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The rehabilitation center in City X was nestled in the woods of the northern district. The early morning crowds were sparse, and Shi Youchen arrived just as the nurses were changing shifts. The new nurse had just taken her seat and was about to settle down for some sleep when someone at the front desk softly asked, "Hello, I contacted you the other day. Which room is Ms. Wang Lingyi staying in?"
The young nurse's scattered sleepiness was instantly dispelled by the sound. She hastily craned her neck to begin checking the records and searching the files. Fortunately, there weren't many people with the same name or with the same accent, so after trying the third character, "ling," she finally got a result.
"Is this Ms. Wang who checked in in mid-November last year?" She asked, comparing the information on the file. She finally got rid of the anxiety of being caught in the passive resistance and had enough confidence to raise her head.
Then I saw a face of a person wearing a mask and with indifferent eyes. The visual impact of all the men and women I had seen in the past thirty years could not compare to the face of the person in front of me.
To be precise, half a face.
Shi Youchen's eyes fell on the milky white and shiny table. He calculated the time and said, "Yes." In a daze, it had been four months since Lu Quezhi's incident.
The clanging sound of debris falling to the ground was particularly noisy against the backdrop of the quiet hall. The young nurse hurriedly picked up several stacks of thick documents that had fallen to the ground due to her elbow, and did not forget to comb her hair with her fingers.
"Hello sir, Ms. Wang lives on the 7th floor." After tidying up the file bag on the table, she took out a floor authority card from the safe under the table, stood up with a smile, "This is the floor with the highest authority, I will take you up." Shi Youchen was stunned, and finally understood why the other party did not disclose the specific address when he called the day before yesterday.
Shi Youchen watched the young nurse come out and put up an emergency contact sign which was almost unnecessary given the current situation in the hall. He followed her diagonally at a distance from one person, and after crossing half the corridor, he entered the spacious elevator.
But he didn't expect to meet someone he knew in the corridor on the 7th floor after the elevator opened.
Lu Zhiqi hadn't expected to run into Shi Youchen here. He was still reporting on the mission's progress as usual. He had just sent the message "Target Dead" when the elevator door dinged open, and he looked up to see someone who met his gaze with a certain surprise.
Those eyebrows and eyes were so easy to recognize, "Shi Youchen?" Lu Zhiqi blurted out when he reacted.
The young nurse was sandwiched between the two of them. She glanced at Lu Zhiqi, who looked very imposing outside the elevator door, then glanced at Shi Youchen's reflection on the door frame, and said embarrassedly: "Um, sir, did you make an appointment to visit last time?" She did not see any other colleagues nearby, and the permission cards in the safe were not missing, so she naturally asked this question.
Lu Zhiqi was tired after running around for most of the night, and his mood was already down. He frowned and looked at the young nurse's badge without saying a word. Shi Youchen realized something: "Mr. Lu." Calling someone only two years older than him "Mr." was actually too polite. He just wanted to remind the young nurse beside him, but unfortunately, she didn't receive his signal.
Seeing that Lu Zhiqi didn't answer, the young nurse remained motionless. She pouted in displeasure, leaned sideways against the door frame and squeezed out. Then she turned around and greeted Shi Youchen, "Sir, Ms. Wang lives over here."
Lu Zhiqi seemed to come to his senses now. He moved a step to the left, let Shi Youchen get out of the elevator, and then walked in. He gave him a meaningful look before the elevator door closed.
Shi Youchen looked at the elevator display screen, which showed a downward sign, and asked, "How many rooms are there on this floor?" The nurse replied, "There are 15 rooms on the 7th floor, and the number increases as you go down." She pointed to the sign on the wall, "Room 712, where Ms. Wang is staying, is in this direction."
The corridor was carpeted, so the two of them walked without making much noise. Outside the door of Room 712 sat an exquisite gift box, its outer packaging inscribed with words Shi Youchen couldn't understand. It must have been a gift of fruit or something. The nurse knocked twice on the door. "Hello, Ms. Wang, a gentleman is here to visit you," she said, then entered.
Wang Lingyi, Lu Quezhi's mother, seemed to have been awake for a while. She was leaning on the bed, staring at the frost on the treetops outside the window. She didn't react when someone came in. She only turned around when Shi Youchen approached and called her "Auntie".
The young nurse glanced around the room and found nothing unusual, so she naturally withdrew. Before leaving, she left a message for Shi Youchen: "You don't need to swipe your card when you go downstairs. Please register at the front desk before leaving."
