After school, Qin Siyang helped tidy up the library, then walked out with Wen Shu as usual.
But as they left the school gate, he caught sight of Zhao Liwen's furious glare fixed on them.
"Don't pay him any mind," Wen Shu said before Qin Siyang could speak.
"Huh?"
"I said—ignore Zhao Liwen."
"Got it."
Qin Siyang and Wen Shu walked away, their figures growing smaller, while Zhao Liwen stood rooted to the spot beneath the school gate's streetlight, his eyes never leaving Qin Siyang's back.
With his heightened senses, Qin Siyang could feel that hostile gaze like a physical weight.
"Wen Shu," he said.
"What is it?"
"Zhao Liwen's been staring at us this whole time. Does he pester you a lot?"
Wen Shu shook her head, her answer crisp and firm. "No."
"You don't have to worry about it. I'm fine—we barely even talk."
She added the last part quickly, as if afraid Qin Siyang might do something impulsive and make things worse.
"He warned me to stay away from you. Said he's going to the same academy as you after the exam."
Wen Shu froze, turning to look at him. "Did you go looking for Zhao Liwen?"
"He came to me," Qin Siyang shot her a sideways glance. "I didn't even know who he was—why would I seek him out?"
Wen Shu pouted slightly at that, saying nothing more.
"Don't pay any attention to what he says. Treat it like the wind blowing past. It's not like he's distracted me from my studies anyway."
"You're explaining so much… are you afraid I'll kill him?" Qin Siyang sighed helplessly. "I'm not some bloodthirsty demon. I only do what I have to when there's no other choice."
"Don't worry. I have a plan."
Wen Shu looked confused. "You? What plan?"
"It's nothing worth mentioning."
At the fork in the road where they always parted, Qin Siyang waved at Wen Shu and strode off without looking back.
Watching his retreating figure, the corners of Wen Shu's lips lifted slightly.
"Thank you," she whispered to the empty street.
---
Qin Siyang dropped his lunchbox at home, then headed straight for the internet café near his house.
He ducked around the door's security camera and glanced inside—Wang Defa was sitting behind the counter, looking miserable as he stared blankly at his monitor.
This was supposed to be Liu Dazhi's shift. Wang Defa should have been at home, enjoying time with his wife and kids.
But some damn fool had killed Liu Dazhi—a pathetic, penniless couch potato—for a few hundred copper coins.
With his manager dead, Wang Defa couldn't find anyone who knew how to operate the café's management system on short notice. He'd been forced to man the counter himself.
"Son of a bitch," he muttered under his breath. "If I ever find out who killed Liu Dazhi, I'll make them pay back every penny with interest!"
But being short-staffed wasn't the worst of his problems.
The police had been acting crazy lately, dropping by for inspections every single day—and it was killing his business.
Wang Defa's café wasn't in this slum to offer internet access. It was a front for illegal deals, a gray zone where the law didn't reach.
The computers here could be modified to hide their login locations by altering back-end data, allowing customers to conduct anonymous transactions online.
With randomly generated IP addresses, even the United Government's cyber police couldn't trace them.
When a customer requested this hidden login service, the internet fee skyrocketed twentyfold.
Even the regular rate was exorbitant—twenty times that was a fortune.
And yet, the café was always packed.
Because the profits from illegal deals far outweighed that ridiculous internet fee.
Gray-market transactions were the café's real bread and butter—a risky business, to say the least. To keep it running for five or six years without major incident, Wang Defa wasn't just some nobody with no connections.
He had a protector inside the United Government, someone who ensured the café could operate in peace. In return, Wang Defa handed over the vast majority of his ill-gotten gains to his patron.
With plenty of room for underhanded deals and a powerful backer, Wang Defa's café had quickly made a name for itself in the area—until a few days ago, when the police started swarming the place like locusts.
So far, they'd only arrested a few of his special clients, no other punishment. But Wang Defa had no idea what they were really looking for.
He'd called his patron to ask what was going on—and been shocked by the man's helpless tone.
"Let them inspect. There's nothing you can do about it."
"What about the business?"
The man on the other end sighed. "Put it on hold for now. I can't help you."
"Sir, just give me a hint! I'm terrified I'll be arrested one day, or disappear like the previous owner three years ago!"
