“Start ba.”
Zhou Sheng said to Fu Liqun. Fu Liqun pondered for a moment, and a miraculous transformation happened within the safe haven. All the walls turned into French windows, and though the dust storm was a lot weaker now, it still billowed across the ground. Smoke and dust surged and submerged Loulan ancient city. The safe haven and the peak of Loulan royal palace in the distance were like two lone islands within this sandstorm ocean.
Everyone sat at the table. Zhou Sheng said, “Back again, at the same place.”
Ou Qihang said, “This is Qun Ge’s dream? Your clothes…why am I…”
Fu Liqun placed the photo on the table. This time, everyone’s attire when entering the dream had changed to the white shirts and black suit pants they wore two years ago when they participated in their college’s performance. All of them sat in silence.
Fu Liqun said, “This should be the scene from my memory I’m most reluctant to part with, right?”
“Yes.” Yu Hao said with a smile.
Zhou Sheng snapped his fingers. Ou Qihang sat at the edge of the table, and in an instant, his whole body was ablaze with golden flames. The golden light particles converged once again, forming photo-like memories that silently vanished in the void. The siege of the zombies, appearance of the gundam…Fu Liqun looked shocked as he watched. Ou Qihang’s memories were being restored from his subconscious.
The golden flame gradually extinguished, and Ou Qihang murmured, “So that’s what happened, I remember everything…”
Chen Yekai said, “Entering dreams now is a rather risky move.”
“Only now,” Zhou Sheng said, “is when their vigilance is at its lowest. The investigation team thinks that it has taken away the Golden Crow Wheel, so they must be paying full attention to the fake.”
Ou Qihang said, “Wait, what did they take away?”
Zhou Sheng joined two fingers together and made a stroke in the air. A photo-like screen swirled out, and it explained what had happened to Ou Qihang and Fu Liqun.
“I see.” Fu Liqun said.
Ou Qihang said, “Huang Ting must have kept his eye on you guys for a long time.”
Fu Liqun took a sip of coffee in the dream and said, “Strange, this feels quite real…I didn’t expect him to be so disloyal.”
“This is also a kind of loyalty.” Ou Qihang said, “Not capturing Zhou Sheng and Yu Hao is already considered very loyal of him. Who would be willing to let such a powerful apparatus fall into the hands of people who can’t be controlled?”
Yu Hao said, “No, I don’t understand. If Huang Ting has any requests, he’s completely capable of saying it himself; he doesn’t need to do this ba. If the country really needs the Golden Crow Wheel, it’s not like we can’t cooperate. Although I don’t want to demonize the government, but why…”
“Because the right to take initiative is in Zhou Sheng’s hands.” Chen Yekai pondered, then said, “Let me try to analyse their goal, although it’s just my conjecture.”
Fu Liqun said, “The two of you are pretty familiar with each other, you should be the one who knows him best here.”
Everyone quietly watched Chen Yekai. Chen Yekai thought about it for a while and stated, “Huang Ting and I were deskmates in junior high, so in comparison, I understand him better. But the more one thinks they understand someone, the easier it is for them to trust themselves blindly, thereby leading to the start of serious problems and fatal mistakes. Let’s not start deducing from Huang Ting himself first. Let’s just start from a logical standpoint.”
“If I were the investigation team,” Chen Yekai said, “no matter what kind of investigation team it is, no one would allow Zhou Sheng to hold the Golden Crow Wheel without any constraints. Because mechanisms are dead, and humans are the ones who are alive. No one can guarantee that you may do something untrollable. You won’t now, but the future is uncertain.”
Zhou Sheng, “Yes, I have no objections to that.”
Chen Yekai, “Then they have two options: the first is to discuss it properly with you and ask for your cooperation, listen to your demands, and study it together.”
“An exchange ma.” Fu Liqun said, “But we’ve already been terrified by American dramas and movies since we were young, so we’d always have conspiracy theories about our country.”
Chen Yekai nodded. “Yes. But Yu Hao, have you ever thought about what he would do if Zhou Sheng wasn’t satisfied with the terms of exchange? In fact, what if Zhou Sheng has no intention to cooperate with the country at all?”
