Joven Primer Ministro, un ermitaño

Capítulo 11

Luo Shimin pushed Hu Rongrong forward, saying, "Let Rongrong speak; she knows Xiao Ke best."

Hu Rongrong thought for a moment and said, "Although Xiao Ke's childhood was relatively poor and she had never seen many novel things, after she came to her father's house, even though her family wasn't very kind to her, she had seen, heard, and used just as much as we had. The things she found amazing must be truly amazing, perhaps something we've never seen before. Maybe it's something like aliens, prehistoric civilizations, or supernatural events."

Ye Cheng didn't believe any of these things existed. "I've figured it out. That's why you and Luo Shimin became good friends. Your imaginations are equally amazing."

“Why don’t you believe these things exist?” Luo Shimin argued. “The Earth has been formed for billions of years, while we humans have only existed for tens of thousands of years. Nature is amazing; anything is possible, and anything can happen.”

Ye Cheng waved his hand, "Let's not argue about this anymore. Exploring this issue is a matter for scientists, not for us. Let's assume that these magical things exist, and that some of them are stored in the hidden chambers of the sewers, but they were gone when we went there, moved elsewhere. You know Yishi Academy better than I do. In your opinion, where in the academy could these items be hidden without being discovered?"

“Your question is too difficult to answer,” Hu Rongrong said. “We don’t know exactly how big these magical things are. If they are only the size of a classroom, the school has too many places to store them without anyone noticing, especially in the old building area. There are too many vacant houses there.”

Luo Shimin said, "You should ask Director Sun of the Logistics Department about this. No one in Yishi Academy knows the academy better than him. He knows every corner of the academy like he knows every line on his hand. He is also very capable. He once emptied an entire teaching building in one night without anyone noticing."

"Does he have that ability?" Ye Cheng pondered. If he could empty the entire teaching building in one night, emptying the secret room in the sewers wouldn't be difficult for him either. Xiao Ke's diary contained clues, but everyone connected to those clues was dead, rendering the clues useless. The 'Nuwa' plan mentioned in the diary was a useful clue, but even Qi Xiao Ke only had a vague understanding of it, so he had no idea where to begin investigating.

Ye Cheng was planning to talk to Director Sun from logistics, hoping to stumble upon a new clue by sheer luck. Before he could even leave the house, Xia Chen stopped him. "Where are you going?"

“I’ll go talk to Director Sun, what else can I do? If we just sit here and do nothing, no clues will come knocking on our door. This case is too bizarre. If we don’t solve it soon, who knows how many more people will die. We don’t even know what kind of plan the ‘Nuwa’ project is, or how many people are involved.”

"You can go talk to Director Sun again tomorrow. I have an idea that I'd like to ask for your help with."

"You need my help? What is it?" Ye Cheng had a bad feeling. Xia Chen rarely treated him so politely, and even used the word "please".

Xia Chen remained tight-lipped, saying, "I want to perform another autopsy on Dr. Zuo, especially a bodily fluid analysis."

"Is it really necessary to do it again? Will they find something new?"

Xia Chen said confidently, "Just investigate. I'm sure I'll make some new discoveries."

Seeing his confidence, Ye Cheng asked him why he wouldn't say. Trusting him, Ye Cheng agreed, "Alright then, let's go back to the police station now for an autopsy."

"Then we won't go." Hu Rongrong and Luo Shimin had no interest in the corpse. "Call us if you find anything."

Back at the police station, Ye Cheng left Xia Chen alone in the office while he went to find the forensic doctor. There wasn't much going on at the moment; the doctor was leisurely drinking tea and reading the newspaper. Ye Cheng went straight to the doctor and said, "I'd like to trouble you to perform another autopsy on Dr. Zuo's body."

"Is this necessary?" The forensic doctor put down his newspaper. "It's only been less than three days since the last autopsy. Will there be any new findings?"

"I'd appreciate it if you could do the collection again, especially the fluid test. A friend of mine is confident that there will be new findings."

