Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

Chapter 301

“It is reported that at 12:15 PM yesterday, local Chinese time, 21 flights from 18 different countries and regions were set to repatriate the remains of 113 medical workers who had sacrificed their lives in Dana fighting against the Borna virus,” the newscast sporadically broadcast through an old, battered television.

The audio was somewhat fuzzy due to signal issues, but the picture was still clear.

Under the clear blue sky, an old runway appeared, like a purple-red scar carrying the unique smell of gunpowder from the Dana region.

The anchor continued, “The special plane from China has departed from the Angodo Airport and is expected to land at Yongchuan Airport at 15:00 this afternoon…”

The plane glided swiftly over the cement runway heated by the intense heat wave and took off into the sky.

On the other side of the world, Lin Chen and Xing Conglian stood outside the tarmac at Yongchuan International Airport, waiting for the special plane to return. Unlike the sunny weather in Dana, Yongchuan was experiencing light rain. Just around the Qingming Festival*, the spring rain was as gentle as suet. They shared a black umbrella, not standing with the team welcoming the remains, but gazing at it from a distance through the misty rain curtain.

*A traditional Chinese festival where Chinese families visit the tombs of their ancestors to clean the gravesites and make ritual offerings.

The past year had been tumultuous.

Many events occurred, not influenced by personal will.

The Borna virus continued to spread in the Dana region. Many people died there, with many medical staff brutally attacked by violent patients and losing their lives; most of them died in this way.

Fortunately, vaccine development had entered the preclinical research stage. Zhourui Pharmaceutical, after being acquired, had made a great contribution to vaccine development, seemingly redeeming itself. Lin Chen’s teacher and many victims of adverse reactions to brain health drugs were gradually recovering, but some brain damage was irreversible, including Lin Chen’s.

However, thankfully, the development of the antidote was very timely, and the situation wasn’t severe.

Counterattack operations were quickly launched.

A lot of user information was found on the servers seized in the Mailin area. Through decoding and a series of phishing operations, many participants were arrested.

A mysterious hacker made the names of all those suspected of watching the death livestream public, causing a huge uproar in society. But Wang Chao insisted he wasn’t responsible and continued working overtime to find out who was.

Unfortunately, the person behind Shen Lian hadn’t been brought to justice.

Sometimes, Lin Chen suspected that it would be difficult to attribute this kind of malice to a specific person.

It was a kind of evil far more widespread and harder to eradicate than imagined, deeply rooted since ancient times.

When Lin Chen thought of this, the person beside him squeezed his hand. Xing Conglian raised the edge of the black umbrella. Following his gaze, Lin Chen also looked up.

The plane pierced through the clouds, landing from the sky. The landing gear descended and hit the ground with a thud.

After gliding slowly for a while, the plane stopped, and the hatch opened. The urns covered with the national flag and the flag of the Red Cross were carried out in turn.

The light rain fell gently on the red and white cloth, some seeping into the fabric, some droplets still sparkling on the surface.

On the iron-blue runway, family members stepped forward to complete the final ash handover ceremony.

White-haired elders touched the portraits of their grandchildren, while young children gazed innocently at their father’s picture.

The short ceremony in the rain was solemn and silent. Inside and outside the television, countless people mourned in silence.

The live broadcast ended here. Someone picked up the remote control, turned off the television, and said to the female prisoner sitting in front of the TV, “Time’s up.”

Shen Lian stood up from in front of the familiar LCD TV, straightened her clothes, followed the person in front of her out the door, and walked into a long, dark corridor that would never see light again.

Yongchuan Airport.

A black special car escorted the families and the ashes of the doctors slowly away.

Xing Conglian’s phone vibrated slightly. He checked the message and nodded at Lin Chen.

In the Dana Rainforest, as the live broadcast ended, the doctors at the medical station left the small TV and got busy again.

Duan Yang had the day off today. With his backpack, he began to climb Xazi Mountain.

The jungle was dense. When he reached the peak, a gust of wind blew, creating waves of green as vast as the ocean.

Under the sunlight penetrating the dense leaves, under a towering tree, there was a tombstone. In the wind, Duan Yang stared at the grave for a long time, then he knelt down and kissed the stone deeply.

The drizzle in Yongchuan had stopped.

Xing Conglian folded up the umbrella, and Lin Chen walked side by side with him.

“What do you want to eat tonight?” Xing Conglian asked.

Lin Chen took his hand and said, “I don’t know why, but I have a feeling that we won’t be able to eat tonight.”

Xing Conglian’s umbrella lightly tapped the ground, and Lin Chen’s phone rang in response.

Wang Dynasty’s excited voice burst out of the handset. “A’Chen Gege, we have located his latest hiding place!”

Lin Chen and Xing Conglian exchanged glances and quickly opened the car door. The dust-covered Jeep was once again speeding down the highway.

Scientists have calculated.

The human brain contains more than a hundred billion neurons, each of which has between a thousand and ten thousand synapses with other neurons. This results in the total number of possible combinations of brain activities surpassing the number of fundamental particles in the universe.

Every time we think, a sea of neural nodes is activated. If you can imagine, it is a wondrous neural cloud chart, akin to a nebula, lit up with each breath.

No one knows where humanity will eventually end up.

But the brain is a magical organ that allows us to evolve from savagery to exploring the universe and eventually trying to probe the mysteries of the human heart.

And throughout our lives, we all hope to become better people.

Seeking truth, advocating goodness, yearning for a better future while grappling with our innate human instincts—that is the essence of being human.

The author has something to say:

I haven’t written much in the “author comment” section previously, but now I can indulge in some chatter.

There are always lovely girls asking me for book recommendations, so I took the opportunity to list a few important ones. There will be a more comprehensive list later (although not too many).

The content on abnormal psychology in the text is a reference to “Abnormal Psychology” edited by Professor Qian Yiming. All relevant definitions and judgment criteria are based on this version.

“One Sand” was written 11 years ago and was my first short story. The main reason I decided to expand it was that there was a bug in the short story, and I couldn’t control myself. I wanted to fix it a bit, so “One Sand” basically retains the original look of the short story.

But because it was written a long time ago, I don’t really remember the reference materials at that time. The memory awakened by the market boss should be a reference to “NLP Rational Emotional Therapy”. The main line is based on “Systematic Desensitization Therapy”. There should also be references to the content of sand table games. Many books have been written about it. I really don’t remember the reference books at that time, so I’m sorry I can’t provide them here. If you’re interested, just look at the keywords.

The cause of “Two-Way” was an observation on the highway during a spring outing many years ago. The thesis mainly referred to “Car Auto SOS System Based on MEMS Accelerometer”. Normal mode is a commonly used concept in psychological measurement. Intelligence tests and personality tests are all research areas of psychological measurement. It’s probably the most boring subject besides psychological statistics. I didn’t find any particularly good popular science books. Professional psychological measurements usually have professional institutions and scoring standards and must refer to normal modes.

“Three Graves” mainly refers to “The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind” and “Fanatics”. Of course, the original intention was to write about an XJ organization, but this is too sensitive, so I wrote a more obscure story. In fact, there is no essential difference between pyramid schemes and XJ’s psychological control methods, but there are also many criticisms from the crowd. I won’t elaborate here. What I said is very superficial; it’s better to read the books. A friend once raised the issue of collective unconsciousness. Sometimes the use of proper nouns in writing is not rigorous enough. Please feel free to point it out.

In “Four Tones”, the method used by Lin Chen during his performance in Li Jingtian’s mall comes from research on the “bystander effect“. We often blame the more people there are, the fewer there are who stand up for justice. This phenomenon comes from this. The best solution is to designate a specific person, such as “Please help me, brother in red”. The request for help must be specific. I always think this is very useful, so I mentioned it again.

Regarding the listening ability of Mr. Zheng Chenggong at the embassy, it was based on a real story of a French agent. The results of the House-Tree-Person test in the gambling game came from “Psychological Painting – A Dictionary of Painting Psychological Analysis”. If there is no professionally trained tester accompanying, self-administration is not recommended. In fact, Lin Chen was able to guess where the item was, mainly because of his analysis of Li Jingtian’s physiological indicators, just pushing him to the limit, and then making guesses based on the results of the House-Tree-Person test. The rest is just for show.

The bug in Song Shengsheng’s teeth comes from a story about Saddam Hussein…

The setting in “Five Floats”, the Dana Rainforest, is based on the Congo Rainforest in Baidu Encyclopedia, and the virus setting comes from the Borna virus. The intention of going so far was to write a type of story I hadn’t tried before, including battles and a new text structure. Some people think it’s long, but in fact, Five Floats is composed of three stories, plus romance interwoven, which consumes more chapters. If you remove this part, “Five Floats” is actually very compact.

