Dossiers Bizarres 2 - L'Étrange et le Réel

Chapitre 35

"He Xi, is that you?" a deep voice asked from inside.

He Xi was shaken.

"Father...is that you, Father?"

The door opened.

Van Heller, whom Interpol had been searching for for days without success, stood behind the door, an aura of age emanating from him. The weariness and sadness I vaguely sensed when he left Shanghai last time were now so intense that no one who saw him could escape them.

The researchers who should have been in the lab were nowhere to be seen, except for Van Heller. It's a mystery how he managed to evade the police and get to Hong Kong.

“You’re twenty minutes late,” Van Heller said to He Xi.

He Xi's handbag slipped from her hand and fell to the ground. She rushed past Van Heller and knelt down in front of the only hospital bed in the laboratory.

Van Heller let out a long sigh.

I had countless questions to ask him, but at that moment I just looked at him deeply and walked to the hospital bedside.

The various tubes that once kept Fan Zhe alive have been removed. Although I have seen his photos, the handsome young man smiling in those photos is completely different from the pale and slightly swollen dead man in front of me.

Only the contours of their cheeks are vaguely similar, with cheekbones and chins that are almost exactly the same as mine.

He Xi's fingertips brushed across his sunken eye sockets, those eyes that could never open again, holding her past dreams and too many memories.

They have all vanished and will never return.

Unstoppable tears splashed on the ground.

Gently, I bent down and hugged her from behind. Her body was trembling.

She could no longer contain her grief, turned around, buried her head in my chest, and burst into tears.

I stroked her hair, but my gaze fell on Fan Zhe's face.

From now on, let me protect what you cherish most.

Not as a replacement for you, Fan Zhe, but as me, Na Duo.

He Xi cried for a long time, her voice was already hoarse, and finally it gradually subsided.

Van Heller brought a white cloth and covered his adopted son with it.

When He Xi looked up, my clothes were already a mess.

“Go wash up, I have something to tell you,” Van Heller said.

He Xi glanced at Zi Bu, then stood up, supporting herself on my shoulders. She walked to the pool and washed her face. When she came back, she took a few tissues and looked at my shirt, hesitating slightly.

I took her hand.

"I can do it myself." I took the tissue and wiped my chest briefly.

“Now, in the eyes of the police, I’ve become a criminal, haven’t I?” Van Heller gave a bitter smile, but there was not a trace of guilt on his face.

"So, you really are the starting point of everything."

Van Heller nodded to me: “You are a very imaginative young man, but you absolutely cannot imagine how magnificent and great this project, which has consumed most of my life, is.”

He actually used those two unusual adjectives, and a thought struck me. I said, "Immortality, it must be immortality."

Van Heller's previously composed expression immediately turned into one of extreme surprise.

How did you know?

"I also know that your plans are related to Tai Sui."

"Oh my God!" Van Heller was even more astonished. "You actually know about Tai Sui! You couldn't possibly have guessed this, but Rembrandt wouldn't have told you either. Could it be... could it be Zhao Ziqiang?"

"But Mr. Fan, have you considered that even if Tai Sui is immortal, even if Tai Sui can inherit a part of a person's thoughts, it is still different from a human being? To gain immortality in this way, and to want everyone in the world to do the same... Is an Earth crawling with Tai Sui the future you envision?"

Is this the ideal you've pursued your whole life? "Considering his relationship with He Xi, my tone wasn't harsh, but it still couldn't help being somewhat aggressive. After all, Shanghai had just escaped a disaster."

"Wait, Nado, wait." Van Heller gestured for me to stop talking.

"The idea of inheriting the Tai Sui's thoughts and gaining immortality? That's absurd," he said.

Now it was my turn to be stunned.

"Isn't...isn't that the case?"

"Of course not. You know about immortality and the Tai Sui, but you've come to completely wrong conclusions."

It seems you've encountered something I have no idea about. He looked at He Xi, then at me.

"Is it related to Zhao Ziqiang? Could you tell me first?"

“Okay,” I nodded.

