A month had passed. According to the people from the Upper Forest District of the Federation Capital, it was now late autumn. Up there, late autumn brought chilly winds, fine rains, and high, pale skies. But for those living in the Eastern Forest Sector, the seasons had always been vague. Perhaps it was the ever-present dust lingering high in the atmosphere—dust that never quite cleared—that made the whole planet feel like a peculiar glasshouse. What they called "late autumn" here was simply an extra layer of clothing.
Xu Le was wearing a dark navy overcoat today, something resembling a uniform. It lent a bit of youthful energy to his otherwise unremarkable appearance. He sat outside the window of a repair shop on Xianglan Street, appearing casual, but his gaze was alert—fixed on the building across the road.
Diagonally opposite, on the far side of Fourth District, stood the Second Police Bureau of Hexi Prefecture. A middle-aged man in a trench coat stepped listlessly down the damp steps and slipped into a waiting car. Around him, the uniformed officers snapped to attention with salutes—but their eyes betrayed a trace of sympathy.
Xu Le felt a little more at ease watching the scene. He had been tailing Bao Longtao for a month now. It seemed the deputy chief had truly been spooked by the so-called "federal agent" encounter. Since then, he hadn't dared to investigate the Clocktower Parade any further. Even Li Wei and his group of orphans had been left alone.
Despite his age, Xu Le possessed a calm beyond his years and a sharp instinct for danger. He would never do something foolish like adopting another identity just to test whether Bao Longtao had recognized him. Nor would he let down his guard just because things seemed quiet. He watched with patience—calmly and persistently—waiting for the moment when the waters truly settled.
Though he and the shop owner were both devoted fans of Jian Shui'er, it wasn't like him to take such a risk just to catch a TV broadcast. If it hadn't been for the temptation of upgrading the cleanroom in the workshop, Xu Le might have sighed a few times and gone out to buy a few more of her CDs—nothing more.
Truth be told, he was afraid. The mere thought of going up against the Governor's office was enough to make his chest tighten. Whenever he recalled the night he had caught Bao Longtao's attention, he couldn't stop the involuntary twitching in his upper thighs—a natural response born from deep-seated fear.
If it hadn't been for his quick thinking that night—using two buttons to fake a comms device, bluffing with a military-grade stun baton—he wouldn't have known how to handle the situation. His hand, pointed confidently at the surveillance camera through the night wind, had looked calm and defiant, but inside he'd been paralyzed with terror.
"Posing as a federal agent..." The memory made Xu Le's face darken. He lowered his head and muttered, "I never wanted to play the tough guy. I just wanted to be a decent person."
"Being a good person is way harder than acting cool," the shop owner, Boss Feng Yu, called out as he breezed past on his way upstairs from the rec center.
Over the past two years, Xu Le hadn't been seen at the repair shop on Xianglan Street. He'd worked only in the mining zone's workshop. To the orphans like Li Wei, it was as if he'd vanished from the city's daylight for two full years.
It wasn't until a month ago—after completing a task for Boss Feng—that he reappeared. In return, Feng Yu had promised to upgrade the cleanroom level in the workshop. But the man had gotten lazy again, so he simply brought Xu Le back to the repair shop, formally introducing him as the young apprentice to the neighbors of Fourth District.
Now that his boss was back, Xu Le no longer needed to keep watch over the shop. Business wasn't exactly booming anyway. Though the entire district knew about the exceptional repair skills of Feng Yu and his apprentice, no one could put up with the boss's snail pace—taking three months just to fix a TV screen.
Fastening the buttons of his school-uniform-like jacket, Xu Le called something upstairs and stepped out onto the street. He boarded the tram waiting at the corner.
Centuries ago, with the invention of the Jingnong high-energy battery, both rail and rail-less trams had shed their overhead cables and began running freely through city streets. Of course, most people owned their own vehicles by now. The rich folks on the three planets of the Upper Forest District had long since moved on to private hovercrafts.
Only the poor—or those nostalgic for a bygone era—still took the tram. Xu Le happened to be both. A regular passenger by necessity and temperament, he leaned against the tram door, silently watching the cityscape flicker by, feeling a faint sense of loss. The bell chimes described in old literature had long fallen silent.
The tram's final stop was Hexi State University in the Eastern Forest Sector. Xu Le disembarked, paid no attention to the serene, ivy-covered campus, and headed straight for the library, slipping in through a large tree by the wall.
He no longer attended school—but he had to read. Partly because Boss Feng required it, and partly because he himself craved it. Beyond the standard manuals on mechanics and Federation regulations, he especially enjoyed reading all kinds of books. Ever since getting his library card, he came here almost every day—as if inside those books lay countless dazzling futures, countless beautiful women, all waiting for him.
There were no adventures in the library. No beautiful girls either. Xu Le emerged carrying a heavy stack of books, not the least bit disappointed, and then—right outside the university gate—ran into someone he hadn't seen in a month.
Li Wei stood there, the leader of the orphans, his face weary and drawn. Xu Le's lips went dry. Something felt off. Hoarsely, he asked, "Don't tell me… you're planning to apply to college?"
"I only plan to conquer the night of the entire Hexi Prefecture," Li Wei replied, voice raspy but calm.
Xu Le let out a silent breath of relief. At least he didn't sound panicked.
"That thing you gave me…" Li Wei licked his cracked lips, "The Second Bureau confiscated it. But don't worry—no one knows it came from me." He was clearly exhausted, having fought through the night with another gang.
Xu Le's eyes lit up—not with excitement, but tension. His thighs twitched again. The stack of books in his arms suddenly felt much heavier.