Sound of Heaven 1

Chapter 52

It was drizzling when Shen Wang left the next morning.

Not unusual — it was spring, and spring meant rain. Shen Wang had slipped out so casually he hadn't even grabbed an umbrella.

He had on a thin black trench coat, black trousers to match. He was already tall, all long legs and long arms, and the outfit made him look even more striking. The fine mist had settled into his hair and onto his lashes, little droplets clinging everywhere — almost fuzzy, at a glance.

People around him couldn't help stealing looks.

When Shen Wang wanted to, he could make anyone believe he was gentle, harmless, pretty and well-behaved — even though that wasn't really who he was.

He fished his phone out of his pocket. Lan had told him when to set out, but he genuinely had no idea how to get from Central City to Chenmo West City. The two High Walls were thousands of miles apart, so he was searching for a shortcut.

Partway through, Shen Wang felt a burning stare settle on him. He turned — and found Zhou Xiangzhe standing right beside him, having appeared at some point without a sound.

Shen Wang was in all black; Zhou Xiangzhe was in all white. They were nearly the same height, and standing together they looked like a pair of reapers. Nobody nearby dared get close.

The image made Shen Wang laugh. He finished laughing, then greeted him. 'Morning.'

'Morning. What are you doing out so early?' Zhou Xiangzhe asked.

Shen Wang waggled his phone, smiling. 'Got a mission.'

'A mission?' Zhou Xiangzhe actually paused. 'The Anti-Contamination Center issued you a mission?'

Shen Wang nodded.

'That's not right.' Zhou Xiangzhe frowned. 'I'm your team captain — why would the Anti-Contamination Center go around me and send you a mission directly? I didn't hear a word about this.'

Shen Wang thought: obviously, because this isn't an Anti-Contamination Center mission. It's cover my brother cooked up for me on the quiet.

Which is exactly why I can't tell you.

Across the street, not far off, Hound grabbed Lan by the arm before he could bolt.

'Why is this guy showing up at my little brother's door this early?! What's he plotting?!'

'Is he trying to bring breakfast and steal my brother's heart? Classic scheming!'

'Don't you have a team to run, Mr. North Star Captain?! You've got nothing better to do than lurk outside my brother's place?!'

Hound kept a grip on him to stop the rage from tipping into a full charge. 'I should point out — he doesn't need to steal your brother's heart. They're already together.'

Lan shot Hound a vicious look, then squatted down and went back to his book.

Across the street, Zhou Xiangzhe had already sensed something was off.

'Don't go yet. Let me find out what's going on with the Anti-Contamination Center first.'

'Logically speaking, even if they're assigning you a mission, they should at minimum notify me. That's just basic procedure.'

'Zhou Xiangzhe.' Shen Wang said his name directly. 'Can you please not get in the way of my mission?'

Zhou Xiangzhe blinked, looking at him. 'You don't want me to ask?'

'You always do this — my brother's going to like you even less.' Shen Wang said, carefully oblique: 'Even if you want us together forever, that doesn't mean we're glued at the hip. I'm always going to need to go on missions alone sometimes.'

Zhou Xiangzhe looked at him, Shen Wang's reflection caught in those golden eyes.

He thought: Shen Wang just mentioned his brother.

He'd actually started to suspect that this brother Shen Wang kept referencing was Lan — the Science Academy defector — because the two of them had shown a kind of familiarity that had no business being there.

The night before last, the Science Academy had been in crisis. The third-generation test subject had escaped — not on his own, but with help, by all appearances. The Academy had concluded that it was the defector Lan who'd slipped into the facility and taken Hound out, since only Lan could enter the lab without a trace. They were still working out how he'd found the place.

So — did Shen Wang's departure have something to do with Lan and the Science Academy?

'Can you keep yourself safe?' Zhou Xiangzhe asked.

'Of course.' Shen Wang tugged lightly at his own hair, dark eyes full of warmth and brightness. 'Zhou Xiangzhe, haven't we made a deal? We're each other's medicine.'

'If I'm already asking you not to sacrifice yourself for me, how could I go and get myself hurt on purpose? That's not who I am.'

