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Глава 31

I looked at the dozen or so bodies of the victims, remained silent for a few seconds, and said to He Xi, "Let's go back." That painful history is long past, but no one with Chinese blood can forget it.

Back in the studio, He Xi told me that the other passageway was also blocked. Over the years, this place has experienced several earthquakes, each of which could potentially block these underground spaces.

“Let’s go up then,” I said.

"Wait a minute, I'll show you something." He Xi led me to the bamboo ladder and shone a flashlight on the earthen wall at close range.

There are two lines of characters carved with a sharp tool. Judging from the scratches in the soil that was turned up, they must have been carved in the last few months.

"He looked like a stable boy, and obeyed Liang Shiyan's orders."

"Besides us, there are probably only three other people who know about this: Luo Er, Zhao Ziqiang, and that guy. Who do you think carved it?" "Luo Er died quickly, and this place must have terrified him. That guy is definitely a coward; if I weren't trying to lie to you, I'm sure he wouldn't have dared to come down into the cellar. That leaves only Zhao Ziqiang. But does he write in traditional characters?" He Xi shook her head: "That's what I find strange too. Father taught us simplified Chinese characters, but these two sentences are written in traditional characters. The other two are even less likely to write in traditional characters, unless a fourth person came down here." "I have a very familiar feeling." "Familiar? Do you know what this is about?" This is clearly a mystery. I remember Virus Knight is someone who really likes this kind of game.

Almost all highly intelligent criminals, or those who consider themselves highly intelligent, enjoy this kind of game. They either commit crimes according to some mysterious rules or simply use riddles to hint at their goals or purposes. It's a provocation, even a form of contempt; they believe that even if they do this, the police can't catch them, which gives them a stronger sense of criminal pleasure. Of course, many self-proclaimed clever criminals are caught this way, but a few leave behind riddles that are never solved, or even if solved, many years later, by which time things have changed. This becomes a legend, an object of aspiration for some.

Virus Knight is such a person.

Now I'm starting to believe that he must have left behind similar riddles before launching the terrorist attack on Shanghai, and if they could be discovered and solved in time, this disaster could be averted.

But before that, I need to figure out what it means to be "like a stable boy, obeying orders under Liang Shiyan".

After having some water at Luo Er's house, we flagged down a passing small truck in front of Qian Gou Village. We gave the driver fifty yuan, and he happily agreed to take us back to Shiren City. We ate a simple meal in Shiren City and then took a long-distance bus back to Harbin.

We bought plane tickets to return to Shanghai at 9 a.m. the next day, and stayed overnight in Harbin—in two rooms, of course.

As for that bastard who ran away, we don't have time to deal with him for now.

We've been trying to figure out the meaning of those two sentences, but we just can't get it. This riddle is clearly much harder than the first crossword puzzle.

Should these two sentences be read separately or together?

Does it make sense to interpret this as a person who looks like a monkey working under someone named Liang Shiyan?

When I led He Xi into the house, my face felt a little hot. A single man's home is usually far from tidy. But He Xi had two large suitcases at home, and she always had to come and get them.

"Are you still staying at the Ruijin Hotel?" I asked.

"Mmm," she replied casually, glancing around as a slight smile crept onto her lips.

“Well, this is my study. I want to look up Liang Shiyan online; maybe I'll find something useful.” He said this partly to help me out of my predicament, but after opening the computer and searching on Google, we were both overjoyed.

The first search result is from "The Book of Sui, Biographies, Volume 5: Liang Shiyan's son, Liang Mo".

Liang Shiyan, courtesy name Xiangru, was a native of Wushi, Anding. In his youth, he was chivalrous and refused to serve in any local government or prefecture. He was resolute and upright, and enjoyed judging right and wrong. He loved reading military books and was also well-versed in classics and history. During the Zhou dynasty, he was appointed Grand Master of the Three Departments for his military achievements.

The key is in the first sentence: this general named Liang Shiyan had the courtesy name Xiangru.

The phrase "under Liang Shiyan's command" is somewhat strange from a grammatical perspective, as "under Liang Shiyan's command" sounds more natural. Why the Virus Knight abandoned "command" and used "command" is a question we've considered before.

Now I understand that in the rules of riddles, words related to the answer should be avoided.

The phrase "under Liang Shiyan's command" can be interpreted in two ways. One is "obeying orders," meaning serving under General Liang. The other is "Liang Shiyan is under Liang's command," omitting the word "at," but with the opposite meaning. Using the latter interpretation, "command" becomes "order," and "Liang Shiyan" becomes "Liang Xiangru," resulting in "ordering Xiangru." The word "order" is a homophone for "Lin," so the answer to this riddle is Lin Xiangru, the famous figure from the Warring States period known for "Returning the Jade Intact to Zhao."

So, "looking like a stable boy" is also a riddle.

