Chapter 13
Bai Sheng said pleasantly: “Why do you think Xiao Ming’s grandfather lived to be ninety-nine?”
A few hours later, on the highway.
“Quanshan County Health Center, established in the 1980s, is located near the mountainous area of the county town, with very backward conditions. Three years ago, on a certain night, faulty wiring caused a major fire, resulting in heavy casualties.” In the passenger seat, a woman in a white medical coat held a file and raised an eyebrow. “Afterward, the health center was completely abandoned, and there were once local legends about it being haunted.”
To avoid attracting local attention, they had switched to a smaller car after entering the county. In the back seat, Bai Sheng arrogantly propped up his long legs, taking up two seats. Shen Zhuo was squeezed against the car window, feigning sleep with his arms crossed, pretending not to see.
“Shenhai City Supervision Office’s coroner, Shui Ronghua, my senior by three years,” Chen Miao introduced eagerly while driving, then pointed to the back seat with his thumb. “Bai-ge.”
Bai Sheng stroked his chin thoughtfully, looking the female coroner up and down. “I’ve discovered that the nepotism in your esteemed Supervision Office is quite severe. Supervisor Shen is your senior, the coroner is your senior, and the leader of the Second Action Team is your junior… Are your civil service positions still running on an academic hereditary system?”
Shui Ronghua had her long, curly hair coiled up at the back of her head. She was mature, charming, and capable. She smiled. “Our Central Research Institute was originally focused on genetic engineering. When evolution occurred five years ago, all the meteorites in the country were sent to our university, causing many students to suddenly evolve overnight. Even Yue Yang and Fu Chen were—”
Shen Zhuo shifted slightly.
Shui Ronghua’s voice immediately stopped. A moment later, she laughed. “…were also from our research institute. So, you could say we’re all connected in some way. We just recommend each other for jobs.”
Bai Sheng chuckled and gestured with his chin towards the metal collar around Shui Ronghua’s neck. “Beauty, are you an A-class?”
“I’m not the combat type, just a weak A-class,” Shui Ronghua said with a wink. “If we run into danger later, remember that you go first. I’ll transfer this field mission’s allowance to you, okay, handsome?”
Bai Sheng said humbly, “Oh, how can I accept? An outstanding student from our new era’s ‘School of Male Virtue’ who hides behind a young lady in danger would be dragged out and physically castrated. Speaking of which, Miss, could you give me a referral? I bet your Supervisor Shen is only thinking about kicking me out of the car right now. I’ve been mooching off my parents for a long time because I can’t find a job…”
Just then, the car stopped. An supervisor ran over from the car in front and knocked on the window. “Team Leader, we’re here!”
Ahead, the mountain forest undulated. In the open field stood a charred and dilapidated building. The top two floors were burned so badly that only the concrete frame remained. Only the ground floor retained some shape, vaguely showing the county-town style of the 1980s.
Shen Zhuo got up, pushed the door open, and got out of the car. But he didn’t walk away immediately. Instead, he turned and leaned against the car door, staring fixedly at Bai Sheng.
“The recruitment requirements for our office state that official employees must have a master’s degree or higher in science, engineering, liberal arts, or history. Biochemistry, environmental science, and materials science are all acceptable, but we do not accept philosophy graduates. My apologies, Mr. Bai.”
The air froze.
Bai Sheng looked incredulous, as if he couldn’t believe his ears. After a long moment, he took a deep breath and said solemnly:
“‘Philosophy is the pursuit of knowledge in its most general and universal form. Philosophy is the mother of all sciences’—Albert Einstein, 1905.”
Shen Zhuo replied politely, “Philosophy is dead. 2010, Stephen Hawking.”
“…………”
Shen Zhuo said, “My condolences to your mother.” Then he slammed the car door and walked away.
Though it was said to be in the county town, it was actually on the outskirts, near the mountainous area. With population migration and land degradation, the surroundings appeared even more desolate.
The charred walls were exposed, and the shattered old-fashioned glass windows looked like empty eye sockets. The building stood like a silent tomb under the vast sky.
The fire three years ago was said to have started on the third floor, so the damage was more severe the higher up one went. The wooden planks on the ceiling were all curled and spread open, like massive dead fish scales. The cracked ground was piled with charcoal-like debris. On the wall of a corridor on the second floor, there were messy black handprints, likely left by people in a panic-stricken escape.
“They didn’t make it out.” Shui Ronghua gestured for Shen Zhuo to look at the corner of the staircase, where the handprints disappeared. A small, curled, charcoal-like shadow was imprinted in the corner of the wall.
