ATL | Chapter 10

Ganlin woke instantly.

Arthur also seemed startled, and took half a step back with the motion. “You’re awake?”

Ganlin was silent for a moment. He could feel a lingering sensory aftertaste on his horn, without a doubt, from tight, tough leather gloves. Fortunately, in shape, color, and hardness, the horn was no different from a real argali horn, so the sudden awakening could also be explained by an innate alertness.

Sure enough, he should never have held any fantasy about snake species.

He sneered in his heart, but showed nothing on his face. He only nodded at Arthur, pretending nothing was wrong, and asked stiffly, “Officer, how long have you been here?”

“A few minutes.” Arthur turned his face away and said in a low voice, “Sorry, I originally wanted to wake you a bit later. But you seemed to be dreaming, and were turning over on the bench. I saw you were about to fall off, so I reached out to steady you... I only touched the horn, I didn’t touch anything else.”

As he spoke, his voice gradually fell lower, and finally went silent.

The lounge fell into an odd silence for a moment.

Ganlin had not expected Arthur to bring it up on his own, much less to explain the whole thing so clearly, as if he were afraid of being suspected of harassment.

But Ganlin really had been dreaming.

Ganlin felt a little dissatisfied, but had to admit that what Arthur said made sense. If the other party really was probing him, then where would the seeds of suspicion come from? They had only met last night, and had never seen each other before. Why would Arthur have hostility toward him?

“So that’s how it is.” Ganlin touched his horn and said softly, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Hetawaisi looked down at him and suggested, “It’s just six now, I’ve finished my shift. How about we eat breakfast together? After we’re done, I’ll drive you back to Flowlight Opera House, I’m going that way anyway.”

“The cafeteria is free, you don’t need to feel burdened.”

With things said to this point, Lin Bai was already blocked from refusing any further. Sure enough, the other party thanked him repeatedly, struggling to get up.

“Take it slow,” a colleague called out. Heta turned his head, distracted for a moment, and only kept muttering, “No rush.”

Before he had even finished speaking, there was a thud. When he turned back to look, the clumsy little argali was tangled in his police uniform jacket and had fallen in a mess on the floor.

...Logically speaking, a sheep-type gene carrier should have very good coordination. Maybe it was because of the injured ankle, or maybe because it was the first time he had been treated to a meal, Lin Bai was a little dizzy.

He quickly crouched down and helped the other up considerately. Looking down, he saw that although Lin Bai’s ankle had gone down somewhat, the bruising was still pooled there, looking even more shocking than it had at night.

For some reason, Heta looked upward and gave Lin Bai’s neck a fleeting glance.

There was no mark there at all, very clean.

“Thank you,” Lin Bai said helplessly, “No need to support me... Sorry, I’m a little out of it from sleep.”

“It’s fine.” Heta let go of him gentlemanly and instructed, “Hopping along makes it easy to lose your center of balance. Put your weight on the right foot, and just lightly touch the ground with the left heel. Take it slowly.”

Lin Bai gave a grateful “Mm” and followed behind while holding the wall, then obediently sat down at his seat and waited for Heta to fetch the nutritional paste from the window.

Hetawaisi had originally taken two boxes of mammal M2 type and two boxes of reptile R2 nutrient paste type. But after a moment, he added two boxes of arthropod A2, two boxes of R2 nutrient paste, and even took some bird and amphibian ones.

So, Ganlin watched as Arthur returned carrying a full tray of nutritional paste, the packaging all different, with the bird one being the most ridiculous, a long soft worm-like pattern twisted into a heart printed on the top.

Arthur pulled out a chair, sat across from him, opened his own two boxes of R2 nutrient paste type, and pushed the rest over to Ganlin, thoughtfully saying.

“I don’t know which flavor you like best, so I took a little of each.”

In Yujing, because there was a shortage of food varieties in the new world, people almost had to eat nutritional paste every day, so picky eaters were not rare. There were plenty of people who got tired of their own corresponding companion gene and wanted to try new flavors. Because it was so common, it was no longer even considered a niche preference.

The corner of Ganlin’s mouth twitched. Only after he had clenched the hem of his clothes into a ball with the hand under the table did he force himself to show gratitude.

“You’re too considerate,” Ganlin said. “How could I feel okay about this?”

