The Brain Science Case 143

Chapter 143: The Blazing Fire (Part 2) – 1

#If pain could be transferred, I hope to feel the pain they endured in their final moments. Even if it’s just for a second.

**

Upon receiving the news that Tang Yingli had been rushed to the emergency room, Zhou Jinglin didn’t even have time to change her clothes before she rushed to the municipal hospital to find her.

On the way, she continued to receive news from Fang Zijun and Chen Huomu. The former National Security Bureau director’s house had been blown up, and the fire had spread to the nearby houses. More than twenty windows in the four apartment buildings nearby had been shattered, and the fire department was doing its best to put out the fire. As for the other four members of the Shi family, the mother and her two daughters who had been tied up on the boat were safe, and Xiangrong and Shi Weihao had finally been rescued safely, but the other two police officers from the Bali precinct were not so lucky. One had a serious open fracture in his right leg, and the other had serious internal bleeding and had been pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.

After the previous few incidents, Jinglin was somewhat familiar with the inside of the municipal hospital, but the journey to the emergency room still felt long.

With every step, her leather shoes left a footprint of seawater. She was wrapped in a towel, and her half-wet shirt and pants made her feel a little cold in the hospital’s air conditioning, but none of this could stop her.

She wanted to see Yingli, as soon as possible.

“I’m sorry, excuse me, excuse me.”

She pushed through the crowd and entered the emergency room, and finally found Ren Liqiong. “Are you… Yingli’s friend?”

“I’m here to see her.” Jinglin stated her identity, her gaze shifting to the patient lying on the bed. When she saw that she was tightly wrapped in bandages and was on a respirator, her heart couldn’t help but ache.

Jinglin’s eyes were red. “Teacher… Teacher.” Her hand was outside the hospital bed, and the nail polish was a little faded, and her palm had a slight abrasion and swelling. Jinglin wanted to touch her, but she was afraid of hurting her, so she could only stand by the bed, anxious.

“Uh, Officer Zhou…”

“Is she serious? My chief only mentioned that she had been in an explosion, but he didn’t, he didn’t tell me she was so seriously injured.”

Ren Liqiong looked troubled. “You calm down first. I mean…”

“I am calm.”

Jinglin wiped away her tears and covered her sneeze with a towel. At that moment, a middle-aged woman with a bento box returned to the patient’s side and stared at her with a puzzled expression.

Jinglin was also looking at her, and after three seconds of staring at each other, the woman asked, “Are you Xingwen’s… friend?”

“X-Xingwen?” she was dumbfounded. “Isn’t she Tang…”

“Yes, aren’t you her friend who rushed over to see her after her car accident? I was just wondering why I don’t have much of an impression of you…”

Jinglin was shocked, and Ren Liqiong, who was behind her, was already covering her mouth and chuckling.

At that moment, the sound of high heels came from a distance—

“Officer Zhou?”

She looked up and saw Yingli standing at the foot of the bed, looking full of energy.

“Tang… Yingli?”

“Ah, I just went to the restroom.” She pushed up her glasses. “What are you doing by someone else’s bed? Do you know them? I’m in the bed next door.” After she had finished speaking, she nonchalantly returned to her own bed.

Jinglin’s face was so red, and after a quick “I’m sorry,” she fled in a sorry state.

**

After a careful look at Tang Yingli from head to toe, Jinglin found that the ends of Yingli’s hair were a little burnt, the lace of her Lolita-style dress was a little torn, and her stockings were also torn, but she was almost completely unharmed—except for the bandage on her forehead.

“How long are you going to look?” Yingli frowned, and Jinglin pouted and turned her around, putting her hands on her shoulders. “What’s wrong?”

“I was just about to ask you what’s wrong.” She widened her eyes. “When the chief notified me, he clearly said you had been sent to the emergency room, and he even emphasized that the explosion was very powerful. That’s why I rushed over, and I thought you were seriously injured…”

“Oh.” Yingli nodded in understanding. “So that’s why you mistook the patient next door for me?”

She blushed with shame. “Don’t laugh.”

“Am I laughing?” she shrugged, “I hit my forehead on the wall when I fell during the explosion. To be on the safe side, Chief Fang advised me to come here for a check-up. After all, the signs of a concussion don’t show up so quickly, but other than that, everything is fine.”

“Your index finger nail is broken.” Jinglin grabbed her left hand. “Doesn’t it hurt?”

“It’s a small injury. I didn’t even notice until you said so.” She took a deep breath and at the same time moved closer to Jinglin and sniffed. “Seawater and the smell of fish… you haven’t changed your clothes?”

“I was just thinking of rushing over to see you. How could I have the time to change?” If I had known, I would have come later.

Yingli stared at her, and in the end, she couldn’t help but cover her mouth with a smile. “Hey.”

“I’m not laughing at you.”

“Then what is it?”

