Jiang He lived in the wealthy district, an area filled with detached villas. Lights still shone from many windows, and occasionally, he would see uniformed patrol guards, slender metal batons hanging from their waists.
Each time he passed a patrol, Su Chen could feel their sharp, suspicious gazes on him.
But he remained calm, showing no signs of fear. The clothes he wore also suited the area, so no one stopped to question him.
Leaving the wealthy district, the streets widened considerably.
But they also grew dimmer. The yellow light from the streetlamps flickered, and the gaps between them were vast, leaving some areas shrouded in shadows nearly as black as night.
His gaze fell on a car parked at the curb.
Su Chen walked up and knocked on the window. The driver glanced at him, looking somewhat puzzled. "Su Chen?"
"That's me," he nodded.
The driver looked at his clothes, which seemed familiar. He opened his mouth to speak, then hesitated. 'The mistress is getting wilder and wilder,' he thought to himself.
"Let's go."
The car door opened. Su Chen sat in the back, looking around. Its design wasn't much different from a regular car.
The driver swiped his hand across the dashboard. With a HUM, the vehicle shuddered slightly. The scenery on either side fell away as they lifted into the air.
"...Right, heading to the Outer District via Airway C-7. It's all clear right now..." the driver muttered. Through the window, Su Chen couldn't see the ground clearly, but the light sources overhead were much brighter.
WHOOSH—
The force of acceleration pressed Su Chen back into his seat. He glanced out the window and could now see clearly that the ribbons of light were actually steel tracks. Some kind of vehicle must run on them during the day.
'Outside the city is an endless fog, and anything could be lurking within it—mutated monsters, mechs...'
He tried to recall what he could about this world, but the body's previous owner hadn't known much either. The strange fog seemed to cut everything off from the outside.
'Did some cataclysm twist the world into this state, or was it always like this?'
The original owner's memories held no answers. All he knew was that it had been this way since the day he was born.
'But...' Su Chen's brow furrowed. 'According to the original owner's memories, he wasn't a native of Southwind City. He came from somewhere else when he was five or six, though the memories of that time are hazy.'
'Which means the outside world isn't completely impassable, but it's still beyond my reach.'
He wasn't sure how much time had passed when he felt the vehicle shudder slightly as it landed.
"We're here." The driver's tone was polite.
"Thanks." Su Chen stepped out of the car, and a rush of cool air filled his lungs.
Far from any artificial light sources, it was much darker here. He could barely make out his surroundings. The area was flanked by densely packed, grey shanties, with figures flitting in the shadows. The road was rutted and uneven.
This was where he lived. The edge of the Outer District, colloquially known as the slums.
Following his memory, Su Chen located a few familiar landmarks and made his way home.
'Given the harsh external environment, the city didn't allow for freeloaders.'
'Every family and individual had to prove their worth. To be allowed to stay unconditionally until adulthood was already the greatest mercy Southwind City offered.'
'Once you came of age, you became cannon fodder sent to scout the fog. If you were lucky enough to return, you could eke out a living for another six months.'
"Su-Su Chen?" A vaguely familiar voice called out from the shadows.
Su Chen stopped. He had arrived at his "home."
"Why are you dressed like that?"
Apparently certain of his identity, a few tattered figures scurried out from the side. They all looked young.
'Huang Peng... Black Dog...' Names surfaced in his mind.
"Did... did you get into Southwind Academy?" one of them asked hesitantly.
'Thoughts raced through Su Chen's mind. The original Su Chen had grown up here, but because of their circumstances, his friendships with most of these people had been superficial at best.'
Seeing his silence, there was a faint sigh of relief from the group. One of them jeered:
"I told you before, it's not impossible to sell your body for a better future, but you're a guy. A place like Southwind Academy isn't for the likes of us."
"No big deal you didn't get in. Didn't you say the woman was hot? It's not a total loss."
"Yeah, and you got this outfit out of it. It must be pretty valuable. Let me borrow it..."
As he spoke, one of them reached out and tugged on his jacket, as if trying to rip it off him.
Su Chen frowned. With a slight shake of his arm, the person who had grabbed him stumbled backward and collapsed onto the ground. "OW!" he yelped, then roared in anger, "What was that for?!"
The sudden commotion silenced the group.
"Heh. You sleep with that slut for one night and suddenly think you're better than us?"
"Alright, that's enough. He didn't get his wish, so he's in a bad mood. Don't provoke him. Let's go get some sleep."
...
The crowd dispersed, and the surrounding noise gradually faded. Su Chen's expression was impassive as he located his "home" in the darkness and pulled aside the ragged cloth that served as its door.
Following his memory, he fumbled for a lamp. The faint light that flickered on made him feel a little more at ease.
It was a "home" in name only—just a few pieces of sheet metal cobbled together. The space was so cramped he had to curl up just to sleep.
A small pot on the ground held some congealed porridge.
He shook his head, unconcerned, and just crouched there.
"Brother Su Chen..." The cloth flap was lifted, and a small figure entered. Her stomach was oddly swollen, and her face was smudged with grime.
She seemed to freeze when she saw Su Chen, standing in place without a word.
"...Xiao Gezi?" Su Chen asked tentatively.
"Ah..." She jumped. "Brother Su Chen, you... the way you look... it's really nice..."
She muttered, then glanced around cautiously before pulling a bundle from under her relatively clean clothes and shoving it into Su Chen's hands.
"This is for you," she whispered.
"Where did you get this food?" Su Chen asked, looking at the cans inside. Southwind City only handed out two meals a day, which was barely enough to survive on.
The cans in the bundle, however, were well-packaged—a priceless luxury for them.
"I have a secret, but don't tell anyone..." Xiao Gezi leaned in, her eyes sparkling, and whispered, "I'm leaving here soon..."
"Where to?" Su Chen couldn't help but frown.
"...Sister Xiao Xi... is taking me with her..." She lowered her head, looking somewhat guilty as she mumbled, "But... she can only take me for now..."
'Sister Xiao Xi?'
An image surfaced in Su Chen's mind: a figure with a perpetually grimy face, straw-like hair, and a grim, unsmiling expression.
'She was another slum dweller, but now she went by the name Bai Fengxi.'
'The girl had gotten ridiculously lucky, catching the eye of some big shot in the city who sent her to Southwind Academy and gave her the new name, Bai Fengxi.'
'This was a secret that almost no one here knew.'
'He didn't know her very well; most of their interactions had been through Xiao Gezi. In fact, Xiao Gezi was the one who had told him all this.'
'His predecessor had kept the secret, but her success had clearly gotten to him. It was probably why he had ended up in Jiang He's bed.'
"That's good." Su Chen relaxed slightly.
"Don't worry! I'll figure out a way to get you out of here too!" Xiao Gezi added hastily.
"Don't worry about me. Just take care of yourself," Su Chen said gently. Xiao Gezi had drifted here with a large group of vagrants a few years ago, and his predecessor had looked out for her.
She put on a serious expression, as if to show she meant business, then turned and left.
Su Chen chuckled to himself, set the bundle aside, and opened his panel.