It was the last trace left by an escapee.
“The health center burned down three years ago. Three years ago, the Noda siblings were expelled from the Round Table and specifically came here. Is there a connection?” Chen Miao stroked his chin thoughtfully. “Could they have been the ones who started the fire?”
Shui Ronghua pragmatically reminded him, “But the fire occurred one month before they were expelled from the Round Table.”
“That doesn’t make sense either. An abandoned health center, with rumors of being haunted, that even the locals don’t visit. How did she know about this place? What could possibly interest a radical evolutionist?” Chen Miao suddenly had an idea and turned to Shen Zhuo with a tense expression. “Senior, do you think this health center could be hiding some kind of ultimate weapon that can destroy humanity?”
Shen Zhuo slowly turned to stare at him, his eyes unblinking, his face expressionless.
Everyone was familiar with this scene. Back at the research institute, the twenty-year-old Teacher Shen had the same look when facing a group of Muggle students.
“…” Chen Miao consciously said, “Okay, Senior, I’ll think about it some more.”
Looking out the window, the four supervisors they brought had already parked the car downstairs and were beginning a rapid search of the entire building, using instruments to carefully survey the surroundings for any minute fluctuations in special abilities.
Bai Sheng sat sullenly in the car, searching for something on his phone. An supervisor happened to walk by, took a closer look, and was immediately shocked. “Bai-ge, why are you searching for the Rebirth Mantra?”
“To help my philosophical mother achieve nirvana.”
“…”
“By the way,” Bai Sheng said coldly, “I was originally going to treat all of you to lobster at a three-Michelin-star restaurant tonight. Now you’ll all have to suffer with me and eat plain boiled vegetables to mourn.”
From the second-floor window, Shen Zhuo: “…”
Shen Zhuo put a hand to his forehead, speechless. Just then, another subordinate came up the stairs, two or three steps at a time, and said urgently, “Supervisor, Team Leader Chen, could you come downstairs and take a look?”
Chen Miao asked, “What is it?”
“We found some unusual traces in a ward at the corner of the first floor,” the subordinate said, seeming very puzzled. “A lot of… footprints.”
At the very end of the first-floor corridor was a small, dilapidated ward. The four walls were a mix of black and yellow. A wire-frame bed was placed against the east wall. Wind howled in through the gray, shattered glass window.
Large chunks of the fire-cracked floor had peeled away, revealing dozens of shoe prints crisscrossing the surface.
“The tread pattern is similar to women’s flat shoes. The foot length is between 25.5cm and 26cm, and the width is between 10.5cm and 10.8cm. It can be inferred that the person’s height is.” Shen Zhuo stood up from the ground. “Around 167 centimeters, which matches Noda Yoko’s physical characteristics.”
Chen Miao, who was taking notes beside him, let out an “ooh.” “It’s really her?”
“Judging from the clarity of the shoe print edges, they were likely left within the last half month,” Shen Zhuo said, glancing at his watch. “To be precise, 13 days and 19 hours ago.”
Chen Miao was immediately shocked. “You can even tell that?!”
Shen Zhuo did not answer.
“Senior, you’re amazing! That precise? How can you tell? Do you really not have any special abilities? Senior, Senior!”
As if he hadn’t heard, Shen Zhuo brushed past him. Behind him, Shui Ronghua sighed, pulled up the weather records for the past half month on her phone, and held it in front of the dumbstruck Chen Miao.
“14 days ago at noon, Quanshan County had a level 7 gale. The footprints couldn’t have been left before then, otherwise the edges wouldn’t be so clear. On the same day, around 11 PM, there was a sudden downpour, so the shoe prints near the window are covered with radioactive water droplets. From the diameter and landing angle of the droplets, the wind speed, direction, and precise rainfall amount at that time can be calculated. In conclusion, the time Noda Yoko came to this health center is very certain: between 4 PM and 11 PM that day.”
Chen Miao: “…”
Shui Ronghua leaned in and whispered, “The rumor in the street is that when you were writing your master’s thesis, Shen Zhuo had to take blood pressure medication every day. Is that true?”
“…………That’s not true!” Chen Miao was very aggrieved and turned to shout, “Senior! Tell me you didn’t take blood pressure medication!”
Shen Zhuo paid him no mind, half-squatting on the ground observing something, a slight frown on his brow.
“Senior?”
Curious, Chen Miao leaned over. He frowned and observed for a moment before noticing several indistinct, long marks on the ground leading towards the door. “Is this… tire tracks?”