Looking at Jinglin’s pouting, flushed face, Yingli decided not to provoke her fragile self-esteem any further. “It’s nothing. Just remember to look carefully next time, or just ask. Sister Liqiong is not my exclusive nurse, is she?” shaking her head, she heard Jinglin sneeze as she climbed onto the hospital bed, “are you cold?”

“My clothes are not dry yet.” She pulled the towel tighter. “That… I heard my mom told you a lot of things?”

It was better not to mention it. As soon as Li Yuejiao was mentioned, Yingli’s eyes couldn’t help but be filled with a mixture of emotions.

Jinglin was the daughter of the suspect who had been suspected of killing her biological parents.

Yingli admitted that she had never thought things would turn out this way. Even if Li Yuejiao had been hesitant during the operation, and Shi Jingde had claimed that Zhou Zengxiang “did not trust” Li Yuejiao, which had made her position even more ambiguous, this still could not change the fact that Jinglin was the “killer’s daughter.”

But Yingli immediately thought of Li Yuejiao’s words—“the ones who were changed by that incident were also Jinglin and me.”

Li Yuejiao had been pregnant with Jinglin when she had been on the mission. It was still unknown to what extent her relationship with Zhou Zengxiang had been at that time, but as a pregnant mother-to-be, facing Xu Shengya, who was doing everything she could to protect her daughter, Li Yuejiao was clearly unable to be as cold-blooded as usual, right?

Unable to coldly carry out her direct superior’s request, and at the same time, in her attitude, Li Yuejiao had already shown a certain self-awareness of reflection. So after the operation, she had been removed from the core of the National Security Bureau. Yingli had reason to believe that that was Zhou Zengxiang’s idea, and it was also the beginning of their estrangement.

Yes, she is indeed Li Yuejiao and Zhou Zengxiang’s daughter. But at the same time, she is also another victim hidden behind the perpetrator—she has lost a normal family, her biological father’s identity has been hidden by Li Yuejiao, and she has also experienced the psychological trauma of a complex upbringing.

From this point of view, the fate of both mother and daughter had been completely changed by the Gan family massacre.

“Yes, a lot…” Yingli pursed her lips slightly and looked away, “a lot of things.”

“Can you let me know?” Jinglin sat on the edge of the bed. “Your expression is very conflicted.” She reached out and covered Yingli’s clenched right fist.

“Your aunt… is related to the case I’m investigating.” Yingli closed her eyes. “She’s one of the people involved.”

“No way. She’s one of the people involved?” Jinglin cried out, drawing the attention of many people. She quickly drew the curtain and said in a low voice, “Then… to what extent is she involved?”

Yingli heard her worry, and although she had originally intended to be vague, because of the previous lesson, and because she had confronted Shi Jingde, she expected that Fang Zijun had already heard the conversation. If Fang Zijun knew, it was very likely that Zhou Zengxiang would also know, and if that was the case, then there seemed to be no need to hide it from Jinglin.

“She’s a core member. And your aunt confessed to me that the gun she has is the weapon that shot my biological parents.” Yingli’s face was filled with sadness. “The evidence is in the evidence storage. As long as we check the rifling marks… we can find out if what your aunt said is true.”

“So, my mom is the one who killed you…” your parents’ real killer. Jinglin was so choked up she couldn’t speak. Yingli held her hand back, and the two of them held each other tightly.

“I don’t know. That Director Shi revealed before he died that there was more than one killer involved that night. From the fact that your aunt was not promoted after the mission, but was instead assigned to be a long-term undercover agent, that is, the owner of ‘Givenchy,’ I think the one who actually did it was probably not her.”

“But she was still involved, wasn’t she?” Jinglin said with despair and frustration, “I’m sorry… I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

“Why are you apologizing?”

“Even if she didn’t actually commit the crime of killing your parents… she’s still my mom.” Jinglin shook her head. “And I… am the killer’s daughter. I should be the one you hold responsible, right?”

“You weren’t even born back then. You tell me, what reason do you have to be responsible for their deaths?” Yingli’s face was stiff, and her nails dug into Jinglin’s palm. “Besides, I believe what your aunt said.”

“What did she say?”

“The ones whose fate was changed by this incident also include you two. According to research, if a pregnant woman is under a lot of psychological stress during her pregnancy, including bad habits like drinking and smoking, it will indeed affect the fetus’s genes and brain development, and of course, the growth process in infancy and early childhood will also have an impact on the brain…” she took a deep breath and gently stroked Jinglin’s forehead, “so your brain shows one fact—you are also a victim. And you are powerless to change anything.”

“But I…” Jinglin trembled, and facing the gazing Yingli, in the next second—Yingli did something that was beyond her expectations.

She opened her arms and hugged Jinglin.

“It’s easy to choose to take it out on another person, but I don’t plan to do that.” She held Jinglin and smiled. “Besides, you saved me from a dilemma today, didn’t you?”

She had indeed thought of sacrificing Shi Jingde. From a utilitarian point of view, it seemed reasonable to sacrifice one person to save four, not to mention that Shi Jingde was the mastermind who had signed off on the plan and had caused the Gan family massacre.