He Xi and I exchanged a smile.

The phrase "like a stable boy" is difficult to guess on its own, but once you guess Lin Xiangru, the answer to the previous riddle becomes obvious.

"Looking like Bi Ma Wen" means resembling Bi Ma Wen, or in classical Chinese, "like Bi Ma Wen" or "Xiang Ru Bi Ma Wen". We've already mentioned Lin Xiangru; anyone with a little historical knowledge will recall another famous minister in ancient China named Xiangru—the great writer of the Western Han Dynasty, Sima Xiangru, whose elopement with the beautiful Zhuo Wenjun became a legendary tale.

The term "弼马温" here doesn't refer to the Monkey King, Sun Wukong, but rather to Sima (司马). Therefore, the answer to this riddle is Sima Xiangru (司马相如).

The phrase "like a stable boy, obeying orders under Liang Shiyan" means "Sima Xiangru and Lin Xiangru".

But what do these two people represent?

Could this be a double riddle, with "Sima Xiangru, Lin Xiangru" being the real riddle?

He Xi and I read it over and over again, racking our brains.

"Sima Xiangru and Lin Xiangru, though named Xiangru, are not like each other in reality." This is a famous couplet, and I couldn't help but recite it aloud. I know there's a matching line: "Wei Wuji and Changsun Wuji, others are without scruples, and so am I."

"Sima Xiangru and Lin Xiangru, though named Xiangru, were not like each other in reality." He Xi repeated it as well, then looked at me thoughtfully.

“I feel the key is in this sentence,” she said, frowning.

I suddenly shouted and stood up.

He Xi was startled by me: "What's wrong with you? Did you think of that?" I felt as if a witch's withered hand was gently stroking my whole body, and every hair on my body trembled!

"Sima Xiangru and Lin Xiangru, their names are similar but their realities are not...it's just that their names are similar but their realities are not! Zhao Ziqiang, that's not Zhao Ziqiang!" What do you mean by not Zhao Ziqiang? "During this time we've been together, we've been talking about Xinjingyuan and Fan's disease, and then there's the Virus Knight."

"You probably can't imagine, but I've experienced many very strange events over the years." "I gleaned some information from when Guo Dong and Zhen Daren were talking to you, and I'm also very curious about these things. But are you bringing these up now because of Zhao Ziqiang?" Having witnessed so many incredible things in this world, what Zhen Daren said last time might actually be true.

“Master Zhen?” He Xi frowned, seemingly unable to recall what interesting things Master Zhen had said.

“He once wondered if the Tai Sui might have thoughts. Although, based on human understanding of living things, something without brain-like structures shouldn't have thoughts or intelligence, it wouldn't necessarily surprise me too much if the Tai Sui could really think. Especially,” I paused… and said, “especially a Tai Sui that was originally a human brain transformed!”

"Ah!" He Xi exclaimed, covering her mouth in surprise.

“I think that Tai Sui wasn’t taken away by Zhao Ziqiang. It must have established some kind of connection with Zhao Ziqiang, or rather, it’s attached to Zhao Ziqiang and has become one with him.” “How could it become one? Could it seep into Zhao Ziqiang’s skull and replace his original brain?” “But what if it’s like a leech, sucking onto a person’s body?” “Uh…” He Xi showed a disgusted expression.

"Of course, it might not be like that, since I didn't see it. I guess the original owner of that brain was a schoolteacher before he was imprisoned by the Japanese army. He wasn't very well-educated, but he was considered cultured in those days."

This explains why the words he wrote on the earthen wall were in traditional Chinese characters. "But..." He Xi shook her head blankly, unable to accept such an exaggerated assumption for the time being.

“I’ve figured a lot of things out. Hmm, judging from Zhao Ziqiang’s later behavior, he hasn’t lost his original memories. So, he now has two brains, two personalities.” I grabbed a pen and paper from my desk, quickly wrote a sentence, and said to He Xi, “Do you remember this?”

"The experiment is complete, and the King's Revenge is about to begin? Isn't this the answer to the Virus Knight crossword puzzle?"

"That's right. At the time, Guo Dong and I both believed that the key to cracking the code lay in the word 'King'."

The King represents the Virus Knight; deciphering his identity reveals his motives for seeking revenge. It seems our initial idea was correct, but there was a small error in solving the crossword puzzle.

"An error? What's wrong?"

I used a pen to cross out the character "王" (Wang) and replaced it with another character.

Death!

"It's the revenge of the dead. We all thought it was undoubtedly the king returning as a king, but it's actually the dead. Of course, we wouldn't think of that word. How could someone who's already dead come back to take revenge?"

But he's really back now.

He Xi was stunned. She stared blankly at the words "revenge of the dead" and said, "This, this is too..." She couldn't finish her sentence. She couldn't accept such a bizarre thing, but all the clues matched my deductions so well.

