“Xiao Bai wouldn’t lie to me.”
Bai Chuyoung snorted. “Playing the victim won’t work on me. Tell me where Lan Bo is, and I won’t kill you.”
Lan Bo stood in the center of the infirmary, where a corpse lay, sat down on the hospital bed, tapped the floor with the tip of his tail, and stubbornly argued with him: “Lan Bo’s here.”
Upon hearing this, Bai Chunian tutted, his brows knitted together as he pondered the odds of the real and fake Lan Bo running into each other.
Given the layout of these rooms, the combination lock on the previous room should open, the person should step out, the door should close, and only then would the door to the next room open.
The fact that he hadn’t encountered anyone so far proved that whether it was the real or fake Lan Bo, they could only be in the room behind him. The fact that this imposter he was talking to had only just raised the question proved that he might have discovered something in the infirmary that Bai Chunian hadn’t noticed earlier.
Bai Chunian carefully recalled the surveillance footage he’d seen in the bathroom mirror: the rooms where the two different Lan Bos were located were both dining rooms.
So there were two possibilities.
- There might be two identically furnished dining rooms in this house, with the two Randi’s in different ones.
- There weren’t two identical rooms in this house at all, nor were there two Randi’s. The footage of Randi lying on the floor was actually just a recording of him before he woke up; someone was deliberately misleading him to make a choice.
Bai Chunian began to lean toward the second possibility. He asked tentatively, “Do you like coconuts?”
There was a moment’s hesitation before the reply came: “Randi was thirsty, so I picked a coconut for him to drink. I also caught scallops for him to eat. Poor Randi had never eaten large scallops before. He said the ones at the aquarium were too expensive and he couldn’t afford them, so I caught them for him. He ate fourteen every day, because we could only catch fourteen a day in the sea near my house. He drew four lines on his thigh to commemorate our ‘Eastern Flower Pig Coconut.’ I asked him what a ‘Flower Pig Coconut’ was, he said it was a type of coconut. I asked why it had to be “Eastern,” and he said the Western ones weren’t good quality. I knew he liked making love to me; he was just too shy. When we made love, he’d stick out his white, fluffy ears. He didn’t want me to touch his ears, so I touched the base of his tail, and he came right away…”
“Stop! Stop!” Bai Chunian hurriedly cut her off, his head steaming on the spot.
“Fine, I’ll just go along with the idea that you’re my wife.” Bai Chunian said this, but Lan Bo’s sudden sharpness was completely unlike him.
Lan Bo retorted, “I’m not your wife.”
Bai Chunian crouched down, examining the stack of weight plates arranged in order in the gym, while saying to Lan Bo, “Fine, even if I wanted to kill you, we’re separated by a door right now, so I can’t touch you. Tell me what you saw.”
Lan Bo replied, “The body of a researcher you killed.”
Bai Chunian froze in shock and explained helplessly, “I didn’t kill him.”
Lan Bo: “If you lie to me again, the moment I see you, I’ll rip off your fingers and toes, tear open your mouth and eyes, and shred you into mincemeat.”
Bai Chunian wiped the cold sweat from his brow. “Alright, alright, fine. Let’s say I killed him. Besides wearing a researcher’s uniform, what other distinguishing features did he have?”
Lan Bo retorted, “You keep saying you didn’t kill him, so how do you know what he was wearing?”
Since he’d referred to “the researcher’s body,” it was obvious he’d made that judgment based on the researcher’s uniform. Bai Chunian explained patiently, “Lan Bo, if someone’s eavesdropping on our conversation, we can’t let them think this couple is a bunch of idiots, right?”
Lan Bo: “I didn’t say you were an idiot.”
Bai Chunian: “…What kind of shoes was the body wearing?”
Lan Bo: “Plastic flip-flops.”
Bai Chunian: “What about socks?”
Lan Bo: “No socks.”
Bai Chunian: “What position is he in right now?”
Lan Bo: “Face down in front of the cabinet, face on the floor.”
Bai Chunian: “Any wounds on the body?”
After a moment, Lan Bo replied, “A little blood on the toes. You’re the one who killed him, and you’re asking me?”
Bai Chunian, out of habit, ordered him, “Turn him over and check his face.”
Lan Bo said with disgust, “I won’t. He stinks.”
Bai Chunian: “Is the body decomposing?”
Lan Bo: “No. I’m going out. Open the door for me. Lan Bo needs to throw up.”
Hearing the impatience in his tone, Bai Chunian had no choice but to placate him, instructing him to find the hidden code on the calendar and use it to unlock the combination lock.
Lan Bo said the code on the calendar was 85973.
Bai Chunian was a bit puzzled; actually, the code he had seen on the calendar was 25319.
Bai Chunian: “What date does the calendar say today is?”
Lan Bo: “The 81st.”
Bai Chunian: “Stop messing around… this is serious.”
Lan Bo: “Why should I tell you?”
Bai Chunian rubbed his temples: “Never mind. Since you found the code, just try it and see if it works. I found the code for the gym too. It’s on the dumbbells—judging by the number of plates, it’s 75948.”
Bai Chunian’s door opened smoothly, and the door to Lan Bo’s infirmary also opened; it seemed he had successfully entered the gym as well.
Bai Chunian looked around and realized the room he was in was a dormitory. The wallpaper was the same as in the previous rooms. Inside were three sets of bunk beds with metal railings, and in the corner stood a desk with a computer monitor and a mouse connected to it.
Bai Chunian picked up the mouse to see if the computer worked: “Ha, finally found a kindred spirit—how convenient it is to use the mouse with my left hand.”
However, the computer screen remained dark; it seemed it wasn’t working.
