Xu Shixiong and Toyama leaned against the ship's railing, each holding a bottle of Tsingtao beer. The silhouette of the Japanese islands gradually disappeared over the horizon as the calm morning light reflected off the tranquil sea.
Toyama took a small sip from the bottle and asked, "When Red looked at you, what did you feel?"
Red had become their shorthand for the Type-A giant.
"Cold. Like plunging into icy water—suffocating, paralyzing. Toyama, tell me the truth, do you know something?" Xu Shixiong's instincts told him that Toyama was hiding something significant.
Facing the rising sun, Toyama lifted his beer bottle and replied cryptically, "Life is never smooth sailing, and not every question has a straightforward answer."
Xu Shixiong chuckled lightly. "You'll tell me eventually—about Aokyu, about Red."
"Aokyu is a product of advanced technology," Toyama admitted after finishing his beer in one gulp, adding, "It's also my life's work."
Inside the captain's quarters, only two people were present. The captain of the Wuhan ship had given his private room to Qin Feng.
Standing in the middle of the room, Bai Li voiced her concerns with a hint of frustration in her tone. "There was no reason to drag Xu Shixiong into such danger. Toyama and he are the keys to solving the giant problem."
"That's why I brought him to confront Red," Qin Feng said from his seat at the desk near the porthole. A stack of documents and a glass of water sat neatly in front of him. Despite the Wuhan ship's immense displacement, the glass of water remained perfectly still.
"If it weren't for Xu Shixiong, we would've been wiped out in that unknown street in Kamakura City. Why did Red save him? What's so special about Xu Shixiong?" Qin Feng said, his mind racing with questions. He was convinced that there were secrets surrounding Xu Shixiong that had yet to be uncovered.
"You think you have everything under control, but Xu Shixiong is just an engineer. I've looked into his entire background. Once we're back, he'll return to his work as a coach. I won't allow you to risk his life for your own curiosity. He's a national asset, and you!" Bai Li pointed at Qin Feng, issuing a firm ultimatum.
"You are even less allowed to risk your life!"
Qin Feng ignored her reprimand and typed up an email:
"As of this report, Subject Red and Subject Xu appear to have a significant connection. The exact nature of this link remains unknown, but mutual interactions are evident."
After sending the email to a research agency, he turned to Bai Li with a faint smile. "Are you worried about me?"
Bai Li's face turned red.
"This is a critical moment. Of course, I'm concerned about your safety," Bai Li admitted earnestly.
"If there's anything left in this world worth clinging to, I think it's only death."
These were the words written in the suicide note of a girl named Xian. She sat atop a tall building, staring down at the bustling traffic below.
A crowd had gathered at the base of the building, a dark mass of people watching nervously as firefighters set up rescue equipment.
In her daze, Xian imagined the Fujioka Building across the way as a massive figure—red and steaming. The giant's glowing eyes fixed on her, its breath heavy and audible.
Surrounding her were countless people who seemed to shrink into ants. Their cold, indifferent gazes pierced her as they watched her, the spectacle on the roof.
The giant's blood-red eyes seemed to draw her in, like being submerged in icy water—suffocating and paralyzing.
Was it possible that the desire for death could numb a person so completely, even inducing hallucinations? Xian wondered, curiosity flickering through her thoughts.
A few years ago, a meteor streaked across the sky, its long tail crashing into the moon. The resulting tidal waves and radiation rippled across Earth, triggering mutations in the human body.
Xian had been burned in the disaster, leaving indelible scars on her body, including a deep one that ran across her right cheek.
"You'll turn into a bloodthirsty, heartless monster—less human than an animal." These were the words of the schoolchildren who bullied her, taunting her disfigured face. But this wasn't the final straw that broke her spirit.
Her mother had gone missing during the meteor incident, her family splintered apart. Her father remarried, leaving no one to care for the "freak."
In this world, there were two kinds of "freaks": those born as outcasts and those turned into them later.
Xian clearly belonged to the latter.
"Jump!" someone yelled from below.
Her expression didn't waver. She silently observed the crowd, a mass of humanity that seemed worlds apart from her. She looked down on them as though she were the sole survivor of some higher plane.
The red giant before her stood silently, an overwhelming sense of oppression emanating from its massive frame.
"Jump!"
This time, it felt as though the shout came not from the crowd but from the giant itself.