Chapter 1

After the onset of autumn, Xiaocheng became the realm of crows.

These ugly yet intelligent creatures were the true masters of the city. They gathered on the street trees, mocking the hurried passersby with their hoarse, monotonous voices:

"Quack, quack, bad luck to you!"

Occasionally, they would show off their superior flying skills under the sky filled with spoke-like clouds.

The faces of the pedestrians were as gloomy as if they had lost their parents. They glared at the black shadows circling in the sky and the strange cloud formations above.

After mid-September, the sky of Xiaocheng was covered by these clouds. Within a week, there were six earthquakes of magnitude 3, three of magnitude 4, and two of magnitude 5.

The magnitude and intensity had not yet reached the city's limit, but the fragile human hearts had already been shaken.

More than half of the sound waves and radio waves circulating in the air of Xiaocheng were desperately shouting:

"Earthquake clouds, earthquake clouds!"

This "folk science concept" was openly discussed by experts and scholars and appeared in the media, even as the world was about to enter the 22nd century.

Lu Nan was somewhat influenced by this.

When he got off the low-altitude bus with his inseparable black leather notebook, his wristband vibrated. After the signal connected, his aunt, Ms. Luo Shuqing, immediately said:

"Come home for dinner tonight; your uncle has prepared the meal!"

Due to the frequent earthquakes recently, his aunt, who had already allowed him to live independently, tore up the agreement and repeatedly ordered him to return home to live, so she could take care of him.

Lu Nan could not agree. He had worked hard to get into Zhixing College, wasn't it for the sake of an independent and free life? Besides, this was a critical moment, and any delay could have unknown consequences!

The problem was that Lu Nan was not good with words, and his reasons were not convincing at all, making the situation increasingly tense. It seemed that his aunt was about to reach through the phone and drag him back.

Just as he was feeling frustrated, a message came in. Lu Nan only glanced at it briefly and sighed with relief, quickly adding another reason: "I need to review today, and I have a club interview tomorrow..."

"Interview? Which club?"

"Uh, the Esoteric Studies Research Club."

"Esoteric Studies?"

Ms. Luo Shuqing was somewhat suspicious. Soon, she called out:

"Mo Ya, Mo Ya!"

After a moment, a slightly hoarse voice joined the call, the unique lazy tone belonging to Lu Nan's cousin, Mo Ya, who had just graduated from Zhixing College last year.

"The Esoteric Studies Research Club, I know. It's said to be very wealthy, and the people inside are quite capricious."

Ms. Luo Shuqing, who disliked her daughter's attitude, immediately scolded her: "Speak properly!"

Mo Ya laughed, "No matter how well you speak, your 'dear son' is in trouble. A month into the semester, and he's still interviewing, clearly not fitting in! Zhixing College emphasizes the integration of Eastern and Western ideas, and Western thinking is very prevalent. Without club activities, he'll lose credits, and as for promotion and finding a mentor, the school's recommendation letter won't say anything good..."

This inflammatory statement instantly sparked another mother-daughter war, shifting the focus of the conflict. Lu Nan, who was over a hundred kilometers away, managed to escape unscathed.

By this time, Lu Nan had been standing in his living room for almost half an hour. The sky had darkened, and the automatic lights in the living room illuminated his shadow on the window of the opposite high-rise apartment.

Lu Nan issued a command, and the curtains automatically closed.

But at that moment, a black shadow darted through the closing curtains, landed on the open balcony, and used its thick beak to pry open the sliding door of the floor-to-ceiling window, strutting in with an air of nonchalance.

This uninvited guest was a typical bald-nosed crow, entirely black except for the grayish-white base of its beak. It looked robust and was larger than its kind. Under the soft lighting, its feathers shimmered between black and deep blue.

After pacing a few steps in the room, the crow flapped its wings and perched on the coffee table in the living room. It then leaned forward, and a thumb-sized sealed glass test tube slid out of its thick beak onto the table, containing a half-tube of white powder.

Having expelled the foreign object from its throat, the crow felt much more comfortable and showed off its voice:

"Caw, caw!"

"India, be quiet!"

In the enclosed space, the crow's call was a disaster. Lu Nan scolded it, took the test tube to clean it, and then brought out prepared cooked meat strips to silence its mouth.

Named "India," the crow was quite cooperative. It ate elegantly and even used its wing to signal Lu Nan to pour it a glass of water.

On the dining table nearby, dinner was laid out, perfectly fitting the monotonous skills of the home AI, lacking in color, aroma, and taste, but with a generous portion, enough to feed three to five people. Lu Nan, however, displayed a superhuman appetite and ate very quickly, finishing at the same time as India.

After India was full and satisfied, it neatly flew out of the sliding door and took off.

