48 Approaching Truth

When Huang Ju mentioned that she was going to tell me about the identity of my biological father and the mystery surrounding my birth, my heart instantly leaped into my throat. Ever since the onset of the murder game case, up until the recent return of the deceased case, this was practically the most anticipated and crucial matter for me. No matter what, discovering who I am and where I come from held an irresistible allure.

However, I outwardly refrained from appearing too eager. After all, logically speaking, I ought to be plunged into deep sorrow right now. "My" girlfriend had just died in such a perverted manner, followed by Qing'er's tragic demise, and there was also that woman—the one whose uterus was excised—who had traveled with my girlfriend from City S to City X. She was likewise one of my people, and the dossier given to me by Huang Quan had also documented this woman. Named Aunt Zhang, she was Old Hei's woman and equally formidable, yet she died just like that at Bai Ye's hands. This alone was enough to illustrate just how powerful Bai Ye truly was, which simultaneously gave me an extra ounce of confidence.

Thus, I wore a sorrowful expression and said to Huang Ju, "Mom, although I am grieving deeply right now, I must know what I am meant to know. I need to uncover the truth of the matter and avenge Xiao Xue and Qing'er!"

No sooner had I finished speaking than Old Hei suddenly leaped up from behind the sofa. Vaulting directly over the furniture, he stood right beside me. He didn't say a single word, just fixed his piercing gaze upon me as if trying to see right through me.

My heart skipped a beat, and to be honest, I was insanely nervous. My back stiffened, and every single nerve in my body went taut. After all, this Old Hei was the one who had trained a freak like Huang Quan; he was bound to be a super badass with discerning, ruthless insight. Fooling him was no easy feat.

Just when I thought my cover had been blown, Old Hei suddenly spoke to me, "Xiao Quan, you already know who the killer is, don't you? Why didn't you stay in City X to kill him and avenge yourself before coming back?"

I replied directly, "I can basically confirm it is the assassin named Bai Ye. I am certain that Aunt Zhang was murdered by him, reportedly even having her uterus excised. As for Qing'er, by the time I reached the hotel and saw her, she was already brutally dead. Judging by the modus operandi, it was undoubtedly Bai Ye's work as well. I have always been deeply wary of this Bai Ye. Ever since the murder game began, although I utilized him and made him cooperate with me to exploit Chen Mu, I never dared to have too much contact with him, only briefly showing my face before him because he is truly an inscrutable person. Later, I had a direct confrontation with him beneath the columbarium, and he must have seen right through me by then. More importantly, regarding his combat prowess, although I was personally trained by Uncle Hei, I still consider myself no match for Bai Ye. Fearing that I would end up dead at his hands like Qing'er, I decided to return and report the matter to Uncle Hei first, leaving the final decision to him."

The moment I finished speaking, Old Hei glared at me with a gloomy expression, looking thoroughly displeased and ready to punish or finish me off.

Yet I knew that Huang Quan wasn't someone who cowered timidly; he had a temper of his own.

Therefore, a flash of inspiration suddenly struck my mind, and I abruptly raised my tone, adopting a rather disgruntled and agitated pitch as I said to Old Hei, "Uncle Hei, I've reported everything concerning my mission, but there is still one lingering question in my heart. That is about my girlfriend Xiao Xue. She was poisoned to death by Aunt Zhang, wasn't she? Was that your kill order, Uncle Hei? Why? Why did you plot to kill my girlfriend without my consent? Do you really take me, Huang Quan, for someone devoid of blood and temper?"

After saying this, I was almost impressed with myself. No wonder Jin Zedong, Bai Ye, and even Fang Qinghe all held me in high regard; if truly pushed to the brink of desperation, I actually had some genuine skills under my belt. Even this bullshitting acting skill of mine could be considered top-tier!

Upon hearing my words, Old Hei merely clenched his jaw without flying into a rage. Instead, he abruptly turned his head to glance at Huang Ju, as if there were still some secret between the two of them.

Ultimately, Old Hei didn't say anything further, while Huang Ju called out to me, signaling me to follow her.

Then, with my heart hanging by a thread, I followed her, knowing she was finally going to reveal the secret to me.

