Nеаr nооn, Baуunуе wаlkеd out of Lianhuа Suрermarkеt alonе, саrrуing twо сrates оf mineral water, one сrаte оf yоgurt, аnd а lаrge bаg оf fruit аnd snасks. Pаssersby cоuldn't hеlp but glаnce sidewаys—what kind оf femalе Неrсulеs wаs this, sо mighty?
She рlаcеd еаch itеm cаrеfully, then рullеd out hеr phone tо check. Тhеrе was nо message frоm Diао Zhuo уеt—hе рrоbаbly hаdn’t fоund anу useful infоrmation in thе loсаl histоricаl rесоrds. Not wanting to dаmpen the mood, shе didn’t ask further. With Fu Yingtaо’s backрaсk slung оver hеr shoulder and the yogurt and fruit in hand, she headed to the city hospital. Finding the ward, she saw he indeed had no one accompanying him, only a caregiver who seemed to have just delivered a meal. Seeing a visitor, the caregiver left without a word.
Fu Yingtao was picking at the food the caregiver had bought with his chopsticks, wearing an expression of disdain Bayunye knew all too well. In just two days, he had lost a lot of weight, his eyes sunken deeply, his face unshaven, making him look even older.
Just as Bayunye set down the things, a bespectacled doctor pushed the door open, checked the IV bottle, scribbled something in a notebook, and left without further instructions.
“Why are you here?” Fu Yingtao muttered gloomily, not a trace of a smile on his face, as if he didn’t welcome her.
“Your backpack was in my car, so I brought it over. Even though there might not be anything valuable inside, I didn’t want you to think I’d taken it.” Bayunye sat by the bed, mimicking his cold expression. “I’m leaving tomorrow, and we might never see each other again. I heard you’re recovering well, Mr. Fu. At least our effort carrying you down the mountain wasn’t in vain—it was more exhausting than giving birth.”
“You don’t need to emphasize that, as if you’re my savior,” Fu Yingtao said ungratefully, seemingly resigned to his fate. “I heard it was your man who called the police. I just want to ask, since you knew someone wanted to harm me early on, why didn’t you tell me? Why did you let them get away with it all along? If anything serious had happened to me because of this, I’d sue both of you in court.”
“Old Fu, do you know why I fought with you?” Bayunye raised her fist, her tone shifting. “I just wanted you to stay at base camp and not attempt the summit. We’re not the police—how could we conclude you were in danger just from hearing a few rumors? If we’d gossiped about it in front of you, do you think you’d have believed us? You’d have sued us for slander the moment you got back. I once told Fu Xingyue that if someone insists on taking a wrong path, fate will try its hardest to pull them back. If they still refuse, then walking into a dead end is their destiny. Unfortunately, her temper is just like yours—ten oxen couldn’t pull her back.”
Fu Yingtao gave a hollow, bitter smile, looking utterly miserable. “I know how you’re laughing at me in your heart. I worked so hard to raise her, worrying about her studies and career, afraid she wouldn’t excel. You don’t know, do you? She’s not my biological daughter! If it weren’t for me, she’d still be suffering in the countryside, never even making it to college! Instead of being grateful, she actually tried to harm me! After all these years of exhausting myself, I ended up raising such an ungrateful wretch. I deserve to be laughed at by people like you.”
“People like me?”
Fu Yingtao’s gaze was vacant, but his words were venomous—“Uncultured, ill-mannered.”"I don't know what you mean by upbringing and manners. I wasn't raised by you, so you don't get to judge whether I have any." Bayunye felt she had done more than enough. Since they couldn't see eye to eye, there was no point in staying any longer. She stood up and said, "Between people, no one owes anyone else a lifelong debt of gratitude or should be expected to take a knife for them. She never begged you to adopt her back then, so what makes you think you deserve gratitude? To put it bluntly, you owe all of us your life right now. Since you're still alive, you should think hard about why so many people wanted you dead!"
"Who the hell do you think you are? Lecturing me?!" Fu Yingtao flew into a rage. "I don't need to hear this from someone like you—uneducated, without a proper job..."
"BANG!!" Bayunye had already walked out of the ward and slammed the door shut, cutting off the rest of his words. "If it weren't for your backpack still being in my car, why would I bother putting up with this..." Before she could finish complaining, Diao Zhuo's call came through, and her anger instantly subsided.
"Hey, handsome!"
"1974." He got straight to the point, the data coming so abruptly it caught her off guard.
Bayunye was stunned. "You... you're sure?"
Diao Zhuo had photocopied the relevant pages from the local records and explained it to her—"On June 24, 1975, a magnitude 6.8 earthquake occurred near Tuosuo Lake. Because the epicenter was relatively remote and the population density was low, there were no casualties, but it affected many rivers and lakes. The terraces and floodplains of a tributary of the Chumar River on the eastern side of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway shifted leftward, forming a small lake. This tributary is the river we saw in the photo. Since then, although there have been other earthquakes in Qinghai, none have affected the Chumar River or its tributaries. From this, we can determine that the photo of Pearl Peak was taken before 1975."
Bayunye had completely forgotten Fu Yingtao's insults and felt a surge of excitement. As she walked downstairs, she asked, "How do you know it was 1974?"
