Part 4
For the first time, Wen Rong felt that the ordinary laptops at Floriman Academy were actually quite nice.
Wen Rong held the computer with one hand and grabbed Uncle Gong’s face with the other. Because the cloth in his mouth prevented the unlock, he had to pull it down.
“Even if you open the computer, it’s useless! The files inside are all encrypted.”
“The world’s top two hackers are both at Floriman Academy.”
Uncle Gong’s withered eyes trembled in the air. Having been a superior being in the Outer District for too long, this was the first time he had been struck down. He couldn’t recover his senses.
Wen Rong successfully unlocked it, found a network cable under the desk, plugged it in, and logged into Black Pigeon.
…
Ding.
Just as Leo’s ten fingers were about to smoke, an impossible avatar popped up in the lower right corner of the screen.
Wen Rong: [Hack the computer I’m using.]
Leo was so shocked his eyes nearly fell out. “Cousin, what does this mean?”
“Do as he says.”
Zhou Xie spoke into the phone: “Wen Rong might be temporarily out of trouble. Are you there yet?”
“Arriving in ten minutes.”
Zhou Xie was just about to say hurry up when his phone buzzed with an internal line message.
[The vehicle transporting Shi Ye to the military court was hijacked. Shi Ye is missing.]
Zhou Xie was in no mood to care about Shi Ye right now. He closed the message and turned back to ask Leo, “Leo, is it hacked?”
“…”
Leo sat motionless in front of the computer.
Zhou Xie reached out to pat his shoulder, preparing to tell him not to zone out. Peripherally, he inadvertently glanced at the file just decrypted on the screen.
Behind his lenses, his gloomy eyes revealed unprecedented shock. Zhou Xie, who had forced himself to remain calm and arrange everything since Wen Rong’s accident, couldn’t react anymore upon seeing the numerous familiar names and notes.
Wen Rong: [Done hacking? They’re starting to bang on my door.]
Zhou Xie snapped back to reality, his throat shouting with an urgency that didn’t belong to him, “Leon, faster!”
The fact that this file was decrypted meant—Wen Rong had to die tonight.
Pounding music rushed straight to the top of the skull. Inside the lively dance floor, men and women partied to their hearts’ content.
Lin Jinghang checked his phone secretly for the third time. The person next to him noticed and laughed, asking if he was waiting for a message from a little girl. Annoyed, Lin Jinghang picked up his phone and walked out.
Walking out of the nightclub entrance, the whole world fell silent.
He exhaled and looked up at the sky, but it was like being scorched by the sun; he blinked hard.
On the roof of a car not far away, a sturdy figure was cleaning a gun.
“Hey, don’t just stand there,” that person said.
None of your business.
“If you have nothing to do, go to the convenience store across the street and see if they have cigarettes. Haven’t smoked in months, I’m dying for one.”
“Brother Lin, stop smoking.”
Lin Jinghang heard his own voice.
It was his voice, right? This was clearly his voice, but why was he calling the other person “Brother Lin”?
“Li Chaoyang, you want to die? I told you to go check for cigarettes.”
Li Chaoyang… who is that?
“The Wen Rong you want to find probably doesn’t want to see you smoke yourself to death either,” Lin Jinghang heard himself say again.
Wen Rong… is it?
Why bring up Wen Rong?
A sharp pain shot through Lin Jinghang’s temples. He was familiar with this sensation; it felt like he was going to pass out again.
It was so strange. The doctor found nothing wrong, and the System said he was fine. Why did this happen so frequently?
The moment his phone rang, the pain was scattered.
Lin Jinghang looked at the bustling street scene, almost thinking it was a hallucination just now.
The phone kept ringing, so Lin Jinghang had to fish it out.
He answered impatiently, “What?”
“The leader has arranged something. The car should be at the nightclub entrance. Please get in immediately.”
“Can’t you just tell me what it is?”
“This concerns the future of the Wang family. You’d better come over; the leader will tell you personally.”
So secretive. Sick.
Lin Jinghang was annoyed, but since Wang Sichen allowed him to continue living this lavish life, he had to obey and get in the car.