There were only two people left in the room. Shi Youchen moved a stool for himself and sat down by the window, just in time to see the scenery outside.
This was his second time meeting Lu Quezhi's mother, and if nothing unexpected happened, it would probably be his last time.
"Auntie, are you feeling well recently?" After Lu Quezhi died, the association wanted to take his mother to the base for recuperation as usual, but she refused. So, in a very humane way, they respected her wishes and let her stay in X City, and funded her recuperation there.
Wang Lingyi didn't seem to be in a good mood today. She looked at Shi Youchen and tried to speak several times without success. In the end, she just sighed heavily and said, "Thanks to the association and you, everything has been fine."
"..." Shi Youchen didn't know how to continue after he had just started speaking. He was thinking wildly about the purpose of his coming here, but was afraid that bringing up the past would make others sad. However, no one knew more about Lu Quezhi's affairs than Wang Lingyi.
Just as Shi Youchen was hesitating about his words, Wang Lingyi looked at the child who was not much older than her son gently and said, "Mr. Shi must be very busy recently. You look a lot thinner. Has anything bothered you?" Ordinary people generally have no access to the world related to people with superpowers, so naturally they are not aware of the various changes that have taken place in the association in recent months. Their lives are the same as usual.
A light rain began to fall outside the window. Shi Youchen answered her, "Yes, lately I've been thinking about the days when I first joined the association."
Wang Lingyi: "Quezhi...he talked to me about this before. I'm not awake much, and the most common thing I heard, besides his words of comfort, was gratitude." "He said he was lucky to have met you, and he's always been grateful to you."
Shi Youchen knew all of this, but now, considering it from his perspective, he couldn't question or criticize him the way he had a few months ago. After all, he was about to become, or had already become, a traitor to the association.
If something happens, can I be buried safely in the association's cemetery?
"He's been wandering around with me since he was little, barely having a good day. Just when my illness was worsening and I thought I was going to die, he suddenly awakened one day and became a superpower." Wang Ling watched the raindrops gather into balls and slide down the windowpane, remembering that it was also a rainy day. "It's all thanks to my body. He never went to school, but he was willing to do anything to earn money for my medical expenses. I was shocked when he told me the association found him."
The wrinkles around her eyes deepened as she spoke. "I thought he'd been scammed, until he used most of his savings to get me transferred from the small hospital to the central hospital." Wang Lingyi's eyes darkened, filled with inexplicable resentment. "If I had known he would end up like that, I wouldn't have agreed to anything."
Shi Youchen was about to say, "You can go see him," but then he remembered Lu Quezhi's instructions in his suicide note and stopped himself. "Mr. Shi, no honor or reward is as important as a living person. When a person dies, even missing him becomes impossible."
"Please take care of yourself."
Shi Youchen avoided her earnest gaze, stood up with his palms slightly numb, and left a sentence "Take care of yourself, goodbye." Then he left room 712 directly. When he turned around to close the door, he almost tripped over the corner of the gift box by the door.
He dazedly pressed the elevator button, dazedly went down to the first floor, and dazedly walked to the front desk, only to find that the temporary leave sign had been removed and the nurse on duty had been replaced. "Excuse me, who was the nurse with ID number 031?" Shi Youchen asked.
The young nurse, wearing a "033" badge on her chest, stared intently at the screen, entering the file, her eyes unwavering. She casually grabbed a nearby register and spoke quickly, "She just got fired by her supervisor. Otherwise, I wouldn't have to come in early. Write whatever you want here."
Shi Youchen's chaotic mind slowed down for a moment. He took the register and wrote down the reason, time, and personal information of his visit. "Could you please tell me where your supervisor is?" "I don't know. Maybe he was called out by the boss." "Thank you."
The door of the rehabilitation center opened, and Shi Youchen walked out against the wind. "I've asked the supervisor here. The intercity bus runs every half an hour. You'll have to wait another 25 minutes for the next one. Why don't you take my car and give you a ride." Lu Zhiqi's voice came from the rolled-down window, and his eyes were exactly the same as in the elevator just now.
The cold wind awoke some of Shi Youchen's rationality. Without hesitation, he turned around, walked around to the other door, opened it, and climbed in. "The staff at a place like this must be carefully selected. Is it really okay to just fire them?" Shi Youchen buckled his seatbelt. "Boss Lu."
Lu Zhiqi closed the car window and set the destination to "District 8 Association Base" while saying, "She's just a lazy, ordinary employee. She didn't do her job well, so it's normal to fire her." As the car started, he looked in the rearview mirror and asked, "Who are you here to visit?"
