Chapter 101: The Prelude (Part Two)

16:00.

Lin Heng ate as he flipped through the case files, until he was finally full.

Jiang Chao'an, meanwhile, had already left the hotel room.

Having confirmed that four in the afternoon had arrived and receiving word that the train was heading north, he too had visibly relaxed—finally assured that it was safe to leave Lin Heng here alone.

In the empty room, having flipped through the files to the very last page, Lin Heng set them down and closed his eyes.

In his mind, the statements he had just read surfaced once more.

"Yes... My name is Zhang Zhaoxia. I'm a caregiver at this nursing home."

"Y-yes... Wang Lu was always under my care during her time at the nursing home..."

"...I heard the news. But even now, I still can't bring myself to believe it."

"...I simply cannot imagine who would want to kill this child... She was already pitiful enough as it was. She was sent here when she was under ten. Back then, her mind was clouded, and she couldn't move an inch... It was only through gradual care, along with new medication from the hospital doctors, that she finally began to improve—eventually even able to sit upright and hold a bowl to eat on her own!"

"...Really, unless you saw her with your own eyes, you couldn't imagine how wonderful that child was... Though she wasn't beautiful on the outside, she was incredibly gentle and considerate, even if her mind was a little fuzzy..."

"...For instance, let me tell you something... That child was very timid. The slightest noise would make her scream in fright—she'd even cry out in a panic when nothing was provoking her at all... But there was an old man in the bed next to hers. He was in poor health, drowsy all the time, and stayed in bed resting every day. The child worried that her cries might wake him, so whenever she flinched and felt panic rising in her heart, she would press her hand to her mouth, and just before the scream came out, she'd bite down hard on her own arm... By the end of the day, her arm was covered in pockmarked bruises. When her brother saw the marks, he thought the nursing home was mistreating her and charged in furiously demanding an explanation. But after Wang Lu stammered out the truth, he hugged her with such heartache that tears streamed down his face..."

"...Yes, and her brother—I knew her brother. The young man named Wang Ruo. He was a good child too. Every time he came to take his sister home, he'd bring us gifts and was very polite... And he wasn't bad-looking either. I heard quite a few girls liked him, but he'd always tell them outright that he had a paralyzed sister and that he would take care of her for the rest of his life. Hearing that, none of those girls ever came around again... Who could have imagined that something like that would happen to them?"

...

Those were the interview records from a robbery case several months prior.

There were also some more recent investigation records.

"Yang Luo? I know him."

"...I joined the company in the same cohort as him. We went through the campus recruitment training together and spent five years in a project group that ultimately fell apart. If I had to say, we were actually friends back then."

"...Why did we stop being friends? Probably mainly because I left the company. The severance package Shengyi offered wasn't enough, so I kicked up a fuss. After that, Yang Luo drifted away from me... He's the type who follows rules strictly, stubbornly set in his ways. Once he latches onto something, he commits wholeheartedly to believing it's good—or bad. He really liked the company he was at back then, and I suppose he didn't care for hearing it spoken ill of. But to me, it was just a job. I didn't want to take more than my share from others, and I wouldn't allow others to take more than theirs from me."

"...Later, though, I heard from some old colleagues still at Shengyi that he'd apparently contracted a terminal illness. He was posting everywhere—on the internal network and public forums—trying to seek justice... But the company soon suppressed the whole thing. Sigh, what can I say... It makes you reflect on how fickle life is."

"...Me? I didn't feel much of anything. Just a bit of lament. Because I knew about Yang Luo's family background. Back when we were colleagues, whenever we had a gathering, people would ask if he wanted to come, but he almost never did—unless it was a free company team-building event. And after those events, he'd go around asking every colleague if they were going to finish their food, then ask the server to pack up the leftovers so he could take them home, saving himself a day's worth of meal money. In daily life, he scrimped on everything—food and clothing alike. He never went out on weekends. Every cent he saved, part went home to his family and part went toward buying a house. He never once considered spending on entertainment."

"...His life back then couldn't even be called living—it was more like asceticism. I absolutely couldn't endure a single day of that kind of life, but he seemed to enjoy it. I felt then that the man's material desires were terrifyingly low..."

"...But I can understand part of it."

"...He came from a small mountain village. His parents borrowed money from everywhere and combined it with financial aid just to put him through university. He was like a robot that had been programmed—moving through life according to a set script: 'Study, work, strive, support the family, buy a house, get married, have children, motivate the next generation to repeat the cycle...'"

"...I always thought that people like him would be satisfied as long as they were given a chance to keep that cycle running. Beyond that, enjoyment, happiness—none of it was needed. But if even that last tiny hope were to be shattered, then they'd probably be capable of anything (laughs)..."