I apologize for the slow updates later on, due to health reasons and being too busy at work. There was a time when I slept only four hours a day and lived chaotically due to conditions like pneumonia and cervical spondylosis. Later, I went to CP’s house, and she took care of me for a while before I gradually recovered. Personal issues have delayed the completion of this novel, which should have been finished long ago. I said I would write six or seven, but I really didn’t have the energy to continue, and I’m sorry.

Moral dilemmas are a constant problem.

Mr. Kohlberg used this tool to study children’s morality. I’ve always wanted to write about the three levels and six stages of moral development theory, but it doesn’t fit in. However, this research on child psychology is very interesting. You can read “The Essence and Confirmation of Moral Stages in Moral Development Psychology” by [American] Kohlberg. It’s very comprehensive and detailed.

For moral-related content, “The Origin of Morals” refers to “The Selfish Gene“. The former is truly dry, while the latter’s theory is a bit shaky, but the game theory part is very interesting and worth reading.

But regarding the main line hidden in Five Floats, it comes from the book “The Psychopath Inside“. The author’s self-analysis made me determined to write a section on Teacher Wanshan.

“Who Decides – A Psychological Interpretation of Free Will” is a particularly good book, apart from the translation. It also solved a question I’ve had for a long time. Lin Chen’s design and analysis of the large vote come from this book. If you have time, why not buy a copy and take a look?

Likewise, I hope everyone doesn’t have incorrect expectations of psychopaths after reading this book. My personal view is that we should treat this phenomenon scientifically, not demonize it, and carefully consider how to be vigilant and help these people, who we are certain exist.

Research on the human brain, or, say, the mind, is an eternal theme.

Psychology seems pretty pseudoscientific, but “guess what I’m thinking” is only a small part of the discipline. This discipline itself involves research on human cognition, thinking, emotions, intelligence, logic, personality, social, and many other aspects. Looking at it only from the perspective of mind-reading is somewhat unfair to this discipline.

The title, Crime Psychology, was chosen out of laziness. I wanted to discuss crime and psychology, and felt it was suitable, so I used it. The legal settings in the text are mainly based on the US, combined with a police team that considers China’s national conditions. It’s really a fictional setup. I didn’t spend much time researching this aspect.

The four major families are introduced for two reasons. Firstly, to circumvent censorship—on Jinjiang, one can’t write about officialdom, gangs, or politics, and there will be no military intervention no matter what happens later because Jinjiang doesn’t allow it. Secondly, I hope readers will not have incorrect expectations for this story. It’s a bizarre blend of narrative, and it’s okay if you can’t tolerate it and decide to abandon it—there’s no need to waste your time, so I didn’t change it in the end.

The organization behind Lao Xing is a background setting, signifying a “door system”. Although every country has its own struggles, they all leave a back door for each other. When you need real help, you can knock on the door. But the door needs to be guarded by trustworthy people, and Lao Xing is the gatekeeper. It’s just a naive idea, and I won’t elaborate on this organization. It might appear in the story about Fang Aizi.

The “Three Graves” represented by Su Fengzi is a setup drawn from the phrase “To continue the sage’s uncompleted work for the prosperity of all generations*.” It’s an institution of scholars, and has been around for many years, but the current president is not a serious person. I might write about the story of the Three Tombs if I get a chance.

*The first half refers to the people who made significant contributions to Chinese culture and civilization, and their uncompleted work is usually seen as the pursuit of knowledge and wisdom that the “sages” engage in and each generation carries forth. The latter half is used to describe the ideal state of the world, where everyone lives in peace and harmony (due to the work of the sages and those that pursue it).

Regarding the real criminal, my idea has always been that it’s a collective of evil intentions. I don’t want to write about a specific person. Writing about villains is a waste of time. I prefer to write about those who are hurt and those who continue to resist. That was the original intention.

As I said before, I might write a story about Fang Aizi in the future. The story of the Underground Ring ends here. Honestly, I had planned to link it with the story of the twin drug manufacturing factories, which would’ve fit perfectly. But my friend and mentor, Sha Bao, said that overly refined stories lose their beauty, that not everything needs to be calculated. I think that makes sense, so in the end, I didn’t link it. Let’s leave it as a regret.

In summary, this isn’t really a reliable story, just a bizarre one. Take it as a pastime.

Finally, I want to thank some friends.

My friend Zang Yao was the first to encourage me to write on Jinjiang. I didn’t plan to sign a contract or enter VIP. It was a whim to finish a story, but then I ended up writing 1.2 million words, which I found quite depressing.

The design of Tern’s heterostructure comes from the formidable Lady Cat Pi. All the chemistry details in the text come from her. Such knowledgeable women are really scary.

The organizational structure of Zhourui, the issues with the pharmaceutical company, and the promotional details of Nao Kangning and Nordren all come from a former senior executive of a pharmaceutical giant. According to him, he gave me training worth hundreds of thousands, which I appreciate, but I’m not paying.

Thanks to my editor, Si Yue, who was willing to proofread this story even after so many years since our earliest magazine serialization. The proofread version from One Sand to Three Graves will be replaced soon.

Thank you to my mentor, Sha Bao, for reviewing my writing and giving me pointers every day. There are many parts I couldn’t have written without her encouragement due to my laziness and fear of trouble. If a chapter doesn’t have any typos, that means she helped me proofread it. I really can’t spot typos myself, and it troubles me. The steelmaking system that Lin Chen encountered in the steel plant was also her design. She talked a lot about it, but I didn’t write it very clearly in the end. I think it’s good for everyone to have their own interpretation, but I still want to thank her.

Also, thanks to Jinjiang for publishing this story. I was very surprised when the copyright editor came to talk to me. The contract was also signed very quickly, and I also thank the buyer.

Finally, thank you to each reader who followed the story. I’m really grateful. It was a real challenge for you all!

So, that’s the end of the story.

(Of course, there are still some extras…)

Kinky Thoughts:

Alright, this marks the end of the main story. It’s been a long journey getting here. What can I say about this novel? I wouldn’t say it’s one of my tops, but it wasn’t bad. After reading the author’s notes, I got a better sense of where the author was coming from and why it ended the way it did.

Nevertheless, I still have my own criticisms. It makes so much more sense now why these five arcs seem so disjointed (as they were originally written as short stories). To be honest, she didn’t need to try hard to connect them all together, as that made the plot quite convoluted. It seems there was more to be written, but due to her poor health, she didn’t continue, which makes more sense why the ending seems so… abrupt?

Usually, when I read a crime novel, I expect a resolution, especially a resolution of the main culprit or the twist of who that culprit is. It seems the author went in a more thematic direction and just assigned the culprit as not necessarily a single person but a collective that basically represents the evil of human nature. Still, it doesn’t give you that satisfying ending of reading 300 chapters and not even having the main culprit captured.

When I first picked this project up, I thought it was interesting, but it didn’t meet my expectations for what I wanted from a crime novel. That’s not to say it was bad, but I don’t think it was necessarily my cup of tea… but as the author said, it’s not meant to be taken as a reliable story and is just more of a pastime novel.

However, don’t let my criticism reflect your own opinion. There are many chapters that I really liked, especially near the end and, of course, the showdown between Lin Chen and Li Jingtian. Overall, the story was interesting and kept me going (hoping to find out who the real mastermind is… only to be let down). At least there was surprisingly some smut. There is one chapter in the extra that has smut, which is 308, for those interested.

Anyway, if you like the novel, please consider supporting the author by buying the raws. You can use Google Chrome with their auto-translate and this guide on how to buy novels on jjwxc. Remember, only with your (financial) support can artists continue to produce more great work.

I would also like to thank everyone for your comments, encouragement, help with my translations, and ko-fi donations. It in part fuels my motivation to release so frequently.

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

Chapter 300

That was an ordinary early morning.

Patients who got up early were walking in the hospital garden, white smoke was rising from the cafeteria chimney, and nurses were pushing carts, distributing medicine to each ward.

Lin Chen walked into Shen Lian’s ward, carrying a small bunch of daisies.

The only patient in the ward had her eyes tightly closed, seemingly unconscious.

But the monitor indicated that she was now in a state of conscious awareness.

Lin Chen placed his folder on the bedside table, picked up a vase, filled it with a bit of water from the faucet, and inserted the tender yellow daisies one by one into the vase, then placed it on the bedside cabinet.

