Mental Illness Evolution Manual - Chapter 30

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[Besides that, he contacted some of the small families who attended the banquet earlier, it seems like they’ve reached a cooperation.]

Lu Mingqiu: [What about the big families?]

Black: [They haven’t made any moves yet, they left after the banquet.]

That means they either guessed that there was something fishy, or they knew all along, the end result of both is the same – tacit approval.

Lu Mingqiu: [Keep an eye on them, father and son, try to figure out when they’re meeting. What about the consciousness upload simulator, have you figured anything out?]

Black: [Still cracking it.]

Lu Mingqiu: [Let me know when you have results.]

The conversation ended, Yan Xianchuan was oblivious, as she was still fiddling with the porthole in her hand.

Lu Mingqiu recalled the guest list from the Dongye banquet, the Bolovov family had also sent someone, Ginaida Bolovov, according to seniority, she was her sister, someone who wore her ambition on her sleeve, an alpha, an illegitimate daughter who had eliminated all her competitors, she was almost certainly the next family head.

When Dongye Zhengqi was giving his speech, she was one of the people who smiled and watched, her gaze knowing, the person next to her was Yan Mingjing, the eldest son of the Yan family head.

The competition in the Yan family was much fiercer than in the Bolovov family, everyone in this generation, except for Yan Xianchuan, was very capable, a family that controlled the arms industry, the offspring they raised also had a taste of gunpowder.

Their siblings were constantly attacked, if the news hadn’t been suppressed, the hot searches would probably be full of their family affairs all day long.

Lu Mingqiu pulled herself back from her thoughts and continued to watch the video course she hadn’t finished, after a while, Gold Ring sent another message, he had been assigned by Lu Mingqiu to look through the information on the Dongye family’s side branches, to find a suitable puppet heir, it seemed like he had found one.

He sent a photo, a middle-aged man, he was holding a boy who looked about fifteen years old, they were sitting in a sports car, half of their bodies were sticking out.

His eyebrows and eyes were five points similar to Dongye He’s, but he had a more confident and spirited air, the kind of relaxed attitude of someone who had no worries and enjoyed life every day.

Unlike Dongye He, who was under his father’s all-round suppression, he had a lingering gloom and resentment in his demeanor, as if he owed a lot of debt.

Gold Ring sent a message saying: [This is Dongye He’s younger brother, his name is Dongye Hang, he’s thirty-five years old this year, he has a son who goes to Night City’s First High School. He’s a nominal shareholder in Dongye He’s company, he doesn’t care about anything, he just lives off the dividends.]

[They’re not involved in the Dongye family’s business, and their age is just right, the others are either too old or have too many ideas.]

[Okay.] Lu Mingqiu replied, [Keep an eye on his schedule, we’ll need him soon, don’t lose track of him.]

She was quite confident in her subordinates’ work, Gold Ring was a top talent who graduated from the Military Academy before joining Starfire, he was familiar enough with searching for information and analyzing clues.

After finishing her work, Lu Mingqiu looked up, Yan Xianchuan was still putting together the Immortal Boat model.

It was really difficult, she wasn’t an architectural designer, Yan Xianchuan had never even gone to college, she had never sat on a traditional Chinese wooden boat, she didn’t know what the cabin looked like.

How could a person imagine something they had never seen before? She held the parts, staring at the Immortal Boat, which still only had a bottom plate.

When she was a child, puzzles weren’t so fancy, they were mostly flat puzzles, the smaller ones had ten or twenty pieces, the larger ones had five hundred or a thousand pieces, the two thousand piece ones only came out later when she was older.

Most of the living room where Yan Xianchuan often stayed was covered with carpets, only the game area wasn’t covered, she often sat on soft cushions and played with these brain teasers on a low table.

Compared to her peers, she was undoubtedly a very easy child to take care of, she could play quietly by herself for hours.

Puzzles used to calm her down, make her focus, but now they didn’t.

Yan Xianchuan put down the parts in her hand and said bluntly, “I can’t put it together.”

