Qiming Chapter 64

Chapter 64

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After dinner, Gu Yunfeng wanted to take a shower, but with only one usable hand, this simple task became very inconvenient. He first went to the bathroom, stood in front of the mirror, and looked at his immobile left hand, trying to undress with one hand.

The pants were easy to take off, but he was wearing a T-shirt, and it was impossible to take it off with just one hand.

He had no choice but to keep the T-shirt on and change into a pair of home shorts. These shorts were brought to him by Xu Chengyue and had a cute cat print on them. Xu Chengyue said he found them in the corner of a wardrobe, but Gu Yunfeng had no memory of such childish patterns, remembering that he hadn't worn clothes with prints for the past six years.

When he came out, Xu Chengyue was sitting by the bed, glancing at his phone screen, then looking back at the TV as if nothing had happened. Gu Yunfeng's phone was on the bed, and it seemed like a message had just come through. He suspected Xu Chengyue had accidentally seen the message and was now sitting by the bed with a very displeased expression.

The message was from the medical check-up centre, informing him that the report would be available for viewing the next day.

He remembered that he used his phone number for the check-up, so the notification naturally came to him. Xu Chengyue seemed quite concerned about the check-up, but he didn't ask much. Gu Yunfeng planned to look at the results first the next day and, if there was no issue, not mention it to Xu Chengyue.

Right now, dealing with taking a shower and changing clothes was more urgent.

Gu Yunfeng sat next to him, watching the drama on TV together, which featured several idol stars and a weeping female lead. He remembered that Xu Chengyue never used to watch such things, he usually browsed more serious or academic content and would fast-forward through it.

"Are you going back tonight?" he asked.

"In a while." Xu Chengyue answered instinctively but quickly turned around, looked at Gu Yunfeng's hand, hesitated for a few seconds, and said, "I'd better not go back."

Gu Yunfeng was taken aback for a moment, then quickly nodded, "Don't go back. Help me take off my clothes first."

"You want to take a shower?" Xu Chengyue stared at the bloodstains on his arm, shaking his head in refusal, "You'd better not shower, water can easily cause an infection."

"It's been a bit hot these days..."

"I'll find a towel to wipe you down." Xu Chengyue walked over, "Let's change your clothes first, lift your right arm."

As he spoke, he lifted his arm, and Xu Chengyue stood behind him, pulling up the sleeve of his T-shirt. His movements were relatively small, and it took a long time to get the sleeve off, making him look rather unenergetic.

Gu Yunfeng suspected that this was all due to the message, and that he harboured a deep sense of inferiority, fear, and distrust towards the results of the check-up.

Did Professor Xu have some sort of health issue?

"Nice physique," Xu Chengyue glanced at him and sighed in admiration.

As soon as his words fell, the door to the ward was suddenly pushed open, and Gu Yunfeng's shirt was only half off.

The person who barged in was Shu Pan, who rushed in impatiently and shouted anxiously as soon as he opened his mouth, "Captain Gu, I just heard that you were... injured..."

Before he could finish, he saw Gu Yunfeng with his shirt half off and Xu Chengyue's hand on his shoulder. Silently, he retreated a few steps and left the ward. About a minute later, he knocked on the door properly.

When he re-entered, Gu Yunfeng had already put his bloody T-shirt back on.

"What were you two doing?"

"Taking off my clothes," Gu Yunfeng replied. "I want to take a shower. With one hand out of commission, I need another one to help."

"You scared me..." Shu Pan breathed a sigh of relief, holding a rather large file bag, and plopped down on the hospital bed.

"Damn! You scared me! Don't you know how to knock? Scared me into putting my clothes back on."

"I was just... in a hurry, worried about you," Shu Pan replied with a bit of embarrassment, laughing awkwardly. "The scene just now, I almost thought you two were about to come out of the closet."

Xu Chengyue glanced at Shu Pan, then looked down, lost in thought, seemingly unsure how to respond.

Fortunately, Shu Pan didn't expect an answer, as he was already busy with something else. He had brought a carton of milk and used quite a lot of effort to place it on the cabinet, not considering how they would take back any leftovers.

"Did you take Wang Kun back?"

"We did." Shu Pan rubbed his hands, feeling a bit thirsty. But since there were no cups in the ward, he had to open the carton and grab a bottle.

"That Wang Kun, he only admitted to killing Jiang Yang, saying the other deaths had nothing to do with him." He looked at Xu Chengyue, feeling rather frustrated. "Professor Xu, you heard his statement too, right?"

"Mhmm, he said the same thing at the hospital," Xu Chengyue replied, handing a towel to Gu Yunfeng.

Gu Yunfeng took the damp white towel and gently wiped the bloodstains off his left arm, which quickly turned a reddish-brown.

"Does this mean there's more than one murderer? Were there other people in Jiang Yang's car?" Gu Yunfeng found Wang Kun's reaction rather strange. Was he trying to leave a good impression on Lin Xiangrong? If he wanted to make a good impression, he should admit to everything. His denial only shifted the investigation back to Lin Xiangrong.

"He said there weren't..." Shu Pan scratched his neck. "At the moment, he's insisting that he only killed Jiang Yang and claims to know nothing about the rest, no matter how we ask."

Gu Yunfeng pressed his temples, took the file bag, and flipped through the pages. Halfway through, he remembered something important. He waved Shu Pan over and gave him a resounding pat on the back with his surviving right hand.

"Where's Lin Xiangrong?"

"How did you lose track of her?"

Shu Pan looked quite aggrieved at the mention of this. He stood there, head drooping, and defended himself guiltily, "How was I supposed to know she would disappear..."