“A wheelchair,” Shen Zhuo said softly.
“—Huh?”
Chen Miao was greatly surprised. He lowered his head for a closer look, his head almost brushing against Shen Zhuo’s hand. But then, a huge force from behind almost lifted him into the air. Chen Miao struggled frantically and turned around. “Bro-Bai-ge!”
Bai Sheng held him by the scruff of his neck with one hand and asked amiably, “Do you know why Xiao Ming’s grandfather lived to be ninety-nine?”
“…” Chen Miao asked, “Because Xiao Ming’s grandfather wasn’t curious about who left the wheelchair tracks on the ground?”
Bai Sheng said, “Because Xiao Ming’s grandfather knew to maintain a reasonable physical distance from his senior.”
Chen Miao looked as if he had been struck by lightning. He turned to Shen Zhuo for help, only to find that his senior was staring at the ground without a word, as if he had evolved some kind of superpower to block out all of Bai Sheng’s abnormal words and actions from his senses.
Bai Sheng carried Chen Miao behind him like a chick and turned back with a grin. “Supervisor Shen.”
“Mm.”
“Did you see the shadow on the bed?”
The wire-frame bed had been burned black and was leaning against the corner. Unless one knelt by the bed and observed carefully, it was difficult to see that on the gray-black wire springs, there was a shrunken, flat black shadow of a person lying down, with a head, torso, and limbs still discernible.
It was a person who had been melted by the fire.
Shen Zhuo stood up and let out a silent breath. “—’Mr. Rong’.”
“Half a month ago, Noda Yoko didn’t come here alone. With her was the true owner of the evolution source, Mr. Rong. Because this person is disabled in both legs, that’s why there are wheelchair tracks on the ground.”
“We were wrong about one thing. Noda Yoko isn’t Liu Sanji’s accomplice, but ‘Mr. Rong’s’. Liu Sanji was likely caught stealing the evolution source and was coerced by Mr. Rong into doing some things. This would explain why Liu Sanji dared to risk life imprisonment or even execution to proactively stop my car on the overpass.”
Bai Sheng gestured toward the wire-frame bed with his chin. “Then what about this unlucky fellow?”
Shen Zhuo frowned. After a long moment, he said, “I have a suspicion… but it’s hard to be certain, unless we can see the scene at that time.”
“?”
Bai Sheng didn’t understand what he meant, but he saw Shen Zhuo beckon with his hand.
Not far away, Shui Ronghua immediately understood and walked over.
“Shui Ronghua’s special ability is very unique. She was once possessed by an unknown creature, but its personality was ferocious, and it once nearly killed over a hundred people at once. It’s a great social danger. So I managed to establish a contract with this unknown creature, sealing it in the depths of Shui Ronghua’s subconscious. When needed, only I can release it.”
Bai Sheng was very curious. “An unknown creature?”
Shen Zhuo said, “Yes, a purely psychic creature. The research institute once believed it came from an extraterrestrial civilization.”
Bai Sheng held his chin, baffled. He saw Shui Ronghua extend her right palm to Shen Zhuo, but then she hesitated and said sincerely to Bai Sheng:
“Perhaps, Xiao Ming’s grandfather would also occasionally shake hands with his senior for work purposes.”
Chen Miao spat out a mouthful of water. “Pfft!”
Bai Sheng: “Hahahahaha—”
Xiao Ming’s grandfather’s senior closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Chen Miao immediately hid behind his Bai-ge.
But Shen Zhuo ignored them. He extended his right hand and covered Shui Ronghua’s palm from above, softly calling out the name of the summoned entity:
“I release you, Witch Italdo!”
An invisible, powerful ability radiated from their clasped hands.
Then, the right half of Shui Ronghua’s face underwent a terrifying transformation. Her skin dissolved, covered in blood spots, and exposed grotesque bones as if corroded. The right half of her body mutated rapidly, her muscles turning blood-red, and a dense network of blood vessels covered her arm and right leg like metal chainmail.
At the same time, her intact left side also changed significantly. It became bewitchingly charming and radiant. Long, curly red hair cascaded down to her waist, like lush seaweed in a sea of blood. Countless complex patterns spread across the left side of her body, like some ancient amulet, extending to her left arm, left leg, and even her left pupil.
No one in the world could escape the fatal attraction of the witch’s left half, but at the same time, the right half of her body could make anyone’s heart pound with fear.
The ultimate combination of beauty and terror.
The Witch Italdo.
“Ah…” The witch let out a seductive moan, as if in relief.
