The knocking on the door was very light, three unhurried taps, revealing the knocker to be a gentle and polite person.

The three people in the room looked at each other. Aside from Dennis, who was completely clueless, the other two instinctively thought of the same person - that He Liang who looked extremely similar to Xia Chuan.

Xia Chuan, standing closest to the door, naturally walked over to it. The cabin's bedroom door had no peephole-like device, so one naturally couldn't see the situation outside. He lightly grasped the door handle, hesitated for a second, and then opened the door a little.

The instant the door opened, a pale, thin hand suddenly stretched in through the gap, the wrist hooking. With a "snap", the hand accurately hit the switch by the door before anyone could react.

In an instant, the room's lights abruptly went out, plunging everyone into pitch darkness.

Even for someone like Xia Chuan with good night vision, a certain adaptation process was needed for such a sudden darkness. His eyes fell into a physiological dullness in those few seconds, seeing nothing but blackness.

But eyes not seeing didn't mean the limbs were also frozen.

The moment he reacted, he fiercely exerted force with his hand, trying to slam the door shut hard. His strength was extremely great compared to ordinary people. If it were a normal person, that arm reaching in should have been severely crushed by the door at this moment, a one-way trip.

But the person outside the door just happened to not be an ordinary person.

Xia Chuan only felt a greater force ramming at him through the door panel - the force of the person outside pushing the door was much greater than his force closing it. This kind of force that could completely suppress him, before this, he had only felt it from Shen Lan.

He Liang outside the door slid into the room at an extremely fast speed while pushing the door. The movement was so fast it brought up a gust of wind, brushing past Xia Chuan's face.

This series of actions was completed almost in the blink of an eye. The three people in the room were in a passive position from the start, making it difficult to turn things around with limited vision.

Xia Chuan was not helpless in the dark. He could judge the source and direction of the attack based on the airflow caused by each of the opponent's movements, and thus make a counterattack.

He could be considered quite experienced in this kind of confrontation. In the past many years, he had almost never failed. But today he hit a wall, because the opponent's speed was simply too fast, to the point that his judgment always had a slight error.

This kind of error was actually so small it was almost imperceptible. But put between the two of them, it became a big problem.

Xia Chuan felt like he was fighting a Shen Lan with extremely good night vision, and the other party had seized the initiative. This was simply making a joke out of him. The disparity in combat power was equivalent to him fighting against Dennis.

In just a few seconds, he was knocked against the wall by He Liang's merciless elbow strike.

"Are you... misunderstanding something?" Xia Chuan's back hit the cold wall, causing bursts of pain. He raised his hand to press on his stomach, unable to hold back from speaking, with two coughs mixed in due to the pain.

Obviously, He Liang had no goodwill at this time, squarely putting them in an adversarial position. So even though Xia Chuan asked a question, he didn't give the slightest response, seeming to have made up his mind to come in and quickly resolve things, not intending to give any explanation at all.

This hit of his was not light. Xia Chuan felt his abdomen was about to go into spasms, and couldn't help frowning and bending over. He heard Shen Lan fiercely curse, enduring night blindness, relying solely on hearing to orient himself, rushing straight here from the bedside, instantly engaging with He Liang.

"How are you?" Shen Lan's voice was low yet agitated, his tone urgent, full of anger.

"Won't fall." As Xia Chuan replied with this, he had already directly launched an attack at the two entangled people.

He previously didn't understand Shen Lan's words about "having a very familiar aura", because he didn't consider himself a dog's nose, unable to smell this kind of vaguely defined thing. However, at this moment, he suddenly understood. Because even if he couldn't see the two people tangled together, he could still accurately distinguish who he should attack and who he should avoid.

It was like having a kind of inner sense. He could be certain that the one he hit would definitely not be Shen Lan.

Individually, it was hard to say who would win or lose if Shen Lan and He Liang truly fought. At least from physique, the possibility of Shen Lan being at a disadvantage was not high. But because of the addition of the dark environment, Shen Lan became the one getting the short end of the stick.

However, while he alone had some difficulty dealing with He Liang in this environment, it was another story with the addition of Xia Chuan, whose skills were also different from ordinary people.

Xia Chuan could clearly feel that after he joined in, He Liang's counterattacks were slightly weaker than before.

This two-against-one situation didn't last very long. In fact, because both sides' punches and kicks were extremely fast, a series of exchanges was just a dozen or so seconds. And in these dozen seconds, Dennis, who considered himself to just be causing trouble in a fight, had a very clear goal.