Lu Mingqiu turned off the video and sat down next to her, “I’ll help you.”

She tucked her loose hair behind her ear, her eyes quickly scanned all the parts, her hands quickly assembled a cabin, then she placed it on the base, “It’s like this.”

After she finished speaking, the other party didn’t respond, Lu Mingqiu turned her head to look, she saw the other person staring at her, intently.

She tilted her head, her eyebrows raised slightly, her eyes were puzzled, “What’s wrong?”

Yan Xianchuan retracted her gaze, she reached out and mimicked her actions, she also picked up the corresponding model parts, “Nothing.”

It was just, there was a strange feeling at that moment.

When was the last time someone sat with her like this, doing something meaningless?

The Immortal Boat was very beautiful, the hull was blue with gold lines outlining cloud patterns, the wings at both ends were like peacock feathers stitched together, each feather had a colorful eye, the towering Jianmu tree blocked out the sun, when it was turned on, the jade eye at the top of the tree crown shone with a faint blue light.

Yan Xianchuan looked at it for a while and said, “Is this eye peeping?”

Lu Mingqiu: …

“It’s looking openly, how can it be called peeping? The Immortal Boat is from a literary work, after the leader of the wise species in it dies, their consciousness is sent into the jade eye, becoming part of the consciousness cluster, leading the entire race.”

Yan Xianchuan understood, “So they all like to peep at the people, they’re perverts.”

Lu Mingqiu chuckled, “Yes, you’re not wrong. Let’s go, eat dinner, I ordered your favorite shrimp.”

Another two peaceful days passed, on an ordinary afternoon, Yan Xianchuan was lying on the windowsill, watching two people fight downstairs, Black suddenly sent a message, Dongye Zhengqi and Dongye He had met.

Not outside, but in the Quhai Building, their own Dongye family’s territory.

It was still Dongye He’s living room, the cleaners and servants had been ordered to leave, there were only four people present, Dongye He, Dongye Zhengqi, their respective bodyguards, both of whom were prosthetically modified.

The camera inside the large LCD TV facing the sofa silently started, quietly filming the scene.

At first, the content of their conversation was normal, it was all about business event planning and quarterly profit and loss analysis, as the son reported, the father listened.

Besides dominating Night City, the Dongye family’s industries were spread throughout all the second-tier and above cities in the Federation, they wanted the rich people’s money and the poor people’s money. Just the prosthetic technology alone made their family rich, not to mention that hospitalization and medical treatment were even more profitable industries. Other companies and small hospitals could only have a sip of the soup, they were no match for their family.

The more money you have, the easier it is to make money, Dongye He’s words were all about how much money they had made in a certain region, whether it was more or less than the previous quarter by a few percentage points, there was no real loss.

The Resistance naturally also had industries in this area, their prices were more affordable, mainly to give third-class citizens and below another choice, so that they wouldn’t have to go bankrupt because of sky-high medical bills, their profits were naturally not as high as the Dongye family’s.

In this society, a large number of ordinary people died from delayed treatment and medical termination after being kicked out of the hospital.

The cost of education and the cost of medical treatment, it was hard to say which was higher. Besides, medical insurance was something that only the rich could afford, medical insurance could at most reduce the cost by ninety percent, without medical insurance, medical treatment would cost a high price, which was undoubtedly a double blow to the patient’s family.

To buy medical insurance, you first need a long-term work certificate for six months or more, and many jobs prioritize people who have received education, only some jobs that don’t require any brains at all recruit unskilled laborers who haven’t been to school.

Without money, how can you learn knowledge, without knowledge, how can you earn more money, generation after generation is trapped at the bottom, this is a vicious cycle.

And this, was just one of the chaebols’ methods of controlling the people.

The monetary units they spoke of were all in the hundreds of millions, after listening for a long time, Yan Xianchuan almost forgot how expensive money was.

And throughout the conversation, Dongye He was standing, Dongye Zhengqi was sitting on the sofa, they weren’t facing each other, so Dongye Zhengqi had to look at him sideways.

