CH 13

(warning: descriptions of unnatural body distortion)

A few hours later, on the highway.

“Quanshan County Health Center was established in the 1980s. It is close to the mountainous area of ​​the county seat and the conditions are very backward. Three years ago, a fire broke out late at night because of an aging circuit, causing heavy casualties.” A woman in a medical white coat on the co-pilot raised her eyebrows while holding the materials: “Afterwards, the health center was completely abandoned, and there were once legends of ghosts in the local area.” 

In order to avoid attracting the attention of the locals, they changed cars after entering the county seat. Bai Sheng arrogantly crossed his long legs and occupied two seats in the back row. Shen Zhuo was squeezed so close to the window of the car, arms folded and pretending not to see.

“Shui Ronghua, the coroner of the Shenhai City Supervision Office, is a senior who is three years older than me.” Chen Miao graciously introduced while driving, and then gave a big thumbs up to the back row: “Brother Bai.”

Bai Sheng rubbed his chin thoughtfully, looked the female coroner up and down: “I found that the nepotism in your inspection office is quite serious. Supervisor Shen is the senior, the coroner is the senior, and the leader of the second operation team is the junior… Your civil service positions will not still be subject to academic hereditary status, right?”

Shui Ronghua’s long curly hair was coiled up behind her head, she was mature, charming and capable, and said with a smile: “Our Central Research Institute is originally engaged in genetic engineering. When the evolution happened five years ago, meteorites from all over the country were sent to our school, causing many students to suddenly evolve overnight, and even Yue Yang and Fu Chen were also—”

Shen Zhuo moved slightly.

Shui Ronghua’s voice stopped immediately, and she smiled after a while: “…he is also a fellow of our research institute. It seems that everyone is related, when looking for a job, we push each other inwardly.”

Bai Sheng laughed, and raised his chin towards the metal collar around Shui Ronghua’s neck: “Beauty, are you A-level?”

“I’m not a fighting type, I’m just a weak A.” Shui Ronghua blinked her eyes, “When you encounter danger, remember to go first. I’ll call you from my field allowance, okay handsome guy?”

Bai Sheng said modestly, “Oh, how embarrassing it is, the outstanding students of our new era men’s Durban1 class who are in danger and hide behind young ladies will be dragged out and physically castrated. By the way, sister, please give me a chance to push inside, I bet you Supervisor Shen is only thinking about kicking me out of the car now, I haven’t been able to find a job for a long time…”

At this time, the car stopped, and an inspector ran down from the car in front, came over and knocked on the window: “Team leader, we are here!”

The mountains and forests ahead were undulating, and a scorched and dilapidated building stood in the wilderness. Only the cement structure is left, and there is still a shape left on the upper half floor, which can barely see the style of the county town in the 1980s.

Shen Zhuo got up and opened the door to get out of the car, but he didn’t leave immediately, but turned around and supported the car door with one hand, staring fixedly at Bai Sheng:

“The recruitment requirements of our office are that regular employees must have a master’s degree in science, engineering, literature and history, and biochemical and environmental materials are acceptable, but graduates from the Department of Philosophy are not accepted. I’m sorry, Mr. Bai.”

The air is still.

Bai Sheng had an incredulous expression on his face, as if he couldn’t believe his ears, took a deep breath for a while, and said solemnly:

“’Philosophy is the pursuit of knowledge in its broadest and most general form, and philosophy is the mother of all sciences’ – In 1905, Albert Einstein.”

Shen Zhuo replied politely: “Philosophy is dead. In 2010, Stephen Hawking.”

“……”

Shen Zhuo said, “Send my condolences to your mother.” Then he slammed the car door and turned away.

It is said that it is located in the county seat, but in fact it is already on the outskirts of the county seat and close to the mountainous area. With the migration of the population and the degradation of cultivated land, the surrounding area becomes even more desolate.

The scorched black walls are exposed, and the broken old-fashioned glass windows are like empty eyes, like a quiet grave under the vast sky.

The fire three years ago is said to have started from the third floor, so the damage was more serious as it went up. The boards above the head are all curled up and stretched out, like pieces of huge dead fish scales. The cracked ground was covered with black charcoal-like debris, and the walls of a corridor on the second floor were covered with messy black handprints that should have been left behind in a panic when escaping.

“Didn’t escape.” Shui Ronghua motioned Shen Zhuo to look at the corner of the stairs. At the end where the handprints disappeared, there was a small, curled up carbon-shaped black shadow imprinted in the corner.

That was the last trace left by the survivors.

