Exchanging secrets

When Lin Zhouze woke up, he smelled a faint smell of cigarette smoke, not a strong one, drifting in from the window. He stared at the ceiling for a full ten minutes before frowning and getting out of bed.

"When did you learn to smoke?" The patio door was pushed open, and he slammed it against the wall in dissatisfaction, making a scratching sound. Shi Youchen pinched his fingers, and the fiery red star between his fingers went out. He tossed the less than half-burned cigarette butt into his pocket and turned away.

Seeing the man in front of him waving his hand lightly to disperse the white mist, the anger that had been hidden in Lin Zhouze's heart for many years suddenly ignited. He rushed forward, grabbed the other person's neat collar, pushed him back a step, and knocked him against the guardrail.

"Are you pretending to be so calm just to show me? That's totally unnecessary."

Shi Youchen let him do the hard work, and even when his lower back hurt from the blow, he didn't say a word. He had to let Lin Zhouze vent his anger.

There was a long, wordless stare, neither of them looking away. Lin Zhouze's somewhat dim pupils clearly reflected resentment and heartache, and Shi Youchen saw it clearly. In the end, he lowered his head first.

"Zhou Ze, you know what happened back then. We all had our difficulties."

"I don't know!" Lin Zhouze gritted his teeth, his teeth aching as he spoke word by word, "Why?"

These three short words carried the surging emotions of many years for him. Shi Youchen was forced to sigh by the sharp look in his eyes.

He knew all the questions he hadn't asked.

Why did he act on his own? Why did he resort to such extreme means, trading his own life for another's? Why didn't he tell him when he was clearly not dead? Why was he now standing against him?

"You should have discovered what superpowers are long ago." Shi Youchen's eyes slowly drooped, landing on the vein-filled hand in front of his collar. "If I want to change this order, I can't return to the association."

"I don't give a fuck about those bullshit rules and order anymore!"

Unexpectedly, Lin Zhouze shouted angrily: "I'm asking you, why do you put yourself in the position of savior? Why do you do those things alone!"

Although they had known each other for many years, this was the first time Shi Youchen had witnessed Lin Zhouze's ferocious expression so unabashedly. He was stunned for a moment, then reacted and chuckled helplessly, "I knew that the power you awakened wouldn't be some ordinary one."

Lin Zhouze's lips twitched, and his eyes suddenly reddened. "It's you, it's you!" The hand that was tugging at his collar loosened and drooped limply. Lin Zhouze closed his eyes tightly, resigned to his fate, and quickly searched through all his memories of the past few years, including those details that had always puzzled him.

Finally, he took a deep breath and stared into Shi Youchen's eyes: "Don't interfere in the affairs of the Feiler family. Just focus on your next plan. I will help you."

Shi Youchen shook his head slightly: "I won't involve you in the plan. You shouldn't be involved."

"Fuck you! If you really think so, you should have stopped Yan Zhiyuan from doing such a stupid thing. Now you shouldn't have let him bring me here to atone for his sins!" As soon as Yan Zhiyuan was mentioned, the emotions that Lin Zhouze had suppressed with great difficulty were easily stirred up again.

"What did he tell you, huh? He told you my ability was dissociation, didn't he?"

Shi Youchen's eyes twitched, but he said nothing.

"Do you know what dissociation is?" Lin Zhouze's voice was filled with a barely audible sense of collapse. "It's a fucking disease! A mental illness that can never be cured in me!"

"When I open my eyes, I'm a human. When I close them, I could be a wall! A lamp! A gust of wind that I can't even see! Sooner or later, I will no longer be Lin Zhouze! I will become something else, do you understand?!"

He spoke more and more anxiously, until he was breathless. Shi Youchen reached out to help him, but was shoved away. "Do you know what this means?" Lin Zhouze's face flushed red, and he bit his lip tightly as he looked at his longtime friend, wishing he had seen it more clearly sooner. "It means that I can perceive everything from the perspective of all matter."

"Everything." He crushed the last two words in his mouth and repeated them again.

"Do you still think my ability is as simple as 'dissociation'?"

Shi Youchen's fingers trembled, and fell on Lin Zhouze's equally trembling shoulders. He knew that some things could no longer be hidden.

"Zhou Ze, I really can't involve you and Yan Zhiyuan anymore."

"I can't be a savior who will go down in history, but I don't want to be a loser who can't even keep his friends."

"Let's just be like before. You help me with some things, and then we can live a good life together, okay?"

Lin Zhouze was so angry that he was shaking, but when he saw the bloodshot eyes around Shi Youchen's dim pupils, the messy light blue stubble around his lips, and the pockets almost full of cigarette butts, he didn't have the heart to blame him.

"Promise me one thing." He admitted defeat, "Don't tell Yan Zhiyuan my true ability. Don't let him know..."

"Okay." Shi Youchen agreed readily.

