Chapter 652: Carrying a Weight
Zheng Zhi drove and led Feng Xingshen and Xue Xi to the special department.
The special department had strict restrictions. Because of Zheng Zhi and Xue Xi, Feng Xingshen could easily enter.
Zheng Zhi frowned as he looked at the stumbling Feng Xingshen.
The caretaker who was at the professor’s home had witnessed the entire process of Ji Silin using his special power, so they had already taken measures to erase her memories.
However, no one in the department dared to touch this heavyweight professor.
Firstly, they were afraid that they would accidentally erase his memories of some important research result. Secondly, General Xiang had specifically instructed him not to worry about him for the time being.
General Xiang must be doing this because of Xue Xi.
After all, this professor was Xue Xi’s teacher, and his boss was abusing his power.
This was also the reason why Zheng Zhi had started to dislike Xue Xi again recently. On their way here, he did not speak, but when he entered the special department and sat in the meeting room, waiting for Jing Fei to fly over, Zheng Zhi could not help but say, “Xue Xi, can you have some awareness as a member of the special department? I know that you’re an ordinary person and have a sense of admiration for espers, but you can’t protect Ji Silin like this!
“Do you know where his hometown is? Which medical school did he graduate from?
“Xue Xi, do you think you can just keep a cold face and not speak? Let me tell you, if you don’t speak the truth today, I’ll detain you even if I have to offend Boss. You’re not cooperating with us to solve the case!”
The more Zheng Zhi spoke, the angrier he became.
He did not understand. That Ji Silin was clearly not a good person. Why was Xue Xi protecting him? Even though she was being despised by Elder Feng and getting criticized by the entire school, she did not say anything about Ji Silin!
Even if she did not consider the special department, could she not consider her own well-being?
Recently, although she had always been in the laboratory, did Huaxia University not have a lot of comments about her?! However, looking at her indifferent expression, Zheng Zhi was furious. It was really a case of the emperor being unbothered while the eunuch was drowning in anxiety!
Bah, he was not a eunuch.
Just as Zheng Zhi’s words became more and more unpleasant, Jing Fei hurriedly walked in. “Son, Dad is here. Shut up!”
Zheng Zhi said fiercely, “Shut up? If everyone shuts up, are we all just supposed to tolerate Xue Xi? Let me tell you, no. My duty is to be fair and just! Why should we remain silent when she doesn’t cooperate with us while we’re handling the case? In my opinion, if she doesn’t want to speak, we should give her some truth serum!”
Truth serum was a chemical that made people subconsciously tell the truth.
There was finally a ripple in Xue Xi’s indifferent eyes. She looked at Zheng Zhi and said, “A truth serum, also known as scopolamine, can make the brain’s subjective consciousness fall into a deep sleep. Brother Silin’s special power can make people’s spiritual domain completely believe the ‘truth’ that he suggested, right? So, are you sure that if you used this medicine on me, my words will contain the truth?”
Zheng Zhi: “...”
He was just trying to scare her. Who said that he would really use it on her?!
Even if he wanted to use it, Boss would not let him!
However, when faced with a curve wrecker, why couldn’t he even give such a basic threat?!
Zheng Zhi choked. He was angry and anxious.
At this moment, Feng Xingshen said, “You don’t have to force Sister Xi. She won’t say it because Dr. Ji did not do anything wrong.”
Everyone in the office was stunned.
Jing Fei was stunned. “Elder Feng, what do you mean?”
Feng Xingshen nodded. “What I mean is that the energy of those people from the Math Department was not extracted by Dr. Ji.”
Zheng Zhi retorted, “Not him? Elder Feng, don’t tell me you were also deceived by Dr. Ji? If it’s not him, who else could it be?”
Feng Xingshen silently sighed and touched the award given to him today. This mathematics award was known as the Nobel Prize of the mathematics world. It was apparent that that honor was the dream of many mathematicians.
His old fingers touched the medals one by one before he slowly lifted his head and said, “It’s me.”
“...”
The room fell into a strange silence.
After some time, Jing Fei returned to his senses. “Elder Feng, do you mean that you’re an esper?”
Feng Xingshen nodded. “Yes.”
Jing Fei asked hesitantly, “Your special power is...?”
Feng Xingshen pointed at his brain. “Mind Expansion.”
The rest: “...”
Feng Xingshen chuckled. “This special ability is useless to you guys, but it’s very useful to someone like me who studies mathematics. When I first discovered this special ability, I was in university. At that time, I was studying a math problem. One day, I suddenly had an epiphany and awakened this special ability. Our mathematics currently has only three dimensions, but my brain can expand endlessly. All the concepts in the field of mathematics suddenly became very simple to me. During that period of time, I received many awards.”
