Chapter 57: The unmasking

Translator: Abo Dammen

☆

Case Three: Nucheng’s Past Events

In the rainy night forest, two small figures ran among the trees.

Lightning occasionally split the night sky, the twisted tree trunks transforming into monsters that flashed into view. Raindrops pattered on the leaves like countless tiny drumbeats, intensifying the tension. Puddles forming on the ground reflected the faint sky light, the eerie reflections seeming like monsters drawing near.

The two little boys held hands. One was covered in wounds, the other wore a beautiful but soaked little suit. The muddy ground made their steps unsteady, their trouser legs stained with mud. Branches scratched their cheeks, leaving fine marks, but neither cared about the pain, because it felt like if they didn’t run, the monsters would eat them. 

Suddenly, the boy in the suit tripped over a tree root, falling face-first into the mud. The compass in his hand instantly vanished from sight.

The little boy holding his hand hurriedly helped him up. “Did you hurt yourself?”

“No. Help me find the compass quickly.”

The two squatted on the ground, searching for a faint reflection. Wherever they looked was mud. They had no choice but to push aside the wet fallen leaves, their fingers groping through the mud. 

Taking advantage of a flash of lightning, they looked around. The little boy spotted a glint of light first, ran over, and picked it up. It was indeed the little suit’s compass, with a cute little bee sticker still on the back.

“I found it!” the little boy ran back to the boy in the suit. “Here you go.”

The boy in the suit took the compass and, like a little explorer, reoriented himself and took the little boy’s hand. “Let’s go quickly.”

Picking up the compass from the nightstand drawer, He Yixun could hear his heartbeat amplified infinitely in his ears, all the blood in his body rushing to his head. 

The little bee sticker had long since faded, the black and yellow pattern bleached pale by time, yet it overlapped perfectly with the sticker he had seen that rainy night. In an instant, the blurred images, like restored old film footage, replayed scene by scene in his mind.

The compass that could once occupy his entire palm, that had guided the two of them through the maze-like forest, turned out to be just a toy. Holding it again as an adult, it felt so small. For years, the white mist that had shrouded the face of the boy in the suit due to fuzzy memory finally dissipated. The childish face gradually merged with that person’s every smile and expression.

Holding his breath, he flipped open the photo album in the nightstand. Ten-year-old Xu Pei smiled carefree, sharing the exact same face as the boy in the suit, eliminating all other possibilities like him having found the compass—

The little boy who led He Yixun out of the forest back then was Xu Pei. 

Xu Pei had traveled through time twenty years ago!

Just moments before, he thought it was still early before 10 AM, that being a few minutes late wouldn’t matter. But now, He Yixun grabbed his phone and jacket and ran out, completely devoid of his usual calm and composure.

Twenty years apart, Xu Pei encountered him both times he traveled. What did this mean?

It meant some things simply couldn’t be explained by logic! 

Hailing a taxi on the roadside, the driver followed the rules meticulously, absolutely never speeding, very much embodying the Nucheng citizen ethos, making He Yixun wish he could drive himself. Although the City Government wasn’t far from the bachelor apartment, every red light on the road felt endlessly long. No matter how He Yixun tried to adjust his mindset, he couldn’t suppress the anxiety in his heart.

The desire to see Xu Pei had never been so urgent. He Yixun had many questions to ask Xu Pei face-to-face.

Like why he didn’t remember that time-travel experience, and… whether he still remembered the younger version of himself.

His phone had been on its last legs before he left. By the time he reached the City Government, it had only 2% battery left. Barely managing to pay the fare, the screen suddenly showed the shutdown animation. Pressing the power button again yielded no response. 

The rain showed signs of intensifying. Lightning streaked down from the sky, thunder exploded overhead. He Yixun clenched the compass in his hand, inside was the small stone Xu Pei had given him, praying desperately that the spacetime tunnel wouldn’t open now, sending him back alone.

Fortunately, everything remained normal on the way to the press hall. The raindrops hitting him felt utterly real, with no signs of an impending dimensional travel.

Following a reporter into the crowded press conference hall, He Yixun scanned the surroundings but didn’t spot Xu Pei. Following the signs for the staff passageway inward, after turning a corner, he suddenly saw a figure in a hooded sweatshirt emerge from a room up ahead, looking flustered as they disappeared into the emergency exit.

A policeman’s intuition told He Yixun something was wrong. 

Quickening his pace to the room’s entrance, when he saw clearly the person lying on the floor, He Yixun’s heart instantly leaped into his throat. “Xu Pei!”

Xu Pei still had a pulse, but his face was deathly pale, his lips bluish-purple, showing no reaction to He Yixun’s calls.