Shi Youchen shook off his uneasiness in front of Wang Lingyi and asked, "Boss Lu, do you think it would be faster and more convenient to ask me in person rather than looking at my records later?"
After the car pulled onto the main road, Lu Zhiqi relaxed his limbs and let the car drive itself. "Boss Lu here isn't me, but someone else. I just have a little authority. As for your next question, my answer is yes."
Shi Youchen: "Then I propose an exchange. I answer one of your questions, and you answer one of mine."
Lu Zhiqi thought for a few seconds and said, "Okay." He didn't think Shi Youchen would ask any threatening questions.
Shi Youchen licked the unhealed wound on the inside of his mouth. The new flesh was hot as it grew. "I'm here to visit the family of a former teammate." Lu Zhiqi was calm and collected. "Which former teammate?"
"That's the second question. Please answer my first question first." Shi Youchen said calmly, "Did you bring the gift box in the corridor?"
Lu Zhiqi's eyebrows jumped: "...I brought him here. Then let me ask you another question. You came to see Wang Lingyi, right?"
Shi Youchen watched the rain gradually stop: "Yes. You know Lu Quezhi, my former teammate, right?" He turned his head and saw Lu Zhiqi's pupils suddenly shrinking under the lenses.
...
After a long silence, Lu Zhiqi opened the side window a finger wide and said, "I didn't expect you to be so bold as to ask me directly, but I really didn't know him before."
"You mean you just met him recently?" Shi Youchen's palms, dangling from the edge of his seat, were already sweating. He knew there were some things he couldn't say directly, but the reality that was getting closer and closer to his conjecture was forcing him to gradually stray from his rational path.
Lu Zhiqi chuckled and said, "Shi Youchen, what do you think about my invitation last time?" The implication was that if you agree to join us, we will be on the same path, and then I can naturally tell you some things that others don't know.
The dominant position in the conversation was easily taken away from him. Shi Youchen closed his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. As long as Lu Zhiqi didn't give a direct answer, everything would remain the same. "Sorry, I don't think I'm suited to that kind of group and survival model." He answered resolutely, and Lu Zhiqi understood.
"Really? That's a pity." Just when Shi Youchen thought the topic had ended there, he heard a shocking sentence.
"Lu Quezhi is my uncle."
That one sentence pinned Shi Youchen to the passenger seat. Lu Zhiqi didn't directly answer the question of when they met, nor did he give up the chance to ask him any more questions. Instead, he used those eight words to completely disrupt all of his original thoughts.
"What did you say?" Shi Youchen's mind raced through scenes. Their first encounter at the training base, the second incident at the Z City Emergency Center, his subsequent assistance with public security in Z City, his investigation all the way to the Mo family, Lu Quezhi's spiritual energy and suicide note, and his tombstone.
Lu Zhiqi adjusted his glasses and spoke in a calm tone, "Originally, this was a scandal involving Mr. Lu, and it couldn't be mentioned to anyone else. But now it doesn't matter." He stared at the faintly visible mole above Shi Youchen's eyebrow, a look of regret in his eyes. "Lu Quezhi is Mr. Lu's illegitimate son, and Wang Lingyi was my family's maid over 20 years ago."
Shi Youchen: "Impossible, his special ability." Suddenly the wound on the inside of his lip was torn, and the smell of blood spread throughout his mouth, stopping him from continuing.
Lu Zhiqi said, "It's very strange, isn't it? Our family has always been full of people with natural awakenings. But although he inherited the ability of 'touch perception', he is only a low-level natural awakener."
"This is probably the choice of genes. Wang Lingyi's inferior genes prevented him from becoming a member of the Lu family, and he eventually died at the hands of an unknown person." There was no regret in Lu Zhiqi's tone.
Yes, they all thought that Lu Quezhi's ability was "touch perception". Even Yan Zhiyuan, who was skeptical about this, did not have time to modify the ability file for him. Only he and Ying Yungui knew and believed that Lu Quezhi's real ability was actually "mental invasion".
But why is this fact contrary to the known information on supernatural powers?
Whether it is the Lu family, a powerful superpower family in Area 8, who are said to have 100% talented awakeners, or the so-called reverse superpowers.
Four months later, the "betrayer" Lu Quezhi, who had long since perished at the hands of an unknown figure, shattered all of Shi Youchen's conventional understanding of supernatural powers. The arrow that had traveled four months finally struck Shi Youchen squarely in the heart.
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