As Ye Qingcheng made her choice, I slowly stepped in front of Tang Yi. Tang Yi, oblivious to this, was still engrossed in playing with his toy.
"Teacher Ye, we don't need to go this far. If you want to avenge Li Jiu, we can be on the same side. We are schemers. I can pretend to be dead, and you can get the truth about Teacher Li Jiu's death from the 'Southern Faction.' You are a top practitioner of the Stanislavski system; you'll surely gain the trust of the 'Southern Faction.'"
"There's no need for that. I've acted my whole life, wasting too much time. Now I understand, acting only complicates people's emotions, making it harder to find those crucial points. I can't compare to Teacher Li Jiu, so I can only simplify the logic. Your death will allow me to find the truth of Teacher Li Jiu's demise; that's my simplest underlying logic."
Hearing her words, I was also contemplating. Faking my death wasn't my style, but abandoning my daughter wasn't my style either. I didn't know if this child, Tang Yi, was real or not, but I couldn't risk her danger and escape alone because of this uncertainty. My only option was to roll to the side the moment the gun was fired.
Could I dodge the bullet? Absolutely not, but I might survive. However, this kind of gun fires a spread shot. If I moved, it might injure the child. Then, with two injured people, we wouldn't be able to escape Ye Qingcheng's follow-up attack.
"I know what you're thinking. You want to dodge the bullet, but if you do, both you and the child will die."
Ye Qingcheng was right. My plan was unfeasible. In this situation, if I charged with all my might, I might die, but I might also be able to fight Ye Qingcheng despite being injured. After all, Ye Qingcheng was a petite Southern woman.
"You want to fight me? Remember I was a lawyer. I once qualified for a black belt to become a bodyguard. Otherwise, do you think Lu Yao, a grown man, fell into my hands?"
Damn it, this woman had such skills. Fighting was impossible, but I had to try. While thinking, I bent my knees, preparing to pounce.
Ye Qingcheng sneered, her finger already on the trigger. Her reflexes were slightly better; I wouldn't be able to pounce on her. Just then, the entire room began to shake violently.
The sudden development stunned Ye Qingcheng, and I quickly changed my mind. I naturally hugged Tang Yi and rolled to the other side of the bed. The room shook fiercely, and Tang Yi cried uncontrollably.
An earthquake?
This was my first time experiencing such a situation. In the face of a natural disaster, I felt a sense of helplessness. Regardless, I couldn't just accept fate. I held Tang Yi and ran towards the window.
Bang!
Under these circumstances, Ye Qingcheng chose to fire. Perhaps due to the severe shaking, her shot hit the ceiling. I hugged Tang Yi and took cover under a table.
"Ye Qingcheng, are you crazy!"
"Why? Why? I just want to avenge the one I love, why won't even heaven help me."
As Ye Qingcheng roared, the ground itself cracked open, and the ceiling began to collapse. I stopped caring about anything else, tightly held Tang Yi, and we plummeted down. The tabletop hit my back, and then something else landed on the tabletop. I passed out. When I woke up, it was pitch black. I could feel Tang Yi, who was tightly holding me, had stopped crying and was trembling uncontrollably.
"Are you okay?"
"Uncle, I'm so scared."
"Don't be afraid, Dad is here."
I moved slightly. My left leg hurt terribly, caught in a crevice. Fortunately, it was only dislocated. I turned on my phone. The tabletop and the ground, in their fragmentation, had created a space that allowed Tang Yi and me to survive.
I spotted half a bottle of water and quickly and carefully picked it up, bringing it to Tang Yi's lips, softly saying, "Just a little sip."
I was also extremely thirsty at this moment, but seeing that small amount of water, I pursed my lips. I put the water away and looked at the surroundings again, uncertain where the air was coming from, but at least breathing was fine. Escaping was almost impossible; we could only wait for destiny to take its course.
...
Just then, I heard a pained groan. I softly called out, "Teacher Ye!"
"Tang Nan, you're not dead!"
"Fortunately. And you?"
"I'm alive, aren't I?"
Although Ye Qingcheng said she was alive, I could hear the weakness in her voice. Perhaps she was isolated on the other side.
"I'm sorry for hurting you because I haven't been taking my medicine lately. Fortunately, heaven has eyes and saved you. Teacher Li Jiu once said that the end of scheming is metaphysics. It seems to be true. I've planned this far, and yet your fate is not to die."
