When Gan Qing was saying those words, Yu Lanchuan had just stepped out of the elevator lobby. He looked up and saw his foolish younger brother poke his head out of the next door apartment and looked left and right like he was searching for something.

"What are you looking for?" Yu Lanchuan spoke up. He glanced at his watch to check the time; at this hour, Gan Qing usually didn't even reply to her customers' messages anymore. "What time is it already, you're still disturbing other people at their homes?"

Liu Zhongqi looked in the direction of his voice. When he saw Yu Lanchuan, he was extremely shocked. "Wow, so far!"

Yu Lanchuan raised a brow in impatience. "Hmm?"

"I forgot my keys." Liu Zhongqi explained quickly but it was obvious that the teenager's mind was currently not on his brother.

Liu Zhongqi turned his head back and asked Gan Qing a string of questions in surprise. "You can hear him from such a great distance away? For real? I read in wuxia stories, when someone eavesdrops on someone else's conversation, the moment they breathe the other person would notice them. I always thought it was an exaggeration, is it really possible? Were you born with it or did you train? How did you train… Aiyo, ge!"

Yu Lanchuan raised a hand and pushed the back of Liu Zhongqi's head, forcibly turning his head back around. He nodded at Gan Qing, his face expressionless as he took his younger brother away.

Liu Zhongqi said, "Ge, she can hear the noise from the elevator lobby when she's inside the apartment, just like a bat!"

"Even if you train until you become a radar, you'll still need to depend on guessing when it comes to your English aural test!" Yu Lanchuan said coldly.

Liu Zhongqi, "..."

"Hey," Gan Qing called out to the both of them.

That sound seemed to stroke a finger along the line of Yu Lanchuan's spine. He quivered and came to a stop, feeling that even this witch's voice was infused with impropriety.

Gan Qing handed over Liu Zhongqi's school bag. "Don't forget your things."

There were a few badges on Liu Zhongqi's school bag—football, Carribean pirates, stuff like superheroes—Yu Lanchuan ignored them all but his eyes zeroed in on one in the middle that had a cartoon dog. Little Master Yu's sensitive nerves were immediately triggered and he turned to rant at Liu Zhongqi, "What kind of nonsense are you putting on your bag! Why are you so childish!"

Liu Zhongqi was pressed and kneaded into a lump and rolled back home all dizzy. He didn't understand why his brother was suddenly so strongly against badges. "I've always pinned them there and you didn't say anything before…"

When he got home, Liu Zhongqi still didn't understand what Gan Qing's last sentence meant.

What did she mean by "You can't make up for lost time"?

If it was really as she said, that she knew she was wrong and had after that worked her ass off for a few years, and it was even very effective—Liu Zhongqi had to painfully acknowledge that at least, if they were to sit for an English test right now, she would do better than him—then it was not too late.

There was no restriction on the university entrance exams. Even based on his limited real life experience as a high school student, Liu Zhongqi could come up with plenty of ideas for her. She could apply for student loans; all education institutions had "green lanes" for this purpose. If her results were good, after a year, the various school awards and student loans would be enough. If her results were not good enough, that was also okay, she could work part time. She just had to not be so engrossed in tricking and swindling others that she couldn't break away from doing it. Her current job didn't need too much energy, she could continue doing it.

Liu Zhongqi wasn't just all talk, his words weren't without reason. He had an example right by his side—back then, Yu Lanchuan had depended on various competition awards and scholarships to support himself. That was why he had been very fearless and secure during his teenage rebellious period. Wherever he wanted to stay, he would move there to stay. He had been very unbridled and no one could even dream of restricting him using finances as an excuse.

In a teenager's eyes, Gan Qing was an "old lady" but a twenty or thirty something year old woman continuing her studies was very common in the real world. Since she didn't have to support a family and didn't have any baggage in her life holding her down, why couldn't she give it a try?

Regardless of whether studying four years at university would result in anything noteworthy or not, it would still be better than being a witch at a shop that scammed people, wouldn't it? Even if she didn't take the university entrance exams, in the current day environment, there were many ways if one wanted to learn a trade. Online or offline, paid or free… seeing how she had nothing to do the whole day, how could she still be shameless enough to say "You can't make up for lost time"?

She's obviously just lazy. Wet mud can't hold up a wall! The more he thought, the more Liu Zhongqi felt that he had been tricked.

The teenager was full after eating supper. He went back to his room and memorised vocab for a while. After a very exciting day, he fell asleep in three seconds, all his worries disconnecting from his mind.

However, this kind of contentment was all too rare.

