Chapter 26: The Price of Growing Up |
The next day, Chen Chen shook hands with the police officer before him and walked out of the police station.
Since he was the last person to see Zheng Jian, he was asked to go to the police station to provide a statement.
Chen Chen did not hide other details. He told them the reason the other party met up with him and informed them some of his speculations as well.
Naturally, Chen Chen did not tell about how the other party died due to his hypnosis. Instead, he told them that he had committed suicide out of guilt.
Even though the officials were suspicious of how orchestrated the entire event seemed, Chen Chen had an alibi.
At the time the other party jumped off the building, Chen Chen had already left Zheng Jian's office.
After that, the officials used Chen Chen's speculations as a lead. They discovered Zheng Jian's laboratory records from several years ago. They also uncovered the death report of Zheng Jian's ex-wife, which led to the discovery of a terrible case —
Three years ago, Zheng Jian used the stem cell of his ex-wife to induce cancer cells. Then, he infused them into the body of his ex-wife via IV infusion, causing her to die of cancer.
However, this shocking case was ultimately covered up by the school.
Even the principal and a group of professors went out of their way to meet Chen Chen, Xia Yin, and Wang Wei - the trio that had set off the chain of events.
"And that's how the whole thing went."
Chen Chen appeared shy before the microphone. "Professor Zheng was after our research results. He threatened me to hand over the research results or else he won't let the three of us graduate…"
"How did you respond at the time?" The principal immediately followed up with a question.
"At the time, in a mixed state of anger and frustration, I noticed a picture on his desk. I found out from Xia Yin that the person in the picture was his ex-wife, which was how I arrived at my conclusion —"
Chen Chen declared sternly, "He was afraid of his ex-wife and unknowingly had the picture facing backward toward him the entire time. But why was he afraid of his ex-wife? I determined that even though the circumstances of her death looked like she died of an illness, it was actually a murder!"
"What I didn't expect was that when I exposed his vile actions, he broke out in tears. He went down on his knees, begging me not to expose him. Of course, as one of the three righteous younglings of the Earth Federation, I didn't agree."
A hint of fear showed on Chen Chen's face. "I never thought that he'd commit suicide out of guilt before I even had time to call the police after leaving his office."
The group of professors sitting before Chen Chen exchanged strange glances among themselves.
Their confusion stemmed from their great surprise by the entire sequence of events.
To think that a mere green boy was able to corner an associate professor to his death just by going off several strands of loose clues. Even though the other party had always been somewhat scummy, they were still bewildered.
"Could Zheng Jian have committed suicide because you were too harsh when you spoke with him?"
The principal who spoke in the middle questioned again, "Does Xia Yin know of the conversation between you two?"
"I didn't know about it. The tutor asked me to leave right after I brought Chen Chen over." Xia Yin quickly shook her head, looking clueless.
"Zheng Jian brought this all on himself. This was the conclusion the officials had arrived at as well. It's unnecessary to bring this up again."
Professor Wang Xi, who had been sitting on the side, took a sip of tea from his cup. He then glanced at Chen Chen with a hint of a smirk. "What I'm more interested in is what the three of you discovered with your research. So much so that even Zheng Jian got so hooked and even cost him his own life."
"This…" Chen Chen became more embarrassed.
"What is it? You worry I'm going to claim your research results for myself? There are so many pairs of eyes watching here, I can't claim it even if I wanted to," when Professor Wang Xi saw Chen Chen hesitating, he began to tease him.
"Of course not. I don't mind if you want to see the data from our research. The only problem is our research data was taken as case evidence and we can't get them back from the police station at the moment," Chen Chen promptly explained.
"How about the thesis?" Professor Wang Xi asked again.
"There's no problem if it's just the thesis. I kept it in my email. Professor Wang Xi can take a look at it whenever," Chen Chen quickly informed.
"Alright, send it to me after the meeting. I'm curious to see what sort of earth-shattering experiment my student came up with!" Professor Wang Xi laughed heartily.
