Pretend to be crazy

“How much?” Kato heard the number reported to him and slammed the table in anger, his bald head gleaming. “Thirty million?! Are they out of their minds?! Robbing me blind!!!”

Gen remained calm and said, “The Red Dot boss said he hopes you can make a decision today. If you don’t buy, he’ll take this price to Peanut Tech.”

Kato gritted his teeth, his face dark as he interlocked his fingers.

After hearing about the District 5 project, he knew that even if he got involved, he would just be a nobody on the sidelines. So, he decisively passed the information to the Mobius family in District 7.

As a shareholder of Daylight Tech’s subsidiary, he could act recklessly in District 9, but that status meant nothing in District 7.

The Mobius family was the real power behind Daylight Tech, effectively his superiors.

By offering them this piece of intelligence as a pledge of loyalty, he proved his worth. In return, they wouldn’t mind letting him in on the action.

And his value lay in doing things for them—things they couldn’t do themselves or couldn’t afford to be seen doing.

Like supplying the test subjects needed for this project.

Before today, he had already delivered more than ten, spending a fortune, yet the other side remained unsatisfied.

Either the subjects were of poor quality or they didn’t meet experimental requirements—excuses piled up. In the end, he spent the money, sent the people, yet failed to truly win their favor.

So, he gritted his teeth and used the Mobius family’s name to strike a deal with Red Dot.

Red Dot was the largest gang in Port City and had previous dealings with the Mobius family, maintaining a decent relationship.

He had thought this connection would keep them in check, but those crude savages dared to hike up the price!

Kato took deep breaths, barely managing to regain his composure before contacting Red Dot’s boss.

“Had dinner yet? My friend, today—”

A hoarse, aged voice interrupted, “Fifty million. That’s already a discounted price for an old friend like you.”

The absurd figure shattered Kato’s thin veneer of calm. “What do you mean?! It was thirty million just now!”

The old man replied leisurely, “Someone else already bid sixty million. Selling to you for fifty means I’m losing ten. If this is how you negotiate, there’s no point in continuing.”

Kato hesitated, deeply unsettled. “Who? Which company?”

The old man: “Are you buying or not? If not, I’m hanging up.”

Kato shut his eyes and squeezed out a forced smile, “Haha, of course, I’ll buy. I appreciate it, brother. I’ll send the money over right now.”

The old man chuckled. “Don’t worry, this one meets all your requirements. If you’re still not satisfied, return him, and I’ll refund you half.”

After exchanging a few more pleasantries, Kato ended the call.

While they talked, Gen had already transferred the money. The other party responded swiftly, sending over a photo of the so-called fifty-million-dollar test subject.

The person lay inside a stasis pod, dressed in simple white pants and a short-sleeved shirt. His exposed skin bore many small, ambiguous wounds—evidence of some non-lethal but cruel punishments.

It was the same man his boss had once ordered him to follow.

The original plan was to tail him for three days, but on the second day, they called him back.

What a coincidence.

Gen hesitated for a moment and asked Kato, “They’ve sent the file. Do you want to take a look?”

Kato, still mourning the fifty million that had just vanished, clutched his head and waved weakly. “Just send him off.”

Following orders, Gen relayed the message and left the office.

He opened the file again, staring at the image of the man who looked peaceful and serene in his sleep.

After a few seconds, he uploaded the file to the cloud. His finger hovered over the delete key for half a second—then he pressed it.

Ten years ago, a terrifying attack struck the maglev sky highway that connected all parts of District 7.

Midway between Port City and Eden-9, a dozen drones swarmed in from all directions, unleashing a fierce barrage at a speeding cargo truck.

Even though they had anticipated that this special shipment would be targeted by various factions—and had reinforced the truck’s defenses—under such prolonged and concentrated fire, the system was on the brink of collapse.

Luckily, before it completely gave out, the unmanned cargo truck managed to escape the ambush zone and enter the safety supervision area.

During the chaotic firefight, a stray bullet happened to pierce the truck’s defenses and hit Shen Yan’s stasis pod.

Perhaps it damaged some circuitry, as the anesthetic gas in the pod began to dissipate, and he regained consciousness.

He opened his eyes, expressionless, and reached out to touch the glass mere centimeters from his hand. After exploring the enclosure and confirming he couldn’t open it, he stopped making futile attempts and instead observed his surroundings.

On both sides, there were other sleeping individuals—both men and women—dressed just like him. Their bodies showed no obvious signs of modification, and they were all quite good-looking.

He retracted his gaze and looked up at the bullet hole in the cargo hold, through which a sliver of daylight shone.

