Tuer l'amour

Chapitre 13

It is despair.

It was a desperate situation where everything was starting to collapse.

This spectacular urban legend unfolded like a shooting star—brilliant but fleeting.

The shooting star has passed.

Media coverage gradually subsided; in such times, nothing lasts forever. People's focus quickly shifted away.

Aside from the police, no one else kept talking about this recent legend. The small circle of people who listened to Yang's storytelling every afternoon gradually thinned out and finally dissipated. I believe that even the police will one day put this matter aside and relegate it to the files of unsolved cases.

Two bowls of cold noodles were on the table.

"Which bowl do you want?" I asked.

Liu Er lowered his head and counted the ingredients.

"One, two, three, four, five, is this five-in-one, four-in-one high?"

"Yes, that's the plumpness of June."

Liu Er couldn't help but laugh: "What a brilliant name! I'll have this bowl of June Fatty Delight."

I smiled too. Liu Er rarely smiles these days, and I hope he can be a little happier, even over something as trivial as this.

It took Liu Er three whole days to barely recover after that incident.

"Recovering" means being like he was on the first day he came to my house, able to walk, talk, and do housework freely. However, I can no longer control the hair on his body in the slightest.

That strange power swept over him like a storm, and now it's gone forever.

It was like a bizarre dream.

Six Ears' dream has ended. He is no longer Superman, no longer able to control the life and death of others, no longer able to cleanse the city of its filth.

However, we also need to consider the path ahead.

His fur, when it was still, was jet black and glossy, extremely fine yet possessing a vibrant life force. Now, it has lost its luster.

This is perhaps something to be thankful for, because the rate of hair growth has also slowed down dramatically; after shaving, it only grows about two centimeters in twelve hours. By shaving him twice a day, morning and evening, at least I can always see his facial features clearly.

"Six Ears, your condition is much better now than before. I think if you are willing to cooperate with the treatment, there is a possibility of recovery. At the very least, there is hope to further suppress the growth rate of your hair, so that you can live like a normal person."

Now, Liu Er can go out for a walk and get some fresh air right after shaving. For an hour or two, no one will notice anything amiss; any longer and it becomes inconvenient.

Liu Er put down his chopsticks, seemingly somewhat tempted.

"Is it still... Organization X?"

"Yes."

"They analyzed my hair last time, and they think there might still be a possibility of treatment."

“Things are different now than they were then. How about this, I’ll borrow their tools to get some blood for further testing.” Seeing that Liu Er was starting to soften his stance, I pressed on with my persuasion.

Liu Er slowly nodded.

The blood draw wasn't as troublesome as I'd imagined. Liang Yingwu gave me a disposable gadget, and I just pricked Liu Er's right middle finger, and that was it.

However, the test results were not good.

When Liang Yingwu told me, I almost thought I had misheard.

"2.7%? How is that possible?"

"I was also surprised by the result, and I believe the researchers were too, so we did it again."

"The difference in genes between him and normal humans is 2.7%, which is 0.3% more than the previous result? But Liu Er has already lost those strange abilities, so how could he be even more different from normal humans?"

"I'm just telling you the test results. As for why, I don't know. Perhaps there have been some new changes in his body, but it's not visible on the surface."

This bucket of cold water completely extinguished my hope. I sighed deeply and said, "How am I supposed to go back and tell him? I thought there was still hope for a cure."

“It’s not that we’ve completely lost hope,” Liang Yingwu said, tapping his temple with his middle finger. He often thought like this: “If Liu Er is really as you say, it means that the reason for his rapid hair growth—perhaps some kind of hormone—has been suppressed. If this hormone doesn’t suddenly increase again due to some change, it’s not impossible to find a way to further suppress it.”

"Oh?" I immediately perked up.

“This is just an idea,” Liang Yingwu said, trying to defuse the situation. “It’s hard to say whether it will work. The most important thing is that if we don’t figure out the cause of his physical mutation, no matter how hard we try, it will only treat the symptoms, not the root cause.”