"Let me speak," He Xi, who had been silent until now, said.

She began by recounting the discovery of needle holes in the medical gloves after Fan Zhe's accident, clearly recounting her extremely tortuous journey through Shanghai and Harbin.

When talking about medical gloves, Van Heller showed shock; when talking about the Tai Sui in his womb, Van Heller fell into deep thought; and when talking about the actions of Virus Knight and Zhao Ziqiang, Van Heller was almost unable to control his anger.

“No wonder you guessed that. I never expected Zhao Ziqiang to be possessed by a tyrant and do such a thing behind our backs! I shouldn’t have agreed when he proposed conducting large-scale virus transmission experiments. After decades of research, when we finally saw hope, he was still too eager for quick success and instant benefits,” Fan Haile said with great distress.

"So now, can you tell us the whole truth? Why did you sacrifice your two sons?" He Xi asked her adoptive father.

"I've known where Tai Sui comes from for a long time. However, the chance of Tai Sui arising naturally is extremely small. I tried various methods to increase this chance until I discovered the Fan's virus in the laboratory. To call it a discovery is a bit of a stretch; the method I used was similar to that of Unit 73L, simply creating an environment conducive to the rapid evolution and mutation of viruses and bacteria. Initially, I needed to conduct multi-organism virus experiments outside the laboratory, which inevitably attracted the attention of zoologists. Therefore, I announced the discovery of a new, rapidly mutating virus."

"My purpose in evolving viruses in the lab is to make it easier for the internal organs of organisms infected with these viruses to transform into Tai Sui. This kind of genetic control is still too sophisticated for current biotechnology. We can only keep trying, keep making mistakes, and get closer little by little. When we make some progress, we will inevitably need to experiment on humans. You already know the methods we use at this stage. Every virus we experiment on humans is a different variant. The result we hope to see is not just that infected people will produce Tai Sui after they die, but that infected people will not die in the end."

"What? You want the infected to survive?" I asked in surprise.

Van Heller nodded: “My ultimate goal is immortality, life, not death. This August, for the first time, a virus-infected person successfully survived. That person was Cheng Gen. Although Cheng Gen had already been killed by his son when Fan Zhe arrived, the internal organs he risked his life to retrieve gave our research a new direction.” As he said this, he glanced at his son, who was covered with a white sheet.

The white sheet he covered the child with his own hands, the son he buried with his own hands—all for his ideals.

"In the three months that followed, our research progressed rapidly, especially in October, when Zhao Ziqiang offered several suggestions. These were highly creative and effective. I had always admired his talent and hadn't doubted him at all, until now I realized where those suggestions came from. This tremendous progress made us urgently need human trials, and large-scale human trials at that. With just one more modification based on the experimental data, we could obtain the final virus sample—a virus that would slowly cause the body's internal organs to deteriorate, without causing rapid death. No, it shouldn't be called a virus; for our research project, it's a biocatalyst."

"Where could we find so many people to conduct experiments? Just when we were worrying about it, Zhao Ziqiang came up with a bold plan. When he told us, Rembrandt and I were both shocked."

"So, you're going to breed a variant that can spread between humans, release it in Xinjingyuan, and then, under the guise of aid, actually collect data for final research?" I asked.

"Yes, but Xin Jingyuan was decided later. We chose China because it had just experienced SARS and had developed a mechanism to deal with infectious diseases, which could control dangerous areas as soon as an infection was detected. Western countries cannot do this, which would lead to more serious consequences that we do not want to see. The core personnel of the entire project were only me, Fan Zhe, Rembrandt, and Zhao Ziqiang. When Zhao Ziqiang proposed this plan, Fan Zhe, who was most likely to strongly oppose it, had already become a vegetable. Rembrandt and I were very hesitant, but Zhao Ziqiang insisted. Later, one sentence he said convinced us."

"What?"

He said, "Our ultimate goal is to benefit all mankind. If this plan succeeds, disease and death will be far away from us. In the face of such a great achievement, any sacrifice is insignificant. Moreover, we have already indirectly killed many people through the Dagger organization. Since we have already taken fifty steps, why should we worry about the remaining fifty?"