"Does he have any evidence?" The forensic doctor was also very interested in these bodies.

"Please do me a favor."

"Okay, I promise. If there are no new discoveries, you have to treat me to dinner."

"I'll treat you to dinner, no matter what happens, as long as you perform the autopsy."

"Come back this afternoon. I need to resample and analyze the data. It will take at least 5 p.m. to complete all the data analysis."

"I'm sorry to have troubled you." Ye Cheng left the forensic office and found Xia Chen, who was still looking at information about the desert sandworm on his computer. Ye Cheng thought to himself, "This kid doesn't actually believe that this case is related to this insect, whose existence is still uncertain, does he?" If his confidence came from this, Ye Cheng didn't know what to say.

The wait was long. The two chatted for a while, with Ye Cheng subtly probing Xia Chen, who remained tight-lipped, leaving Ye Cheng eager to know more. Neither of them had slept well the night before, and drowsiness overcame them, so they slept on the table until they woke up hungry.

The two were eating instant noodles when the forensic doctor rushed into the office with the latest autopsy report in his hand. "New discovery: the composition of the body fluids has indeed changed."

Ye Cheng took the report. "What changes?"

"Your friend is really amazing, I admire him. During the second autopsy, I discovered a new enzyme in the bodily fluids, the same one found in the first female corpse..."

Xia Chen spoke on behalf of the forensic doctor, "It's the same enzyme found on Qi Xiaoke's body, a type that's impossible to find in the human body and extremely rare in nature, only found on a few types of insects."

The forensic doctor stared wide-eyed at Xia Chen. "How did you know? You're Ye Cheng's friend, right? How did you know the composition of the body fluids would change?"

Xia Chen didn't want the forensic doctor to know too much, so he replied evasively, "Intuition, a man's intuition."

The forensic doctor could tell that Li Xiachen didn't want him to know. "I'm going back to rest. Xiao Yezi, you owe me a meal."

Ye Cheng watched the forensic doctor walk out of the office, then closed the door behind him. "Tell me what happened already, stop keeping me in suspense, I can't wait any longer."

Xia Chen struck a cool pose. "Based on my speculation, the whole case is roughly like this."

Dr. Zuo and his team participated in a secret project codenamed 'Nuwa,' the details of which are currently unclear, but it may be related to a medical project secretly conducted by the Xia Group. These elites gathered at Yishi Academy for a common purpose. Several months ago, they organized a scientific expedition under the guise of tourism in Mobi, during which they made a significant discovery: they found the legendary Mobei Sandworm and brought it back. This is also the reason for Dr. Wei's murder; such a major event could not be kept from him. After returning, Dr. Zuo fell in love with Qi Xiaoke and introduced her to his colleagues. Among his colleagues, some were infatuated with him, and out of jealousy or some other reason, someone switched the medicine given to Qi Xiaoke with two sandworm eggs. After they consumed it, Dr. Zuo was the first to notice something was wrong, and he is currently researching a solution.

However, the sand worm inside Qi Xiaoke's abdomen grew faster than Dr. Zuo had anticipated, and by the time Dr. Zuo arrived at the infirmary, the sand worm had emerged from her stomach. To maintain secrecy, someone had to kill everyone in the infirmary at the time. This person could be Dr. Wu.

"Wait a minute." Ye Cheng had to interrupt Xia Chen, who was talking in a way that was too outrageous. "What you're saying sounds like a science fiction blockbuster, it's a bit too exaggerated."

"Ye Cheng, you are a good police officer with good reasoning skills, but you lack bold imagination. Imagination is an indispensable condition for solving cases."

Faced with self-reproach, Ye Cheng was speechless; his profession as a police officer taught him to only believe in objectively existing evidence. "Go on, I'm listening."

"The sandworm that crawled out of Qi Xiaoke's stomach is different from the sandworm in the northern desert. It has retained some of Qi Xiaoke's memories to a certain extent. That's why it scared Nurse Song crazy when it went to her house, and then left clues for us at the hospital."

