UCS Chapter 122

“Chief, are you alright?”

 

Gao Shi pressed his fingers to his temple. “I’m fine. Let’s move.”

 

Since arriving here, phantom visions had been appearing before his eyes, as though he had been split in two, one half in reality and one half in a dream.

 

What gave him some small relief was that this time the premonition had not sent him into unconscious sleep. His head did not even ache. There were only the phantom visions before his eyes. After years of moving between the real and the dreamed, phantom visions of this degree posed no threat to him.

 

Gao Shi put a mint in his mouth, and with Ran Qiu slipped past the surveillance cameras, scaled the garden wall, and arrived silently beside the kennel.

 

The main hall had its lights on. The sound of Xiao Yusheng and his son talking could be faintly heard.

 

And before his eyes, the phantom Gao Gusheng lay on the floor, face streaked with tears, eyes vacant, body in a wretched state. Xiao Yusheng adjusted a camera, cheeks flushed red with excitement, his expression distorted.

 

“Yes! That is exactly it! That feeling of a flower blooming to excess and then being crushed in someone’s hands!”

 

The lens moved like a serpent’s tongue, inch by inch over the young man’s bare body, finally fixing on his face. His eyes were like ash left after a flame had burned out and gone cold, emptied of everything.

 

Xiao Yusheng walked to Gao Gusheng, and with gentle hands removed the heavy shackles from his wrists, pressing his lips to the bloody marks left by his struggles, tasting the blood that seeped through.

 

“Good. Go and rest and heal. You are my one and only lead actor. There are so many more films I want to make with you.”

 

…

 

Gao Shi’s expression turned ice cold as he bit through the mint, letting the sharp, burning flavour flood his mouth.

 

Ran Qiu was picking the lock with a furrowed brow, and in the midst of it all managed a quick gesture. [Chief, something is definitely wrong here. The last time I came across a lock this difficult to crack, it was a billionaire’s safe.]

 

Using a safe of this level to lock up a dog?

 

Was the dog’s business worth its weight in gold?

 

Ran Qiu muttered inwardly, though his hands never slowed.

 

Inside was completely silent. Not a sound.

 

A dog’s sense of smell is sharp. Under ordinary circumstances it would have started barking long ago. But Gao Shi had come prepared with a contingency.

 

The original plan had been to send the little squirrel in to scout ahead, but the hole Xiaohong had used to get in during the day had been blocked.

 

Not tightly, just covered with a layer of thick cardboard. Xiaohong could absolutely chew through it.

 

But Gao Shi considered for a moment and shook his head at the eager little squirrel.

 

Something was off.

 

Xiao Yusheng was meticulous in everything he did. If he had wanted to seal the hole, why would he use nothing but thick cardboard?

 

In the end, Gao Shi used the sleep talisman Ying Bujie had drawn.

 

Gao Shi kept watch of the surroundings as cover for Ran Qiu. Ran Qiu’s movements were swift and clean, and even a lock of this calibre could not stop him. The team often joked that if he had not become an Anomaly Management Bureau officer, he would probably be on a government-managed three-meals-a-day schedule by now.

 

Gao Shi divided his attention, staying alert to every sound around him while watching the phantom visions before his eyes.

 

The vision shifted again.

 

This time it appeared to be their first encounter.

 

In the dream, Gao Gusheng had been schemed into becoming an entertainer by Li Mochen, and even after learning Li Mochen’s true nature could not leave due to an enormous penalty clause.

 

He threw himself into variety programmes, chased scripts, all for the sake of paying off the debt and escaping Li Mochen.

 

He was too beautiful. Even knowing nothing, with nothing but his face alone, he could draw every eye in any room, to say nothing of the fact that in everything he did, he could never settle for anything less than his best.

 

And so not long after his debut, he had already gathered a following.

 

Watching Gao Gusheng rushing about day after day, the dark circles beneath his eyes impossible to cover even with foundation, his fans began to denounce Wanxing Entertainment for its ruthlessness.

 

Then Wanxing Entertainment posted screenshots of chat logs and even audio recordings showing Gao Gusheng proactively requesting to work overtime.

 

In the evidence posted, Gao Gusheng looked like nothing more than someone trying to cash in quickly while the attention was on him before disappearing.

 

His fans fell silent.

 

Gao Gusheng confronted his manager in disbelief. “Why did you maliciously splice those chats and recordings?!”

 

The manager shrugged. “I’m sorry. Those were the President’s instructions.”

 

At the start, Li Mochen had genuinely only wanted to run Gao Gusheng ragged for a while, to make him understand that hardship was not so easily swallowed. Besides, what greater satisfaction was there than having a famous star, worshipped by tens of thousands of fans, entirely under his thumb and still turning a profit?

