The class monitor stayed in the ICU for three days. His parents came to Beijing and had a final meeting with him before he passed away.
At that time, the class monitor could no longer speak, but I think he wanted to say "I'm sorry" before he died. As part of the post-80s generation, we were all only children. His death was the greatest betrayal to his parents.
Now, I can still recall when I was preparing to leave school to take the civil service exam in Beijing. Back then, the class monitor was full of ambition. He said he would also take the exam, and years later, he would be the provincial governor, and I would be the mayor. We would meet with police escorts. At the time, I told him that as long as it didn't involve anything illicit, that dream had hope.
Who would have thought...
The class monitor was cremated in Beijing. His parents took his ashes with them when they left.
As I saw the two elders I had accompanied off, their shivering backs in the warm weather, my heart felt frozen by ice, both cold and painful. The train disappeared from my sight, but I still remained on the platform.
"Let's go back."
Yu Xiaoluo, who was with me, advised.
"Sister, if I hadn't abused him, do you think the class monitor could have been saved?"
Yu Xiaoluo sighed, "Professor Dong from the Neurology Department said his death has nothing to do with you. Due to drug invasion, his right brain had necrotic lesions and became infected."
"I..."
"Don't say any more, look at this!"
Yu Xiaoluo handed me a newspaper. One section carried a report: Another collective carbon monoxide poisoning incident occurred at the carbon black factory. Nine people died, twelve were comatose. The factory director, Zhang Le, had hanged himself in his office.
"Again?"
"In '95, this carbon black factory's granulator leaked, killing 3 people on the spot and leaving 8 in a vegetative state. These vegetative patients never woke up and died one after another within the next month. In '01, an explosion occurred at this carbon black factory's equipment, killing 5 people and causing 7 deaths from carbon monoxide poisoning, leaving 16 in a vegetative state who died successively within the next month. This is the third incident, with 9 deaths and 12 comatose."
I understood. Looking at Yu Xiaoluo, I said, "That factory director who hanged himself is a scapegoat."
"Yes, this factory is very strange. After a major accident, it suspends production, restructures, is sold off, and then another accident occurs. Also, they have never openly recruited at job fairs or on recruitment websites. None of the three directors have. I suspect Duan Dongyang uses factory accidents to destroy evidence?"
Hearing Yu Xiaoluo say this, I shook my head, "Sister, it's not easy to create a cold-blooded killer like the class monitor. If it were me, I wouldn't do something like destroy evidence just because someone was investigating."
Yu Xiaoluo was puzzled, "Why did those people die?"
"How did the class monitor, Li Xiaodong, die?"
"Intracranial infection, persistent high fever, mental abnormalities, convulsions, foaming at the mouth, and finally coma leading to death."
After Yu Xiaoluo finished, her eyes lit up. She added, "Duan Dongyang's experiment was not successful."
"Exactly!"
"You go home by yourself. I'll go investigate those comatose people from the carbon black factory."
Yu Xiaoluo was impulsive and left immediately. I called out, "Sister, be careful!"
"Don't worry!"
...
I didn't go home either. Instead, I went to a place. This was also a siheyuan. In Beijing, people with financial means liked to have a siheyuan to live in. This home belonged to my senior sister, Cao Qian.
There was a small children's playground in the courtyard. When I pushed the door open, the nanny was playing with my senior sister's daughter. Seeing me enter, the nanny looked somewhat wary. I smiled and said, "Is Cao Qian here?"
"Mrs. Cao, someone is looking for you?"
My senior sister came out from the main room, wearing a fluffy pajama set, no makeup, and her skin looked dull. However, upon seeing me, she immediately broke into a smile, "Tang Nan, what brings you here?"
It seemed like an ordinary greeting, but it was more than that. She knew I knew she lived here.
"I came to see Duan Dongyang?"
"We're not married yet. This is my home, not Duan Dongyang's. Come inside. Tang Yi, come here, let Daddy hug you."
The little girl, called Tang Yi, looked at me, shook her head, and hid behind the nanny.
"Aunt Jiang, please take her to play."
Hearing the name Tang Yi, I regretted coming here. If things continued like this, I wouldn't be my senior sister's match.
...
After entering the house, my senior sister made me a cup of tea in the living room and handed it to me with a smile, "The child is named Tang Yi. Don't put too much pressure on yourself. We had her to deal with you back then. But you went into hiding for two years, and many things have changed."
"Is this really my child?"
"Yes. If a paternity test proves she is your child, will you marry me?"
"No!"
This answer was met with my senior sister's calm smile, "Tang Nan, you've grown up. You're no longer the hesitant, green university student you were back then. Tell me, why are you here?"
"That address you gave me nearly got me killed."
"I know that. Do you expect me to go easy on you just because you're my child's father? Tang Nan, you wouldn't think that, would you."
I fell silent. Before coming, I hadn't expected my senior sister to be so frank. For a moment, I was at a loss.
