The Last Mr. Dongguo

The man in the baseball cap seemed to only now realize his own worth. He looked at Li Mengying on the screen, a barely perceptible smile playing on his lips. He was adept at concealing his emotions; after a brief exchange of glances, he pulled his cap down again, returning to his usual composed demeanor. But in Li Mengying's heart, an indescribable bitterness and sorrow welled up inside.

"The pitiful are also the hateful. There are no truly pitiful people in this world. Everyone's actions have their own purpose. If they achieve their purpose, they are successful; if they fail, they are pitiful. If they achieve the right purpose, they are worthy of respect; if they fail with the wrong purpose, they are hateful. No matter what you want to do, pity is never a reason, and it is never worthy of sympathy."

"I think so too," He Zheng echoed, expressing his viewpoint. "For those of us who study cultural relics, the most important thing is protection, and ecological protection is even more crucial. You know, many cultural relics cannot be excavated and cannot see the light of day again because they are not properly protected. This prevents the world from better understanding the wisdom of our ancient Chinese ancestors, and also hinders the dissemination of many of our technologies. A large part of these reasons stems from the current environment. It's not just about oxidation in the air, as everyone knows, but also because our air quality is far worse than before. As this person said, our environment cannot be destroyed. Anyone who sacrifices the environment for personal gain, regardless of their initial motives, will be punished by the environment." He Zheng spoke passionately and indignantly, like a short speech.

"However, we have no right to decide the life or death of others; everyone has the right to live."

"Captain Cheng, put away your theories. Look at the situation we're in right now. You need to understand one thing: it's not us deciding the life or death of others, but rather that our own lives are in their hands. If we don't vote, we'll all die. If we vote, we can save six people. That should be considered self-defense, right? Even if there were a judge standing next to us right now, I think he would make the same decision as me."

Cheng Luan's words seemed to carry no weight in the face of life and death, but the man in the baseball cap's words silenced him. Only when each person truly faces death can their deepest vulnerability be revealed—the instinct for survival. In the face of personal life, everything else is worthless.

"Haven't you realized it yet? Now that you've voted for someone else, it'll be their turn to vote for you. No one can escape it. The thing to do now isn't to think about how to use one person's death to save six others, but how the seven of us will get through this difficult night."

Fei Li remained calm and composed. Calmness was his consistent approach in any situation; only by remaining calm could he keep his mind clear and make accurate judgments.

"I don't care, all I know is that if we don't vote now, we'll be dead in three hours. All this talk about seven people facing this together is a lie. To be frank, you all know what you've done. I can swear I haven't done anything immoral. I'm just a museum manager, dragged into this mess by you all for no reason, and you expect me to care about others? What a joke! Why should I consider others? Why don't you consider me?" He Zheng was driven to despair; everything before him made rational thinking impossible. Survival was his instinct. It was this instinct that made him press the red button without hesitation.

"I pressed it, I pressed it, can you please stop my trachea here? I can't breathe."

On the screen, a red light flashed beneath He Zheng's image.

Snapped!

Another red light, indicating the location of the man in the baseball cap.

"I also voted, so should I stop voting too?"

"You have slowly fallen into the trap of your own hearts, which will only lead you to a deeper abyss... You are being bewitched by the person behind you, who has seized your most vulnerable side."

"Stop pretending to be so noble. I don't believe you don't want to live!" A contemptuous voice came from He Zheng's microphone. "Quick, stop this trachea now, quick!"

"This is simply not going to solve the problem, this..."

"You bad people, you bad people..."

A sudden exclamation interrupted Fei Li's words. Gu Hezhi was frantically flailing his body in the room, his limbs thrashing about in the air, as if a demon was closing in on him and he was helpless against it.

"Get out of here, all of you! You think you can get my results? Don't even think about it! I've seen plenty of people who want something for nothing. Get out of here, all of you!"

Gu Hezhi hugged his arms tightly to his chest and stepped back repeatedly, as if he were protecting something very important.

"Don't even think about getting what you want from me. I'd rather die than hand over these research results to you. Absolutely not! How naive you were at the beginning, how did you get so blinded by greed?"

"Professor Gu, Professor Gu..."

Gu Hezhi frantically darted around the room like a madman, his heavy breathing clearly audible through the microphone. Fei Li shouted at Gu Hezhi, but to no avail.

"If this continues, he'll die from exhaustion..."

No one responded.

"I think your goal is to make those you consider guilty completely at your mercy when facing them. But Gu Hezhi isn't the main character in this story right now, so this situation probably isn't what you wanted to see, is it?"

As Fei Li spoke, her eyes remained fixed on the screen in front of her, trying to find a solution.

A crisp "clang" was heard, seemingly the sound of a steel pipe striking another object.

At the same time, the ground trembled slightly. Although the tremor was not strong, it allowed Gu Hezhi, who was under great tension, to calm down temporarily. Gu Hezhi held onto the table with one hand and clutched his chest with the other, breathing heavily.

"Professor Gu, are you alright?"

"These bad people deserve to die! They all deserve to die!"

Gu Hezhi looked up at the screen and realized that the other six people were all staring at him through the screen, their eyes filled with concern. But this did not move Gu Hezhi; instead, he felt that their concern had ulterior motives.

"You, you... don't think I don't know what you're thinking. What you couldn't get fifteen years ago, you still can't get now."

Gu Hezhi's breathing gradually calmed, his rapid gasps followed by steady, even breathing. After a few minutes of adjustment, his previously deathly pale face regained its normal color. His earlier agitation was gradually replaced by fear.

"I want to leave here." The murderous intent in his voice had diminished, replaced by a hint of longing. "This is not a place for me. I'm scared, I'm scared."

A withered, trembling hand slowly approached and pressed the red button.

The crucial vote fell into Feng Hao's hands.