She quickly led me deep into the villa and into the kitchen. Following that, she opened the kitchen cupboard and seemed to press a button or mechanism hidden within the cupboard wall, whereupon I heard several soft, clicking sounds akin to a door unlocking.

"Quan'er, go on in," Huang Ju said directly to me.

I was somewhat bewildered, but intuition told me this was the entrance to a subterranean passage. This tactic bore a striking resemblance to Dawn and the Avengers—acting like rats, fond of plotting and scheming underground.

To be honest, my heart fluttered with panic at the time. After all, one simply doesn't dare to casually explore an unknown subterranean world, especially since I wasn't actually Huang Quan.

Yet, in order to unearth the truth, I had no choice but to bite the bullet and squeeze into the cupboard. Crawling inside, I discovered a passage leading into the depths of the earth. I descended directly down a vertical ladder, with Huang Ju following closely behind me.

This underground tunnel was quite deep, clearly not your average basement or cellar.

After descending for nearly ten meters, I finally reached the destination. Down here, there were no exaggerated facilities like the underground base of Dawn; it was merely a very simple space, somewhat resembling a shipping container. In any case, all four sides were sealed using special metallic materials, so the moment I stepped down, I immediately felt a heavy sense of oppression. However, it wasn't enough to suffocate or deprive one of breath, as there appeared to be an oxygen-supply system installed down here.

I stood in place without daring to move. Soon, Huang Ju descended as well and told me to follow her. We walked further into the depths, and she instructed me to stop and wait for her.

She then approached the metal wall, unlocked a metal door using her fingerprint, and stepped straight inside.

I curiously peeked in, but couldn't make out anything. After waiting for half a minute, Huang Ju suddenly emerged, pushing a wheelchair.

A person was seated in the wheelchair. The moment I laid eyes on this individual, my scalp went numb and my spine turned icy. To be frank, the sight of this person was utterly horrifying.

I could no longer discern his facial features, let alone his age; I could only vaguely deduce that it was a man.

His hair had fallen out entirely, and his scalp was covered in a layer of bumps—or rather, pustules—though these sores had already dried and cracked. His face fared no better, truly reduced to nothing more than a layer of dried skin wrapped tightly around his bones, resembling a withered hide stretched over a skeleton.

Furthermore, I could tell that his skin had severely ulcerated. Had it not been for the application of special medications, it probably would have rotted away entirely by now, completely dissolving into a pool of corpse-water.

As for his body, obscured as it was by clothing, I couldn't make it out, but judging solely by his physique, his entire body must have shriveled away—much like that mummified corpse of Fang Lin's adoptive father that I had once seen.

The only reason I could tell he was still alive and possessed a glimmer of vital signs was his pair of eyes. Although his eye sockets had deeply sunken in, his eyes remained open, appearing to still hold a trace of life.

I was profoundly perplexed as to who this bizarre, monstrous entity could possibly be, and why he was concealed in this secret subterranean space nearly ten meters underground.

Before long, Huang Ju turned to me and said, "Quan'er, this is your father, Wang Zhen."

When Huang Ju declared that this hideously ugly, nauseating man was actually my father, I was struck dumb for a moment, and I gasped a breath of chilled air from the bottom of my heart. At that moment, I was genuinely shocked, because if he was Huang Quan's father, then theoretically he was my father as well. Regardless of whether there was any gratitude for raising me, the biological blood tie of procreation was immutable. To say that my heart felt no grief at all would be a lie. I had imagined and anticipated it ten million times, but never had I expected to meet my own father in such a manner.

In a daze, I asked Huang Ju, "What happened to him? Is he still alive?"

Huang Ju replied, "Your father was a medical expert at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, engaged in HIV research, and he was himself an HIV carrier. Having undergone multiple experimental drug treatments within his body, too many viral residues remained. His bodily functions had long since aged, and all his organs had failed and decayed. He is already dead now, though he can also be described as the living dead."

Hearing Huang Ju's words, and connecting them with what Lü Qiang had previously said at the Infant-Nourishing Ground about things like HIV-infected infant swaps, I vaguely felt as though I was beginning to understand something. The truth might just be right before my eyes.

Yet, at that very moment, I suddenly lost all interest in knowing the truth. For if my father was an HIV carrier, then there was a ninety-nine percent chance that I was too...