Shen Lian’s eyelashes trembled lightly, and her eyes slowly opened.

She was covered with a heavy white gauze around her neck, and her hands and feet were tied to the bed, weak to the point of fragility. She shifted her eyes to look at the flowers under the bedside sunlight.

Just from that brief glance, Lin Chen knew that Shen Lian’s soul was as cold and strong as ever.

“You don’t have to worry too much,” Lin Chen said. “This isn’t a persistent attempt to please you, and these flowers are not for you. You can consider them a remembrance of a friend whom I only met once.”

Lin Chen sat down by the bed.

He no longer needed to observe Shen Lian’s expression, and he had no intention of further interaction with her. He looked at the flowers and the sky outside the window, as if he were talking to some long-lost friends.

“Over the past year or so, I’ve been extremely restless.”

“I’ve met a young girl seeking justice for her father, a younger schoolmate willing to commit suicide, a terrible rapist, and a victim of sexual assault who stubbornly wanted to take the blame for her idol. I’ve been kidnapped, traveled abroad, been to the most brutal places in the world, and seen the simplest and most beautiful souls. I’ve encountered the love of my life and almost lost my life. I’ve successfully brought criminals to justice, but I couldn’t save the one person I most wanted to…”

“These experiences made me extremely desperate when I was most confused and lost. Too many tragic stories seem to say that the world is irrational and unfair. Any struggle seems like a drop in the ocean against fate, so giving up striving, rejecting hope, and acknowledging the harsh reality that only coldness and ruthlessness can better survive seems to be the ultimate future of human spiritual evolution, and this is the belief you uphold.”

“But in this short year, I’ve seen a smart and beautiful girl and a tough and persistent young man. The most awe-inspiring moments were when she put down her gun and when he ended his own life. This tells me that there must be something that can overcome hatred, that is above life and death, and that transcends the psychological techniques I trust. I think there must be something like this.”

“It took root deeply when our ancestors first opened their eyes to the beautiful starry sky and vast wilderness hundreds of thousands of years ago, growing stronger through generations. It’s not just morality, but a higher standard that transcends human morality.”

“I didn’t understand before where this standard came from. I don’t believe it’s just to maintain social stability. If that were the case, humans wouldn’t need to constantly explore the ultimate nature of the physical world, cry for the beauty of art, or strive to be a better person.”

“But my experiences over the past year, up until recently, have made me understand what that is.”

“Wanting to do better, wanting to become better, wanting to influence the world to make it better, is a very common pursuit of many ordinary and mundane people. These pursuits for ‘better’ are often worn down by the hardships of life, but they never disappear.”

“After all, when our ancestors first opened their eyes, they must have seen the vast starry sky in the dark night, and what they longed for was an even more expansive world.”

“So we come to this world, and while we suffer hardships, we also come to see how beautiful it can be. And what you can see depends on your pursuit.”

When Lin Chen finished, the woman lying in the hospital bed finally looked as if she couldn’t stand it anymore and made a vomiting expression. Lin Chen finally turned his gaze from the distance to Shen Lian’s face.

He wasn’t angry. He just calmly and succinctly said to Shen Lian, “Do you still want to say that people like ‘me’ who are ‘sick in the head’ can’t feel what I’m talking about?”

Shen Lian didn’t respond.

“What if I tell you that the problem with your brain is just an excuse for you to escape, and that you can feel everything I said?”

Lin Chen picked up the document bag beside the vase, pulled out a sheet, and began speaking quietly. “Many years ago, Duan Wanshan and his students conducted a brain research on Tourette’s*. To fill the control group with the number of normal brain images, the brains of all his students were scanned.”

*A common neurodevelopmental disorder that begins in childhood or adolescence. It is characterized by multiple movement (motor) tics and at least one vocal (phonic) tic. Common tics are blinking, coughing, throat clearing, sniffing, and facial movements.

“After this experiment, Duan Wanshan must have had a serious talk with you. I don’t know what he said exactly, but with his straightforward personality, he probably told you ‘You’re sick in the head’, ‘You need to control yourself’… At that time, you might have been fond of him, but after the conversation, you felt your secret was exposed, and you were deeply humiliated, turning love into hatred.”

“But in fact, you shouldn’t hate him.”

“Because no matter what he said to you, he spoke sincerely, and he never stood in a position of looking down on you. Actually, he didn’t tell you that the brain scans of the teachers were also included.”

“He knew better than anyone who he really was.”

Lin Chen spread out the brain scan so that Shen Lian could see it clearly. Neither family, nor brain, nor genes could define a person…

The brain scan was patchy, showing defects in the prefrontal cortex, amygdala, and other areas. This brain belonged to most psychopathic killers, and also to Duan Wanshan.

It belonged to the person who had the most beautiful soul in the world.

The author has something to say:

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature’s changing course, untrimmed:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

—Shakespeare

Kinky Thoughts:

For those who forgot, this was the hymn Duan Wanshan was mumbling as he died.

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

Chapter 299

Lin Chen looked up. The sign for the neurology ward was hanging above his head. The sign looked old, but it had been wiped clean, showing off the black words on the white background.

The ward was incredibly noisy both inside and out, with extra beds crammed into the corridor and the wails of patients and the whispering of their families filling the hallway.

Lin Chen remembered passing by here a little over a month ago. At that time, the neurology ward was very quiet and peaceful, with only the elderly trying hard to walk with staggering steps, attempting to recover their mobility.

But in just a few days, it had transformed into the busiest ward in the entire hospital. The person who had brought him here at that time was now thousands of miles away.

Lin Chen took a step and walked towards the ward.

Despite the surrounding noise, the young man’s clear and determined voice was too distinctive, as if it could pierce through all the time and clamor, bringing him back to a moment in January.

At that time, the young man had forcefully brought him here, analyzing the harm of Zhourui’s new drug to him and anxiously telling him, “If such a drug appeared, many elderly people would be willing to spend all their savings on this new drug without hesitation…”

Lin Chen could almost remember every word the young man had said, even though it could now be proven that the information he had about Zhourui’s new drug was fabricated and distorted by Shen Lian for her own benefit.

But this didn’t stop Lin Chen from cherishing that anxious conversation. A doctor who had already fallen to the bottom of his life and became a vet, still trying his best to uncover the truth and overturn a giant conspiracy; Lin Chen didn’t know how to regard the young man except with some respect.

He stopped in front of a ward.

There was an inpatient doctor holding a selfie stick, discussing the case with a doctor from Dana via video call on his mobile phone.

The call was probably coming to an end, with both sides speaking medical terms that Lin Chen didn’t understand. He could only look against the setting sun, carefully observing the young man in the video.

He had dark skin and a determined look, conversing calmly with his former superior.

“From a clinical point of view, your cases here and some of the patients I’ve come across in Dana seem to have been affected by the same drug, but we’ll still have to wait for the lab results for confirmation.”

“Thanks to Teacher Duan’s long-term efforts, the health conditions in Dana aren’t as pessimistic as you may imagine. We have gathered a considerable number of medical volunteers here…” “The situation with the Borna virus infection is complex, but after more than ten hours of investigation, we indeed found suspected infected individuals, and here is our rough treatment plan…”

It had only been a few days since they last saw each other, but Duan Yang had grown as if in years, suddenly transforming from a green sapling into a towering tree in the rainforest—large and broad, providing shelter for many.

And the hospital doctor who once mocked Duan Yang was now hiding in a corner of the ward, head down, taking notes.

Lin Chen pondered his own life for a moment as the conversation slowly came to an end. That was still Duan Yang, Duan Wanshan’s Duan Yang, Lin Chen was certain.

“That’s it for this video conference. Let’s each go back and summarize the situation, and we’ll check in approximately every 6 hours. Is that okay?” said the chief physician of the municipal hospital.

The young man on the video call nodded. “We will follow your arrangements. If needed, we can also be reached by phone at any time.”

“Okay.”

Just as the call was about to end, Duan Yang suddenly said, “Could you wait a moment? I’d like to speak to Consultant Lin alone, is that okay?”

……

Lin Chen held up his phone, leaning against the wall, striving to center the camera on himself.

After learning that he had been used by Shen Lian from beginning to end, Lin Chen hadn’t had the time to have a deep conversation with Duan Yang. If it were in the past, he might have tried to comfort the other, but the current Duan Yang no longer needed such comfort.

“Consultant Lin, you’ve had a tough few days,” Duan Yang said. He was totally different now, initiating their “one-on-one chat” in a casual way. He truly just wanted to chat casually.