Yu Lanchuan poured himself a mug of hot tea and listened as the sound of Liu Zhongqi reciting vocab in the next room faded away. Sitting on the sofa, he fell into a stupor.

Back when he was at school and had come here to Granduncle's place, he had stayed in the room that was Liu Zhongqi's now. When he came home late in the evening after the lessons for the competition class, he had been just like that kid, scribbling furiously at the study desk. Meanwhile, Granduncle would take up his smoking pipe and, just like Yu Lanchuan now, quietly sit here on his own, doing nothing.

At that time, Yu Lanchuan had really envied people like them. They didn't need to sit for exams, had nothing to do and could go on a mental vacation for as long as they wanted to—such luxury!

Now, he finally had the "right" to that luxury but he was instead envious of the busy high school student in the next room.

Yu Lanchuan was very weary at heart today. He hadn't answered Liu Zhongqi's calls because he had locked himself in the meeting room to take care of a matter—and it wasn't any kind of proper matter. One of the subordinates in his department hooked up with the Head of Finance next door. One was a wife with a husband, the other was a husband with a wife. Not only had they fooled around without a thought, they had even been found out by someone. There was a huge fuss and the entire CBD was rubbernecking. It was as exciting as celebrating the Lunar New Year in advance.

The entire company had been shamed along with the two of them.

Every day, everyone worked until their days were dark and hopeless, the pressure on them as heavy as mountains. Those who were braver would step on the high tension power lines themselves and fooled around or gambled to get some stimulation and dopamine at a low cost. The cowardly ones would hope for the actions of the former to be exposed so that they could stand around and watch and gossip in whispers, and obtain a subtle and ambiguous kind of happiness.

Everytime he encountered something like that, Yu Lanchuan would have a feeling of defeat that he could not put into words.

It wasn't because Director Yu had very high and lofty morals and couldn't stand to see any filth. Instead, he felt that the matter was suffused with a sense of sorrow and helplessness. It was the feeling of a person once thinking that they were capable of reaching the sky, but along with passage of time, their spirits became drained and increasingly, they had a feeling of "I'm nothing, this is all I'll amount to for the rest of my life." This acquired sense of helplessness could only be diverted by seeking what was most base and most easily obtained—food and lust.

Openly pursuing the pleasures of life, to be accomplished yet free from the restraints of convention—this was something everyone acknowledged to have its own special charm.

But to numb your own emotions and seek stimulation due to your own helplessness and powerlessness—this was something pitiful and laughable, a midlife crisis, and everyone would gather around to laugh.

Next door, Han Zhou was taken away by Han Dongsheng who had rushed back late at night. Gan Qing didn't ask too much but looking at how anxious he was, the old man was probably not found yet.

This old man, where could he have gone? This thought appeared in her mind but she felt lazy and didn't want to think further. She emptied her mind and prepared to go to bed.

It was strange. Gan Qing had long since been so sleepy that she was yawning non-stop but now, she couldn't fall asleep for some reason. She sat quietly at the head of the bed for a while but didn't find anything worth losing sleep over. She could only blame it on being overtired so she turned on the bedside lamp and started playing with her phone. She could scroll through the news from all over the world on her phone, both major events and bizarre occurrences, and could scroll as long as she wanted to. They were never-ending anyway. However, those words and their accompanying pictures flowed past her retinas like water, leaving nothing behind. In just a short while, Gan Qing was seeing without reading.

The moonlight streamed in through the window, casting a glow on the begonia on the balcony.

Gan Qing suddenly recalled that when she was still young, someone had once told her, "Adults are not necessarily clever, not necessarily brave and strong, and not necessarily very old. They may not know as much as you and may not be able to defeat you in a fight. The difference between adults and children is that everyone has joy and anger, happiness and sorrow, but if a child is unhappy, there is a reason—there may be a specific cause or it may be because they aren't feeling well and have fallen sick, and their brains aren't producing enough of certain types of hormones.

"Adults are not the same. These so-called 'adults'... Sometimes, there is clearly nothing wrong with their bodies and they can't think of anything in their minds and hearts, but in the deep of the night when they are unable to sleep, they will want to cry for no reason."

"That's not an adult. That's a sick person, isn't it?" The teenage Gan Qing lay on her front, her legs raised up impudently as she disagreed with the speaker.

The person smiled softly. "When the day comes that you too are unable to sleep and also don't know why you can't sleep, you'll understand."

So it was true.

In Han Dongsheng's home on the eighth floor, the lights were still bright. His child was asleep in the room, while the husband and wife were sitting on either side of the coffee table.

