Chapter Six: "Craving Wealth, Disregarding Life" (Competing for the Rankings—Please Vote!)

Chapter Six: "Money Over Life"

Chen Xiao’s mind was swirling with countless questions. He forced himself to rein in his thoughts and asked carefully, one by one, “When you say Number Six and Number Eleven, who are you talking about? Are they like you?”

Yaya’s answer matched Chen Xiao’s suspicion: the so-called Number Six, Number Eleven, and so on, referred to the inhabitants of “Biopod Six” and “Biopod Eleven.” By that logic, Yaya herself lived in “Biopod Sixteen.”

“So, shouldn’t you be called ‘Number Sixteen’?” Chen Xiao asked.

Yaya nodded but then shook her head. “I don’t like the name ‘Number Sixteen.’”

“Then why do you have the name ‘Yaya’?”

This time, Yaya seemed momentarily lost. She tilted her head, thinking hard for a while, but her face filled with distress. “I seem to have forgotten.” She frowned, her expression gradually turning pained. “Why don’t I remember? This should be my name, but why don’t I remember?”

Seeing Yaya’s confusion and anguish, Chen Xiao felt a pang in his heart and quickly changed the subject. “Don’t think about it for now. Let me ask you… these Number Six and Number Eleven you mentioned—what’s their story?”

This question finally shifted Yaya’s attention, and she seemed to breathe a sigh of relief before answering swiftly.

According to her description, Chen Xiao began to piece together a rough framework in his mind.

Just as Yaya had explained, it seemed that she was not unique—there were other blue-blooded humans, all living isolated from the outside world (clearly segregated, or she wouldn’t lack even basic life knowledge), each residing alone in what was called a “biopod.” Usually, some strange people were responsible for taking care of—or rather, overseeing and imprisoning—Yaya and the other blue-blooded humans. Yaya simply referred to them as “they”—and every time she mentioned them, fear flickered across her face.

Yaya and the others had apparently become their experimental subjects. She said she routinely had a certain amount of blood drawn. She never asked why; she’d long since grown used to it.

As for what happened later, Yaya didn’t know. She claimed to have been in a deep sleep within the vast “Biopod Sixteen,” and when she woke, she found herself in Chen Xiao’s house.

So… who was Three? The mysterious person who had mailed her here, supposedly entrusted by his parents? Who could it be?

Yaya had no idea. She had no awareness of “Three” at all.

In other words, the time between leaving Biopod Sixteen and arriving at Chen Xiao’s home was a complete blank for her.

Given Yaya’s self-proclaimed photographic memory—and her demonstration of memorizing a three-hundred-page “Everyday Encyclopedia” within an hour—Chen Xiao was certain she hadn’t simply forgotten. The only explanation was: brainwashing?

This matter was growing ever more complicated and profound!

And Chen Xiao had a vague feeling that it might bring serious trouble his way.

Just as that article on the internet had said: blue-blooded humans were nearly legendary beings—surely extremely rare and precious!

And as for the place Yaya came from—let’s call it an organization for now—it had the power to keep several blue-blooded people under control. That sort of influence was enough to make Chen Xiao wary.

He couldn’t be sure just how powerful such an organization might be, but it was easy to imagine the immense resources they must possess. For one thing, the so-called “biopods” where Yaya and the others lived were, by her account, over six hundred times the size of his own home!

If Yaya was Number Sixteen… did that mean the organization had once controlled at least sixteen blue-blooded people?

Delving deeper, a surge of uncontrollable excitement rose in Chen Xiao’s heart: was this organization somehow connected to his own parents? And looking further—was his parents’ death truly an accident?

Chaos! His mind was in utter chaos!

As Chen Xiao sat dazed in front of his computer, Yaya did not disturb him. Quietly, she walked over, placed her small, gentle hand on his shoulder, and gazed at him with those frosted eyes, tender and silent.

Lost in thought, Chen Xiao didn’t know where to begin—what means did he have to investigate any of this?

He knew the research institution where his parents had worked: it was a lab dedicated to developing a particular chemical liquid for industrial use—nothing to do with bioengineering. And it wasn’t a huge organization; his parents, ordinary businesspeople, had been able to become partners. Chen Xiao remembered the institute well; he’d even visited twice. He’d met several researchers there—none of whom matched Yaya’s description of a mysterious, cold environment.

In short… Yaya seemed to be in some danger here.

Because anyone bold enough to experiment on living people—be they regular humans or blue-blooded—must wield power above the law!

And a blue-blooded human must be incredibly valuable. Now that one had landed in his hands… wouldn’t that bring trouble?

With these thoughts in mind, Chen Xiao abandoned the idea of taking Yaya shopping. Instead, he left her at home, instructing her not to go out under any circumstances, pulling the curtains shut before heading out alone to buy supplies.