Zhou Xiangzhe let out a slow breath. '…Take care of yourself.'

He said it again. 'Don't get hurt. Promise me.'

If Shen Wang's brother really was Lan — a Grade S dual-talent Aberrant — then Lan could protect Shen Wang no matter what.

And if it wasn't Lan, or if Shen Wang came back hurt, he would find Lan and settle that score personally.

He would.

'You worry too easily.'

'Can't help it. You're my Xiao Shiwu.'

Watching things calm down across the street — it looked like Zhou Xiangzhe had given up trying to stop Shen Wang — Hound let out a quiet sigh of admiration. 'Your little brother's something else.'

'Obviously. My brother is the most capable person in the world. They shouldn't be together.'

'But they already are.'

'Which is exactly why I'm opposed.' Lan crouched there, watching the two of them pull each other into a hug. 'They're not right for each other.'

Hound was curious. 'What makes you think they're not right for each other?'

'If Zhou Xiangzhe weren't a Grade S Aberrant, maybe it'd be fine. But he just had to be the Anti-Contamination Center's Grade S Aberrant.' Lan exhaled, tone darkening. 'You're young, you don't get it. What's between them isn't just a question of different sides — there's also the question of deception.'

Hound thought about it. 'Why do you think they'd care that much about the deception part?'

'If it were me, I wouldn't care.'

Lan glanced at him.

He thought: because you're human. And you're a human who's been through what the Science Academy put you through — so you don't push people away, and you're not drawn to humans in any simple, uncomplicated way.

But Shen Wang was different. His brother wasn't purely human. The moment his identity came out, it would only push him and Zhou Xiangzhe to opposite sides.

The rain had picked up a little. Zhou Xiangzhe reached into his bag, pulled out an umbrella and opened it. It covered them both, the rain pattering against the canopy in quick, steady bursts.

At that exact moment, Hound let out a violent sneeze.

He stared at the umbrella in Zhou Xiangzhe's hand with something close to horror.

'I think,' he said, 'I understand what you mean now.'

Lan looked at him, puzzled. 'Why do you suddenly understand?'

Because of that umbrella!

Hound was a Grade S sensory-talent Aberrant — Contamination set his nerves on edge like nothing else. One pass through Shen Wang's place and he'd already clocked the polluted paintings hanging in the bedroom. And now he was staring in disbelief at the umbrella in Zhou Xiangzhe's hands. The entire canopy. Every last panel of it. Made from Contaminant paintings.

Holy hell — that umbrella was basically several Contaminants stacked on top of each other.

Going off what he'd eavesdropped yesterday, it sounded like Shen Wang had this thing custom-made and then gave it to Zhou Xiangzhe — special materials, guaranteed indestructible.

Well, yeah, it was indestructible. It was made of several Contaminants. A bit of drizzle wasn't going to touch them.

Hound's expression went solemn. He bared his teeth instinctively.

'My mistake. I thought your brother had that soft, gentle look about him — figured he had to be way more mild-mannered than you.'

'Turns out he's scarier than you are!'

Lan tapped him on the head with the corner of his book. 'Don't say bad things about my brother.'

God, what a little brother obsessive.

Either way, now that Zhou Xiangzhe had spotted Shen Wang, slipping away to meet up with Lan was off the table. Lan sent Shen Wang the destination directly — they'd rendezvous there — and Zhou Xiangzhe, true to form, made the excuse of 'checking on the mission details' to walk Shen Wang partway.

When Shen Wang mentioned where he was headed, Zhou Xiangzhe went quiet for a few seconds.

'What's wrong?'

'Nothing. If you need to travel to another High Wall, you can take the Anti-Contamination Center's dedicated aircraft — about two hours.' Zhou Xiangzhe said: 'But are you going to the Labyrinth City?'

Shen Wang paused. A beat later: 'How did you know?'

'So it is the Labyrinth City.'

Zhou Xiangzhe's brow creased slightly.