“The health center was burned down three years ago, and the Noda brother and sister came here after they were expelled from the Round Table three years ago. Is there any connection?” Chen Miao rubbed his chin and thought, “Could it be that they set the fire?”

Shui Ronghua reminded him realistically: “But the fire happened a month before they were expelled from the Round Table.”

“That doesn’t make sense. An abandoned hospital, and there are rumors of ghosts. Even the locals don’t come. Where did they know about it?  What would interest a radical evolutionist?” Chen Miao suddenly had an inspiration, and turned to Shen Zhuo nervously: “Senior, do you think there is no ultimate weapon that can destroy mankind hidden in this hospital?”

Shen Zhuo slowly turned back to stare at him, his eyes were motionless, and his face was expressionless.

Everyone is familiar with this scene. Teacher Shen, who was twenty years old in the research institute, looked at a group of Muggle students in the audience with the same eyes.

“…” Chen Miao consciously said, “Okay senior, I’ll think about it again.”

Looking out of the window, the four inspectors they brought had parked their car downstairs and began to search the entire building quickly, using instruments to investigate any subtle power fluctuations around.

Bai Sheng sat in the car resentfully, searching for something with his mobile phone. An inspector happened to pass by, and he was shocked when he took a closer look.

“Brother Bai, why are you searching for the mantra of rebirth?”

“For the death of my philosophical mother.”

“…”

“By the way,” Bai Sheng said coldly, “I originally wanted to invite all of you to eat lobster with three Michelin stars tonight, but now I can only wrong you to eat white water and green vegetables together to keep my filial piety.”

Shen Zhuo at the window on the second floor pondered: “…”

Shen Zhuo put his hand on his forehead and remained silent. At this time another subordinate came up the stairs in three steps and two steps, and said anxiously: “Supervisor, Team Leader Chen, can you go downstairs and have a look?”

Chen Miao asked, “What?”

“We found a lot of unusual traces in the corner ward on the first floor.” The subordinate seemed very puzzled, “Many… footprints.”

At the end of the corridor on the first floor is a small and dilapidated ward. The walls on all sides are black and yellow, and there is a wire bed on the east side, and the wind is pouring in through the shattered glass windows.

Large pieces of the burnt floor were peeled off, and dozens of shoe prints crisscrossed impressively.

“The sole pattern is similar to women’s flat shoes, the foot length is between 25.5cm and 26cm, and the sole width is between 10.5cm and 10.8cm. It is estimated the height of the other party should be,” Shen Zhuo stood up from the ground, “about 167 centimeters, in line with Yoko Noda’s body shape.”

Chen Miao, who lowered his head to record at the side, suddenly said “Oh”: “It’s really her?”

“Judging from the clarity of the edge of the shoe print, it should have been left within half a month.” Shen Zhuo glanced at his watch, “To be exact, 13 days and 19 hours ago.”

Chen Miao was shocked immediately: “You can see this?!”

Shen Zhuo didn’t answer.

“Senior, you are too powerful, are you so accurate? How did you tell? Do you really have no powers at all? Senior, senior!”

Shen Zhuo passed by as if he hadn’t heard, and Shui Ronghua sighed behind him. He searched the weather records for the past half month on his mobile phone, and held them in front of the dumbfounded Chen Miao.

“At noon 14 days ago, the wind in Quanshan County was level 7. The shoe prints would not have been left before that, otherwise the edge marks would not be so clear.

On the same day, there was a shower around 11 o’clock in the middle of the night, so the sole pattern near the window was covered with radioactive water droplets, and the diameter of the water droplets and the landing angle, the wind speed, wind direction, and accurate rainfall can be calculated at that time. To sum up, the time when Yoko Noda came to this hospital is very accurate, it was between 4:00 pm and 11:00 pm that day.”

Chen Miao: “…”

Shui Ronghua approached and asked in a low voice: “There are rumors in the market that you were instructed to take antihypertensive drugs every day during your master’s thesis. Is it true?”

“…That’s not true!” Chen Miao was very wronged, and turned his head and shouted: “Senior! Tell me you haven’t taken the antihypertensive medicine!”

Shen Zhuo turned a deaf ear to it, half-squatting on the ground observing something, frowning slightly.

“Senior?”

Chen Miao leaned over curiously, frowned and observed for a while, only to find that there were a few inconspicuous, long traces on the ground leading to the door: “This is it… tires?”

“Wheelchair,” Shen Zhuo said softly.

“–ha?”

