(2) Family background

  Shi Li went home from work as usual, intending to go to Liu Ke, but the 7th floor and above were strictly forbidden for outsiders to enter or exit. Sun Xiangshu didn't even come out to see him. Moreover, the most important thing was that Director Li had disappeared without a trace.

  Other colleagues were surprised by the sudden appearance of a large hole in the office building wall, but they were not uneasy because the experiments of Section 6 often made a big noise and they had gotten used to it. But Shi Li was different, he knew about the relationship between Director Li and the old woman from Section 6, and also knew that the laboratory of the Foreign Affairs Section was on the seventh floor, while the eighth floor was a mysterious place where people were imprisoned, as revealed by Sun Xiangshu, and no one from Section 6 could go up there. Now the outer wall had broken through to the eighth floor, and the entire Section 6 was sealed off at the scene, which meant that someone had escaped.

  "What's going on? Unfortunately, the experiment to revive Gao Qian has been postponed."

  Shi Li didn't leave the office, habitually opening several documents, only to find that they were those few untranslated ones. Shi Li was stunned, a wave of sourness rising in his heart, something had opened up and was stuck in his chest.

  "What am I doing?"

  Shi Li sat for a while, suddenly becoming somewhat anxious, he shut down the computer and quickly left the foreign affairs department, didn't take the elevator, and went downstairs like a wisp of smoke.

  The city has fallen into darkness, with lights twinkling here and there. The street lamps are dim yellow, and the few pedestrians hurry to and fro, their long shadows sweeping across the fallen leaves on the ground. The cold wind is sharp, wrapping around the leaves as they chase after the shadows, suddenly east, suddenly west, swirling and fluttering about.

  The cool breeze soothed his face, and Shi Li felt his mood gradually calm down.

  Since the rain last night, Shi Li has been finding it increasingly difficult to control his emotions. Last night, he almost hit Sun Xiangshu because she compared herself to Gao Juan. In Shi Li's eyes, Gao Juan is perfect and flawless, and for someone like Sun Xiangshu, a middle-aged woman, to compare herself to Gao Juan was almost too much for him to handle. Fortunately, he restrained himself at the last moment, or else who knows what would have happened.

  "Merged with two souls, I don't know which me is the current me?"

  History asked himself, a hint of evil smile floated at the corner of his mouth, and even he didn't notice it.

  Shi Li walked forward with his chest out, facing the wind, and every step he took seemed to be losing something. His heart was empty like a wilderness, and suddenly tears flowed down his face, but he didn't know why they were flowing.

  In the distance, several gas-powered cars whizzed by on the street. The heating manhole was spewing out white mist. A couple walked hand in hand into the fog. This urban night was both dangerous and warm. Shili squeezed out tears from her eyes, not wiping them away, and continued walking forward with her head held high, crossing over from that street corner.

  Just as Shilie had just passed by the warm air well, there was a heavy breathing sound inside. It seemed to be in great pain, but it didn't dare to cry out loud. If you listened carefully, you would find that it was a silent sob.

  Corpse Demon Zhuang Qin is offering sacrifices to his loved one using two other innocent lives.

  After Zhang Haiyang left Dàmù Shān, the person who was following him never appeared again. When he returned to the villa, Lily was asleep on the sofa, with tears at the corners of her eyes, as if she had been crying.

  The TV screen displayed the standby image of Xia Xin's DVD, Zhang Haiyang took out the disc and looked at it, it was a movie called "Untouchable Lover", he vaguely remembered it was a romance film, perhaps a tragedy. Zhang Haiyang sat down on the sofa with the disc in hand, his memory flashed back to a year ago, when his wife had bought this disc, he still remembered his wife saying they would watch it together when he returned home, but that night, when he arrived home, he found blood everywhere, and his daughter was struggling in a pool of blood. The nanny attacked him from behind, then tore his daughter in half in front of him. After the case was closed, Zhang Haiyang sold everything at home, but kept this disc, he had always wanted to watch it, but never had the courage, only carrying it with him from one place to another.

  Zhang Haiyang pinched the disc and trembled, tears falling like rain.

  Perhaps it was the sound of crying that woke Lily up, she walked over and gently hugged Zhang Haiyang, the body temperature of the two people warming each other in this cold night.

  Zhang Haiyang never cried again after becoming an assassin, his style was cold and ruthless, but after returning to China and merging with Shi Li's soul, he became more timid and gentle, no longer as ruthless and decisive as before.

