My Identity Is Becoming More and More Astonishing

"Mission complete."

Half an hour later.

Wearing a trench coat, the Team Leader entered from outside the City Lord's mansion, standing in the middle of the corridor and gesturing to Chen Yu, "Let's regroup."

"Is it over?" Chen Yu asked, turning around in surprise.

"Yes." The Team Leader took off his hat, revealing the title "Dangerous Person", and straightened the wrinkled brim, "The boss called me, the delivery was successful. Let's go."

"But the doctors inside haven't come out yet." Chen Yu pointed towards the operating room.

"The boss said those doctors need to stay to take care of his wife and child."

"Is that so."

"Any problem?"

"...No problem."

Chen Yu nodded, said nothing more, and followed the Team Leader out of the City Lord's mansion.

Once outside.

The long-lost, bright sunshine shone on Chen Yu.

Yet he felt not a bit of warmth.

"Get in the car." Putting on his hat, the Team Leader hopped into the driver's seat of the SUV, rolled down the window, and with a hearty laugh, said, "Weren't you coming back to handle things? Where to? I'll drive you."

"No need, I'll walk back myself. It's not far."

"Then I'm heading back to the capital."

After a mere few hundred kilometers' drive, earning substantial credits, he seemed very happy, "See you."

"Squeak—"

Rolling up the window and starting the vehicle, the Team Leader stepped hard on the gas and sped out of the City Lord's mansion, disappearing at the end of the road.

Seeing this, the other SUV drivers also followed suit.

Soon, the spacious courtyard of the City Lord's mansion was empty.

Only dust was kicked up, obscuring Chen Yu's figure.

For a while.

He turned around, looking back at the towering and majestic mansion of the City Lord, feeling as if a fierce beast were hideous and stirring, ready to choose someone to devour...

Leaving the City Lord's mansion.

With his hands in his pockets, Chen Yu casually strolled along the paths of Hecheng.

Looking around, stores were desolate, and vehicles sparse.

It took a good while before he encountered a passerby who also hurried along with a stooped back and bowed head.

The entire city seemed to be in decline.

Passing by the ruins of the Henghui Group building, he found it even littered with trash and animal wastes scattered everywhere.

Banners haphazardly hung from the wreckage, scribbled with various curses.

Clearly.

The people of Hecheng truly detested this corporation down to their marrow...

"...Only a month's time."

"Such great changes."

...

After an indeterminate time.

Chen Yu had wandered through half of the places in Hecheng and eventually stopped outside the big park gate.

The elderly men and women who used to gather here for exercise were also gone.

The trees had all been cut down too.

Looking around, the bare park had nothing but a lone tent standing out in the distance.

Without lingering, Chen Yu quickened his pace and entered the tent.

Lifting the half-drawn curtain, he saw Chen and Ms. Chen busily packing boxes, seemingly ready to move.

Chen sat alone in a wheelchair, his eyes vacant, lost in thought.

"Little brother?!"

Hearing the noise behind her, Chen quickly turned around, spotted Chen Yu, and exclaimed in surprise, "How come you are back?!"

"Xiaoyu is back?" Ms. Chen also paused, straightening up and reaching her hands out towards Chen Yu.

"Yes, I'm back." Chen Yu grasped Ms. Chen's rough hands and looked around, "Are we moving out?"

"Yes, we can't live here anymore." Chen nodded, smiling to reveal her large front teeth, "The rats are increasing in number. And they keep dumping bodies behind the mountain; the smell hits us when the wind blows."

Chen Yu: "… are your front teeth enchanted?"

"Get lost!" Chen immediately dropped her smile and covered her teeth with her lips.

As he helped Ms. Chen to sit on a box, Chen Yu then turned to Chen: "Dad."

"You're back." Chen's eyes focused.

"Yes, I'm back."

"When did you come back?"

"Just now."Nôv(el)B\\jnn

"When are you leaving?"