It was obvious that Wang Xi held a respectable position in the school. Just a sentence from him was enough to brush over the case of Zheng Jian's death. Even the principal had no choice but to give up on pursuing the matter.
Chen Chen understood that this was Wang Xi covering for him.
The meeting had subsequently ended following Wang Xi's interruption.
Even though the meeting was not necessarily disadvantageous to the trio, there was still a considerable amount of pressure from the rounds of questioning. Judging by Professor Wang Xi's behavior, he had undoubtedly spread his wings over them, protecting them like he would protect calves.
Chen Chen silently took note of Professor Wang Xi's gesture.
After leaving the meeting room, Wang Wei did not know whether he should be crying or laughing his heart out. "I never thought that a day would come where we get to meet so many bigshots of the academic world."
"This is on me." Chen Chen shook his head. "I never thought that Zheng Jian was so mentally fragile."
"What do you mean 'it's on you'? You've done the kingdom a service by getting rid of a threat, alright?"
Wang Wei quickly responded, "If it wasn't for you, our three months' worth of progress would have been taken away by Zheng Jian. How could he call himself a professor?"
Chen Chen glanced at Xia Yin who stayed silent and gave Wang Wei a subtle signal.
"Ugh, look at me going off like that." Wang Wei quickly chuckled. "Xia Yin, none of this is your fault."
"It's no big deal, I just felt a little guilty." Xia Yi shook her head. "If it wasn't for what I said, none of this would've happened. Tutor Zheng wouldn't die…"
"If it wasn't for you, then there would be more people getting threatened by Zheng Jian. What Chen Chen did was doing the kingdom a service, addressing the root of the problem!" Wang Wei explained.
"…"
Chen Chen paid no mind to Wang Wei who was running his mouth. He took out his phone and forwarded the thesis in his mail to Wang Xi, Xia Yin, and Wang Wei. Then, he turned to Xia Yin. "I emailed the thesis to you guys, take a look. If there's no problem then I'll submit it."
"Well, I'm not going to bother." Wang Wei patted Chen Chen's shoulder. "I trust Lil Chen."
"Me too." Xia Yin nodded. "Oh yeah, how much for the publication? I'll transfer it to you."
"It's alright, I sent it to Professor Wang Xi. He can probably bill it to the school." Chen Chen waved his hand. "I'm going to meet Professor Wang Xi. You guys want to come?"
"No, I have something to do so I'll head back first."
Xia Yin shook her head and mustered a forced smile before turning around and left.
"Xia Yin doesn't seem to be doing so well." Wang Wei shook his head.
"Her tutor died, it's normal to feel down." Chen Chen turned toward Wang Wei. "You coming?"
"No, not like it has anything to do with a second author anyway. Besides, Professor Wang Xi obviously had his eyes on you."
Wang Wei gave Chen Chen's shoulders several thumps. "I'm going to head back first. Don't forget to treat the entire dorm after passing!"
"It's a promise."
After the two of them bumped their fists, Wang Wei turned around and left.
Watching Wang Wei and Xia Yin's figures slowly fading away, Chen Chen sighed silently.
He began to feel like he was getting somewhat distant from Wang Wei.
It was not due to Wang Wei intentionally distancing himself, but his own fault.
The absolute mental calmness and rational processing that came with taking NZT-48 were ever so slowly affecting Chen Chen's personality.
Apart from that, there was also the aspect of driving Zheng Jian to his death.
Even though it was not said out loud, it was still a human life at the end of the day. When other people see Chen Chen, they would instinctively withdraw themselves out of fear.
All of these factors slowly contributed toward driving Chen Chen away from other people.
In truth, it was not just Wang Wei. It was the same for the other two buddies in Chen Chen's dorm as well.
Perhaps this was a part of growing up?
Chen Chen understood that from the moment he had acquired the USB drive, he was destined to belong in a different world compared to others.
Either reach for the peak or fall into the ashes and dust.
No matter what, he refused to continue living a plain and simple life!
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