  Zhang's family was originally a wealthy household in Fujian, but during the Chinese Civil War they retreated to Taiwan with the Nationalist Party and continued their business. Later, when Zhang Haiyang's grandfather went to Thailand to settle down, he brought his whole family with him. From a young age, Zhang Haiyang followed a Thai national-level Muay Thai master to train in boxing, and at eight years old he made his debut on stage, going undefeated until he was eighteen and left for Japan to study abroad, earning the nickname "White Elephant Whiz Kid". During his time studying in Japan, Zhang Haiyang worked at a Shotokan karate dojo, where he got into multiple conflicts with others, but the dojo's headmaster did not reprimand him, instead praising him as an honest and fearless young man, thus forming a deep friendship with him.

  Zhang Haiyang met Qian Yu under the rain at that time.

  Akiyuki, a Japanese national, inherited over 100 million yen in assets from his wife's family and was subsequently attacked by some radical individuals who even resorted to physical punishment. One summer evening, Akiyuki and his wife were surrounded by several men as they walked out of the parking lot after watching a movie. Akiyuki, a genius psychologist and geneticist, was no match for their fists and feet and was beaten badly. Zhang Haiyang happened to be passing by and rescued them, refusing any reward or thanks. As a result, Akiyuki always felt indebted to Zhang Haiyang until the latter's family encountered misfortune and came to Japan seeking his help in cloning his wife and daughter using genetic technology.

  "It's better for them to just reincarnate directly."

  Zhang Haiyang still remembers the look on Ichinose's face when he said that, it was a state of crazy obsession with science, and that expression made Zhang Haiyang unable to refuse. But the experiment did not go smoothly, for a whole year there was no progress, until one day Ichinose suddenly called, saying that he could not bring his wife and child back to life, but could help him take revenge. Someone had found out who was responsible for the death of Zhang Haiyang's wife and child, and that person had the same enemy as him, so they wanted to share some memories with him.

  One River Rain deceived Zhang Haiyang, he understood this directly from Shi Li's memory after the fusion of their souls, but the experiment had already ended and was irreversible. Moreover, the feeling after the fusion of the two souls wasn't too bad either, at least it let him know what kind of crimes his enemies had committed. This further solidified Zhang Haiyang's desire for revenge.

  However, after integrating the memories of his past life, Zhang Haiyang found that he had become more hesitant before doing things and had lost some calmness.

  "Why aren't you talking?"

  Lily picked up Zhang Haiyang's face, and the two of them silently faced each other, wiping away each other's tears.

  "I went to the club, and if I'm not mistaken, the one who's really interested in you is Yang Ming, aka Gaotian's boss. But I don't understand why he's treating you like this, sending people to protect you, and making you do that kind of thing."

  Lily looked bewildered, she didn't even understand how three people monitoring her could possibly be there to protect her.

  Shi Li didn't go home, hesitated for a while, and finally decided to go to the hospital.

  The bodies of Gao Yan and Gao Yun are in the hospital, while Xu Peng, the killer in Gao Yun's case, is still on the run. Before her death, Gao Yan had signed a document donating her body after death, but due to multiple organ failure, there were not many organs available for transplantation from Gao Yan's body.

  The sudden appearance of Shi Li in the middle of the night shocked the hospital staff, and the middle-aged doctor who was leading the way kept turning back to look at him with a suspicious gaze. His face turned pale, and his hands hidden under his white coat were trembling slightly. Shi Li was confused by this reaction, unaware that the doctor had witnessed a terrifying scene in a bank building the night before - two people being beaten up by hundreds of gang members, until they cried out in terror and urinated on themselves. The doctor and the woman who was with him were also frightened out of their wits, hugging each other tightly until dawn broke.

  "Just here, left three down two is Gao Qian, up two is Gao Qin, you go in yourself!"

  The middle-aged man finished speaking and quickly walked away, as if there was a ghost hiding behind that door.

  Shi Li stood in front of the door for a long time, so long that he felt himself about to faint, before finally pushing it open and going inside.

  The mortuary was very cold, and the fluorescent light was also cold, making the exposed feet of the corpses appear pale blue. After Shi Li scanned the room, his gaze fell on the door of the third cabinet from the left in the second row, and he began to hesitate again, taking a long time to muster up the courage to walk over.

  Gao Yun seemed to still be alive, just like the past four years, only that she had changed places, her face was even paler. Shi Li's hands trembled as he gently stroked that thin face, still beautiful, but would never open its eyes and smile again. Shi Li lowered his head, pressed against Gao Yun's chest, silently weeping.

