Darkness

The group was mid-conversation when a knock came at the door. Zhuo Ming, seated closest to it, got up and opened it.

A server in a white uniform stepped in, carrying a dish.

It was a bowl of something yellow, and from it drifted a faint, peculiar smell.

"Order's up!"

"What is this?"

Lu Yuan, Wang Xiangxiang, Cao Yan, and Mo Li all went slightly pale.

Wenni's eyes lit up. She smiled. "This is the house specialty — durian tripe. It tastes amazing. You all have to try it."

Lu Yuan: ???

He stared at her, wide-eyed and completely disbelieving.

*You look so quiet and refined — and this is what you eat?!*

Wang Xiangxiang silently slid the dish toward Wenni's side of the table.

"I'll wait for the next course."

"Same."

Cao Yan and the others shook their heads as well. They couldn't bring themselves to touch it.

Only Zhuo Ming hesitated — then, against his better judgment, picked up his chopsticks and took a bite.

His eyes lit up. "Hey, actually not bad!"

Wenni saw his reaction and beamed. "Right? You're all really missing out."

Fortunately, everything else that came after was quite good.

Lu Yuan found himself thinking that the restaurant being called Nine Walnuts wasn't for nothing. *Surely anyone who could willingly eat durian tripe needed to supplement their brain cells somehow.*

By the time they finished, it was already past nine.

Everyone headed downstairs, and Lu Yuan settled the bill.

Six hundred and ninety-two yuan total.

*For the old him, that would have been close to a month's living expenses. For the current Lu Yuan, it was perfectly manageable — he had a few million in savings, after all.*

Wang Xiangxiang stood up and stretched, her figure catching the light. She slapped Lu Yuan cheerfully on the shoulder.

"Lu Yuan, thanks so much for treating today! Hope you break your Gene Lock soon — we'll meet up again in Red Maple City!"

"Please. Don't get a big head just because you're a genius. There are plenty of more talented people out there."

Lu Yuan smiled. "Maybe I'll be faster than you think."

Cao Yan chuckled.

"Xiangxiang, you might actually break through to First-rank before the college entrance exam. I'm having more trouble — I'm only at 98% tempering right now. By the time I hit 100% and then crack the Gene Lock, there might not be enough time."

Wang Xiangxiang grinned. "Don't stress, there's still time. Maybe you'll get lucky and find an Origin Stone. Breaking the Gene Lock would be a walk in the park after that."

Cao Yan laughed ruefully and shook his head.

"Lu Yuan, thanks for dinner. Next time it's on me — let's all get together again. Keep working hard in the meantime. Hope the college exams go well."

Lu Yuan smiled and nodded.

"Let's head out. We need to get back — we're going into the Land of Origin tonight. Time to start preparing to break the Gene Lock."

"Alright, let's go."

After paying, they all filed out of the restaurant. Everyone lived in different parts of the city, so they said their goodbyes and went their separate ways.

Only Lu Yuan was heading toward the slums. No one was going the same direction.

He didn't hail a cab — just walked, taking his time, making his way back toward the slum district.

Along the way, a few people tried to strike up conversation with him. He ignored all of them.

The streets were lined with fashionably dressed men and women moving through the neon light, the whole scene full of life and energy.

To be honest, the city at night — in his predecessor's memories, the only images from those years were from before the Aberration. After the family was gone, those memories were mostly gray. And since he'd transmigrated into this body, he'd never come out to this part of the city after dark.

A group of people passed by. Two pretty girls glanced over at Lu Yuan.

He smiled at them; they quickly turned back, a little flustered.

Then a stylishly dressed girl walked over, smiling.

"Hey, would you mind giving me your contact? I just lost a bet with my friend."

She pointed behind her — two girls were watching from a distance, trying not to laugh.

"Sorry, I don't have a phone."

She blinked. Lu Yuan had already walked past. She shook her head, disappointed.

The lively streets gradually fell quiet.

The bustling nightlife district was receding behind him. He had crossed into the borderlands of the slum district.

The streets, once clean, were now littered with empty cans and plastic bottles. The neon signs grew sparse; pale yellow-white streetlamps took over. The few pedestrians still out moved with brisk, purposeful strides — nothing like the leisurely crowds of the city center.