He understood the importance of acting thoroughly, so he could only brace himself, take one box of M2 and one of A2 each, push the rest aside, then took a deep breath and opened that box of A2 type with a look of marching to his death, scooped up a spoonful and put it into his mouth.

Too awful.

A strong rust taste exploded in his mouth, mixed with an indescribable, dense fishiness. The protein seemed to have undergone special fermentation, with a concentrated lemon sourness as the aftertaste, and a slight bitterness spreading up to the throat.

“So you like A type nutritional paste.” Arthur looked at him with gentle eyes. “I remember Huizhi District only lets you buy grade 3 at most. Grade 2 is generally richer in taste than grade 3, is it also tastier?”

“The taste really is amazing.” Ganlin gritted his teeth secretly. “Much tastier than A3 type, thank you!”

“Just a small effort,” Arthur said gently. “No need to be so polite, I’ll put the extra back.”

With that, Hetawaisi stood up, but just as he touched the edge of the tray, his wrist was pressed down by Lin Bai.

“Officer,” Lin Bai asked, “won’t you try some?”

Heta was slightly stunned. “What?”

“Actually, the flavors of all kinds of nutritional paste have their own wonderful, unique qualities.” Lin Bai looked serious. “Have you only tried R2 nutrient paste before? That would really mean losing too much fun. The more you experience, the more you’ll find life is full of surprises.”

As he spoke, he quickly pulled out the remaining box of A2 and pushed it in front of Heta, even thoughtfully opening the lid and handing over a spoon.

“I personally recommend this one the most,” Lin Bai said with a face full of sincerity. “Officer, you should try it.”

If it were Hetawaisi, of course he could have refused expressionlessly.

Unfortunately, a gentle and considerate personality like Arthur’s was bound to take the feelings of those around him into account. Since Lin Bai had spoken so earnestly, no matter how unwilling Arthur was, he had to at least try some.

No, the police bureau strictly forbade food waste. Since Lin Bai had already opened it, he at least had to finish this box.

...If he had known earlier, he should not have tested him so opportunely.

The two sat facing each other, and the speed at which they each ate the A2 grew faster and faster. From an onlooker’s perspective, it was really hard to tell whether it was because it tasted too awful and they wanted to end the torment as quickly as possible, or because it was delicious and they could not wait to enjoy it fully.

Until the M2 and R2 nutrient paste each rescued their own ravaged taste buds.

Only after tasting a vegetal flavor did Ganlin come alive again. The sweet freshness suppressed the sourness and bitterness. He tasted it in small mouthfuls, and only when there was no strange sensation left in his mouth did he let out a breath as if after surviving a disaster and put down his utensils.

“I’m done eating.” Ganlin said politely, “Thank you. How did the A2 taste?”

Arthur was silent for a moment, then said, “Very special.”

Ganlin’s bad mood was swept away just like that by those simple three words.

So much so that when Arthur took him onto the hovercar and crossed the three-dimensional traffic tracks, he was still in a good mood, chatting idly with Arthur.

Arthur had already changed back into casual clothes, wearing a camel-colored sweater and a light gray windbreaker. Without that neat black police uniform, he even had a somewhat retro scholarly air. If not for the vertical pupils and snake tail, it would be hard to imagine that his companion gene was actually black mamba snake.

“Most of my personality comes from my mother.” Heta said. “She likes to read in the old way. Unfortunately, after the old world collapsed, paper books are rarely produced now.”

“There are some at the Undercity Market from time to time,” Lin Bai blinked. “Once I have time to go back, I’ll help keep an eye out for you!”

Hetawaisi said gently, “Thank you.”

The car drove toward Golden Flow Opera House, at a not fast speed, taking the lower road close to the surface. In the three-dimensional traffic road area of Dawn District, it was almost possible to directly equate the roads with a citizen’s wealth status in the city. Taking this road was no different from announcing to Lin Bai that “Arthur” really was only the lowest-level Staff Member at the police bureau.

But morning light still shone through the front windshield, casting a soft glow in Lin Bai’s amber eyes. His face was overflowing with novelty, and he leaned against the car window, the wind messing up his small silver curls.

When passing outside a certain building, Lin Bai covered his ears.

“That’s the apartment airflow system.” Hetawaisi said casually.

Lin Bai glanced sideways and dragged out his voice. “Apartment, airflow system?”

“It concentrates its exhalation outward before seven in the morning, but the duration is very short, and it ends in a few minutes.” Heta added, “But not every apartment is equipped with one.”

