Chapter 116

“But I have no recollection of it at all,” Pei Yuheng murmured.

“Of course.” Zhou Chaosheng looked up, where there was only a closed ceiling, but he seemed to be looking at something through the alloy wall, with a hint of irony. “After all, games have to be fair and just, how can you cheat?”

Bang!

His light and casual tone seemed to have offended something, and Fu Zong, who was tied to the chair, suddenly trembled violently, making a rattling sound with the metal chair he was bound to.

Xie Xubai and the others quickly turned around and saw Fu Zong staring at them with wide eyes, as if he were looking at his father's killer.

Those grayish-white eyeballs swelled and became bloodshot, bulging outwards under the influence of an unknown force, so red they seemed about to fall out of their sockets.

The three people who witnessed and were familiar with the pollution process knew that this was a sign of worsening alienation!

Zhou Chaosheng cursed under his breath and reached for the tranquilizer, but someone was faster than him—Xie Xubai!

Almost the instant the noise occurred, the young man scrambled to his feet, exhausted, and strode to Fu Zong's side with lightning speed. His gaze swept over Fu Zong's savage, scarlet eyes, before he administered the full dose of tranquilizer.

Fu Zong struggled and roared, his head slamming against the chair back with loud thuds. Xie Xubai clearly felt an unusual power emanating from him, a power that did not belong to Fu Zong, yet it was controlling him to go mad.

So Xie Xubai used his mental power and finally managed to forcefully suppress Fu Zong.

At that time, the players outside and Fu's Pharmaceutical were still fighting fiercely. The building shook violently in the explosion, and the intense tremors penetrated the ground. Dust fluttered down from the gaps in the ceiling, and reagent bottles containing unknown medicines on the shelves collided and rubbed together with a clanging sound.

Xie Xubai's face turned pale, and he quickly took a breath: "We can talk about it later. You should leave here with us first!"

Zhou Chaosheng's gaze swept over him, his tone softening slightly as he said unhurriedly, "Don't worry, there's a safety passage behind here. The protective wall can withstand an explosion of more than ten tons from the front, it won't collapse. The key is here, you can leave whenever you want."

He glanced at Fu Zong as he spoke, and Xie Xubai also noticed a machine that looked like an iris recognition device next to the passageway. The so-called key probably referred to Fu Zong.

However, the key question is how Zhou Chaosheng managed to take away the heir of the Fu Group without anyone noticing on their territory.

Turning back, a reagent bottle was handed to Xie Xubai.

Zhou Chaosheng: "Drink it, it's good for relieving fatigue."

Pei Yuheng asked first, seemingly analyzing the ingredients of the medicine based on its color and smell: "What's inside?"

Ever since he learned that Zhou Chaosheng's identity was unusual and that he had been hiding many things, he could no longer wholeheartedly trust his former mentor. He naturally became wary of the medicine that Zhou Chaosheng handed to Xie Xubai.

Zhou Chaosheng glanced at the student who was defending his own: "I have no reason to poison him."

Xie Xubai sensed no malice from Zhou Chaosheng, so he readily took the reagent bottle and drank it all in one gulp.

Strangely enough, as soon as the potion entered his mouth, his depleted mental energy was instantly restored, his mind became clear, and he was able to observe subtle emotional fluctuations.

In an instant, Xie Xubai noticed Zhou Chaosheng's unusual behavior. The spiritual energy fluctuations emanating from him were too weak, like a candle flickering in the wind, ready to be blown away at any moment.

He couldn't help but turn his head to stare at this person, his brows furrowing slightly.

Zhou Chaosheng seemed oblivious to Xie Xubai's scrutiny and continued the previous topic: "We've done a full set of tests on you. The blood test confirmed that you are indeed their biological child, not a cyborg who was switched at birth. We also found that your physical indicators are several times higher than those of infants of the same age, and even comparable to those of a normally developing adult... There are more and more unbelievable data, and we've proposed many hypotheses, such as aliens and genetic mutations... But none of these can explain why you can recite books you've never seen before so fluently."

"After that, your parents started having dreams one after another. Each time they woke up, their physical symptoms would worsen, and they would become more convinced that you were a reincarnation. But this cannot be verified in your case, because apart from declarative knowledge, you cannot communicate normally with people. Can you believe it? A child who can analyze genetic patterns has difficulty even saying 'hello'. This overturns another major common sense."

