Yang Ming

  Looking out from the top of Qifeng Entrepreneurship Building, the city of Tianshan is quiet and peaceful under the night sky. The silent traffic flows like a flashing line, connecting the entire city together. Although the weather has already turned cool, people who are used to nightlife still stepped out of their homes, starting their own wandering with joy or sorrow.

  However, no stars or moon can be seen in the sky, which is densely covered with dark clouds.

  Yang Ming stood by the window, and Gao Tian carefully followed his gaze, but it was just the twinkling lights of the city, seemingly prosperous, but the joys and sorrows inside were all the same. Gao Tian couldn't understand why Yang Ming always liked to stare blankly in this place, but he still summoned up the courage to clear his throat lightly.

  "Oh, high heavens, what's going on?"

  Yang Ming came back to his senses and found a tear at the corner of his eye. Gao Tian was stunned for a moment, then recovered normally, as if he hadn't seen anything.

  "That Seraphim has been caught, you see, is it..."

  "It's not busy now, it's a season of many things, and it doesn't help to see blood. Tell him, if he wants to live, take out Wang Nian, there is no other choice. As for time, I think five days should be enough for an assassin."

  Gao Tian agreed, but didn't leave immediately.

  Yang Ming looked back at him and immediately understood what was going on.

  "Don't you still understand why I want to get rid of Wang Nian? Do the brothers below also have different opinions?"

  "No, no, how could it be?"

  Yang Ming sneered and sat back down in his boss's chair, staring straight into Gao Tian's eyes.

  "I can help him rise to power, and naturally I can also bring him down. Actually, I don't want it to be like this, cultivating a leader like him isn't an easy task. Moreover, many business deals were brought in by him, now that he's gone, the company is really hard to manage. But from a long-term perspective, if Wang Nian doesn't die, the bankruptcy of Qifeng Chuangye is only a matter of time. He's too showy, always wanting to be the first, this isn't good. A tall tree will be broken by the wind, Qifeng's reputation in the industry isn't good, you should understand, people who can do this line of work aren't simpletons. So before Wang Nian drags down the entire group, getting rid of him is the only choice, this is also the decision of the board of directors."

  "Indeed, as you said, character determines destiny."

  Gao Tian let out a sigh and turned away.

  Yang Ming's mouth curled up in a cold smile, he swiveled his boss chair and looked out the window again. The night was as deep as water, where many people's beginnings and endings were happening, yet it couldn't wake up this sleeping city.

  Yang Ming's gaze remained unchanged, he was staring at his own shadow, the self on the glass looked like a phantom, and seemed to be about to jump out at any moment, making him startled.

  It's been sixteen years, and every time night falls, Yang Ming always feels that the nightmare is about to begin again. He tries not to recall it, but the memories always surface - every detail, every mournful cry, and those pitch-black eyes that see no hope, making one feel an irresistible urge to self-mutilate.

  "Good heavens!"

  Yang Ming closed his eyes, but it seemed as if he saw his own shadow stretch out a hand from the glass and stroke his throat, even letting out a faint laugh. Yang Ming suddenly opened his eyes wide, and the shadow was still on the glass, nothing had changed. Yang Ming swallowed a mouthful of saliva and stood up to leave.

  But he didn't notice that there were two faint finger marks on his neck.

  Sixteen years ago, Yang Ming was just one of the dozen or so researchers in the six departments, living a nine-to-five life. Very ordinary, so ordinary that he himself was disappointed with himself. Yang Ming is a person with great ambitions and high aspirations, he has many unique insights in psychological research, which is why he was recommended to the six departments, but after arriving at the six departments, he found out that everyone here is a genius.

  In a place where geniuses gather, even a genius is just a beetroot, no matter how beautiful it is, it can't stand out.

  Yang Ming was extremely dissatisfied with this state, so he made various attempts, but always under the halo of professors and others, no one noticed his existence. This twisted Yang Ming's mind, and he began to conduct unethical experiments on people. At first, it was done very secretly, and no one discovered it, but later it became a bit too much, and he was eliminated from the Sixth Department by Professor Yu. Later, the Zhuang Qin case was handed over to the Sixth Department for handling, and Yang Ming was an expert in the field of memory systems, so he was named and transferred to the Sixth Department.

  It was a wrong decision but at that time nobody could predict what kind of uncertainty would happen later.

  Yang Ming returned triumphantly to the six departments, but found that his colleagues didn't take him seriously at all, which made Yang Ming's anger burn.

