Chapter 137: The Crow's Dream Message

This story is entirely a work of fiction.

"You shouldn't speak with such absolute certainty. You claim you have never seen me before, but my impression of you is profound, I might even say unforgettable. That single encounter has remained etched in my mind for quite some years now," said the crow.

"Generally speaking, if one person has such an indelible impression of another, there should be an exceptionally deep connection between them. You are like a divine bird, while I am merely an ordinary human being from Earth. I consider it quite unlikely that we share any connection. I don't usually raise birds or flowers either, which means our paths should never have crossed. You must have remembered wrongly. Would you care to think about it again?" Wu Zhengzhe had no recollection whatsoever.

"Ah, you humans are all alike. Even when I put it this way, you still cannot remember things from your childhood. Forgetful humans, how lamentable!" The crow seemed somewhat disappointed in Wu Zhengzhe's memory.

"No rush, no rush. Just now, my eyes were unable to open, and I couldn't see you very clearly, but I'm fine now," Wu Zhengzhe explained to the crow.

"Then take another good look and try to remember," the crow prompted.

"I remember! I remember now! Over thirty years ago, at the edge of our old village, a few of us kids climbed up to a bird's nest in a tree to take some baby birds. Because we hadn't eaten meat for more than half a year, we originally planned to roast and eat them. Later, I realized the birds were simply too tiny and had practically no meat on them, so I suggested releasing them instead. The facial features of those little birds looked exactly like yours—as if you were carved from the very same mold! Could you possibly be the mother of those little birds from back then? You're still alive after all these years?"

"I am alive, and I am doing very well indeed. The reason I have lived until now is precisely to repay your great kindness and virtue! Do you know Nurhaci? And his descendants—they all regarded me as a divine bird and worshipped me like a deity. I am sure you must have seen it: in the imperial palaces of the past, they built tall iron towers, and right at the top of those iron towers were our nests, where people were specially assigned to feed and care for us. In those days, we lacked nothing in food or clothing. But later on, our good days came to an end. We scattered to every corner of the world, and our living conditions became far worse than before, forcing us to make our homes in trees once more. Yet even so, certain merciless individuals refused to spare us. Fortunately, you did a good deed and released the ninety-nine million, nine hundred and ninety-ninth generation of my divine bird lineage, preventing my family from teetering on the edge of extinction. Afterward, we came to this tranquil, untroubled realm of ethereal emptiness—free from bloodshed and conflict, where everyone lives independently, in peace and harmony, and with great joy. I am here to express my gratitude for your sparing of my life." The divine bird spoke with deep appreciation.

"Living in harmony with nature, and in harmony with animals as well, is simply what we ought to do. You needn't take it to heart. You are grateful for my great kindness and virtue? Just because I released those few baby birds of yours?" Wu Zhengzhe asked.

No sooner had the question left his lips than Wu Zhengzhe suddenly felt a profound weakness spread throughout his entire body, an overwhelming sense of hollowness as if he were about to perish.

The crow spread its wings, making a gesture of soaring into flight as though it were about to leave its perch.

"Don't leave, divine bird! You said you wanted to repay me, but you haven't done so yet. If you leave now, who knows when we will meet again?" Wu Zhengzhe pleaded with the divine bird to stay and make things clear.

"I am not leaving. I only see that your complexion is ashen, as though you are on the verge of death. Only by beating my wings can I impart a fraction of energy to you to restore your physical strength. Pay close attention, calm your mind, and absorb the divine energy I emit," the divine bird said with utmost seriousness.

"Yes, indeed, I feel as though I am dying. Quickly, give me your divine energy," Wu Zhengzhe replied.

The divine bird slowly extended its wings, beating them against the nearly stagnant air. A gentle breeze drifted into Wu Zhengzhe's nostrils, and as he slowly breathed in that divine breath, he felt like a depleted battery receiving a fresh charge; his physical strength was returning.

When he felt his strength recover, he was stunned by the sight before him. Everything around him consisted of illusory forms without boundaries, resembling a photograph that was severely out of focus. Those spectral images hung not far away from him, appearing close enough to touch, but when he stretched out his hands to feel them, his fingers met with nothing—there was absolutely nothing there.

His heart began to sink into a void, mirroring the boundless, intangible objects he beheld.

The divine bird sitting beside him was now clearly visible. Gazing at its gleaming feathers, he instinctively wanted to feel their smoothness, but his hands made no contact whatsoever; even the body of the divine bird appeared before his eyes as an illusory phantom. His mood turned indescribably wretched, and he longed to instantly flee this ethereal environment, yet his body remained utterly immobilized in its original spot.

"Do not move. You must rest properly now. There is only one thing you need to remember: you must cure Xiao Jing, who was sent to Germany. He has been suffering from amnesia induced by Ma Shengwei and has yet to recover to this day—what a pack of absolute fools! All you need to do is double Xiao Jing's medication dosage, and in no time at all, his memory will return," the divine bird instructed Wu Zhengzhe.

As soon as the crow finished speaking, it vanished from before Wu Zhengzhe's eyes in an instant.

Suddenly, he heard a deafening crash as the glass-dome-like barrier of the demonic realm shattered, a sound so thunderous that it startled him awake from his dream.

