Ice skates forward, regardless of east or west.

1

The blue light from the display screen illuminated the control room.

Ling Wuwen sat at his workbench, his fingers hovering above the keyboard.

The main screen is playing the second piece of evidence—a flowchart she painstakingly pieced together from fragments of the International Skating Union server over seven months.

Heart rate, blood oxygen, and muscle fatigue index—twelve sets of data are compared in red and blue, and the differences are as glaring as a tampered medical record.

She looked toward the ice rink.

Gu Xidong stood with his back to the judges' table, his black performance costume absorbing all the light, with only the silver feathers on his shoulders reflecting scattered light.

His left leg was stiff, and his weight was shifted too far to the right—his knee pain was getting worse.

The sound of a raven came through the headphones:

"Ye Shen left the private room and entered the underground passage with four armed men. He arrived at the control room three minutes later."

"Progress in evidence collection?"

"End of second paragraph, loading of third paragraph—US$20 million transaction record in Chen Guodong's Swiss account." The raven paused.

"But that only proves bribery. We need a fourth point: the ice skates had their manufacturing records falsified."

"The record is in Chen Guodong's possession."

Ling Wuwen switched the monitor screen, and Chen Guodong, sitting slumped in his chair on the referee's bench, looked ashen-faced. "He can't even protect himself anymore."

"Ye Shen will silence them."

"I know."

Ling Wuwen moved his hand toward the emergency button under the keyboard—the sedative release device connected to the ceiling.

After pressing the button, she had seventeen seconds to put on a gas mask and evacuate through the ventilation duct.

But Gu Xidong was still on the ice.

She couldn't leave him alone.

Switching to the third piece of evidence on the main screen:

The UBS website features a dark blue interface with gold lettering displaying twelve remittances over three years, all originating from Ye Shen's offshore company.

The roars from the audience were like muffled thunder.

Chen Guodong slumped off the chair, his suit collar choking him, struggling to breathe. Security guards rushed forward to support him.

has it ended?

No.

Just one last step.

Ling Wuwen connected to Gu Xidong's headset channel:

"Chen Guodong will be taken away. Before he leaves, we need to force him to talk about ice skates."

He won't tell.

"Force him to tell."

"How do we force it?"

Ling Wuwen retrieved the newly received files—

This message was sent from an anonymous, encrypted address half an hour ago. The content is a recording of a conversation from three years ago, three days after the incident.

She pressed play.

2

The recording, transmitted through Gu Xidong's hidden microphone, resounded throughout the venue.

Chen Guodong's voice was urgent and panicked: "...She's really dead? Wasn't it said she'd be seriously injured at most?"

Ye Shen's voice after voice alteration:

"It's a matter of probability. Calculations on the resin injection points show: 70% ligament tears, 20% fractures, 10%... Now you know."

"A 10% mortality rate! You didn't tell me that!"

"If I told you, would you still do it?"

Silence. Heavy breathing.

Chen Guodong trembled:

"The investigation team is checking the ice skates. I've changed the quality inspection report, but the original mold data is still on the factory server. What if they compare it—"

"The server issue has been resolved. The factory caught fire last night, and the mainframes were destroyed."

"real?"

"You can trust my people to handle things. You just need to remain calm and play the role of 'special technical advisor'—objective, professional, and compassionate, but respectful of the data and conclusions. I've already arranged the investigation report; you just need to sign it."

"Signature...is it considered an accident?"

"Aging ice surface, refrigeration malfunction, insufficient thickness. Standard explanation, nobody investigates further." Ye Shen smiled. "Who would investigate a highly respected chief referee and a technical expert who has dedicated twenty years of their life to a mere 'accident'?"

Recording stopped.

The entire arena fell silent. Even the shouts ceased.

All eyes were on Chen Guodong, who was being escorted away by security guards. He stood frozen like a statue.

Gu Xidong turned to face him, his voice as calm as stating a fact:

"Mr. Chen, your cousin was the quality control manager at Polaris Sports Technology, the manufacturer of those ice skates three years ago. Seven days after the accident, his entire family immigrated to Canada, and five million US dollars were deposited into their account. Should we play his testimony?"

Chen Guodong moved his lips silently and slowly shook his head.

Gu Xidong continued, "Your cousin left a backup—all the mold data, resin injection records, and original quality inspection reports. They were hidden in a Montreal Bank safe deposit box and handed over to Interpol last week. The evidence is now in the hands of Chief Judge Petrovich."

Chen Guodong suddenly looked up at the referee's table.

Petrovich clasped his hands together and nodded with a cold look in his eyes.

It's true. The backup exists. My cousin betrayed me.

Chen Guodong began to tremble, the trembling spreading from his fingertips throughout his body.

