Chapter 488: He Might Not Be Perfect

Number Nine's identity was a mystery I couldn't figure out for now. Frowning in thought, I occasionally swept my gaze over Feng Minglong. "You really didn't get a clear look at that guy's face?" I still hadn't given up, staring hard at him to find a flaw in his expression.

"I really didn't. You know what the situation was like back then," Feng Minglong said from his bed, sounding helpless. "Is that guy really that important?"

I shook my head, recalling the scene right before we boarded the train.

First, I was spooked in the restroom. After I came out, all my attention was drawn to Blood Fox, so I hadn't paid any attention to anyone else at all.

And it was exactly in that momentary lapse of attention that the incident Feng Minglong mentioned occurred.

'Two Feng Minglongs?' With too few clues on hand to deduce anything for now, I had to let it drop.

'The other party was following me, so they must be extremely familiar with me. Could it be someone close to me? But why did I see Feng Minglong's face at that time? This Number Nine is connected to the Live Show. His exact identity can't be confirmed. He might be the newcomer taking my place, a staff member for the Live Show, or even connected to Xia Chi and the others.'

My gaze wandered back and forth over Feng Minglong, giving him the creeps.

"Hey, can you stop looking at me like that? You're acting like I did something to wrong you," he said.

"Whether you did or not, you know best." I gave a faint smile and said no more, burying this suspicion deep down. Stretching comfortably, I added, "Back to the main topic. Our experience that night was actually just a dream. Don't go spouting nonsense to everyone you meet, or you might get locked up in a psych ward one day."

"Impossible. It was too real to be a dream. You clearly went through it all too, so why won't you step up and testify for me?" Feng Minglong said with a bitter expression. He knew he had spouted his fair share of nonsense over the past few days.

"It's not that I'm unwilling to testify for you; the situation is just very complicated. Stop obsessing over it, and don't mention it to anyone else. Just treat it as a dream." Too lazy to explain things further, I rolled over and went to sleep.

Around noon, someone shoved me awake. I turned my head, only to find Feng Minglong staring eagerly at me.

"What's your deal now?" Seeing his face brought back horrifying memories. The thought of being stared at while I slept instantly wiped out any lingering drowsiness. "Can you act normal for a second? Forget it, I'm changing wards!"

"Change to what ward? Just stay put and behave," a gentle female voice came from the other side of the bed. A moment later, I caught the aroma of food.

Turning around, I saw Tie Ningxiang placing piping hot dishes on the nightstand. "My mom just made this pork rib soup. Hurry and eat it while it's hot."

"I couldn't possibly." Even as I said that, I picked up the bowl and chopsticks and took a bite. It was stewed to perfection; the rib meat melted in my mouth. "Delicious. Your mother's culinary skills are incredible. Senior, you should really learn a thing or two from her."

"Not even food can shut your mouth?" Tie Ningxiang rolled her eyes. Sitting beside me, she gently rested her hand on my arm. "How are you resting? Does it still hurt?"

"It doesn't hurt anymore. This place is pretty nice. It's just that my fellow patient has an unstable mental state. I suspect he's suffering from delusions and paranoid psychosis."

I wolfed down the food as I spoke. Beside me, Feng Minglong swallowed hard and said, deeply wronged, "I'm telling the truth..."

Only then did Tie Ningxiang notice Feng Minglong. She gave him a quick greeting before promptly ignoring him again. "Gao Jian, I came here this time because I have something else to tell you."

"What is it?"

"It's about Ye Bing," Tie Ningxiang said, her tone somewhat complicated. "Since last night, her vital signs have been steadily failing. The doctors are at their wits' end; they can't find the cause at all."

"Why tell me if they can't find the cause? It's not like I'm a doctor." I quietly ate my food, my appetite excellent today. "Did Elder Chen come looking for you again?"

Tie Ningxiang nodded. "Elder Chen is highly respected in Jiangcheng. He's from my grandfather's generation. Even my father has to respectfully call him Teacher Chen when they meet."

"He went to your house?"

"No, the people around Elder Chen went behind his back and secretly told my dad."