"So, Zhao Ziqiang's plan was finally approved. He first went to Shanghai to select a suitable area to release the virus. Rembrandt, as the aid expert, naturally obtained the data and the resulting virus, and tried to pass it on to Zhao Ziqiang, who then forwarded it to me for immediate research. At the same time, if I had any new requests, I would immediately inform Rembrandt through Zhao Ziqiang, including releasing new virus variants. However, Zhao Ziqiang did not transmit the data to me; instead, he disappeared. I rushed to Shanghai specifically for this, but upon arriving, I found that the situation was rapidly deteriorating. In the end, Rembrandt had no choice but to sacrifice himself to preserve the entire plan. But now..." Van Heller shook his head and sighed.

"You still haven't clearly stated what your ultimate goal is, and what you, Van Zhe, and Rembrandt are pursuing as immortality?" I couldn't help but ask.

"I want the Tai Sui to be generated within the human body."

Tai Sui is produced in the human body? I frowned. How is this different from my previous understanding?

"You mean... the Tai Sui is produced in the human body, but it won't cause the person to explode and die? The person won't die?" He Xi thought of that before I could.

Van Heller nodded.

“But... what’s so good about this? What use is a Tai Sui in the body? Besides, if an organ like the heart becomes a Tai Sui, how can a person not die?” I asked.

"Becoming a Tai Sui doesn't mean an organ loses its function. The Tai Sui you mentioned attached to Zhao Ziqiang is an extreme example. Even after the brain becomes a Tai Sui, it still retains its original abilities. I call this kind of organ transformation 'Tai Sui transformation.' For an organ to become a Tai Sui, it needs a lot of energy. After successfully becoming a Tai Sui, it will basically stop taking in energy. Even if it is completely cut off from nutrition, it can survive for a very long time. Not only that, it will also continuously generate energy itself, much more than it absorbed before!"

At this point, Van Heller smiled slightly, but then suddenly changed the subject to something that seemed unrelated at first glance.

“From a young age, I have read a lot of ancient books. The way of traditional Chinese medicine is related to many aspects, not just what is taught in Chinese medicine colleges in China today. This includes Taoism. Some of the records in Taoism are true, or rather, based on real prototypes. I have gained a lot of real inspiration from alchemy and alchemy, and have successfully applied them to treatment.”

When I heard him say this, I was reminded of what Zhen Daren had told me about Van Heller's investigations in China. It seems that the various experiments he conducted back then, which seemed inconceivable and absurd to the mainstream medical community, had indeed yielded results.

"Do you know about the Taoist practice of cultivating Qi and the concept of the Golden Elixir?" Van Heller suddenly asked me.

“I know, the Golden Elixir Path, you know. Legend has it that once you refine the Golden Elixir, you can…” I suddenly stopped, looking at Van Heller in disbelief.

"You've figured it out? Yes, I'm 90% certain. The Golden Elixir of Taoism is about forming something similar to Tai Sui within the human body, and then extracting and utilizing its energy in a special way to prolong life, and even develop more extraordinary abilities. Immortality is just a title. How long someone who cultivates the Golden Elixir can live—three hundred, five hundred, or eight hundred years—I don't know. Nothing can truly grant immortality, but activating Tai Sui within the human body and successfully integrating this new life form into the body's larger biological system will be a great evolution. The previous combination of two organisms—mitochondria entering cells—led to the emergence of advanced life in this world, and the miracle of internal organ Tai Sui transformation will be no less remarkable."

"The methods that Taoism has explored over thousands of years are obscure and difficult. To reach the point of refining the Golden Elixir, one needs to meet many conditions and spend decades. It is also extremely easy to make mistakes, and once a mistake is made, the consequences can be fatal. Therefore, very few people have successfully cultivated the Golden Elixir. The original origin of alchemy was to use medicines to stimulate the internal organs and accelerate the formation of the Golden Elixir. What I am doing today is just using Western medicine as a means, but in essence, it is still alchemy. The difference between this and the usual Taoist practice is that Taoists refine the Golden Elixir from scratch using their methods; while I seek to refine the Golden Elixir first, and then use mature Taoist methods combined with medicines to guide the Golden Elixir, ultimately making it one with oneself."