Unexpectedly, Chen Miao lowered his head to take a closer look, and the top of his head almost touched Shen Zhuo’s hand. But then came a huge force behind him, almost lifting him up in the air. Chen Miao hurriedly struggled to turn around: “Bai, Brother Bai!”

Holding the back of his neck with one hand, Bai Sheng asked kindly, “Do you know why Xiao Ming’s grandfather2 lived to be ninety-nine years old?”

“…” Chen Miao asked, “Because Xiao Ming’s grandfather is not curious about who left the wheelchair marks on the ground?”

Bai Sheng said, “Because Xiao Ming’s grandfather knows to keep a reasonable physical distance with his seniors.”

As if struck by lightning, Chen Miao turned his head back to look at Shen Zhuo for help, only to find that his senior was staring at the ground without saying a word, as if he had evolved some kind of superpower for himself, which shielded all abnormal words and deeds of Bai Sheng from a perception of the five senses.

Bai Sheng carried Chen Miao behind him like a chick, and turned around with a smile: “Supervisor Shen.”

“Hmm.”

“Did you see the shadow on the bed?”

The wire bed had been burned black, leaning half-slanted against the corner of the wall. Unless you kneel next to the bed and observe carefully, it is difficult to see that there is a burnt and shrunken black figure lying flat on the gray-black steel wire spring, with its head, torso and limbs intact.

It’s a burnt man.

Shen Zhuo stood up and exhaled silently, “——’Mr. Rong’.”

“Yoko Noda came here half a month ago, and the real owner of the source of evolution, Mr. Rong, left with her. Because the man had disabled legs, the wheelchair marks were left on the ground.”

“One thing we were wrong about was that Yoko Noda was not Liu Sanji’s accomplice, but ‘Mr. Rong’. Liu Sanji may have been arrested for stealing the source of evolution, so he was coerced by Mr. Rong to do something, which can explain why Liu Sanji dared to risk life imprisonment or even execution, and took the initiative to run to the viaduct to stop my car.”

Bai Sheng raised his chin towards the wire bed: “Then what about this unlucky man?”

Shen Zhuo frowned, and said for a while, “I have a suspicion…but it’s hard to be sure, unless you can see the scene at that time.”

“?”

Bai Sheng didn’t understand what he meant, but Shen Zhuo stretched out his hand to make a move.

Shui Ronghua, not far away, immediately came forward knowingly.

“The ability of Shui Ronghua is very special. She was once possessed by an unknown creature, but the opponent had a ferocious personality. She almost killed more than a hundred people at one time, and the social danger was extremely high. So I managed to establish a contract with this unknown creature. The contract usually seals it deep in the subconscious of Shui Ronghua, and only I can unleash it when needed.”

Bai Sheng was very curious: “Unknown creature?”

Shen Zhuo said: “Yes, a purely spiritual creature. The research institute once believed that it came from an extraterrestrial civilization.”

Bai Sheng pinched his chin with one hand, not knowing why, but he saw Shui Ronghua spread out her right palm to Shen Zhuo, but then hesitated for a while, and said to Bai Sheng: “Perhaps, Xiao Ming’s grandfather would occasionally shake hands with her seniors because of work needs.”

Chen Miao took a sip of water: “Pfft!”

Bai Sheng: “Hahahaha——”

Grandpa Xiao Ming’s senior closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and Chen Miao immediately hid behind his brother Bai.

But Shen Zhuo ignored the two of them, stretched out his right hand to cover the palm of Shui Ronghua from top to bottom, and whispered the name of the summoned person:

“I release you, Witch Italdo!”

An invisible, powerful ability emanated from the palms of the two.

Immediately afterwards, the right half of Shui Ronghua’s face underwent a terrifying change. The skin was dissolved, covered with blood spots, and the strange skeleton was exposed as if it had been corroded; the right half of the body was mutated drastically, the muscles were blood red, and dense blood vessels covered the right arm and leg like metal mail.

At the same time, her intact left side face has also undergone obvious changes. She is coquettish and charming, radiant, and her curly long red hair hangs down to her waist is like dense seaweed in a sea of ​​blood; countless complex patterns extend on the left side of her body, like some kind of ancient amulet, spreading to the left arm, left leg and even the left pupil.

No one in this world can escape the fatal attraction of the left half of the witch, but at the same time, the right half of her body can break everyone’s hearts.

The ultimate combination of beauty and horror.

The Witch of Italdo.

“Ah…” The witch let out a provocative groan in relief.

Shen Zhuo immediately wanted to let go of the hands he was holding, but she grabbed it firmly, and then snuggled up like a gorgeous poisonous snake, with fingertips lifting Shen Zhuo’s chin lightly:

“Do you miss me, Supervisor Shen?”

