Chapter 83

Xie Xubai followed his memory to the remote old street.

This place was once home to a large steel plant, and the sky was often shrouded in a gray haze, with gray-black dust particles floating in the air.

The dirt road was uneven, and uncovered sewage ditches surrounded the buildings, emitting a pungent stench. The dilapidated buildings were crammed together, with loose bricks and tiles, and moss creeping through the cracks. A rustling sound came from the shadows, and a tiny shadow, no bigger than a palm, disappeared in a flash.

Dirty, poor, and dilapidated.

Everything here is far removed from civilization and prosperity; petty theft and thievery happen frequently. Logically speaking, there's nothing to reminisce about.

However, thanks to Ms. Xie Yuchun, Xie Xubai had a childhood support system that was sufficient to sustain him throughout his growth.

Standing before the old house from his memories, Xie Xubai, who was usually calm and composed, couldn't help but feel a touch of trepidation, like someone returning home with a sense of unease.

He took a deep breath and raised his hand to knock on the door.

Suddenly, heavy footsteps echoed from inside the house. Someone came to the door, flicked the bolt off the lock, and pushed the door open.

Squeak—

As the broken wooden door opened, Xie Xubai's previously hazy memories became crystal clear.

He slightly widened his eyes.

The door opened, revealing an unremarkable face with a sallow complexion and fine lines around the eyes.

Perhaps burdened by worries about making a living, the woman's eyes always held a heavy weight, as if she had experienced the vicissitudes of life. Yet, the moment she looked down and saw him, a bright and loving smile bloomed on her face: "You rascal! Look at you, all filthy! Where have you been causing trouble again?"

Xie Xubai was so excited that he couldn't help but take a step forward.

Before he could get closer and understand what was going on, a gruff male voice pulled him back to reality: "What are you doing here? What are you doing loitering around my doorstep!"

Xie Xubai snapped back to reality and met the man's unshaven, unkempt face.

The person standing in front of her was not Xie Yuchun, but a completely unfamiliar, rough-looking man.

The man, wearing a white tank top and flip-flops, with a toothbrush in his mouth, turned around and spat mouthwash onto the ground. He then wiped his mouth with a towel from his shoulder, exuding a sleazy air: "Judging by your decent attire, you're probably not here to steal anything. What do you want?"

Xie Xubai's breathing hitched slightly, and he glanced behind the man.

The old house wasn't big; you could see right through it from the doorway. The old wardrobe with peeling paint, the rickety table, and the narrow passageway piled with clutter were layouts Xie Xubai knew all too well.

He would never mistake his own home.

However, it contains the life trajectory of only one adult male.

Xie Xubai suddenly had an absurd conjecture. Clinging to the last shred of hope, he asked breathlessly, "I'm looking for a woman named Xie Yuchun. She's about twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, this tall, and this thin. She's lived in this area since she was a child. She and her parents were workers at the nearby food processing plant. Do you remember her?"

"Xie Yuchun?"

In a small town, you see everyone around you, and you have a general idea of ​​who lives there. The man wrinkled his nose and decisively denied it, saying, "There are Xie Daniu, Xie Jiawang, and Xie Shufen here, but I've never heard of Xie Yuchun."

"..." The ominous premonition was confirmed. Xie Xubai pinched his fingertips hard, using the pain to keep calm.

Yan Shuo had shown him the scenes from the Realm of Time and Space, so Xie Yuchun definitely existed; there was no reason for the other party to lie to him.

"Are there any other people named 'Yu Chun'?"

The man was clearly not a kind-hearted person, and said impatiently, "I can't remember. I have things to do later. If you don't have anything to do, don't bother me—"

Before he could finish speaking, a wad of cash was handed to him. Xie Xubai earnestly pleaded, "Please help me. She is a very important family member to me, and I have to find her."

The man's attitude immediately changed completely when he saw the bright red banknotes in his eyes. He greeted them with a grin, "No problem, no problem. There are many alleys and alleys around here. I'll show you how to find it!"

Xie Xubai spent the entire morning following the man, searching the entire neighborhood.

We searched for people with the same name "Yu Chun," names that sounded similar, and surnames like Xie, but we couldn't find a single trace of someone who seemed to have existed as Xie Yu Chun.

In the end, even the greedy man felt embarrassed. Looking at the cash Xie Xubai offered again, he scratched the back of his head, too ashamed to accept it.

"It's alright." Xie Xubai stuffed the money into his hand and said, word by word, "She will definitely appear here in the future. Please keep an eye out for her. I will come again."

Looking at his stubborn expression, the man sighed helplessly: "Young man, you haven't been scammed, have you? Or maybe you misheard the address? Why don't you call and ask again?"