"Let me interrupt again. According to you, Qi Xiaoke and Dr. Zuo ingested the worm eggs at the same time, so why did they develop symptoms at different times?"

"Dr. Zuo may have found some kind of drug to suppress the attacks, or it may be due to the differences in the constitutions of men and women, or it may be because Dr. Zuo's death slowed down the growth of the sand worms, which only emerged from Dr. Zuo's body last night. The enzymes in the two corpses can explain this."

"How did Dr. Wu and Dr. Wei die? Who killed them?"

When asked this question, Xia Chen replied, "I haven't thought of that yet. I'll tell you when I do. My initial suspicion is that the Xia Group sent assassins to silence us."

Xia Chen's statement, though seemingly absurd, actually explains some issues. Ye Cheng said, "I'll accept your statement for now. If you want me to completely believe you, you must find convincing evidence."

"I will find it, I definitely will."

Xia Chen believed he had solved most of the mysteries, unaware that he had only seen the tip of the iceberg, and that many more mysteries awaited him.

020 The Death of Director Sun

At 11 p.m., in Room 303, Building 5, Yishi College Family Area, the home of Logistics Director Bu Sun.

After dark, the weather suddenly changed. Large, dark clouds surged in from the horizon, covering the sky and plunging the earth into darkness. In the night, a fierce wind, carrying sand and dust, howled through the treetops. Dead branches snapped with a crack in the wind, falling to the ground and being blown a great distance.

A well-maintained middle-aged woman stood at the window, watching the fierce wind raging outside. Her name was Su Youqing, Director Sun's wife. "Youqing, what are you looking at?" Director Sun put his arm around her slender waist from behind. The two were college classmates and had been married for over ten years, always loving and an enviable couple.

"The wind is picking up; it's going to rain heavily."

"Don't be afraid, I'm here with you."

Su Youqing had a peculiar fear of thunder, though she couldn't remember when it started. What might be ordinary to others was, to Su Youqing, the most terrifying thing in the world, more frightening than a ghost. Every time it thundered and rained, she would curl up in a corner of her room, trembling, and scream hysterically with each clap of thunder. Whenever it rained, no matter how important his business, Director Sun would drop everything and rush home to hold Su Youqing in his arms, gently covering her ears with his hands. They wouldn't speak, just sit there quietly, watching the raindrops patter against the windowpane, forming a curtain of rain, watching the lightning slash across the sky like a sharp blade. The room was utterly silent, so quiet that only the pounding of their hearts could be heard. At those moments, Su Youqing felt that Director Sun's warm chest was the warmest and safest place in the world.

Su Youqing gently grasped Director Sun's hand. "I have a bad feeling tonight, my heart is pounding."

"Don't be afraid, I'm here with you."

"It's not that I'm afraid, it's that I'm afraid."

"Me?" Director Sun was taken aback. "What do I have to be afraid of?"

"Everyone in the infirmary is dead."

Director Sun was surprised. "How did you know?"

"Never mind how I know, let's leave Yishi Academy. I don't want to stay here anymore."

"Once I get the money, we'll leave. We'll buy a house in a picturesque place, or we'll go to the desert, where it never rains and you won't have to worry about thunder."

Su Youqing gently kissed Director Sun on the cheek.

"Let's go to sleep," Director Sun said gently. "Once you're asleep, you might not hear thunder when it rains."

Su Youqing pouted and said, "I want you to carry me to bed."

Director Sun chuckled and said, "You're such a grown man, yet you act like a child."

"I want you to hold me, I want you to hold me."

Director Sun felt much younger all of a sudden. He picked Su Youqing up by the waist and carried her step by step toward the bedroom, saying, "You're much heavier than before. If you're any heavier, I won't be able to carry you anymore."

"How annoying!" Su Youqing's small fists rained down on her.

Director Sun gently placed Su Youqing on the bed and tenderly undressed her. Raindrops pattered against the window, but the room was filled with the warmth of spring.