"...To be honest, I did read the posts Yang Luo put up back then, furiously denouncing Shengyi's callousness. The intensity of his words made me wonder if he might be about to strap on explosives and blow up the company building... But of course, he never did, right? Because he still had savings, and he still had his parents... For a young man from a mountain village who had struggled so hard to support his impoverished family, even without children as a vulnerability, his parents remained a weakness. He couldn't afford to do anything too desperate... So I figured back then that Yang Luo would eventually quiet down. And he did—no more posts after that... But wherever he is in the afterlife, he should be gratified to know that Shengyi has now fallen into great trouble. The boss was blown to bits, hahaha... Ah, I'm not really gloating. Just making an observation."

"...Huh? Yang Luo isn't dead yet? This is his current photo... Damn, he looks like a completely different person now?! Does he really have a terminal illness?"

"...What, so it was a misdiagnosis..."

"...Still, he really does look completely different from before."

"...Because back then, his eyes were as rigid as a robot's. Now, his eyes are practically burning with flames."

...

Those interview records drifted through his mind like flowing water.

Lin Heng rose from the bed.

He pulled open the window and let the sunlight pour in unobstructed. Within his keen perception, Lin Heng detected at least a hundred pairs of eyes monitoring this place.

But he paid them no mind. Instead, he turned to face the urn of ashes, as if speaking to it, or perhaps murmuring to himself, and said softly:

"...Xixi, soon, I am going to do something."

"...What I am about to do might be called 'reckless,' or perhaps 'lacking a sense of the bigger picture.' But—some things simply need to be done."

He furrowed his brow and continued:

"I fully understand the importance of the 'Transcendent Project.' After reading those case files, I also came to understand how Yang Luo ended up where he is today."

"...The reason he has come to this point is, at its root, the accumulation of individual mistakes—Wang Ruo's mistake, Huang Cheng's mistake, Wang Changming's mistake, and even... mistakes on a broader scale."

"...It is precisely because of those mistakes that he chose the path he walks now."

Lin Heng fell silent for a moment, as if in deep thought, then continued slowly:

"—But those are not justification."

"...Being oppressed is no justification for oppressing others. Being persecuted as an innocent is no justification for persecuting other innocents. If it were only the killing of Wang Ruo, Huang Cheng, and Wang Changming, there might still be some ground for mitigation under the law. But by the time he killed Wang Lu—and the dozens of innocent victims in that villa—he had already crossed the line completely, making himself the source of a new wrong."

"...A wrong should be corrected."

He narrated all this quietly, but at that very moment, the hotel room door was suddenly slammed open by an immense force. Jiang Chao'an and the other operatives surged in together, guns trained on Lin Heng, their faces severe.

"Don't move!"

But no one rushed forward. Everyone knew the fearsome power this man possessed.

Lin Heng turned to look at them and gave a gentle smile, as if the scene before him was exactly what he had expected.

And indeed it was. He even knew precisely where the listening devices in this room were planted. His words just now, seemingly spoken to Shen Yunxi's ashes, were also, in a sense, a direct declaration of his intentions to Jiang Chao'an through the bug on the wall.

"Officer Lin, I recall you said last night: 'No matter how minor the statute, I will follow it—this is my precept.' Surely you don't intend to break the promise you made with your own mouth?"

Jiang Chao'an gazed at him sternly, his eyes dark and heavy.

But Lin Heng merely looked back at him and asked lightly:

"Director Jiang... why is it that under the same law, an ordinary person who violates it is punished, but when a Transcendent kills someone, they receive amnesty?"

Jiang Chao'an looked at him.

"This is the greater good."

"I know... the greater good must prevail."

Lin Heng shook his head:

"But a wrong is a wrong. It does not become right simply because the greater good demands it. The dead are dead. They do not rise from the ground simply because the greater good remains stable.

"In my view—Transcendent power is so immense that, conversely, it demands even stronger restraint. If we make unlimited legal concessions to Transcendents, that will become the very thing that destroys the true 'greater good' in the future."

Jiang Chao'an still looked at him, not a trace of wavering in his eyes. He had considered these questions long ago. Now, instead, it was he who had to remind Lin Heng:

"Don't forget, you are a Transcendent too."

"Yes."

Lin Heng smiled again.

"So when this is over, I will willingly accept any punishment—Director Jiang, didn't you just ask whether I intended to break the promise I made with my own mouth? Now I can answer you: no, I didn't.

"Don't forget that beyond its specific provisions, the law also carries penalties—being willing to accept criminal punishment for one's actions is itself part of the spirit of the law."

Even as he smiled, Lin Heng's body had already moved to the window.

Jiang Chao'an's pupils contracted sharply, but in that first instant, he could not bring himself to order his men to open fire.

And so in that split second, all he could do was watch helplessly as Lin Heng stamped his foot, and the next moment, his body had already leapt out through the window!

"...!"

Jiang Chao'an and the operatives rushed to the window at an unprecedented speed, watching the figure weave between the buildings, receding from their sight at an almost unimaginable velocity. The entire process took less than ten seconds.

"..."

Jiang Chao'an clenched his jaw and pulled out his phone.

"I need to inform the higher-ups... And Xu Jingyuan. Something's about to happen."

(End of Chapter)