In truth Shen Wang didn't know anything yet — the name 'Labyrinth City' had come from a message Lan had just sent him, saying it was their destination. Shen Wang had never heard the name before.

'The first squad of North Star took a Labyrinth City mission once. Look it up and you should find something.'

They walked to the Anti-Contamination Center. Zhou Xiangzhe closed the umbrella, gave it a shake to flick off the water, then leaned it against the rack to drip dry.

Shen Wang opened the North Star internal mission database and typed 'Labyrinth City' into the search bar. Sure enough, a mission file came up — stamped FAILED.

He tapped it open.

Mission name: Labyrinth City — Location and Movement Investigation.

Mission objective: Locate the Labyrinth City and determine the conditions for entry.

Attachment 1: The witness reports that one night he suddenly heard a vendor's call. He followed the sound and found a brightly lit city presenting scenes from the old era — students heading home after evening study, rows of street food carts at the intersection, all food items unique to the pre-collapse period, and a shopping center stocked with abundant fresh produce.

The witness assumed he'd slipped through time. He tried asking the people around him what the date was, warned them that a disaster was coming and urged them to prepare. Then he turned around and found himself in the corner of an alley. Confused, he left the alley — and on the elevator ride up, he realized someone was following him: a person he'd spoken to in the old-era city.

Three days later the witness took his own life. In the days before, he had been raving incoherently, repeating over and over: 'They're following me.'

Attachment 2: The witness was walking down the street when someone called his name out of nowhere. He turned but saw no one — and noticed instead that the moon had turned into a Blood Moon, a single enormous eye visible inside it. He ran home in a panic, but kept feeling like someone was right in front of him, though no matter how he looked, there was no one there.

Finally he turned on his phone camera — and stared in horror at the figure standing by his bed. The figure was missing one eye and was asking him to give it back.

One day later the witness died. He was crushed by an out-of-control truck. The impact knocked one of his eyes out.

Attachment 3: The witness was out on a night run with earphones in — no way he should have heard any music from outside — but a sound reached him anyway, as if it were playing inside his head. He found himself somewhere strange. The music kept coming, and it was achingly beautiful.

When the song ended, he found himself back where he'd started. The next day he woke up with an awakened talent.

Attachment 4: The Labyrinth City, also known as the City of Celestial Sound, was the subject of a legend that circulated before the High Wall was built.

'Those who are true of heart will enter the City of Celestial Sound, which will grant any wish; those who are wicked will enter Blood Moon Manor or Walking Corpse Village, where they will be punished.'

'Only those who hold an Invitation Letter may freely enter and leave the City of Celestial Sound.'

Mission outcome: Failed. All mission personnel have lost contact.

'The reason it's called the Labyrinth City is that too many of its secrets have never been uncovered.' Zhou Xiangzhe walked Shen Wang toward the departure terminal. 'Everything about it — its location, the conditions to enter — is a mystery. Every witness who's ever been found couldn't say where exactly they entered from.'

'The legendary Invitation Letter has never turned up either. Some in the first squad think the legend probably picked up extra lines over time and the Invitation Letter might not exist at all; others think it might open a different location — somewhere none of those witnesses ever went.'

'But the City of Celestial Sound did cause several people to awaken talents, which is why the Anti-Contamination Center wants the mystery solved.'

Zhou Xiangzhe sighed. 'So it's not surprising they'd want you to take a look. Your talent is something special, after all.'

'From the looks of it, the witnesses all got in after being contaminated under specific conditions.' Shen Wang said. 'But I'm a Contamination Immunity Aberrant — there's no way I'd get contaminated. I probably won't find anything. I'll try twice, and if nothing turns up I'll head back.'

Zhou Xiangzhe looked at him. 'Whether you find it or not, tell me in advance. Got it?'

'I'll worry about you.'

Both Zhou Xiangzhe and Shen Wang had lost people. They both knew what longing and worry felt like, what it was to lose someone you treasured.

Because they'd each lived that ache, they made sure the people they cared about didn't have to live it too.

'Of course.' Shen Wang nodded, smiling. 'You know me — Xiao Shiwu never breaks a promise. I'll make it back from that hospital and come find you.'