Everyone knew this.
It was not an exaggeration to say that Feng Xingshen was a genius.
Even Li Fan had been wary of Feng Xingshen wanting to snatch the top spot in the Math Department of Huazhong University because he had seen Feng Xingshen’s mathematics abilities.
At that time, he was always dressed in bright clothes and looked radiant.
Xue Xi had seen Feng Xingshen’s resume. Feng Xingshen had relied on his achievements at that time to stay in school and become a mentor. Later, he was promoted to a professor and the director...
However, after becoming the director, his achievements seemed to have suddenly come to an end and stopped.
Especially in the past five years, he had been studying an unpopular subject. He did not make any progress and gradually declined.
No one knew what had happened. Some people said that Feng Xingshen had expended his stamina and energy when he was young. Now that he was in low spirits, he could not take it anymore.
Xue Xi looked at the teacher.
Elder Feng was 60 years old this year, but people nowadays maintained themselves well. In contrast, he looked like he was in his seventies or eighties, about the same age as her grandfather.
Just as she was thinking this, she heard Elder Feng say, “But later, I realized that this special power needs to be repaid.”
Xue Xi paused and asked, “Repaid?”
Jing Fei explained, “That’s right. Every person who has awakened a special power will accumulate some damages that will backfire on them depending on their superpower. It can be considered as a payback for their special power’s awakening. We call this compensation.”
Payback?
Payback?
Xue Xi pursed her lips, not knowing that there was such a thing.
Meanwhile, Jing Fei looked at Feng Xingshen. “Elder Feng, what is your compensation?”
Feng Xingshen sighed. “Energy.”
Everyone was stunned.
Feng Xingshen clenched his jaw and slowly said, “Every time I use my superpower, I feel that my energy is insufficient. In the beginning, I didn’t know about the need to pay for it, but I felt it. I used ten years of my life to pay back this superpower.”
Jing Fei sighed. “Your compensation is a little too much.”
Feng Xingshen lowered his eyes. “I only have a lifespan of 70 years, so when I was 55, I stopped using my special power. I even had to control its use.”
Feng Xingshen sounded helpless and depressed.
He replied calmly, “I can’t use my brain. When I think about problems, once I overuse my brain, I will use my special power subconsciously and it will be hard for me to stop.”
Even without this superpower, he could still make some achievements in the mathematics world.
However, he had to suppress his knowledge and abilities, afraid that he would accidentally touch the edge of his powers.
This special ability was truly lamentable.
Feng Xingshen looked up again. “This time, I made a bet with Li Fan. I believed that I was using my own lifespan to pay for it and was prepared to leave after solving the problem. Compared to the development of mathematics in China, my life is not worth anything! I’ve already suppressed it for five years for my own life, but what’s the point of living like this?
“Being able to contribute to the development of Chinese mathematics is the meaning of my existence!”
When Elder Feng said this, he was so impassioned that even Zheng Zhi, who usually looked down on others, felt respect for him.
However, Elder Feng lowered his head and was suddenly speechless.
Jing Fei asked, “What happened after that?”
Seeing that Elder Feng was silent for a long time, Xue Xi said, “Later, though the teacher did not expect it, his body might have sensed something different. Hence, when he used his special power this time, he did not waste his lifespan. Instead, it attracted the attention of the surrounding students.”
Jing Fei and Zheng Zhi were stunned when they heard this.
So, it was not Ji Silin who was playing tricks, but Elder Feng?
Feng Xingshen also looked at Xue Xi. “When did you know?”
Xue Xi was silent for a moment before saying slowly, “When Li Xuelei said that the Math Department students working in his project were dispirited, I sensed that something was amiss.”
When she spoke, her voice was still very indifferent. “Because even before Li Xuelei had poached our people, the students from the Math Department in our laboratory were already in low spirits. Later, I asked Li Xuekai and he said that they attended one of your classes the day before.”
Feng Xingshen paused and smiled bitterly. “I thought that I wouldn’t be able to make it, so I prepared a public class and planned it to be my last one. I didn’t expect...”
Unexpectedly, during class, he did not control his emotions well and used his special power to absorb the students’ energy!
Zheng Zhi frowned. “What about Ji Silin? Why did he keep coming into contact with students who were not energetic?”
Xue Xi replied calmly, “I think Brother Silin was treating their illness.”
