Memory inheritor

Chapter 230 In-Depth Investigation (Part 1)

After taking a shower in the morning, Wei Hongsi took out all the new clothes he had bought from the closet and tried them on.

He originally didn't want to go through all this trouble. Based on past experience, he only needed to try on one or two items and then compare them with other clothes.

But after trying on the first piece of clothing and pants, he found that the size was too perfect, and he could even feel that it was a little tight, indicating that the size accuracy of these newly purchased clothes was far from what he had seen before.

Moreover, the clothes that Lu Jiaqi picked out for him each had a slightly different design, so the old method of comparison and reference was obviously no longer effective.

Therefore, he could only try them one by one. After all, he had spent a lot of money, and if they were not suitable, he would have to replace them in time. He couldn't just waste the money.

Fortunately, after trying it on, there was no problem with the fit, and Wei Hongsi breathed a sigh of relief.

He doesn't like shopping for clothes because he finds it troublesome, and it's even more troublesome if the clothes don't fit and need to be exchanged.

This effect is thanks to Lu Jiaqi for choosing the clothes for him and Xia Shiyu for taking his measurements, which were all done very well.

Wei Hongsi kept the last outfit he had tried on, grabbed his chest bag, and prepared to go to work. Opening his dormitory door, he saw the door opposite was open, and Liu Lu came out, clearly waiting for him.

"Good morning!" Wei Hongsi greeted his new neighbor.

"Good morning!" Liu Lu looked him up and down and said with a smile, "President Wei looks so handsome today."

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"Thank you for the compliment." Wei Hongsi nodded with a smile. "Let's go."

"Wait a moment," Liu Lu said, raising her hand. "You'd better wear leather shoes with this outfit, or at least some casual shoes that are a bit more formal."

Wei Hongsi glanced down at his sneakers: "I don't think I have the kind of shoes you're talking about."

"Let me take a look for you," Liu Lu said, pointing to his dormitory door.

Wei Hongsi had no choice but to turn around, open the door, and invite Liu Lu in. He had left four or five pairs of shoes in the dormitory, all arranged on the shoe rack.

Liu Lu glanced at it and asked, "Where are your new clothes?"

Wei Hongsi, somewhat confused, opened the wardrobe door: "They're all here."

Liu Lu stepped forward, reached out and went through the items one by one, then took a pair of pants from them, turned around and handed them to him, and took a pair of shoes from the shoe rack and put them on the ground: "Change your pants and shoes."

"Huh?" Wei Hongsi asked in surprise, "Does it have to be this complicated? Do I look really out of place dressed like this?"

Liu Lu nodded and said, "It doesn't look very appropriate; it would be too conspicuous in a work setting."

Wei Hongsi looked down at himself again and said helplessly, "Okay."

"It's still early before work, no need to rush," Liu Lu said with a smile, then went out and closed the door.

Following Liu Lu's advice, Wei Hongsi changed his pants and shoes, walked to the mirror and looked at himself. He seemed to look much better than before.

However, spending so much extra time getting dressed this morning feels like a waste.

He opened the dormitory door again, and Liu Lu, who was outside, looked him over and nodded in satisfaction: "Very good, let's go."

Wei Hongsi closed the door, smiled, and said, "Thank you for your suggestion."

Liu Lu returned a smile: "I'm your assistant, it's my job. If I don't mention it, people will think I'm just here to slack off."

Wei Hongsi thought to himself, "You get into character pretty quickly. You even provide close protection and clothing advice. You're truly a multi-talented person."

However, considering Liu Lu's background and identity, it seems quite normal. She probably needs to switch between different roles frequently, and appearance is a crucial factor, so this is likely part of her professional field.

The two entered the elevator, and seeing that no one else was around, Wei Hongsi asked, "Did you sleep well last night? You didn't stay up all night reading, did you?"

Liu Lu said, "I haven't looked at it yet. I gave the materials to my supervisor and then looked at a lot of information from him."

Wei Hongsi asked with some surprise, "Did you go out again last night?"

Many of the materials from the special task force are classified, and there are many restrictions on remote viewing. The most convenient way is still to go to the municipal bureau's headquarters.

Liu Lu nodded and said, "I was out for almost two hours. Next time I go out, I will let you know in advance."

Wei Hongsi said, "No need for that. I stay in the dorm and don't go out. Don't you have colleagues?"

