Qiming Chapter 104

Chapter 104

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"Xu Chengyue, have you lost your mind?" Gu Yunfeng felt like he was almost shouting those words.

But in reality, his voice was so low that only he could hear it. He deeply regretted sending Xu Chengyue that message, calling him over. He even fantasised about turning back time, finding someone to stop Xu Chengyue from entering the meeting room, and sealing his lips.

Everyone in the meeting room stared at Xu Chengyue in shock. All the secrecy and cover-ups until now had become futile in an instant.

Gu Yunfeng gazed at the distant horizon and dense clouds, unable to utter a word. This was supposed to be an utterly ordinary day, yet Xu Chengyue, in a calm and casual tone, had just revealed something that would shake the entire industry.

"There's no need for you guys to complicate things." Xu Chengyue paused briefly and repeated, "I participated in Zhiyin Biotech's human trials, and I'm willing to testify in court."

Amidst the uproar, Gu Yunfeng strode towards him, pushed open the back door, and dragged him out by the arm.

"Xu Chengyue, do you even understand what you just said?!" Gu Yunfeng stared at him angrily. Though usually a mild-mannered and composed person, he had been increasingly losing control of his temper lately. His usual gentleness had vanished, replaced by an air of helpless rage.

"You can still back out now, you were just impulsive, and soon you'll regret it, the people in that meeting room, they'll all help keep your secret, you're the victim, this is your privacy, you don't have to testify, no one needs to know..."

Gu Yunfeng rambled incoherently.

"I understand, I wasn't acting on impulse." Xu Chengyue faced him, surprisingly wearing a serene smile.

"I did it voluntarily. I'm tired, and I want to stand in the sunlight, open and honest." He looked at Gu Yunfeng's reddened eyes in the sunlight, grabbed a tissue to wipe the sweat off his forehead, and then stood on his tiptoes to embrace him. Whispering softly into his ear, he said, "Happy New Year, my dear."

"Boss, Boss, what the hell is going on here?" Shu Pan jogged up, still utterly confused. He had just stepped out of the meeting to use the restroom, and when he returned, he heard something big had happened.

"Didn't Professor Xu just say? He's the victim, he's going to testify."

"Wha-what-what-what?" Shu Pan darted in front of Gu Yunfeng, blocking his way, and stared at him in shock. "Professor Xu is the victim? He underwent that brain-swapping surgery?"

As soon as the words left his mouth, he quickly covered it with his hand, then cautiously asked, "Did he really have his brain replaced? Didn't they say that everyone who went through the procedure died?"

"He's the only one who succeeded." Gu Yunfeng pushed past Shu Pan, glanced at the time, and hurried off to Director Zhao's office. He needed to report this immediately. The case concerning Zhiyin Biotech would likely have to be completely overturned, the files reorganised, and the entire chain of evidence re-examined from scratch.

His whole body trembled, a subtle shaking that most people wouldn't notice. But his extreme tension and anxiety amplified every physical response, making him feel like his heart was about to leap out of his chest, his blood vessels on the verge of bursting.

"Fuck! So we're kind of, like, witnessing history?" Shu Pan continued babbling as he followed, "So, is the current Professor Xu even the same person as the previous one? Whose brain did they put in him? Damn, this question is way too deep! This isn't just about breaking the law, it's challenging the very core of human ethics!"

"Have you marvelled enough?"

"No." He shook his head. "I think it's exhilarating."

"Exhilarating, my foot." Gu Yunfeng cursed at him. He certainly didn't feel any excitement, his mind was filled with one persistent question: What now, what now, what now?

He didn't even dare to imagine what the future held.

Whether or not Xu Chengyue testified, someone would be after his life, someone who wanted to study him, to control him. The world was so vast, yet Gu Yunfeng couldn't hide him.

For Xu Chengyue now, he had hands and feet, eyes and a mouth. He longed for freedom, for standing under the sun, to speak about this fresh and agonising matter that had been troubling him deeply.

"These past few days, I've often wondered, what was the old Xu Chengyue like?" Xu Chengyue whispered this in Gu Yunfeng's ear as he embraced him. Every word he uttered made Gu Yunfeng ache, as if a knife was slowly carving out his bones and flesh.

"His memories keep appearing in my dreams. The two of us, two souls, share one body. One day, he will wake from his slumber, and I will have to leave this body, leave you."

"I am both terrified and eager for that day. When that day comes, if you haven't forgotten me, then he will be me, we will both be Xu Chengyue, alright?"

When that day came, Xu Chengyue would finally no longer have to live each day in constant fear. The joy, sorrow, and anger on his face would all come from a real human brain, not from the programmed algorithms beneath an AI chip.

Most importantly, when he woke, the events of that night – why he had fallen from the laboratory rooftop, and what irreconcilable conflict he had with Lu Yong.

All the secrets, will emerge from the shadows where no one had known them and be exposed under the sunlight.

—————

When Lu Yong returned home, it was already late at night. He usually spent long hours in the laboratory, so coming home late was normal for him. The recent theft of data from the lab had left him anxious. Who was the thief? Since they hadn't come to blackmail him, it seemed they had already found a buyer.

