Author: 颜凉雨 / Yan Liang Yu
Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/
Chapter 143: Birthday
Half an hour ago, underground stone chamber.
Xu Wang and Wu Sheng stared at the DNA report on the table, dumbfounded. Before opening the stone wall, they had imagined a thousand possible difficulties and obstacles, but this scenario was definitely not one of them.
A lone report lay there, bearing an unexpected secret.
Specimen 1 was not the father of Specimen 2. The conclusion couldn’t be clearer, but it was uncertain whether this result brought relief or sorrow to the person who had submitted the samples.
Who was Specimen 1?
And who was Specimen 2?
The answers seemed apparent.
But Xu Wang and Wu Sheng didn’t want to delve deeper, feeling uneasy.
“Tsk. It’s so unpleasant to look at.” Yan Wang’s tone was still light. He casually picked up the file bag, taking out the documents and browsing through them naturally under the faint light in the stone chamber.
“I wondered why Mr. Chi always hit me so hard,” he said, nodding his head as if he had a sudden realization. “So, this is where his heartache lies.”
His face wore a smile, but his tone was sarcastically cold.
Wu Sheng watched him, frowning thoughtfully.
Xu Wang was somewhat confused. “Mr. Chi? Hitting you?”
He understood every word Yan Wang said, but when put together, it was like a puzzle.
“My mistake. I should have been more explicit.” Yan Wang tossed the paper aside indifferently, shrugging. “Mr. Chi, that’s Chi Yingxue’s dad. When he hits me, strictly speaking, it’s not his intention. He wants to hit his stepson, but I, being full and idle, always step in to take the beatings for him…”
He frowned as if wronged, leaning close to Xu Wang and asking seriously, “Don’t you think Chi Yingxue should pay me for mental damages?”
“Chi Yingxue’s dad… hits him?” Xu Wang trembled slightly, unable to distinguish if it was shock or anger.
“He hits me,” Yan Wang corrected him, his gaze serious.
“Okay, he hits you.” Xu Wang followed along. “Is it always like that?”
“It depends on how busy he is. When he’s busy, he doesn’t come home for ten days to half a month, and I enjoy the peace; when he’s not, he comes back every few days, and I have to ‘start work’ frequently.”
Yan Wang was nonchalant again. If not for his serious moment earlier, Xu Wang would have thought he was talking about some tabloid news. Even “getting hit” in his words, seemed like a job not worthy of any emotional investment, even negative ones.
Xu Wang didn’t really want to ask more. His intuition was telling him that only more darkness lay beneath.
But Yan Wang seemed to have been aroused to continue. “Do you know how he hits? Slapping is just child’s play. He’ll kick you till your ribs break, grab your hair, and drag you into a closet or cupboard. If you resist, he’ll beat you even harder, then tie you up with binding straps and stuff you in there…”
“Every time, I wanted to kill him, every single time.” Yan Wang’s face showed a kind of longing, as if these “fantasies” he was talking about were happening in some space. “Stab a knife into his eyes, cut his throat, or just gouge out a piece of his flesh and let him taste the agony of rolling on the ground in pain…”
“Haa—” He sighed deeply, as if he had indulged himself enough with his words, but what he said still carried a sense of regret. “Unfortunately, Chi Yingxue’s arms and legs are too weak to achieve such grand goals.”
Finally noticing Xu Wang and Wu Sheng’s silence, Yan Wang apologized with a smile. “Sorry, I must sound crazy talking about all this.”
Xu Wang shook his head. “We understand.”
“Don’t comfort me.” Yan Wang waved dismissively. “If you want to thank me for leading the way, you don’t have to force yourselves to be ‘understanding’. You can give me some of your magical weapons… Oh right, you call them stationery.”
“You become Chi Yingxue to take beatings for him,” Xu Wang stated calmly.
Yan Wang froze, his face showing surprise.
Xu Wang continued, “And you do it unwillingly. Unwillingly, but you have to share his burden, right?”
Yan Wang pursed his lips. His silent gaze shifted back and forth between Xu Wang and Wu Sheng. “Who are you really?”
Xu Wang’s answer never changed. “Friends of Chi Yingxue.”
Yan Wang smiled bitterly and said helplessly, “If he even told you about this, it seems he really made friends.”
Xu Wang looked at Yan Wang, the youth in front of him, covered in chocolate sauce. Although his face was mostly wiped clean, the subtle expressions were still unclear.
Under such circumstances, the person in front of him overlapped with the Yan Wang in his memory.
The Yan Wang who wore Chi Yingxue’s body, the one who was incredibly engaged in battle, the one obsessed with his own identity yet chose to cover everything with a smile… was the youth before him.
“There’s nothing I can do about it, unwilling or not. Everyone has their own fate. Apart from accepting it, what else can I do?” Yan Wang consoled himself, moving towards the lever that opened the next stone chamber.