Liu Lu said very seriously, "That won't do, this is what the leader requires."

Wei Hongsi couldn't say anything then. It was a good thing that Liu Lu went to the special task force to learn about the case; it would facilitate their subsequent communication, eliminating the need for him to provide her with preliminary information every time. Liu Lu could read documents much faster than he could dictate them.

The two went downstairs to the car, where Xia Shiyu was already waiting. Seeing that Wei Hongsi had changed his clothes, Xia Shiyu couldn't help but take a second look: "Mr. Wei looks very energetic today."

Wei Hongsi said, "Then I must thank you for taking my measurements."

Xia Shiyu said, "What I did is nothing; it was Sister Lu who instructed me to do it."

The three got into the car, and Liu Lu drove towards the company.

Xia Shiyu turned to Wei Hongsi in the back row: "Mr. Wei, would you consider changing your hairstyle?"

Wei Hongsi couldn't help but ruffle his hair and ask, "Is that necessary?"

Xia Shiyu and Liu Lu, who was driving, said in unison, "Yes!"

Wei Hongsi asked, puzzled, "Was my image really that bad before?"

Xia Shiyu said, "No, it's just that your style has changed."

Wei Hongsi was somewhat speechless. He felt like a computer host; after replacing the graphics card, the RAM had to be replaced, then the power supply, the case, and even the CPU. However, given the need to adapt to the work environment, there wasn't much to complain about.

He asked, "Xia, why don't you change?"

Xia Shiyu said, "I don't need it right now."

Wei Hongsi smiled and shook his head. It seemed his knowledge in this area was indeed insufficient; thankfully, his friends had reminded him.

As they passed the alleyway where the egg pancake stall was located, Xia Shiyu pointed it out to Liu Lu. Liu Lu glanced towards the alley and said she could try it next time she had the chance.

Watching Liu Lu's reaction from behind, Wei Hongsi couldn't help but wonder if the woman who appeared in the alley that night was the same young girl driving the car.

Upon arriving at the company, the three went to their respective work stations.

Liu Lu closed the office door and sat down at Wei Hongsi's desk: "Mr. Wei, there is some information I need to report to you first."

Wei Hongsi nodded and said, "Go ahead and speak."

Last night, Liu Lu went to the special task force command center located in the brigade. While learning about the relevant case details, she also got some of the latest developments in the case. As instructed by her superiors, she was to keep Wei Hongsi informed of the relevant information.

Regarding the case related to the Light Guide Association, the investigation into the Chenxi Kangle Welfare Home, led by Guo Weiran, has made some progress.

After Guo Weiran met Wei Hongsi at Yuecheng University last time, Wei Hongsi gave him a suggestion: he could pay attention to Zhou Huai's academic performance when he was a child.

So Guo Weiran investigated Zhou Huai's childhood and confirmed that he did have excellent grades when he was young, which provided evidence for Wei Hongsi's conjecture: the light guide specifically targets children who showed intelligence when they were young.

Then Guo Weiran focused on finding the report cards of the children who lived in Chenxi Kangle Welfare Home during its existence. Since the welfare home had closed seven years ago, report cards from ten or twenty years ago were not essential documents that needed to be archived. He went to great lengths to find one from sixteen years ago and another from ten years ago.

By comparing the two report cards and starting with the one ranked first, a problem was indeed found.

Of the ten people who ranked in the top five on each of these two report cards, four have died of illness. Two of them died in childhood, and two died shortly after adulthood. Four of them went abroad. Two of them were sent abroad in childhood, and the other two went abroad to study after adulthood. Now all of them are missing. One person disappeared back then. The only one who can be found is currently in a mental hospital and cannot be asked anything.

Starting from sixth place, the rankings are generally normal. This proves that the Light Guide Association is indeed selectively screening targets.

Guo Weiran brought all the relevant personnel from the welfare home from that year to the brigade.

The two main officials of the welfare home had already been invited for tea by him once before, but this time the treatment wasn't so good. During Guo Weiran's investigation, both of them showed signs of fleeing, indicating that they at least had some understanding of what happened back then.

After repeated questioning, it was finally confirmed that Chenxi Kangle Welfare Home had received funding from two overseas foundations in the past. Following the donors' instructions, the person in charge would periodically conduct specific tests to select children based on their performance. The top five children would receive special treatment, including improved welfare benefits, specialized education, and opportunities to study abroad.