"I'm leaving now. Dad, do you have Alzheimer's? You keep repeating the same few phrases?"

"…" Chen fell silent.

"Your dad has been in a bad mood lately." Ms. Chen patted Chen Yu's hand.

"What happened?"

"He… ah." Ms. Chen's face filled with sorrow, "His first love died. Ha."

"Dad, you're this old and still talking about a first love?" Chen Yu was shocked.

"Stop nagging." Chen frowned, irritably waving his hand, "Instead of talking, help your sister pack."

"Smack!"

Chen Yu suddenly lifted his leg and stomped on a rat that had appeared: "Wow. Are the rats in our house this bold?"

"The basement is already full. At least a hundred." Chen, hands on her hips, sighed wearily, "Strange, indeed."

Chen Yu: "Your front teeth are also pretty strange, they're showing again."

Chen: "Shut up!"

"Earlier, my sister said, who's dumping bodies behind the mountain?" Chen Yu looked at Chen, "Not taking them to the crematorium, just randomly throwing them away—what's that about?"

"…" Chen remained silent.

Both Chen and Ms. Chen fell silent too.

"What exactly has been happening recently?" Chen Yu's expression was calm.

"… When you entered the city, did you see the bodies hanging on the city gate?" Chen looked up, meeting Chen Yu's gaze.

"I saw them."

"Which gate did you enter through?"

"The south gate."

"That's good." Chen nodded, "There are more hanging on the north gate… it's really a damn sin."

"Because of what?" Chen Yu asked.

"It's still about that 'Transcendent' issue." Chen interrupted, her front tooth peeking out as she spoke irritably, "That person destroyed the Henghui Group, and then the authorities started rounding people up to find the murderer. They couldn't find anyone even after half a month, got desperate, and began to hang anyone in the city who had issues with Henghui Group, one by one on the city wall."

"Waiting for that 'Transcendent' to show up?" Chen Yu narrowed his eyes.

"Right!" Chen angrily, "If they can't draw out the Transcendent, they just continue hanging the next family."

"…" Chen Yu nodded expressionlessly and then asked, "Our family wasn't found, right?"

"No. I don't know why, but they never came looking into our house. A few days ago, dad secretly went to the north city gate and joined in a protest march, many people were caught and hung at the gate, but dad was fine."

"Because I run fast." Chen scoffed, patting the wheelchair under him.

Chen Yu: "…"

"What is that look for?" Chen sized up Chen Yu, "I've shown you my driving skills before. With this ride, I can cross mountains and seas like walking on flat land!"

"You better not talk anymore." Chen, holding her forehead, weary, "Weren't you found by the police in a ditch just yesterday after disappearing?"

"I was drinking then."

Chen Yu: "…"

"Anyway, you kids stop fussing over me." Chen gripped the wheels of his wheelchair, showing off his tank-like turning technique to Chen Yu, "I'm old enough; I've lived enough. I just like to drink and drive! In my wheelchair, a little drink, the long road ahead, like a horse flying swiftly ..."

"Thump."

A wheel of Chen's wheelchair got stuck in the basement.

"Your dad fell again?" Ms. Chen listened intently.

Chen Yu: "..."

Chen tried to use his strength to pull the wheelchair out of the rut, but he couldn't manage. He immediately glared at Chen Yu, "What are you standing there for? Hurry up and pull me out!"

Chen Yu snapped to action and quickly stepped forward, lifting the wheelchair along with Chen.

"Good boy." Chen, surprised, looked Chen Yu up and down: "Such great strength, huh?"

"Not bad."

"Find yourself a girlfriend in the future. Stop being all by yourself."

Chen Yu: "..."

"Your dad is acting like a madman now." Ms. Chen, infuriated, stood up with a box in her hands and smashed it toward Chen: "What are you saying to the child!"

"Bang."

Chen took the hit from the box solidly but didn't react.

It seemed she was used to it.