"That disappearance was an accident. Don't worry about it. As for the police… this is a big mess. Someone's reported us to the higher-ups."
Wang Defa's heart skipped a beat, his throat going dry. "Our little operation… we're just making pocket change. How could this reach the higher-ups?"
"This has nothing to do with our small-time deals. You're safe—the police won't touch you."
"O-okay."
"By the way—have you met anyone suspicious lately?"
"Suspicious?" Wang Defa immediately thought of Qin Siyang. But for the sake of the silver coin hush money, he chose to keep his mouth shut.
"No. Just the usual customers here for business."
"Good. That's all for now. I have a meeting to attend."
"Goodbye, sir."
Knowing the police had other targets eased Wang Defa's nerves—though the frequent inspections had sent his side income plummeting, leaving him miserable.
"I'll have to cut costs as much as possible these days," he grumbled.
He was still wallowing in his troubles when he spotted Qin Siyang at the door.
To Wang Defa, Qin Siyang was both a godsend and a death sentence rolled into one.
So when he saw him, his feelings were a jumble of fear and relief.
Wang Defa glanced at the handful of customers glued to their screens, then grabbed a roll of toilet paper and called out, "I'm heading to the restroom! If anyone comes in, tell them to wait a minute, thanks!"
"Sure thing, Boss Wang!"
Wang Defa stepped outside, circled around the security camera, and hurried over to Qin Siyang.
"Good evening, Boss Wang," Qin Siyang said casually.
"Ah, don't call me that—*you're* the boss here," Wang Defa gushed, pulling out a cigarette and offering it to Qin Siyang.
Qin Siyang waved it away. "We don't allow smoking."
Wang Defa's eyes widened at the natural way Qin Siyang said "we." It only confirmed his suspicion that Qin Siyang was backed by a powerful group of Sequence Ability users.
"Right, right! Smoke smell would be a disaster for your line of work. I get it, I get it."
Qin Siyang nodded toward the warehouse, and Wang Defa instantly got the message. The two of them walked toward it together.
"How's business lately, Boss Wang?"
Wang Defa sighed heavily. "Don't even ask. Those pigs in blue at the police station are swarming here like they caught a whiff of meat—inspections every single day. You here to use the warehouse computer tonight?"
Qin Siyang's expression turned cautious. "Inspections every day? Should I not be here right now?"
"It's fine. They've raided the place three times today already—they won't be back. Not tonight."
"Three times? That's a lot."
"Yeah. Usually it's once every day or two, but they're acting crazy today. You're safe as houses tonight, I promise."
Qin Siyang nodded, surprised that the incident with the god's remains had caused such a stir.
"Still… you'd better lay low for a while. I've already lost a lot of customers to the police. They're watching this place like hawks—don't want you getting dragged into it."
Wang Defa's warning was phrased as concern for Qin Siyang, but in truth, he was terrified that if Qin Siyang was arrested, his mysterious backers would take their anger out on him.
"Got it. I'll use it tonight, but I won't be back for a while after this."
"Perfect! Once this heat dies down, you're welcome anytime!"
Qin Siyang smiled without saying a word.
*This heat was caused by me*, he thought. *It'll only die down if I'm caught.*
After making sure no one was watching, they slipped into the warehouse one after the other.
"Boss Wang, I have a few questions I need your help with," Qin Siyang said, cutting to the chase.
"Anything! Just say the word."
"On my superiors' orders, I'm planning to register at the Sequence Ability Administration Bureau."
Wang Defa froze. "Y-you… haven't registered yet?"
"I've got a lot of business to take care of. If my information was public, it'd be far too easy to expose myself."
Wang Defa slapped his forehead in realization. "Right! Right! That makes perfect sense."
"But my superiors only told me to register—they left the how to me. You've been in this game a long time, and as the saying goes, the local snake beats the foreign dragon. You must know more about this than I do."
"Absolutely! Ask away!"
Qin Siyang leaned in close, his eyes locking onto Wang Defa's. "I'm going to register a fake ability. What pitfalls do I need to watch out for in Zone 14121?"
Wang Defa's eyes darted away immediately, his expression panicky. "Y-you're asking *me*? How would I know? I'm just a regular guy!"
"Eyes don't lie. Yours are telling me you know exactly what I'm talking about."
