Peng TouSi surprised me when he told me that the main ingredient in the poison that triggered Ai Mi’s grandfather’s heart attack came from the blue morpho subspecies.
If I factor in the tachycardia that I experienced after swallowing a whole butterfly alive, I could conclude: it must be that butterfly since the symptoms were too similar.
Ai Mi’s grandfather was already in his sixties and was already suffering from heart problems. I was a robust teenager who had gone through the Spartan exercise and was still almost killed on the spot by the butterfly’s toxicity, let alone an old man who originally had heart problems.
I think Ai ShuQiao must have long been aware of the butterfly’s toxicity.
I suddenly recalled something Dr. Yu had said at the foot of Cui Song Mountain, when I had just learned from Dr. Yu that the person who offered a reward for the capture of the butterfly was Ai ShuQiao:
“If I was the one who caught the butterfly, I probably wouldn’t exchange it for money, but would have immediately dissected it to see if it has any rare and special compositions.”
That was a result of his ‘occupational disease’. Dr. Yu, who was essentially a Frankenstein, had a hobby of dissecting unusual creatures. If he gets his hands on a butterfly that was worth a fortune in other people’s eyes, he would satisfy his own curiosity first rather than exchange it for money.
Similarly, Ai ShuQiao, who had a background in organic chemistry, after obtaining a piece of the butterfly’s wing from my dad, she ground it into a fine powder and analyzed its chemical composition instead of setting it into a frame and keeping it as a beautiful decoration.
Since she had observed the unique molecular structure of that powder with an electron microscope, I’m afraid she was able to immediately determine that it was poisonous.
When she eloped to the United States with John, she didn’t take any personal property with her, but she couldn’t forget about the butterfly, so much so that she carried a trace amount of the butterfly powder inside jewelry or something and smuggled it through customs.
That tiny amount of powder was not enough for scientific research, but enough to kill off John’s father who already had heart problems. Since the old man was in your way, you didn’t hesitate to use Ai Mi to poison him and receive your inheritance in advance?
It was an extremely rare natural toxin, even the “Poison King” Klinger said that he had never seen it before. That’s why it would have been impossible to have been analyzed correctly by the police, at least not with the technology at that time. Thus, the cause of John’s father’s death became “heart attack” and he had a dubious death.
How ironic! She used the butterfly wing my dad gave her to make the poison and used it to kill John’s father… Everyone says that killing one’s father and taking another’s wife are acts that are absolutely irreconcilable. John took someone else’s wife, then his father was murdered, so is it now considered even? What Ai ShuQiao did could be considered as helping my dad get revenge.
Stop joking with me, she was the only one who wasn’t a victim from beginning to end! After she successively toyed with my dad and John’s feelings, she used her 4 year old daughter as a killing tool… Anyone who stands in your way will be wiped out by you without hesitation. You don’t even regard other people as the same species, right?
In an instant, I thought about a lot of different things in my head. Peng TouSi finally told me the “bad news” he mentioned earlier.
“Lin, although we identified the ingredients of the poison, Mr. John’s police friend suddenly resigned and left the country without warning. Before leaving, he left a phone recording that said ‘I’m sorry’ and at the same time, the bowl of tomato soup, the evidence that could have been used to prove that Madam Ai ShuQiao poisoned someone, also disappeared…”
“Damn, that’s more than bad news, that’s a huge loss!”
I slapped my thigh in the heat of the moment and coincidentally struck my phone.
“John’s police friend, either his family was threatened, or was bribed by Ai ShuQiao. Since he left and destroyed the evidence, we don’t have a trump card to deal with Ai ShuQiao anymore.”
“Woof, woof.” Obama also expressed his indignation.
“Guys, take it easy.” Peng TouSi said to me and Obama, “While it has hit Mr. John hard, he also laughed at himself and said it was a relief.”
I can understand Ai Mi’s father’s thought process. Because the trump card was a double-edged sword, once it was used, the court will call Ai Mi to appear as a witness. Ai Mi, who originally didn’t know that she poisoned her grandfather, will have to face the truth. It will be a brutal truth she will have to face all of a sudden in a court room.
Even if it was powerful, a weapon that couldn’t be used was not a weapon. Instead of asking Ai Mi to carry the psychological burden of being a murderer for the rest of her life, I’d rather sanction Ai ShuQiao by means outside of the law. As Ai Mi said, Ai ShuQiao can’t remain energetic forever and never make a mistake. If she doesn’t treat other people as the same species, then naturally she won’t really close people around her, and her subordinates won’t actually be loyal to her.
“If this evidence… is gone, then it’s gone. It’s also evidence that’s not good for Ai Mi anyway.” I said, “But doesn’t that mean Ai ShuQiao has found out that John was plotting against her? Did she find out about your alliance with John?”
“No.” Peng TouSi raised his head and looked at the waning moon, “Mr. John and I have a single line of communication that his police friends aren’t aware of. Also, Madam Ai ShuQiao hasn’t publicly had a falling out from Mr. John. After all, they are legally married, and their conflict going public would have a negative impact on Ai Mi’s acting career.”