“It provides customized air purification services for high-end apartments, saying it is committed to giving owners the move in experience of ‘breathing the best air in Yujing, as if strolling through an old world forest.’ I’ll take a look, this neighborhood actually has one...” Heta said as if unintentionally, “No wonder, this is Thousand Maples.”

Thousand Maples was precisely the apartment where Canus had been killed. After Hetawaisi said this, Lin Bai only nodded as if understanding but not understanding, and then tried to open his fingers to catch the wind.

He looked like he had no time at all to pay attention to the “no wonder” hidden in the words, and no spare time to ask anything else, forcing what Heta had prepared to say back down.

He had no choice but to ask, “First time in Dawn District?”

“Mm,” Lin Bai explained earnestly, “the pass for Dawn District is very expensive, and the number of spots is also very limited. If not for the Boss being kind-hearted, I probably would never have come here.”

He paused, then finally asked on his own, “Officer, are you from Dawn District?”

“No.”

“I grew up in Huizhi District,” Heta said lightly. “I still haven’t gotten a Dawn District household registration. I used to live on South Ridge Street in Huizhi, do you know that place?”

Ganlin knew it all too well, because Morning Glow was located on South Ridge Street.

“South Ridge Street?” Ganlin was stunned. “My Younger Brother and I live there too... but I’ve never seen you.”

“You live there too?” Arthur was somewhat pleasantly surprised, then slightly regretful. “You brothers only went there not long ago, right? I already moved away from Huizhi District almost ten years ago.”

Arthur continued, “There’s an upside-down realistic treehouse at the entrance of South Ridge Street, right? Go farther in, and the road is threadlike, splitting into five directions, and finally converging again at the end.”

It was exact, perfectly exact, and Morning Glow was on the third side branch. Although the VR companion route-finding simulation device could also reproduce the details, the realistic treehouse at the street entrance had been demolished last year, and now only a worn-out post with exposed wiring remained.

So that was it.

Arthur and he actually counted as hometown people of the old world in some sense. Local ties were strange. They could rapidly shorten the distance between two strangers, and it was even more so between drifters.

Then, if used properly, perhaps after they became familiar, he could pry into the inside information of the Canus Case for him and provide a new channel.

Ganlin turned to look at Arthur and said in surprise, “So you really, Officer...”

“Now it’s off-duty time,” the other party said gently. “Just call me Arthur from now on. Your ankle sprain is somewhat serious, so don’t do heavy work these next few days. When I get off work tonight, let’s eat together?”

The hovercar slowly came to a stop. He smiled at Ganlin.

“Go on, see you tonight.”

Ganlin then waved goodbye. Only after the other party’s snake tail flexibly coiled shut the car door did he turn around and limp slowly toward the opera house. While rubbing his ear, he pressed a pale pink, realistic miniature communicator into the inside of his ear.

The fine downy fuzz blocked it, and even if one looked closely, it would be hard to notice anything unusual.

Very soon, Cizhu’s voice came from the other end.

“I’ve been trying to crack the private domain information all day.” Cizhu said dejectedly. “The confidentiality permissions here are too high, I couldn’t do it. I can only use your method now, first infiltrate the Rust Belt Organization from the inside, then use that leverage to break through. Oh right, has Qize contacted you again?”

“Not yet,” Ganlin thought of that tracker. “Probably not for another two days.”

“Oh right, Cizhu, help me check someone.”

At three in the afternoon, Lin Bai finally could not hold on any longer. His ankle was injured, and in the end he was still supported by coworkers as he limped back to the temporary dormitory. Duyu saw it and did not say much, only had people place a lot of biomorphic flower materials by his bed.

How could Ganlin know how to weave this?

All the biomorphic flowers in Morning Glow were woven by Cizhu alone.

He stacked the work clothes on top of the bedding, propped up the bruised ankle bone, and after the coworkers locked the door and left, he immediately made a communicator call for help.

While practicing hands-on in a simple way, Ganlin asked casually.

“How is it, how much have you found about Arthur?”

“Very comprehensive.” Cizhu was concise. “From birth to now, everything can be traced.”

“That’s good.” Ganlin gave an mm. “And the surveillance outside Lu Mingzhe’s clinic...”

“Put that aside for later, first talk about Arthur.” Cizhu seemed to want to say something but stopped. “I keep feeling that there are several suspicious points in his life experience.”