Looking at someone sideways is usually considered disrespectful, but it seemed to be a common thing between this father and son.

After the business report was finished, Dongye He said, “The experimental progress has slowed down significantly, in terms of raw materials, there aren’t enough people now, we need to wait for the affiliated families to transport the goods, it’s estimated that it will take at least two weeks.”

When he mentioned this, Dongye Zhengqi’s face clearly became a little uglier, that psionic bodyguard had been with him for over ten years, he was a confidant among confidants, if it hadn’t been for Dr. Serra being so important recently, he wouldn’t have sent him there, he didn’t expect him to die like that, and the murderer still hadn’t been found.

Dongye Zhengqi had also lost his temper at the head of the city’s search department, he ordered him to find the person quickly. Whether it was a person or an organization, there had to be someone to arrest.

But the fact was that countless people, the usual elite, had been searching for days, and they hadn’t found anything.

Dongye Zhengqi’s eyes narrowed slightly, he snorted coldly, “They’re all useless.”

He glanced at his son standing to his right, his son’s original healthy body was dazzling in his eyes, a vibrant, energetic body, elastic skin, a youthful appearance due to good maintenance, it was almost as dazzling as the midday sun, “You’re useless too, why hasn’t Minghui Pharmaceutical gone bankrupt yet, such a big competitor is stealing business from us, this year’s profits are down two percentage points compared to last year, don’t you know how to deal with it?”

“Buy up shares, poach core employees, send in business spies, kill the person in charge, do I need to teach you how to do this? How did I give birth to such a useless son!”

Normally, Dongye He would have lowered his head silently, apologized to his father, admitted his mistakes, and then his father would scold him for being a good-for-nothing and then calm down.

But he didn’t, Dongye He stood up straight, he looked directly at his father, the person who was insulting him, the head of the family, he looked at him quietly with a gaze that was neither angry nor indifferent.

Such an act of insubordination made Dongye Zhengqi even angrier, “What kind of look is that? Are you trying to rebel?”

“I’m sometimes curious, Father.” Dongye He said sarcastically, “What kind of person is a useful talent in your eyes, I’ve done so much for the Dongye family, the hospital has opened over ten new branches, profits are rising every year, all these achievements are worthless in your eyes!”

“Oh, I see, Dr. Serra is the most useful, right?” He leaned forward slightly, he said lightly, “Because she can make you live a few more years, that’s the key.”

“Look at you, these years, which organ hasn’t been replaced? Do you know what others say about you?”

He imitated in a mocking tone, “You’re talking about Dongye Zhengqi, an old geezer, look at his face, it really scares me, you know he just took a lover, she’s only eighteen, tsk tsk tsk…”

“You’re so bold, you dare to talk to me like that!” Dongye Zhengqi slapped the sofa, he stood up abruptly, glaring at his son who had always been obedient and cowardly.

“Why wouldn’t I dare, what would I be afraid of!” Dongye He glared back, equally unconvinced, “Have you ever treated me like a person all these years? I’m your son, not some stray cat or dog, when you scolded me in front of the servants, why didn’t you think that I’m also a person with dignity!”

He paced back and forth in the living room, like an enraged hyena, “Do you know how they laugh at me behind my back! I’m forty, and I’m still being scolded like a child by my own father, don’t I have any face?”

“So what, what are you trying to say?” The anger disappeared from Dongye Zhengqi’s face, he sat back on the sofa, his eyes like a hawk.

“Father, oh Father, I really like this confident look of yours.” Dongye He suddenly burst into laughter, he shook his head and clapped his hands.

Dongye Zhengqi looked at him, as if he were looking at someone who was overreaching himself and asking for trouble.

A low-frequency hum came from somewhere, some machine was starting up, then there was a bang, Dongye Zhengqi frowned, he was stunned to find that the bodyguard he had hired was lying on the ground.

Coincidentally, the prosthetically modified man standing behind Dongye He also fell, smashing the floor with a bang.