"As for the future events your parents dreamed about, such as factory explosions and company collapses, most of them didn't come true, so there's no substantial evidence to prove you have reincarnation memories. About a year and a half later, during this time, you were able to spot the practical errors your parents made in biological experiments at a glance, almost reaching the pinnacle of human intelligence—"

Zhou Chaosheng paused here and slowly said, "But at that moment, your intelligence suddenly plummeted, as if it had hit rock bottom and then bounced back."

"And before that, you approached me for no apparent reason and we exchanged a few words."

Like most academic talents, Zhou Chaosheng could not resist exploring the abnormalities that Pei Yuheng was showing. During that period, he frequently took leave to come to Pei's house to observe and record Pei Yuheng's changes.

He witnessed the Pei couple go from normal to increasingly insane. He considered adopting Pei Yuheng himself or taking the child to a well-equipped institution. However, no matter how confused the couple became, they resolutely refused to expose Pei Yuheng's existence to the outside world.

They hid Pei Yuheng very well, and when he couldn't balance work and childcare, he would resign decisively. If he fell ill, they would hire Zhou Chaosheng as the child's nanny, thus passing a relatively peaceful period.

But such days are destined to be short-lived.

With his limited knowledge, Zhou Chaosheng knew that everything that happened to Pei Yuheng was unusual, but he could not foresee the seriousness of the situation or the undercurrents behind it.

The day that Pei Yuheng, who was not yet two years old, took the initiative to talk to Zhou Chaosheng, the weather was more gloomy than usual. Thick dark clouds lingered over the city, yellowed and withered leaves hung from the treetops in the garden, and the wind carried a biting chill.

A child, no bigger than a radish head, sat upright in a chair in the study, holding a book, while Zhou Chaosheng next to him typed away on the computer, brainstorming research topics.

Listening to the faint rumble of thunder outside the window, he suddenly felt a strange palpitation, worried that the temperature would drop sharply and the children would catch a cold. Just as he stood up, a crackling sound of electricity suddenly came from above his head, followed by the light on the ceiling exploding.

In the silent study, the sound struck Zhou Chaosheng's heart like a heavy hammer! In shock, he turned around and rushed over without thinking, pulling Pei Yuheng into his arms just before the shards of glass hit the child's head.

At that critical moment, he heard deafening thunder outside the window. Pale white lightning illuminated the dark sky as if it were daytime, and thick, ferocious thunderbolts covered the sky, as if the heavens were raging.

Zhou Chaosheng's heart pounded rapidly amidst the thunder, almost leaping out of his throat. All the blood rushed to his brain, making him dizzy and blurring his vision.

He felt a faint force pulling him from below. Looking down, he saw a two-year-old child staring wide-eyed as if waking from a dream. The child's clear eyes gradually filled with the deep astonishment of an adult, and the child murmured, "Teacher!"

Zhou Chaosheng wasn't sure if he had misheard, until Pei Yuheng called him again: Teacher Zhou.

The child looked around, his childish voice deep and filled with fear: "...Again? How many times is this? Thank...where are they?"

--boom!

Thunderbolts struck the window, causing the flowerbed to explode with a deafening roar. The blinding flashes of lightning filled the entire room, piercing the eardrums!

Zhou Chaosheng didn't care about anything else. He didn't dare to stay in the study. He picked up the child and ran outside, stepping on the glass floor.

No matter which room he ran into, the thunder kept echoing in his ears, as if it were chasing them... no! Chasing after Pei Yuheng's location, intending to turn him to ashes along with them!

Pei Yuheng in his arms was not at ease; his whole body was convulsing and twitching, his face was burning red and bleeding, and he screamed with all his might, "No, I've been... detected! Teacher, you must remember... remember what I'm about to say! This concerns the future of humanity!"

The child's words were incoherent, and amidst the roaring thunder, the real world suddenly became bizarre and fantastical, intertwined with illusory lightning.

In an instant, Zhou Chaosheng suddenly understood what the Pei couple meant by premonition. It was like a tsunami tens of meters high rising from the bottom of his heart. In the unknown fear and unease, nearly thirty years of understanding was shattered!

In that brief moment when his brain couldn't even process what was happening, he made the wisest move of his life—he stared intently at the child's opening and closing lips, recording everything Pei Yuheng said next, including his lip movements, and imprinting it deeply into his mind.

He was very glad he did it, because Pei Yuheng collapsed from exhaustion after saying only a few words and developed a high fever, causing his physical condition to deteriorate rapidly.

From then on, Pei Yuheng became like an infant, a normal infant, unable to speak clearly and without any extraordinary intelligence.

Zhou Chaosheng wanted to re-examine the situation at that time, but he was unable to explain it to him.