Lin Zhouze patted the cold hand on his shoulder twice: "If there is anything that is inconvenient to tell them, remember I am here. Don't deprive Lan of her consciousness anymore, let her be free. Also, Xiaoyue and Korra... I will take care of everything with Nigra."

"Okay." Shi Youchen was stunned, felt a little sour, and his eyes became warm.

Even if he didn't say anything explicitly, Lin Zhouze was still willing to believe him. Based on this, he would never let Lin Zhouze and Yan Zhiyuan become victims of the protection plan.

After receiving the news from He Xian, Shi Youchen returned to Shenhaiyuan. In the intervals between going in and out with Yan Zhiyuan, he left a message: "Zhou Ze is not in a good mood. I will give you a vacation. You can accompany him to relax." Then he went straight to the place where Pei Chanbai was sleeping and He Xian was taking care of him.

Perhaps the guilt of dragging others into this mess surged up and became uncontrollable, causing him to develop a long-overdue high fever. Even the plan to seal the bear totem was something Ying Yungui had to discuss with him after he had finished dealing with various trivial matters at Mirage Abyss.

But seeing Shi Youchen's sickly look, Ying Yungui didn't care about Philevisa at all. He didn't listen to a word he said and stayed here for two days. He left reluctantly only when he had to go back to deal with the affairs personally.

Seeing the man looking back every few steps, Shi Youchen coughed lightly and waved his hand: "Let's go. When I get better, we can go to Visa's house together."

Not long after Ying Yungui left, Li Sen came in with a worried look on his face. Seeing Shi Youchen's frail appearance, his brows furrowed. "Brother, are you going to do something dangerous again?"

Shi Youchen forced a faint smile to comfort her, "It's not dangerous, don't worry. Just stay in the Mirage Abyss. If you need anything, go find your sister Mo. Brother Hexian isn't available right now, so don't bother him."

"Oh." Li Sen looked a little lonely, and his fingers clenched and unclenched behind his back. "When can you finish those things? I want to go to the amusement park with everyone."

Shi Youchen felt a pain in his heart and couldn't say anything after opening his lips several times.

Ever since Li Sen ran away from Luo Zhao and Jiang Yu and was taken back to the Maintenance Bureau by 07 who was "passing by", he could only see the light of day during that short period on the floating island. The rest of the time he hid in the dark Mirage Abyss, not to mention going to public places like amusement parks where all kinds of people gathered.

But which child hasn't dreamed of going out and playing with his family?

Shi Youchen pondered and thought about it, then said cautiously: "Do you... want to go back and see Sister Luo Zhao?"

Li Sen's face changed and she shook her head quickly: "She must still be angry with me, I don't want to see her!" After just one encounter at the Orb selection, she heard Luo Zhao's inner voice, which was completely different from the dark voice before.

She dreaded that feeling.

Shi Youchen's voice was even more bitter: "How could she be angry with you, as long as..."

What do you want?

As long as Ying Yungui told her that Shi Youchen was still alive, she would understand. After understanding, she would not blame Li Sen for leaving without saying goodbye.

Li Sen suddenly heard something and grabbed Shi Youchen's hand in a flattering manner: "Brother, don't be sad. If you want me to go see you, I will go. Don't make it difficult for you!" Her clumsy look, unable to hide her thoughts, was also somewhat cute given her age.

Shi Youchen stroked her head gently: "Forget it, let's wait for a while." In the end, he did not give Li Sen a specific promise.

Because even he himself couldn't guarantee whether he could take her to the amusement park or when.

Li Sen was still frowning when he left, and the way he kept looking back even looked a bit like Ying Yungui, which made You Chen laugh and cry.

When he was the only one left in the room, his eyes became completely dark as he looked at the school of fish circling outside the window.

Pei Chanbai fell into a deep sleep, with no sign of waking up. He Xian stayed with him in the Mirage Abyss. Yan Zhiyuan had been sent away on a trip with Lin Zhouze, and for the time being, neither of them could return to the association or this place. As for the others, he had assigned them various tasks.

No one else will be involved this time.

He carefully checked everyone around him again to make sure no one was missed.

Then the rest is up to him and Ying Yungui.

The thought of Ying Yungui being dragged into the super evolution experiment again and having to deal with Nuo'e made him want to rush over and dismantle the Extreme South Experiment Base immediately. "Damn it..." However, no matter how anxious he was, the order of sealing the last two totems could not be changed.

First came the bear totem of the Visa clan, and finally the snake totem of the Ryan clan.

Fortunately, he could almost "foresee" the carriers of the power of these last two totems.

"Fusion... Inclusion..." Shi Youchen muttered. This was the essence of the Visa clan's "technological eye," and also the attribute of the bear totem's original power—an energy that could embrace everything and be embraced by everything. In a way, it was more like parasitic coexistence.

Therefore, the most suitable person to be the bearer of the bear totem is the Visa family.