Chapter 94: Which one is the real memory?
An Wujiu’s appearance wasn’t the type that could intimidate others; on the contrary, because he was too good-looking, he often sparked people’s imaginations.
However, his aura was excessively cold and stern. When he truly got angry, just a glance from him could make one’s heart shiver.
The troublemaker’s wrist was tightly gripped by him, feeling as if it were caught in an iron clamp, the bones aching unbearably. This strength couldn’t possibly come from a human hand!
This person’s hand must be a prosthetic!
Even though he was dressed ordinarily, just looking at his face and that arm, it was clear he couldn’t be an ordinary person.
The man thought to himself, if it really came to a fight, he wasn’t a match for this person in front of him. Not to mention, there was another tall man behind him who didn’t look like someone easy to deal with either.
“Let go of me.” The troublemaker tugged at his arm and turned to the nervous waiter beside him, saying, “You said you’d compensate with a drink. Where’s the drink? Were you just saying that?”
The waiter immediately apologized, “I’ll get it for you right away.” He turned and quickly ran to the liquor cabinet.
The troublemaker turned back, looking at An Wujiu with displeasure in his eyes, “Still not letting go?”
An Wujiu’s expression didn’t change, nor did he have any intention of letting go. He just coldly said, “Apologize to her.”
“You!” The other man was full of anger but had nowhere to vent it. “Apologize for what? She didn’t listen to me. I paid, so she should do whatever I say!”
An Wujiu glanced at the girl, seeing her arms covered in bruises, not fully healed, obviously fresh.
“Listen to you?” An Wujiu took a step towards him, and the man retreated a step. “Since you like using your hands, do you want to try being beaten and cursed at? The wounds on her body, I can put them on you right now.”
At this moment, Shen Ti, who had been watching the drama, chimed in just at the right moment, “This guy is so skinny; what’s the fun in that? Last night’s one was better, a bit more muscular; you could see the muscle fibers when you cut it open, much better looking than this bag of bones.”
Hearing his words, the man shivered, his mind conjuring up all sorts of eerie images.
“Why are you shaking?” Shen Ti, with his ghostly green eyes, stared at the coward in front of him and raised an eyebrow, “Don’t be afraid. We’re all good people. I was just joking, and you took it seriously?”
An Wujiu’s grip tightened, making the man step back repeatedly. The more Shen Ti said it was a joke, the more frightened he became, his whole body turning limp.
This inevitably reminded him of the strange stories recently reported in the news.
Could there really be such people who enjoy hunting others…
“I apologize.” The man grew more fearful the more he thought about it, but his attitude was still poor. He turned his head away and muttered a perfunctory “sorry,” then kept trying to pull away.
An Wujiu didn’t bother entangling with him further and let go, watching him flee as if running for his life.
The girl was also wobbling, as if she couldn’t stand still. Seeing her about to faint, An Wujiu reached out to support her, but she instinctively flinched away.
In that moment, An Wujiu felt a bit sad, not for himself but for the girl in front of him.
He withdrew his hand and asked softly, “The wounds on your hands, were they caused by him?”
The girl didn’t nod or shake her head; she just stared at An Wujiu in a daze without speaking. Her eyes were unfocused, and though she was beautiful, she seemed like a beautiful yet broken porcelain doll.
Receiving no answer, An Wujiu gently asked again, “Then… what is your name?”
The girl remained dazed, likely suffering from the aftereffects of what the waiter earlier had referred to as “brainwashing.”
“Her name is Lilith, sir. Thank you.”
It was the waiter who had gone to fetch the drink who replied, holding a bottle, but the troublemaker had already left.
An Wujiu softly said, “You’re welcome,” glanced at the silent girl, nodded slightly, and left with Shen Ti.
As they exited, Lucy was slumped asleep on the old sofa in the small cubicle by the door. An Wujiu was about to wake her up to ask her to help with something when the tightly shut door suddenly opened, and Gabriel walked in.
He was flanked by two women, an e-cigarette in his mouth. Seeing the two of them, his eyes widened slightly, and he mumbled around the cigarette, “Leaving so early?”
An Wujiu immediately replied, “We have some matters to attend to.”
After speaking, he looked down, accessed his panel, and transferred 10,000 Holy Coins to Gabriel.
Gabriel was momentarily taken aback, “What’s this for? I never asked you for a penny.”
