Ye Chenfeng glanced at his phone. It was already after ten at night.
"Huh? Where do you live? A hotel?"
Qiyu had finally recovered the confidence of a Utopian after her system crash. She lifted her chin slightly.
"For us Utopians, anywhere is home. Come with me."
She turned and walked off, her steps light and quick, carrying all the confidence of someone on home turf. Ye Chenfeng froze for a moment. It was the first time she'd set the pace and pulled him along, so all he could do was follow.
Qiyu led him into an alley with hardly anyone passing through and stopped in front of an unfinished construction wall.
She raised her right hand. The ring on her index finger began to glow faintly—and a door took shape in the light. It was six feet tall and four feet wide, settling silently against the wall.
The entire process took less than three seconds. For Qiyu, it was probably no different from opening the fridge and grabbing a drink.
Ye Chenfeng's mouth fell open and stayed there.
"Wh-where did that huge door come from?!"
Qiyu turned her head, looking utterly calm.
"My trump card."
Ye Chenfeng's mouth twitched. He was speechless.
Qiyu reached out and pushed the door open, then glanced back at him.
"Want to come in and hang out?"
Her tone was as casual as if she were inviting the neighbor next door over.
The instant Ye Chenfeng stepped across the threshold, his entire body locked up.
A high-ceilinged living room. At least sixteen feet high. The walls were made of a material he couldn't name, faintly glowing with a soft light. The moment he stepped inside, the lights overhead came on automatically—not with a sudden snap, but with a glow that slowly rose like a sunrise. The air conditioning started without a sound, adjusting the temperature and humidity to perfect comfort within seconds. On the coffee table, a transparent pitcher automatically filled itself with water, fine bubbles drifting through it.
Big. That was his first thought.
The space was absurdly large. From outside, it was just a battered wall. Inside, it held a complete, spotless living room brimming with futuristic style.
"Wh-what? It's an unfinished construction site—a busted wall. How can there be such a beautiful room hidden behind it?"
Qiyu stood in the center of the living room with her hands behind her back and gave him a mischievous wink.
"That's spatial technology." She paused, the corners of her mouth lifting slightly. "And it's also my trump card."
Ye Chenfeng drew a deep breath, desperately trying to keep his worldview from shattering on the spot.
He silently told himself: Good thing I never taught her the term "ghost card"…
The moment the thought ended—
A cloud of fine particles of light quietly gathered behind him, noiselessly condensing into a human figure. A middle-aged woman in simple, elegant clothes stood quietly behind Ye Chenfeng, her features gentle and her hands folded in front of her.
"Good evening, Mr. Xiaofeng."
Her gentle voice came from directly behind him.
"Would you like Chinese or Western cuisine for dinner?"
Ye Chenfeng practically jumped out of his skin. He spun around so fast he nearly collided with the woman.
"Wh-who is she?!"
Qiyu smiled—brightly, her eyes curving into two crescent moons.
"She's Ghost Card."
Ye Chenfeng's mind went blank for about three seconds.
He slowly turned back to Qiyu's radiant smile, then looked over his shoulder at the woman, who was still smiling and waiting for his answer.
He took a deep breath.
Okay. Calm down. Utopians just popped into existence like this. He should be used to it by now. Doors could appear from rings, people could grow out of thin air. Perfectly reasonable. Completely reasonable.
His heartbeat gradually returned to normal.
Then he suddenly went rigid.
He slowly turned his head and stared at Qiyu.
"You… can hear what I'm thinking?"
Her smile was still on her face, but a trace of guilt appeared in her eyes.
Ye Chenfeng's expression slowly collapsed.
He remembered thinking on the way over, She has a total knockout following her around.
He remembered secretly laughing at the way she had looked forward to getting a gift.
He remembered thinking, Good thing I never taught her ghost card.
All of it. She'd heard all of it.
Ye Chenfeng's eyes grew slightly red.
Not from being moved. From a deep, inescapable shame.
In front of Qiyu, he felt like he'd been naked from beginning to end.
Qiyu stopped smiling.
Watching Ye Chenfeng's expression, she slowly let the corners of her mouth fall. She didn't explain or apologize. She simply stood there quietly, waiting for him to process it on his own.
After about ten seconds, Ye Chenfeng took a deep breath and scrubbed both hands over his face.
"So… you can hear everything I think."
"Mm-hmm."
"You've been able to hear me from the very beginning."