 

But later, after he had fallen in love with the canary he had been using as a plaything, he became consumed by anxiety over gain and loss.

 

He wanted to tighten the chain around the canary’s ankle, inch by inch, and draw him into his cage.

 

Tarnishing Gao Gusheng’s image in the eyes of his fans was the first step.

 

Watching this unfold, Gao Shi finally understood. Li Mochen, who was currently operating a sewing machine inside a prison cell, had hurt his son because he loved him but did not know how to express it.

 

And so? Because of his loveless childhood, because of his inability to express love in any natural way, because his love had driven him to madness, he was pitiable, and Gao Gusheng should therefore forgive him, let bygones be bygones, and walk together toward a happy ending?

 

Gao Gusheng clearly did not see it that way.

 

Which was why, though the Gao Gusheng in the dream had been put through so much, he ultimately broke free of Li Mochen’s control.

 

While the real Li Mochen would likely be operating that sewing machine until the end of time, hanging his head in regret as he watched Gao Gusheng shine on screen.

 

The vision continued.

 

The exhausted Gao Gusheng arrived this time at a film set.

 

He was playing the fifth male lead, a role with limited screen time but not without weight.

 

The fifth male lead was written as a man of devastating beauty, the white moonlight lodged in the female lead’s heart.

 

The moment the director saw Gao Gusheng’s face, he made the decision on the spot.

 

Because the male lead was Xiao Yusheng, and if you wanted to cast someone who could legitimately be called a beautiful man standing beside Xiao Yusheng, there was no one but Gao Gusheng.

 

However, this director was famous but notoriously foul-mouthed, known in the industry as the Great Cannon of Film and Television. Gao Gusheng was a newcomer with less than half a year since his debut. He had talent, but still lacked a certain refinement. He shot one scene and got cut dozens of times, berated until he was drenched in abuse.

 

Even the fact that Gao Gusheng was an orphan was dragged out as a weapon against his acting.

 

[No wonder your parents didn’t want you. Nothing going for you except your face!]

 

[If I’d known your acting was this terrible, I would rather have cast an ugly man than picked you!]

 

[Everyone have a good look! This is the one who’s keeping you all standing out here in the wind for half a day longer! A waste of film!]

 

Gao Gusheng stood in the centre of the set with the director pointing at him, head lowered.

 

He said quietly, […I’m sorry.]

 

[What the hell is sorry going to do? Can your apology give back the time wasted by your garbage acting?!]

 

The director was about to continue when he felt someone give him a light tap on the shoulder.

 

Xiao Yusheng’s warm voice came through. [It’s alright. Don’t be angry. I’ll work with him in a bit.]

 

The moment the director saw Xiao Yusheng, his fire went out completely.

 

He said awkwardly, [With Mr. Xiao guiding him, that would be ideal.]

 

Gao Gusheng lifted his head and gave Xiao Yusheng a grateful look.

 

Xiao Yusheng gave him a warm smile.

 

And so, naturally, they grew close over time, teacher and friend in one, talking about everything.

 

What Gao Gusheng did not know was the impact Xiao Yusheng had experienced that day when he passed by the set and saw Gao Gusheng standing in the centre of everyone’s pointing and blame.

 

Gao Gusheng standing with his head down in the middle of it all was like a flower swaying in a gale, its petals torn and broken, its stem fragile yet unyielding.

 

How… beautiful.

 

The most beautiful things, the most captivating things, always existed somewhere between broken and whole.

 

It made one unable to resist wanting to apply pressure, and then more pressure, to test just how much force it would take to snap his spine.

 

…

 

With a faint click, the door opened.

 

Gao Shi pulled Ran Qiu behind him and slowly pushed the door open.

 

There in the centre of the kennel, the golden retriever who should by all rights have been asleep had its eyes wide open, and in the beam of their light, those eyes caught the glow and shone with an eerie green.

 

Ran Qiu’s heart leapt into his throat.

 

The dog was not asleep?!

 

The talisman had not worked?

 

If it started barking now…

 

Gao Shi also frowned instinctively, but unlike Ran Qiu he did not feel tense. Looking at this strange large dog, what rose in him instead was a warm and inexplicable sense of familiarity. A surge of joy shot through his mind, and his body moved before his brain had caught up. He stepped forward.

 

The instant the dog saw Gao Shi, its tail began wagging frantically, spinning like a little pinwheel with an audible rush of air.

 

Gao Shi reached out and placed his hand gently on the dog’s head.

 

“Mmm—”

 

A very soft, very quiet sound came from deep in the dog’s throat. It was as though the joy had reached such a pitch that tears began to fall.

 

Something moved in Gao Shi’s heart. He asked in a low voice, “Have we met before?”