Liang Yingwu rubbed his temples vigorously and said, "No, what I said earlier wasn't entirely correct. To be frank, it's very difficult to cure the root cause. If his body doesn't reject it, we can try a high-efficiency hair removal product. But he already has so many more pores than normal people, and with current medicine, there's no way to reverse it. This is a structural change in the human body. The hair that grew from these pores used to have a nervous system, but now it's atrophied. It's hard to say what the consequences will be, including how the hair removal product will react with these atrophied nerves, whether these nerves will reactivate, and there are too many problems. He's not fully cooperating with the experiment, so we can't figure out these problems. And even if we do figure them out by cooperating with the experiment, it's not the same as solving them."

I was a bit confused by what Liang Yingwu said, but I basically understood one thing: it would be very difficult for Liu Er to turn back.

"You said that if he doesn't come to the clinic for a checkup, we won't know the cause. Could you give us a general idea of what the possible causes are?"

"One possibility is a viral infection. A powerful virus that humans have never seen or imagined, capable of altering the human body in a short time. If that's the case, the virus is truly miraculous. But even if we could kill this miraculous virus, we couldn't expect the body to return to its initial state; otherwise, it would be a miracle. However, no such virus was found when testing hair and blood. Another possibility is a mutation within the biological species itself. But mutations generally don't occur within a life cycle; they are predetermined at birth. Moreover, a difference of 0.1% in genes can be called a mutation. The genetic differences in Liu Er's case are difficult to explain by mutation alone."

I became frustrated: "In the end, you've come up with two possible reasons, but you think both are extremely unlikely?"

Liang Yingwu helplessly spread his hands.

"I remember you mentioned genetics last time, doesn't that count as a cause?"

“Hmm, genetics…” Liang Yingwu thought for a moment and said, “Strictly speaking, genetics is not the cause, but just a means. For example, the previous generation was infected with the virus, but it did not manifest, yet it was passed on to the son. Or the mutation may have actually occurred in previous generations.”

“Oh, right,” I suddenly thought of a possibility: “Six Ears must be having his genes tested for the first time, which means that he might have had genetic differences from ordinary people when he was born, and his father or mother might have had them as well.”

“Yes, that’s entirely possible,” Liang Yingwu nodded.

"Sigh," I said, feeling frustrated again. "So what if it's hereditary? Anyway, Six Ears' disease is hard to cure."

“You can’t say that. It’s not that there’s only a glimmer of hope for a cure if we know the cause. Even if there’s no hope of a cure, does that mean it’s not important if we don’t find the cause?” Liang Yingwu looked at me and said, “That’s too much. That’s not like you.”

I was startled. Indeed, I'm not usually such a person without curiosity. How could I have lost even the interest to find out the truth?

Living with Liu Er during this time, the atmosphere at home is very oppressive. I'm so focused on curing Liu Er's illness so he can live a normal life in the sunlight that I can't think about anything else. To me, Liu Er isn't a subject worth studying, but rather a heavy burden.

Now, thanks to Liang Yingwu's reminder, I've come to my senses. Liu Er certainly needs help, but I can't let myself collapse before I can even help him.

“You’re right. Regardless of whether it’s to cure Liu Er, we need to find out the reason for his mutation. Hmm, I’ll start by looking into his parents’ situation.”

Liang Yingwu laughed: "I'm glad you have something to do again. You were really like a headless fly a while ago."

"That's a disgusting adjective," I said, glaring at him.

Liu Er's face was pale.

He had been shaving for several hours, and his face was covered with tiny black spots, but the skin between the spots was unusually white.

After I asked that question, a sickly blush spread across his face. After the blush faded, his face turned even paler.

I think I asked a question I shouldn't have.

"My...parents?"

Whether or not you should ask, once you start, you have to get to the bottom of it.

"Yes, Agency X tested your blood and they believe it's highly likely to be genetic. I know your parents have passed away, and I'm sorry to bring up this topic that might upset you."