Zhou Xiangzhe smiled, barely — just a flicker.

'And Xiao Qi will be waiting at the door.'

It was a promise they'd made since they were small.

…

There weren't many people heading to Chenmo West City — mostly guard unit members on external deployment. Shen Wang found a random seat and sat down. The guard unit members in front of him kept glancing back.

Eventually someone worked up the nerve to come over and ask, hedging the whole way: was North Star heading to Chenmo West City because something had gone wrong there?

The way they saw it, North Star wasn't just the strongest team in Central City — it was the strongest in the country. A North Star member suddenly being sent out could only mean Chenmo West City had the kind of trouble only North Star could handle.

Shen Wang had no idea what to do with this. In the end he told them he was there for an external investigation, not a Contamination incident. They drifted back to their seats looking only half convinced.

Yeah. They still didn't believe him.

Two hours later the plane landed at Chenmo West City. Shen Wang got off and messaged Lan, but Lan didn't reply. Fortunately Lan had already sent him a location before they'd left.

Shen Wang wasn't sure whether this spot was actually the entrance to the Labyrinth City, because Lan's earlier message had said: the entry conditions for the Labyrinth City are extremely strict — even he couldn't meet them — so he'd gone to find reinforcements, someone who could force their way in.

He didn't know who that person was, but he trusted Lan without question.

Before heading out, Shen Wang first sent Zhou Xiangzhe his location and a note that he'd arrived, then set off for the coordinates.

Chenmo West City's infrastructure wasn't that far behind Central City's — at most, Central City felt newer and more developed. But in Chenmo West City you could tell the population was thinner, the infrastructure less widespread.

So after getting off the subway, Shen Wang had to transfer to a bus and then walk the rest of the way.

Compared to the subway, the bus really showed its age — windows thick with dust, a crack running through one of them, seats not much cleaner. One look and Shen Wang thought: if Zhou Xiangzhe were here, he'd stand for two hours before he sat down on this. So Shen Wang happily snapped a photo and sent it to Zhou Xiangzhe, then settled into a seat.

He'd barely sat down before Zhou Xiangzhe replied. This outwardly icy man sent back a sticker.

It was a wide-eyed black cat with a look of pure horror.

'When did he learn to do that?' Shen Wang muttered, poking at the cat on his screen. 'That's kind of cute?'

So Shen Wang sent back a photo of the bus window, completely caked in dust — just to torment his germaphobe.

Inside a Central City conference room, Ming Guang had been sitting on his patience for a while now. Watching Zhou Xiangzhe openly play on his phone, the vein in Ming Guang's forehead refused to settle down.

'Zhou Xiangzhe, have you never been in a relationship?! Can you put your phone on silent?! We are in a meeting!'

Zhou Xiangzhe looked at him. 'Can I just not attend?'

'Do you hear yourself?! You're the captain! How can you just not attend?!'

Ming Guang could clearly hear Zhou Xiangzhe let out a sigh — pure 'this is such a hassle' energy.

So this was what a man in love looked like. Even a meeting felt like an interruption to swapping nonsense with the person he was into.

Unbelievable.

After about half an hour on the bus, Shen Wang finally got off and started walking the route, still chatting with Zhou Xiangzhe as he went.

Shen Wang wasn't the type to be glued to his phone — he only picked it up when he was bored, and he almost never chatted with people. He had barely any contacts. This was the first time he'd found himself actually enjoying a conversation over text, even a little reluctant to say goodbye.

And then, out of nowhere, Shen Wang heard singing.

His head snapped up. He looked around. His feet stopped.

As a music lover, Shen Wang had listened to almost every surviving pre-collapse song in circulation — and Zhou Xiangzhe had tracked down more than he could count. Which meant he knew, without a doubt, that he had never heard this one.

It was a woman's voice — lilting and flowing, unmistakably individual. Just the opening note was enough to pull you under.

An extraordinary song, no question. It had Shen Wang's full attention from the first second.