Xie Xubai shook his head; no one was lying to him. Although he remembered Xie Yuchun's phone number, it was a number he had changed after he was three years old.

After saying goodbye to the man, Xie Xubai looked at the familiar street, pursed his lips, and felt a surge of emotions welling up inside him.

The small supermarket, the noodle shop, the crooked tree by the roadside... everything matched my memory, except for Xie Yuchun.

Could it be that his mother's identity is fake?

Xie Xubai was unwilling to give up so easily; there must be something else that could prove Xie Yuchun's existence.

—Xie Yuchun is an orphan with unknown ancestry. A single mother raising her young son, she is avoided by relatives who fear she will come to her door to freeload. Frequent job changes prevent her from building relationships with colleagues.

The only people with whom he had a relatively close relationship were Xie Xubai's still-vanished father and Pei Yuheng.

Xie Xubai tried hard to recall, his brows furrowing slightly.

If he remembered correctly, the first thing Pei Yuheng said to his mother after their long-awaited reunion was... "Senior Sister?"

Wait a minute, senior sister?

It was like a thunderclap striking Xie Xubai's mind, tearing apart the fog that had shrouded his head for years.

Students from high school and below don't call each other "senior sister." Even in university, close upperclassmen are addressed as "senior brother" or "senior sister."

—Excluding the possibility that Pei Yuheng sought out a mentor outside the school, after much thought, the only proper occasion for him to formally become a "senior sister" is a laboratory under the same supervisor.

Is his mother a high-end technical talent from a prestigious university, just like Pei Yuheng?

Xie Xubai looked back at the dirty and dilapidated old neighborhood and felt a sense of disbelief for a moment.

The environment here is so bad that it is scornfully called a "slum". The bosses in the neighborhood treat people like livestock, and the wages are driven down to a few hundred yuan a month without food and accommodation. If it weren't for the fact that he couldn't survive, Xie Yuchun would not have changed jobs so frequently.

No… Xie Xubai pressed his throbbing temples, and that tearing sensation from unintentionally touching forbidden knowledge surged up again!

Since his mental strength improved, he hadn't experienced this kind of pain for a long time, which indirectly shows that Xie Yuchun's identity is not simple.

Xie Xubai gritted his teeth, resisting the pain, determined not to give up.

It concerns his mother; even if it kills him, he will investigate to the end.

The only person who can answer his questions and help him find his mother right now is Pei Yuheng.

Without hesitation, Xie Xubai set off directly for Pei Yuheng's school.

As the top municipal university, it has a strong academic atmosphere, and almost everyone who comes here is a student with textbooks. Many people come here to visit.

The school is very large, with several experimental buildings specifically used for scientific research.

Fortunately, Xie Xubai cast a mental barrier on Pei Yuheng, allowing him to directly sense the other's exact location after entering the school.

He used gold-rimmed glasses to create an inconspicuous outfit for himself, and then used mental suggestion to evade the gatekeepers and security guards, directly entering the laboratory building.

To everyone's surprise, as soon as they arrived at Pei Yuheng's laboratory, the door, which should have been tightly closed, was open, and an unexpected man stood in front of Pei Yuheng.

With regular features, sharp angles, and bold, fierce eyes, he gave off an aura that suggested he was not to be trifled with.

It's Fu Zong in his youth!

Fu Zong, wearing a white lab coat from the neighboring laboratory, blocked Pei Yuheng's path, head down, and said something with ill intent.

Pei Yuheng, dressed in a lab coat and wearing radiation-proof goggles, stood in front of the ultrasound machine, intently conducting a DNA precipitation experiment.

The two seemed to be very close and could talk about anything, but in reality, Pei Yuheng's temples were bulging with veins, clearly annoyed by being disturbed during the experiment.

Seeing this, Fu Zong not only didn't shut up, but instead leaned closer to Pei Yuheng's ear and sneered meaningfully, "Xu Yang and the others invited you to a bar yesterday, but you didn't go back to your dorm all night, and you were almost late for the lab this morning. What did they do to you, hmm?"

Pei Yuheng paused upon hearing this, halting his experiment, and looked at him coldly: "Are you spying on me?"

Fu Zong's eyes darkened, and he grabbed Pei Yuheng's wrist, his expression shifting between sneers and taunts: "Surveillance? Ha! Pei Yuheng, do you think you've grown too big for your britches? Don't forget you're nothing more than a servant adopted by the Fu family. It's only natural for a master to concern himself with his servant—"

Before he could finish speaking, Xie Xubai's mental suggestion pierced his brain.