The bedrooms on this passenger ship were similar in layout to hotel rooms, so naturally there was more than one switch by the door... although none of them had paid attention to these details.

He sensibly avoided the melee by the door, keeping himself a safe distance from those three. As his eyes gradually adapted to the darkness in the room, he moved to the bedroom wall, half relying on sight and half groping, and then walked along the wall while feeling with both hands at chest height.

Before long, he indeed felt a switch.

He felt a rush of excitement, raised his hand and slapped that switch.

At that instant, he felt a slight regret, feeling he seemed to have been a bit rash. The suddenly brightened light would make it hard for the three people fighting to adapt. If the person who barged in adapted faster than Xia Chuan and Shen Lan, that would simply be helping the enemy, a losing proposition.

Fortunately, after being unlucky for so long, he experienced a bit of rare good luck at this time.

The switch he turned on corresponded to the bathroom ceiling light, not the one above everyone's heads in the room.

The bathroom light was not particularly bright, casting a dim yellow glow, but because the door was open, the light still managed to illuminate the room without dazzling the three men's eyes.

Xia Chuan felt the room brighten, and the annoying darkness was finally dispelled. The brightness was very limited, not even causing their eyes to enter an adjustment period, but it was enough for them to turn the situation around.

Although He Liang showed no signs of slowing down, the two of them gradually gained the upper hand in the exchange of blows.

At this time, Dennis, who had turned on the light, felt it was a bit unseemly to stand by and watch without doing anything. After a moment's deliberation, he picked up a glass from the bedside table and moved closer to the three men with shaking arms.

It was probably evident how poor his combat ability was. From the moment He Liang noticed there was a third person in the room, he didn't take Dennis seriously, almost excluding him from the battle circle and directly ignoring him.

Xia Chuan saw He Liang's gaze drift towards Dennis's direction, clearly noticing his presence and the glass in his hand. He said with a hint of helplessness, "Be careful, step aside."

As he spoke, He Liang had indeed reacted, suddenly lowering his body and turning around. The person closest to Dennis's attack instantly changed from him to Shen Lan.

Shen Lan's right hand attempted to restrain He Liang, while his left hand, curled into a claw, directly reached for his throat. As He Liang dodged, he reached back, intending to grab Shen Lan's neck, but was fiercely bumped by Xia Chuan. His fingers slipped, only managing to grab the collar of Shen Lan's shirt.

With a ripping sound, Shen Lan's shirt was torn along the shoulder seam.

Shen Lan's entire right shoulder was exposed, revealing the string of "shenlan02" tattooed on the back.

When He Liang saw the tattoo, he visibly paused, and his offensive momentum instantly ceased. He blocked Shen Lan and Xia Chuan's attacks a few times, changing from the attacker to the defender, and didn't strike back for several exchanges.

Xia Chuan was stunned and heard him mutter, "How could it be..." His tone was full of surprise.

"There may indeed be some misunderstanding involved," He Liang said with a frown, somewhat hesitantly.

Xia Chuan glanced at him and said coldly, "Realizing there's a misunderstanding now?"

"Bah!" Shen Lan retorted fiercely, "When you were arrogant earlier, you wouldn't listen to anyone. Now that you're about to lose, you think it's a misunderstanding?"

He snorted coldly, his attacks not stopping, and said, "Not a chance!"

Taking advantage of He Liang's momentary shock from the tattoo, he elbowed him hard in the stomach, slamming him against the wall, letting him taste the same treatment as Xia Chuan. With that, he and Xia Chuan stopped their attacks.

"Are you really okay?" Shen Lan's first action after stopping was to reach out and touch Xia Chuan's stomach, not caring that He Liang, an outsider, was still standing in the room.

Xia Chuan shook his head, letting him lightly press on his stomach a couple of times, and said, "I'm fine."

Shen Lan wasn't very reassured and continued, "Feeling nauseous?"

Xia Chuan shook his head.

Shen Lan: "Want to throw up?"

Xia Chuan: "..."

He impatiently slapped away Shen Lan's paw and said, "If it was serious, could I have fought for so long?"

"That's true." Shen Lan thought for a moment and felt it made sense, but when it came to Xia Chuan, he just couldn't help but worry a little.

He Liang's skin was already pale and somewhat sickly. After receiving Shen Lan's merciless elbow strike, his complexion seemed to turn even whiter. However, he was more resilient than Xia Chuan. Clutching his stomach, he straightened up in less than two seconds.