Chen Xiao went downstairs, retrieved his bicycle, and just as he swung a leg over, a strange feeling washed over him. He looked up at the rooftop of the residential building across the street.

The afternoon sun was bright. The rooftop showed only a few solar water heaters, their reflective panels gleaming in the sunlight, nothing unusual otherwise.

(Maybe I’m just too nervous,) Chen Xiao sighed, pedaling away quickly.

But at that very moment, on the rooftop he’d just glanced at, the air shimmered faintly—a vague outline, as if a transparent human figure stood there.

Indeed… it was transparent!

Only after Chen Xiao turned away did the figure slowly become visible.

Though the May weather was already hot, the figure wore a tight leather suit—it was a strikingly built woman.

She had short black hair, and a face that might have been beautiful, but her eyes were slightly too narrow, giving her an air of sharp, discordant menace.

Watching Chen Xiao disappear into the distance, she curled her lips into a strange smile.

She pressed a finger to her left ear, where she wore a device like a wireless earpiece, with a thin, transparent glass pane extending before her left eye—like a single-lens spectacle.

Pressing the earpiece, she watched Chen Xiao’s retreating figure. Instantly, the glass flashed with faint crackling, lines of short numbers flickering rapidly across it.

“Intelligence: Unknown (insufficient data).
Strength: D level (Normal).
Speed: D level (Normal).
Endurance: D level (Normal).
Energy Level: D level (Normal).

Combat Skill: C level. Oh… his combat skill is slightly above average.”

The woman in black frowned. “Aside from unknown intelligence and slightly better-than-average combat, there’s nothing special… just an ordinary person. They really sent someone like me to watch a nobody? Are the higher-ups insane?”

Her complaints were cut short by a cheerful voice in her earpiece: “Black Seven, do you question orders from above?”

“Hmph!” scoffed the woman called “Black Seven.” “I was supposed to be on an interesting mission in Greece, but they stuck me here with this boring task. When this is over, I’m definitely filing a formal complaint.”

Her earpiece companion chuckled. “You can complain, but don’t expect me to co-sign. All right, get to work and stop whining, or you’ll be reassigned to Antarctica. You keep an eye on the blue-blooded girl at home; I’ll stick with the target.”

“Hmph, just a low-level blue-blooded who hasn’t even awakened yet,” she grumbled. “For this kind of task, they should have sent someone from Team Three. Why us?”

The voice in her earpiece sighed. “You really don’t pay attention to the grapevine, do you? I heard that this whole affair started because someone in Team Three privately took a commission from the target’s parents two years ago, without organizational approval. When the higher-ups found out, they were furious! Now, the whole Team Three is being punished back at headquarters, all because of that one member’s private action.”

“Well, aren’t you well-informed! What else do you know? Why are the higher-ups interested in such an ordinary boy?” Black Seven yawned, leaning lazily on the rooftop, then—leapt straight off!

As she jumped, her body turned transparent again! Fortunately, otherwise someone might have been terrified to see a woman in black leap off a rooftop in broad daylight!

Unaffected by gravity, she glanced around to make sure no one was watching, then reappeared and tapped her earpiece. “Hey, what else do you know? Spill it!”

“Don’t ask me, I really don’t know. Don’t forget, even though we’re both in Team Seven, you’re Black, I’m Red—you outrank me. If you don’t know, I certainly don’t.” There was a pause, then her companion laughed, “I see the target leaving. Enough talk, back to work—I’m following him.”

Chen Xiao had just ridden out of the residential area when a black Buick sedan, which had been idling near the entrance, smoothly started up and followed.

The driver’s side window was down. At the wheel sat a young woman in a red jacket, whose features resembled the woman in black on the rooftop, though her expression was much softer, without the sharp, icy edge.

One hand on the wheel, the other resting lazily on the window, she drove at a relaxed pace, maintaining a steady distance behind Chen Xiao.

“Sigh, what a boring assignment,” she muttered.

But soon, she would not be bored…

Chen Xiao cycled three kilometers to the nearby shopping district, bought two women’s T-shirts and a pair of jeans, then stopped at the supermarket for a dozen sets of underwear. Realizing he was nearly out of cash, he walked a bit further, saw a bank by the roadside, locked his bike, and strode inside.

He had just pushed open the door when he sensed something was off.

The bank lobby was eerily silent—unnaturally so! Scanning the room, he saw no one standing. Of the dozens present, most were lying on the floor with hands over their heads, the rest crouched in the corners, faces pale with fear, some glancing terrified over their shoulders…

Chen Xiao immediately understood, but it was too late—a cold metal object pressed against his neck from behind.

“Don’t move! If you want to live, put your hands on your head and get down! Be smart—we want money, not lives!”

Chen Xiao couldn’t help but sigh inwardly—just his luck! To walk right into a bank robbery!

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