Who was the buyer? Zhiyin Biotech? He had been keeping an eye on the dark web's transactions for the past few days but had found no trace of the stolen data. If it wasn't listed on the dark web, Zhiyin Biotech was a strong possibility.

It was already two in the morning as he sat alone in the living room, his wife and child were fast asleep. He quietly switched on a dim yellow lamp and pulled out a USB drive from the drawer. It was something he used frequently ten years ago, containing many photos, videos, and academic materials.

He turned on his computer, intending to review the contents of the USB drive. Suddenly, he found a video inside. The thumbnail was a photo of his daughter, Lu Yiran, taken ten years ago, capturing her life in kindergarten.

Unlike the rebellious and unruly girl she had become, Lu Yiran back then was clearly a well-behaved child, with a bright and innocent smile. Her eyes were filled with pure innocence.

In the warm living room, he draped a jacket over himself, reclined in a wicker chair, and played the video. As he watched his daughter's adorable behaviour, he gradually began to feel at ease and sleepy.

"Daddy, the teacher gave us homework today to write about our dreams."

"That's great, tell Daddy, what's Ran Ran's dream?"

"Not telling you." The little girl tilted her head and pouted. She stretched out her tiny hands, playfully patting Lu Yong's leg, then looked up with a face full of wonder and anticipation. "Daddy, what's your dream?"

"Lots of things," he chuckled. Although he wasn't used to discussing such sentimental topics, he gave it some thought for his daughter's homework. "I want to make your lives better, earn more money, be successful, rewrite history, and leave a lasting legacy."

"You want both money and fame, and to go down in history, aren't you trying to get it all?" she teased him with a dissatisfied pout.

"Everyone's the same, wanting everything. That's why they say desire drives societal progress." He crouched down and stroked the little girl's hair.

"Then have you succeeded?"

"Almost, just a little more, just a tiny bit."

"Is that tiny bit very difficult?"

"Very difficult. The adult world is hard, you have to pay a huge price, do things you never dared to do before."

The little girl tilted her head up, her gaze gradually dimming, and finally, she lowered her head, shaking it in deep dissatisfaction.

"No, that's not your wish. That's not what you said ten years ago."

He asked in surprise, "Ten years ago? You weren't even ten years old. How could you know what I said ten years ago?"

Lu Yiran ignored his question and continued speaking as if to herself, "Ten years ago, you told me your greatest dream was to watch Ran Ran grow up, to live a happy and joyful life!"

"No money, no fame, and no need to do things you were afraid to do."

Lu Yiran's face gradually enlarged before his eyes, changing from a five- or six-year-old child into her current appearance as a fifteen-year-old girl. She had dyed her hair red and stood before him imperiously, almost as tall as he was.

"There's nothing I'm afraid to do anymore," he muttered after a moment of shock. Then, as if on cue, he saw his daughter, tears streaming down her face, pick up a chair and hurl it at him.

Before the pain could register in his body, his eyes snapped open. A blanket was draped over him, and daylight had fully broken.

It was eight in the morning, and he was the only one in the house. With a soft sigh, he opened his computer and saw a few invitations from abroad in his inbox. After half an hour of thought, he rejected them all.

In truth, his AI detective project had already been a near-complete success. Over the past year, through observation, the chip implanted in Xu Chengyue not only allowed him to live like a normal human but also gave him independent thought and emotion, learning quickly and gaining specialised skills. It was a success in every conceivable way.

This kind of success could give him everything he wanted. He had altered human history, revolutionised the tech world, and might even redefine humanity's place in the future, bringing about a seismic shift.

Yet, deep down, he still lacked confidence. Was this project truly flawless? Was there some hidden, enormous flaw that, as time passed, could generate immense power, triggering an uncontrollable storm?

He gazed at the rising sun outside the window, then stood up and took a completely shattered laptop from the bookshelf.

Two years ago, just before Xu Chengyue fell from the laboratory rooftop, he had fiercely kicked this laptop off the roof, smashing it onto the hard concrete ground, almost breaking it into pieces.

"I altered every version of the algorithm. The AI detective you've obtained is flawed. I planted hidden dangers in it, like a massive bomb, ready to blow everything up at any moment."

These were Xu Chengyue's final words.

After taking away the broken laptop, Lu Yong left without looking back. He didn't call the police or summon an ambulance. In the following months, he worked tirelessly to recover all the data, but he still hadn't found the so-called – original and perfect AI detective.

It was as if it had never existed.

Yet Xu Chengyue's expression, with his resolute embrace of death, appeared in Lu Yong's dreams day and night, constantly haunting him. The blood spilt that night had splashed onto Lu Yong's shoes. He had gone back and scrubbed them for a long time, scrubbing them every day, but he always felt like they hadn't been cleaned.

Perhaps they could never be cleaned.

He sat back in the chair, clutching the broken laptop, closing his eyes as he listened to the sound of water boiling.

‿︵‿︵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: September 30, 2024 by Angel

Edited: January 7, 2025 by Angel