 

The dog threw itself against his chest with all its might.

 

Gao Shi stroked the golden retriever’s head with practised ease, his manner remarkably similar to the way he ruffled his own son’s hair.

 

But as his hand moved along the dog’s back, he felt it come away wet.

 

He raised his light. In the golden fur, he found blood, matted and soaked through.

 

The coat that had been intact earlier in the day had been torn through in many places. The exposed skin beneath was covered in clotted wounds.

 

The dog liked Gao Shi so much it should have launched itself at him the way it had at Gao Gusheng. But both of its front legs had been broken. All it could do was wag its tail at Gao Shi with desperate fervour.

 

Gao Shi’s arms tightened around the dog.

 

Ran Qiu said quietly, “Chief, the injuries on this dog look like it was dragged through thorns.”

 

He could not keep the distress from his voice. “…This is too awful.”

 

The dog had gone into heat, run into the rose garden, and been torn up by the thorns.

 

What a perfect explanation.

 

Except this dog was clearly not in heat. It was entirely lucid.

 

Gao Shi suddenly thought of the paintings Xiao Yusheng had posted.

 

The golden retriever chasing butterflies in the rose garden.

 

It always seemed to be chasing butterflies.

 

The roses red and lush as fresh blood.

 

— [Yes, exactly like this. Running through the thorns, getting covered in tiny cuts.]

 

— [I want your body to bloom with roses.]

 

The vision before his eyes shifted. Gao Gusheng, bare, pushed through the dense and crowding roses, running desperately forward. Behind him were dogs that had gone three days without food.

 

The rose garden seemed to have no end.

 

A drone hovered low at his side, its ultra high-definition camera recording every shade of his despair.

 

…

 

Gao Shi drew a deep breath, lowered his head, and stroked the dog’s head. He asked it, “What is on the other side of that wall? Is there a person?”

 

Ran Qiu, who was cautiously feeling along the surface for any hidden gap, was about to say what would a dog know, when to his complete surprise, the dog actually nodded.

 

“Mm! Mm!”

 

Gao Shi carried it over. It was fortunate that Gao Shi was strong, because carrying a dog a metre eighty in length was not something just anyone could manage.

 

In Gao Shi’s arms, the golden retriever extended one hind leg and scratched at the right side of the wall, then thumped it twice with his tail.

 

“Mm! Mm!”

 

Immediately after, from the other side of the wall, a slow knocking came.

 

Thud. Thud. Thud.

 

The rhythm was slow and faint, like the last struggling movements of someone at the point of death.

 

This dog could respond to a signal!

 

Ran Qiu had no time to be astonished. Working from the positions where the signals had come on each side, and factoring in the wall’s soundproofing, he identified where the hidden combination lock was positioned.

 

“Chief.”

 

Gao Shi wordlessly reached into the bag on his back and produced the tools, opened his light. Ran Qiu removed the combination lock, pulled out leads and connected them to his laptop, and had the door cracked open in short order.

 

Gao Shi gave him a thumbs up. Ran Qiu, who had not been praised in a long time, could not help grinning and was just about to say something self-congratulatory when the wave of blood smell that hit him head-on nearly made him retch.

 

Beyond the door was a fairly spacious area. In the very centre of it, a woman was locked to the ground.

 

The woman was missing one arm. She was chained to the floor and covered from head to toe in lacerations. Gao Shi could tell at a glance that these cuts had been made to bleed, not to kill.

 

The woman’s lips had turned a bloodless white, clearly indicating severe blood loss. Gao Shi estimated she had lost roughly a thousand millilitres of blood and had fallen into shock.

 

In front of the door was a large dog.

 

It was a German shepherd, considerably larger than an ordinary one. Gao Shi guessed it was comparable in size to the golden retriever, large enough to seem almost like a new breed entirely.

 

But this German shepherd was in a far worse state than the golden retriever.

 

One of its eyes was permanently closed, the eyelid sunken and hollow. All four of its limbs were broken. Even its tail had been reduced to half its length.

 

The thumping sounds against the wall from earlier had likely been produced by hurling its body against it with whatever strength remained.

 

Upon seeing Gao Shi, the German shepherd began slowly wagging what was left of its tail.

 

The tail struck the floor with a quiet pattering sound.

 

Gao Shi felt a sharp pain in his chest.

 

He forced himself back to focus and ran toward the woman in the centre of the room, pressing a soul-stabilising talisman onto her as he moved.

 

He brushed aside the woman’s tangled hair. Her face was wrapped tightly in white gauze, but Gao Shi could still recognise her. It was Zhou You.

 

Ran Qiu produced his tools and attempted to remove the iron chain. After a moment, his expression turned grim. “Chief. No good. The lock has been sealed shut.”

