Chapter 256: The Director’s True Identity
by xennovel1: Back at Lu Xin’s home on Moon Terrace, just as he pulled out the file, a special report was underway in a high-level meeting room within Qinggang Main City. Only five individuals were present to hear it: Su Xinzhing, Chairman of the Qinggang Administrative Hall; Shen Lei, Minister of the City Defense Department; Colonel Chen Jing, leader of the Special Pollution Cleanup Department’s Special Action Team; and two other top-ranking gentlemen from Qinggang Main City.
2: Delivering the report was Professor Bai the director of the Special Pollution Research Institute.
3: Although Qinggang still had many matters to address following the Sea Country’s attack, this report seemed far more critical in their eyes than anything else—even more important than Qinggang’s subsequent retaliation against the Sea Country. Their expressions were incredibly tense.
4: “Before I begin this report I need to remind you.”
5: Professor Bai got straight to the point, “What you are about to hear might very well exceed the scope of our own positions.”
6: “Knowing these things may not necessarily be beneficial. I hope you can prepare yourselves mentally.”
7: Only after saying this did he solemnly look at the attendees and continue, “From the first time I saw the materials regarding Mr. Lone Soldier or rather Lu Xin in the report submitted by Chen Jing, along with the details connecting him to the ‘Red Moon Orphanage’, I already had some suspicions about his identity. Not because of him but because of this orphanage.”
8: “Later through investigating this orphanage I discovered a crucial piece of evidence. Comparing the two led me to suspect that the inconspicuous orphanage in our Qinggang Satellite City No. 2 might be connected to the Alliance Research Institute’s escaped lab.”
9: “…”
10: Minister Shen spoke up his voice cold, “You should explain in more detail. I need to know exactly what you discovered.”
11: “A signature.”
12: Professor Bai seemed prepared, presenting a document encased in a transparent plastic bag to everyone.
13: It was an old somewhat moldy document—a handwritten application form for the establishment of the ‘Orphanage’.
14: Back when Qinggang was being rebuilt and order was still chaotic there were many such documents.
15: After all even printing was difficult back then.
16: The name signed at the end of this document was ‘Wang Yuanjing’ written very sloppily.
17: “This handwriting greatly resembled someone I knew so I started paying attention back then.”
18: Professor Bai stated frankly, “Once I started paying attention it was natural to look for other clues to corroborate my suspicion. Moreover the Knight Orders from outside the city later spying on Mr. Lone Soldier confirmed for me that this Ability User was far from simple.”
19: “Therefore it wasn’t difficult to deduce that the Red Moon Orphanage might be connected to the escaped lab.”
20: “…”
21: “Just because of a signature?”
22: Professor Bai’s words caused some surprise in the meeting room; their expressions showed disbelief.
23: “If you had also carefully studied handwriting analysis you would realize that everyone’s handwriting is vastly different.”
24: Professor Bai added, “Besides his handwriting really is terrible.”
25: “…”
26: The meeting room fell silent for a moment. Several people clearly didn’t know how to respond.
27: Mr. Su spoke, “So the person you recognized is…”
28: “The director of the escaped lab Wang Jingyun.”
29: Professor Bai answered candidly, “He was also one of the four researchers with the highest academic standards at the original Moon Eclipse Research Institute. When I was studying there as an intern I took some courses under his guidance so he left a deep impression on me.”
30: The meeting room became quiet again.
31: Mr. Su asked, “If that’s the case why didn’t you warn us back then?”
32: “…”
33: “Firstly because I signed a confidentiality agreement when I left the Research Institute.”
34: “Therefore only now that you’ve also discovered the issues surrounding Mr. Lone Soldier can I tell you without violating the agreement.”
35: “Secondly…”
36: Professor Bai paused, “There were some things I needed to verify.”
37: “…”
38: “I believe everyone understands how much importance the Moon Eclipse Research Institute placed on the ‘escaped lab’. But what you might not know is that this wasn’t just because the entire lab compartment vanished without a trace back then which was incredibly bizarre nor was it only because the lab housed nineteen extremely special experiment subjects crucial for research. There was another even more important reason:”
39: “The special mental entity codenamed ‘Tyrant’ was also in that lab.”
40: “…”
41: “…”
42: After reading the introduction on the first page Lu Xin’s expression showed no particular change.
43: Under the calm somewhat distant gazes of his family members he simply continued reading.
44: The second page contained some supplementary information regarding the ‘escaped lab’ mission. It looked like research notes from Qin Ran or perhaps Zhang Sihuo or maybe many others who had studied this lab and the clues gathered over the years.
45: These clues clearly wouldn’t be placed directly in the bounty description but they were much more detailed.
46: For instance the lab director: Wang Jingyun one of the four most authoritative experts when the Moon Eclipse Research Institute was founded.
47: For instance hypotheses about those nineteen experiment subjects along with some investigation reports.