“It’s not me. It’s everyone,” Lin Chen responded.

Duan Yang turned the camera to show Lin Chen the concrete floor, many makeshift beds, and busy medical staff. They varied in skin color and ethnicity but shared the same profession.

Sunlight poured through the wooden window and shone on the standard medical supply cabinet. All the equipment was neatly arranged, and there were respirators and electrocardiographs in the corner. A doctor was wearing a mask and checking on a patient.

“’Everyone’ here is doing well,” Duan Yang said.

In the video, someone looked up at the camera and waved. They were all young doctors, full of vigor, without any gloom on their faces.

“Mm,” replied Lin Chen.

“Captain Xing asked me to take over what Teacher left behind. In fact, I’m totally inexperienced, but the more I encounter these things, the more I realize that I don’t have a deep enough understanding of what kind of life is more meaningful.”

Duan Yang pointed to two instruments in the corner.

“I heard that many places in Dana don’t even have disinfecting alcohol cotton, and they rely on blood pressure monitors and stethoscopes to conduct preoperative examinations for patients. But the actual situation here is much better. The things you see are available at many medical aid points here… I don’t know where Teacher got so much money.”

“It’s not just about money, but also about people,” Lin Chen continued to look at the bustling young medical staff behind Duan Yang.

“Yes, Consultant Lin. There are also students who graduated from famous medical schools around the world. They gave up high-paying jobs to come here. Some people have stayed here for seven or eight years.” Duan Yang turned the camera again to show him a sturdy Latina with curly hair. “She has been here for twelve years. Her family runs a chain of hospitals in a big city. After coming here, she never went back. Now she’s our hospital’s ‘biggest benefactor’.”

In the middle of the conversation, the voluptuous curly-haired middle-aged woman blew Lin Chen a kiss.

Speaking to this point, Duan Yang finally expressed a little regret. “If Teacher could live a few more years, Dana might become a designated internship institution for medical colleges.”

When Duan Yang mentioned “living a few more years”, he only felt nostalgic. He didn’t say anything like, “If only I had gathered the courage to come to Dana to accompany Teacher…” One of the signs of growing up was no longer saying “if only…”

They both fell silent across the video for a while.

Finally, Lin Chen asked, “Is the virus dangerous?”

Duan Yang replied, “It can be controlled for now. If BDV really becomes dangerously mutated, we have A-level protective suits that can be used here. Teacher also built a level-four biosafety lab in Angodo. He’s really amazing.”

“The problem is we’ve seen what he has and know what that thing can make patients turn into. If they attack medical staff, do you have countermeasures?”

Duan Yang was silent for a while, then answered from another angle. “For Teacher, those Gaomeng people are all patients, so they are the same to us.”

“And…” Duan Yang continued, “I suspect that among the Gaomeng people saved by Teacher, there may be cases of people recovering from the new strain of the Borna virus. This might help us extract interferon or develop vaccines in the future.”

Lin Chen didn’t point out Duan Yang’s oblique reference. He just said, “I understand.”

“I’m sorry, I can’t help much with Shen Lian’s matter.”

Duan Yang referred to Su Fengzi’s investigation, unable to find a breakthrough from him to crack Shen Lian’s defenses. Lin Chen, looking at Duan Yang’s coal-black face on the screen, suddenly had a clear line of thought.

Finally, he spoke much longer. “Solving the case is not your job. Anyway, don’t overstep your boundaries.”

Duan Yang was helpless, and it seemed someone was calling him in the simple hospital.

The young man took a deep breath, responded, wiped the camera lens with his finger, and said, “Consultant Lin, then, goodbye.”

“We’ll meet again,” Lin Chen responded, his gaze resting on all the different medical staff in the room, of different skin colors and ages.

……

The screen darkened, and night fell.

Lin Chen stood under the light, not even having enough time to return the phone to the doctor he was just with, and immediately dialed Su Fengzi’s number.

From the receiver came the annoyed complaints. “Shixiong, we have already gone through all the records of Shen Lian and Duan Wanshan. I have visited each of her classmates. You must know, Shen Lian is such a loner; who would care if she had a different mood one day or for what reason she had a feud with Duan Wanshan? No one cares!”

Lin Chen was stunned.

It actually wasn’t that long, but it felt like he hadn’t heard this voice for most of his life.

This kind of incessant chatter, no one else would do aside from Fu Hao.

Su Fengzi was investigating Shen Lian and Duan Wanshan’s past in Yongchuan, and the one who would naturally accompany him was Fu Hao, and perhaps many colleagues he used to know.

Lin Chen calmed his emotions, but before he could respond, Su Fengzi’s loud voice came from the background. “Have all the consumption records been checked?”

The responses on the phone were intermittent, and there were indeed many acquaintances there.

Su Fengzi’s voice got closer to the phone. “Finished babbling, Professor Fu? Give me the phone back.”

He said it angrily as the phone was handed over.

Su Fengzi must have been driven mad by the old case from years ago; it must be frighteningly difficult to handle such a temperamental matter.

Lin Chen also heard the sounds of rapid mouse clicking and paper shuffling; the number of people he was directing was clearly more than he had imagined.

“Where are you?” Lin Chen asked.

“Where else could I be, the university. I found a classroom to store all the related materials. You can come here and experience the meaning of the term ‘vast and comprehensive’.”

“Don’t you know about Shen Lian’s suicide?”

“I know, but what does it have to do with me?” Su Fengzi retorted. “Just because the girl is dead, does that mean the earth should stop spinning?”

Su Fengzi was in a bad mood, and his tone was harsh. Lin Chen hadn’t expected that Su Fengzi, of all people, would decide to continue the investigation after hearing of Shen Lian’s suicide.

Everyone knew that achieving a victory in the negotiation with Shen Lian, her full cooperation, and getting all the drug research data and even the virus data was the ideal path to victory, so that the other party wouldn’t have any power to pose an absolute threat to them.

And the prerequisite for this victory was to use Duan Wanshan to pry open Shen Lian’s defenses, so the reason why Shen Lian was so concerned about Duan Wanshan was extremely important.

But when Shen Lian committed suicide, this path was almost completely closed.

Yet Su Fengzi simply didn’t see the wall right in front of him and tried to ram right into it.

This was too unrealistic, too unlike Su Fengzi.

But Lin Chen thought this kind of unrealistic persistence was actually quite common. There had been many unsolved cases that were solved, but it was nothing more than tirelessly seeking that one-in-a-million chance.

And even now, it wasn’t about hope anymore; it was about something simpler, more basic—there had to be a reason for this.

“If where Shen Lian committed suicide successfully has nothing to do with you, why haven’t you found the answer yet?” Lin Chen asked.

Su Fengzi got even more irritated. “Reality is not a well-scripted detective film, where someone will inevitably leave a trace, and then that trace will inevitably be discovered by the detective and used to solve the case.” Su Fengzi paused, then continued, “I have used the method of situational recall on all related parties, but as you know, this is like fishing for a needle that may not really exist in the vast domain of the human brain without any direction.”

“I think at this point, we might all need something else.”

“What?” Su Fengzi.

“Some faith.” Lin Chen paused for a moment. He might still be in that narrow, dimly lit restroom, but it was as if a bright light had torn through the mottled, ugly mirror paper and shone through.

“<The Secret> says, as long as you believe something exists, it will definitely exist.”

“You don’t believe that good will always triumph over evil.”

“I didn’t believe it before.”

“Now?”

“Now I wonder if it’s too late for me to grasp at straws.”

“What do you want me to do?” Su Fengzi responded very quickly. “Did you find it?”

Lin Chen wasn’t sure yet if he could find it.

But after listening to Xing Conglian’s summary and analysis after connecting all the series of events, he believed that somehow, they were bound to get the key that would solve all the problems.

So he said, “Shen Lian once mentioned very clearly in our conversation that she was sick in the head.” Lin Chen paused. “They are very arrogant, thinking that their genetic abnormalities make their brains different from normal people, but using ‘sick’—this is obviously self-deprecating. Why would she think that?”

Su Fengzi fell silent.

Lin Chen continued, “Shen Lian should have a clear understanding of her own brain condition, so we need to check all possible opportunities for Shen Lian to have a brain scan, such as during medical experiments or when she was hospitalized for injuries, and compare the overlaps between Duan Wanshan and Shen Lian on these ‘opportunities’, combined with Shen Lian’s campus card records, absence records, and sick leave records, to see if there are any abnormal connections. If we are lucky, we might be able to pinpoint the real key point. Also……”

Before Lin Chen could finish, Su Fengzi hung up the call very cleanly. The clicking sound still lingered in his ear.