"How did you get the tattoo on the back of your shoulder?" He frowned and stared at Shen Lan's shoulder for a long time.

Because of the attack Xia Chuan had suffered, Shen Lan couldn't have a good impression of this He Liang, even though he had a face similar to Xia Chuan's. Shen Lan replied almost without thinking, "None of your damn business."

As soon as he finished speaking, Xia Chuan patted him on the shoulder.

"Please turn on the ceiling light," Xia Chuan said to Dennis, who had retreated to the wall.

"Huh?" Dennis was stunned for a moment, then turned his head and saw three switches right next to him. He responded with two "oh oh's" and decisively slapped all three switches on. All the lights that could be turned on in the room lit up.

"Why does this cruise ship like yellow lights so much?" Dennis looked up at the somewhat retro-style ceiling light and muttered. Cold white light could help people calm down faster, which was obviously more suitable in this situation. Yellow light always seemed a bit dim and not refreshing enough.

But for the other three people in the room, this level of brightness was sufficient.

Xia Chuan still hadn't completely let down his guard. He looked He Liang up and down a few times and said, "Not fighting anymore?"

He Liang's frowning expression was identical to his. "Figuring out the problem is obviously more important."

"Um... since you're not fighting anymore, why don't you all sit down and talk?" Dennis blurted out this sentence for the first time seeing He Liang's appearance clearly in the bright light.

Although He Liang had started fighting with them before even entering the room, Dennis always felt that someone who looked like this wouldn't harbor much malice.

The three big Buddhas looked at each other and actually walked to the table with calm expressions, pulled out chairs, and sat down.

He Liang very consciously pulled his chair a bit farther away, maintaining a safe distance from the three of them to show his intention not to fight for the time being.

"Are you..." Dennis, who never treated people as strangers, couldn't help but say as his gaze darted back and forth between He Liang and Xia Chuan, "Are you Chuan's brother?"

Xia Chuan and He Liang both turned their gazes to him. He shrank his neck, also feeling that his words were a bit brainless. If he was really a brother, could he be so ruthless and start fighting as soon as he entered the room?

Well... not necessarily.

He silently answered himself in his heart, but didn't dare to say it out loud again.

He Liang obviously had no intention of answering such an uninformative question. His attention was entirely on Shen Lan's tattoo. He asked Shen Lan again, "How did you get this tattoo?"

"Who knows," Shen Lan replied in an irritated tone. This time, his response wasn't as concise. After a moment of thought, he added, "There are many things I can't remember, as if my mind has been sealed."

Hearing this explanation, He Liang's brows furrowed even more tightly.

"What?" Xia Chuan glanced at him and asked in a calm voice, "You still find it unbelievable?"

He Liang hesitated for a moment before shaking his head. He calmly said, "His skills, physique, strength, including what he just said... I already half believe it."

"Half?" Shen Lan retorted irritably, "What about the other half? Let's hear it."

Although Xia Chuan could understand his caution, he also felt that He Liang was being a bit too suspicious. Shen Lan's skills, physique, and strength were things that could be sensed from the moment they first clashed. Yet, He Liang didn't stop until he was at a disadvantage with little chance of winning.

If it weren't for the fact that they indeed had many questions for He Liang, not only Shen Lan but even Xia Chuan wouldn't have stopped. They would have beaten him down first and then talked.

He Liang's gaze swept over them. Then, he raised his hand to unbutton his shirt collar and twisted his upper body to show them his right shoulder blade.

His skin was very pale, making the tattoo stand out extremely clearly. Xia Chuan and Shen Lan's eyes moved past the "shenlan" at the front and landed on the number at the very end.

"01?" Xia Chuan felt it was both expected and unexpected.

"Do you know why I still have half of my doubts about you?" He Liang rebuttoned his shirt, his pale hands folded on his lap as he spoke in an extremely calm tone, "Because theoretically, there should only be 01 now, and 02 doesn't exist at all."

Shen Lan frowned, "What do you mean?"

He Liang's brown eyes appeared very light under the illumination of the lamp. He glanced at Shen Lan and said, "It means 02 hasn't been put into the experiment yet."

"Bullshit, how do you know?" Shen Lan patted his right shoulder with his left hand and said, "If it hasn't been put into the experiment yet, did I tattoo this on myself while sleepwalking?"

"Theoretically, I should indeed know," He Liang remained calm, "Because I am the main person in charge of this experiment."