A mix of emotions churned in his heart.

He knew the cyberworld was chaotic.

But he hadn’t expected it to be so bad that walking into a random hospital could get him kidnapped and harvested for organs.

Or worse—

Sold for experiments, transformed into something neither human nor beast.

He closed his eyes, recalling the monsters in the gladiator pits, the recruitment ads for drug trials plastered everywhere, and the towering biotech companies of the cyberworld.

And then, he thought of Warren.

Whatever.

When in doubt, take a nap. He’d deal with it after he woke up.

“Oh? They delivered this batch’s list so soon.”

“There are thirty-two in total, arrived this afternoon. Brother, how many can we keep?”

The speaker was a little girl holding a doll. She looked quite adorable, her bright, watery eyes gazing at Blaze as she affectionately complained, “The last person’s blood smelled so bad! It made my flowers all dirty. I want to change to a new one.”

Blaze expressionlessly patted the top of her head. The little girl squinted her eyes in pleasure and rubbed against his hand, her voice syrupy sweet, “Brother, give me one, okay? I promise to take good care of it this time and won’t throw it away!”

Blaze: “Depends. You can have any that don’t meet the conditions.”

The little girl let out an ear-piercing shriek, “Ahhh! Brother, you’re the best! I love you so much! I want to marry you!”

The young boy who had been silently watching, along with a few other teenagers, couldn’t hold back any longer and started arguing with the little girl.

“Blaze belongs to us! You can’t marry him!”

“If he’s going to marry, we should all do it together, like our parents!”

“I’m not blind! Who would want to marry an ugly thing like you?”

“Ahhhh—Blaze! She called me ugly!”

Blaze cast a cold glance at his bickering relatives and said, “Quiet.”

Everyone immediately shut their mouths, halting their verbal attacks, and stared at him eagerly.

Blaze indifferently withdrew his gaze.

As the future head of the Mobius family, their respect was only natural.

At just fourteen years old, he had begun undergoing the family’s enhancement program. Five years later, unlike the others—who were emotionally unstable and teetering on the edge of insanity—he had remained rational and intelligent.

For years, the family had been relentlessly pursuing evolution, but only in him did they see the true potential for success.

His parents had long recognized his talent, granting him the authority to manage family affairs and pinning their hopes for the family’s future on him.

And he did not disappoint. Gradually, he molded himself into the noble figure they expected him to be.

The lavish Gothic-style conference room featured an oval marble table at its center, embedded with a light-brain interface. Dim lighting and sophisticated equipment projected the detailed data of this batch of test subjects for everyone to see.

Blaze scanned through the information one by one, his expression unreadable.

The quality of this batch was significantly better than the last. Aside from three individuals with minor defects, the rest met the project’s eligibility standards. The first phase was already halfway complete—this batch of people could serve as the next set of test subjects. It wouldn’t be long before…

His thoughts came to an abrupt halt.

Two names slowly slid across the screen, drawing his gaze despite himself.

Shen Yan.

The accompanying photograph caught him off guard.

It was an incredibly handsome face, though not the kind of androgynous beauty that blurred gender lines. His nose was high and straight, his eyebrows thick and well-defined. The creases of his eyelids were deep—when he opened his eyes, they would likely form a distinct double eyelid.

Blaze’s fingers twitched.

As the others were busy scrutinizing the test subjects, eager to select a few for themselves, he finally opened his terminal—something he hadn’t had time to check since the morning.

[Blame’s Most Loyal Dog]: Want to meet up, princess?

Blaze’s eyelashes quivered.

He called him “princess” again.

How annoying.

So… this is what he looks like.

Why hadn’t he been allowed to see it before?

His heartbeat quickened as he stared at the message. A smile unconsciously crept onto his lips, but he quickly erased it—this was neither the time nor the place for such an expression.

He reacted quickly enough that no one noticed his brief moment of distraction.

His siblings had finished reviewing the experiment candidates. Some, disappointed at not finding what they wanted, left. Those who remained had already chosen their targets.

Listening to name after name being claimed, Blaze silently prayed not to hear Shen Yan’s name.

But he was still disappointed.

His youngest sister pointed at him and giggled, “Brother, his eyes are so beautiful! I want to sew them onto my doll’s clothes!”

Blaze: “No.”

His sister pouted, tugging at Blaze’s hand, just as she always did when asking for favors. “Give him to me, please? The quota for this phase is already full anyway. If we need more people next time, I’ll just return him.”

“He’s mine.” Blaze lowered his gaze and gently pushed his sister’s hand away. His voice was calm but firm. “I want him.”