"It's not certain we'll live."
"Do you have water?"
"No!"
Ye Qingcheng chuckled. "Then you're worse off than me. I have two bottles here. Are you roughly in that direction?" Ye Qingcheng said, tapping the wall. I listened to the sound and replied, "We shouldn't be far apart."
"Then chat with me. I'll dig a hole and pass the water to you."
"You're not going to kill me anymore?"
"No. If I can't kill you like this, what's the point of trying?"
I heard Ye Qingcheng digging, which I found hard to believe. She was actually going to give me water. In this desperate situation, water was the source of life. Having water meant a high probability of survival.
"Teacher Ye, what shall we talk about?"
"You tell me," she said while digging.
"Tell me about the medicine you were taking."
"Medroxyprogesterone acetate and sertraline."
"I don't understand that," I suddenly felt the conversation had hit a dead end.
Medroxyprogesterone acetate is a hormonal drug. Men sometimes take it to control libido, while women take it to regulate their menstrual cycles. Sertraline, on the other hand, is an antidepressant.
Medroxyprogesterone acetate is taken for five days, followed by a two-week break, during which sertraline is used to increase serotonin.
Although I understood these medications, I was puzzled. "Why take these two medications?"
"To suppress desire. In Teacher Li Jiu's words, without desire, there is no love."
"Do you believe that?"
"Of course, I believe Teacher Li Jiu, but he deceived me. In my life, I've played many roles and learned many skills, but I've never dabbled in medicine. It's precisely because of this that Teacher Li Jiu's lie persisted until Xi'an, when you told me about the Yin-Yang theory of the schemers."
"What does this have to do with the medicine?"
"In the Yin-Yang theory, the ultimate system of gamesmanship is what you call Tai Yin. From the teachings of Guiguzi, this knowledge is static, a subtle psychological existence. So, I looked through some materials and discovered that medroxyprogesterone acetate can reduce abnormal behavior. This drug is an effective intervention for violent behavior. Seeing the drug's capabilities, I felt something was wrong. So, I looked up sertraline. It's not just an antidepressant. Scientific literature in neuropsychology mentions a substance called neurotransmitters, which have a remarkable effect on promoting and inhibiting violent attacks. Although neurotransmitters are biochemical substances directly involved in nerve impulse transmission, we can regulate them through medication. Neurotransmitters include norepinephrine, serotonin, and others... And the medications I was taking happen to increase serotonin levels. Moreover, research has shown that individuals who attack others and commit violent crimes mostly have low serotonin levels."
"You mean, medroxyprogesterone acetate doesn't inhibit love at all, and you don't have depression?"
"Yes. Seeing that the medications treated issues related to violence, I understood. I am, in fact, a born criminal that Teacher Li Jiu was looking for. But Li Jiu, to help me suppress this trait, chose to conceal it from me."
"You felt deceived? So you stopped taking the medication."
"Yes. I stopped taking it. Without the constraints of the medication, my mind became much clearer. I began to understand Teacher Li Jiu's underlying logic and could kill more coldbloodedly."
"Killing isn't an interesting thing."
"My emotions don't change much. Revenge has been my obsession for years. But now I've figured it out. Actually, I was wrong. Teacher Li Jiu was suppressing the urge to kill within me for my own good. He was like a god at all times. I was wrong. Li Jiu might not have died by anyone else's hand; his death was a tragedy of talent being envied by heaven."
"You can think this way is good?"
"The end of scheming is metaphysics; man proposes, but heaven disposes. Teacher Li Jiu died by heaven's will, and you live by heaven's will. This is why you eventually became the head of the schemers, isn't it?"
Hearing Ye Qingcheng say this, I felt so embarrassed that my toes curled up. The reason she finally came to understand was this: the end of scheming is metaphysics.
...
Just then, Ye Qingcheng dug through the small hole and pushed a bottle of water over. Then she weakly said, "Tang Nan, you can take the remaining bottle of water yourself. I can't push it any further."
Hearing this, I had a bad premonition and quickly asked, "Teacher Ye, what's wrong? Your leg is injured."
"I was trapped underneath. It was probably crushed. I can't feel it. I'm losing a lot of blood now, and I'm very tired and sleepy."
I fell silent for a long time after hearing this. Finally, I decided to reach into the hole and take the bottle of water, then said earnestly, "Teacher Ye, if I am saved, it will be because you saved my life."