Lin Chen slowly lowered his hand.

Also…

Although I don’t know why we are bound to win, there have always been many people around us, including you.

From dusk till dawn, from when Shen Lian was still in critical condition to when all her vital signs stabilized, Lin Chen finally got a call back.

Su Fengzi’s voice was rough and hoarse, as if he had been crying. “I found it.”

He said.

When Lin Chen turned on his computer, he received a whole set of experimental record documents entitled “Analysis of Brain Maps for Movement Disorder Videos”, which included complete experimental records, including brain map analysis for the experimental group and the control group.

Lin Chen clicked open each brain map one by one—those varied yet similar brain activity diagrams caught all his attention. When he reached the end, Lin Chen found another document.

That was the correspondence table between each brain map’s anonymous code number and the subject’s actual name.

When he saw the code number 006573 and its owner, Lin Chen suddenly understood.

Just as he was about to close the document, he saw another code.

006501.

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

Chapter 298

“What’s with that expression?” the visitor who just arrived asked coldly.

Lin Chen, holding his phone, said to Xing Conglian, “You… are… great…”

“Disappointed, aren’t you? Thought it was Xing Conglian who came?” Huang Ze looked down at him from a higher position.

Lin Chen dusted himself off and stood up, sincerely answering, “Yes, I did.”

“…”

“So, I should apologize for disappointing you, shouldn’t I?” Huang Ze responded sarcastically.

“I accept your apology,” Lin Chen replied.

“…”

Huang Ze seemed to be silent for a while, probably out of annoyance.

Lin Chen looked at him for a moment, noticing that he was also on a call and hadn’t hung up yet.

The person on the other end of the phone loudly said “hello” a few times.

“What can I do for you, Inspector Huang?”

Lin Chen gave Huang Ze a way out.

Only then did Huang Ze’s expression lighten up a bit. “Someone is being a drama queen and insisted on speaking with you.”

Lin Chen took the phone handed over by Huang Ze, confused, “Hello, this is Lin Chen,” he said.

“Consultant Lin, is that you?”

“Yes, it is.”

“I… I’m Guiqiu… You know, Yan Guiqiu,” the person on the other end of the call said very familiarly.

Lin Chen glanced at Huang Ze, who seemed pleased with himself, while holding the phone as if it were a hot potato. Huang Ze mouthed what appeared to be: ‘serves you right’.

“Mr. Yan…”

“Just call me Guiqiu.”

“Guiqiu.” Lin Chen found he had no experience dealing with someone like Yan Guiqiu and his tone became noticeably cautious.

“Consultant Lin, you are too polite. You apologized to me, making me feel embarrassed.”

“I didn’t mean that.”

“Yes, you did.”

“Okay, I did…”

“You did what?”

“…”

Yan Guiqiu’s voice was so loud, and the rooftop was too quiet. Huang Ze kept a straight face, but it seemed like he was having a hard time not laughing.

“Guiqiu, what’s the reason for your call today?” Lin Chen asked in a coaxing manner.

“Ah, Consultant Lin! Right! I just wanted to tell you that there are so many good people in the world, and I’ve decided to become one!”

Yan Guiqiu spoke with a radiant spirit, which seemed effortless. But after thinking about it, Lin Chen realized that becoming a good person was indeed just a matter of mindset.

“Congratulations,” he said.

“Thank you!” Yan Guiqiu responded and hung up the call.

The call ended with a beep.

The purpose of Yan Guiqiu’s call was genuine, pure, and simple. Simply incredible.

Lin Chen slowly put down the phone, as if he were infected by this simplistic worldview.

He also glanced at Huang Ze and handed the phone back.

“What?” Huang Ze raised his eyebrows.

“Why are you here?” Lin Chen asked.

“That’s none of your business.”

“Is that so?”

Lin Chen looked at this person who was once considered a friend, then viewed as a mortal enemy, and now, they had a complicated relationship. He understood the intention behind Xing Conglian sending Huang Ze.

“There’s something I need to tell you about Huang Weiwei,’ he said.

The statement was brief.

After all, he had been contemplating the wording and how to present the truth to Huang Ze for years.

But he had never thought that he would reveal it at this point in such a simple and calm manner.

From start to finish, Huang Ze didn’t interrupt him; he only listened with his head down.

However, it seemed as if he was too stunned by the truth and had locked himself in another space, where one strong knock could shatter him into dust.

Lin Chen put his hands in his pockets and finally said, “This is the whole story. You have the right to know.”

After a while, Huang Ze slowly lifted his head.

Lin Chen had never seen such a complex look in his eyes—a mix of pain, shock, despair, guilt, pity, relief, and many other emotions—all converging into one of the most difficult moments in life.

Sorry, and, too late.

Under the blue sky and white clouds, Huang Ze looked like smoke that could be blown away by the wind, as if his soul had been torn apart.

Lin Chen didn’t look at Huang Ze again. Any words would seem barren. He walked past Huang Ze, wanting to leave and give Huang Ze some time alone, just as he often did before.

But as he put his hand on the iron gate, he suddenly turned back and spoke to him.

“Actually, I don’t understand.”

Huang Ze was motionless, as if he was a dead man who couldn’t hear his words.

So Lin Chen kept talking. This was probably the most Lin Chen had ever talked to Huang Ze in his life. But here on the rooftop, in this moment of complete honesty, he no longer treated Huang Ze as someone he needed to keep secrets from. They both needed to hear each other out.

“I understand why Weiwei did what she did, or at least, I thought I did. But in the past year, as I met so many people, I realized she was just the beginning. Whether it’s Fang Aizi or Xu Ran, or Song Shengsheng and Duan Wanshan, even the recent big vote. So many big and small people and events made me question at the end why people would sacrifice themselves for others?”

Huang Ze, of course, didn’t answer. Lin Chen continued to talk to the wind.

“One could argue this sacrifice is the function of high morals or a relentless struggle against evil, perhaps out of love or hate, or even supposedly, altruists are descendants of genes that humans have selected over time for the sake of the species. But now, I suddenly realize, none of this explains the most basic question: Why would they want to do this?”

Lin Chen was leaning on the door, with his back to Huang Ze, waiting for an answer.

“Lin Chen, you’re still fond of splitting hairs.”

Huang Ze finally recovers from his stupor; the wind carried his typical indifferent voice.

This was Huang Ze’s way of speaking, and Lin Chen knew it well. Huang Ze was telling him in his own twisted way: I’m fine. They, as they are, must also have strong resilience.

“Indeed.” Lin Chen conceded. “Then tell me, why did Weiwei choose to jump?”

“Because she wanted to save more people and didn’t want to see you troubled,” Huang Ze replied calmly yet painfully.

“Why would she want to save more people?” Lin Chen asks again.

“Because, she’s a good girl in our family.”

Lin Chen nodded, then shook his head. Huang Ze’s answer only covered a part of it.

He pulled open the iron gate and took a step out.

“Thank you.”

He faintly hears Huang Ze say this.

He waved his hand and finally didn’t look back.

……

The iron door on the rooftop slammed shut.

Lin Chen walked down the stairs, and the fluorescent lights emitted a cool glow.

With each step he descended, he felt a bit lighter. The long-term burden had suddenly been lifted, and it came so unexpectedly.

Perhaps everyone needed such a moment to muster up courage.

As Lin Chen walked around the corner to the next set of stairs, he saw quite a few people gathered.

There were the people from the previous guardhouse, unfamiliar police officers, and doctors probably ready to rush to the rooftop to rescue him.

Everyone was looking at their phones. The sound of WeChat group chats and Weibo refreshing filled the air.

“What’s going on?” Lin Chen snapped back to reality and asked.

After that, his phone rang on cue. The call was from Xing Conglian.

Lin Chen signaled everyone to go back to their own business. He moved to a quiet window and asked Xing Conglian, “Go ahead.”

“Are you alright?” Xing Conglian cut in.

“Not too good, but I can rally for a while.”

“Alright, then, I’ll keep it brief.”

Xing Conglian succinctly explained everything, while Lin Chen listened silently, no longer thinking about Huang Ze and all the people from his past.

Xing Conglian described the findings from the Mailin server, the response from the virologist, and their analysis, and when he heard about the innocent four white-collar workers who were killed in the noodle shop explosion, Lin Chen’s expression turned cold.