Get your filthy hands off me and get out.

Pei Yuheng didn't want to argue with him, so he suppressed the urge to punch him. Then he saw the arrogant man in front of him suddenly freeze, like a robot that hadn't been wound up, with a blank look in his eyes, walking out step by step.

As they reached the door, Fu Zong, for some unknown reason, suddenly ripped off his white lab coat, grabbed it, and started shaking it wildly. He yelled and screamed like a monkey, running around the lab building corridor shouting, "I'm a big idiot who bullies others—!"

“…!” Pei Yuheng’s pupils dilated in shock.

The commotion was so loud that almost everyone returning from their lunch break was drawn over to see what was going on.

The Fu family is large and powerful, with deep-rooted clan influence. Fu Zong is handsome, a top student in his major, and has won numerous awards. He is considered a prominent figure in the school.

Seeing him act crazy regardless of the occasion, everyone was dumbfounded and couldn't help but whisper and point at each other.

Those who knew Fu Zong gasped in shock and rushed forward to pin him down: "Young Master Fu? Young Master Fu! Please wake up!"

Pei Yuheng turned around in a daze and finally noticed Xie Xubai standing at the front door.

In an instant, he took a step back, creating a chasm between himself and Xie Xubai who was walking over.

"...?" Xie Xubai realized what was happening and said with a wry smile, "I won't do that to you, don't worry."

Pei Yuheng moved back with some skepticism.

I originally wanted to ask Xie Xubai how he got into the school, but seeing his extraordinary skills, I figured it was pointless to ask.

He hesitated and said, "Thank you for getting me out of that situation... Is there something you need to talk to me about?"

And he reflexively glanced at the cleaning tools in the corner.

Strangely enough, Pei Yuheng did a thorough cleaning all night but didn't feel tired at all. On the contrary, he felt refreshed and energetic. He wondered if it was because he was bathed in golden light before leaving.

This person is strange; he speaks arrogantly and domineeringly, but in reality, he protects him in every way.

Xie Xubai cut to the chase: "I want to ask you, do you know someone named Xie Yuchun?"

Pei Yuheng pondered the name twice, then shook his head firmly: "I don't know it."

Xie Xubai counted on his fingertips, realizing that Xie Yuchun was probably an alias, and continued to press, "Then do you have a school...?"

Before he finished speaking, the noise in the corridor stopped abruptly.

A powerful pressure emanated from the source of the sound.

Alarm bells rang in Xie Xubai's mind, and he turned around abruptly.

A rotten, bluish-black hand slammed onto the doorframe, slowly revealing half of Fu Zong's body and his eyes, bloodshot with shame and anger.

"Have I been too kind to you, Pei Yuheng? You still dare to send people to deal with me!"

At the same time, the magician who stayed nearby used a prop to look at Fu Zong, who had turned into a rotting corpse, and exclaimed exaggeratedly, "Wow! He's really daring to mess with an elite monster on the second day of the trial!"

But then I thought, I'm fifth on the combat power ranking, and Pei Yu can just provoke me without hesitation, so what's a mere elite monster?

"Should I just watch the show from the sidelines, or..." The magician pondered leisurely, then shrugged, pulled out a playing card out of thin air, clapped his hands together, and said, "Fine, I'll let you have the leverage over me."

The playing cards flew out, splitting into countless thin steel bars in mid-air, nimbly weaving through crowds and buildings, instantly imprisoning the roaring Fu Zong in place.

Xie Xubai, who was about to make his move, paused, looked in the direction of the magician with apparent surprise, and nodded: "Thank you."

The magician chuckled to himself, waving his hand with an air of righteous indignation. Suddenly, his teammate asked curiously from behind, "Little magician, who do you think has any leverage over you?"

The magician nearly choked: "Cough cough! No, no, you must have misheard. By the way, how's your investigation going?"

His teammate looked at him suspiciously and replied, "We can only move around within a general area based on the character's life trajectory, and we haven't found anything unusual. But there is one thing that is very worrying. The latest city reports say that a malignant infectious virus has broken out in the south of the city, and some people have suffered from hypoxic brain death due to delayed fever reduction. Everyone should take precautions."

The magician's expression was grave: "You should keep a close eye on this, and it would be best to contact the news agency for more details. Based on my past experience in dungeons, this kind of large-scale infectious virus could very well develop into a plague later on. At that time, the entire city will be in trouble."

Upon hearing this, his teammates couldn't help but feel a little frightened.

Players cannot leave the designated area of ​​the instance. If it really turns into a plague, they will have nowhere to escape, not to mention they will have to follow their character settings!