"In October 1973, the Chinese Academy of Sciences established the first Glacier monitoring station on Pearl Peak. It wasn't until August 1982 that the second one was set up, located on the northern slope. Since the photo was taken on the route from the southern base camp to C1, it couldn't have captured the monitoring station on the northern slope. Therefore, the monitoring station in the photo is the first one established in October 1973."
"The monitoring station was set up in October 1973, and the earthquake that displaced the river happened in June 1975. So the photo was taken in 'July of a certain year'—which must be July 1974!" Bayunye's eyes lit up. "So, the three photos are conveying... 7440417? What is that? Could it be a phone number?"
He lowered his voice. "It's not convenient to discuss over the phone. Let's talk in person."
"Thanks for your hard work," she said sincerely.
He chuckled. "Think about how you're going to reward me."
From Diao Zhuo's tone, it seemed he knew what the numbers meant. Bayunye cheerfully headed to her car, only to realize her hands were empty. She must have left her car keys in the ward along with the backpack and fruit. Reluctantly, she turned back, pushed open the ward door, and tiptoed inside, mentally preparing herself to be yelled at and kicked out again.
Silence.She focused her gaze and saw Fu Yingtao resting with his eyes closed, while the bespectacled doctor who had just come in to check the medication had his back to the door, adjusting the flow regulator of the IV bottle. She rushed over without a word, noticing her car keys were pressed under the plastic bag of fruit. Without greeting anyone, she grabbed them and left.
Something felt off.
She glanced back. Fu Yingtao lay half-reclined with his eyes closed, as if deliberately ignoring her or perhaps deeply asleep. She instinctively checked the meal the caregiver had brought earlier. Though Fu Yingtao had rummaged through it, it was clear he hadn’t taken a single bite.
Based on her observations and understanding of him over the past few days, this old man wouldn’t sleep without eating something.
“Old Fu?” she called out.
Fu Yingtao remained motionless. The bespectacled doctor suddenly turned and hurried toward the door. “Fu Yingtao!” Bayunye raised her voice—even if he were in a deep sleep, he should have woken up. Seeing him still unresponsive, her heart sank. She rushed over and pressed the call button, then turned and dashed out the door. The doctor’s footsteps were hurried, and he quickly disappeared down one side of the corridor.
Fu Yingtao’s attending physician and several nurses came running. Bayunye thought to herself, that bespectacled man from earlier was definitely suspicious! As soon as the doctors and nurses entered, urgent calls for resuscitation echoed from inside.
Undoubtedly, Fu Yingtao had been targeted again.
Bayunye stood outside the resuscitation room, being questioned by the police. Surveillance footage from the corridor showed that after Fu Yingtao was admitted, a doctor wearing glasses and a mask had lingered outside his room multiple times, seemingly waiting for an opportunity. As soon as Bayunye left and the room was empty, he went in. When Bayunye returned, he fled in panic.
It all felt like something out of a TV drama.
Bayunye overheard the police whispering among themselves. They had discovered that someone named Han Mu had arrived in Golmud a few days earlier and suspected the doctor in the footage was likely him. Though she didn’t know who Han Mu was, his skilled handling of the IV bottle suggested he was also a medical professional. Reflecting further, she realized this Han Mu might be the mysterious figure behind Fu Xingyue or Jiang Aohang.
It was unclear what drug the mysterious man had secretly administered to Old Fu, but he was still undergoing resuscitation. The police had set up a tight dragnet, and by the time Bayunye left the hospital, she heard they had already located Han Mu.
Outside the hospital, Bayunye recorded a short video of police cars speeding away and posted it with the caption, “Justice has long arms.” Soon, likes and comments poured in. Many former clients asked where she was, while several other drivers from the club teased her, asking if she had gotten into trouble and ended up at the police station.
In the past, Hippo would have joined the other drivers in mocking her, never missing a chance to comment on her posts. Now, however, all his accounts were eerily silent.
“Damn you, Hippo! If you’ve got the guts, show yourself!” she angrily sent him a message.
Two crisp taps sounded on the car window. Bayunye snapped back to reality and unlocked the door. Diao Zhuo got in, holding a large envelope. She embellished the story of Fu Yingtao being targeted again and still fighting for his life. Diao Zhuo shook his head. “…Either families are torn apart or lives are lost. In the end, everyone loses, and no one gains anything.”
“I heard everyone who should be arrested has been caught. We don’t need to worry anymore,” Bayunye said, pointing to the large envelope in his arms. “Is this the information you brought back? What does ‘7440417’ mean?”Diao Zhuo unhurriedly pulled out a pencil and wrote on the envelope—
CAS: 7440-41-7
“CAS…” Although Bayunye was academically weak, this combination of letters seemed somewhat familiar to her. She recalled seeing many such notations in her eldest sister’s notes. “This seems like… a chemical substance code!”
He nodded. “Every chemical substance has its own unique CAS code. In ‘YN, N, M,’ the commas were initially mistaken by me for punctuation marks. But after finding all the numbers, I considered that my grandfather, paralyzed for many years, struggled to write in his final moments, with limited strength and precision. Apart from the recognizable letters, the symbols resembling commas used as separators might not be simple punctuation. I tried substituting them with other characters similar to commas and, combined with his field of research, discovered that what he wrote as ‘YN, N, M’ was actually YN-N-M.” Diao Zhuo’s pen tip lightly tapped the line of numbers—“CAS 7440-41-7 is the rare metal—”
He forcefully wrote down a single character: Beryllium.
OpenNovel