But whether it was the Dana Rainforest and Doctors Without Borders or the insurance company and Zhourui Pharmaceutical, when all the details came together, Lin Chen’s first reaction wasn’t fear.

He probably understood Huang Ze’s feelings on the rooftop now—a deep sense of shock.

Today, like every other day, was a very ordinary day.

Unlike his position on the rooftop, he was now facing the main entrance of the hospital.

Ambulances were flashing red lights, coming in and out. The white-clad medical staff were busier due to the sudden virus news, but everything was within control and not chaotic.

All departments had prepared in advance to handle mass panic. Major internet platforms and television stations were providing information about the Borna virus in various forms.

In the contingency plan that Su Fengzi wrote for Xing Conglian, a symptom of the virus that didn’t actually exist was included to distinguish between real patients and mass hysteria patients who believed they had been infected with the virus.

Of course, in such a context, there were rumors, distrust, and people fearing a possible large-scale poisoning or virus spread.

The situation seemed to return to the state before the big vote started, a delicate balance before the storm.

But Lin Chen knew it was almost over. Everything was almost over.

“Lin Chen.”

Xing Conglian called his name twice on the phone. Lin Chen turned his gaze away from the hospital entrance.

“What are you thinking about?” Xing Conglian asked.

Lin Chen was considering how to express his true feelings.

After Xing Conglian finished explaining the grand plan that had been disrupted, Lin Chen suddenly realized that it was actually the victims, whether it was Fang Zhiming or Fang Aizi, or Xu Ran, Song Shengsheng, Duan Wanshan, and Duan Yang…

Their silent resistance, like trickles merging into a sea, had torn an enemy far stronger than themselves to the state of madness.

That person would never expect that all the ordinary people he saw as ants and pawns, including those who have died, would eventually put the noose around his neck.

“I have a strange premonition now,” said Lin Chen.

“What kind of premonition?” Xing Conglian asked.

Lin Chen felt as if he had slept on the rooftop and had gone from an atheist to a complete believer.

“Although I don’t know why, no matter what happens, we will win,” he replied.

After saying that, Lin Chen hung up the call with Xing Conglian.

Someone was coming from the end of the corridor. It was a doctor.

Lin Chen held his phone and turned his head. The doctor took off his mask, looking tired but determined, and said, “The police captain asked me to come up and inform you that Shen Lian has been resuscitated, but she is still in critical condition, in the intensive care unit. Also, the neurology ward downstairs is having a conference call with Dana; you can go there.”

The smell of disinfectant hit him, and the sunlight streamed in from the window, making the doctor’s face bright and clean.

Lin Chen nodded, bowed in respect, and said, “Thank you.”

Kinky Thoughts:

Author really pulled a fast one there. I feel sorry for Huang Ze. The author really did him dirty. He was literally set up as the cannon fodder to be the catalyst to set up Lin Chen and Xing Conglian.

I was quite annoyed by his inexplicable actions, which could have easily been explained away if she just made him Lin Chen’s ex. Like it actually would make the story deeper—the death of Huang Weiwei caused the rift in their relationship, which led to the breakup.

I mean, reading the previous chapters, Huang Ze obviously harbored feelings for Lin Chen that teetered on hate because of what happened to his sister. When Lin Chen faked his death in the first arc, Huang Ze was incredibly relieved and happy to find out Lin Chen was still alive.

And to give an easy out, she made Huang Ze act irrationally by trying to kiss Lin Chen (out of nowhere, because WTF, that was never even developed) just to move the plot point of making Xing Conglian jealous and Lin Chen having the excuse to treat him like trash.

But my dude, Lin Chen, you literally withheld crucial information about HIS SISTER’S DEATH. Like how can you blame him for hating you and treating you awfully when you literally could have told him the truth about his sister, especially when you were directly involved in it (not by choice), irregardless of whether or not he would actually believe it. If you had told him before and he treated you badly, then things would be understandable. Yet you had held him in regard as a “friend” before and not told him—that’s just fucked up. That’s nice and all when you put “protecting her dignity and reputation”, but you know, the dead don’t care about that shit while the living suffer so that’s only self-serving.

Anyway, I had to get that out of my system. I hate it when danmei pulls this kind of trope.

Justice for Huang Ze! Fuck if you don’t want him, I’ll take him. Dude was brave enough to disarm a bomb, knowing it could blow him up. I can certainly blow…

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

Chapter 297

Five yuan.

This was the “toll fee” he gave to Xing Conglian that day. Time had passed, but he was still the one being extorted.

Lin Chen’s fingers trembled slightly, and after a while, he took out a twenty yuan bill and handed it to the chubby kid.

The hospital was planted with many pearl plum trees. The blue sky, green leaves, white walls, and snow-white flowers, plus the shock in the little boy’s black eyes after getting the money—everything exuded life.

It’s good to be alive.

Zheng Xiaoming came abruptly and left without any psychological burden after scamming him out of his money.

Lin Chen held the burger wrapper that was exchanged with him, unfolded it, and looked at it in the wind.

The sunlight shone through the snow-white, oil-proof paper. There was no text inside. Indeed, it was just a piece of paper that was carefully packed and taken away after the burger was finished.

The wind brushed the oil-proof paper. Lin Chen sniffed it. It smelled really good, so in a sense, it wasn’t a total loss.

After being interrupted by Zheng Xiaoming, Lin Chen suddenly became bored.

Probably because he wanted to cheer up but didn’t have the energy, but he was too lazy to think about things like human fate and destiny; he just wanted to sleep for a while.

Then he really fell asleep.

He didn’t know how long he had slept.

By the time he opened his eyes, the sun in the sky had changed its angle and became hotter. And there was someone sitting next to him—a youthful, short-haired girl.

He looked at the girl’s fair side profile, wondering what Xing Conglian was trying to do.

Realizing that he was awake, the girl dragged a KFC bucket from a family meal from the ground and set it next to him. She opened the lid without saying a word.

Lin Chen rubbed his forehead, wondering why the children he knew were becoming more and more taciturn. Fang Aizi must have seen the KFC wrapper he was holding tightly, so the misunderstanding was deep.

He folded the paper that Zheng Xiaoming had sent, put it back into his pocket, and couldn’t explain.

He couldn’t refuse the kindness, so he picked a piece of the original recipe fried chicken from the bucket and took a bite. Sure enough, the fried chicken was completely cold despite the hot weather, indicating how long he had been asleep and how long Fang Aizi had been with him.

“Don’t you have to go to school?” Lin Chen asked.

The girl glanced at him. Her black hair was blown into a mess by the wind on the rooftop. “No need.”

“Today is Wednesday. Why not?”

“It’s none of your business.”

“…” Lin Chen could only continue to eat the fried chicken. Fang Aizi found a biscuit inside and handed it to him.

The meaning was probably that the fried chicken was too greasy, so he should eat some bread first.

Lin Chen accepted it and said, “Thank you,” but Fang Aizi still didn’t speak.

Lin Chen ate silently for a while before finally saying, “How can we chat like this?”

“Don’t want to chat.” The response was very straightforward.

Lin Chen was always helpless toward the little girl. After carefully considering women’s psychology, he looked at Fang Aizi and said, “Are you angry?”

Only then did Fang Aizi finally turn her head to look at him squarely and nod very seriously.

“Why?” After he said this, he realized that the answer wasn’t quite right. He recalled the rules he had read about how to coax a girlfriend while chasing Xing Conglian, and tentatively said, “In any case, I must be the one at fault, but I am a bit stupid. Can you tell me where I went wrong?”

Fang Aizi also felt choked. After a while, tears began to well up in the girl’s eyes. Her skin was white and transparent, making her look like a heroine in a Japanese shoujo manga*.

*Japanese comics targeting adolescent girls and young adult women. Generally, the protagonist is a young girl.

But her expression was calm. The tears in her eyes didn’t fall, showing that her endurance was far beyond ordinary people.

Lin Chen sighed deeply. Even though his head was hurting, at this moment, he could no longer see the gray interrogation room, the toilet, or those lives that had disappeared in front of him one after another. He could only see the living people in front of him.

He opened his arms and asked the girl next to him, “Do you want a hug?”

As expected, the advice from the post was very useful. The girl finally couldn’t help it and cried loudly as she buried her head on his shoulder with tears streaming down her face.

Lin Chen patted Fang Aizi’s back. This girl was excessively strong that tears weren’t in her dictionary, but now she was heartbroken.

Lin Chen could feel her sadness, which contained fear, worry, and uncertainty about the future.

Fang Aizi cried for a long time, and Lin Chen suspected that she had never cried so inexplicably in her life.