“It’s not that.” An Wujiu explained, “I impulsively saved a girl from a troublemaking customer earlier. I heard she was bought by you guys and just arrived last night.”
“Oh!” Gabriel understood, “You mean one of the new batch of se-x dolls that arrived last night? What, you want to buy her?”
An Wujiu shook his head, “The person she offended is narrow-minded. After we leave, he might come back to retaliate against her. I’m afraid my intervention might have harmed her instead, so I thought… Could I pay some money to cover what you spent to buy her and then… let her go?”
Gabriel understood An Wujiu’s intention. On one hand, he thought An Wujiu was too kind-hearted, and on the other hand, he felt it was unnecessary.
“Do you know? Many people who live this kind of life, even if you give them so-called freedom, leave these money pits, they still can’t survive.”
An Wujiu understood this in his heart, but he still insisted on his approach: “At least give her a chance at freedom. Even if she chooses to come back afterward or go elsewhere, at least she can leave here for a while and try a new way of living.”
Gabriel knew he couldn’t persuade him otherwise, so he took a puff of his cigarette and thought for a while before finally agreeing.
“Alright, fine.” He sighed, “But this amount of money is nearly 120,000 US dollars, enough to buy four of her.”
“It doesn’t matter, just name your price.”
“How about this?” Gabriel returned 5,000 Holy Coin points, keeping only 5,000, “I don’t do losing business. The amount that came in is the amount that goes out. The extra 2,500 points will be left for her medical treatment and recovery. How about that?”
“How do you know she’s injured?” An Wujiu asked.
Gabriel smiled, blowing a smoke ring in An Wujiu’s face, which then dissipated.
“You care so much; it can’t be a small matter. I’ve been around for many years; can’t I see that?”
An Wujiu smiled slightly. The first time he met Gabriel, he just thought he was a local thug mixed up in the red-light district, but after several encounters, he realized this person actually had a clear sense of right and wrong and was quite wise.
“Thank you.”
Gabriel patted his shoulder and said, “Thank yourself, you big philanthropist.”
“Then I’ll be going.”
Gabriel wanted to tell him to be careful, but somehow he felt that this person in front of him was someone who wouldn’t fail at anything, even though the idea seemed absurd.
So he just said, “I’ll continue to look into your mother’s matter. Come to me if you need anything.”
“Thanks.”
An Wujiu was about to leave directly, but suddenly thought of something: “Gabriel, you said your sister is bedridden, waiting for prosthetic implantation in the second half of the year. Is it confirmed?”
His sudden mention of this made Gabriel feel strange, but he still said, “Not yet, just tentative. I’ve asked countless acquaintances and former colleagues to find a way, but the spinal prosthesis is still an experimental product. If we wait for it to be perfected and reach the market standard, my sister could be bedridden for many more years.”
Shen Ti interjected, “So it’s a clinical trial?”
“Yes. It’s the quickest way.” Gabriel sighed, “Now they’re recruiting clinical trial participants worldwide. I pulled strings to get my sister in.”
An Wujiu thought it seemed similar to the bone replacement he had experienced.
“Is it… a metal inner spine?”
Gabriel’s eyebrows relaxed, “How do you know? Space metal, as my former colleagues said, it’s the most cutting-edge technology, which can minimize rejection and stabilize metabolism.”
Since it’s the most cutting-edge, why did he already have it replaced?
An Wujiu couldn’t guarantee he was the earliest test subject, but it was much earlier than those being recruited now.
Could this be a new round?
“What’s wrong?” Gabriel felt his expression was strange, as if he had something on his mind.
An Wujiu shook his head. He understood the significance of this clinical trial to Gabriel; the opportunity was rare. If successful, his sister could stand again, but An Wujiu always felt it wasn’t that simple.
After some struggle, he still told Gabriel, “Since it concerns the spinal bones, be more cautious. If anything goes wrong, it wouldn’t be worth it.”
“I understand,” Gabriel smiled, “I’ve worked with those people. I know their capabilities. Otherwise, so many people wouldn’t be scrambling to be test subjects.”
An Wujiu nodded, “I know a doctor friend specializing in prosthetics. If needed, I can ask her to help.”
“Alright.” Gabriel agreed readily, but the ladies beside him were urging impatiently. He grew a bit irritable, “Got it, got it, you go inside first!”
“We’re leaving too.” An Wujiu nodded in farewell and turned to leave with Shen Ti.
The air on the street was somewhat murky and gray. An Wujiu moved closer to Shen Ti, wanting to walk next to him.