Without a moment’s pause, He Yixun scooped Xu Pei up into his arms and ran out. But just outside the room, he bumped into Zhan Gao and Chou Wei. Zhan Gao directly blocked his path, his confusion mixed with unmistakable hostility. “What are you doing?”

“Check the surveillance! Someone just left this room!” After giving this order, He Yixun continued forward with Xu Pei in his arms, only to be blocked once again by Zhan Gao. 

“Wasn’t it you who left this room? And now you’re trying to take away my fiance. What kind of trick are you playing?”

“Xu Pei is in danger!!” He Yixun roared, furious beyond measure, losing his composure for the first time in his life.

Perhaps because He Yixun didn’t seem to be acting, Zhan Gao temporarily moved aside, glancing at Chou Wei. “Follow them.”

No longer caring that it was still raining outside, He Yixun found Xu Pei’s car at top speed and raced to Nucheng Hospital, speeding and running red lights all the way. Fortunately, people in Nucheng drove orderly, otherwise this would have been extremely dangerous. Zhan Gao’s car was left far behind at one point but eventually caught up. 

The doctor on duty in the emergency room happened to be Dr. Jin. After quickly checking Xu Pei’s vital signs, he pulled open the collar of Xu Pei’s clothes at the back, revealing a gland that was purple, almost black.

“There’s a needle mark here,” Dr. Jin looked at He Yixun and asked, “What happened?”

“I’m not sure. He was already unconscious when I arrived,” He Yixun’s brow was tightly furrowed. “Did someone inject him with something?”

“It should be high-concentration alpha pheromones,” Dr. Jin guessed. 

“What?” Zhan Gao finally grasped the severity of the situation and looked at He Yixun. “Who did it?”

“I told you to check the surveillance,” He Yixun said coldly.

After attaching the monitor, Xu Pei’s vital signs were displayed directly. His heart rate was already over 200, and the monitor emitted a high-frequency beeping sound.

Dr. Jin had a nurse bring two doses of pheromone blockers. After one injection, Xu Pei’s heart rate briefly dropped to 180, but soon skyrocketed back to 200. A second injection had the same effect. 

“He was injected with a large dose of high-concentration alpha pheromones. This is lethal poison for an omega,” Dr. Jin said with a grave expression. “Blockers are useless now. In this situation… soon, he will experience heart failure.”

“What did you say?” Despite being in a public place, Zhan Gao completely disregarded his image as the Speaker, grabbing Dr. Jin’s collar impatiently. “Think of a way, quickly! You must save him!”

“Speaker Zhan, it’s not that I don’t want to find a way… Professor Xu is beyond saving…”

Hearing the words “beyond saving,” it felt like a hole had been torn in He Yixun’s heart, as if it had lost the ability to beat. However, he maintained a calm exterior and rolled up his sleeve in one swift motion. “Dr. Jin, try giving him my blood.” 

“Eh? Right!” Dr. Jin suddenly realized. “Your blood is very special. It might really have a neutralizing effect!”

Xu Pei’s condition was too critical; there was no time to separate plasma. Dr. Jin had no choice but to try a last resort, directly transfusing He Yixun’s blood into Xu Pei’s body.

The environment in the emergency room was noisy, but the area around the hospital bed fell into a deathly silence. Time seemed to lose its normal measure, replaced by the beeping of the monitor. Everyone by the bedside was frozen, listening motionlessly to the sound of time passing.

Five minutes, a race against death, passed. Thankfully, Xu Pei’s condition visibly stabilized. His heart rate returned to 100, and the bluish-purple tint of his lips gradually faded. Dr. Jin could hardly believe it. “What kind of medical miracle is this?” 

His tense body finally relaxed. He Yixun slumped back into a chair, only then realizing his back was already soaked with sweat.

An unprecedented, chilling fear washed over him like a tidal wave. One thought inevitably surfaced: If I lost Xu Pei…

No. There is no such hypothesis.

He Yixun realized his thought system needed rebuilding. Normal logic was one system; Xu Pei was another. 

Because, strictly speaking, Xu Pei had been a special existence even before his value system was fully formed. Therefore, the set of behavioral principles he later developed did not apply to Xu Pei. For all matters concerning Xu Pei, he didn’t need to think logically but should act entirely from the heart.

If he didn’t like this hypothesis, he wouldn’t entertain it.

Wouldn’t even think about it.

Dr. Jin ordered a series of tests and transferred Xu Pei to the Gland Department for inpatient observation. Zhan Gao used his connections to arrange a luxurious single room for Xu Pei. 

Although his vital signs had stabilized, Xu Pei had not yet woken up. Outside the window, the rain poured down, the outlines of tall buildings faintly visible through the rain and mist. The weather forecast had said thunderstorms. The thunder had stopped, but the rain showed no signs of letting up.