Shen Wang's brow creased slightly. He really wanted to stand there and let it finish — but something sharp told him that if he did, he wouldn't be standing in the same place anymore. So he dropped his head and fired off a message to Zhou Xiangzhe.

Zhou Xiangzhe, the things I sacrifice for you. You'd better make it worth it.

By the time he hit send, the music had cut off. Shen Wang raised his head and found himself, as expected, somewhere else entirely. In front of him stood three closed doors. Two of them were bare — nothing but plain panels. The third had a handle, and beside it stood a figure.

The figure's head was bowed; its face wasn't visible. It had no shadow.

It just stood there, holding up a sign. Three characters on it: 'Blood Moon Manor.'

'I know I'm not exactly a saint,' Shen Wang said drily, 'but getting routed straight to Blood Moon Manor feels a bit much. No need to remind me quite so pointedly that I'm the villain.'

He pocketed his phone and walked up to the figure.

'Hello?'

'Hello.' The thing could actually talk.

It didn't lift its head. Didn't move at all.

'Do you have an Invitation Letter? Only those with an Invitation Letter may enter Blood Moon Manor.'

'An Invitation Letter, huh.'

Shen Wang thought for a moment. 'Have you seen someone? Black hair, silver eyes with a bit of purple in them, kind of on the thin side, doesn't look like a great person. We came together.'

'I'm sorry, I haven't seen anyone like that. Please present your Invitation Letter.'

My dear brother, where are you? Weren't we supposed to meet here? Where did you go?

And where exactly am I supposed to get an Invitation Letter.

Shen Wang reached into his pocket — and blinked, because his fingers found something that didn't belong to him.

He carefully pulled out whatever it was, and found himself looking at an Invitation Letter.

Shen Wang stared at it.

'An Invitation Letter! Why didn't you say you had one? That's really quite rude of you!'

'Ha. I found out one second before you did.'

Looks like his brother had taken care of everything after all.

The figure at the door finally stirred. It very efficiently swung open the door marked 'Blood Moon Manor' for him.

'Please go right in, sir! Everyone's been waiting for you!'

'Sure.' Shen Wang nodded. 'Thanks. See you.'

He stepped through the door, and the world went dark in an instant. Shen Wang looked up. A blood-red moon hung in the sky — a single huge eyeball nested inside it, grotesque and wrong. He stared at it, expression blank.

'Blood Moon,' Shen Wang murmured. 'What's the moon supposed to symbolize?'

'But didn't Lan say Mom was here? What does any of this have to do with her?'

/

Elsewhere, Lan was waiting for Shen Wang to arrive.

Meanwhile, a man in a white shirt and black trousers was lying flat on the ground like a piece of dried fish. His dark eyes stared up at the sky with deep grievance, like a corpse that had been wronged for a thousand years.

'I'm dehydrated, I'm dying of thirst, I'm turning into jerky.' Drifting Fish kept muttering under his breath. 'I never should've come. I'm a fish. Fish and deserts don't mix. I need water. I'm going to die.'

Hound squatted beside him and poked him with a finger.

'Hurry up and die. I'm hungry. I want grilled dried fish.'

Drifting Fish rolled around on the ground in fury.

Lan watched them carry on, but inside he was growing more and more uneasy. He kept feeling like he'd missed something.

Finally Lan flipped his book open and turned straight to the section about his brother.

He started reading fast from the top. Partway through, his brow suddenly pulled together — and then his eyes went slightly wide.

'What did this say?!'

The outburst nearly gave Drifting Fish a heart attack. He sprang up from the ground like a fish breaking the surface and almost clocked Hound in the nose.

Both of them looked at Lan.

'This is a disaster.' Lan frowned at the page. 'The entry conditions for the Labyrinth City are extremely strict — even I can't meet them. So I completely overlooked the fact that Shen Wang is a perfect fit. He can actually get an Invitation Letter.'

'Of course. Of course. He's Mom's child. He inherited her musical talent from the very beginning — he's collected hundreds, thousands of pre-collapse songs.'

Lan snapped the book shut. 'Drifting Fish, open a channel — now! Move!'

'We have to catch up to him!'