Любовь, пожалуйста, не расцветай

Глава 25

"He was an honest man who never knew how to tell a perfect lie. He wanted to take all the blame until his death, but he never expected that there would be such a big loophole in his words."

“Looking back, I didn’t know the situation at the time. When I asked him about you and told him that you showed the photos to Cheng Weiping, he started to get nervous. When I lied to him by mistake and said that the police had also noticed Fan Zhe, he must have thought that some secrets were about to be exposed, that Fan Zhe’s exposure would implicate him as well, and that if he didn’t die, he would eventually expose even more things.”

I paused, glanced at He Xi, and said, "But he lied about his motives; his actions were definitely true. Many patients with Fanyi syndrome don't contract the disease naturally, so why would they do this? If it wasn't for money..."

I hesitated, unsure whether to continue.

"What do you want to say?" He Xi asked coldly.

I forced myself to voice my thoughts: "Every time they send out the virus, they make a very strange request to the buyer: detailed information about the infected person. Now that we've ruled out money, this unusual request reveals their true intentions."

He Xi listened attentively to my analysis.

“Rembrandt also offered an explanation for this, saying it was because Van Zhe hoped to find a cure for Van Zhe’s disease. But… I don’t think that’s the truth.” Now my mind is much clearer, and Rembrandt’s words echo in my mind, revealing the flaws one by one.

“Why not? He didn’t necessarily lie about everything.” He Xi retorted without hesitation.

“Don’t let your emotions become a fog that blinds you, He Xi. I don’t believe someone as intelligent as you can’t see the key points,” I said, staring at her. At that moment, I thought I had found my place. To be held back by emotions in front of a woman? That’s not what I like.

Two sickly blushes suddenly rose on He Xi's pale cheeks, then slowly faded away.

"Why did Rembrandt choose death? Because the cost of his death was less than the secrets that might be exposed. Would his research results, obtained by him and Van Zhe through human experiments to discover Van Zhe's disease, be buried forever?"

After the blush faded, He Xi's face turned even paler. She said with difficulty, "You're right, they have ulterior motives."

"I've thought of two possibilities as to why Rembrandt committed suicide."

"Really? I can only think of one."

"The first possibility is that they are doing something shady, and it's still going on. To achieve their ultimate goal, he chose to sacrifice himself to ensure the continuation of the entire plan. This is, at least in the eyes of ordinary people, sinful. To be more specific, they are researching the Fanovirus, but their purpose is definitely not to save lives!"

"What are you trying to say? Virus Knight? Terrorist attack?" He Xi asked me angrily.

"As things stand now, no rational person can ignore the possible connection between the two!"

He Xi and I stared at each other, her anger gradually turning into dejection.

"Yes, I've actually thought of all that you're talking about," she finally said, looking away.

"I also hope that what Rembrandt and Van Zer did has nothing to do with Virus Knight, because that would be terrible. But to say that they want to achieve immortality by studying the Van Zer virus is ridiculous, or that they believe that people who die with their bodies exploding can go to heaven?"

“That’s enough,” He Xi interrupted me. “Tell me your other guess.”

"Is there another possibility you haven't considered? That is, if Rembrandt hadn't died, he would have implicated another person, and out of some kind of emotion, he would rather die than let the police find that person."

He Xi sneered and retorted, "So you're talking about me? You think I'm the person he'd protect even at the cost of his life? That I did all of this?"

I was stunned for a moment. At that moment, I suddenly remembered Zhen Daren's ridiculous speculation about He Xi. It couldn't be like that. I banished the thought from my mind.

It seems He Xi was aware of Rembrandt's feelings for her. Rembrandt thought he was hiding them well, but in He Xi's eyes, it was already obvious; she just hadn't said it. Since he wasn't going to accept them, there was no need to make it clear.

She actually remembered herself but not that person, which shows how important he was to her, and we can infer Rembrandt's feelings from this.

"Of course I wasn't talking about you."

He Xi was also stunned. When I said that, she naturally thought of that person.

“I was referring to Mr. Van Heller,” I said.

"This is absurd," He Xi said in a low voice.

“Whether it’s absurd or not, I think the police will conduct some kind of investigation into him.” He Xi shook her head and remained silent.

"Anyway, regardless of the various possibilities, there must be others besides Rembrandt and Verzette." This is an unpleasant topic, and making various assumptions without further evidence will only worsen He Xi's mood. So I'm not going to say anything more.

"Would you like something else to eat? I'll go out and buy it for you."

"No need," He Xi shook her head.

"But you only ate this little bit."

"It's okay, I've never had a big appetite."

"Really? I thought you'd be eating more lately." A little devil kept nagging at me, and I finally managed to ask that question.

"Why?" He Xi asked, puzzled.

The room was well-heated, and He Xi was only wearing a thin sweater. I glanced at her lower abdomen and couldn't see anything unusual. Of course not, it's only been a few weeks.

"Um, what are you planning to do about it? Remove it?" I asked casually, but I was so nervous that even the hairs on my neck were trembling.

He Xi followed my gaze downwards, then suddenly looked up.

"How did you know?" she asked.

"Actually, when you went to Ruijin Hospital, that nurse, Du Qin, saw you. She called me, of course, about something else, but she casually mentioned seeing you. I thought you were doing some investigation behind my back again, so I checked through an acquaintance and found out you were pregnant." I felt like a prisoner awaiting trial. Just moments ago I was telling myself not to be so insecure in front of a woman, but in the blink of an eye, that composure vanished.

"What?!" He Xi exclaimed.

She must be angry that I had secretly accessed her medical records. I stammered, "You know, your behavior during that time was very strange to me, so..."