Zhan Gao had canceled the press conference, but the well-informed media had not dispersed. They swarmed to the hospital entrance, blocking it.

Chou Wei had reported to the police and obtained the surveillance footage from the City Government. After narrowing down the time frame, they quickly found the suspicious person. Pausing the footage, he handed the tablet to Zhan Gao. “The perpetrator is this person. He entered a surveillance blind spot via the emergency exit.”

“The one in the hooded sweatshirt?” He Yixun, who was guarding the bedside, asked. 

“You saw him?” Zhan Gao, sitting on the sofa, glanced at the tablet. It indeed showed a person in a hooded sweatshirt.

“Didn’t see the face,” He Yixun replied. After a moment’s thought, he turned to look at Zhan Gao. “But I have some ideas.”

Zhan Gao: “Ideas?”

“About the perpetrator.” 

Chou Wei also looked over curiously.

Zhan Gao leaned back on the sofa, crossed his arms, adopting a casual ‘why not listen’ attitude. “Go on.”

“The perpetrator clearly wanted Xu Pei dead. Motives for murder boil down to three: money, love, or revenge. Money can be directly ruled out. Xu Pei has no financial disputes, nor is he wealthy enough for someone to kill for profit.

“As for revenge, his social circle is relatively simple. The only person he recently had a disagreement with was an alpha intern in his lab who strongly opposed his idea to develop a super inhibitor.” 

Zhan Gao showed no reaction to the new term “super inhibitor,” as if he had already heard of the concept.

“His idea is very dangerous; it touches on the interests of the alpha faction. On the surface, it seems likely to make enemies. But there are many ways to stop him, such as vetoing his project, cutting off his funding, etc. There’s no need to resort to murder the moment this idea surfaces.

“Moreover, he successfully created an S-grade Alpha. For the alpha faction, he should have high utility value.”

“Indeed,” Zhan Gao agreed. “So that only leaves ‘love’?” 

“Fits the occasion today, doesn’t it?” He Yixun said expressionlessly. “You were about to announce your engagement.”

“So, he has another lover besides me?” Zhan Gao stroked his chin, saying thoughtfully, “This person loved him, grew hateful because he’s marrying me, and turned violent?”

The reasoning was good, but the direction was completely wrong.

“You should look for the reason within yourself,” said He Yixun. “There’s no one else around Xu Pei, I’m certain of that. The only person who would develop murderous intent towards him due to ‘love’ would be your lover.” 

Zhan Gao let out a soft laugh, scornful of He Yixun’s analysis. “Are you suggesting it’s Chou Wei? He’s not my lover at all. Besides, the surveillance should have captured it. Chou Wei was with me the entire time when Xu Pei was attacked. How could he have done it?”

“Not me,” Chou Wei said calmly. “The perpetrator’s height is probably under 1.8 meters. Either a beta or an omega.”

He Yixun had naturally noted the perpetrator’s height and hadn’t suspected Chou Wei from the start. “Other than him, there are others.”

“Other than that, there’s…” The confident words suddenly hit a snag. A flicker of hesitation passed through Zhan Gao’s eyes, which He Yixun accurately caught. 

“You thought of someone,” He Yixun said.

Chou Wei looked at Zhan Gao, adjusted his frameless glasses, his furrowed brow hidden behind them, seeming to also have an idea.

Zhan Gao lowered his gaze as if pondering. When he looked up again, the hesitation was gone, replaced by his usual ease. “In my opinion, you have the strongest motive. Love turned to hatred. If you can’t have him, destroy him.”

Good. It seemed he already knew who the perpetrator was and intended to frame He Yixun for it. 

Based on this reaction, He Yixun had a new idea—

He could now be certain that the person before him was definitely not Zhan Gao, but that madman Zhan Yuan.

But now wasn’t the right time to expose him, especially since Xu Pei wasn’t completely out of danger yet.

Just as this thought crossed his mind, the person on the hospital bed, as if hearing He Yixun’s inner thoughts, moved his fingers and spoke in a hoarse voice, “He Yixun…” 

All thoughts were instantly cast aside. He Yixun leaned forward. “You’re awake.”

Zhan Gao also moved from the sofa to the foot of the bed. “Pei Pei, are you okay?”

Xu Pei ignored Zhan Gao and said to He Yixun, “Someone tried to kill me.”

“It’s alright now,” He Yixun pressed the nurse call button. 

“It was Mo Xin,” Xu Pei uttered the perpetrator’s name weakly, looking towards Zhan Gao at the foot of the bed. “Everything makes sense now.”

The name that came to He Yixun’s mind was also this one.