Logically speaking, the Pei couple should have known something was amiss, but they looked at him strangely, thinking he was joking, and had no recollection of the previous experiment diary.

It was as if everything I saw and heard that day, the life-or-death struggle with lightning, was just a dream.

Until Zhou Chaosheng met Pei Yuheng again.

Zhou Chaosheng said, "After that, your parents disappeared with you. It was only when I met you again that I learned they had joined the Fu Group, which implicated you and prevented you from escaping."

At that moment, Zhou Chaosheng, who had somewhat forgotten his past experiences, seemed to break through some kind of cognitive limitation. In the biting cold, Pei Yuheng's resolute voice echoed in his ears once again.

"...Teacher, the first thing is that I must not become a henchman of the Fu family! Even if it means my death!"

A leading pharmaceutical group certainly has the resources to make people feel threatened, but why would Pei Yuheng swear an oath with his life?

That lingering sense of crisis resurfaced in Zhou Chaosheng's mind, sounding an alarm bell. He made a bold decision.

— He turned to the Fu Group and became a double agent.

In Fu's eyes, Zhou Chaosheng was a pawn planted next to Pei Yuheng, who could be dealt a heavy blow and whose actions could be monitored.

In reality, Zhou Chaosheng acted as a bridge, allowing the Fu family to confidently let Pei Yuheng devote himself to academic pursuits, thereby infiltrating the enemy camp and secretly investigating the Fu family's behind-the-scenes power.

Perhaps it was because he once had a moment of insight into the secrets of heaven, and was able to perceive anomalies that others could not see.

Gradually, through numerous discordant clues, Zhou Chaosheng suddenly realized that what Pei Yuheng feared was not the Fu family, but a higher and more powerful entity that controlled the Fu family.

—Infinite Game.

"The spread of pollution is the prelude to the game, so it cannot be stopped. The Fu Group is the designated BOSS of this game, so all favorable conditions will tilt towards them. No matter how bad the situation is for the Fu Group, they will always be able to turn danger into safety."

Zhou Chao coughed twice, staring intently at Xie Xubai and the other man, revealing a despairing truth: "You haven't been able to develop a vaccine not because you've taken the wrong path, but because the rules don't allow it!"

“There is an extremely strong demand from the outside world for the Fu Group. The only organization that can restrain them is the political alliance. However, will the game company let such a disadvantage go unchecked?”

"When the two worlds merge, an eeriness will overshadow reality, human order will cease to exist, and the alliance's political system will also be erased!"

Xie Xubai's heart sank to the bottom.

He knew that Zhou Chaosheng's words were not unfounded. More than 20 years later, the concept of law had disappeared without a trace, and there was no alliance political situation at all.

It was erased from the game rules during this period...!

The phrase "adding insult to injury" is insufficient to describe the predicament humanity is about to face. But then, a glimmer of hope appeared in Zhou Chaosheng's intense emotional turmoil.

As expected, Zhou Chaosheng closed his eyes and solemnly uttered a solution: "Let Pei Yuheng be corrupted, steal the sky and change the sun, replace Fu Zong in control of Fu's Pharmaceutical, allow the birth of the vaccine, and let the rules go through."

These were Pei Yuheng's original words.

“I have personally verified this during this period of time.” Zhou Chaosheng coughed again, his voice filled with a heart-wrenching dejection. “Indeed, only by using the name of the Fu family can a vaccine be developed.”

Pei Yuheng recalled Fu Zong's mention of the dilution experiment, and the fact that the so-called vaccine was made from human blood that produced antibodies. A bad feeling arose in his heart.

Xie Xubai and Zhou Chaosheng exchanged a glance, their expressions turning fierce. Without saying a word, they rushed to each other's backs and forcefully ripped open the blackout cloth.

A dense array of crystal tubes were exposed to their view, and as Xie Xubai had expected, there was a super-large incubator right in the center.

The twisted and mutilated limbs floated up and down in the nutrient solution, with several bluish-purple needle marks and surgical scars clearly visible on the skin.

The room fell into a deathly silence, the air strangely cold, with only the increasingly heavy breathing of Xie Xubai and the other person due to shock.

Zhou Chaosheng didn't expect Xie Xubai to make a sudden move, and his hand froze in mid-air before he could stop him.

After a long pause, he slowly sighed, "It's quite ugly, don't look at it anymore."

Pei Yuheng's eyes were red-rimmed. When he looked back, Zhou Chaosheng's solid body became illusory, like a ghost.

In an instant, his lips trembled, his eyes went black, and a mournful cry escaped his lips. By the time he realized what had happened, he was already sobbing uncontrollably.