Liu Er unconsciously bit his lower lip, something was making him hesitant to decide.

“When I was in college, all my teachers and classmates knew that my parents had died,” Liu Er’s voice was so soft that I could hardly hear it. “For four whole years, no relatives came to visit me at school. I worked hard, doing several jobs to pay for my tuition. No poor student did as much work as I did. They didn’t believe I was from Shanghai.”

“But,” Liu Er, who had been looking down as if talking to himself, suddenly looked up at me and his voice became a little louder, “but they don’t know that my mother is still alive and sends me several thousand yuan every month.”

“Ah…” I was stunned.

"Do you know what she does?" Before I could answer, Six Ears laughed, "Haha, she's a madam now. She used to be a prostitute, now she's a madam. She's a prostitute, a prostitute!"

I didn't know what to say for a moment. No wonder Liu Er told others that his parents were dead and that he didn't want to acknowledge this mother.

"Liu Er, don't talk about your mother like that. She... did it to support you, didn't she?" I found it particularly grating to hear Liu Er say that about her mother.

“Support me? No, she’s naturally… promiscuous.” Liu Er said these two words through gritted teeth, which made my heart skip a beat.

“When I was in kindergarten, a lot of uncles would come to my house. At that time, she worked in a textile factory, which was very profitable. How could she not afford to support me? She thought I didn’t understand or know, but when I started elementary school, I understood what she was doing.”

"Did your father... die young?" I asked tentatively.

Liu Er's face darkened: "I've never seen him. When I was little, I asked my mom, and she said my dad died a long time ago, before I was even born. I asked her what my dad did and how he died, but she never told me. She wouldn't even tell me his name. I took my mom's surname, and whenever I had to fill in my father's name, I would write 'Fu Qin'."

A thought struck me: why wouldn't a mother tell her son even a little bit about her father? Could there be some hidden reason behind this?

“By the time I was in middle school, I had grown increasingly distant from her. I was always reluctant to answer her questions. Starting in high school, I told everyone that my mom and dad were dead. She gave me money, but I thought it was dirty and never wanted to use it.”

“Since then, I’ve never mentioned my mother to anyone. You’re the first, Na Duo.” Liu Er looked at me.

I nodded silently.

"Na Duo, what kind of person do you think I am?" Liu Er suddenly asked me.

"you?"

"Yes, I mean when you first met me."

I smiled and said, "You're a clingy little rascal who sticks to everyone and won't leave. But you're quite likable."

"Hey, you're making me sound like a snotty-nosed little boy." Liu Er chuckled. "Have you ever wondered why someone with my personality hasn't contacted any of my other friends since I moved in with you?"

"I find it strange," I replied honestly. "You should have a lot of friends, and I'm not particularly familiar with you, so why have you been staying here without moving?"

"Of course, we're already incredibly close now." To avoid him misunderstanding, I added.

"So what do you think of my current personality?"

"Your personality these days..." I hesitated, unsure how to put it.

"Just say it, it's okay. I know myself."

“Your personality is a bit strange now, or rather, you’ve become a bit withdrawn. But anyone would have a hard time handling this, and I would have been the same; it would have been a huge blow.”

"It's not just a little withdrawn, it's extremely withdrawn. All my classmates know I'm a very withdrawn person, so I don't have many friends." Liu Er chuckled again. This time it was a bitter laugh.

"But what about when you were in Fujian?" I frowned. Reclusive? You're kidding, he was overly lively back then.

“Over the years, she has given me money every month, and it has accumulated to a considerable sum. When I was in college, I saw a psychologist a few times. I also felt that there was something wrong with my personality and I wanted to change it. The doctor suggested that I change my environment and start over. So I plan to use this money to go abroad, forget all of this, and never come back.”

"restart?"

"Yes, after I made up my mind, I started traveling, hoping to become more sunny and outgoing from that moment on."

"So, you did it that way on purpose?"

"At first it was a bit deliberate, but later I came to like the feeling. I think if I continue like this, I will have many friends and a new life."