…………
Then, he woke up.
As soon as he opened his eyes, Chen Xiao was momentarily unable to adjust to the surrounding light. He instinctively wanted to raise his hand to shield his face, but then he was surprised to find that all the injuries, some minor and some serious, that had been on his body had miraculously disappeared!
"You are safe now, no one will hurt you anymore." Chen Xiao heard these words, and the voice carried a hint of sincere concern.
Chapter Fourteen of the main text: [“Service Center”]
The first person Chen Xiao saw was a woman wearing a black leather jacket. She had long hair, a soft facial contour, and a friendly gaze. She looked to be in her thirties.
"how are you feeling?"
"It's alright." Chen Xiao's answer was calm, not at all as the woman had expected, worrying that he would panic or become hysterical after waking up—which relieved the woman.
Then, Chen Xiao actually chuckled, his tone slightly strange: "Is this how all of you like to dress?"
As he spoke, he raised his hand and pointed to the woman's clothes.
Chen Xiao recognized the woman's voice—it was Hei San, the one who had called him and brought Ya Ya to his home.
This wasn't a hospital ward, but a huge, empty house. And Chen Xiao was lying on a bed right in the middle.
“I know you have many questions right now, but I think I can answer them as best I can.” Black Three’s tone was gentle: “You are safe now, child.”
Chen Xiao looked at the woman and simply smiled faintly: "I don't really like people calling me 'kid.' My parents never call me that either..."
Hei San smiled and stared at Chen Xiao: "I know you were born on May 5th. Your parents gave you a nickname, Xiao Wu."
Chen Xiao shook his head: "I don't care what you call me... What I want right now is very simple—an answer."
“You seem to be hostile towards me. But I think you’ve misunderstood. I, and the woman who attacked you in your house, belong to the same organization. But we have nothing to do with the research institution where your parents worked—and the woman who attacked you, who was my colleague, was just having some misunderstandings.”
Hei San looked somewhat embarrassed. She sighed, her eyes filled with pity—a look that made Chen Xiao uncomfortable.
However, Chen Xiao soon heard another voice.
It was a pleasant male voice, gentle and pleasant to listen to, but there seemed to be a hint of indifference in his tone.
Then he saw a face, a thin face, blue eyes, brown hair, and a blue suit. Chen Xiao's first impression of this person was: clean!
He appeared spotless, impeccably clean, with even the tiny white handkerchief peeking out from his suit's breast pocket meticulously arranged.
And he smiled calmly—though his blue eyes remained indifferent.
“Mr. Chen Xiao, I guarantee that most of your questions will be answered within the next half hour.” The man seemed to appear out of thin air at Chen Xiao’s bedside, looking down at him: “Let me introduce myself first. My name is Black-Jack. Of course, I also have a Chinese name, Lei Hu.”
The man smiled and said, "Actually, I really don't like meeting people in these kinds of situations... because I'm mainly responsible for dealing with trouble. Once it's my turn to appear, it means there's trouble—and the thing I dislike most is 'trouble'."
He seemed to be sighing, but there was a smile in the corner of his eye: "The trouble you've caused me this time is quite significant. Not only did you make one of my men break the rules for you, but you also almost crippled one of my most capable lieutenants..."
Black-Jack? What a strange name. Does this guy own a casino?
However, after this person appeared, Hei San seemed to take two steps back in fear and stood obediently to the side. His posture was as if a subordinate had met a superior.
"We... I mean me, Hei San, and Hong Qi who saved you from the robbers yesterday... and of course, Hei Qi who broke into the house. Yes, you heard me right, her name is Hei Qi. We all belong to the same organization... uh, you can think of it as us all being employees of the same company." This guy named Lei Hu had a very handsome smile, with a deceptively friendly charm, especially his smile, which seemed to carry a hint of shyness amidst sincerity—but Chen Xiao saw through the coldness in his eyes at a glance.
“You don’t need to know our organization’s name for now. In short, our company doesn’t exist in the world of the sunlight. Or, as you might understand it, you can think of us as a special organization. We have our own beliefs, our own principles—and of course, our own scope of business.” Lei Hu smiled shyly, his clean face still showing a hint of embarrassment: “After all, a company with so many people always needs to make money to eat.”