"You think I'm pregnant?" He Xi interrupted me and asked.

I stammered, "Uh, uh, isn't that right?"

"Of course not." He Xi looked at me hesitantly, then a slight smile appeared on her face. "You don't actually think you got me pregnant, do you?"

I'm sure my face was as red as a boiled shrimp! Oh my god! I've never been so embarrassed before, telling a woman I've fallen for that she's pregnant with my child, when nothing actually happened!

"You think we had sex after we got drunk that day?" He Xi continued her relentless questioning, which I found hard to resist.

"But the doctors at Ruijin Hospital said, said..."

He Xi suppressed her smile and said, "That's right, the doctor thought I was pregnant."

"What happened?"

"I know my own affairs. I have never had a relationship with any man." As He Xi said this, a slight fear appeared in her eyes. I had never seen her afraid of anything before.

"I don't know what it is. It's not a tumor, and it's definitely not a fetus."

What is that?

"I plan to have further examinations after I return to Switzerland. Actually, I have been eating more lately than before, but maybe it's just my imagination, or maybe there's something in my body."

I stared blankly at He Xi's abdomen and gasped.

A fetus that mysteriously grows inside the body?

Is it a fetus, or a demon?

He Xi forced a smile and said, "It's okay, at worst I can just have it surgically removed. Ah, no wonder I sometimes felt your attitude towards me was a bit strange."

As I looked at her, and suddenly mustered the courage to say something, my phone rang.

I checked the caller ID and it was an unfamiliar landline number.

"Hello?"

"Is that much? I'm Guo Dong. I'm currently investigating the Rembrandt suicide case. I found something in his office that's quite strange. You're very knowledgeable, could you come to Xinjingyuan and see what it is?"

"Something strange? Okay, I'm coming right now." I then realized that this was the dedicated phone number for Xinjingyuan.

“We found something in Rembrandt’s office. Let’s go.” I said to He Xi.

Even though it was late at night, the temporary medical center was still brightly lit.

Guo Dong was waiting for me at the entrance of the center. When he saw He Xi, he was taken aback.

"Trust my judgment, she'll be fine," I whispered to Guo Dong.

Guo Dong frowned slightly, but still nodded.

"The items are still in Rembrandt's office. Let's go in and take a look."

We followed Guo Dong toward that office.

"It was found in Rembrandt's large trunk," Guo Dong said, pushing open the door.

There were two other policemen inside. One was Zhen Daren, whom I had met that afternoon, and the other was someone I was meeting for the first time. He looked sharp and capable, and was definitely from the Special Affairs Department.

"Hey, big brother, you're here." Zhen Daren's loud voice rang out. "I've never seen this thing before. It's weird, really weird, huh?" He saw He Xi next to me and could probably still make out her face even through the hood. His small eyes lit up, and he actually forgot to continue speaking.

The two open boxes were placed on the ground. He Xi and I ignored this clown and walked over, squatted down, and began to examine them.

This is a square metal box with a white paint finish on the surface and a beautiful silver-white interior. The box is lined with a black cloth, on which is placed the "strange" thing that Zhen Da mentioned.

I only glanced at it, and my stomach started churning.

"The internal organs of a dead person?" I asked, frowning.

No.

Actually, I knew something was wrong the moment I asked, even without Guo Dong's answer. The contents of the two boxes, one dark red and the other brown, both resembling lumps of flesh, initially looked like internal organs, but the one in front of me was nearly thirty centimeters long and wide. Even if it were internal organs, it belonged to a large creature, while the one in He Xi's box was much smaller, about the size of two fists. Both items had rough surfaces, and upon closer inspection, their texture and internal organs were different. It was just that I had witnessed scenes of blood and flesh flying and internal organs splattering in this Xin Jing Yuan, and the memory was too vivid, which is why I blurted out the question.

“You can touch it and see,” Guo Dong said.

Through the gloves, it felt a bit harder than I expected, not much softer than a car tire.

"It does look a bit like internal organs, that's what we thought at first glance, but upon closer inspection we know it's not," said the detective I didn't recognize.

"What, brother, you don't recognize him either?" Da Ren came to his senses and leaned over to ask.

"It feels like a living thing, or part of a living thing." I touched the slightly undulating surface of the hard, fleshy ball and felt that it didn't seem like a man-made object.

"Tai Sui".

I turned my head, and everyone's eyes immediately focused on He Xi.

She picked up another unidentified object, examined it repeatedly, then put it back in the box, looked up at us, and repeated: "This is a Tai Sui!"

"Tai Sui?" The people in the room expressed their surprise in different tones.

"Is this the Tai Sui mentioned in the Classic of Mountains and Seas?" Da Ren quickly took small steps and squatted down to He Xi to ask.

"To be precise, the Classic of Mountains and Seas calls this Rouyuan. It also has several other names such as Shirou and Jurou. The most popular name in Chinese folklore is Tai Sui."

"I remember there was a legend that this kind of thing could be eaten as meat, and that it would grow back on its own after you ate it, and that it was very tender."

I didn't expect that this expert would be so knowledgeable about all sorts of strange legends.

He Xi glanced at Zhen Daren and said, "What, you want to eat this?"

Zhen Daren shook his head vigorously: "Of course not, of course not!"

"Does something like Tai Sui really exist?" Guo Dong asked.

He Xi nodded: "Actually, it's not just ancient mythological books like the Classic of Mountains and Seas and the Guangyi Ji that mention this kind of thing; even the Compendium of Materia Medica has records of it. Nowadays, people still occasionally dig up similar things. Tai Sui is a real creature."