Wu Zhengzhe's eyes fluttered open as he tried desperately to recall the dream he had just experienced.

The imagery of the dream had been so crystal clear at the exact moment of awakening, but the moment his eyes opened, only fragments of a blurred memory remained.

He racked his brain, trying to recall the keywords the crow had mentioned: "Xiao Jing—medication—return to the country..." Yet try as he might, he could not remember what other terms had been spoken.

"Double it, double it..." Connecting this to the medication, Wu Zhengzhe suddenly had an epiphany. "That's right, that's right. It's doubling the dosage for Xiao Jing."

Wu Zhengzhe took out his mobile phone and dialed Chi Xiyu's number.

Chi Xiyu's phone was turned off, throwing Wu Zhengzhe into a state of extreme anxiety.

It was not until the stroke of midnight that Wu Zhengzhe finally managed to get through to Xiyu.

Upon answering the call, Xiyu immediately reported to the ministry regarding the anti-gang operations in Dahe, the situation concerning Xiao Jing, and the corresponding countermeasures.

Given that Xiao Jing was a pivotal witness in the Dahe case, the Ministry of Public Security utilized Interpol to successfully extradite Xiao Jing back to the country under protective escort five days later.

After listening to the recommendations of multiple neurosurgery experts from Country M, specialists at the Capital Hospital initiated memory-recovery treatment for Xiao Jing.

On the Dahe front, acting upon Chi Xiyu's advice, the provincial department issued orders to tighten security around criminal suspects as well as the security measures at the Dahe Hospital.

Ten days later...

At the Dahe Police Headquarters, Ma Shengwei received intelligence that following his surgery, Chi Zhaoming's immune system had plummeted due to the exhaustion of prison life, resulting in a viral infection in his lungs accompanied by intermittent fevers.

Over the past decade, Ma Shengwei had wielded absolute power in Dahe, never once being troubled by anything.

Yet times had changed, and a targeted anti-gang campaign had left him sitting on pins and needles, shaking the foundations of the empire he had painstakingly built in Dahe.

On the day Chi Zhaoming was sent to the hospital, the informants deployed by Ma Shengwei had surrounded the Dahe Hospital so tightly that not even a fly could have flown in, yet Chi Zhaoming had somehow been safely admitted right under his nose and placed under the protection of investigators from the provincial department.

As for Wu Zhengzhe, he seemed to have vanished completely from the face of the earth.

Ma Shengwei realized that whether Chi Zhaoming lived or died was ultimately inconsequential; the real hazard was that Wu Zhengzhe had slipped away, leaving behind a ticking time bomb of immense danger. Throughout Chi Zhaoming's ten-year imprisonment, although Ma Shengwei had resorted to extraordinary methods, they had only served to inflict superficial injuries that caused no lasting harm. "Why didn't I just finish him off once and for all back then?" Ma Shengwei asked himself.

Ever since Wu Zhengzhe's disappearance, Ma Shengwei had been prone to sudden, hysterical outbursts of rage directed at his subordinates, though all of it seemed utterly futile.

Whenever he thought of Ghost-Scare-Fear, he grew furious, bitterly resenting him for ruining his grand scheme.

In truth, Ghost-Scare-Fear had been completely unaware of Wu Zhengzhe's true identity at the time. Accepting Wu Zhengzhe to work at the boxing gym was purely an attempt to find himself a capable assistant.

The boxing gym and the Duhao Company were situated in completely opposite directions of Dahe—one in the east and the other in the west—so distant that the emperor's reach was far away, and Lü Jiahui rarely ever visited the boxing gym. He knew nothing whatsoever about Ghost-Scare-Fear arranging for Wu Zhengzhe to work there as a boxing coach. Later on, when Lü Jiahui accidentally discovered that Wu Zhengzhe was employed at the gym, he was terrified of receiving a tongue-lashing from Ma Shengwei and thus neither dared nor reported Wu Zhengzhe's presence there to him.

Ma Shengwei was acutely aware that Wu Zhengzhe had already obtained all the evidence regarding Lü Jiahui's crimes. As for how much Xiao Jing had disclosed to Wu Zhengzhe about his own unspeakable deeds, he had no way of knowing.

Most fatal of all was the video footage of Lü Jiahui committing murder—a video Ma Shengwei's men had spent over eight years searching for without yielding any results.

Eventually, Ma Shengwei simply abandoned the idea of ever finding that video.

This ticking time bomb named Wu Zhengzhe had to be eliminated immediately, and though he racked his brains, he could find no solution.

Because of this, he felt a constant undercurrent of panic and apprehension.

As for Xiao Jing, whenever he thought of him, he remembered the entreaties of his own daughter, Xiao Yi. At times, the order to carry out the hit had already been issued, yet just as Ma Shengwei's plans were about to be put into motion, the sound of Xiao Yi pleading and begging would always echo in his ears.

"Dad, I'm begging you, please spare my father. You are my biological father, but my adoptive father's kindness to me is as vast as the sea and as deep as a mountain; he loves me and cherishes me. I simply cannot let go of my adoptive father. He no longer poses any threat to you, and I want to take him to Country M. I hope that one day a miracle will occur. I will stay by his side and accompany him until he wakes up—and he will wake up," Xiao Yi wept as she knelt before Ma Shengwei.

(To be continued)