"This whole thing started with Hei San." Lei Hu glanced at Hei San, who was standing to the side, silent as a cicada in winter, and smiled faintly: "She accepted a commission from your parents, and without the company's permission."
Hei San's body visibly trembled.
"She and your mother were classmates, both graduating from MIT with PhDs in bioengineering. It all started with your parents. They were unlucky; over a decade ago, they published an excellent paper, which caught the eye of a company, and they were recruited into its research institute. I think you can find out what that institute researched from your mother's diary." Lei Hu's voice was light and cheerful. "What I can tell you is that the company's research field is somewhat similar to our organization's. However, our philosophies are very different. And… you could say we're far more advanced than them. Their research, in some areas, is still at a rather primitive level."
"Is it... about the blue-blooded people? Or those strange... 'powers'?" Chen Xiao asked.
“You could say that.” Lei Hu pondered for a moment, then suddenly pulled out a white handkerchief from his breast pocket, gently wiped his mouth, and smiled warmly. “Actually, you and I, all of us, are human beings. But in a sense, we have already transcended the ordinary definition of normal humans. Or to use a more precise definition: we are a minority group, but we are both fortunate and unfortunate to be at the forefront of human evolution.”
Lei Hu looked at Chen Xiao: "Evolution, do you understand?"
Chen Xiao nodded.
Lei Hu continued with a smile, "Your common sense should be pretty good, after all, your parents are experts in this field. Traditionally speaking, the basic structure of the human body is cells. Cell division and cell arrangement follow fixed patterns. But if these are changed, then... some interesting things will happen." Lei Hu's tone was relaxed, and he even winked at Chen Xiao, "You've seen dominoes, right? Once one falls, a chain reaction occurs."
"Mm." Chen Xiao listened attentively.
"In fact, human evolution has never stopped, but it has been stuck in an awkward period of stagnation. This period of stagnation has been rather long, and there have been some different... well, you could say divergent paths in the direction of evolution. These subtle differences have created such a strange group as us, and have also given us some interesting powers. As you can see, the blue-blooded lady next to you is quite sensitive to electricity, while the woman who injured you, who is now one of my henchmen whom you have crippled, has the ability to manipulate the air."
“But you are still human beings,” Chen Xiao added coldly.
“That’s right! That’s exactly the philosophy of our organization. We are human beings.” Lei Hu said this with an unusually serious expression: “Our company has existed for a very long time, since two and a half centuries ago. We are a group that has been at the forefront of the evolution of all mankind, but we do not feel that we can be above all mankind because of this. When this organization was founded two hundred and fifty years ago, it had a name: ‘Service Society’.”
As he spoke, Lei Hu looked into Chen Xiao's eyes and said, "Isn't it a very interesting name?"
"It's very interesting," Chen Xiao replied with a straight face.
"The name 'Service Society' itself reveals that the organization was established to bring together people like us so that we can help and rely on each other. As you know, a common trait among most humans is a sense of inexplicable fear towards unknown and new things. There's a Chinese saying, 'The tallest tree in the forest is the first to be felled by the wind,' right?"
Chen Xiao nodded: "Your Chinese is very good."
“Thank you,” Lei Hu sighed. “Historically, people like us have often faced hostility from society as a whole. Our individual strength often incites fear or…hatred from other humans. People like us are easily seen as outcasts and thus hated or feared. Therefore, we have to find as many companions as possible, unite, rely on each other—and then, as much as possible, preserve ourselves.” Lei Hu’s tone became serious. “But it must be stated that we still consider ourselves human, and we hope others will treat us as human beings, not monsters.”
Chen Xiao shifted slightly, changing his posture, and a faint sense of goodwill arose in his heart towards this Thunder Fox.
“We are just a group of people who have involuntarily stepped onto the forefront of evolution, or rather, a group of lucky ones. But we don’t want to change anything, nor do we want to control anything.” Lei Hu sighed: “Therefore, our organization has also borne a great responsibility.”
"Why?" Chen Xiao frowned.