  After Yang Ming came into contact with repeat offender Zhuang Qin, he suddenly felt some sympathy for this person. From childhood to adulthood, he had always been bullied, and even his wife dared to urinate on his head. He had a talent for painting, although he did not receive formal education, but simple sketching was not comparable to those professional painters. On the other hand, Yang Ming also envied Zhuang Qin, who was so bold as to think that if he wanted to kill someone, he would kill them, and could even escape the police's pursuit for five years. Sometimes, Yang Ming also hesitated in his heart, wondering whether he should make a big move like Zhuang Qin, but it was just a thought, and he couldn't transcend reality.

  Although he couldn't kill people like Zhuang Qin, Yang Ming had his own way.

  Yang Ming's specialty is logical research on memory systems, but he also has achievements in other fields, especially in disease psychology research.

  Yang Ming has a concept that the disease has long existed in the human body, and the outbreak is only the result of being triggered by some kind of inducement, and the symptoms will be magnified by itself. This theory seems to have nothing to do with psychology, but in fact, it is closely related. Yang Ming believes that the inducement comes from inside out, that is, the disease itself sends a signal to the human body, and the brain receives this signal and unconsciously approaches the area where the disease may be triggered. In the process of fully breaking out after receiving the inducement, the subconscious mind in the brain produces commands to accelerate and aggravate the disease. In other words, the human body will infinitely magnify the disease until death.

  This theory was confirmed in Zhuang Qin's body.

  Yang Ming took advantage of his position to poison Zhuang Qin every day during the interrogation, adding a small amount of arsenic to his cup. This continued for ten days, and the accumulated arsenic in Zhuang's body reached a certain level, but not enough to be fatal. As the case was about to conclude, the outsiders from the Six Ministries withdrew one after another, and Yang felt compelled to take action.

  It was a pitch-black night, with thick clouds covering the sky and no streetlights on the streets. Yang Ming came out of his house, participating in the psychological study of Zhuang Qin for the last time. He brought a bag of yellow sugar powder mixed with edible alkali that could be quickly dissolved in water, with a smile on his face, humming a tune as he walked to the prison. The prison guard was surprised to see this man, who always had a straight face, smiling, but Yang Ming just smiled generously, his heart full of joy at the thought of his theory being proven.

  "I am a genius, and this has never changed."

  In the empty room, Yang Ming said to himself. At this time, his colleagues in the six departments were doing their own things. In the interrogation room, Zhuang Qin was locked in an iron chair fixed to the ground. Professor Yu was not there, and Yang Ming felt that Lady Luck was beckoning him. The ferocity had completely disappeared from Zhuang Qin's eyes, and he looked up at Yang Ming with a humble expression. Yang Ming turned his head to confirm that no other colleagues were paying attention to him, then casually poured a cup of water for Zhuang Qin, using his body to block the line of sight of the prison guard, and put sugar powder into the cup.

  "What is that?"

  Zhuang Qin's voice trembled as he asked. Yang Ming had expected him to ask, and also expected that he wouldn't shout or yell. Human thinking has a trajectory, and Yang Ming's research on Zhuang Qin wasn't just for one or two days, so he was fully confident in the success of the experiment.

  "Potassium cyanide, a poison. You can choose to drink it and die quietly without any pain, just a minute or two. Or you can go back to your cell, they will continue to treat you well. I heard that many people deliberately commit crimes, even murder, just to come in and chat with you."

  Yang Ming lowered his voice and said, his eyes staring straight at Zhuang Qin.

  Due to the severity of Zhuang Qin's case and the large number of people he had killed, he was always held in solitary confinement. However, for some unknown reason, a notice was later issued from higher authorities to transfer him to an ordinary prison cell, resulting in Zhuang Qin starting his career of being beaten day and night. Yang Ming wanted to take advantage of Zhuang Qin's fear of returning to the prison cell, using a cup of sugar water to conduct his own experiment.

  I drink.

  Zhuang Qin held the cup with his shackled hands, shaking it several times before bringing it to Yang Ming's bruised mouth. After a few minutes, Yang Ming began to explain the toxicity and symptoms of arsenic poisoning to Zhuang Qin in detail. However, what Yang Ming introduced was actually the toxicity of cyanide, not arsenic, and he even tampered with the toxic reaction. He did this on purpose, wanting to add some fun to the experiment.

  The mechanism of cyanide poisoning is mainly to inhibit the activity of cellular cytochrome oxidase, leading to blocked biological oxidation in tissue cells, producing "cellular asphyxia", thereby causing severe hypoxia in the body. The lethal dose of hydrogen cyanide for humans averages 50 micrograms, sodium cyanide about 100 micrograms, and potassium cyanide about 120 micrograms.