The sound of teeth chattering was transmitted through the microphone, like the final click of a timer.

The security guard let go.

He knelt on both knees, wailing like a beast, tears streaming down his face: "I didn't know... I really didn't know I would die... He said at most I'd be seriously injured... at most I'd have to retire..."

Water bottles, program schedules, and shoes were thrown from the audience. Security personnel formed a human wall to stop them.

Gu Xidong looked on, feeling only exhaustion and sorrow.

Ling Wuwen's voice rose in the earpiece:

"That's enough. There's no need to release the fourth piece of evidence. Petrovich will handle the aftermath."

Gu Xidong turned to leave.

Chen Guodong suddenly looked up, a lucid glint appearing in his tear-filled eyes as he succumbed to near madness: "Wait! I have... something else!"

He staggered toward the referee's table, grabbed the microphone, and screamed:

"Ye Shen's target isn't your partner! It's you! Gu Xidong! It was you from the very beginning!"

The entire room fell silent.

Chen Guodong spoke rapidly and breathlessly:

"Three years ago, the ice skates were not aimed at that girl. Ye Shen wants to test you—your reaction after your partner's accident: pain threshold, stress response, and changes in nerve signals. He arranged for twelve cameras to record every muscle trembling in you from various angles."

He pointed to the steel frame of the roof:

"Those cameras are still there! They've been converted into security surveillance, and behind the lenses is Ye Shen's private server! He's been monitoring you for the past three years!"

Gu Xidong looked up at the black hemispherical camera on the ceiling.

Why?

"Because of your genes," Chen Guodong said.

"Your family has a genetic mutation that causes congenital pain insensitivity. Your pain threshold is four times higher than normal. Ye Shen needs to study the expression of this gene under extreme stress, which requires in vivo trauma data."

Gu Xidong recalled that he didn't cry when his arm was severed as a child; the doctor said it was due to abnormal pain nerve conduction. He thought it was a blessing, but it was actually a curse.

"The accident three years ago was the first experiment. He obtained perfect data—you were conscious and saved people while in level nine pain, and your decision-making was 0.3 seconds faster than the average person. Therefore, he continued to observe you for three years, watching you fall from the peak to become a fugitive."

He pointed to Gu Xidong's left knee:

"Your knee injury is not an old one. The 'accident' you fell during training six months ago was also designed. An ultrasonic transmitter was buried under the ice to target your left knee, causing permanent nerve damage. He wanted to test your nerve plasticity in chronic pain."

Gu Xidong placed his hand on his knee.

The injury that plagued me for half a year was man-made. All pain is attainable.

"Where's the evidence?" Gu Xidong's voice echoed throughout the room.

Chen Guodong trembled as he pulled out his phone to unlock it; the document was projected from the referee's bench to the main screen.

The experimental proposal is titled: "Project Code: Black Swan - Human Limits of Pain Tolerance Observation Project".

Subject number: 01

Name: Gu Xidong

Observation period: three years

Phase 1: Acute Trauma Observation (Completed)

Phase Two: Chronic Pain Induction (In Progress)

Phase Three: Family Stress Test (Preparatory)

Target sample: spouse Ling Wuwen; Subsample: Gu Xidong's daughter

Approver's Signature: Ye Shen

Date: Three years ago, the month before the accident.

The audience erupted in cheers.

This time it wasn't anger, it was fear. Screams erupted, the crowd surged towards the exits, and security collapsed.

Gu Xidong stood quietly, looking at the project plan, seeing his three years of life reduced to experimental data.

He chuckled softly, like a beast panting: "I see. Thank you for your honesty, Mr. Chen."

Chen Guodong was stunned. He thought Gu Xidong would break down in a rage.

Gu Xidong simply turned and skated toward the edge of the ice rink, his movements as fluid as if the pain had vanished.

He stopped by the guardrail and looked up at the control room window.

Ling Wuwen stood by the window, their eyes meeting through three layers of glass, a distance of thirty meters.

She nodded.

Gu Xidong removed his headset and turned off the microphone, then raised his left hand to make a hand gesture towards the control room.

Extend the thumb and little finger, and bend the middle three fingers.

Sign language: "Action".

3

Inside the control room, Ling Wuwen pressed the last key.

The main screen switches to real-time monitoring—Ye Shen is leading four people through a narrow tunnel in an underground passage.

The image is from a hidden top camera, and the angle is clear. Ye Shen is in the center, holding a tablet computer.

The audience fell silent. Everyone stared at the man in the dark gray suit on the screen.

Ye Shen stopped, looked up at the camera, and smiled at the lens:

"Good evening. Since the play has come to this point, I might as well say a few words of truth."

