Chapter 76: Pearl’s Mother

In City B, beneath a skyscraper in the city center, a middle-aged man with a scar on his face and a young woman wearing sunglasses stopped in their tracks.
“Elder Three,” a security guard stepped forward, “The master is on the 18th floor!”
“I know!” Zheng Ze nodded and glanced at Pearl beside him.
“Let’s go up!” Pearl said expressionlessly.
The elevator reached the 18th floor. Zheng Ze confidently headed to the left side of the elevator and pushed open the door to the conference room at the end of the corridor.
“Punctual as ever!” A young man turned around in his chair, facing them with a smile. It was Yuwen Zhuo.
“Pearl wants to see her mother, so…” Zheng Ze still felt uneasy. “You said before you’d spare her…”
“It’s human nature!” Yuwen Zhuo nodded. “I understand! I said I wouldn’t cause her trouble because she’s not a problem to me! But you need to know that you can be a problem to me, since you know too much!”
“Master, if you’ll spare my father, we promise not to reveal anything about Original Sin to anyone! We swear!” Pearl still held onto a glimmer of hope.
“Pearl, you promised me before you came that you’d only come to see your mother and not get involved in anything else!” Zheng Ze grabbed Pearl’s arm and shook his head at her, knowing what would happen if he angered this seemingly gentle man.
“Pearl, I won’t deny you’re beautiful,” Yuwen Zhuo said with a smile, shaking his head. “Though it’s hard for me to refuse women… It’s the rule. Rules are meant to keep the organization running smoothly, even if sometimes they seem unreasonable…”
“What do you want me to do to spare my father?” Pearl wasn’t ready to give up.
“Pearl, stop talking!” Zheng Ze held her back. He noticed a change in Yuwen Zhuo’s expression and realized Pearl might be in danger.
“Do you think I’m trying to do something inappropriate to you?” Yuwen Zhuo frowned slightly. “Or haven’t I made myself clear? I’m worried that every second you stay here makes me want to kill you. So, I suggest you stay out of my sight for now…”
Zheng Ze pulled Pearl out of the room and closed the door behind them. Pearl sat frozen by the door, silent…

“I’m glad you didn’t make a wrong decision!” Yuwen Zhuo regained his smile as he looked at Zheng Ze.
Zheng Ze nodded calmly. “How do you plan to execute me?”
“Choose it yourself—the method, the location, the way of death. Remember, within 24 hours!” After saying that, Yuwen Zhuo turned his swivel chair 180 degrees, facing away from Zheng Ze, and said nothing more.
Zheng Ze was slightly stunned. He glanced at Yuwen Zhuo, who stood silently with his back to him, before turning to leave.
Watching Zheng Ze push open the door of the conference hall, Zhenzhen raised her head in surprise and looked at her father.
“He agreed to let you go?” Zhenzhen immediately stood up.
Zheng Ze shook his head with a smile. “Let me take you to see your mother.”
Zhenzhen’s hopes were dashed once again. She tried not to cry and nodded at Zheng Ze.
Under the astonished gazes of the security guards, the two took a taxi and left the building.
The taxi stopped in front of a villa. Zheng Ze led Zhenzhen out of the car.
“This is one of the places where that scumbag Li Tianyu conducted experiments. There’s a highly secret basement below, and your mother is in there!” Zheng Ze’s expression darkened. After hesitating for a while, he walked toward the villa’s door.
Using the key given to him by Li Tianyu, he opened the door and headed straight for the bathroom. Zhenzhen stayed in the living room and didn’t follow.
“The entrance is in the bathroom. Come on! He put it here to cover his tracks.” Zheng Ze smiled awkwardly.
Only then did Zhenzhen follow him into the bathroom.
Zheng Ze crouched down, lifted a tile that seemed perfectly normal from the floor, and inserted the key into it, turning it 90 degrees counterclockwise.
A strange sound of bricks rubbing against each other came from the floor, and then the entire bathtub flipped over, revealing a staircase leading underground.
“I’ll go down first. There’s light down there! Come down once I turn on the light!” Zheng Ze pulled out the key and handed it to Zhenzhen, then went down the stairs alone.
In less than half a minute, the once-dark basement became brightly lit. “Come down!”
Zhenzhen also descended the stairs into the basement.
“That’s your mother…” Zheng Ze pointed to the woman on the white hospital bed in the middle of the basement.
Zhenzhen hesitated for a moment before finally stepping forward and approaching the bed.

She was a beautiful woman, seven-tenths similar to Pearl in appearance, with just a touch more maturity. Her complexion was even somewhat rosy, giving her a lifelike appearance. Her face seemed to be around Pearl’s age; it seemed as though she hadn’t changed at all over these twenty-odd years…
The only difference was her slightly rounded belly, like that of a woman a few months pregnant. But Pearl knew that what was inside wasn’t a fetus, but a giantgiant gu worm worm.
It was the first time in her life she had seen her mother. She stood there quietly, reached out to hold her mother’s still-warm left hand, tears streaming down her cheeks. “Mom, I’ve come to see you…”
Zheng Ze stood aside, silent, simply watching his daughter and the woman he had forced himself to possess…
It was unclear how much time passed before Pearl reluctantly released her hand and nodded at Zheng Ze with a smile. “It’s okay now!”
“Oh, go up first. I want to be alone with her for a while…” Zheng Ze replied with the same smile.
“Oh…” Pearl hesitated for a moment, wanting to say something but failing to speak. She simply lowered her head and left down the basement stairs…
Zheng Ze stepped beside the hospital bed and gently stroked Lin Xin’s face. “I’m sorry. I apologize for what I’ve done in the past. I know you didn’t even know I existed, nor did you know you had a daughter with me…”
“To express my apologies…” Zheng Ze drew the long knife at his waist, placed its handle in Lin Xin’s hand, then tightly grasped her left hand with both of his own and thrust the knife deep into his own abdomen. The knife came out through his back, and blood flowed endlessly. Zheng Ze smiled at the woman before him. “Dying in your hands is the happiest thing in my life… and the only right choice I’ve ever made…”
Enduring the pain, he leaned forward and gently kissed Lin Xin’s forehead, tears from his eyes falling on her cheeks. “I’m sorry. I love you…”