Yu Hao remained silent for a moment. The golden flames in Zhou Sheng’s hand would transform into golden power and disperse once in a while, then converge again. He said indifferently, “Then I may erase the memories of all relevant personnel through dreams. From their standpoint, such speculation is understandable.”
Yu Hao understood now. This was why Huang Ting had always been hiding in the dark—they had no way of ascertaining if Zhou Sheng would get irritated and use the Golden Crow Wheel to simply, roughly erase the memories of all relevant personnel. In this regard, he was quite dangerous.
“There’s a large disparity in the strength of both sides.” Chen Yekai said, “In their eyes, Zhou Sheng wields power that could almost let him do whatever he wants. Under uncertain circumstances, the first option would lead to handing all rights to take initiative over to Zhou Sheng.”
Ou Qihang, “Yes.”
“Wu.” Zhou Sheng nodded.
Yu Hao, “What about the second option?”
Chen Yekai looked at Zhou Sheng. Zhou Sheng had finished thinking, and he calmly said, “Separate me from the Golden Crow Wheel and take it away. After that, come and find me to discuss cooperating with them. But they must be very careful throughout this process…”
Yu Hao said, “Once your vigilance is roused, Huang Ting would be finished.”
Zhou Sheng nodded politely and said, “But they were still too careless. Huang Ting’s professionalism was still lacking a little na. Okay, that’s the whole story. Let’s get down to business first.”
Zhou Sheng got up, and Ou Qihang asked, puzzled again, “What are we going to do now?”
Fu Liqun stood in front of the French windows and looked at the ancient city of Loulan in the distance. He said, “Brothers, please help me seize back the most important thing in my heart.”
The glass wall gradually disintegrated. The light of dusk illuminated Loulan and made it seem bloody red in colour. Zhou Sheng raised his hand and made a gesture in the air, summoning his jingubang. He wielded the jingubang in both hands and shouted angrily, “Go!”
The jingubang elongated in an instant and smashed the French windows with a loud bang. On the tall tower, countless flashing pieces burst out of the safe haven that was surrounded by glass. The jingubang stretched out for nearly a kilometre, and obliquely connected the tall tower with the platform outside the palace gate of Loulan royal palace.
“I can fly!” Yu Hao said.
Zhou Sheng wrapped his right arm around Yu Hao and flew onto the jingubang. With the nook of his left arm hooking around the jingubang, he slid down with a whoosh.
“Could you guys stop flirting at this kind of time?!” Fu Liqun blew up.
Everyone hooked onto the jingubang and slid toward the gate of Loulan royal palace one after another!
The dust storm outside the palace slowly receded, and the insect nests that had spread all around this palace seemed to have been swept away, and almost all of them had disappeared. Only gales and sand swirled in front of the gate.
“Looks like after leaving the pyramid scheme nest, your heart is still a little healthier than mine.” Chen Yekai said, “At least there aren’t a lot of strange things.”
“Who’s the boss in your world?” Ou Qihang asked.
Chen Yekai didn’t answer. Yu Hao thought, he probably won’t tell you ba…so he diverted the topic, “I’m curious about who the boss in Gege’s heart will be.”
Fu Liqun smiled helplessly, “I don’t know either, would it be your sis-in-law?”
Zhou Sheng said, “I think…it may be the same as my dear wife’s.”
“Un?” Ou Qihang was extremely puzzled as he looked at Yu Hao.
“You’re here?” Fu Liqun’s voice resounded loudly outside the palace.
Fu Liqun, “……”
“It really is yourself!” Yu Hao said.
“Come ba,” the other Fu Liqun’s voice rang out, “Prove your strength. Hothead, let me see just how capable you are…”
Immediately afterward, a dense mass of words appeared on the gate of Loulan Palace — it was an examination paper! The words on it were already blurry, and Fu Liqun’s name could be seen under the title. There were MCQs, analysis questions and even an English composition!
Yu Hao, “These are the college entrance examination papers? Why?”
Fu Liqun became frantic, “My college entrance examination papers…that year, I only got a little more than 40 marks for my English paper! AAAHHHHH!”
