After school, Shen Kong walked out of the school gate with his backpack slung over his shoulder.
Before I took a few steps, I was stopped by an old but loud voice.
He turned his head to look in the direction where the voice came from, and saw a sturdy old man with gray hair standing on the side of the road, his face serious but kind.
"You must be Cheng Chen, right?"
Shen Kong stood still and narrowed his eyes slightly: "Yes."
The old man bowed to Shen Kong, with a smile on his face: "Hello, I am Xu Bo, the young master's butler. He asked me to pick you up after school today."
He moved sideways, revealing the streamlined black car body behind him, and gracefully opened the door for Shen Kong, saying:
"please."
Shen Kong frowned, a little surprised, and asked the system that had been silent for a long time: "Is this the butler who died at the key point of this plot?"
The system replied, "Yes, after Xu Bo's death, Han Li's personality changed greatly. The malice and hatred that had been suppressed in his heart were aroused, and he began to develop towards the cruel and extreme after the main plot began. This was a necessary transformation for him to become the paranoid and violent villain in the later part of the plot."
Shen Kong lifted his schoolbag upwards: “I didn’t expect that it would be the housekeeper who came to pick me up.”
He leaned in, got into the car, and fastened his seat belt.
Uncle Xu walked to the other side, got in the car and started it.
The engine hummed, and the vehicle started slowly and drove away into the distance.
Inside the sanatorium.
Han Li pushed open the door of the ward, but his steps paused involuntarily.
The white ward is clean and tidy. The fresh air is dyed red by the setting sun outside the window, and there is a faint smell of disinfectant in the room.
He felt a rare sense of timidity.
Han Li felt mixed emotions in his heart, and it was almost impossible to sort out the chaotic thoughts in his mind. His chest was heaving, and he felt his heart beating faster and faster.
——The presence of this person in the room has almost become a thorn that is difficult to remove.
The thorn grew longer and deeper over time, until it almost became a part of his flesh.
In addition to the feeling of gratitude, there is a deeper feeling of doubt.
He was originally a member of the kidnappers, so why would he give and help me unreservedly? Not even asking for any reward?
Han Li subconsciously used his fingers to gently stroke the lines on his left hand——
There seemed to be cold and sticky blood still between the deep lines, which were deeply imprinted in his palms like hideous scars.
The memories that were buried deep in his mind were turned out, vivid and clear, as if they happened yesterday. Han Li almost had the illusion that as soon as he closed his eyes, he would instantly return to that dark, moonless night and become that desperate and helpless child once again.
The cold muzzle of the gun, the pungent smell of gunpowder, and the rough hemp rope.
All the sensory memories came flooding back like a tide, deeply imprinted in Han Li's mind, making him unable to forget them for a moment.
Almost all of his motivation for working so hard in recent years came from this - the fear of powerlessness, the disgust for being weak, and the desire for revenge.
That night shaped him.
Han Li took a deep breath, walked steadily into the ward, and his eyes naturally turned towards the bed.
The man who had saved his life eight years ago was sitting on the bed.
His head and legs were wrapped in gauze, one arm was in a splint, and the other hand was handcuffed to the edge of the bed. Although his face bore traces of time and weathering, one could still see the outline of his face from eight years ago.
But...those eyes were completely different from what I remembered.
The eyes were frustrated and tired, with red bloodshot in the cloudy whites. Just a simple gaze gave people the illusion of dust, like some kind of beaten animal, with excessive vigilance and alarm in its glance.
It seemed as if the eight years of escape had worn away his sharpness, and cast him in an unignorable aura of desolation and old age, a quality typical of a middle-aged man.
The man looked at him with strange eyes, as if he didn't remember Han Li at all.
It wasn't until he pulled out a chair and sat across from me that he finally showed an expression of sudden realization:
"Oh, you are the young master I saved."
Han Li did not answer, but frowned slightly and stared at him deeply, trying to find some traces of his memory from him.
But he failed.
The man named Zhou He stood up, a glimmer of hope appeared in his originally depressed eyes, and a smile appeared on his face - it was a smile that Han Li was familiar with, a smile with intention and deep meaning, a close and flattering smile.
