The more you think about it, the more terrifying it becomes. It's truly terrifying upon deep reflection.

Mike felt as if he had touched upon something truly extraordinary.

If this thing existed in just one place, it wouldn't be that frightening. But the terrifying part is that this kind of thing seems to exist all over the world, forcing you to ponder the underlying mechanisms and sheer scale of it all.

"Mike, what are you spacing out about?" (Their entire conversation is in English.)

At that moment, in this room of the high-rise building, another person walked over to Mike's side. This person was a man, only 25 years old.

His appearance was utterly ordinary, with Asian features, and his clothes were also relatively low-key.

However, this person's status was not ordinary; he was a detective ranked among the top ten in America.

Not one more, not one less, precisely sixth.

It could be said that reaching this level at such an age was already incredibly impressive. After all, Mike, also in the American top ten, was only ranked tenth.

"Nothing much, I just feel this Alice Apartment is unfathomably deep."

"Unfathomably deep? What's so unfathomable about it? Isn't it just a playground for the wealthy?"

"Didn't you experience it yourself at the Alice Apartment in Hua Country? Those apartments house a bunch of deranged criminals, notorious pieces of trash. Then they let some ordinary people in to be their prey. Entertainment for the rich."

"Of course, this matter also took me by surprise. After all, I didn't expect the Alice Apartment to seem to exist in many countries; the scale exceeded my imagination."

"Of course, that's the only thing that surprised me. After all, there are too many types and variations of these entertainment venues for the wealthy all over the world."

"Wasn't there a particularly viral news story a while back? About how wealthy people from our Western countries would pay to shoot refugees fleeing from war zones."

"This world, huh? The rich live such flavorful lives. Just a little something casually exposed can make ordinary people's jaws drop in shock."

"Rich people? Aren't you a rich person too? And aren't you the so-called descendant of royalty?"

Mike raised an eyebrow as he looked at him.

This 25-year-old man's surname was Jin.

His name was Jin Shui.

Of course, this was only the man's Han Chinese surname. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

If using his real surname, he didn't have the surname Jin, but rather Aisin Gioro.

Back in the day, to avoid disaster, those Eight Banners from the Qing Dynasty all changed to Han Chinese surnames. Jin Shui's ancestors were the same, changing from Aisin Gioro to Jin, which was also the most common Han surname adopted by the Aisin Gioro clan.

Jin Shui had lived in America since childhood. It seemed his grandfather's or even great-grandfather's generation had come to America.

Of course, coming to America definitely wasn't empty-handed; they brought vast wealth, which was why Mike teased him about being a rich person.

"If I were truly a rich person right now, I wouldn't be working as a detective."

That was Jin Shui's reply.

Mike said, "Perhaps this is just you experiencing life. Once you've had enough of the experience, you'll go home and inherit a fortune worth hundreds of millions."

Jin Shui sneered, "If only that were the case."

Mike then stared intently at Jin Shui's face.

Mike had a friend who specialized in studying human races and genetics.

That friend once said to Mike, "Have you noticed? If you put Hua Country people who grew up in America and those native to Hua Country side by side, you can tell them apart at a glance."

Mike replied to his friend at the time, "Yes, those Asians who grew up in America can indeed be distinguished from those native Hua Country people at a glance. The style and characteristics of their looks are different on both sides."

Mike also said something else at the time, which was that these Asians who grew up in America since childhood weren't as good-looking as those native to Hua Country.

Then Mike asked his friend what he was getting at with all this.

Mike's friend asked him, "Aren't you curious about the reason behind this? Why is it that they're all Hua Country people, but those who grew up in two different places develop completely different facial style directions?"

Mike naturally shook his head. He had always assumed the difference was due to living in two different countries, with different dietary habits and such. As the saying goes, different environments nurture different people.

Mike's friend revealed the secret.

"That's somewhat related, but not really."

"The real difference between the two is that over in Hua Country, they speak their own language, Chinese, while over here, they speak English from childhood. The focal point of pronunciation in Chinese is in the front part of the mouth, while in English, it's in the back part. The difference in pronunciation focus from childhood leads to corresponding changes in facial structure."

Thinking of his friend's words, Mike stared at Jin Shui. He felt Jin Shui also had that Asian look, the kind shaped by growing up in America and speaking English all his life.

Jin Shui's presence here was naturally because he, like Mike, had been hired. Their tasks were identical: to carry out simple recording and reporting duties here.

Of course, besides the two of them, there were quite a few other detectives in this line of work who had also been hired for continuous shift rotations.

As for who exactly hired them, Mike still hadn't figured it out to this day. He only knew the other party was very generous. They just needed to provide the information they detected according to the requirements.

"Alright, ten more minutes and our shift is over. How about it? Want to grab a coffee with me after we finish?"

Mike made the suggestion to Jin Shui.

Jin Shui, however, seemed somewhat distracted, gazing out the window, his hands resting on the windowsill. He suddenly murmured to himself.

"What you said earlier about me being a descendant of royalty actually woke me up a bit."

"If my Great Qing Dynasty hadn't perished, wouldn't I be at least a Beile by now?"

Hearing this, Mike didn't offer any reply. He knew this guy, Jin Shui. Even though he never usually mentioned his so-called descendant-of-royalty identity, this person was actually very concerned with and proud of this status.

Mike was also someone relatively knowledgeable about Hua Country's history and had quite a lot of contact with Hua Country people.

Therefore, he felt that if a Hua Country person were standing beside them hearing this, they might directly start cursing.

"Oh ho ho, still dreaming your sweet dreams? Sparing your dog's life is mercy enough, and here you are fantasizing about what, restoring your dynasty?"

Hearing this, Mike thought it was a figment of his imagination, but he realized it wasn't right; the voice came from outside, not from his own mind.

A sudden man's voice rang out from behind Mike and Jin Shui.

Mike turned around in surprise because he hadn't expected Jin Shui's words to be overheard. Jin Shui, however, turned around with anger flashing in his eyes.

The speaker was also an Asian.

The kind who grew up in America.

But this Asian was strange. Even though he was also the kind who grew up there, his facial style was exactly like that of native Hua Country people.