Zhou Beibei's eyes were bloodshot. "Where could he have gone? We've asked around at all the places he usually goes to, where else could he have gone?"

Han Dongsheng said, "Don't worry-"

"How can I not worry?" Zhou Beibei raised her voice. "The weather is so cold! There are news everyday about missing old people freezing to death by the roadside, I-"

"Shh." Han Dongsheng pressed down on her shoulder and glanced towards Han Zhou's room. "Don't be loud… Those were all old people with impaired mental faculties who couldn't find their way home. Our dad won't be like that. I'll apply for leave tomorrow and wait for news from the police at home. Don't worry, he'll definitely be all right. Maybe he's not used to staying here and has gone to his friend's home, or perhaps some master had deceived him into joining some kind of weird activity… If we need to spend money, we'll spend the money. Just treat it as making the old man happy. When he comes back, don't lose your temper with him."

Zhou Beibei didn't say anything for a while. Then, she suddenly looked up. "Do you think… that I spoke too harshly yesterday, so my dad…"

Han Dongsheng sighed.

Zhou Beibei covered her face and began to cry. "I didn't do it on purpose."

But spoken words were like spilled water, neither could be taken back.

The old man disappearing for a day could be because of a family argument. But when there was still no sight nor sound of him after three days, the matter became serious.

"The old man has his own house, have we checked it?"

"We've checked it, Yu-ge. We asked for the keys from his family. There was a layer of dust in the house, no one has been there recently!"

"Could he have gone back to his hometown?"

"He was born and bred here, he has no other hometown! We even asked the relatives that he's not close to, he hasn't contacted any of them."

"This is really strange!" Yu Yan muttered as he walked. "Even human traffickers wouldn't kidnap an old man. I've heard of buying a child but who would buy a dad?"

He had just barely finished speaking when his phone rang. "Hello, this is Xiao-Yu from the Dongping District police station… Yes, we have a case involving a missing elderly, we're busy looking for him now… What?"

Yu Yan's came to a stop. After finishing the call, his face changed and he broke into a run. "Master Lan! Master Lan!"

Yu Lanchuan was just getting ready to leave the house to go to work. Yu Yan stopped him, pulling at him as he spoke while still panting for breath. "Do you know anyone from the underworld? The type that catches people and beats them up, and organises beggars to swindle people?"

Yu Lanchuan was bewildered. "Is there something wrong with you?"

"Ai! A colleague from another district called me just now. They also have missing elderly people over there and it all happened recently. The circumstances are pretty similar to Old Zhou from downstairs! Let me tell you, this can't be a coincidence!" Yu Yan said. "And also the Old Madam Lin who was the first to disappear, until now there's still no sight nor sound of her. Quick, help me ask around—at the train stations, bus stations… all those busy places with lots of people, are there any old beggars with broken arms or legs that are unfamiliar faces!"

Yu Lanchuan was stunned by Yu Yan's fertile imagination.

Meanwhile, Officer Yu had no time to explain to him in detail and had turned around and ran off to check the CCTVs.

Beggars' Sect would never admit that what Yu Yan described could happen under their noses. Within a few days, all the beggars in the city became "volunteer police," jittery and on edge as they inspected their territories.

After a week, including the Old Madam Lin who had been the first to go missing, there were already twelve cases of missing elderly people reported to the police stations at several locations. All of them were believers in all kinds of common people "experts" and MLMs for health supplements.

The police dug deep into the ground, pulling out the radishes and turning over the soil, and uncovered quite a few similar syndicates.

There were those who organised "healthy living lectures" and sold medical apparatus, those who had online shops on WeChat and hid themselves on the internet… What was even more outrageous was that even "qigong masters" had crowds of fans—groups of old men and old ladies who meditated along with the "master" come rain or shine and fought to buy the chicken eggs that the master had "infused with energy"!

"It's not worth the price even if the master laid the eggs himself!" Yu Yan came over to grumble angrily to Yu Lanchuan. "He even ran away, right in front of us! He was just like the Spiderman at your place. He leaped up the tree with just a somersault, just like parkour, and disappeared in no time at all! Right now, his group of foolish believers are all starry-eyed and insisting that this master has real skills and is our country's intangible cultural heritage, and that we police officers don't know anything and are slandering traditional cultures! Which sect of yours is he from? Alliance Leader, let me tell you, right now this person is a prime suspect! The missing Old Mr. Zhou and Old Madam Lin have both bought eggs from him!"

"Qigong master?" Upon hearing that, Old Master Yang fell silent for a while. "This… I do indeed know some people…"

Right then, a voice cut in from the door. "It's Travellers' Sect."