Wang Defa's face contorted like a crumpled shoe sole. "Sir, please don't put me in this position! I'm just a lowly bug—how dare I meddle in your business with the Administration Bureau?"
Qin Siyang sat down in a chair, crossing his legs casually.
"Do you think that silver coin was easy to earn?"
"Huh?"
"You're out here every day, risking your neck, and what does your patron give you in return? Pennies. I gave you more in one go than he's probably paid you in months. Did you really think there wouldn't be more to it than just keeping your mouth shut?"
Wang Defa swallowed hard.
He knew money was hard to come by. Making a living wasn't pretty—but he'd never imagined that one silver coin would come with such a huge catch.
Helping a Sequence Ability user lie to the Sequence Ability Administration Bureau? It was suicide.
If Qin Siyang succeeded, he'd probably kill Wang Defa to keep the secret. If he failed, Qin Siyang would throw him under the bus, and the Administration Bureau would tear him apart.
Was he crazy?
"Sir, please—just let me out of this! I don't want any part of it!"
Qin Siyang smiled coldly. "Then just give the money back."
Wang Defa hesitated for a split second. A silver coin was a fortune, but it wasn't worth his life. He gritted his teeth. "Fine! I'll return the silver coin to you in a few days!"
"Who said it was just one silver coin?"
Qin Siyang's voice turned icy. "You owe me back the silver coin I gave you. Plus, you have to compensate me for the twenty-silver-coin cargo my people lost here."
"That's twenty-one silver coins total."
"What?! Are you joking with me?!"
Twenty-one silver coins—Wang Defa couldn't scrape that together if he sold everything he owned.
Qin Siyang's outrageous demand pushed him over the edge.
"Joking?!" Qin Siyang slammed his fist on the table, the sound echoing in the small warehouse. "Do you think I *want* to register at the Administration Bureau? I've got enough crimes on my record to get shot eight hundred times! Do you have any idea how risky this is?"
"I'm only doing this because the twenty-silver-coin deal I was in charge of went south here! My superiors are punishing me for it!"
"If you'd turned on the surveillance cameras that morning, would I be in this mess? Would I have to risk my neck at the Administration Bureau?!"
Wang Defa's bravado crumbled under Qin Siyang's furious roar. He shrank back in his chair, looking terrified.
"I searched the entire café! I couldn't find it anywhere! Besides, you didn't even know what the cargo was—how was I supposed to find it…"
"If I knew what it was, do you think I'd be wasting my time with your damn surveillance cameras?!" Qin Siyang roared, his eyes blazing. "I'd have found it myself!"
"Wang Defa, listen to me. If I can't fake my identity and register at the Administration Bureau, the first thing I'll do is kill your entire family!"
Wang Defa practically fell to his knees. "Sir! Come on! I take responsibility for my own actions! Killing my family is just plain unfair…"
"Fair?" Qin Siyang let out a cold snort. "Do you think you deserve to talk to me about fair?"
Wang Defa's face turned ashen.
He might have been a big fish in this tiny slum pond, but to Qin Siyang—someone with powerful connections and blood on his hands—he was less than an ant.
Fairness didn't enter into it.
"Spit out whatever you know about faking an ability registration. And make it quick. My patience is running out."
Wang Defa shot him a miserable glance, his eyebrows furrowed into a deep V. He hesitated for a long moment, then gritted his teeth and nodded.
"Fine. I'll talk."
"But you have to swear you'll never tell anyone about this."
"Cut the crap. Who do you think I'd tell? The police? The Sequence Ability Administration Bureau?"
Wang Defa thought about it—and realized Qin Siyang was right.
A wanted Sequence Ability user with a fake identity wouldn't dare blow the whistle on this. He had too much to lose.
"I… I only know the basics. Nothing concrete."
"From what I've heard, if you don't give your real ability when you register at the Administration Bureau, it's easy to get caught."
"But I don't know *how* they catch you. That's top secret at the Administration Bureau."
What?!
The Sequence Ability Administration Bureau actually had a way to verify abilities?!
Qin Siyang's heart dropped like a stone.
Thank god he'd come to Wang Defa first. If he'd gone ahead and prepared his fake ability without asking, he'd have been digging his own grave the second he stepped into the Administration Bureau.