Xu Wang suddenly grabbed his arm. “Didn’t you ask us who we really are?”
Yan Wang was confused. “You’ve already answered that.”
Xu Wang shook his head. “I haven’t finished.”
Yan Wang looked at him blankly. “You are Chi Yingxue’s friends, what else?”
Xu Wang said, “We are also friends of Yan Wang.”
Yan Wang: “……”
“Tsk.” Yan Wang snorted, pulling his arm away from Xu Wang’s grasp. “You think it’s fun to play me?”
“We’re not playing you,” Wu Sheng, who hadn’t spoken for a while, answered. “To be precise, both you and Chi Yingxue are our friends. Chi Yingxue appeared earlier, but you joined the team first.”
Yan Wang frowned and stared at them for a while, finally concluding. “You’re insane.”
After saying that, he took two steps and pulled the lever without hesitation, clearly more concerned about the matter at hand than the obstacle-filled small talk.
The stone wall fell, revealing the entire last stone chamber.
It was empty, this time not even a table, completely barren except for a lever in the corner.
Yan Wang strode over, looking like he wanted to pull it immediately, but hesitated as he touched it.
Xu Wang and Wu Sheng followed.
Unlike the previous manual levers, this last one required an eight-digit password.
With no hints, guessing an eight-digit password out of thin air was simply impossible.
“Complete bullshit,” Yan Wang grumbled.
Wu Sheng glanced at him. “Is this your first time seeing this too?”
Yan Wang impatiently said, “Didn’t I tell you, the contents of the last two stone chambers always change.”
“Yan Wang.” Xu Wang asked seriously again, “After this stone chamber, can we find Xiao Xue?”
“Behind this chamber, straight to the inner courtyard, is Xiao Xue’s room in the west wing.” Yan Wang looked directly at him, his gaze unwavering. “If you don’t trust me, you can go back the way you came.”
Xu Wang said, “It’s not that I don’t trust you. I just need to be sure.”
Yan Wang frowned. “Sure of what?”
Xu Wang turned around, and behind him, wall after wall of stone had sunk down, forming a long corridor. The original path was no longer clear.
“These stone chambers are Xiao Xue’s defenses.” If there were doubts before, Xu Wang was now certain.
This hell in his mind was like Xiao Xue’s heart, filled with fierce demons, painful memories, debris everywhere, and layers of hidden darkness.
What he most wanted to hide was himself.
So he used room after room of stone chambers to block the path of those searching for him.
Wu Sheng understood his meaning. “The password must be related to Xiao Xue, but if he intended it as a defense, it must be something the intruders can’t guess or don’t know at all.”
Xu Wang nodded. “Think about it, if Xiao Xue’s father was standing here, in what direction would he guess the password?”
“His birthday,” Wu Sheng said without hesitation.
Xu Wang: “Mm. So Xiao Xue’s birthday, Chi Zhuolin’s birthday, or any kind of public anniversary, are all impossible.”
Wu Sheng: “……”
Xu Wang: “……”
Wu Sheng, Xu Wang: “The secret code letter!”
Both said almost simultaneously, but after speaking, Xu Wang became worried again, not about the secret code letter being taken by the giant crab, because his advisor would definitely remember it, but about: “The password is only eight digits.”
Before he could finish, Wu Sheng was already pondering aloud. “12077, 34036, 58009, 80024. Removing the meaningless zeros, 1277343658009, 80024, and then removing repeated numbers, 127346589…” He suddenly frowned, annoyed. “There’s still one extra digit.”
Xu Wang couldn’t keep up with the process, so he directly discussed the outcome with his advisor. “What should we do? Just remove a digit and try?”
Wu Sheng shook his head cautiously. “The odds of getting it right are too low.”
“Beep beep beep!”
A shrill warning sound suddenly came from the lever, startling Xu Wang and Wu Sheng, who were deep in thought. Looking down, Yan Wang had sneakily reached out and pressed a password!
Obviously, it was wrong.
“Can’t you do anything right—” Xu Wang almost wanted to kick him out of frustration but refrained, thinking of how pitiful he was when beaten.
“Alright, alright,” Yan Wang pointed to the 1/3 now showing on the top right of the password screen, “See, there are still two more chances.”
Xu Wang was frustrated. “What exactly did you press just now?”
“Chi Yingxue’s birthday,” Yan Wang confessed honestly.
Xu Wang held his forehead. “Didn’t we just finish saying it’s impossible to use such a password that even his dad knows!”
“Maybe.” Yan Wang shrugged. “You’re also guessing.”
Xu Wang gritted his teeth. “At ease and stand at attention!”
Yan Wang reflexively straightened his posture, surprisingly standard.
Xu Wang narrowed his eyes. “From now on, don’t move a muscle!”
Yan Wang reluctantly rolled his eyes. “Roger that.”
