We returned to the room in silence, only to find a familiar face waiting inside.
But it had been so long since I last saw him that it took me a while to remember—this was my brother, Gu Yu.
Like Sister Siwei, he had always been very kind to me.
“Siwei, Hero,” Brother Gu Yu said with a smile. “I’m back.”
His appearance was exactly the same as before, as if not just him but even I hadn’t changed at all. After all, in this strange prison, none of us could grow older.
But his scent had changed. He wasn’t as clean as he had been years ago, yet he still smelled pleasant.
“Gu Yu…?” Sister Siwei froze for a moment, about to say something, but then quickly turned to close the door behind her. “How did you…?”
“It’s a long story, but thankfully I made it back in time—just before everything went wrong.”
“Made it back in time…?” Sister Siwei asked, puzzled. “What do you mean?”
“This place can’t allow anyone to collect enough ‘jade,’ or an irreversible catastrophe will occur,” Brother Gu Yu replied.
Sister Siwei gasped. “So… you were the one behind the ‘jade’ disappearing? You came to stop Brother Wan from collecting it?”
“Yes.” Brother Gu Yu nodded. “Did you forget my ‘Fragrance’ ability? I concealed all the ‘jade.'”
“Concealed…?” Sister Siwei’s eyes widened. “You mean the ‘jade’ is actually…”
“Still there, untouched. It never went anywhere.” Brother Gu Yu smiled slightly. “Too bad people in real life aren’t like in TV dramas—if they saw an empty safe, they wouldn’t bother reaching inside to check. Otherwise, my plan would’ve failed. By now, the safe must’ve been opened, right? I’ll find a way to dispose of the ‘jade’ soon.”
“But how did you do it? That was a safe.”
“Not that difficult.” Brother Gu Yu rubbed his nose. “I was originally a stage magician, but when the industry declined, I switched to close-up magic. Back when I performed escape tricks, I studied the mechanisms of many safes and spent years getting familiar with them. Usually, a simple stethoscope is enough to crack low-level locks.”
“That’s all it took…?”
“That’s all. This is an office building, not a bank.” Brother Gu Yu shrugged. “The safes here are mostly for storing contracts—they don’t use high-security locks, so it wasn’t a challenge. Last night, while everyone was chanting slogans, I concealed all the ‘jade.'”
Sister Siwei fell silent for a moment, then asked, “And this ‘catastrophe’ you mentioned—what is it?”
“You might not believe me, but over the years, I’ve traveled to other cities and learned things we never knew before.” Brother Gu Yu crouched down and began drawing on the floor. “If we don’t find a solution, we’ll all be wiped out.”
Sister Siwei and I moved closer, watching as he sketched a rough map.
When I was younger, I could never understand what adults talked about. But now, it felt like I had grown up.
How strange—my age hadn’t changed, yet I felt older.
Brother Gu Yu drew five circles on the ground, arranged like the Olympic rings. Then he pointed to the bottom-left circle and said:
“Siwei, Hero, the city we’re in collects ‘jade’—I’ll call it ‘Jade City.’ The other four cities… two are already lifeless, and two are still active. One of the active cities is ‘Vortex City,’ where they collect spiral-shaped objects called ‘vortices.’ The other is ‘Dao City,’ where they collect golden glowing orbs called ‘dao.'”
Sister Siwei and I listened to these unfamiliar concepts, deep in thought.
“Five cities…?” Sister Siwei murmured. “And we all collect different things?”
“Yes, but that’s not the point.” Brother Gu Yu shook his head. “Whether it’s ‘jade’ or ‘vortices’ doesn’t matter. What matters is that those who’ve retained their memories for a long time all know one thing—this is a massive deception. We must never collect them all.”
“What… happens if someone does?”
“Everything ‘resets.'” Brother Gu Yu’s expression darkened. “I met two elders in ‘Vortex City’ and ‘Dao City,’ and they both said the same thing. Once everything is collected, an unstoppable force will make us all start over. But they seemed afraid of something—they didn’t explain the details.”
Sister Siwei’s scent shifted. After a long silence, she asked, “Then… is there no way for us to escape?”
“That… I can’t say for sure.” Brother Gu Yu sighed. “Each city has its own path. Right now, we and ‘Vortex City’ are in the most danger—we could be wiped out at any moment.”
“Wiped out…?” Sister Siwei hesitated. “You mean, like those two nameless cities—everyone dies?”
“Exactly.” Brother Gu Yu nodded. “As for the two active cities… ‘Vortex City’ is ruled by a man named Nie Bei, an active-duty special forces soldier. Under him, the entire city has militarized—everyone, men and women alike, has a look of grim determination. They take turns gambling their lives against the ‘Zodiacs’ from dawn till dusk. The city is littered with corpses, rivers of blood flowing through the streets. Yet, not a single person regrets it. In fact, it’s the ‘Zodiacs’ stationed there who complain—they don’t know when they’ll be killed by the endless waves of participants. Nie Bei told me that even if ‘Vortex City’ is down to its last person, they’ll keep fighting the ‘Zodiacs’ until every last one of them is dead. When I asked him why, he said that ever since their first gamble, the ‘Zodiacs’ have been the murderers of their comrades. So this war must be fought—until there’s a victor.”
Sister Siwei was stunned. “People like that exist…?”
“Dao City is the complete opposite.” Brother Gu Yu pointed to the center circle on the top row. “This city, positioned in the middle, has no leader like Nie Bei. Instead, it’s led by a few renowned ‘strategists.’ If Nie Bei represents ‘martial strength,’ then Dao City embodies ‘wisdom.’ Their strength lies in their higher survival rate, but their weakness is that they can’t match Nie Bei’s kill count against the ‘Zodiacs.’ Unfortunately, I didn’t get to meet their leader, Wen Qiaoyun, but I did meet a remarkable man named Qian Duoduo. He told me some of Dao City’s history.”
After hearing this, Sister Siwei and I fell into silence. Compared to these two cities, what had we been doing all this time?
“You must’ve realized it by now…” Brother Gu Yu said gravely. “Everyone in this place is striving to ‘escape,’ but Jade City has been stagnant. No—worse than stagnant. We’ve been regressing.”
“This city is already ‘sick’…” Sister Siwei murmured.
“It is ‘sick,’ but it’s not beyond saving.” Brother Gu Yu looked at me. “As long as Hero is here, there’s still hope.”
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