Immediately afterwards, she leaned over and pressed her charming cheek against Shen Zhuo’s face, her provocative smile was full of hints: “If you let me be free, maybe we can go to a place where there are no people together, and I can make you feel a lot of happiness, and—”

Her voice froze.

A small silver controller appeared in front of her eyes, and Shen Zhuo said coldly: “And a lot of high-voltage electricity.”

With a bang, Witch Italdo backed away quickly, almost knocking over the table and chairs.

“Human!!” She gritted her teeth and pulled the metal collar on her neck, but she couldn’t take it off no matter what. She could only stare at it Shen Zhuo with hatred, undisguised malice flashed in her blood-red eyes: “One day I will let this circle be locked around your own neck, one day-”

Shen Zhuo said: “So many evolutionaries out there want to trap this around my neck, so what? They can only think about it.”

“…”

“Reproduce the scene in this room three years ago, and don’t make me order it a second time.”

Bai Sheng turned his head and asked Chen Miao in a low voice, “Have you ever been shocked?”

Chen Miao covered his collar with a shocked face: “How is it possible, I am so docile and obedient!”

“…”

Witch Italdo stared at Shen Zhuo with hatred, raised her blood-red weird left hand and pressed it on the wire bed, and said something hoarsely.

The pronunciation was very obscure, as if it was some ancient and lost spell, or a language that had never appeared on Earth.

Immediately afterwards, the picture of time and space going backward roared like a flood.

The scorched walls were restored, the cracked floor tiles healed, and the broken glass windows miraculously closed automatically; everything before their eyes was restored to the state before the fire three years ago. The light in the house was dim, and the smell of inferior disinfectant was emitted.

On the wire hospital bed, a figure appeared silently.

It was a very thin man, who seemed to be still very young, but years of coma had made him disfigured, his face was chapped and decayed, and his nose was full of the breath of death.

You can’t see what he looks like anymore.

Bai Sheng narrowed his eyes slightly: “Could it be that he is…”

“Mr. Rong.” Shen Zhuo said softly.

Following Shen Zhuo’s gaze, there was a bedside card sandwiched by the steel wire bedrail, and the name column was scrawled in a ballpoint pen – Rong Qi.

Bai Sheng put one hand on Shen Zhuo’s shoulder carelessly, leaned over and carefully looked at the bedside card: “…This brother is a bit miserable, the treatment conditions in the rural health center are not very good. What kind of disease is he suffering from? Vegetative state? He won’t be brain dead, right?”

Just as Shen Zhuo was about to say something, at this moment, a strange, smiling voice sounded from behind everyone:

“Guess what disease this unlucky man has, Fu Chen?”

——Fu Chen.

Like a silent thunder, Shen Zhuo’s pupils suddenly dilated.

His pupils were dark and cold, and Bai Sheng clearly felt the thin shoulders under his palm tense for a moment. After a few moments of meditation, he turned his head slowly, and Fu Chen three years ago was standing at the door of the ward, passing through life and death and time, and appearing in front of everyone.

There was a dead silence in the room, and everyone was stunned.

Bai Sheng frowned, pressed Shen Zhuo’s shoulder, and whispered comfort and reminder in his ear: “Supervisor Shen.”

Three years ago, Fu Chen turned his back to the sky outside the door, but he could still tell that his facial features were very handsome, the kind that would attract a lot of attention when walking on campus, with a metal ring marked S around the neck.

“Not interested.” He crossed his arms and looked at the hospital bed for a moment, then looked away, “Let’s go, Su Jiqiao. I have an appointment with Shen Zhuo on the plane at nine o’clock in the evening, and I’ll be late.”

A slender figure came out from behind Fu Chen. It was a beautiful young man with a soft and pleasant voice, as if he had just realized something, he said apologetically, “What should I do, Brother Fu, if Senior Shen finds out that we have come out alone, won’t he be angry with you?”

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1 Durban is a program where they cultivate good men to make them tougher and more moral.

2  Xiao Ming’s grandfather: Xiaoming is a common Chinese name for a boy, in the sentence it is saying that the reason why Xiao Ming’s grandfather was able to live for so long was because he knew how to keep distance from his seniors. Bai Sheng used it as a way to throw “shade” to Chen Miao since he was close to Shen Zhuo.

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The author has something to say:

Hawkings didn’t mean that hhhhhh

The one that was burnt to ashes on the hospital bed is Rong, it’s not that complicated, it’s just the infinite resurrection ability starting from the residual cells.