Chapter 117
The torment without sun and moon began.
Yuan Chan was locked underground in a room of only ten square meters, with the bathroom, dining area, and bedroom all cramped together. There were no windows, only a constantly rotating ventilation fan on the ceiling. The walls and floor were nailed with thick foam padding to prevent Yuan Chan from committing suicide by banging his head.
When he was a child, he was often confined here, given only a little food and water to sustain his life, until he was on the brink of mental collapse before Yuan Jianghai would finally release him.
He would say, "Chan, you should greet me. I'm your father."
The exhausted Yuan Chan could only say, "Good morning, Father."
In the Yuan family, the previous generation's head always liked to firmly imprint the word "obedience" into the brain of the next heir.
Now Yuan Chan didn't know how many days had passed. He was worried about his wife and children.
His entire hope rested on his eldest son Yuan Ao, a reliable person who could protect everyone even if Yuan Chan went missing.
And his daughter, Yuan Luoyi, had she improved in the new environment?
Thinking of this, Yuan Chan's heart ached. He had done his utmost to create the new Yuan family, yet the tragedy was repeating itself. The genetic illness was like a cruel curse that constantly accompanied them.
"Swoosh!"
The door suddenly opened slowly, the light from outside rushed into the room, too bright for Yuan Chan to adjust for a while.
His father, Yuan Jianghai, was at the door.
"It's about time for you to come out."
With a gun pointed at Yuan Chan's head, he was taken out of the room.
Today, Yuan Jianghai looked happy, grinning with his bony fingers rhythmically tapping on the armrest.
"In my life, I've overcome countless difficult diseases, but I've never been able to solve the Yuan family's genetic illness."
"It's very peculiar, an endless mystery. Every time I think I understand it, it gives me completely different data, leaving me at a total loss. But that's also what captivates me..."
"As an ordinary medical scientist, I'm challenging the puzzle given to me by heaven."
"Did you know? Every family has its share of fools, but the people in our Yuan family are all exceptionally intelligent, and this has to do with the genetic illness."
"It's a curse, but also a blessing."
"Now, I finally understand how to make it exert its blessing and not its curse, and this discovery can benefit all of humanity, allowing every family to have outstanding offspring."
As he spoke, the group arrived at the top floor terrace of the seaside villa. The salty sea breeze brushed against Yuan Chan's face as he gazed at the lone crescent moon in the sky, guessing that he had been locked up for about a month.
Yuan Jianghai said, "That night, you told Yuan Luoyi to leave, thinking a change of environment would help her recover. But in reality, what initially helped Mei Xi get better wasn't the change of environment, but your sincere love."
His eyes suddenly surged with mania, his obsession terrifying, his curiosity pure, crushing and kneading people to extract the truth from countless corpses.
"This is the answer I've been searching for all along - sincere love!"
"Yuan Luoyi, my perfect creation!"
"You were born to be loved! You are the best medicine!"
"Those five cursed children will gain blessings because of you! And they'll be utterly destroyed because of your departure!"
"Because they all love you so sincerely!"
Yuan Jianghai laughed high and shrill, his emaciated body constantly shaking, while the heart and lung monitor next to him emitted a piercing alarm, the intense pain tearing at his nerves.
But this didn't diminish his joy - finally, the lowly him had touched the truth of the world!
Yuan Chan stared blankly at his father, "When I lost Mei Xi, why didn't I fall ill?"
Yuan Jianghai stopped laughing and looked at Yuan Chan with guilt, "Sorry, I lied to you and your sister."
"You're an exceptional child. That illness-causing gene was suppressed by your other genes and couldn't take effect. You've always been a healthy person and would never fall ill."
The revealed truth pierced Yuan Chan's heart like a bullet, leaving him stunned for a long time.
His sister had endured all that suffering for his sake!
And it had all been a lie!
Yuan Jianghai said, "Beautiful lies made my lovely daughter persevere. She was a decent test subject. After she died, I used others, but they only lasted a few days. Love really does make one incredibly resilient."
The previous scenes flashed before Yuan Chan's eyes, and he finally realized he had never escaped his father. This madman had treated all his children as test subjects, just as he had treated his sister Yuan Meixi.
Yuan Chan closed his eyes in sorrow, losing all hope, but he still asked, "Is my daughter still alive?"
Yuan Jianghai said, "She's been strangled to death. Her brothers have also started falling ill."