"Mm-hmm."
"Including the part about the knockout."
The tips of Qiyu's ears turned slightly red, but her tone remained steady.
"Including the part about the knockout."
Ye Chenfeng closed his eyes and tilted his head back, as if confessing to the ceiling.
Silence stretched on for a long time.
Then he opened his eyes and looked at Qiyu, his tone unexpectedly calm.
"Fine. It's not like I was thinking about anything shameful."
He paused.
"…Not most of the time."
Qiyu held back a laugh.
Ye Chenfeng's expression slowly relaxed. He looked around the unbelievable living room, his gaze passing over the pitcher that filled itself, the lights that brightened like a sunrise, and the middle-aged woman behind him who was still smiling and waiting for an answer.
He turned to the woman and said seriously, "Chinese."
The woman gave a slight nod and turned toward the kitchen. Halfway there, her form dissolved into particles of light.
Ye Chenfeng watched the cloud of light disperse, the corner of his mouth twitching. This time, though, he didn't make a fuss.
He sat down on the couch. It automatically adjusted its shape and firmness, fitting his body perfectly. He paused, then decided not to be surprised by anything anymore.
"Isn't your room a little ridiculous?"
Qiyu sat down across from him and folded her legs, looking as relaxed as if she were in her own home—which, technically, she was.
"This is nothing." A hint of pride colored her voice. "Want to see something even cooler?"
Ye Chenfeng glanced at her.
"I think I've reached my limit for taking things in today."
"You won't. This one's really cool."
Qiyu raised her right hand, and the ring on her index finger lit up again. Her eyes focused for a moment, as if she were entering some kind of command in her mind.
Then—
Nothing happened.
At least, Ye Chenfeng didn't think anything had happened. The living room was still the same living room. The lights were still the same lights. The couch was still the same couch.
"…And then?"
Qiyu lifted her chin toward the wall.
Ye Chenfeng followed her gaze. A transparent window appeared on the wall—no, not appeared. The wall itself had turned transparent, like an entire wall of floor-to-ceiling glass.
Beyond it was the sea.
Not a tiny, distant strip of sea. The entire world was ocean, stretching everywhere and covering everything. Moonlight spilled across the surface, breaking into countless silver-white points of light. Waves crashed against some unseen shore, their sound drifting faintly inside.
Ye Chenfeng stood up.
He walked to the transparent wall and reached out to touch it. It was cool, like glass, but smoother. With his fingers pressed against it, he could feel the vibrations of the sea breeze outside.
"But… aren't we in an alley?"
Qiyu's voice came from behind him, carrying unmistakable amusement.
"We were."
Ye Chenfeng slowly turned around.
"You mean… this room moved?"
"Mm-hmm." Qiyu sat cross-legged on the couch, chin slightly raised, wearing the exact same expression she'd had in the alley when she told him to follow her. "I entered a set of coordinates, and the room went there."
"Coordinates? Latitude and longitude?"
"Something more advanced." Qiyu's eyes lit up. "We don't use latitude and longitude. That's too primitive. We use DNA tracking."
Ye Chenfeng's mind began tying itself into knots again.
"DNA… tracking?"
Qiyu nodded, speaking as if she were explaining something completely obvious.
"As long as a person is alive, their body is constantly releasing particles containing DNA—skin cells, fragments of mucous membrane carried out by their breath, sweat. These things spread through the air and dissolve into water. Maya can scan the biological particles in the atmosphere, decode them, classify them, and record them. Once a person has been scanned, their biometric signature is stored. After that, no matter where they are, locking onto their DNA lets us track them."
She paused.
"No satellites. No signal. Nothing can interfere with it. On the ground, underwater, inside a cave—it doesn't matter. As long as you're still breathing, you can't hide."
Ye Chenfeng was silent for a long time.
"So you didn't enter coordinates just now."
"No. I had Maya lock onto a fisherman's DNA. He was by the sea, so we went to the sea."
Ye Chenfeng stared at the sea outside. Moonlight made the waves gleam. His mind was processing three things at once: the room had just moved instantaneously, the tracking method involved scanning DNA in the air, and he was now standing on a beach somewhere he didn't recognize.
He chose to deal with the most important one first.
"Does that fisherman know?"
Qiyu tilted her head.
"Know what?"
"That you locked onto him."
Qiyu blinked, looking innocent.
"Why would he need to know?"
Ye Chenfeng took a deep breath.