  Gao Yun and Shi Li were classmates, but Shi Li was Gao Yun's senior, not in the same grade. Orphaned. Her father was from Fujian, her mother was from Tiannan City, both died in a car accident, leaving behind two children, Gao Yun and Gao Qing. They grew up under the care of their neighbors and society, so they generally didn't have any suspicions about people. Sister Gao Yun is a genius, she skipped two grades directly from elementary school to middle school before her parents passed away, but the blow of her parents' death made her once sink, not thinking about her studies all day. Later, Gao Yun saw that her sister was also studying hard, which woke her up, and she had a younger sister to take care of. After that, Gao Yun never relaxed for half a moment, working part-time while studying until she graduated with a Ph.D. Her academic achievements and beauty give people an unattainable feeling, but in fact, it's not the case, Gao Yun needs love and care just like other women, she just hopes her Mr. Right is excellent.

  Shi Li has always been excellent, but no one knows some memories deep in his heart.

  When Shili was a child, he didn't live in Tiannan City. His home was in the countryside, and as an out-of-town student, it was rare for him to be a primary school student under so much pressure. Every day, he would arrive at school first and leave last after class, studying hard to the point of being abnormal, which guaranteed his ranking as the top student in his grade for over ten years. No one knew about the fears in Shili's heart; he would often wake up in the middle of the night from nightmares, dreaming that he had suddenly become mentally handicapped and was expelled from school, sent back to the countryside by his adoptive father. He feared becoming a farmer like his biological father, and this fear made him close his eyes for a moment every morning before daring to open them again to face the world.

  Then Shili met Gao Qian, and this world began to appear colorful. However, it didn't last long, Wang Nian intervened in their lives, and soon after, Gao Qian unexpectedly became a vegetable. Shili never believed that Gao Qian was really robbed, he knew things weren't that simple, and finally found out the truth, Yang Ming, one of Wang Nian's subordinates, revealed to him that the murderer was indeed Wang Nian, who had turned love into hatred and brutally ran over and crushed Gao Qian with his car.

  "I told you earlier that Wang Nian is unreliable, but you insisted he's a good person. If he's not a bad person, then who is?"

  Tears of history fell on Gao Yun's cheeks, and he gently wiped them away.

  Six departments.

  Zhao Liming was placed under house arrest in that small room after waking up, and everything could be done except for leaving, including making phone calls. Of course, there was no signal in the specially modified room.

  Li Kezhang had been there before, but he just comforted Zhao Liming and told her to endure for a few more days. Once things passed, she would naturally be allowed back into the foreign affairs department. However, now Zhao Liming was like him, temporarily belonging to the external members of the sixth department. When Li Kezhang said these words, his expression was solemn, not giving Zhao Liming any opportunity to doubt. Of course, Zhao Liming could see that something big had happened in the sixth department. Last night there were gunshots and explosions, and Li Kezhang's injuries made her suspect that a world war had broken out outside.

  The world war did not occur, but a great war between Li Keqiang and Tang Hongbo has broken out.

  "What? You've already started implementing Plan V? Didn't you promise me and Old Yu that we wouldn't activate Plan V until the last moment?"

  "That bastard Wei Guo abandoned me! Now it's the last moment!"

  "You must be crazy! Then who are you going to let become the vessel? Can humans withstand...the energy of these ghosts? Have you considered the consequences? People will die!"

  "Are you blind? People have already died. If we don't initiate Plan V, even more people will die! And I've made modifications, no human hosts are needed."

  "You want to make Gao Qian the vessel? I think you're completely crazy, aren't you afraid of creating a monster that's even harder to deal with than an undead demon? One undead demon is already uncontrollable, and now you want to create another one. Have you considered the safety of the tens of millions of people in Tian Nan City?"

  "I was just thinking too much and wasted so many years, if I had burned it all back then, would there be all this now? Safety? Do you think the people of Tianshan City are safe now?"

  Tang Hong left in a huff, leaving behind Li Kezhang who had aged over ten years.

  "It would be great if you were older."

  Li Kezhang muttered to himself, while Tang Hong leaned against the wall outside, her tears had already fallen in two rows.

  Plan Five was initiated, and when countless purified ghost energies were input into Gaoyang's soul, a golden light like the sun burst forth in the laboratory, silent but with an ear-piercing scream echoing in everyone's mind, as if a woman was undergoing a baptism of flames in a sea of fire.