Feng Xingshen sighed. “Sister Xi is right. Later, when I realized this problem, I asked Dr. Ji to save those students. Dr. Ji used a mental treatment to treat the people from the Math Department in Sister Xi’s project team and the rest of the students in my class. Meanwhile, the people who went to Li Xuelei’s side did not cooperate with Dr. Ji’s treatment. They were afraid that Dr. Ji would settle scores with them. After all, they betrayed Sister Xi. My body has also reached its limit, so even after Dr. Ji was hounded, he still went to my villa in the suburbs and left after treating me. That day, he did not harm me at all and was treating me instead! If not for Dr. Ji, I would have already gone crazy by now.”
“...”
The truth was actually like this.
Zheng Zhi asked, “Those students...”
Feng Xingshen said, “Dr. Ji has checked. Due to the large number of people, the energy that I unknowingly absorbed was spread across everyone. It will only make them lose their minds for a month. There are no other problems.”
Xue Xi heaved a sigh of relief.
Zheng Zhi and Jing Fei remained silent for a long time.
In the end, Feng Xingshen extended his hand. “You guys can capture me now. Although I didn’t know about it, I still committed the crime of harming others.”
He was old and his hair was white.
He had spent his entire life studying mathematics.
Using his special power consumed ten years of his life.
Ten years...
He did not have much time left.
Even Zheng Zhi could not do anything to such an old man, let alone Jing Fei.
They all looked at Elder Feng and could not speak for a long time. It was Feng Xingshen who spoke first. “In my life, I have no regrets. However, at the last moment, I harmed the students’ interests.
“This superpower, to me, is a blessing, but it is also a burden. If it is possible, I would rather not have awakened it. I would rather have studied bit by bit and taken things step by step. I believe that I could still have reached my current achievements in my lifetime.
“There are no shortcuts in life.
“Officer Jing Fei, arrest me. I’m willing to be executed.”
In the hospital, when he opened his eyes and realized that he had not gone crazy, he knew that Ji Silin had saved him.
However, he, a professor, the pride of the entire country, had become a criminal. This was not only a smear to his reputation but also a humiliation to the Chinese mathematics world.
Hence, he’d hesitated.
He’d even thought that since the police could not catch Dr. Ji, he would just let it be.
In the past few days, he had not seen Sister Xi not because he was taking out his anger on her, but because he felt guilty that he had let Sister Xi down.
If not for Sister Xi, Dr. Ji would not have saved him.
However, today, when he stood at the highest position in the hall and the principal passed him the award, he realized that honor was not supposed to be like this.
Everyone was human and would make mistakes.
Hence, he came here.
Not many people could choose to surrender themselves when they were successful. This required a lot of courage, and Professor Feng came because he respected scientific research.
...
Elder Feng was taken away.
Even Zheng Zhi, who had always been inflexible, could not say anything about him being sentenced at this moment. He was only temporarily detained, and the location of the detainment was arranged very well. The environment was clean and comfortable, and he had even prepared a large number of books for him.
Jing Fei said, “Here, you can study mathematics as much as you want because this is a special prison that suppresses your superpower. No matter how hard you think, you won’t trigger your superpower.”
Feng Xingshen was extremely grateful when he heard this.
He even cried.
After so many years, he could finally use his brain to his heart’s content and no longer needed to suppress it.
Perhaps staying here for the rest of his life was the greatest blessing for him.
Xue Xi came to visit him. Elder Feng was dressed in white and clean clothes. He did not look like a prisoner, but more like a scholar.
Elder Feng looked at her and smiled. “Sister Xi, go back to school. I left you a huge gift.”
...
After visiting Elder Feng and leaving the special prison, Xue Xi and Jing Fei walked out side by side.
Jing Fei sighed. “Sister Xi, actually, being an esper is not as glamorous as you think. And the compensation required of espers is often their original intention for committing a crime. I know you will say that there are good people among wild espers too, but there are some things that they can’t control by themselves. This is why we have to monitor all the espers in the country.”
Xue Xi stood in the special department and looked over.
Everyone was busy as though they were rushing for a case.
At this moment, she suddenly felt that the existence of this department had become grand. There was no longer any contempt or inexplicable hostility.
Jing Fei continued, “We all have many weird habits. For example, my son is too inflexible. However, the elder assembly will accommodate us. This department will tolerate us because even we are moving forward with a heavy load.”
The awakening of a special power meant that it would be compensated.
They had to suppress their special abilities and use them to save humans.
How else could it be described other than carrying a heavy load?
Just as the two of them were chatting, Zheng Zhi appeared. “Heh, why are you telling her this? How can ordinary people understand the greatness of espers?”
Jing Fei: “Who said that Sister Xi is an ordinary person?”
“...”
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