“Did you activate an electromagnetic pulse?” Dongye Zhengqi suddenly realized, “What are you trying to do!”

“What am I trying to do?” It was as if he had said a joke, Dongye He laughed so hard he couldn’t straighten up, as if he had never been so happy in his life, the study door was pushed open, Secretary Jin Zaishun walked out, holding a pistol.

Dongye He picked up the gun, he pointed the muzzle at his biological father, he said excitedly, “Of course I’m going to kill you, Father, can you imagine how long I’ve been waiting for this day? You’ve scolded me so much that I can’t hold my head up, you’ve scolded me so much that I’m bruised and battered, I never thought I would have a chance to fight back.”

“Then I found out about you and Dr. Serra, hahahaha, it turns out that my omnipotent father is just a cowardly clown who’s afraid of death.”

“You should really see your expression now, ugh, I should have recorded this scene and watched it over and over again.”

He clicked his tongue, “But I don’t have the habit of leaving evidence, goodbye.”

“Wait! I’m your…!” Dongye Zhengqi’s eyes were wide with horror, he raised his hand in shock, trying to say something to stop him, but before he could finish, Dongye He pulled the trigger.

The sound of the bullet leaving the chamber was so beautiful, the sight of the blood blossoming was so beautiful. Dongye He watched the man who had oppressed him for decades fall to the ground like a piece of rotten meat, the blood splattered out, staining the expensive hand-woven carpet beneath him.

“Congratulations, Boss.” Jin Zaishun said.

“Congratulations on your promotion too.” Dongye He felt refreshed, he took a deep breath, he handed the gun back to his secretary, “Go take care of that bodyguard .”

He had said that he was relying on the modified person Oliel, but that was all a lie, the two bodyguards were fighting, and then they would face completely unpredictable consequences, if they won, that was fine, but what if they lost? Dongye He wasn’t a fool.

He directly activated the electromagnetic pulse, causing both of them to lose their ability to move, Dongye Zhengqi never carried weapons, he didn’t need to either. Without a bodyguard, he was a fish on a chopping board, a lamb to the slaughter, he could only wait to be slaughtered.

As for the electromagnetic pulse spreading throughout the entire district, what’s the big deal, just issue a notice, saying that there was a fault here and there, that the relevant personnel were urgently repairing it, wouldn’t that solve the problem?

“Oliel, I didn’t tell you beforehand, don’t blame me, okay?” Dongye He straightened his suit collar, walked over to him, and looked down at him, “I decided to do this on a whim.”

“How could I, Boss!” Oliel, who was unable to get up from the ground because of the heavy arm, quickly shook his head, “This method is better, Boss can even do it himself, congratulations, Boss!”

“I’ll give you a red envelope later.” Dongye He was beaming, the smile on his lips never faded.

“Thank you, Boss!” Oliel also laughed, sincerely.

Another gunshot rang out, the bodyguard of Dongye Zhengqi, who was unable to move because of the mechanical prosthetic on his body, ended his life.

He probably didn’t expect to die in this way.

There were two bodies lying on the ground, the stench of blood gradually spread, Dongye He naturally wouldn’t stay there, he instructed his secretary Jin Zaishun to take care of it, after turning off the electromagnetic pulse, he walked out of the room, he laughed again as he left.

“No wonder those people at the bottom always want to cause trouble for us, the feeling of rebellion is really great.”

The moment the electromagnetic pulse was activated, the camera on the TV stopped working, the people behind didn’t see the following footage, but they could guess that Dongye He must have succeeded.

He wouldn’t try anything without being sure, because if he failed, Dongye Zhengqi wouldn’t spare him, in chaebol families, there’s no such thing as blood ties.

Yan Xianchuan had watched half of the argument, she felt that it wasn’t as exciting as the fight downstairs, but when she looked out the window again, the two people had been pulled apart by others, they were cursing at each other, they were cursing each other’s health and relatives, but they weren’t fighting anymore.

What a pity, she didn’t see the ending.