"Kid, let's go for a walk," Chen said, moving his wheelchair: "Your mom is becoming more and more annoying."

Alongside Chen Yu, they left the tent.

The father and son walked farther and farther until the tent behind them was no longer visible. They finally stopped.

"Dad." Chen Yu stood beside Chen, was silent for a moment, then said, "Let's move in with me."

"In Hecheng, you can only enter, not leave."

"I can take you out."

Hearing this, Chen looked up and glanced at Chen Yu: "I know."

"What all do you know?"

"I know you're capable now," Chen said expressionlessly: "Otherwise, with all the fuss I make, I would have been hung up long ago."

"..." Chen Yu said nothing. After a while, he changed the subject: "I'll take you out today."

"No." Chen clenched his fists: "I was born in Hecheng, and I'll die here. Why should I leave? You take your sister."

"...Dad, you're crying."

"No." Chen turned his head away: "Just some tears in my eyes."

"..."

"..."

A cloud came over.

Blocking half the sun.

It cast half of Chen Yu's body in shadow and the other half in light.

The two of them remained silent for a long while.

"Aunt Liu died," Chen suddenly said.

Chen Yu searched his memory, recalling that dignified woman.

He seemed to remember she had a daughter, his childhood playmate and sweetheart.

"You remember her daughter, right? You two even had a childhood betrothal."

"Hmm."

"She went with her mother too."

"..."

"That little girl..." Chen looked up at the sky: "She used to come to our house for meals when she was young. She said she didn't like her mother's fennel dumplings. But yesterday... she came to our house and said she wanted to eat her mother's dumplings."

Chen Yu: "..."

"Your mom made some for her. She said they didn't taste right. She also asked where you were," tears welled up in Chen's eyes: "But just this morning..."

Suppressed cries emerged from the old man's throat.

"I'm sorry... for her."

"When Aunt Liu was on the city wall... barely breathing..."

"I had promised to look after her daughter..."

"..."

Pain gripped his heart constantly. Finally, Chen couldn't hold back and cried out loudly.

"Why the hell is this happening..."

"Why..."

"What did we do wrong..."

The cloud completely covered the sun.

It stripped all remaining color from Chen Yu.

Time passed, indeterminable.

When Chen's emotions stabilized a bit, he clumsily wiped the tears from his cheeks and said tiredly, "Son."

"Dad."

"..."

"..."

"Living really has no point."

...

Night fell.

Chen Yu, in a trench coat, stood on the artificial hill in the park.

All around, corpses were strewn everywhere.

He had lost count of them.

"..."

Silently, Chen Yu moved forward, strolling among the sea of bodies.

The stench of decay assaulted his nostrils.

He, however, showed no reaction.

He walked directly through a heap of bodies, and at a relatively clean spot, found a small mound of earth.

In front of the mound stood a wooden sign.

It bore two names.

Upon seeing it, Chen Yu recognized the handwriting as his father's from his own memory.

Recalling the face of that vague girl, he took a flower from his bosom, knelt down, and placed it in front of the wooden sign.

Then he stood up and stared blankly.

"Hum—"

After a while, the roaring sound of a vehicle came from behind.

Chen Yu snapped back to reality, turned his head to look, and saw a truck.

"Squeak—"

The truck stopped, three people got out, opened the back, and started dumping items out.

They were busy for about ten minutes before they drove away.

Once the truck had completely vanished, Chen Yu instinctively walked over and indeed discovered a pile of bodies.

"?"

As he got closer, Chen Yu's transcendental vision seemed to let him see something, and he immediately quickened his pace toward it.

"..."

Rage.

A murderous intent.

Like a suddenly ferocious tsunami, it assaulted Chen Yu's consciousness.

What he saw...

Were a dozen corpses still in surgical attire.

"..."

"..."

His body began to tremble.

His eyes slowly turned white...

...

(ps: There's an extra update tonight.)