Chapter 229

"Hao Weiwei, heh, this cockroach, this trash hiding behind a computer screen, he is not worthy of commenting on my work. When I knew my work was reported and taken down, I knew it must be this person.

This notorious leader of vicious competition, this ignorant illiterate, who plagiarizes, uses AI, and uses vulgar plots to cheat for attention and traffic, actually said my novel was written by AI." Luo Yong's eyes flashed with a willful flame that did not match his age. If this were a young man in his early twenties, a grim smile suddenly appeared on his face, which already had traces of frost. "Since he wants me to prove that I am not AI, then I will use practical actions to thoroughly prove this point."

"With your financial strength, you don't need to write novels to solve your livelihood at all. Is it worth putting Hao Weiwei to death because of his report?" Qi Fei could never understand. The closer this case got to the truth, the more confused he became.

Luo Yong looked up at the pale fluorescent lamp on the ceiling of the interrogation room, took a deep breath with his chest heaving, his Adam's apple rolled, and he said five words: "Because I'm tired."

The interrogation room was silent, with only dust rolling silently in the air.

Qi Fei flipped through his notes, as if talking to Luo Yong across a dimensional wall: "Before interrogating you, I organized the testimonies of Dongfang Tian, You Shuo, and your wife Lou Jing from the sci-fi group. Of course, I also referred to your masterpiece, 'After the Consciousness Anchor Fails, I Rebirth into the Third Dimension,' which is suspected to be AI-created. I still don't understand why a successful adult man with a happy family would do such an extreme act because of a hobby?"

After listening, Luo Yong suddenly smiled, a smile of mixed feelings, bitterness and exhaustion, as well as disillusionment and despair.

"This police officer." As he spoke, he turned his head to look at the one-way glass. The mirror glass reflected his angular face, but there were already faint wrinkles on his forehead: "I know there are others watching behind this mirror. The crime dramas I watched when I was a child were all like this.

Hmm..." He lowered his head, holding the paper cup with both hands, as if he had made some kind of determination. "I know what the outcome of intentional homicide is. You need a perfect case-closing report, and I need a complete story.

How about this, I can waste some of your time, listen to me tell the whole story, some related to the case, some not." He said, looking directly at Qi Fei, with a resolute expression.

Qi Fei picked up the pen in his hand, which was a silent agreement to his request.

"You just said that you have talked to many people related to me. I think you have already grasped some fragments and clues. Then let me, the person involved, string all the scattered stories together.

You are right, I possess things that many people envy: a successful career, a wealthy family background, a perfect wife, and a lovely daughter. Life has reached this point, what more could one ask for?

It's just that for fifty years of my life, there has always been a secret that no one knows.

The era I was born in is very different from what you are experiencing now.

Speaking of which, I have some connection with Nancheng. I was born in Sanwu Town, not far from here, and followed my parents to Baicheng when I was very young.

At that time, Baicheng was just a county town in the south. There were not many outsiders. In the era without the internet, all my cognition, besides books and TV, was only the people coming and going in the county town.

So, I never realized that as a boy, there was any difference between me and others.

Until I entered university, I met a person, the one who would generally be called a buddy. We stayed up all night chasing sci-fi TV series, discussed everything related to sci-fi, and fantasized about having the opportunity to make the best sci-fi works in China in the future.

However, at first, I thought it was a deep friendship, but unknowingly, it changed in the bottom of my heart. This was the first time I felt the budding of that kind of emotion. I gradually began to fantasize that he and I were partners in the novel, partners, not buddies. I was very clear, I fantasized about being able to experience various adventures that only exist in novels with him.

I gradually knew that the object I liked was different from most boys.

These feelings that made my head hot were eventually defeated by my reason. In panic and fear, I hid this emotion deep in my heart and forced myself to get along with girls, but no matter how many times I tried, I could never experience the same feelings for them as I did for him.

In the end, I forced myself to forget all this. Have you ever tried that kind of mental castration of yourself?

I was too arrogant, thinking I could control everything about myself, cutting off love and desire, and putting all my energy into my studies and career.

You cannot understand that kind of pressure. All along, I have been the most outstanding one in the whole family, and too many people have placed expectations on me.

I must live the most decent life to maintain this expectation.

So, I turned everything into calculation problems and strategy problems.

I chose Lou Jing as my wife, not because I loved her, but because whether it was family affairs or career, she was the one who could help me the most.

That's right, I am such a selfish bastard.

Decades of painless married life, we are getting richer, but also busier and more exhausted.

When I came back to my senses, life was already halfway through.

People always say I have a life that everyone envies, just like what you just said.

But for me, all this suddenly lost its meaning like a dream bubble.

I have never truly been myself, heh, what should come will come.

That rebellious spirit suppressed in my youth, I didn't expect it to be changed by a chance encounter when I was nearly fifty.

That time, because of work, I passed by the Aiqinghai Bookstore. By some strange twist of fate, I, who hadn't walked into a bookstore for many years, suddenly wanted to be nostalgic, went in and looked around. In front of a shelf of sci-fi novels, I met You He.

You won't understand, people of the same kind can feel each other the moment they meet.

The moment our eyes met, I knew he was the same as me.

I rarely took the initiative to strike up a conversation with him. He didn't avoid it. We talked about some sci-fi content, and he told me that the owner of this bookstore had formed a group of sci-fi enthusiasts and invited me to participate in the next activity together.

I gladly accepted his invitation.

I still remember that night I came to this bookstore. Men and women all had their own exclusive nicknames. No one cared what your status was in society or whether you had money. Everyone was enthusiastically discussing the novels they liked. I suddenly felt a kind of ecstasy I had never experienced before, the kind of ecstasy that made me feel alive."