48: For instance the experiences and ultimate fates of some bounty hunters or teams who had taken on this bounty mission early on.
49: Most ended in death a few went mad.
50: …
51: Lu Xin didn’t have the patience to read these details. He merely skimmed them and continued looking further.
52: Skipping several pages he saw a photo.
53: On the back of the photo the name ‘Wang Jingyun’ was written in thick pen strokes.
54: Lu Xin’s head throbbed slightly. He slowly turned the photo over revealing a person in a white coat.
55: The photo showed a refined-looking middle-aged man likely taken while working at a research institute or some similar place. He wore a white coat had a lean figure and a kind bright smile exuding a comforting aura.
56: Lu Xin stared silently at the photo as numerous jumbled images flooded his mind.
57: Among them were scenes of the kindly director teaching him and the other children.
58: Scenes of him leading them in broadcast gymnastics.
59: Scenes of him under the night stars nostalgically recounting life in the civilized era before the Red Moon descended.
60: …
61: All these images intertwined some feeling real some fake. They flickered in his mind appearing and disappearing until finally all the scenes started to fade becoming transparent. Only the man’s face remained slowly overlapping until it perfectly matched the person in the photo.
62: Old Director.
63: This was the most profound figure in Lu Xin’s childhood memories.
64: He had taught Lu Xin everything about kindness and beauty in this world.
65: “So he was a director at a research institute no wonder he knew so much…”
66: Seeing him Lu Xin felt a warmth tinged with an empty ache…
67: This respected director had already died in that disaster.
68: …
69: Slowly pondering these thoughts he subconsciously placed the photo face down on the table.
70: His fingers flipped to the last page of the file.
71: This was the newest page and also the one with the most content densely packed text and printed photos.
72: Lu Xin looked his pupils constricting sharply:
73: Temporary addition to the ‘Escaped Lab’ investigation mission.
74: Latest intelligence: A ‘Stalker’ discovered the trail of Chen Xun assistant to the escaped lab director Wang Jingyun in North Upper City.
75: Attempted capture failed; only partially destroyed materials recovered.
76: Material recovery indicates Chen Xun maintained correspondence with ‘a certain director’ monitored Qinggang news logged experimental data related to ‘Tyrant’. Suspected experiments ongoing; suspected correspondent ‘certain director’ is Wang Jingyun.
77: Inference possible: The escaped lab is located in Qinggang Satellite City No. 2.
78: Please verify and report immediately.
79: …
80: Below this intelligence was a scanned black-and-white photo.
81: The photo was blurry but showed a man wearing a duck-billed cap walking down a street captured by surveillance.
82: The bottom right corner of the scanned photo bore a date from just two months ago.
83: The features felt incredibly familiar to Lu Xin.
84: Originally Lu Xin hadn’t had a strong impression of this person; perhaps he wouldn’t have recognized him even if he saw him. But coincidentally Lu Xin had seen him not long ago. In a previous subconscious dreamscape he saw this face wearing gold-framed glasses.
85: At that time he was presiding over a dissection experiment.
86: …
87: *Swish!*
88: Lu Xin shot up his expression grim infused with an indescribable aura:
89: “He’s not dead?”
90: His brows furrowed tightly. “How could he possibly not be dead?”
91: “If he is him then what kind of person was the Director?”
92: “They said the person he was corresponding with is Wang Jingyun… Does that mean the Director is still alive too?”
93: “…”
94: His family watched him in silence now. Even his father usually the most short-tempered remained quiet.
95: In the empty house Lu Xin seemed to be talking to himself.
96: His memories were in disarray. He suddenly realized that things he remembered so clearly were now filled with uncertainty.
97: His expression became somewhat distorted. Beneath the obvious confusion and strangeness lay a hidden ferocity and gloom.
98: These diametrically opposed expressions seemed to split him in two.
99: His head ached dully echoing emptily.
100: *Buzz buzz*
101: The voltage in the old house became unstable again. The light bulbs flickered brightly then dimly.
102: The calendar nailed to the wall the utensils in the kitchen the plates on the table—all began to tremble slightly.
103: Around the table Mom Father and Sister just watched him silently.
104: It was rare to see such a unified expression on their faces.
105: …
106: “Woof woof…”
107: Suddenly dog barks echoed abruptly in the room.
108: The little skinless dog nervously gripped Lu Xin’s pant leg tugging hard. Simultaneously Lu Xin felt a cooling sensation emanating from the frames of the glasses on his face. The coolness spread as fine crimson threads extended from the frames covering his entire forehead like a strange net cast over his head.
109: The turbulent emotions surging within Lu Xin suddenly stabilized.
110: The headache began to recede and the feeling of unreality released its grip allowing him to return to the present.
111: “Why am I so surprised?”
112: He murmured to himself, “Someone from our orphanage is still alive I should be happy for him…”
113: He spoke calmly but failed to notice.
114: At that moment the corners of his mouth were stretching wide pulling into an unnerving arc.