"So Deputy Bureau Chief Tie ordered you to come persuade me?" I set down my bowl and chopsticks. "Is Teacher Chen really as great as you all say? Knowing a person's face does not mean knowing their heart. He looks like a man of high morals and supreme ethical standards, but how do you know what kind of person he is deep down inside?"

After meeting Teacher Chen for the first time, I had also searched online for information about the old man.

This elderly gentleman was practically praised as a flawless human being. I couldn't find a single piece of negative information about him on the internet.

This seemed highly abnormal to me. The online environment was incredibly complex, with everyone wearing a mask. Trolls would pop up even beneath a completely positive news report. They didn't always troll just to deliberately hurl insults or degrade people; some did it purely for fun, or because they wanted to gain attention. That was just how it was.

Yet that day, I flipped through dozens of pages of reports and comments and surprisingly didn't find a single negative remark. As far as I was concerned, this could only mean one of two things.

First, this old man really was a god-like existence whose moral character was absolutely flawless. Second, he might have a professional team operating behind the scenes to maintain his positive image.

Hearing my words, Tie Ningxiang began to argue back, which was rare for her. "A person occasionally doing a good deed or acting courageously isn't a big deal. If it were just that, I wouldn't respect him from the bottom of my heart. But everyone can see the contributions Elder Chen has made to Jiangcheng and even the entire Central-South region. He's used decades of his life to prove it."

"In the beginning, society did have negative opinions of Elder Chen's actions. People thought he was putting on a show, assuming he was just like certain upper-class socialites who made a huge fanfare out of charity just to buy a good reputation. But so many years have passed. The newspapers that originally raised those doubts have already shut down, yet Elder Chen is still building schools and attracting more and more people to his cause."

"Gao Jian, there really are good people in this world. I know your past, and I understand that it's hard for you to accept a person like this, but it's the truth."

Tie Ningxiang spoke with earnest sincerity. Those in criminal investigation, as well as anti-narcotics SWAT officers, were experts at speculating on human nature from the worst possible angle. After all, they dealt with exceptionally vicious desperadoes; sometimes, tolerance and trust could be fatal.

"Senior, I believe good people exist in this world, but I'm not one of them, so I don't think with the mindset of a good person. The way I see it, people are complex. A petty thug who smokes, drinks, and steals might also go to the back alley every evening to feed stray cats and dogs. An impeccably dressed, highly educated university professor might very well be a pervert on the inside, with several brutal murder cases weighing on his shoulders. An innocent and cute four- or five-year-old child with a lovable appearance and delicate features like a porcelain doll might flash a sweet smile while throwing a newborn puppy into a burning stove right in front of its mother."

"Appearance and temperament are merely superficial. The hardest thing to fathom in this world is the human heart."

Tie Ningxiang understood all the points I was making. She fell silent for a moment. "Gao Jian, you're too extreme."

"It's not that I'm too extreme, but rather that this Teacher Chen is far too perfect. From the perspective of criminal psychology, a person's life trajectory is often related to a certain encounter or habit in their early years. The Teacher Chen you talk about has consistently adopted orphans and established schools for disabled, deaf, and mute children for decades. This has to be tied to some kind of life experience he had." Tie Ningxiang wasn't an outsider, so I didn't hide anything and voiced all the thoughts in my heart. "There are many ways to do charity. He could build schools for people in remote areas, donate to disaster zones, or support development in the northwest. Yet Teacher Chen specifically chose to adopt orphans and build multiple schools for the disabled. What's the reason behind that? Why does Teacher Chen show such an extraordinary level of care toward orphans and disabled children?"

I guided her step by step. After listening, Tie Ningxiang subconsciously chimed in, "Why?"

I gently grabbed the back of her hand. "Are you sure you want to hear it?"

"Cut the crap and spit it out." Tie Ningxiang glared at me.

Lowering my voice, I leaned close to Tie Ningxiang's ear and said, "This is just a baseless deduction, so don't take it to heart. I think the reason Teacher Chen does these things is, first, possibly to atone for his sins, or second, possibly for sexual gratification."