When Wuxing finally lay down on the hard bed, he fell asleep instantly the moment he closed his eyes. It was part of his training to will himself to sleep as needed, never wasting any chance for rest — in his line of work, every second counted. This time, however, lack of sleep and physical exhaustion were more likely the reason he drifted off to sleep immediately.
Wuxing knew he was dreaming when he opened his eyes again. Instead of the darkness of the cell, it was too bright all around him.
"Hello?" His voice echoed into the distance, as though he was once again standing in the vast corridor outside his cell.
"Is it a lucid dream? Weird…" He thought he had only gone into a shallow sleep; since joining Seven Stars he never slept too soundly so he could wake up alert at the slightest movement. Maybe this time he was too tired and went into a deeper sleep than he expected.
"Don't worry. Nothing is going to happen to you," a croaky male voice suddenly spoke up behind him. Quick as lightning, Wuxing spun around and took a defensive stance.
"Who are you?" Wuxing asked as soon as he saw the tall man in a full black suit wearing a devil mask on his face.
"I'm your saviour!" the man proclaimed with a sweeping gesture to himself. "Didn't you just ask for help to get your revenge? I heard your plea and came to help you."
"And why should I trust you?" Wuxing asked, eyes narrowed in suspicion. Who would trust a man wearing a devil's mask?
The devil-masked man shrugged and pretended to look around the empty place pointedly. "I thought you wanted revenge. Or have you changed your mind and decided to spend the rest of your life here in this shithole instead?"
Wuxing didn't say anything and the devil-masked man let the silence stretch on, even putting his hands behind his back in a picture of patience. Wuxing didn't relax his stance; he still wasn't sure if the guy was the real deal or if it was all just a dream after all. He wouldn't lose anything to play along, but he knew that there were no free meals in this world so there had to be a catch somewhere in any case.
"What do I have to do in return?" Wuxing asked.
"Oh, nothing much. When I get bored, I might ask you to do stuff for me every once in a while, like killing someone or stealing something. You know, just trivial things," the devil-masked man said airily.
Wuxing immediately realized what the catch was. "And I suppose I can't say no to your 'requests'?"
"You are smart, boy. But don't worry. I can assure you that I will never ask you to kill your loved ones or friends." Wuxing was almost sure that the man in the suit was smiling as he spoke. "So...do we have a deal?"
"How are you going to help me? Are you going to take me away from here?" Wuxing didn't want to agree to anything until he knew all the details.
"Even better...I will give you a magical power." The man paused for effect, and then continued, "The ability to change yourself into anyone you want."
The man in the devil mask suddenly appeared in front of Wuxing and poked him on the forehead. "Test it out and if you agree, just yell out in your mind, 'I, Li Wuxing, sign the contract!'"
——
Instantly, Wuxing woke up from the dream and realized he was back in his cell. It was already morning, judging from the light coming through the narrow window.
He usually struggled recalling dreams, but this time he remembered every scene and every word he exchanged with the devil-masked man. It felt weird and rather silly, but he decided to check it out — he had nothing to lose anyway.
He got up and went to the mirror by the sink, briefly noting that although he still had bags under his eyes he looked more rested and alert than the night before.
'What should I do?' He mused for a moment, not expecting anything to happen. 'Hmm, maybe...change the colour of my hair to white!" he said in his mind.
When nothing happened after several seconds, Wuxing smiled wryly and thought 'I knew it'. It was all a dream. But his smile froze when, in the next breath, his hair started turning white. He stepped back in surprise, staring at his hair disbelievingly.
After a while his grin widened. 'Turn it back!' he cried excitedly in his mind. This time, the process was much faster; his hair turned back to its natural black colour almost instantly.
"It works!" Wuxing shouted, and jumped at the sound of a baton banging on the bars.
A guard on patrol appeared outside Wuxing's cell and started to yell, "Shut up or I will—" but choked to a stop when he saw who the prisoner was. He quickly turned around and walked away. The chief warden had issued a warning to approach this particular prisoner with caution; he was a dangerous one and the chief didn't want a potentially bloody confrontation with any of the guards.
Wuxing just shrugged and turned back to the mirror; he was too ecstatic to care about the guard. He imagined endless possibilities with his new ability, both for his escape and revenge. He didn't hesitate and yelled in his mind, 'I, Li Wuxing, sign the contract!'
Pain flared in his chest as soon as he finished the sentence.
"Aaaargh!"
Because he did not have a shirt on he saw it clearly: a black chameleon tattoo, the size of a fist, was starting to appear engraved on his skin. It burned as it spread until the image was fully formed.
"Good choice, boy," Wuxing heard the devil-masked man's voice in his mind. "We will have lots of fun together. From now on, you are my next 'Chameleon'! Good luck on your escape!"
Wuxing looked back at himself in the mirror and smiled slowly. He had taken his first step towards his sweet revenge.
"You thought you have done me for good? I will see you all soon…"
Wuxing's chilling laughter echoed outside the cell and down the long hallway, following the guard who ran for his life out of the Alpha Sector.
Wuxing looked at his left chest in the mirror and touched the newly-created black tattoo. That patch of skin appeared to have turned scaly like a real chameleon's skin, making the tattoo look almost as if it was alive.
There was still some time until the wake-up call so Wuxing took the chance to further test his new ability. He sat back on his bed and reached out his hand in front of him, beginning his exploration.
'I want to have longer fingers by one centimetre,' Wuxing wished in his mind while looking at his right hand. The moment he finished thinking that thought, the fingers in his right hand became longer by exactly one centimetre. He smiled.
'So, even if I say something unclear but my intent is only directed towards my right hand, my other fingers won't increase in length. Interesting.'
He imagined his fingers looking back to the way it was before and instantly, without a need for a conscious command, the fingers returned to its previous shape. Wuxing nodded in satisfaction, happy with the results he had gotten so far. He then approached the mirror in his room to test what he could do to his facial features.
He decided to clone the face of the Chief Warden, but when he actually started changing his face, the outcome was unsatisfactory. Their features did not look similar at all. He reverted it back to his own and started thinking about this issue.
'So, I can't just remodel my face from my memory as it will never be completely accurate. I don't have any photo with me but I guess it won't work as the muscles under the skin has to match as well. Hmm.'
Wuxing couldn't think of an idea on how to resolve this problem so he called out to his new friend.
'Devil Face, are you still here?'
'What do you want?' The devil-masked man's annoyed voice sounded in his mind again. 'I'm busy now.'
'How can I copy someone else's facial features? I tried to do it from memory but it didn't work,' Wuxing asked, not bothered by the devil-masked man's humour.
'As long as you have physical contact with people—say, touching—you will be able to scan their bodies and save those information in your tattoo. After that, when you wish to change appearance, just imagine yourself as him or her. This is the last advice you are going to receive from me. Don't call me unless you are out of prison.' Devil Face explained quickly, much to his irritation, before disappearing right after.
'Ha, so that's the trick. I can try it out today when I investigate this place.' Wuxing nodded as he planned his day.
"Wake up, bastards! It's time for your morning routine!"
Suddenly, a guard started banging his metal baton on the bars while he walked alongside the prison cells, yelling for everyone to wake up. When he was finally in front of Wuxing's cell, the guard happened to glance at Wuxing's cold eyes as he was swinging his stick. He froze, his hand stopping midair.
The guard nodded awkwardly at him before moving forward, but this time, the guard did not use all of his strength in banging the baton against the cold steel bars, inwardly frightened that he would annoy Wuxing as he tried to wake up the rest.
"I guess those guards still has some respect for me. I could take advantage of this in the future." Wuxing smiled and stood up, putting on his shirt.
He was ready to take back what was his.