Seeing his anxious expression, the magician clutched his heart in despair and said, "I'm right in front of you, yet I still make you worry like this. It's my fault."

Yes, there's a little magician here.

The teammate felt reassured and quickly denied the other's self-deprecation, then brought up another strange thing: "Also, we checked the calendar on our phones, found calendars sold in stores, turned on the TV, and searched online, but we couldn't find the specific date."

"Even when we ask the NPCs around us, we can only hear some static. This has never happened before."

The magician analyzed, "That means that 'time' will be an important clue in this instance, which is why it has been deliberately hidden by the system. Don't give up searching for it."

"yes."

The magician turned to look at Xie Xubai.

The latter, having obtained some clues from Pei Yuheng, used his mental power to drag the bound Fu Zong away and deal with him, before disappearing again.

Before leaving, Xie Xubai emphasized to Pei Yuheng, "Remember to clean the lab. I'll check when I get back. From now on, wherever you are, you must keep it clean and free of visible dust."

Pei Yuheng: "..."

To ensure the other party would comply, Xie Xubai reverted to his villainous demeanor and lightly patted the unconscious Fu Zong: "Otherwise, this is what will happen to you."

Pei Yuheng: "…………" This person just promised not to do this to him.

Not wanting to lose face like Fu Zong, who publicly shouted that he was an idiot, Pei Yuheng could only swallow his anger and do as he was told, even though he was inexplicably puzzled.

Xie Xubai threw Fu Zong into the swimming pool to calm him down, then gave him a mental suggestion before turning to find Pei Yuheng's two senior sisters.

One has already graduated and is working for a well-known R&D company. The other has taken on a research project assigned by her supervisor and stayed in the lab, but she was invited to attend a technical seminar today and did not return to school.

Just in case, Xie Xubai also approached Pei Yuheng's mentor.

The mentor had short black hair, wore glasses, and seemed like a kind and approachable person.

When Pei Yuheng was mentioned, he couldn't help but rub his temples and sigh heavily: "With the awards Yuheng won during his school years, he originally had the opportunity to pursue further studies at the top university in the country. However, the Fu family insisted on keeping him in the city and ordered him to join the company's R&D team directly after graduation to assist that arrogant heir of the Fu family. Back then, he had no choice but to beg me for help. With my abilities, I could only take him up to the graduate level... I heard that at the last seminar, a big shot from the provincial science and technology park was very optimistic about him. It all depends on whether Yuheng's paper can be successfully published in a top journal this time."

Xie Xubai knew that when his mentor said he was incompetent, he didn't mean he lacked academic ability, but rather that he could at most get Pei Yuheng to graduate with a master's degree under pressure from the Fu family.

Whether Pei Yuheng can completely break free from his constraints depends on himself.

But Xie Xubai knew the outcome. He knew that Pei Yuheng would ultimately obtain the qualification, but in order to help the disaster victims, he would give up the opportunity to escape from the Fu family and his hard-won future.

Even as darkness fell, Xie Xubai still couldn't find Xie Yuchun's shadow.

He returned to Pei Yuheng's laboratory, exhausted, only to find it brightly lit, with Pei Yuheng still standing in front of various precision instruments, diligently and attentively conducting experiments.

Xie Xubai's head was throbbing with pain from his relentless search for Xie Yuchun. He stared blankly at Pei Yuheng's familiar face, wanting to ask again: "Uncle Pei, can you think of something else? Are there any other senior sisters?"

Before he could speak, Pei Yuheng sensed his arrival.

The latter instinctively felt a tightness in his heart, recalling the previous threat. He quickly scanned the cleanliness of the laboratory, then met Xie Xubai's eyes and couldn't help but pause for a moment.

From the moment they met, Xie Xubai gave him a mysterious and unpredictable feeling.

Those eyes were like a calm, ancient well, revealing only a serene composure or a deep-seated scheming, making people keep their distance even if they felt a sense of kinship, and dare not get too close to them.

At this moment, however, he revealed obvious confusion and vulnerability, like a child abandoned by his parents, unable to find his way home on an unfamiliar street.

“…” Pei Yuheng frowned.

This year was crucial for him. If he hadn't suddenly glimpsed the truth of the world, which shocked his values ​​to the point of affecting his daily life, he would have remained indifferent.

Besides, he could tolerate Fu Zong and other spoiled brats who were always causing trouble, and he could even comply with Xie Xubai's harsh demands.

Just to avoid any unnecessary complications.

Seeing that Xie Xubai remained silent and was only looking at him, Pei Yuheng paused his experiment, hesitated for a moment, then took off his gloves, walked over and asked, "Who bullied you?"