  Yang Ming poured four or five grams of sugar powder into Zhuang Qin's cup. If it was really cyanide, no matter what kind of cyanide, this amount would be fatal.

  "This amount I'm giving you is enough to kill an elephant. It has a bitter almond taste, just like what you're feeling in your mouth now, numbness of the tongue and lips, then you'll feel headache, chest tightness, difficulty breathing, your willpower will disappear, your body won't be under your control anymore, and finally die with total paralysis. After you stop breathing, it takes five to ten minutes for the heart to stop beating. But don't worry, I'll stay here with you, they won't disturb your death."

  Zhuang Qin indeed showed the symptoms of poisoning that Yang Ming had described, his face turned blue due to suffocation, but his body was stiff and he couldn't struggle, he could only use his eyes to ask Yang Ming why it was so painful. Yang Ming smiled, this experiment has been going smoothly until now.

  "It's only been two and a half minutes, no need to rush, it'll be over soon. Do you know what someone who has died from arsenic poisoning looks like? Their bones turn black, but their blood is still liquid and bright red. I've always wanted to see such blood, I heard that in medieval Europe, some painters liked to use this kind of blood for painting, they even killed people to get it. Isn't it just like you? You also like to paint with blood. I'd like to chat more with you, but unfortunately time's up, you're already a dead man, although your heart is still beating. Maybe you can still hear me, I want to tell you something, did you think the water you drank was a bit sweet? Actually it was just sugar water. You were scared to death by yourself."

  A bright light suddenly burst forth in Zhuang Qin's eyes, but it was immediately extinguished. He was dead.

  The experiment ended, and Zhuang Qin died from the infinitely amplified toxicity of arsenic in his body. The theory of latent disease was completely correct. Yang Ming glanced at the time, got up calmly, and walked to one side, pretending to check the data. It wasn't until a while later that someone discovered Zhuang Qin's abnormality, and doctors rushed over immediately, but everything was too late, and Zhuang Qin had already become an ice-cold corpse.

  Just as the doctor was about to take away Zhuang Qin's body, Yang Ming suddenly found that Zhuang Qin's tightly closed eyes opened a slit, and his gaze shot out like a knife. Yang Ming felt a chill, thought for a moment, and decided to conduct another experiment. He stopped the doctor, saying he heard Zhuang Qin's voice, and lifted Zhuang Qin's eyelids, revealing a pair of completely dead eyes. Yang Ming pretended to hear breathing sounds and whispered in his ear.

  "Although you're already dead, your soul remains. If at this time the soul reattaches to the corpse, it can become a jiangshi. Do you know what a jiangshi is? It's an undead monster that doesn't fear bullets and even if its head is gone, it can still live."

  After Yang Ming did all this, he suddenly regretted it. He began to worry that the autopsy would reveal the truth, and his future would be ruined. What he regretted even more was what he said after Zhuang Qin's death, although it was nonsense, but recalling it now, he felt a chill in his heart.

  Just as the body was about to be carried out, everyone in the room suddenly felt a chill, and the air seemed to have a strong electric current that made everyone's hair stand on end. Moreover, everyone heard gasping sounds, as well as countless wails of agony from people of all ages, which appeared and disappeared instantly.

  Yang Ming instinctively felt a gaze coming from behind, he turned his head to look, and surprisingly, Zhuang Qin's corpse actually sat up, with its eyes staring at him without any light.

  "I'm going to kill you."

  Zhuang Qin raised one hand and pointed at Yang Ming. The next moment, Zhuang Qin easily broke free from the handcuffs and pounced on Yang Ming.

  Yang Ming ran very fast, so fast that he himself couldn't believe his speed, and in just a moment, he escaped from the prison, even the guards' bullets couldn't catch up with him.

  Sixteen years have passed, but Yang Ming still can't forget what happened that night. The dark eyes of Zhuang Qin and the finger he pointed at him had become the source of Yang Ming's nightmares. After the truth was revealed, Yang Ming was expelled from school and detained for a year. During his imprisonment, he got to know some underworld figures and joined an organized crime syndicate after his release.

  "I am a genius, always have been."

  Yang Ming lay down in his own room in the Qifeng Building, where all around him were pasted talismans, worshiping various gods and even evil demons. Under his pillow was a peach wood sword and a handgun, and sewn into his quilt were demon-expelling objects. Only in such an environment could he sleep at ease and live like a human being.