After a very long time, about half an hour, Fang Aizi was finally able to control her emotions. She took her head off his shoulder, covered her face, probably feeling too embarrassed. Lin Chen took a napkin from the KFC bucket and passed it to her.

“I’m sorry,” Fang Aizi said.

“It’s okay. Capriciousness is a girl’s privilege.”

“When I came to the rooftop and saw you sitting here alone, I was very scared.”

“I know.”

“At first, I thought, ‘Consultant Lin is also human. He may also feel tired and can’t keep going, so let him rest for a while…'” Fang Aizi was still somewhat sobbing.

“Yeah…”

“No, that’s not it,” Fang Aizi interrupted him. “I bought KFC and came back, and you hadn’t woken up yet. I suddenly thought, ‘If even you are ready to give up, what will we do?'”

Lin Chen paused for a moment, always feeling that such words should not be spoken by a girl like Fang Aizi.

“Of course, you don’t actually owe us anything,” she said. “You’re not a savior. There are plenty of tall and strong people in the world, but… I only know you.”

The girl sniffed. “You told me, I was born to live a more upright life than others. Others can harbor hatred, I cannot; others can wish for death, I cannot. You told me that from the day my father died, I can only carry the glory and pride he gave me and keep going…”

Lin Chen glanced at her. “I brewed such beautiful chicken soup?”

Fang Aizi sniffed and finally didn’t look as fragile as before. She put on her cloak of strength and said, “You were very good that day.”

“Eh… I thought so too.”

“I thought a lot about it. I’ve been thinking about how to comfort you since I went downstairs to buy the takeout.”

Lin Chen looked down at the tear stains on his shirt and said, “You performed quite well, too.”

Fang Aizi was a bit embarrassed. “Anyway, I really thought of a lot of lines, but the moment you woke up, I suddenly found that I couldn’t say anything. I was afraid that you would say to me: Aizi, life is too hard; let’s just give it up.”

The girl no longer cried, but her eyes were still very red. “I’m afraid that the person who encourages me to keep going will collapse first, and then I will find it hard to keep going.”

Lin Chen shook his head, wanting to find something to joke about, but he suddenly found that it was indeed his real thought at some point.

“So…”

Fang Aizi patted herself, stood up against the light. Her short black hair flew in the wind, making her look heroic.

“Consultant Lin, thank you for pulling me out of the mud when my life was darkest, but I’m sorry, I still need to bother you.” She patted her shoulder and said earnestly, “Since you have become my life mentor, please continue to lead by example.”

Fang Aizi finished speaking and left without any delay. Lin Chen finally discovered the second commonality of children who didn’t like to talk.

The sound of the girl’s footsteps disappeared on the rooftop.

He looked at the gradually setting sun and laughed with a lot of emotion.

Fang Aizi had completely grasped his weakness. He really had no solution to the girl’s tears.

After all, intelligent and beautiful girls were the treasures of all mankind.

Lin Chen sat cross-legged and opened his phone.

For such a long time, he didn’t receive any missed calls, which meant Xing Conglian had excellent control over the situation.

He wiped his phone screen and dialed the number; the call was answered instantly.

Xing Conglian told someone nearby, “Wait a moment.”

In the interim, Lin Chen said to Xing Conglian, “You can stop now. Don’t send more people.”

“How did you know there are more?” Xing Conglian asked indifferently.

Lin Chen was speechless. “I just guessed.”

“The next one is Mu Wenhua,” Xing Conglian said.

“What’s going on?”

“She is a fan of Song Shengsheng.”

Lin Chen could only remain silent. “No more.”

“She wrote a thank-you letter to you and has always wanted to see you.”

“That’s strange.”

“Are you shy?”

“Not really,” Lin Chen said. The city beneath the rooftop was bathed in warm sunshine, making the leaves gleam. He watched for a while, but Xing Conglian didn’t say anything more, so he had to admit, “Okay, I’m a bit shy.”

“Why?”

Lin Chen didn’t expect Xing Conglian to ask seriously.

“I don’t know,” he said.

“Because for many people, they would rather admit their dark side than their inherent goodness. For you, you’d rather confront a psychopath to the end than accept the sincere gratitude of a normal person. Are you…”

“Sick?”

“How would I dare to say that to the head of the family!”

“Uh…” Lin Chen thought for a moment and complimented Xing Conglian. “Captain Xing is very eloquent.”

“Consultant Lin, you’re too kind.”

Lin Chen was helpless. It was very quiet on Xing Conglian’s side, like he was climbing stairs.

Xing Conglian continued, “In fact, what really keeps you going is not the criminals, but the good people and the ordinary people you care about. So think about it, why are you standing here?”

Lin Chen glanced at the rooftop. “I just want to enjoy the breeze here.”

“Lin Chen,” Xing Conglian said seriously.

“Here.”

“Be bold. Accept kindness boldly, admit short-term gains and losses boldly, and continue your journey boldly,” Xing Conglian said solemnly. “You don’t owe anyone anything, and you are destined to win.”

Xing Conglian was like a boss lecturing his subordinates, but this kind of advice, without any personal feelings, was very helpful to Lin Chen.

“I see,” Lin Chen said.

After saying this, he paused but still wanted to ask, “Why am I destined to win?”

“No reason. It’s just that it’s always better to have faith than not to have it.”

Xing Conglian didn’t have many profound philosophies and just spoke straightforwardly.

The sun overhead was very bright, and Lin Chen inexplicably felt a sense of being nourished.

“Wife…” Lin Chen drew out his words, and he could clearly hear Xing Conglian gasping at the other end of the phone.

“Lin Chen.” Xing Conglian forced himself to keep his voice steady.

“I’m here, my wife,” Lin Chen continued. “Do you know what I like about you the most?”

“What?” Xing Conglian asked.

“Everything,” Lin Chen answered.

Xing Conglian paused for a moment, then asked, “Do you know what I dislike about you the most?”

“Hmm?”

“Nothing,” Xing Conglian decisively said.

“Ah…”

Lin Chen continued to sigh. The door of the rooftop squeaked open, and the footsteps got closer. His heartbeat accelerated, and when he looked back, he heard Xing Conglian say, “Actually, there’s no Mu Wenhua. She’s in Yongchuan, and I’m not that heartless and crazy.”

Kinky Thoughts:

Okay… I have to admit, this is too fucking cute, especially the husband and wife reversal haha.

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Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

Chapter 296

Wang Chao rubbed his eyes, feeling very confused.

The world was so big, and his personal strength was so weak, that it seemed useless to do anything.

He typed on the keyboard and wrote a line of inexplicable code. Thinking about some past events, he felt somewhat discouraged.

At this moment, he felt someone’s hand on his neck—a large hand with thick calluses on the joints and fingertips. Of course, Wang Chao knew whose hand this was. This action had a gentle and comforting meaning, and he turned his head in surprise.

“Go sleep for a while.”

“Boss…”

Xing Conglian said, “Have some confidence. Go to sleep first.”

“The virus…”

‘How could I possibly have confidence?’ Wang Chao thought.

“First of all, this is a piece of propaganda material. Regardless of whether they are ready to use it, when we see it, they can only continue stubbornly.”

Stirred by this point, Wang Chao seemed to grasp something key. “They can’t hide anymore, can they? They can only prepare for a decisive battle?”

“If in the next phase, a large amount of material related to the Borna virus appears on the Internet, it proves that they are probably at the end of their strength,” Xing Conglian said.

The alarm for the monitor in the lower right corner of the computer went off.

He opened it immediately.

In the pop-up window, the “virus” and “contagious” related keywords he had set were explosively increasing in geometric numbers, exceeding the safety threshold.

“It’s started.” He turned the screen around to show his boss. The faces of everyone inside and outside the screen tightened. But having known in advance what was going to happen, he didn’t feel helpless.

“A cornered dog will leap over the wall*, heh.” Xing Conglian extinguished his cigarette.

*(狗急跳墙了) It’s a metaphor often used to refer to when bad guys are desperate, they will go all out to make trouble.

“What should we do next?” Wang Chao asked.

Xing Conglian thought for a moment and said, “I’ll make a call to Su Fengzi.”

Before his words fell, the mobile phone on the table lit up.

The incoming call was from an unknown number. Wang Chao shivered, immediately wanting to find the signal tracking device. But Xing Conglian, as if sensing something in advance, answered the phone with a gloomy face.

“Captain Xing… I am Chu Wei from the detention center.”

“Chu Wei.”

