourself—Inspector kills undercover agents like me on sight. The moment I logged in and saw him, of course I bolted."
The Chief stared at him in silence. After a moment, she relaxed and resumed stirring her medicine. "Where did you run to? Couldn’t even send a text?"
"If you couldn’t track me, how could I send a text?" Su Heting’s mind raced as he rubbed the corner of his mouth—the bruise from the rifle butt was completely healed. Meeting her gaze, he suddenly grinned and spun a tale: "Did you know there are jammers in the Punishment Zone? The Main God System is onto you. Those temperamental AIs don’t want to be spied on. Or maybe—just a guess—they know what you’re looking for."
The Chief said, "Impossible.
"Why impossible?" Su Heting feigned mystery. "I thought about it—the 'Time-Limited Hunt' is a Black Panther experiment, with all intel locked down. Who else but the Main God System would leak info about the super-evolved system 'Jue' to you? These AIs might be waiting for you to walk right into their trap. I’m just the expendable scout."
Neither of them was telling the whole truth. This partnership had been coerced from the start, but Su Heting’s fabrication wasn’t entirely implausible to the Chief.
She wasn’t the leader of Xingtian, and her intel on Jue came from higher up. The fact that Xingtian’s interface could infiltrate the Punishment Zone was suspicious in itself. Much of what she knew was speculation—she couldn’t verify any of it.
"One more thing," Su Heting rested his chin on his hand, his heterochromatic eyes brimming with suspicion as he continued bluffing. "You said Inspector has precognition. But I’m starting to think there’s a mole among you."
The monk sitting in the corner didn’t hesitate. “Impossible.” The other two turned to look at him.
Arms crossed, he still wore the expression of a concerned father, shaking his head earnestly with unwavering conviction. “Xingtian has staked everything to ensure the safety of the survival zone. Hundreds, thousands of us have died in these attacks. I believe—no, I’m certain—there are no systematic moles within Xingtian.”
The monk’s eyes were deep and solemn.
He considered himself an ordinary man, but in this new world, he still clung to a shred of noble faith.
“You don’t understand what Xingtian stands for,” the monk said, resting his hands on his knees as he looked at Su Heting. “‘Xingtian’ means that even if humanity’s head is severed, we will keep fighting against the Main God System.” He paused briefly, his tone resolute. “We are the unquenchable flame of resistance in this new world.”
“I wish you victory in your fight,” Su Heting clapped without emotion, eager to move on from the topic of Xingtian. “Can we eat now?”
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