Shen Zhuo was about to release their clasped hands, but she grabbed him tightly and, like a beautiful venomous snake, snuggled up to him, her fingertips gently lifting Shen Zhuo’s chin.
“Did you miss me, Supervisor Shen?”
Then she leaned in, her charming cheek almost touching Shen Zhuo’s face, her smile teasing and full of suggestion. “If you set me free, perhaps we could go somewhere where there’s no one else. I can make you feel a lot of pleasure, and—”
Her words caught in her throat.
A small silver controller appeared before her eyes. Shen Zhuo said coldly, “And a lot of high-voltage electricity.”
With a loud crash, the Witch Italdo quickly retreated, almost knocking over a table and chairs.
“Human!!” She gritted her teeth, tugging at the metal collar on her neck, but she couldn’t pull it off no matter what. She could only stare at Shen Zhuo with hatred, her blood-red eyes flashing with unconcealed malice. “One day, I will lock this collar on your own neck, one day—”
Shen Zhuo sneered. “So many evolutionists out there want to put this collar on my neck. So what? They can only think about it.”
“…”
“Recreate the scene in this room from three years ago. Don’t make me order you a second time.”
Bai Sheng turned his head and whispered to Chen Miao, “Have you ever been electrocuted?”
Chen Miao clutched his collar, his face a picture of shock. “How could that be? I’m so docile and obedient!”
“…”
The Witch Italdo glared at Shen Zhuo with hatred, raised her blood-red, grotesque left hand, and placed it on the wire-frame bed, muttering something hoarsely.
The pronunciation was obscure, as if it were some ancient, lost incantation, or a language that had never appeared on Earth.
Then, scenes of time reversing rushed in like a flood.
The charred walls were restored, the cracked floor tiles mended, and the shattered glass windows miraculously closed themselves. Everything before their eyes returned to its state before the fire three years ago. The room was dimly lit, reeking of low-quality disinfectant.
On the wire-frame hospital bed, a figure silently appeared.
It was a very thin man, who seemed quite young, but years of being in a coma had withered him. His face was dry and cracked, and the air around him smelled of death.
It was impossible to tell what he originally looked like.
Bai Sheng narrowed his eyes slightly. “Could he be…”
“Mr. Rong,” Shen Zhuo said softly.
Following Shen Zhuo’s gaze, a bed card was clipped to the rail of the wire-frame bed. In the name column, “Rong Qi” was written messily in ballpoint pen.
Bai Sheng casually draped an arm over Shen Zhuo’s shoulder and leaned in to examine the bed card. “…This brother has it rough. The treatment conditions in a rural health center probably aren’t great. What’s he sick with? A vegetative state? He’s not brain-dead, is he?”
Just as Shen Zhuo was about to say something, a strange, smiling voice sounded from behind them:
“What do you guess they’re saying this unlucky fellow is sick with, Fu Chen?”
—Fu Chen.
Like a silent clap of thunder, Shen Zhuo’s pupils abruptly dilated.
His pupils were so dark they were chilling. Bai Sheng clearly felt the slender shoulder under his palm tense up in an instant. After a moment, Shen Zhuo slowly turned his head. Fu Chen from three years ago was standing at the doorway of the ward, having crossed life and death and time, appearing before everyone.
The room was deathly silent. Everyone was stunned.
Bai Sheng frowned and squeezed Shen Zhuo’s shoulder, his voice a soothing and reminding whisper in his ear. “Supervisor Shen.”
The Fu Chen from three years ago was backlit by the light from the door, but one could still see that his features were very handsome, the kind of looks that would attract a lot of attention on a campus. He wore a metal collar with an ‘S’ mark on his neck.
“Not interested,” he said, crossing his arms and studying the hospital bed for a moment before looking away. “Let’s go, Su Jiqiao. I have a meeting with Shen Zhuo at the airport at nine tonight. Any later and we’ll be late.”
A slender figure turned out from behind Fu Chen. It was a beautiful young man, his voice soft and pleasant. He let out an apologetic “Ah,” as if he had just realized something.
“What should we do, Fu-ge? If Senior Shen finds out we came out alone together, will he be angry with you?”
Author’s Note:
Hawking didn’t mean it like that, lol.
The one on the bed who was burned to ashes is Rong. It’s not that complicated, just an infinite regeneration ability starting from residual cells.
“Shen Zhuo politely responded, “Philosophy is dead. 2010, Stephen Hawking.” “………” Shen Zhuo added, “Please convey my condolences to your mother.” Then he slammed the car door and walked away.”
Pls I honestly love him sm, he’s so unintentionally funny lmao