Lu Nan tidied up the dishes and was about to go to his study when his wristband vibrated again. This time, it was his cousin, Mo Ya. Just like her mother, she started with:

"How do you plan to thank me this time?"

"Uh, thanks, sis."

"Tsk, can't even come up with a new way to say it!"

Mo Ya, knowing Lu Nan's poor communication skills, didn't tease him further and got straight to the point: "Was the Esoteric Studies Research Club recommended to you, or did you choose it yourself?"

"I chose it myself..."

"Do you know what kind of place it is?"

Lu Nan thought for a moment and simply replied: "It's a semi-club, semi-research institute, privately funded, with substantial resources and a high degree of autonomy compared to the college."

Mo Ya sneered, "Feels good, doesn't it?"

Lu Nan didn't know how to respond.

Mo Ya reminded him, "It's just a playground for the rich kids. The core members form their own circle and spend their days researching strange things to pass the time. Ordinary students are just there to do the grunt work. So it looks great, but only for that 'circle,' not related to academics or skills..."

Lu Nan interrupted Mo Ya's lecture, "They can do experiments there."

Mo Ya drew out her words, "Oh, so your experiments are getting more and more complicated. But, little brother, you should join a physics or chemistry club for experiments."

Lu Nan calmly responded, "Those clubs require an internship period. I already have the relevant qualifications from junior high, so there's no need to repeat the same work."

"Can you do experiments in the Esoteric Studies Research Club?"

"Yes, I read the introduction and the school forum. It's the only club where freshmen can conduct independent and free experiments, and many involve psychotropic drugs, which suits my needs."

Mo Ya mocked him, "Can a grunt worker do free experiments?"

"Maybe a skilled worker can, especially if the boss is a layman."

The usually sharp-tongued Mo Ya was momentarily speechless, taking a few seconds to respond:

"Alright, Mr. Skilled Worker. I'll just remind you once: at Zhixing College, changing clubs will definitely label you as 'unsociable.' The next four... no, you're in the tenth grade, so eight years, you'll have plenty of time to regret it."

"Oh."

Lu Nan's response made Mo Ya sneer, "Alright, now let's talk about the reward."

"Reward?"

"Risking my neck for you, and a 'thanks' is all I get?"

"Uh, what do you want?"

"Your apartment, for one night, to host a small party."

Lu Nan hesitated, "Which day?"

"Next month, the 15th, 20 days from now..."

"19 days."

"...Alright, 19 days. I don't need you to prepare anything, just hide or move away anything that shouldn't be seen, and I'll take care of the rest."

Lu Nan calculated the time, "It should be fine, but you need to remind me five days in advance."

"Not very enthusiastic, but fine."

She hung up, and Lu Nan started to worry about the "temporary relocation" 19 days later.

Despite this, he still thanked Mo Ya. If not for his cousin's years of cover, how could he have continued his dangerous experiments under his aunt's watchful eye?

Shaking his head, Lu Nan decided to put all the trivial matters aside for tomorrow.

It was now 7:22 PM on September 26, 2096. The inefficient daytime had finally passed, and Lu Nan welcomed the quiet and precious night.

He walked into his study, where a black leather box was neatly placed on the desk, quite large and somewhat out of place.

After entering his fingerprint and password, he lifted the lid. With a low, fine "click," the neatly arranged instruments inside, divided into layers and categories, rose up and, guided by their respective carriers, unfolded like petals, each moving to its designated position.

In an instant, the desk had transformed into a simple yet fully functional workbench.

Lu Nan then took a medical portable refrigerator from the bookshelf, placed it on the desk, and opened it. Inside were various sealed drug ingredients. The white powder delivered by India, after a series of tests confirmed it was correct, was also placed inside.

With this, the materials and instruments needed for the evening's work were all ready... at least, everything that could be prepared was there.

After doing all this, Lu Nan took a deep breath and opened a hidden compartment on the side of the desk, taking out an old notebook.

The cover was brown, the same size and format as the notebook Lu Nan always carried, which was a loose-leaf type. However, due to years of use and the influence of the numerous ink records inside, the brown leather notebook looked more loose and the cover was slightly swollen. It also lacked a paper-like soft screen.

Lu Nan placed his own notebook aside and carefully opened the brown leather notebook.

On the inside cover, there was a neatly drawn geometric figure. It was a tetrahedron, to be precise, along with its inscribed and circumscribed spheres, forming a flawless geometric structure.

Below this figure, someone had written four cryptic lines in a messy script:

"My heart is a prison, my heart is a furnace;

My heart is a mirror, my heart is a kingdom."

