Chapter 69

The control room door closed silently, separating Secretary Li from the space filled with soft music, sunlight, and the sounds of paint being applied. The room was dimly lit, with only a few monitors of varying sizes emitting a cold white light. The main screen faced the workbench, and under the high-definition lens, the original owner's slightly furrowed brows, trembling eyelashes, and the oil pastel color on her fingertips were clearly visible. Several split screens beside it displayed other angles of the room and the entrance.

Secretary Li sat down at the control panel, put on his headset, and connected to the encrypted line.

"Mr. Qi, the first attempt has been underway for twenty-five minutes. Ms. Shi's condition has stabilized initially, and she is using oil pastels for non-thematic painting. The colors currently being used are: red, blue, gray, and a small amount of black. The brushstrokes are light and slow, with occasional pauses. Therapist Wang is providing minimal verbal guidance and support. Assistant Su is processing materials and has not shown any unusual behavior."

Qi Jin's calm, unwavering voice came through the earphones: "Okay. Continue."

"yes."

---

(The president's office of the Qi Group on the other side of the city)

Qi Jin wasn't sitting behind the large desk. She stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, with the bustling city skyline as her backdrop. In front of her stood a movable stand, on which rested a slim but highly secure laptop. The screen was divided into several viewpoints, displaying the real-time monitoring of "Cloud Peak Studio."

Her left hand remained habitually tucked into her suit trouser pocket, clutching the two cold tokens. The injury on her right shoulder throbbed faintly from standing for so long, but she seemed oblivious.

On the screen, the original owner of Shi Ye was picking up a gray oil pastel and smearing paint along the edges of the chaotic blue and red blocks. Her movements were slow, with a blank, mechanical quality. Sunlight streamed through the special glass, casting a soft halo on her pale profile, making her appear fragile and unreal.

Qi Jin's gaze was as sharp as a hawk's, not missing a single detail. Shi Ye's eyes, the slight trembling of her fingers, the frequency of her breathing, even the fleeting dependence and avoidance she showed each time she looked at Teacher Wang or Su Xiao.

She is evaluating.

Assess whether the response to this "timely visit" is natural, whether there are any signs of performance, and whether there are any potential destabilizing factors that could threaten oneself or others.

But as she looked, her gaze was involuntarily drawn to the gradually expanding, chaotic blue-gray area in Shi Ye's writing. That color... inexplicably reminded her of the hue of her usual special ink—cold, serene, and carrying an aloofness that kept people at a distance.

Shi Ye seems to have a particular fondness for blue and gray. She covered part of the red with blue and then used gray to harmonize the edges, gradually making the image somber, even somewhat...depressing. It almost blended into the light gray loungewear she was wearing.

Teacher Wang's gentle voice came through the audio: "Ms. Shi, is there any color that you feel particularly comfortable with, or that you particularly want to avoid?"

The original owner stopped moving, staring at the blue-gray on the drawing paper for a long time before shaking her head very slightly, her voice weak: "I don't know... I just feel... these should be used."

"There's no right or wrong, just follow your instincts," Teacher Wang encouraged.

Shi Ye seemed stumped by those words. Her hand, holding the gray oil pastel, hovered in mid-air, unable to fall. A look of almost painful emptiness appeared on her face, and her lips moved slightly, silently reciting something.

Qi Jin leaned forward, zooming in on the split-screen image and focusing on the shape of her lips.

It vaguely resembles... "Mom"?

Or... something else?

Just then, Su Xiao, who had been quietly arranging colored paper, seemed to accidentally knock over a small wicker basket containing pebbles and dried flower branches. Several round white pebbles and a few pieces of dry branches rolled onto the carpet at Shi Ye's feet.

"Oh dear, I'm sorry." Su Xiao quickly squatted down to pick it up.

The original owner's attention was drawn to the white stones, and she paused for a moment. Suddenly, she put down her oil pastels, squatted down, carefully picked up a stone, placed it in her palm, and gently stroked its smooth, cool surface with her fingertips.

"You like stones?" Su Xiao looked up and asked with a smile, her tone natural and casual. "When I was a child, I also loved to collect all kinds of stones. I felt like they had their own stories."

Shi Ye didn't speak, but focused intently on the stone in her palm, then picked up a thin, brown twig that had lost all its leaves. She placed the twig and the stone side by side next to the drawing paper covered in bluish-gray patches.