He gave up on the computer and went to inspect the beds. The bedding was strewn about haphazardly, with no one having made the beds. A ballpoint pen lay on the sheet, and a razor blade rested on the bedrail.
Bai Chunian noticed half a sheet of A4 paper tucked under the foot of the bed, so he lifted the foot of the bed with some force and carefully pulled the paper out.
He sat down casually on the bed, carefully unfolded the paper, and studied the contents closely. The dense English text was enough to give anyone a headache.
It appeared that the text had been encrypted. The characters looked familiar yet unfamiliar. After examining them one by one, Bai Chunian confirmed that the text was reversed and arranged from right to left.
This was no big deal for an agent familiar with cryptography, but as he finished, a thin sheen of sweat broke out on Bai Chunian’s forehead.
Special Operations Weapon No. 545: Satan
Status: Mature Omega
Appearance: Two horns on the head
Development Focus: “Demon of the Mind Projection”—creates a projection identical in appearance to the target, fully inheriting the original’s memories. The projection will kill the original, as well as the original’s lover and family, replace the original, and sever all emotional bonds.
The training details end here; the remaining half of the page had been torn off.
In other words, there are indeed two Lan Bo’s in this eerie room: one is the real Lan Bo, and the other is a projection of Lan Bo created by the experimental subject Satan. Only one—the original or the projection—can survive; a fight to the death is inevitable.
If even memories can be inherited, then it makes sense that he knows so many details about the two of their relationship.
This is too dangerous. The real Lan Bo might not even know about this yet. Bai Chunian wrapped the carbon pen and razor blade from the bed in this half-sheet of paper and tucked it into his pocket, to prevent Lan Bo from hurting himself—or being hurt by others—when he passed through this room.
As he was doing this, a terrifying thought suddenly flashed through his mind.
If there were two Lambos in these rooms, then there must also be two versions of himself. If the one he was speaking to was the fake Lambo, then the one speaking to the real Lambo must be an imposter.
Come to think of it, the Lambo he’d just spoken to mentioned a body on the floor—it didn’t sound like his handiwork. If Lambo had intended to kill someone, the victim would surely be covered in bite marks.
Now there was only one possibility left: a fake Bai Chunian, in a moment of panic, mistook the researcher behind the door for Lan Bo, killed him, and only then realized he’d killed the wrong person. Killing someone without leaving any wounds—Bai Chunian was capable of that.
Bai Chunian suddenly realized that they were likely on different floors of the same building, where the layout and arrangement of rooms were identical on every floor.
So, the events the Lan Bo he spoke with encountered took place in another room—the researcher died in the infirmary, but not the one Bai Chunian had just passed by. Thinking about it this way made perfect sense.
So, assuming he was on the upper floor and the Lan Bo he was speaking with was on the lower floor, the body Lan Bo saw was killed by the fake Bai Chunian. Therefore, the fake Bai Chunian must also be on the lower floor, which means the real Lan Bo should be on the same floor as him.
Even if he couldn’t determine whether the Lan Bo he was speaking with was the real one or the fake one, at least he was certain that the fake Bai Chunian was not on the same floor as him.
Bai Chunian stood in the center of the room for a moment to compose himself, then began searching every corner of the room.
Since he could see two Lans on the bathroom monitor, perhaps Lan could also see him on the monitor. He had to do everything in his power to alert Lan to his current situation.
He recalled the scene he’d first seen in the bathroom: the communicator had only activated when the surveillance feed went dark. It was reasonable to assume that communication would be cut off whenever the surveillance feed appeared, effectively preventing them from coordinating their stories.
Relying on his agile reflexes, Bai Chunian grabbed the top of the wardrobe and discovered a round, black hole at the very top—it seemed every room was equipped with a camera.
This meant he’d have to get his face very close to the lens, but he didn’t have time to worry about that. Bai Chunian spoke directly into the camera: “Lan Bo, can you hear me? It wasn’t me who was communicating with you just now. Only one person in here will make it out alive. He just tried to kill you—don’t trust him. “Don’t worry. As soon as the surveillance feed comes on, the communication will cut off. The door is soundproof; he shouldn’t be able to hear me. Don’t be afraid. I’ll come save you.”
He hoped Lan Bo could see him, though he didn’t hold out much hope. Bai Chunian jumped down, brushed the dust off his hands, and began searching for the code to exit the dormitory.
Lan Bo urged him over the communicator: ” “Hurry up and open the door.”
Bai Chunian’s mind was completely occupied with his wife; he almost forgot about him: “Oh right, go to the dumbbells…”
Lan Bo: “I already entered the right code.”
Bai Chunian was surprised: “You figured out the code yourself?”
Lan Bo snorted lightly: “None of your business.”
Lan Bo stood in front of the combination lock in the gym, with a row of dumbbell racks beside him. A note was taped to the rack with a Band-Aid.
It read: “Code: 15342. Lan Bo, I’ve figured out exactly what’s going on. Now I just need to verify my theory. Lan Bo, be careful. Love, Bo.”
To make sure Lan Bo could understand it, the note even included a phonetic transcription of the mermaid language—only Xiaobai would be that thoughtful.
Bai Chunian remained silent for a moment before suddenly asking, “Lan Bo, are you sure you used my method to figure out the code for the room up ahead?”
Lan Bo: “Um…”
Bai Chunian pressed further: “Did you take the round mirror from the bathroom to reflect the code?”
Lan Bo instinctively clenched the other two similar notes he’d been holding, answering reluctantly: “Yeah.”
Bai Chunian still wasn’t convinced: “Was there anything unusual in the gym?”
Lan Bo said, “There’s a small bloodstain on the floor—it’s been smudged.”
Bai Chunian: “A bloodstain? Okay, I see. Let’s go.”