Zhou Sheng kept his jingubang. The voice inside said, “Do you feel remorse? Prove yourself ba.” Then it fell silent again, and not a single sound could be heard anymore.
“So you have to redo the college entrance examination papers from then now?” Yu Hao didn’t know if he should laugh or cry.
Chen Yekai said, “Haven’t you always felt regret and wanted to retake your English exam?”
Fu Liqun was both crying and laughing now. He nodded. His fate did make him embark on a forked road of his life’s path from the day of his college entrance examination. Not getting into a good college has always been a thorn in his heart as well.
Zhou Sheng said, “It’s already been so long, it’s time to get over it. Yu Hao, don’t help him with the questions anymore! It’s no use!”
Yu Hao was still raising his head as he read the comprehension MCQ options. He said to Zhou Sheng, “What do you want to do?”
“Of course it’s…” Zhou Sheng cleanly swung his jingubang from his shoulders to his back, then to his waist and spun it around once before wielding it in his hands. His finger pushed against the space towards his nose bridge, and a pair of glasses appeared on his handsome face. An evil glint flashed.
“Wait!” Ou Qihang said, “I’ll do it!”
Everyone was ready to break through with violence. Chen Yekai spun the pistol in his hands, yet Ou Qihang’s arms circled in the air; his left hand pressed down while his right hand lifted up, and he made an Oriental Kung Fu gesture. Yu Hao has never seen Ou Qihang’s weapon before and was extremely curious. He said, “You’re going to knock on the door barehanded?”
“And be a little Street Fighter?” Ou Qihang smiled, “See again?”
In the next moment, within the gesture Ou Qihang made, light ‘buzzed‘ as it converged in his hands, and a mechanical laser gun nearly one metre long appeared within — as if a magician had just created it out of thin air from his consciousness.
“Holy shit!” Everyone was stunned.
“Is it heavy?” Yu Hao asked, “This weapon’s too powerful!”
“It’s not heavy.” Ou Qihang smiled, “It almost has no weight at all.” Then his five fingers flexed and extended, learning from how Chen Yekai fiddled with his gun, and his mechanical laser was flung to draw a beautiful arc in the air before it landed on his shoulder.
“It’s true that this paper changed your life.” Ou Qihang said to Fu Liqun, “But everything in the past will just become part of our history. Qun Ge, we are ourselves, we will never be defined by a piece of paper. Let me open this door for you ba!”
Yu Hao burst out laughing, and he suddenly realised that if it wasn’t Ou Qihang and Zhou Sheng striking down with his rod, this door may not even open! Because to Fu Liqun, although Zhou Sheng was really good at mathematics, his English was horrible!
Everyone drew their weapons. Ou Qihang turned sideways and released a shot first. That shot shook the heavens and earth and instantly sent the gate of Loulan Palace flying. Zhou Sheng went forward and struck it with his rod as well, and within a split second, all weapons took center stage. The gate of the palace collapsed instantly and flew inside with a loud blast!
“You’re not obeying the rules!” The man inside became angry and shouted, “When you enter society, you’ll have a hard time!”
A statute inside opened its mouth, and countless gold coins flew out of its mouth that gathered into a torrential rainstorm that whizzed towards them. Zhou Sheng wielded his jingubang and went against the current. He shouted, “Fuck your damn rules!”
Zhou Sheng stirred up a powerful storm from ground level, and a loud noise blared. However, the gold coins were really of exaggerated size, and he could hardly withstand it. Everyone hid behind Zhou Sheng. Zhou Sheng shook the jingubang and turned it into a shield, then used it to forcibly resist the storm. Yu Hao immediately reached out and pressed his hand against the shield. The shield emitted an intense glare, but under Yu Hao’s hand, it stabilised in an instant.
“Isn’t your father-in-law a bit too rich?!” Golden bullets were flying everywhere, and even Ou Qihang couldn’t withstand them. The gold coins shooting out from the depths of Loulan Palace whistled through the air like bullets, as if hundreds of machine guns had formed a square-shaped formation that was firing at them crazily.
Fu Liqun said, “I can’t change my perception! The impression he gave me is that…”