Lu Nan couldn't claim to understand the true meaning of this figure and the sixteen characters, but whenever he turned to this page, observing and reciting them, all his杂乱的想法都会沉淀下去，心意自然归于澄静。

在扉页停留了几秒钟后，卢楠往后翻，在密密麻麻的字句中寻找有关药物制剂的内容和关键词，并对着那些深奥的词句和复杂的分子式，埋头琢磨：

“弱效、替代、简化……爷爷，你就帮帮忙吧！”

喃喃低语声中，时光倏忽而过。

窗外的灯火亮起又熄灭，工作台前，卢楠的注意力始终在笔记本和实验器皿之间来回，根据笔记本上的数据，添加各种药品原料。

期间，他只在原料的慢反应阶段打了个盹，睡了大约两个小时。

凌晨3点15分，随着最后一滴溶液的加入，反应器皿中的浑浊液体开始剧烈沸腾，颜色也在慢慢转变。

卢楠紧盯着仿佛随时都会炸开的透明器皿，以确认反应是否符合要求。两分钟后，他才活动了一下有些僵硬的脖子，开始清理实验台上的杂物，同时低声记数：

“二甲基色胺存量0，卡西酮存量0，甲羟芬胺2毫克，西替利司他5毫克……”

随着他的声音，平摊在实验台上的自用笔记本，翻开着的仿纸软屏闪烁微光，界面上的记录表自动改变了相关数据，里面绝大部分药品的存量已经归零，或无限趋近于零。

卢楠清理的杂物主要是这些药品的包装容器，将可回收的清洗消毒，不可回收的分类归拢，大约花了半个小时左右的时间，小型工作台上已经恢复了秩序和洁净。

反应器皿中的淡绿色药剂，在持续的沸腾后，慢慢冷却。到这一步，基本可以确定，他一晚上的努力没有白费。

不过，棕色笔记本上也有一段相应的简短记录：“q-11r出现多发性周围神经炎；q-27r出现过敏症状，濒死，其他实验体无异常……基本具备替代效果，副作用较难确定。”

卢楠摇了摇头，估摸着时间还差一些，就划动软屏，联网进入常去的“秘星”论坛。

虽然是凌晨时分，论坛上的夜猫子们却还在进行着热烈的论战。

论战的中心正是夏城。

最近夏城诡异的“地震期”在这个充满神秘学倾向的论坛上掀起了一波又一波高潮。很多人都在讨论地震的成因，地质结构、板块共振、元气泄露……什么稀奇古怪的话题都能往上扯。

甚至有人信誓旦旦地讲，最近某大公司正在夏城进行秘密试验，很可能就是本次“地震期”的源头。

对于这些无聊的话题，卢楠是一点兴趣也没有。要说关心，也只有两点：

一、地震会不会影响他的实验；

二、愈演愈烈的恐慌情绪会不会让姑母大人强行把他拎回去！

卢楠习惯性地输入权限密码，准备登录论坛内部版块，网站提示却跳出来：“你的权限不足，请向管理员申请验证。”

一愣神，卢楠便轻砸额头，是了，他已经被踢进了小黑屋，被封的理由很简单：非常时期，一切购买贴都以钓鱼贴处理。

这是半个月前，警方捣毁某跨国非法药品交易网络之后，论坛立起的新规。风声正紧，卢楠却一头撞在枪口上。

被封ID事小，药品渠道断掉才是麻烦。

以他现在的药品原料存量来看，就算罗淑晴女士不动手，他也快做不下去了。而所需的五十种常用药品中，大部分都划入了精神药品管制名录，作为未成年人，他不可能从药店购置。

难道真要走“黑线”？

“秘星”论坛的这条渠道固然是非法的，货源来路却还算可靠，很多都是厂家的“额外交易”，以规避严厉的精神药品管制，勉强还算在“商业”的范畴。

至于“黑线”，今天“墨水”带来的试用品，质量还算过得去。但这条线上的货源，就是奔着严重犯罪去的，其上下游均与黑帮有着密切联系——说白了，那就是一帮子毒贩！

所以……比起与毒贩打交道，进入神秘学研究社当杂工算什么？他不指望能从社团配齐原料，只要能找到一条新的进货渠道，就是赚的。

终于，反应器皿中的液体不再沸腾，并迅速冷却。

卢楠当即收拢一切杂念，打开阀门，让药剂流入早已准备好的无针注射器内，随即将这一剂堪称巨量的精神药品混合物注入上臂血管。

自始至终，他的表情都没有丝毫变化。

接下来，卢楠一丝不苟地做好了实验器具的清洗工作，再按下复原键，将其还原为黑色手提箱，这才撕下实验手套，将棕色笔记本小心翼翼放回暗格，把冷藏箱藏入书柜，再去卫生间洗漱。

4点整，卢楠换了一身运动帽衫，挟着从不离身的黑皮笔记本，走出家门，开始了雷打不动的每日晨跑。