Undercover

Author: Nine Dragons
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-01-01
Features: The ordinary-looking teenager Zheng Shengyao has extraordinarily unique palm lines, the contours and veins of which form the face of a demonic entity that steals souls. Everyone who enters his life circle meets an untimely end. Facing a miserable life as if plagued by a disease, Shengyao reaches the brink of collapse. He seeks blessings from gods and Buddha, desperately trying to save his last remaining family member—his mother. However, his palm remains silent, and the demonic face continues to grin cruelly.
Unable to live or die, Shengyao faces a life-and-death struggle in a chance encounter with a human-ghost battle, his life hanging by a thread. As soon as he regains consciousness, he is caught in a fierce struggle between two forces. Shengyao wants to atone for the sins he has brought upon himself—how will he choose? At this moment, the story of Shengyao’s undercover mission begins to unfold.
Nine Dragons uses the real world as a blueprint to construct a virtual world, presenting the contradictions of reality through the depiction of a non-real world and promoting truth, goodness, and beauty. His writing is delicate, sharp, and vivid, with biting, whimsical language and a sarcastic black humor that stirs the increasingly isolated and tense nerves of urban dwellers. It is both amusing and thought-provoking.
"Zheng Shengyao, what do you want to be when you grow up?"
"I want to be a cartoonist."
After school, on the slide of a primary school for lower grades, boys and girls with backpacks wait for their parents to pick them up. They are classmates and live no more than two streets apart. The boy and the girl lick the sweet cones, which the boy bought from the school canteen attendant with all his money. The boy has always liked the girl, often staring blankly at her two small braids in class and frequently giving her small toys like collectible erasers and "Taozi A Dan" stickers. His favorite time is after school when he sits on the slide with the girl, waiting to go home, because their parents often arrive late, and by the time they come, almost all the other children have gone home, even the teasing like "Ha-ha! Boys love girls!" fades away. At that time, they can chat endlessly.
The girl also liked the boy. Though he often looked as if he were lost in thought, she knew he was kind, something she never doubted. She liked to see his focused expression while feeding the stray dogs. No matter how much the worker uncle scolded him, saying that stray dogs were dirty and could bite people, the boy always saved the ham slices from his breakfast sandwich to feed the dogs. The girl also noticed that when the boy fed the dogs, he didn’t throw the ham slices on the dirty ground but placed them in the palm of his hand for the dogs to bite. This thoughtful gesture warmed her heart, and she felt happy for the stray dog that was being treated with respect.
"But you’re not as good at drawing as I am." the girl said.
"I’ll practice hard, and one day, I’ll draw something more popular than Iron Giant. What about you?" the boy asked.
"My dad wants me to be a teacher, but I want to be a female astronaut." the girl pouted.
"Being a female astronaut is great!" the boy said, finishing the last bite of his cone.
A small stray dog, its tail curled like a mustache, climbed the stairs of the slide and stood beside the boy, panting happily. It was named Mac, the name the boy gave it. Mac had just gnawed on half of the boy’s breakfast. This was also the most anticipated time of the day.
"Today’s the last time, Mac!" the boy said, handing his backpack to the girl and holding Mac in his arms as he slid down the long slide. Mac excitedly barked.
The girl watched the boy sliding down the slide with Mac wagging its tail and barking foolishly. For some reason, she felt an emotion that she couldn’t help but express.
"Will you marry me?" the girl shouted.
The boy was stunned, but his face was filled with unmistakable joy.
"Okay!" the boy whispered, nodding endlessly.
In second grade of primary school, a boy named Shengyao fell in love for the first time in his life. He sat beneath the slide, nervous and unsure of how to react, as a happy stray dog named Mac left many droplets of saliva on his face. The girl, Jia Yun, sat on the slide, smiling happily with her cone almost finished. This was also her sweet first love. The boy felt very happy.
But this is not a love story. The girl never...