"I knew you wouldn't forget me. There aren't many people who are grateful nowadays..."
Han Li lowered his eyes to hide the deep thoughts in his eyes. He paused and said, "I am indeed very grateful for your help. It was also thanks to you that you took me to the hospital for treatment in time that my left leg was saved. If you need anything, please tell me."
Zhou He's eyes lit up, and he moved his handcuffed hands on the bed, making a clanging sound of metal:
"Look, although I participated in your kidnapping, I finally turned over a new leaf, so... I wonder if you can spare me..."
Han Li raised his eyes and looked at him. His cold and deep face was expressionless, and his dark eyes seemed to be frozen:
"You are not him."
Zhou He was stunned, looking at Han Li with his mouth open. The young master in front of him, who had just been polite and harmless, was now pressing forward like a living Shura, catching him off guard for a moment. He forced a smile on his face: "You, what are you talking about..."
Han Li stood up, his face cold and full of hostility: "Who sent you?"
Before Zhou He could answer, he slowly took a step forward, his aura low and terrifying: "What is your purpose? Who gave you the fake identity information? How did you get this face?"
One question after another hit Zhou He hard, almost making it difficult for him to breathe.
Zhou He almost understood the trap behind the other party's words, so he gave up struggling. He leaned back as if surrendering and said:
"Whether you believe it or not, I have no purpose, no one sent me here, and I didn't forge my identity. I am indeed one of the kidnappers who kidnapped you. The leader is someone I met abroad before. He was involved in the Armenian mafia. He suddenly came to me and said there was a good deal. If I kidnapped a child and took him to a designated place to kill him, I would get a large sum of money. I happened to be short of money at the time, and I was only responsible for lookout, so I agreed."
Han Li stood at the foot of the bed, looking at Zhou He who was sitting on the bed with some confusion.
The details were matched one by one.
Even... he could clearly feel that the other party was telling the truth.
Then Zhou He continued, "We went to the designated location the customer told us that day and successfully kidnapped the person. I felt sleepy on the way and fell asleep... Then I don't remember anything."
Han Li was stunned: "...what?"
Zhou He slowly blinked his bloodshot eyes, and his gaze became dull again. He shrugged as if giving up the struggle: "Anyway, when I regained consciousness, I found myself lying in the wasteland, my body aching, and my legs injured. After I came down the mountain and watched the news, I learned what happened during the few days when I lost my memory."
Han Li's mind was a little confused. He pursed his lips and tried to sort out his thoughts:
"Your consciousness is that you have no memory of those days?"
Zhou He answered weakly, "Yes, I went to see a doctor later, and he said that I didn't seem to have hit my head or anything, and they didn't find any major problems. They didn't know why my memory of those days disappeared for no reason. Later, I saw that the police had put up a wanted order for me, which was not a big deal, but the company also blacklisted me because I attacked my colleagues, and even withdrew their protection from me... I have been hiding everywhere for the past few years, hiding from the police and my enemies, and I couldn't get any work. To be honest, I was relieved when I was caught..."
He raised his hands, and the shackles made a crisp clinking sound as he moved.
"That's all I know. As for who kidnapped you and why, I have no idea. I'm just a runner. We never ask about the customers' needs."
Han Li felt as if his brain was in a mess. He couldn't even remember how he left the room filled with the smell of disinfectant.
He sat alone in the deserted corridor. His injured knee seemed to be immersed in freezing cold snow water, causing waves of piercing pain. However, Han Li seemed unaware of it and stared at his slightly clenched palm in a trance.
He slowly spread out his curled fingers, and a cigarette lay alone in his palm.
This is the cigarette placed on the driver's seat.
Although it has not been lit yet, the paper roll has already shown signs of time, and has become yellow and wrinkled, and can no longer be smoked.
Han Li stared at the cigarette. His dark eyes were like a bottomless abyss filled with countless messy and chaotic emotions. He looked like a statue frozen in place.
The identity of the person in the ward was not falsified.
Although he said that he had no memory of what happened during that period, it should be the same person - after all, the human brain is complex, and there are many reasons for memory loss. Even if there is no trauma, it is not impossible. The lack of memory does not mean that the person who saved him was not him.