 

One end of the chain was buried deep in the ground. The other was locked to the woman. There had never been any intention of letting her leave alive.

 

Gao Shi shook his head. “It’s fine.”

 

He suppressed the fire in his chest and took the small axe from his belt. In the blink of an eye it expanded to the length of an arm, the blade suffused with a steady golden light. Gao Shi gripped the handle and brought it down with force.

 

The chain, as thick as a man’s forearm, snapped at the blow.

 

In that instant, the golden light from the axe split into two streams and poured separately into the bodies of the golden retriever and the German shepherd.

 

At once the golden light blazed. The phantom forms of golden dragons rose from the bodies of both dogs.

 

The golden dragons roared skyward, their cries ascending through all nine heavens.

 

The bank of dark clouds massed at the horizon churned and at last could bear its weight no longer, releasing the rain it had been holding in a torrential downpour.

 

…

 

In the sitting room.

 

From the moment Gao Gusheng had come inside, he had naturally fallen into conversation with Xiao Yusheng without raising the matter of visiting Edward.

 

Gao Gusheng did not bring it up, and Xiao Yusheng was more than glad not to. Xiao Yusheng had always been a skilled conversationalist, and with Gao Gusheng’s deliberate cooperation, the two talked with great ease, giving the impression of two people who regretted not meeting sooner.

 

Gao Gusheng was quietly tracking the time, calculating how things were progressing on his father’s end.

 

Half an hour had passed. At his dad and Uncle Ran’s speed, they should be done by now.

 

At that moment a flash of golden light burst across the horizon. Both Xiao Yusheng and Gao Gusheng were immediately drawn to look outside. It was coming from the direction of the kennel.

 

Gao Gusheng’s heart lurched. He thought, please don’t let it be Uncle Ran getting electrocuted. Watching Xiao Yusheng begin to rise, apparently intending to move in that direction, Gao Gusheng steeled himself and stood up immediately, stepping in front of Xiao Yusheng. “Actually I…”

 

As if on cue, like a bucket of water tipped over, rain crashed down outside the windows in a deluge.

 

The rain came fast and fierce, hammering against the glass hard enough to seem as though it might shatter it.

 

The golden light just now had clearly only been lightning.

 

Xiao Yusheng let out an imperceptible sigh of relief and looked at Gao Gusheng standing before him, smiling. “What were you about to say, Student Gao?”

 

But Gao Gusheng had caught something familiar in that golden flash from moments ago. He thought of the large golden retriever he had encountered earlier. That inexplicable feeling of closeness was still with him, and what made it all the more striking was that the feeling was less like seeing a pet one had raised, and more like seeing one’s own sibling.

 

Surely not, Dad — do you have other dogs out there I don’t know about?!

 

Dad and Father, just how many beloved children do you two have?!

 

Gao Gusheng knew that right now he absolutely could not let Xiao Yusheng go over and cause trouble. He looked at Xiao Yusheng, then at the heavy rain outside, and steeled himself to say what he had just been about to say.

 

“Actually, I have liked you for a very long time.”

 

He hurried to clarify, “Not in that way. It is the admiration one feels for an idol.”

 

Even he did not believe himself as he said it, and Xiao Yusheng believed it even less. From the moment they first met, Gao Gusheng had been cool and distant toward him, nothing like the reaction of someone meeting their idol.

 

And yet, strangely, the words piqued Xiao Yusheng’s interest. He thought of the rose tie clip and the watch that seemed tailor-made for him, both of which Gao Shi had originally intended as tools to lower his guard, yet which Xiao Yusheng had now naturally begun to attribute to Gao Gusheng’s own intentions.

 

Watching the faintly evasive quality in Gao Gusheng’s eyes and the flush spreading across his cheeks, a bold thought rose unbidden in Xiao Yusheng’s mind.

 

Could it be… that the young master of the Gao family had feelings for him?

 

He swept his gaze over Gao Gusheng’s expression with a glimmer of amusement. His blood began to stir.

 

The young master’s flushed cheeks were softer than the most delicate petals, his eyes bright with a glistening sheen.

 

Truly beautiful.

 

A rose this beautiful should be frozen at this exact moment forever. If the rose were to wither, what an enormous waste that would be.

 

Xiao Yusheng smiled gently, his tone taking on the quality of someone coaxing a child. “Very well. Thank you for your fondness, Student Gao.”

 

“It has grown cold with the rain outside. This tea has gone cool. Would you like some warm milk instead?”

 

Something shifted in Gao Gusheng’s chest. He put his hand behind his back and made a gesture toward Ying Bujie.

 

It was time.

 

“Please, I would not want to trouble Mr. Xiao.”

 

***

 

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