This seems like a good thing, but in fact, every time a child is selected, an accident occurs, either they get sick or die, and at most only one or two seem to be fine.

However, the person in charge and some staff members accepted bribes and turned a blind eye to it. They received the donations in their private capacity, and the money never went into the welfare home's accounts.

Aside from the supervisory authorities, the children in the welfare homes receive virtually no attention. Moreover, the deaths of the children appear to be due to illness, and since some children admitted to the welfare homes already had pre-existing problems, it's easy to cover them up. Those whose deaths are truly difficult to conceal are sent abroad under the guise of medical treatment or other pretexts before the problems become serious.

After these matters were verified, the two responsible persons and other personnel involved in the case basically no longer needed to leave.

Guo Weiran then launched an investigation into the kindergarten that Chen Xuemin was in charge of.

The closure of Chenxi Kang Le Welfare Home was due to many other factors, but it coincided with the time when Chen Xuemin opened the kindergarten.

Since this is a common tactic of the Light Guide Association, it is very likely that it will be used on kindergartens run by its own people.

However, there is a significant difference between kindergartens and orphanages. The children sent here all have parents, making it difficult for the Light Guide to directly intervene, and it could easily lead to future problems. Moreover, based on the current clues, the children targeted by the Light Guide for the first memory indoctrination are usually between seven and ten years old, which is clearly too young for kindergarten children.

However, the Light Guide Association can use kindergartens as observation rooms to identify children who meet the criteria and then take action when they are older.

Therefore, all the children who graduated from this kindergarten were included in Guo Weiran's investigation list. This list was readily available and relatively easy to obtain.

Following the clues, he investigated more than 600 children and found that two of them had disappeared while in elementary school, and three of them were suspected of having their memories implanted. Two of them were fourth or fifth grade elementary school students, and the other was a junior high school student.

The police are currently keeping a close eye on the three children, but will not disrupt their current lives until a solution is found.

This is partly to ensure his safety and prevent the "circuit breaker mechanism" from being triggered inadvertently, and partly because those children themselves have done nothing wrong and cannot be treated as criminals. Unless absolutely necessary, the methods used to deal with Zhou Huai, Chen Xuemin, and others cannot be copied.

Upon hearing Liu Lu's explanation, Wei Hongsi couldn't help but ask, "When was it that the three children, who seemed to have been implanted with memories, were discovered?"

Liu Lu said, "It was just yesterday, and the investigation is still ongoing."

Wei Hongsi nodded, then frowned and fell into deep thought.

It had only been four or five days since I last met Guo Weiran, and I was surprised to see that he had made so much progress. This was truly gratifying.

But how to rescue the three children who were suspected of having their memories implanted was a headache. What was implanted in their brains was not a "death command," but a "fuse mechanism" with a guiding consciousness anchor. The work of cracking it was still ongoing, and although the progress was good, there was still some distance to go before the final goal.

If it's just dealing with members of the Light Guide Society who have already been apprehended, a slightly slower pace isn't a big deal. They're all in a dormant state anyway, so an extra month won't be a problem; no one's going to die.

The situation has now become somewhat urgent.

Based on the current situation, the memory implantation of the target by the light guide is periodic. It is not yet possible to determine whether this is due to the need for memory implantation or a technical limitation. Therefore, it is also impossible to determine what impact the target would have if the memory implantation were interrupted.

However, judging from the way the light guide controls its subordinates, this could very well trigger a "circuit breaker" mechanism, causing the target to die.

Now that the core members of the Guiding Light Society in Yuecheng have been taken into custody by the police, the three children suspected of being implanted with memories should theoretically not receive any more implantation, but it's unknown how long they can hold out. Moreover, this investigation is not over yet, and they may discover new children who have undergone memory implantation.

A child's brain is still developing, and allowing them to rest for too long can have a very negative impact on it. Furthermore, a child's mind is not yet fully mature, making situations more complex and requiring more attention to detail.

Of course, there are advantages as well. Children's brainwaves are more active, so the "Other Shore" system currently under development will be more effective on them. The number of times they receive memory implantation is relatively limited, so the impact on their brains is relatively weaker. Even with the same "illness," the severity varies.