But if she could do it again, Yingli would still do everything she could to have him face the law. Everyone’s brain has its own set of moral standards, but that is not the law, and it can be changed at any time due to any external factors. Simply put, it is to act according to one’s own preferences. She was very clear that she could also make such a mistake.

“I think I heard the chief say that my mom forced you to choose…”

“That’s right. It was you who made it easy for me to make a decision, although in the end, Shi Jingde still didn’t survive.” She gently stroked Jinglin’s cheek, and her thumb touched a warm tear. “It’s not your fault. I don’t blame you at all.”

Jinglin gave a complicated, bitter smile. “Even so, I still find it hard to believe… how could my mom be involved in your family’s case?”

“If your aunt hadn’t told me herself, I wouldn’t have thought of it. And thanks to today’s conversation, I finally understand her purpose for forming the organization.”

“What?”

“She said it was for survival and for her ideals. The targets she’s looking for now are almost all related to the perpetrators of the massacre back then, and these targets—also include me.”

She quickly clarified, “It wasn’t me who said it. I promise you, I haven’t had a chance to talk to my mom directly until now.”

“I know it wasn’t you who leaked it.” The smile on Yingli’s lips was fleeting. “But where on earth did your aunt get so much information about me? She even knows about my brain’s defect.”

“You mean that what… the part that controls emotions?” she couldn’t believe it. “How could she know?”

“That’s what I think too. But she does know, otherwise she wouldn’t have said that…”

‘I remember that the reaction of the ventral side of your prefrontal cortex is much weaker than that of an ordinary person. If that’s the case… you should choose the side with the greatest benefit, right?’ Li Yuejiao not only knew her brain scan data, but her interpretation of the data was also very accurate.

Did George Miller tell her? Or… someone else?

“Excuse me.”

The curtain was pulled back, and what appeared before the two of them was Ren Liqiong, and behind her, Tang Zhichao.

“Brother?”

“Dr. Tang?”

“I’m sorry, I just finished a surgery… I heard from Liqiong that you were sent to the emergency room, so I came to see you.” Tang Zhichao’s heart was in his throat, but after seeing that Yingli was safe, he was finally a little relieved. “How do you feel now? Are you dizzy? Do you have a headache?”

“Neither.” They tacitly stopped the topic. “I’m fine, I just came for a check-up… about the general situation, Sister Liqiong should have told you, right?” but to her surprise, Ren Liqiong shook her head.

“You two talk. I’m going back to the station. I’ll be back in a bit.”

Yingli raised an eyebrow. “Remember to change your clothes.”

Jinglin was taken aback, then nodded with a smile. “Don’t worry, I will.”

**

After finishing a video conference with the director of the municipal hospital, Yan Ruiyang turned on the TV to listen to the news. He had originally just wanted some background noise, but he unexpectedly heard a familiar name from the speaker—

‘The explosion at an apartment building in the Nanshijiao area this morning, the deceased was sixty-nine-year-old Shi Jingde, who had held a high-ranking position in the National Security Bureau. According to the police, the culprit had first knocked down and disguised himself as a security guard to infiltrate, and had also deleted the surveillance footage. The plan was quite meticulous…’

The screen showed a photo of Shi Jingde. Yan Ruiyang raised an eyebrow, and after listening to the follow-up report, he couldn’t help but smile.

“She’s finally made a move.”

His phone rang, reminding him of his next appointment. It’s time to go to the gym. He had a dinner meeting at five, followed by a speech at 7:30… he notified his secretary to contact the driver, and he himself lightly took his phone and prepared to go downstairs.

Changing into his casual sportswear, his stretch limousine was already waiting for him at the door. He smiled and took the speech outline for tonight from his secretary, planning to read it in the car, but to his surprise, as he was about to get into the car, he saw a strange face out of the corner of his eye.

“Who are you?” Yan Ruiyang could tell at a glance that this person was not his usual driver. “Where’s the original driver?”

“Ah, well, boss, the driver had a motorcycle accident on his way home last night and broke a bone. The doctor said he needs a long time to recover…”

“Why didn’t you say so earlier that you were changing drivers?” Yan Ruiyang’s face was filled with displeasure, and he glanced at the young driver. “Do you know what the schedule is?”

“Yes, the boss is going to the gym at three in the afternoon, has a dinner meeting with the Southeast Asia manager at the Caesar Hotel at five, a conference hall speech at 7:30, and then at ten…”

“Yes, you’ve memorized it well. I hope you know how to get to all these places. What’s your name?”

“Jiang Zhiwei.”

Yan Ruiyang nodded with narrowed eyes and pointed to his secretary. “Send this driver’s personal information to my phone. Let’s go. We’re running late.”

He demands to know the background of everyone he uses. Yan Ruiyang is indeed careful.

But they were also fully prepared. The rest was to gain his trust through their performance.

“Yes, sir.” Jiang Zhiwei glanced at the secretary and did not dare to be slow as he went around to the driver’s seat.