One desolate, the other cold and hard, placed juxtaposed amidst a chaotic array of colors.

This unconscious combination conveys a strong, silent sense of loneliness.

In the control room, Secretary Li routinely reported: "Miss Shi's attention has shifted to natural materials, and she is observing and touching them."

Qi Jin, in his office, stared at the juxtaposed images, his pupils contracting almost imperceptibly.

She recalled a long time ago, before she began her five-year-long, silent observation. One late autumn evening after a rain, she happened to pass by a secluded corner of the city park and saw Shi Ye, still bearing the innocence of a young girl, squatting beside a wet bench, carefully placing a few pebbles, washed exceptionally clean by the rain, next to a stray cat curled up asleep. Beside her, a small piece of osmanthus branch, knocked down by the wind and rain, lay scattered.

At that moment, Shi Ye's profile was serene, and her eyes held a pure tenderness that she rarely saw again later. Sunlight filtered through the clouds, illuminating the water droplets on her fingertips and those few insignificant pebbles.

That scene was like a thorn that had taken root, piercing her heart and never being pulled out.

And now...

On the screen, Shi Ye, with equally pale fingertips, fiddled with stones and withered branches, but her eyes were filled with only empty blankness, as if that rainy dusk, those small moments of tenderness, had never existed in her life.

Qi Jin's left hand, which was in his pocket, clenched tightly. The hard edges of the necklace dug deep into his palm, bringing a sharp pain, which barely suppressed the sudden surge of suffocation in his chest, a mixture of stinging pain, doubt, and some deeper emotion.

Is it forgetting?

Is it a disguise?

Or... did the trauma really erase everything?

She couldn't tell.

"President Qi?" Secretary Li's slightly questioning voice came through the earpiece, probably noticing the unusual silence on her end.

“…Continue to observe.” Qi Jin’s voice was lower and hoarser than usual, but still steady. “Pay attention to all of Su Xiao’s actions, including the most subtle changes in his expression.”

"yes."

In the surveillance footage, Su Xiao had already packed up the wicker basket and sat back down in her seat, as if it were just a minor incident. She watched Shi Ye fiddling with the stones and withered branches and softly suggested, "If Miss Shi likes it, we can bring some different natural materials next time, such as seashells or feathers, and you can combine them as you like."

Shi Ye raised her head and glanced at Su Xiao, a faint, almost grateful glimmer in her eyes. She nodded gently, holding the white stone in her palm, and didn't put it back.

Teacher Wang guided the discussion at the right time: "How does it feel to hold the stone? Is it cold? Is it heavy?"

Shi Ye felt it for a moment and said softly, "Cool... but it gets a little warm after holding it for a while. It's not heavy."

“Then we can try to capture this feeling, or the shape and color of the stone, on paper in a way you like, or you can just hold it and draw something else on it,” Teacher Wang offered, providing open options.

Shi Ye hesitated for a moment, holding the stone in her left hand and picking up a white oil pastel again with her right. She lightly touched the edge of the previous bluish-gray area, making dots that resembled stars or the stone itself. Her movements were still clumsy, but more purposeful than before.

Qi Jin's gaze followed the white brushstroke closely. The white dot on the blue-gray background was striking, but it did not break the somber mood; instead, it added to the solitude.

She looked at Shi Ye's lowered, focused profile, at her unconsciously slightly pursed lips, and at her left hand holding the stone—her wrist was slender, and the pale blue veins under her skin were faintly visible.

This hand, in the final moments before the explosion, forcefully and resolutely stuffed the necklace and jade clasp into her pocket.

It felt icy to the touch, yet also scalding hot as if it were a death knell.

Qi Jin closed his eyes.

When I opened my eyes again, beneath the frozen lake, it seemed as if a dark current was beginning to surge uneasily.

Suspicion, scrutiny, and vigilance remain ever-present.

But it seems... there's something extra.

A subtle crack, one that even she herself was unwilling to delve into, was quietly growing from the deepest part of the ice.

The light from the monitor screen flickered on her face.

She watched Shi Ye, who was blankly scribbling under the surveillance camera, clutching a stone and seeking solace.

They also watched Su Xiao, who seemed professional and harmless, yet always appeared by "coincidence."

This game of chess was more unsettling than she had anticipated.

The first act will be broadcast live.

Ms. Qi Jin, the audience member, seemed... not entirely unmoved.