Peng TouSi has always been an extremely special existence among Ai ShuQiao’s subordinates. Maybe the things he’s doing right now can’t really be considered to be ‘loyal’ to Ai ShuQiao, but he was probably the most likely subordinate to take a bullet for Ai ShuQiao.
Since he was willing to give his life to protect Ai ShuQiao, even if Ai ShuQiao had doubts about him, she would not dismiss or kill him. He was a powerful chess piece and will play an irreplaceable role in a certain occasion.
“There’s no such thing as a perfect chess piece, there’s only the moment when a certain chess piece makes a perfect entrance.”
That’s what Ai ShuQiao once taught Ai Mi.
Peng TouSi and I walked to Qing Zi Academy’s lotus pond. It was the place where B-2 first showed his power and shot down Xing Xing with an anesthetic needle. The ancient style promenade was even more charming at night. Some couples who were flirting to each other all scattered when they saw Peng TouSi and me walk closer while walking a dog.
“That gay couple is being really blatant.”
Some of them muttered as they fled.
Who are you calling a gay couple? Even if you know that Peng TouSi is gay, it doesn’t mean that I’m gay just because I’m walking next to him. I’ll remember that boy with three moles under the corner of his eyes, and I’ll fuck him up the next time I see him.
As we stepped onto the wooden planks of the promenade with our rubber-soled shoes, it made a crisp ringing sound that broke the stillness of the pond and caused the goldfish under the water surface to spit out bubbles.
“Woof.” Obama, who noticed the goldfish, acted as if he had seen food and excitedly tried to go between the wooden railings and ended up getting his head stuck. Peng TouSi and I had to work together to save him.
During this time, Peng TouSi and I exchanged information, and our current situation was as follows:
① The evidence John kept of Ai ShuQiao poisoning his father was destroyed, but Ai ShuQiao did not further pursue John’s other actions. Thus, John was still continuing to collect evidence of Ai ShuQiao’s other crimes.
② Ren HongDe’s offer to Ai ShuQiao to exchange the shares of his group for me and Ai Mi’s freedom was indefinitely shelved by Ai ShuQiao. After she reassessed me, who was infected with the butterfly’s toxin, she thought that I was more valuable than 25% of the shares of the Qing Zi Education Group.
③ The blood samples I provided to Ai ShuQiao was being researched around the clock by highly sophisticated personnel, including Poison King Klinger, in an effort to extract stable chemical components that were effective on the human body. Apparently, preliminary progress has already been made, but the potency was being kept secret from the public.
④ Ai ShuQiao really abode by the agreement and began to cut Ai Mi’s advertising contracts for the next year. She was deliberately trying to show ‘sincerity’ in hopes that I would continue to cooperate and it made me a little puzzled… Am I actually worth that much money? Is my blood going to be used to manufacture painkillers or manufacture euthanasia drugs? Don’t tell me it can be used to make pills of immortality?
⑤ Fang Xin and Professor Bai, from beginning to end, only had a singular goal of tricking people and stealing their money. According to the investigation of one of Peng TouSi’s ‘friend’, the Happy Science Cult has no record of restricting the personal freedom of their believers or the use of violence. It seems like I won’t be in any danger trying to infiltrate into the inner circle of this cult.
“The Happy Science Cult doesn’t have a shortage of hired thugs though.” I scratched my head, “In order to make me believe in the prophecy that my cell phone would save my life, they sent four people who looked like fitness trainers to beat me up with a steel pipe, even though they didn’t really hit me…”
“Well, Fang Xin is still locked up in the psychiatric hospital. His father, Professor Bai, like his son, thinks that violence is lacking in class. What they like to see most is a normal person being brainwashed by them, then obediently offering up money out of their own free will…”
“What a nasty hobby, but with the intelligence network formed by the karma calculator, their prophecies do have a certain degree of attractiveness.”
Before talking to Peng TouSi, I had switched my phone to ‘safe mode’. Naturally, I couldn’t let Professor Bai and the others have a chance to eavesdrop when discussing confidential matters.
“That’s right, the program has deceived so many people, it’s understandable that Madam Ai ShuQiao would want to get her hands on it. Also, after I thought about it carefully, I can probably understand why she feels that you are worth more than a quarter of the shares of the Qing Zi Education Group.”
I looked at Peng TouSi solemnly and waited for his answer.
“If we look at her past, Madam Ai ShuQiao believes: the butterfly is her lucky charm. It helped her get the chance to inherit a big company, and it was an important tool for her to become successful.”
I blinked, his reasoning seemed to make sense.
“She feels that her luck will continue, and that she will definitely achieve success by extracting an effective ingredient from you, her son who was poisoned by consuming the butterfly.”
“Are you sure it’s just painkillers?” I squinted my eyes, “What type of painkiller could be worth more than a quarter of a large conglomerate’s shares…”
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