Yan Xianchuan sat back down listlessly, she propped her chin and watched Lu Mingqiu give orders, she looked even more spirited than Dongye He.

Were those sparkling eyes reflecting sunlight or her original intentions?

She really didn’t understand this person, what was in her brain, was it justice or hope? Or maybe it was an ideal? Anyway, it was all something intangible.

Yan Xianchuan couldn’t understand any of these words, she didn’t even understand what she was thinking, let alone figuring out someone else’s brain.

It’s so strange, what exactly is an ideal, it has such great power, it makes a person, countless people, dare to abandon their lives, just for the day it can be realized.

The Resistance wanted to hypnotize Dongye He, but without the help of the electromagnetic pulse, if it didn’t go smoothly, it would trigger an alarm, the consequences would be much more serious than stirring up a hornet’s nest.

It was as if they hadn’t considered it at all.

Lu Mingqiu, who had cut off the communication, immediately saw the person opposite staring at her, this scene had happened so many times in the past few days, she was used to it.

“You want to eat?” she said.

The other party nodded, “Okay.”

To deal with Dongye He, of course, they couldn’t do it in the Quhai Building like he did to his own father. The security guards stationed in the entire Quhai could surround the building three times, the best time to act was when he was out.

The cause of Dongye Zhengqi’s death was reported to the public as sudden death due to overwork, it happened so suddenly that there was no time to save him, he just died.

During the news interview, Dongye He talked about his father and son relationship, tears immediately welled up in his eyes, he choked several times, he could only continue speaking after calming down for a while.

He said how his father had raised him and taught him when he was a child, he said how his father trusted him and encouraged him when he grew up, it was really a picture of filial piety.

His eyes were red, his face was full of grief, as if their father-son relationship was so good.

The host was also very moved and touched, he began to introduce Dongye Zhengqi’s contributions, how many hospitals the Dongye family had opened, how good the environment and facilities were, how considerate the service was, he didn’t mention how expensive the prices were,

He even had a few passersby interviews to praise Dongye Zhengqi. People who didn’t know the truth would really think he was some kind of great philanthropist.

Finally, he said that he would hold a funeral for Dongye Zhengqi, it would be held in three days. Finally, he looked at the camera and said, “Many people in today’s society don’t take their health seriously, like my father, he always works late, once or twice is fine, but over time, our body breaks down.”

“I deeply feel the impermanence of life, so I want to hold a charity fundraising event, I will use all the donations received for medical purposes, to provide some help for those who are suffering from illness, I will donate eight million first. At the same time, the hospitals under the Dongye family will also launch some discounts, reducing medical expenses, the added costs will be borne by the Dongye family.”

After these words ended, his glorious image stayed on for a few seconds, the background was the sound of the host clapping.

Eight million, it sounds like a lot at first, for ordinary people whose monthly salary is only a few thousand credit points, they might not be able to earn that much in a lifetime.

But don’t forget, Yan Xianchuan, the useless member of the Yan family, still has tens of millions of pocket money every month.

The price of eight million, it’s probably just a vase in Dongye He’s living room.

The news continued to play, but Yan Xianchuan didn’t want to watch it anymore, she went from sitting upright to leaning on the sofa, finally lying on her back, she raised her hands above her head, her hands folded together, forming a “Mom, I have a question” posture.

“Are we going to catch him at the funeral?” she asked.

“There will be a lot of people at the funeral, and the security will be strong, it’s not the time to act.” Lu Mingqiu denied her question, “It’s easier to act when he’s relaxed, when he’s celebrating, he’ll be more vulnerable.”

“But we can go to the funeral.” Lu Mingqiu lowered her eyes to look at her, “Dongye He will invite a lot of people to perform, it’s like a concert, it’s quite lively.”

Yan Xianchuan: “I really don’t understand the way rich people think.”

Lu Mingqiu laughed, “It’s okay, I don’t understand either, so are we going? Just to relax.”

Yan Xianchuan: “You’re decision.”

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