"If even you don't know, then no one else does," Gu Yunfeng frowned, wanting to scold him but holding back. He glanced at Xu Chengyue, who had been sitting next to him but hadn't said much, just sliding his fingers up and down on the hospital's tablet.

Gu Yunfeng put his head close to his shoulder and saw Xu Chengyue looking at a map with densely packed streets, selecting a location, and entering a three-dimensional street view.

"In the morning, you said Lin Xiangrong was lost at the Zhiyin Innovation Park." The street view entered the park's interior, but the perspective couldn't go inside the office buildings.

"This place provides office space for start-ups funded by Zhiyin Technology. There are too many start-ups, and the building structures are complex. She probably intentionally shook you off."

Shu Pan nodded vigorously, "We've been staking out her place for two days, but she hasn't shown up."

"What about Jiang Quan?"

"He's somewhat stable after being discharged from the hospital. There shouldn't be any major issues now, and he should return to school after sorting out his family's matters."

"Right! There's also Jiang Hai, who's been in a vegetative state." As he spoke, Shu Pan stomped his foot and slapped his thigh. He hit the wrong spot, triggering a nerve, and his leg went numb. He sat down in the chair, muttering for nearly a minute before he could continue.

"I heard from several doctors that since Lin Xiangrong disappeared, his surgery has been put on hold," Gu Yunfeng said.

"I say, aren't you guys worried she might have been murdered?" Shu Pan asked cautiously.

"Of course we're worried. But we haven't received any reports about it. Did you check the surveillance footage?"

"Of course I did. I checked the internal surveillance of the office buildings in the park the afternoon she disappeared. After watching the footage all day, I found her in only a few frames. The last place she appeared was the corner of the stairs on the south side of the third floor of Building B."

"Amazing, isn't it? All the nearby surveillance footage was also reviewed, but none of it captured her leaving."

She was very familiar with this park.

Gu Yunfeng suddenly realised they knew very, very little about Lin Xiangrong. Her extraordinary yet bizarre life was filled with chaotic and illogical decisions.

She was born into an ordinary family but excelled academically and had exceptional scientific research abilities.

She had returned from overseas to donate hematopoietic stem cells to a leukaemia boy she had never met. When she learnt he couldn't afford the surgery, she had her boyfriend at the time pay for it.

She was like the Virgin Mary.

As for whether the money was a loan or a gift, everyone who knew the details had passed away one by one, so there was no way to verify it.

Years later, she returned to China with Jiang Hai, helping the Jiang family's business flourish. Yet, after Jiang Hai's accident and coma, she married his brother, her former boyfriend.

She endured long-term domestic violence and psychological torment in this marriage.

She neither left nor escaped, facing futile police reports and enduring alone.

What was most baffling was why she had to stay with the Jiang family. As Wang Kun said, was it to repay the surgery fee? That debt must have been settled long ago, right?

Nothing made logical sense.

The Jiang family members, those connected to Lin Xiangrong who knew her secrets, were dying one by one. It made him suspect everything was to cover up some unknown secret.

The news was playing on the TV. A middle-aged man was being interviewed, with the subtitle introducing him as Fang Xing, CEO of Zhiyin Biotech, in the lower left corner. Fang Xing had a slightly yellowish complexion, and wore a black T-shirt with the company logo with and a custom grey linen blazer over it, creating a unique mixed style.

Xu Chengyue had been watching the CEO on TV, his expression growing darker.

Fang Xing wasn't the kind of person who could speak well, he appeared a bit awkward in front of the camera. Without the subtitles, his message would be hard to understand.

"Captain Gu, let me test you." Shu Pan pointed at Fang Xing on TV and asked, "What did this uncle just say? I only caught 'Ruihe Hospital' and wondered why it sounded familiar."

"He said they're sending you to Ruihe Hospital for a craniotomy to give you a smarter brain." Actually, Gu Yunfeng hadn't been listening closely either. He only got the gist, which seemed to be about cases like Xu Chengyue's or Jiang Hai's.

So he tugged Professor Xu's arm, "Isn't that right, Chengyue?"

"Of course not." Xu Chengyue glanced at him, rather speechless, "He just mentioned that Zhiyin Biotech plans to collaborate with Ruihe Hospital on a project next year. Their major shareholder is the same, so cooperation is easier."

Xu Chengyue then fell silent. The project Fang Xing mentioned for next year was essentially the same as the paper Lin Xiangrong published in Nature years ago, about neuroprosthetics used in artificial nerve robots.

Fang Xing's description also included three levels. The first was to achieve information transmission; then to achieve cluster functionality; and finally, to directly connect artificial devices to some neural tissue to achieve the complex functions of organs.

He didn't want to explain further, but Gu Yunfeng, remembering the paper they had read together, instantly linked it to the Jiang family case and kept asking questions.

"Isn't this that what's-it-called paper Lin Xiangrong wrote? Published in... where was it?"

"Nature."

"Right, how come Zhiyin Biotech is conveniently..." Gu Yunfeng suddenly speculated excitedly. "Do you think there might be some illegal transactions in secret?"

"......" How would he know?

Shu Pan, who had started this topic but was ultimately left out in the cold, was a bit saddened. He inexplicably felt lonely, like a light bulb in the corner that shone brightly but quickly dimmed.

He was bewildered by Professor Xu's refusal to leave and his intention to stay to take care of Gu Yunfeng. Something felt off, but he couldn't pinpoint what it was.

What exactly was wrong?

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

Please feel free to comment any mistakes I made so I can improve and do better as I go through the book.

Translated: August 19, 2024 by Angel

Edited: November 4, 2024 by Angel