Shen Ti was more direct, grabbing An Wujiu’s hand and holding it tightly.
“You’re very quiet.” An Wujiu said to him:.
Shen Ti smiled and said, “I’m watching you.”
“Watching what about me?”
“Helping and saving people.” Shen Ti’s voice had a hint of laughter, “Such a good person, a great philanthropist, is mine; of course, I have to appreciate it well.”
An Wujiu’s heart stirred, but he deliberately said, “What if I’m not kind at all?”
“It’s not like I haven’t experienced it.” Shen Ti grinned, then added, “Such a bad person, a great villain who likes me, I must be extraordinary.”
An Wujiu was amused by him. “No one can compare to you in making unreasonable trouble.”
Shen Ti felt he was simply telling the truth, but he accepted the accusation and went with An Wujiu to Yang Ercai’s house. On the way, out of curiosity, Shen Ti still asked, “When you helped Lilith, were you also thinking of your sister?”
Usually, if someone knew about An Wujiu’s sister, they wouldn’t bring it up at such a time. It was considered touching a sore spot.
But for An Wujiu, since the one asking was Shen Ti, he felt no barriers and wasn’t uncomfortable.
“That’s part of it.” An Wujiu looked out at the gray sky, with flying vehicles darting around like insects, and his speech slowed down. “Especially when I wore the mask last night.”
“But seeing her face today, she doesn’t look like my sister.” An Wujiu turned to look at Shen Ti. “When she was little, she looked almost exactly like me, just shorter and with more upturned eyes.”
Shen Ti recalled the girl they saw at the adult club earlier. He couldn’t remember her appearance clearly, but he was sure she didn’t look like An Wujiu. Otherwise, he would make a deep impression.
“What is your sister’s name?”
This question stunned An Wujiu. His mind was suddenly filled with many strange yet familiar images of his mother putting him and his young sister in a car. His sister’s foot was burned, and she kept crying, crying her heart out, while his small self kept holding her.
But the car didn’t drive far before it was hit hard by another car!
The images in his mind shattered abruptly. It seemed like they were kidnapped and locked in a pure white square room.
Then…
An Wujiu tried hard to recall but couldn’t remember anything more.
Shen Ti noticed he was in a daze and wanted to ask what was wrong, but they had arrived at Yang Ercai’s apartment.
“Let’s get out first.”
Suddenly, An Wujiu felt very cold and grabbed Shen Ti’s hand.
“What’s wrong?”
The street was filled with driverless cars. Shen Ti half-embraced An Wujiu, leading him aside. He felt a sense of panic connected to An Wujiu’s intuition.
“I… I seem to have recovered some memories, but they are completely different from my original ones.” An Wujiu frowned, his eyes downcast and deeply doubtful.
Shen Ti raised his hand to smooth his furrowed brow. “What is it?”
“My sister didn’t leave home after a quarrel.” An Wujiu looked up at Shen Ti. “She was kidnapped, along with me, and forcibly taken away.”
The casual look on Shen Ti’s face vanished instantly. He held An Wujiu’s hand tightly and continued to ask, “What happened next?”
The memories were fragmented.
An Wujiu felt pain. He was more pain-resistant than anyone, but now an immense pain spread from his chest, like water stains extending to his limbs, becoming increasingly painful, making it almost impossible to breathe.
Fragments kept flooding in, cutting into An Wujiu’s heart.
The scorching sun made him dizzy. In the daylight, amid the gray, fog-like air, An Wujiu had hallucinations.
He saw himself with his small shoulders supporting his sister, trying everything to get her to the ventilation duct on the ceiling. Her burned foot was useless, almost causing her to fall, nearly scaring him into shouting.
All he could think about was his sister’s final look. She didn’t cry and call him “brother” as usual but obediently covered her mouth with her hand, her eyes full of tears.
“I only know, I seem to…” He looked up at Shen Ti with some doubt, struggling to speak. “I seem to have managed to let her escape, but… I stayed behind.”
Why?
Which one was the real memory?
Clearly, his sister left home after a quarrel, it shouldn’t be like this.
Shen Ti empathized with An Wujiu’s pain, but he didn’t understand. Since she escaped, why was An Wujiu in such agony?
Suddenly, he thought of something.
“How old were you then?”
An Wujiu’s pale lips trembled slightly, and his eyes lost like a child’s.
“Shen Ti; she was only seven years old then.”