The car had a special pass. It ran red lights without anyone caring, and other cars made way even when it went against traffic. Sitting in the car, Lin Jinghang couldn’t help but sigh: “When it comes to using privilege, it has to be my uncle.”
He wondered how Wen Rong was doing now.
The thought startled him.
Damn, I actually thought about him.
Best if he dies.
After cursing maliciously, Lin Jinghang wondered, Am I being a bit too excessive?
Not excessive. Wen Rong is the excessive one. Saying I don’t look like someone who lived through the apocalypse… Idiot, he knows better than anyone what kind of bitter life people lived in the apocalypse.
While grumbling internally, he arrived at the location without realizing it.
Lin Jinghang took the elevator up. The secretary was waiting at the door holding a laptop.
“Where’s my uncle?”
The secretary motioned for him to sit and opened the laptop lid. Wang Sichen’s face appeared prominently on the screen.
“Wen Rong found our family’s secret in the Outer District. After much discussion, as long as Wen Rong dies, this matter can be swept under the rug.”
“Can you do it?”
Make Wen Rong die?
Lin Jinghang asked blankly, “Why me…”
“You performed excellently at the airport last time.”
Was it just because of that?
Last time, just explaining the bomb matter nearly exposed him.
Lin Jinghang, having been tormented by Wen Rong for a while, had gained some experience. He vaguely felt that with no one around and being far from the Outer District, Wang Sichen suddenly ordering him to kill Wen Rong was a very subtle move.
“What is the secret?” Lin Jinghang was smart for once.
The secretary answered first, “This secret…”
Wang Sichen cut him off. “You’ve reached the age to participate in the family business.”
“When people get old, in order to live, there will always be some demand for organs.”
“There are many people without value in the Outer District. We built a research institute there specifically to acquire organs for the use of certain people in the Inner District.”
Lin Jinghang froze for a moment. “Certain people refers to…”
“Key officials across the Federation, including the Principal of Floriman Academy. He has been matching recently. If not for this reason, you wouldn’t be sitting in the position of Student Council President of Floriman Academy.”
Clatter.
Lin Jinghang fell to the floor.
His brain ran sluggishly, like a mechanical watch losing power. Tick, tick, tick. The hands jumped much slower than his heartbeat. The massive disparity in frequency made him increasingly agitated.
Organ trading… was it taking someone else’s heart and putting it into your own body?
Was that “someone else” alive or dead?
…
Wen Rong rummaged through the boxes and cabinets, confirming that this Uncle Gong wasn’t a lover of books. There was almost nothing on the bookshelf that could be called “knowledge.”
Wood carvings, vases, writing brushes, inkstones… pretending to be a literary enthusiast.
Clack.
He accidentally knocked something to the ground.
Wen Rong endured the pain in his waist to pick it up.
The moment he held it, he faintly saw two white spheres inside the jar. The spheres were covered in red things, wispy and thread-like, not very clean, even a bit disgusting.
Wen Rong didn’t understand why someone would collect such things. Wanting to get rid of it quickly, he inadvertently shook the jar.
The white spheres rotated in the liquid. Suddenly, he met a pair of blue pupils.
Darker than Senior Leon’s eyes, staring wide open—so big that no eyelids were visible, only the eyeballs.
On-ly. Eye. Balls.
In that instant—the foul river, the smell of rust, the casual deaths, prostitution happening openly while the ledger was secretive… the fragments pieced together into a picture within a giant frame.
Wen Rong looked, thought, and then looked at this “Uncle Gong” in disbelief.
Precisely at that moment, Uncle Gong turned into an angel. Or if not, why did his body begin to glow with blue light?
Bang! Bang!
Uncle Gong broke the restraints with god-like strength. In that moment, Wen Rong shouted a familiar name through clenched teeth.
“Lin—Jing—Hang—”
Uncle Gong lowered his head, not looking at him. “I’m sorry, Wen Rong. You really must die.”
Wen Rong quickly exchanged points. The moment “Uncle Gong” rushed up, he followed his instincts and thrust his fist upward.
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