"I killed your wife too."
"Now, you must choose. I can forgive you for your mistakes. You can return to my side as the heir of the Yuan family. You can marry a suitable woman and have more children..."
Yuan Chan laughed bitterly, "To you, I've always just been a means to continue the bloodline."
Yuan Jianghai sighed and shook his head, "No, Chan, all these years I haven't fallen ill because I sincerely love you too."
"I'm your father. I watched you grow up. I taught you everything. I really don't want to harm you. I just want you to live the right life."
With his face covered by his hands, Yuan Chan had suffered a mental breakdown. He didn't have the curse of the genetic illness, but his father was a curse he could never solve.
He staggered backwards, nearing the edge of the terrace.
Yuan Jianghai called out gently, "Chan, don't choose that side. I really don't want to lose you."
Yuan Chan lowered his hands and gazed at his father, the frail old man with white hair looking genuinely saddened.
Yuan Chan said, "Then you go fall ill too."
He leaned back and fell off the terrace, his body creating rippling waves as he plunged into the salty seawater that filled his lungs with excruciating suffocation.
He didn't struggle, dying amidst the coral-grown silt.
Hot tears streamed down the aged face, dampening the sleeves as Yuan Jianghai grieved the loss of his only son - a father's love for his child is truly great.
Just like the name Yuan Chan, beneath the huge corpse lay the hidden children.
A father is always willing to die for his children.
Yuan Jianghai rubbed his temples, his face still wet with tears, but his gaze became animated again: "My head is starting to hurt! So this is what it feels like, it's really painful! It's like there's a knife stirring inside!"
"Go and call Mei Xi over, I must tell her some things while I'm still lucid!"
A servant quickly left, and a beautiful young girl appeared moments later.
Yuan Jianghai grabbed her hand: "Chan is dead, I'm starting to get sick, don't give me medicine, be sure to record my changes, this has great research value!"
The girl smiled gently and nodded.
At this point, the scene abruptly stopped, as if the movie had been paused, and the surrounding colors gradually faded.
One character after another disappeared, and space-time continued to twist and distort.
[Ding!]
[System Prompt: Clue display has ended]
A tremendous force pulled, and Yuan Luoyi returned to her own room.
Earlier, she had stopped her father Yuan Ao, who had just returned home, wanting to ask him about Mei Xi, but as soon as she uttered that name, Yuan Ao's expression changed drastically, a wound in the depths of his soul that could not be touched.
No older brother wants to personally kill his own younger sister.
Yuan Ao coldly refused Yuan Luoyi and swiftly left.
But fortunately, the fame effect of her fourth brother Yuan Si was strong enough that Yuan Luoyi's influence had already reached over 3,000, and she once again unlocked the clue function, directly seeing the outcome of her father in the old world line.
Yuan Luoyi learned that she was a medicine created specifically to treat her brothers.
She also learned that her grandfather Yuan Jianghai was a true madman.
Even more terrifyingly, the girl called Yi Qi who appeared at the end looked exactly like her.
What was going on with her?
The Yuan family's power was deeply entrenched, but what should she do next?
"Boom!"
Just as Yuan Luoyi was pondering her next move, the lights in her room suddenly went out, an ominous premonition surfacing. This situation had happened twice before!
They were here!
Last time Yuan Luoyi went to the company to investigate the explosion case, they had been watching her since then.
Yuan Luoyi hurriedly opened the door and ran out, she needed to find her brothers.
The night lights in the hallway were also out, the surroundings pitch black, only the moonlight allowing her to barely see the path ahead.
At the end stood a shadow, Yuan Luoyi abruptly stopped, her heart pounding.
It looked like a mirror, with the 11-year-old Yi Qi smiling at her and stretching out her arms: "Luoyi, do you remember me?"
Yuan Luoyi was extremely familiar with this voice, it belonged to the true culprit, and at the same time, Yuan Luoyi recalled that this voice had appeared in her mind more than once.
Whenever she was about to fall into darkness, there was always a ethereal voice calling out to her sadly, "Luoyi, Luoyi."
Memories kept flashing back.
"Luoyi, my darling little sister, don't let the darkness consume you..."
"Let's go, leave this place."
"You are the only beauty in my life, so take my place and stand in the light."
And now, the owner of the voice stood before Yuan Luoyi, smiling coldly: "It's time to switch places, this time I will become you."