"In that case, revenge becomes perfectly logical. If someone who was harmed like this by Unit 731 wants revenge, who should he target?"

"Japanese."

“Yes, it was Japanese.” I nodded. “Do you know the identity of the first victim in Xinjingyuan?”

He Xi shook her head. She hadn't cared about these things, but I was a reporter, and my interviews included this.

"That old man was Japanese, or more precisely, a veteran who participated in the Japanese invasion of China."

His son was involved in Sino-Japanese trade, married a Chinese woman, and the whole family moved to Shanghai. His son's family lived in the apartment complex directly opposite Xinjingyuan. However, unlike Higashi Shiro, the old man, although living in China, never publicly expressed remorse for his past actions. You see, even the Virus Knight's experiments started with such a Japanese veteran.

"Kou Ding chose Shanghai as the place for his revenge. Even if his revenge starts with the Japanese, it is inevitable that far more Chinese people will be killed by him than Japanese people. Doesn't he consider this?" He Xi raised her question.

“I’ve thought about this. I don’t know if my answer is correct, but if you think about it from his perspective,” I looked at He Xi and explained further, “I mean, suppose you were that Tai Sui that turned into a brain, what else would this person who has been underground for more than ten years feel besides wanting revenge against the Japanese?”

“In that kind of place…” He Xi closed her eyes and actually imagined it as I said, her face slowly turning deathly pale.

Just as I was feeling sorry for her and wanted to tell her to stop so I could tell her my thoughts, He Xi opened her eyes.

"I think there's also loneliness."

"Yes, it's loneliness. To be alone in the dark for over sixty years, without any interaction with other creatures, is a loneliness that no living being can endure. Even if... even if all the Tai Sui can think, even if this human brain Tai Sui in that basement could communicate with a dozen or so other Tai Sui in some way we can't imagine, after such a long time, they would still feel lonely."

"You mean, he not only wants revenge, but also wants his own kind?"

"Yes, why did Zhao Ziqiang also take away those virus variants that are extremely prone to producing Tai Sui? What kind of experiment is he going to conduct at Xinjingyuan? He wants to create a virus that can spread efficiently and transform all infected people into Tai Sui. With people from all over the world to accompany him, he will certainly no longer be alone."

"This is insane, it sounds absolutely insane. Your reasoning has a major flaw. If Zhao Ziqiang became the Virus Knight and conducted experiments at Xinjingyuan because he merged with the Human-Biting Tai Sui, don't forget that he, my brother, Rembrandt, and possibly our father's mysterious research on the Fan's Virus didn't begin in the last few months. Several years before Zhao Ziqiang came to Qiangou Village, they began cooperating with the Dagger Organization, starting that plan with unknown purposes. And the Tai Sui in Xinjingyuan was discovered by Rembrandt, meaning Rembrandt knew quite a bit about Tai Sui. Rembrandt wasn't possessed, so why was he interested in Tai Sui? How do you explain all this?"

My brain is unusually active right now. I hadn't thought of the loophole before He Xi pointed it out, but by the time she finished asking, I already had my own answer.

"This isn't necessarily a contradiction. Why can't Rembrandt's plan be related to Tai Sui, since Zhao Ziqiang was possessed by it? You might call it a coincidence, but coincidences happen all the time. What was Rembrandt pursuing? Fan Zhe said, immortality! Have you ever thought about the relationship between immortality and Tai Sui? If Tai Sui has consciousness, where does that consciousness come from? Could it be inherited from its original host? You know… oh no, you're a medical student, you must know that whether a person's thoughts and spirit are entirely derived from the brain is still controversial. There are still many topics to study regarding the relationship between the mind and the body. If an organism's internal organs become Tai Sui, yet still retain the organism's original consciousness—at least a Tai Sui transformed from the brain achieves this—couldn't that be considered immortality? The dead have returned; only through death can one attain immortality!" You mean, this group of people, who have been researching viruses and Tai Sui, had one person occasionally merge with Tai Sui, thus further advancing their research? "Yes. There are definitely some tricks we don't understand yet, but that's the general direction. And Rembrandt and his group probably don't know about Zhao Ziqiang's changes, nor about the Virus Knight. In short, they wouldn't make such a hasty decision to let the Fanzhe virus spread globally." "Were they used by Zhao Ziqiang?" I nodded. "Don't you think Rembrandt was completely unaware of some of the things his collaborators did?" "What do you mean?" "For example, that afternoon, his shocked expression when I told him that someone had deliberately poked a hole in Fanzhe's disposable medical gloves showed that he knew nothing about it." "What?" He Xi stared intently at me. "You're saying Zhao Ziqiang did it? He killed my brother?"

