Desperate people, accept the seed of my soul!

Lin Maocai threw his phone on the table, stood up, and walked to the window to get some fresh air.

The sky outside the window was still overcast, and the air, fresh from the rain, was filled with a damp, rusty smell.

He had just opened the window when the phone on the table rang.

It was Director Zhang from the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department who called.

"Old Lin, have you checked the local forum?"

Director Zhang's voice was very low, filled with barely concealed panic.

"Have you heard about the mental hospital collapse and the mountain road incident?"

Lin Maocai frowned.

"I saw it; it's all just nonsense circulating online. You actually believed it?"

"I didn't believe it in the first place either."

Director Zhang's voice was trembling.

"But I just called Qi Jianmin, and no one answered. I called Sun Guodong, and no one answered either. I asked a friend in the Public Security Bureau, and it turns out that Sun Guodong's phone is indeed unreachable, and we can't find him. The Public Security Bureau is in complete chaos."

Lin Maocai's heart sank.

"What did you say?"

"And Professor Zhou's side too."

Director Zhang's speaking speed increased.

"I just called the research center to ask about the next batch of samples, but no one answered. Professor Zhou's personal number is also switched off. I'm really worried. Lao Lin, do you think it could really be Li Su...?"

"impossible."

Lin Maocai interrupted her, his voice louder than he had expected.

"A woman who's been on drugs for so long, even if she didn't die, she'd be mentally impaired. How could she possibly do so many things? It must be some other enemy coming after her; it has nothing to do with Li Su."

That's what he said, but his back was already soaked with cold sweat.

Qi Jianmin could not be contacted.

Sun Guodong could not be reached.

Zhou De'an could not be contacted either.

All three people are directly related to Li Su's affairs, and their simultaneous loss of contact is definitely not a coincidence.

"Old Lin, I'm a little scared."

Director Zhang's voice was trembling with tears.

"If we hadn't taken this job, would all this trouble have been avoided? Now, every time I close my eyes, I see those children's faces, I..."

"What's the point of saying all this now?"

Lin Maocai's tone became irritable.

"Why weren't you scared when you took the money? Now that something's happened, are you scared?"

He cursed and hung up the phone.

The office fell silent again.

Lin Maocai stood by the window, his fingers gripping the edge of the windowsill until his knuckles turned white.

He's been in this profession for almost thirty years, climbing from an ordinary pediatrician to the position of chief physician. What storms hasn't he weathered?

But this time is different.

This incident has a sinister feel to it.

He walked to his desk, opened a drawer, and pulled out an account book.

The ledger was filled with detailed records of every penny he had taken from the research center over the past three years.

For every child he sends who meets the genetic mutation criteria, he receives a "referral fee" of 50,000 yuan.

In those three years, he sent a total of eleven children there.

560,000.

He didn't dare deposit a single penny of the money in a bank; instead, he exchanged it all for gold bars and hid them in his ancestral graves in his hometown.

He originally planned to work for another two years, save up a million, retire, and immigrate abroad with his wife and children, never to return.

It seems that we may never live to see that day.

Lin Maocai threw the account book back into the drawer and locked it.

He picked up his coat and walked out of the office.

He needs to go see the dean.

This is something he can't handle alone.

Dean Zheng Mingtang is the protector of the entire chain of interests. When the cooperation agreement was signed with Zhou De'an, it was Zheng Mingtang who signed it, and he received far more benefits than Zhou De'an.

------

The dean's office is on the top floor.

Lin Maocai knocked on the door, and Zheng Mingtang's voice came from inside.

"Come in."

Lin Maocai pushed open the door and went inside.

Zheng Mingtang sat behind his desk, holding his phone in his hand, his face even more unpleasant than Lin Maocai's.

"Dean."

Lin Maocai closed the door and walked to his desk.

"You saw the news too?"

Zheng Mingtang looked up at him, then threw his phone on the table.

The screen displayed photos of the scene on the mountain road: eight bodies, a crushed security vehicle, and bloodstains staining half the road.

"Sun Guodong is dead."

Zheng Mingtang's voice was deep.

"The police have just confirmed that all eight people are dead, and their bodies have just been taken back to the funeral home."

Lin Maocai's legs went weak, and he almost fell.

"Is he/she really dead?"

Why would I lie to you?

Zheng Mingtang lit a cigarette and took a deep drag.

"Qi Jianmin is dead too. The administrative building of the mental hospital collapsed, and everyone inside died, including the director, Qi Jianmin, the head nurse, and all the administrative staff. Not a single person was left alive."

Smoke rings slowly dissipated in the office.

Lin Maocai stood there, his whole body ice-cold.

Qi Jianmin is dead.

Sun Guodong is dead.

Is he next?

"What about Professor Zhou...?"

"Unable to contact."

Zheng Mingtang exhaled a puff of smoke.

"The phone lines are busy, and no one answers the landline at the research center. I sent someone over to check, and they said the main entrance to the research center was smashed by rocks, and half of the entire building collapsed. Firefighters and security personnel are rushing there, but the exact number of casualties is still unknown."

Lin Maocai's legs went completely limp.

He managed to stand by holding onto the edge of the desk.

Zhou De'an also got into trouble.

The three most important people are all dead.

"Dean, what... what's going on? Is it really Li Sugan's?"

Lin Maocai's voice was trembling.

"Who else could it be but her?"

Zheng Mingtang stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray.

"After her report was submitted to the Disciplinary Committee, only the four of us—Zhou De'an, Sun Guodong, and Qi Jianmin—knew its contents. Now those three are all dead, and we're next."

Lin Maocai's face turned deathly pale instantly.

"So what do we do? Call the police? Or run away?"

"Call the police? Are you crazy?"

Zheng Mingtang glared at him.

"What are we supposed to say if they call the police? That we sold newborns to a research center for experiments, and now the victims are back for revenge? Do you want to die even faster?"

"Shall we run away? Go to the airport now, buy tickets, leave the country, and never come back!"

"Run? Do you think you can escape?"

Zheng Mingtang sneered.

"I confiscated your passport a long time ago, have you forgotten? When we signed the agreement, I said that if this went through, we'd all make a fortune together, but if something went wrong, nobody would get away with it. Li Su hasn't even come knocking yet, and you're already thinking of running away? I think you're tired of living."

Lin Maocai stared at him blankly.

"So what do we do now? We can't just sit here and wait to die, can we?"

"wait."

Zheng Mingtang leaned back in his chair and lit another cigarette.

"Wait for the police department's investigation results. If Li Su really does have superpowers, the National Center for the Response to Abnormal Affairs will definitely come, and they will deal with Li Su. What we need to do now is to erase all traces."