A close-up of him, his face magnified:

"Chen Guodong's statement is both correct and not entirely correct. Gu Xidong is indeed an observation sample, but more importantly, he is the key—the first key to unlocking the limits of human pain tolerance. The data collected from him over the past three years is more valuable than the total data collected in the field of pain research over the past thirty years."

He turned and continued walking, the scene shifting with him.

"The experiment doesn't stop there," Ye Shen said.

"Ms. Ling Wuwen, you should be watching now. The child in your womb is a second sample—purer and free from trauma and contamination, carrying the father's mutated genes and the mother's traits. After the child is born, I will observe its entire growth process and the genetic expression of its pain tolerance."

Ling Wuwen pressed his hand against his abdomen. The fetal movements seemed to understand, kicking and leaping within him.

"As for Gu Xidong's daughter," Ye Shen continued.

"She is the most special. Three years ago, gene editing accidentally activated an untapped potential within her: to sense the pain of others and synchronize their neural signals. If this ability is developed properly, it could completely change humanity's understanding of pain."

He stopped, turned around, and faced the mirror:

"Therefore, the judgment was wrong from the beginning. You are judging corruption, murder, and the darkness of sports. What should really be judged is the limitation of humanity—the fear of pain, the rejection of the unknown, and the shortsightedness of the possibilities of evolution."

He raised his hand and pressed the tablet button.

The main screen splits: the left side displays leaf depth monitoring, while the right side shows a new window with a scrolling data stream and a top title.

"Global live broadcast signal coverage complete - forced push protocol activated"

Ye Shensheng's voice resonated throughout the venue and across every broadcasting terminal worldwide: "Next, please see the other side of the truth."

The video playing in the right window is a home video.

Gu Xidong and Ling Wuwen were playing a jigsaw puzzle with their daughter in the safe house. The daughter laughed and held up the puzzle piece, calling out, "Daddy, look!"

A warm and cozy home, just like always.

However, the timestamp in the lower right corner reads: "Observation Record - Sample 01 Family Interaction, 147th time," dated two months ago. A smoke alarm is hidden in the camera lens.

Second paragraph: Ling Wuwen is cooking in the kitchen, while Gu Xidong is whispering in her arms. Time stamp: "Observation on Spousal Emotional Support Behavior, Data No. E-033".

Third paragraph: The woman has a fever, and Gu Xidong stays by her bedside all night, applying wet compresses and softly singing. Time stamp: "Association Test between Paternal Nursing Behavior and Pain Empathy, Phase Two".

One segment after another.

Over the past three years, their supposedly private and safe family moments have all been recorded, numbered, and analyzed.

The audience was deathly silent. There were no gasps of surprise, only a stifling stillness.

Ling Wuwen looked at the secretly filmed scene on the screen, his hands trembled, his breathing became rapid, and he felt nauseous.

She thought the safe house was safe and belonged to her at all times. But it turned out to be all a lie, all an experiment.

Gu Xidong stood on the ice, looking up at the screen, his face expressionless like an ice sculpture, his eyes unblinking.

Ye Shensheng spoke again:

"Now you understand. This isn't a matter of corruption or sports; it's a matter of science. The next stage of human evolution requires this data sample. And you—" he pointed to the camera, "are hindering progress."

The screen switches back to the channel.

Ye Shen continued: "The performance is over. Gu Xidong, Ling Wuwen, you have two choices: First, continue to participate in the research as samples with me. Your daughter will receive the best care, and your unborn child will be safely delivered. Second, refuse, and I will initiate the 'cleanup procedure'—not to kill you, but to eliminate all related people: friends, comrades, and everyone who helped you."

He stopped in front of the mirror, a smile playing on his lips: "Choose. Sixty seconds."

The countdown on the main screen begins: 60, 59, 58...

Gu Xidong turned and slid towards the exit.

Without looking in the mirror, without watching the audience, without paying attention to anyone, just gliding, gradually increasing the speed, the pain in his left knee was completely ignored.

The ice skate cuts in a straight line, leaving shards of ice that scatter like silvery trails.

He rushed off the ice and disappeared into the darkness of the athletes' tunnel.

Ling Wuwen watched his retreating figure, then turned to face the control panel.

The shortcut key to access the hidden interface—not given by Raven, but a backdoor program she built herself over three years.

Interface title: "Anti-tracking Protocol - The Ultimate Solution to Black Swan Projects"

She entered the password, confirmed the start, and looked up at Ye Shen on the screen.

"Mr. Ye," her voice came through the broadcast system, calm and steady, "you made three mistakes."

Ye Shen raised an eyebrow.

"First, you underestimated your mother's determination."

Ling Wuwen pressed the Enter key.