"He's the prime suspect. Possessed by such a powerful being, even if his original brain still functions and he retains his original consciousness, the evil side of his personality will definitely be unleashed. Given his upbringing and personality, he must have suppressed too many things inside; his personality is definitely twisted. Now, with this outburst of negative emotions, he's capable of anything!" But her brother was such a good person; how could he have offended him? He Xi clenched her fists, her knuckles turning white, her eyes gradually reddening. "Could it be…?"

"What, have you figured out why he hurt your brother?" I asked her hastily.

"The way he looks at me is always a bit..." "You mean Zhao Ziqiang likes you?" "Probably. But because I hate him, I always treat him badly when I see him."

"That's it. He's been driven by revenge. Not only does Tai Sui want revenge, but Zhao Ziqiang does too. Things he was too ashamed to even think about or do before, he now has the guts to do. I bet he wants you right now, but before that, he'll kill the person you love most!"

“If that’s really the case, I swear I’ll send him to hell,” He Xi said, her eyes red.

"Trust me, we can definitely catch him. We're getting closer and closer to him now."

“However, if he was in such a crazy state that he killed my brother because of me, he has been in Shanghai all this time, and so have I. Why has he never appeared in front of me? Especially during this period…” He Xi looked at me and said, “We have been very close during this period…” For a moment, I felt a sense of happiness. It was a little embarrassing to say, but the way He Xi looked at me just now did make me slightly dizzy.

Quickly get yourself out of this mood; now is not the time for romance.

"Thinking about it this way, it is indeed strange. Zhao Ziqiang must have known that you came to Shanghai. He should often be hiding in the dark to observe you. If he likes you so much that he is crazy and wants to get you..." Suddenly, I thought of an extremely terrifying possibility, and my eyes changed immediately when I looked at He Xi.

"What's wrong? You look so pale," He Xi asked me.

"What number were we attacked on?"

"It seems to be November 21st. You mean, Zhao Ziqiang attacked us?" I meant, "I swallowed hard to clear my throat, the day Zhao Ziqiang finished his experiment was also this day." He Xi's expression changed as well. Clever as she was, she vaguely guessed what I was going to say.

"He wouldn't have just launched a simple attack. At that time, I had only known you, Gang IJ, for a short time. He wasn't specifically targeting me. As for you, although you said you felt fine, but... but..." There are many ways to get a woman. But for Zhao Ziqiang, he had one more way than everyone else. For someone possessed by the Tai Sui, the first thing to do to get another person is, of course, to turn that person into one of their own kind.

So lonely, he wanted to turn everyone in the world into his kind. Wouldn't the first thing such a person do? Turn his favorite person into a celestial being.

Zhao Ziqiang, who was already researching the Fan's virus and the Tai Sui (a mythical creature believed to possess the spirit of the Tai Sui), was possessed by the Tai Sui and obtained experimental records from Unit 731. He also possessed Cheng Gen's internal organ samples, obtained at the cost of Fan Zhe's life. These combined were enough to allow his research to make a breakthrough. After extensive human trials at Xin Jingyuan, Zhao Ziqiang used Shanghai's most advanced biological laboratory for seven full days—enough time to create the variant he desired!

Yes, there might be more than one such variant. It could certainly create a highly contagious virus, but not everyone infected with it will necessarily become a Tai Sui. So, could there be another virus that isn't contagious, but which, after being injected into the human body, will inevitably produce a Tai Sui within a certain period of time?

Otherwise, what could explain what suddenly appeared in He Xi's body? It's only a small amount of liquid was injected, so it's natural that she wouldn't feel anything unusual after waking up.

On November 20th… As soon as Zhao Ziqiang finished his experiment, he immediately injected He Xi with the virus. He couldn't wait even one more day, which perfectly matched his emotional reaction. He probably hired a thug to lure us into a dark alley and take action. Then the virus took root and sprouted in He Xi's body. Compared to the rapidly expanding internal organs of a typical Fan syndrome patient, it grew slowly but steadily. This slowness was relative; in fact, in terms of time, it was more than twice as fast as a normal fetus.

"Then..." He Xi's voice trembled slightly, "My uterus has become a Tai Sui?"

No, it should be said that the thing inside the uterus is the Tai Sui. But why isn't this Tai Sui like all other Tai Sui, which are internal organs?

Why inside the uterus, and not the uterus itself? This is indeed different from all other cases.

Could it be...

"Can you calculate whether that day was your ovulation period?" He Xi felt a little uncomfortable discussing such a topic with a man, but she still nodded.

"Generally speaking, without sperm and egg, a creature cannot exist as a true life on its own, but this usually only applies to humans. In some creatures in nature, at least I know of some fish, a single female fish can reproduce even without a male. The key is genes." My meaning is quite clear. Genes are the blueprint of life; altering genes can create all sorts of strange and wonderful organisms. Genes can turn internal organs into independent life forms, and can allow unfertilized eggs to develop into life. If a gene-modifying virus happens to be working, why can't it allow an egg to develop into a life form?