The ultimate blue sea

Chapter 42-Chameleon

The next day, Su Qing cautiously went through three disguises as he covered the area, quietly drawing a mental map.

Over the years, it had become a habit for him to first plan a line of retreat before doing anything. Then he walked into a little alley, carrying an express delivery food box, wearing a deliveryman's uniform with the cap brim pulled low. He walked to the very end of the little alley. In the absolute most unobtrusive corner, there was a painted little arrow with an outline around it like a chalk outline of a corpse.

Su Qing fixed his eyes on the "deceased" little arrow and smiled. He bent and put down the box of food, stretched, stuck earbuds in his ears, put on music that would have raised the dead, and went off humming.

The next day he came back again carrying another box of food. He found that the box he had left the day before was empty. The chicken legs inside had been gnawed clean; only a few chicken bones remained. For some reason, there was a filthy little stray dog tied to a garbage bin nearby. It was stretching its neck, struggling to get at the chicken bones.

Su Qing, not minding the filth, lifted the stray dog. It was this dog's habit to tuck its tail between its legs and seek survival. It fawningly wagged its listless tail at him and stuck out its nose to rub Su Qing's palm.

Su Qing looked down, felt around on the stray dog's belly, and as expected pulled a small roll of paper out from its filthy long fur. There was a crooked flower drawn on it.

Su Qing put on a cunning smile, expressing his pleasure. He kicked away the empty food box from the day before. The little dog began to bark anxiously. Su Qing patted it on the head. "Hush, you can't eat that. If you crunch up the bones and swallow them, they might scrape your guts."

Then he took out a piece of pork rib from the food box and tossed it aside. He put the food box in a place where the dog couldn't reach it and took a piece of paper from his pocket, hiding it under the dog's belly. He took a look at the dog waving its tail like a fan, then turned and left.

In his years of roving with Ji Pengcheng, Su Qing had become acquainted with the ways all the people who, like him, had no identities survived on the fringes of the cities. Each circle had its own rules—for example, this framed arrow was in reality a sign left by one of the city's tramps indicating that he could sell information to the best of his ability. Eating Su Qing's food and replying with this flower meant "we can discuss business."

As a "superior person," Cheng Weizhi had instructed him in the conduct of a person with reason and conscience. Ji Pengcheng had taken him to see all the walks of life and all the conditions of the world.

Most people in this world live within a comparatively narrow circle—students live the life of a student, office workers live the life of an office worker; they have habitual routes and lines of thought. But Su Qing and these others were different. None of them had a so-called "societal role." They could change to fit all kinds of societal roles. They were chameleons, swindlers.

Each day after this, Su Qing brought a box of food, and waiting for him would be the empty box from the day before. But he didn't encounter the stray dog again. This lasted half a month. Su Qing wasn't in a rush, though. He knew that this couldn't be rushed, and he had more than one channel for gathering information. The other channels were in the process of arranging themselves.

Apart from this, he also took some time to make himself a false identity. A "false identity" was different from changing clothes and becoming a different person while on the run. It required a complete conception and character.

His current name was "Lu Dacheng." Male, forties, a little gossipy, an easy-going and likable fat guy, a former truck driver who had had no choice put to start picking up work all over since his son had gone to university. His family background was clean. He had been born into a traditional blue-collar household and graduated from a technical college. His driving was excellent. He had always made his living on the road.