"To be honest, I didn't expect you to escape. You're still that miracle boy. Duan Dongyang wasn't interested in you at first. It was because you sent Zhu Guang to prison that he entrusted me to lure you to Dongyang Psychiatric Hospital. However, he is now intensely interested in your willpower, even believing that you appeared in this world because of him. You are now his true love."
"I don't understand what you're saying."
"You don't know who Duan Dongyang is, do you?"
"No!"
"In 1981, Duan Dongyang's American mentor won the Nobel Prize in Biology as a psychologist. In '02, Daniel, as a psychologist, shared the Nobel Prize in Economics with a professor from Mason University. Duan Dongyang's pursuit is to establish an academic theory that can guide humanity's understanding of the spiritual realm, based on the division of labor between the left and right brain. His lifelong goal is to have the Nobel Prize establish a psychology award for him."
I asked in surprise, "There's no Nobel Prize in Psychology?"
"Of course not."
"Someone like him, a bad person,..."
"He's not a bad person~"
My senior sister interrupted me, "Duan Dongyang is not a bad person. He's a man with lofty ideals. In '89, Duan Dongyang met Zhang Si, and with Zhang Si's help, he obtained his first experimental funding. In '91, with Zhang Si's tacit consent, Duan Dongyang deliberately got acquainted with Li Jiu, a professor at the police academy. Together, they established 'Logical Paradox.' Li Jiu wanted intelligent people to guide the world, and Duan Dongyang wanted to increase everyone's intelligence by 10%, which would lead to a great leap forward for humanity."
I was deeply shocked by what my senior sister said. I asked word by word, "Are you saying Duan Dongyang is Zhang Si's substitute in 'Logical Paradox,' and the new mentor of 'Fairy Tale Forest'?"
"Yes!"
I rubbed my face vigorously with my hands. This matter was quite shocking to me.
"What's the deal with Duan Dongyang and Zhu Guang?"
"They both thought Zhu Guang was dead back then, but neither expected that the near-dead Zhu Guang would be saved by Duan Dongyang. At that time, Duan Dongyang was Zhang Si's pawn. He didn't want to be controlled by Zhang Si, but Duan Dongyang was not a schemer. So, in Zhang Si's plan, he saved Zhu Guang and secretly raised him in Dongyang Psychiatric Hospital, which was Zhang Si's forbidden zone."
"Why is Dongyang Psychiatric Hospital Zhang Si's forbidden zone?"
My senior sister shook her head, "I don't know. Master might know about this. Why don't you ask Master?"
"I haven't seen Old Ghost in two years, and I don't know what he's busy with."
"I heard Gao Ji is in poor health. His family is making a big fuss over the inheritance. Master is Gao's son-in-law, so he would naturally be kept at the Gao family's during this time."
I didn't know most of what my senior sister said. It seemed I needed to understand the game from back then.
"Why did Duan Dongyang break up with Zhu Guang?"
"After establishing 'Fairy Tale Forest,' Zhu Guang moved from behind the scenes to the forefront. He firmly believed that for humans to become gods, they must first extinguish humanity. The so-called humanity is self-destruction on the basis of extreme selfishness. Therefore, he set up a behavioral art gambling game, implanting this subconsciousness into the minds of the financial magnates who control major countries. Duan Dongyang disagreed with this behavior; he wanted to make humans smarter, so the two parted ways peacefully."
"As a schemer, why did you follow Duan Dongyang instead of Zhu Guang?"
"Duan Dongyang is not a schemer. Whether in 'Logical Paradox' or 'Fairy Tale Forest,' what he wants is sufficient experimental funding and humans who can serve as test subjects. Over the years, Duan Dongyang has controlled a powerful dark capital chain. He needs a schemer to manage these matters for him after leaving Zhu Guang. 'Logical Paradox' trained some schemers, but most of them were not capable. The few who were capable, like 'X Driver,' 'Agent,' Qin Sisi, and Liu Chenxi, are either dead or gone. Now, only I can contend with Zhu Guang."
"Even if you become his schemer, why marry him?"
"That's my condition. It's mainly to provide a peaceful living environment for the child. Duan Dongyang has no interest in women or procreation. All his energy is focused on his experiments. Marriage is just a formality, allowing me to use his connections to get Tang Yi into a good private school."
"You shouldn't have had Tang Yi."
"That wasn't my problem. Back then, as a member of the organization, I followed Zhu Guang's orders. Tang Yi was born to deal with you. If Duan Dongyang and Zhu Guang hadn't parted ways, you would have been in pieces by now."
"Zhu Guang has already been sent to prison by me."
"He'll escape. You deal with him, but don't provoke us."
"That's not something you get to decide."
My senior sister smiled, "Really? But I think Yu Xiaoluo has probably already noticed the strangeness of the carbon black factory and gone to investigate. Now you choose. The class monitor, Li Xiaodong, was just a warning to you. If you continue to be my enemy, then the people around you will die one by one, starting with Yu Xiaoluo."