“Well… Consultant Lin is on the hospital rooftop. We’re not professionals, so we dare not persuade him… What do you think…”

Wang Chao was close enough to hear the careful wording inside. He stiffened, and all drowsiness disappeared.

“I see.” Xing Conglian paused for a long time, then said, “Tell your people to back off and not disturb him.”

After saying that, he looked at the two people in the video call and said, “Sorry.”

Then he abruptly closed his laptop and rubbed his face heavily.

But his device had already received the public sentiment warning, so the reaction from the command center wouldn’t be too slow.

Less than two minutes after hanging up the hospital’s call, Xing Conglian received the next call from Minister Shen. He had a premonition and answered the call directly, saying, “Wait for me for three minutes. I will report the situation in three minutes.”

Then he hung up.

The time left for Xing Conglian to think was very short.

On one hand, there was his A’Chen Gege, who was in a terrible situation, and on the other, the desperate culprits.

Wang Chao saw everything, but he didn’t know what to do other than feeling anxious.

Xing Conglian held his phone, opened the contacts, and slid his finger over the list of names.

He rubbed the edge of his phone, deep in thought.

Just when Wang Chao thought he would call A’Chen Gege, he saw his boss put the phone to his ear, and a moment later he said, “Fengzi, here’s the situation…”

Xing Conglian began to briefly explain the latest developments in the case to one of his allies.

Su Fengzi listened to the call for a while, and without any further teasing, he said, “The Borna virus probably hasn’t achieved its most efficient means of transmission, so they want to create mass panic with the drug and the virus. But either of these, we don’t have an effective way to suppress in the short term.”

“Right.”

“What about Lin Chen? Hasn’t Shen Lian loosened up yet? She’s waiting for a lifesaver.”

“Shen Lian tried committing suicide and is still being rescued.”

Su Fengzi’s breath hitched, but he sharply asked, “You’re avoiding the question directly. Did Lin Chen get stimulated? Is he not doing well?”

Xing Conglian took a deep breath and told the truth. “He’s on the hospital rooftop.”

“I see. Don’t tell him about the BDV virus for now. Tell him when he’s calmed down.” Su Fengzi was very decisive.

“I was thinking the same.” Xing Conglian said, “But I need a brief plan of action for dealing with public sentiment control and the potential for mass panic.”

“I’ll write a brief plan for you.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, sister*.” Su Fengzi was unusually irritable. “How is Lin Chen…”

*Clarity: He’s teasing Xing Conglian since Lin Chen is his “brother (shidi)”.

But Xing Conglian didn’t answer and hung up the phone.

Wang Chao checked the time. There was one minute left before his boss was scheduled to report the situation. At this moment, his boss looked at him with a firm gaze. “Find some people’s numbers for me, then go to sleep. You have two hours to rest.”

……

Lin Chen just wanted to go to the rooftop to get some fresh air.

The temperature in the early morning was neither hot nor cold, with blue skies and white clouds, not as suffocating as the doorway to the operating room.

Images of Shen Lian’s self-mutilation would spontaneously emerge before his eyes; the blood gushing from her mouth and that blue pencil were particularly vivid.

Sometimes Lin Chen could even see white bone stubs, although he wasn’t sure if that was imagined or if it had actually happened.

But none of that mattered now.

He sat down cross-legged, leaning against the concrete wall with his hands hanging on his legs, feeling the cool ground.

Because of the construction of the rooftop, if he wanted to find a place to lean his back against, he would be close to the edge of the rooftop.

He probably knew that it looked like he was about to commit suicide, but he didn’t have the energy to care about everyone’s feelings.

He was indeed very tired.

To be honest, although he always felt that he had bad luck, he didn’t really believe in destiny.

Furthermore, he didn’t believe in sayings like “justice will eventually come” or “the truth might be late, but it will never be absent”.

The role of feel-good phrases was to let people in desperate situations hold onto their beliefs and persevere, but the downside was also very clear: People may think that it’s the high and mighty justice of heaven at work.

But in reality, there was no such thing as heaven being fair, and everyone was treated like grass.

Those who truly fought for justice and truth were humans.

But it was precisely because there was no heavenly justice that humans often felt helpless.

Lin Chen closed his eyes.

Although the weather around him was clear, he felt like he was still standing in the narrow bathroom of the detention center.

He was propping himself against the sink, as if he were split into two people.

One side was dark, the other was bright.

One side was filled with despair and loneliness, while the other was fragmented and colorful due to the reflection of the colored paper.

He was thinking of Huang Weiwei.

The vague smile of the girl appeared on the colored paper.

As he looked at her, she smiled back at him.

If there was really such a thing as heavenly justice, or if people’s fate was determined by their goodness or badness, then Huang Weiwei had the most reason to stand in the end.

But Huang Weiwei was dead.

He thought of Song Shengsheng.

He racked his brains, trying to find a precise phrase to sum up Song Shengsheng.

Such a beautiful life.

This was the only phrase he could think of.

But, Song Shengsheng was dead.

Of course, this cause-and-effect relationship wasn’t very clear.

But how could there be such a clear cause and effect?

Whether it was Fang Zhiming or Xu Ran, what reasons did they have to die?

And the four people.

Four people in exchange for thousands of innocent lives—what a profitable deal. They should have chosen it…

Then everything would have ended.

Lin Chen knew that he was now splitting hairs. The person who should be responsible for all this is the murderer, not God.

But since there was a murderer, they should stop him, not stand by and watch as tragedies keep on happening.

Yet he couldn’t do anything, feeling extremely powerless.

But, he didn’t want to admit that the enemy was too powerful, nor did he want to admit that he was too weak.

He could only believe that fate was a blind arbitrator, and the world was inherently unpredictable and irrational, so no matter what happened, it wouldn’t be too outrageous.

Lin Chen realized that he couldn’t even persuade himself, let alone Shen Lian. He gripped his cell phone but didn’t make a call. Since Xing Conglian didn’t call, it meant that things weren’t going well.

He blinked, and the cool wind brushed his face. His face was facing the sun, and he could feel the red blood vessels beneath his eyelids.

He knew he looked sickly now, but there was a certain comfort in this sickly feeling.

To wallow in a sense of hopeless despair meant he didn’t have to exert any willpower to achieve a satisfactory state or to satisfy others. How nice that would be…

If this was a tragic story, it could very well end with the protagonist committing suicide. Unfortunately, reality was more brutal than fiction because, regardless of how miserable it was, he was the one writing the script of his life. No one would be responsible for his life, so most of the time, he could only keep going.

Tap, tap…

The sound of a door opening echoed across the rooftop, followed by timid footsteps. Lin Chen rubbed his face, wanting to tell the approaching person that he had no intention of suicide and that he just wanted some peace.

But a faint scent of milk drifted in with the wind. He turned his head and saw a round, chubby face.

He was stunned.

“Why are you here?” he managed to ask.

Of course, the visitor wouldn’t answer.

Lin Chen patted the ground next to him, indicating for the person to sit down. To his surprise, the person sat directly on his crossed legs.

A chubby child with a fondness for various chicken burgers naturally carried considerable weight. The child, Zheng Xiaoming, leaned his whole body against Lin Chen for his own comfort, almost squeezing the breath out of Lin Chen.

Lin Chen struggled to withdraw his hand from behind Zheng Xiaoming, cradling the chubby child in his arms. He wanted to ask something but felt too weary to speak. Not everything needed a thorough investigation.

Zheng Xiaoming also remained silent. After all, an autistic prodigy lived in a world completely different from that of a normal person. So, they stayed together for a while, enjoying the breeze. The child’s soft hair brushed against his neck, and his overly plump body filled his arms, giving a satisfying feeling.

After an undetermined amount of time, Zheng Xiaoming finally moved. He squirmed on Lin Chen for a while, and just before Lin Chen’s legs were about to break from the weight, he finally took something out of his pocket.

It was a white food wrapper with some patterns on it.

Lin Chen realized, after the wrapper was unfolded, that it was a wrapper from a KFC chicken burger.

He stared at Zheng Xiaoming in surprise. The boy’s chubby cheeks were overflowing, but he greedily sniffed the aroma of the fried chicken wrapper, swallowed, and showed the pattern to him.

Then Zheng Xiaoming handed him the crumb-filled wrapper and opened his other hand.

His thumb, index finger, and middle finger came together, lightly rubbing.

This gesture was more than familiar.

Lin Chen looked at the chubby boy’s deep, clear eyes, full of expectation, and didn’t know what to say.

“Did he send you?” he finally asked.

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