An hour later, Director Sun began to snore softly, but Su Youqing couldn't fall asleep while lying in bed.

The rain was heavy, but there was no thunder. She quietly got out of bed; she was thirsty and went to get a drink. She didn't want to wake him. The logistical work was already complicated, and he was also involved in the 'Nuwa' project. With the medical room experiencing one accident after another, he must be exhausted.

Suddenly, she had a strong feeling that there were more than just the two of them in the room; there was a third person present! It seemed that something even darker was lurking in the darkness, watching her with ill intent.

The feeling was so intense that she quickly drank two sips of water, put down the glass, and ran to bed. While still asleep, Director Sun put his left arm around her waist and continued sleeping.

She broke out in a cold sweat, staring wide-eyed into the darkness. A long time passed, and nothing happened. But the feeling of being watched persisted. There must be something in the darkness!

She hesitated whether to push him away, but seeing him sleeping so soundly, she ultimately didn't wake him. She lay down, fear enveloping her like the air itself.

A bolt of lightning illuminated the earth in an instant.

One fear was quickly replaced by another; she opened her mouth wide, her throat moved twice, and she made a sound that only a person on the verge of death makes.

Boom! A thunderclap echoed in the distance.

Ah! Almost simultaneously, Director Sun was awakened by Su Youqing's ear-piercing scream. She clung to him tightly, like a drowning person grasping at a straw, her nails digging into his flesh. Director Sun felt a little pain, but he didn't blame her.

"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, I'm here." Director Sun covered Su Youqing's ears with his fingers. To calm her down quickly, he even sang love songs from their passionate romance. Su Youqing gradually calmed down. She climbed onto Director Sun like a kitten. His heartbeat, his body temperature, and his singing dispelled her fear. She slowly closed her eyes and fell asleep.

When she opened her eyes again, it was already the next morning. The heavy rain had long since stopped, the dark clouds had dispersed, and golden sunlight bathed the earth. She didn't know when she had left Director Sun's embrace; he was now facing away from her. Su Youqing got out of bed and opened the window, the fresh air, carrying a hint of moisture, rushing in. Su Youqing took a deep breath, feeling refreshed and invigorated.

"Get up quickly, the morning air is so fresh." Director Sun didn't move.

"You behaved well last night, so I'll let you sleep a little longer. I'll go make you breakfast." Su Youqing skipped to the kitchen, and soon an enticing aroma wafted from it. She called out loudly from inside, "Get up, you lazy cat, you're going to be late for work!"

Director Sun still didn't get up.

After making breakfast, Su Youqing returned to the bedroom and saw Director Sun still lying in bed. Su Youqing had a bad feeling; Director Sun didn't have the habit of sleeping in. "Are you sick?" She reached out from behind to pull Director Sun's hand, which was ice-cold, deathly cold. She jerked her hand away as if she had been electrocuted.

Director Sun slowly turned around, his eyes wide open and his tongue sticking out.

He's dead!

Ah! Sun Youqing let out a scream that was even more terrifying than thunder.

021 The Demon's Mark

A heavy rain last night washed everything clean. The leaves shone a vibrant green, the grass thrived, and birds chirped incessantly in the branches. All of this made Ye Cheng feel much lighter. The past two days had been filled with thoughts of the case, leaving him utterly exhausted; even in his dreams, he was preoccupied with it. Looking at the refreshed world after the rain, Ye Cheng temporarily put the case aside, giving his mind and body a break. He still held a sliver of hope; perhaps today he would find a crucial clue that could solve the case. Solving the case was secondary to him; what mattered was figuring out what kind of schemes and tricks the Xia Group was up to.

Ye Cheng lived in the police station's office and ate and slept at the police station. This had one advantage: he would never be late for work.

"Birds on the tree are in pairs..." Ye Cheng hummed a song while brushing his teeth in the bathroom. He had a habit of singing songs he had heard from who-knows-where whenever he was in a good mood, getting toothpaste foam all over his mouth, and he was still very pleased with himself.