As he pushed deeper into the slums, foot traffic dwindled and everything grew quieter.

The environment had changed.

Two black stray cats darted through the lamplight. One turned and looked back at Lu Yuan, let out a sharp, grating screech, then bolted away.

The darkness here was something the Lu Yuan of his past life — who had grown up under the red flag, in a world of order — could never have imagined.

Just then, a Shadow flickered past.

Then he heard a scream.

Lu Yuan looked up.

At the far end of the alley ahead, two men in black leather jackets with garishly dyed hair came into view. One had a toddler — barely a year old — clutched against his chest. The other had a frail, reed-thin woman by the arm.

The child was wailing and struggling.

The woman kept shaking her head, face white with despair.

"Let go of my child! Please, let go!"

"No!"

"Someone help me! Please, someone help!"

There were four or five bystanders on the nearby street. They glanced over, then put their heads down and hurried past without stopping.

Lu Yuan raised an eyebrow.

He'd already assumed the worst of these people. Apparently reality was worse than imagination.

He hadn't expected them to openly grab a child right here on the street.

As for what they'd do with the child...

Lu Yuan hadn't actually known any of this at first. It was Li Qinghe who had told him.

Boys would have their limbs broken and be sent to the busy districts to beg. Girls would be cleaned up and put to work. The more depraved ones would harvest organs for sale. Children with good looks would be kept as slaves.

This was beyond anything he'd pictured.

The darkness here was something the Lu Yuan of his previous life could never have fathomed.

One of the men noticed Lu Yuan.

"Hey, buddy — I'd suggest you mind your own business. This is the slums. The Empire's laws don't reach here. We're Wild Dog Gang. You're not thinking of picking a fight with us, are you?"

Lu Yuan raised an eyebrow.

"Wild Dog Gang?"

He'd heard that name more than a few times. The most notorious gang in the entire slum district. There was nothing they wouldn't do.

"That's right! We're Wild Dog Gang! In the slums, we run things! If you want to keep breathing, get out of here! The slums are no place for rich bastards like you!"

The man gave Lu Yuan's clothes a quick look. They didn't quite fit the slum aesthetic.

"I think there's been a misunderstanding. I'm not rich. I live here."

The man paused for a beat, then snarled. "So you live here and you're still sticking your nose in? Tired of living?"

Lu Yuan spoke.

"When I said you've got the wrong idea, I meant something else too. Whatever gang you're from — it doesn't matter to me."

The leather-jacketed man froze briefly, then broke into a cold sneer.

The man gripping the woman let his eyes go flat and hard. "You're looking to die."

He flicked open a folding knife and moved to stab the woman.

Lu Yuan appeared at the man's side in an instant, expression ice-cold. He drove a kick hard into his midsection.

BOOM.

The man's torso bent at an impossible angle, bones cracking. His body went airborne and slammed into the alley wall. His skull cracked against the brick and blood began to flow. The folding knife clattered to the ground beside him. He lay there convulsing, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.

The man who'd been holding the child saw this and flinched. He released the infant immediately and stumbled back two steps.

The child's face had gone red from the rough handling; he broke into a full-throated wail.

The leather-jacketed man looked at his partner twitching on the ground, then slowly raised his eyes to Lu Yuan. His expression was pure shock.

Noticing that Lu Yuan's clothes didn't quite look like slum attire —

Lu Yuan was already in front of him. He grabbed the man's face in one hand and shoved him backward.

BOOM.

His skull met the wall. Blood ran. Lu Yuan let go, and the body slid softly to the ground.

The frail woman snatched her child back the moment he was free and pressed herself against the wall, clutching the infant tightly to her chest, watching both men and Lu Yuan with wide, wary eyes.

Lu Yuan finally turned to look at her — trembling, painfully thin, still reeling from terror.

He glanced at the child in her arms and frowned slightly.

"You live around here, don't you? You should know how dangerous it is to be out this late with a small child."

He had never once seen a child on the slum streets after dark — honestly, even adults rarely wandered around outside at night.

Because getting snatched by the gangs was far too easy.

Far too dangerous.