This is truly bizarre. No matter how much I know or how rich my imagination is, I find it hard to digest. I can believe in the existence of Taoist alchemy, and I have indeed heard of it, but the Taoist alchemy is actually Tai Sui…

Upon closer examination, the two do indeed have something in common. The powerful bio-energy of the Tai Sui is like a perpetual motion machine, and with it as the core, many legendary abilities may indeed be realized.

However, Van Heller's idea of using a virus to modify genes and automatically produce "golden pills" within the human body is so outrageous... Does this mean that the line between genius and madness is very thin? His level of audacity is beyond even my wildest imagination. And he actually succeeded! No, he was only one step away from success, because the final data was in Zhao Ziqiang's hands and had vanished with those two gunshots.

"But why did you never tell me these things, not even my brother?"

"We have noble intentions, yet we employ despicable means. No matter how great our achievements may be, the filth along the way will never be erased. Especially Fan Zhe, he insisted on keeping it from you. He said that if we achieve glory, he will share it with you, but the burdens of darkness should be borne by men. I think he is right."

“Brother…” He Xi’s eyes reddened, and she almost shed tears again.

"So, what's inside He Xi is a golden core?" I asked Fan Hailer, my heart pounding as I recalled He Xi's question.

Van Heller didn't answer me directly, but instead inquired about He Xi's specific test results. After carefully listening to He Xi describe the shape of the CT scan, the various blood test results, and how He Xi had been feeling these past few days, Van Heller slowly shook his head.

My heart sank: "Didn't you say it was the Golden Elixir? Isn't that just the Tai Sui?"

Van Heller revealed a complicated expression and said, "Tai Sui is usually transformed from internal organs, or sometimes it is a piece of muscle, or even a benign tumor. But He Xi's case, as you speculated, is most likely transformed from an egg. Now, like a ten-month pregnancy, this Tai Sui is growing day by day, not just in size, but in terms of the ability and vitality it will possess after it is fully grown, which will far exceed that of an ordinary Tai Sui. In Taoism, there is another saying about this kind of thing that is more vital and spiritual than ordinary Golden Elixir, which is a realm that even those who have cultivated the Golden Elixir dream of."

"You don't mean... a Nascent Soul?" I asked, my eyes wide.

"I'm not sure, I'm just guessing."

I looked at He Xi, and my God, is this a woman with a Nascent Soul?

Van Heller took a small wooden box out of his pocket and handed it to He Xi.

“This is the only thing I can leave you now,” he said.

He Xi took the wooden box and opened it.

Inside was a folded piece of paper.

He Xi picked up the paper, underneath which was a silver-white key. Judging by its luster, it should be made of platinum.

He Xi unfolded the paper, which contained only two simple lines.

Both lines are numbers.

"This is the number and password of my safe deposit box in a Swiss bank. The one below is the key to open the safe deposit box. After this storm, I don't know what Heller International will have left. This is a scandal that is enough to destroy any company. Fortunately, I should be able to keep my real estate for you. And in this safe deposit box are the results of my life's research, including my research on Tai Sui and some Taoist cultivation methods for refining the golden elixir."

"Then what about you, Father?" He Xi sensed the ominous meaning in Van Heller's words.

“But as your father, I still hope you will have surgery to remove that unformed Tai Sui. My research has not yet progressed to the Nascent Soul stage, and the effectiveness of the cultivation methods I have collected has not been tested. After all, this is an unprecedented research project, fraught with dangers along the way. It would be too dangerous for you to start cultivating like this.”

"Father, tell me, what are you planning to do? Don't do anything foolish!" He Xi stepped forward, hugged Van Hailer, and tears streamed down her face once again.