“Let’s take a gamble.” Xu Wang looked back at Wu Sheng. “We can’t keep dragging on like this.”
Indeed, apart from the secret code letter, they had no other information.
Wu Sheng closed his eyes, adjusted his breathing, and went over the sequence of numbers 127346589 in his mind countless times…
“Yan Wang.” He suddenly opened his eyes and asked, “Does Chi Yingxue have any numbers he particularly dislikes or likes?”
“I don’t know about his favorites, but the one he dislikes the most…” Yan Wang tilted his head and thought seriously. “Probably 9.”
Xu Wang was surprised. “Why?” In his impression, the numbers 8 and 91, especially as a suffix, were quite popular, especially evident when customers chose floors at real estate sales centers.
“9, as in ‘forever’1,” Yan Wang said with a mischievous smile, tinged with mockery. “For someone who has attempted suicide several times at a young age, I guess he wouldn’t like this implication.”
1The number 8 [ba] (八) is considered auspicious in Chinese culture because it sounds like the word for wealth or prosperity [fa] (发). Likewise, the number 9 [jiu] (九) is considered lucky as well, but because it sounds similar to the word “long lasting” [jiu] (久), which represents longevity, forever.
Xu Wang, Wu Sheng: “……”
Chi Yingxue, attempted suicide?
“Are you going to press it or not?” Yan Wang urged, seeing Wu Sheng hesitating, his face full of the eagerness of, “The finish line is right in front of you. Just cross it already.”
After pondering for a moment, Wu Sheng decided to take a gamble.
He rarely did things without certainty, especially when the crucial information was provided by others, not in his control.
With the situation so dire, he couldn’t think any longer. Settling his mind, he entered “12734658”.
“Beep beep beep!”
Wu Sheng: “……”
He knew the probability was too low!
Nine options for eight places. Even without considering the order, there were nine possible answers. Now, with one wrong answer eliminated, there were still eight left.
But the small number in the top right corner had changed to 2/3, leaving them only one more chance.
Wu Sheng’s frown deepened; his expression was troubled like a karst landscape. Apart from romance, he had never been so entangled in the face of a challenge.
Suddenly, his hand was gently and warmly held.
Wu Sheng turned his head, meeting Xu Wang’s eyes.
Their gazes met, and in Xu Wang’s eyes, Wu Sheng saw a different kind of light.
It was a clever, clear, and understanding light. Back in school days, when Xu Wang looked at him like this, there were only two possibilities: one, he had come up with a new scheme to trap him; two, he had solved a difficult problem before Wu Sheng, with a bit of showing off and pride.
But now, there was no showing off or pride in his eyes, replaced by the trust of standing shoulder to shoulder.
“This defense is set up by Xiao Xue,” Xu Wang said directly before Wu Sheng could ask. “It’s to guard against the people he fears and least wants to see, all intruders, but definitely not against the people he trusts and is close to.”
“Chi Zhuolin?” Wu Sheng said, then immediately negated. “No, using Chi Zhuolin’s information wouldn’t guard against their father.”
“Maybe, the person Xiao Xue trusts is not only Chi Zhuolin.” Xu Wang slowly turned his head, his gaze falling on the bewildered youth.
……
“Are you sure you want to use my birthday?” Yan Wang was anxiously urging. Although he had provided his birthday, he still found the idea bizarre, fearing they would waste their last chance. “Are you crazy? Why would he use my birthday as a password? We aren’t that close…”
Xu Wang said, “You always come to play with him and even take beatings for him. Isn’t that close?”
“No, it’s not.” Yan Wang was at a loss for words. “Being familiar, having a good relationship, being close, and the trust you’re talking about are all different things. They don’t necessarily connect!”
Xu Wang raised an eyebrow. “So everything you said before was a lie? You never considered Xiao Xue a friend?”
Yan Wang: “It’s not like that…”
While they were arguing, Wu Sheng had already entered the password.
If Xu Wang said so, he would execute it.
Fortunately, Yan Wang indeed remembered his birthday, which, when combined, formed exactly eight digits.
The so-called birthday was actually the day Yan Wang first appeared, which should be when Chi Yingxue was about seven or eight years old.
A child of seven or eight—what kind of pain must they have endured to so desperately wish for such a person to protect themselves?
Healthy, robust, vibrant, full of life—rather than saying Yan Wang was Chi Yingxue’s imagined protector, it was more like he was the greatest yearning of the young Chi Yingxue.
Growing up overnight, turning into a youth like Yan Wang, to fend off all harms of the world.
Wu Sheng wasn’t a sentimental person, but the journey so far had involuntarily made him think a lot, unable to remain calm.
“Ding~”
The password was correct.
The final stone wall slowly descended.
Xu Wang gave Yan Wang a triumphant look.
The latter was stunned, taking a long time to come back to his senses.
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