But... for some reason, Han Li is not so sure now.
Compared with the person in his memory, Zhou He in the ward had no similarities with him not only in demeanor, but also in the way he spoke and even his subtle movements were completely different. Logically speaking, even if he had lost his memory, these small details that were deeply ingrained in his bones would not have changed so much.
How is that possible?
Did he suddenly become a different person?
…
Han Li was shocked by his own thoughts.
He narrowed his eyes slightly, picked up the cigarette in his palm between his fingers, and fixed the slender cigarette in the way that man was accustomed to.
The next second, he suddenly stood up from his seat.
The old and shrunken cigarette was knocked off by his sudden movement and rolled a few inches on the smooth ground.
Han Li stared at it as if he had seen a ghost, his eyes and brows full of horror, as if he was looking at something horrible.
He took out his cell phone with trembling hands and made a call. His voice was hoarse and unstable:
"Drive over here, quickly."
The driver's distorted voice came from the microphone: "Master, are we going back to the club?"
Han Li calmed himself down, closed his eyes tightly, and replied, "No, go home."
Shen Kong sat in the passenger seat with his eyes closed, as if he was resting.
While driving, Xu Bo glanced at him secretly, but suddenly met Shen Kong's open eyes.
The two of them looked at each other, and Xu Bo couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed. He smiled and explained, "I'm sorry, I offended you. The young master rarely invites friends home, and the old man can't suppress his curiosity. In fact, this time I took the initiative to ask to borrow yours instead of the driver."
The deep wrinkles in the corners of Xu Bo's eyes were filled with hidden worries: "Young Master has been more independent than his peers since he was a child. As a short-sighted and worrying old man, I am always worried about his social status, but..."
Shen Kong took over the conversation: "But what?"
Xu Bo paused, glanced at Chen Kong, and the smile on his face deepened: “However, after seeing you, I feel much more relieved.”
Shen Kong raised his eyebrows, raised his body slightly, and asked:
"What do you mean?"
Xu Bo's eyes seemed to have the power to see through people's hearts. He smiled kindly and said solemnly: "Because you look like a very kind child."
Shen Kong was a little speechless, and for a moment he didn't know what to say.
This old butler's eyesight is really not very good.
...But he can't just say "I'm not actually a good person", right?
At this moment, a deafening alarm suddenly sounded in his ears. Some mechanical sound that was different from the system sounded, hitting Shen Kong's eardrums noisily and chaotically: "Alarm, alarm, studio exposure risk detected!"
Chen Kong frowned, his head aching from the noise in his head.
Although the sound of the normal system is also mechanical, one can still feel some emotional fluctuations from intelligent creatures. But the sound in my ears now is completely different - it is purely cold, boring, and has a sound of metallic collision. There is no emotion at all, only endless coldness.
Just like... the voice that informed him that night that the world's trajectory had deviated.
As if to prove Shen Kong's conjecture, the voice uttered the same words the next second:
"The world's trajectory has deviated, and it is being corrected..."
"At the same time, urgently teleport the correction officer to the next key point in the plot. Countdown for teleportation: five, four, three..."
The sense of crisis that Shen Kong had developed in the hail of bullets instantly attacked him, and his keen sense of danger forced him to look out the car window——
It was as if all the sounds were pulled away from my ears, and all the images in front of my eyes slowly passed by frame by frame, as if every scene was frozen in the film.
——The huge front of the car, with unstoppable force, crashed straight into the side of the car.
"two……"
Chen Kong's pupils suddenly contracted. At the critical moment, only the memory retained by his muscles moved in a millisecond.
He rushed to the steering wheel and hit in the opposite direction with all his strength.
The huge crash seemed to be half a beat late before it finally reached his eardrums. The harsh brake sounds, screams, and even the creaking sounds of steel being crushed and deformed during the collision suddenly came like an overwhelming wave of sound, merging into a buzzing sound and white noise in the background. The faint but irritating smell of gasoline mixed with dust and blood rushed into his nasal cavity.
"one."
As soon as the mechanical voice fell, Shen Kong felt a black screen in front of his eyes and lost consciousness instantly.
The author has something to say: I will randomly send a small red envelope for each of the first three chapters of v
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