Little Fish – Chapter 11

Chi Ren closed half the floor and took over Wei Zangchen’s tests personally. The esper was now in a room made to withstand even the strongest manic episodes. Outside, Gu Lang stood with Gun Wen, who was nervously wringing his hands. Xiao Li was currently undergoing an MRI, and the man wasn’t taking it well.

“Stop it.”

“You never said this was part of your plan. You’ve let them take Xiao Li away, and you’re using Wei Zangchen for your own desires.”

Feeling in his pocket, Gu Lang found the forgotten cat food.

“This is the safest place for Wei Zangchen at the moment. Chi Ren is adept at dealing with these situations. Xiao Li will also be safe here until we return.”

The colour drained from Gun Wen’s face.

“R-r-return? You… You never said we were leaving them…”

Shrugging, the guide started playing catch with the tin again.

“We found a cemetery at the institution. Someone needs to oversee the excavation.”

Going weak at the knees, Gun Wen steadied himself against the wall.

“You’re digging them up… No. No. They’re people! They were people! Why can’t you let them rest in peace!?”

“What do you expect the military to do when dozens of infected individuals are found inside a military complex filled with children?”

“But they all died of mania! We buried them ourselves!”

“We still need to confirm each death. Or is there something you’re afraid of?”

Gun Wen’s knees finally gave out, the man slumping back against the wall and sliding down it.

“You weren’t there. You didn’t see what we went through. Giving them a decent death was all we could do as the mania spread between the staff and the children.”

Crouching down to Gun Wen’s level, Gu Lang kept his tongue. He’d played enough games listening to Gun Wen’s half-truths and incomplete explanations about the staff deaths. Now the man had an expression of pain on his face that he’d never seen before. Keeping his expression stern, Gun Wen crumbled, his voice a broken mumble.

“We did it. We killed the director. You’ll find his headless body in his grave… He tortured the children. He knew the project was cancelled and no one was coming.”

The information seemed delayed half a moment before sinking into Gu Lang’s brain. He knew all about the old government projects, considering they weren’t that old. He also knew that for every good person in this world, there was someone the polar opposite.

Hanging his head, Gun Wen interlaced his fingers behind it.

“What will happen to us now? We conspired with the staff. We killed him… We only wanted to protect the children from what they were doing.”

“Do you have proof? Not the children—their minds were tampered with.”

Gun Wen raised his head to look towards the door to the room Wei Zangchen was in.

“He sealed it away. You can’t access it without him. We always said once we found someone we could trust, we’d hand the evidence over. We did all we could to protect those children. The most they ever did to them was bring on dynamic presentation. They never could bring on classes… sorry, you all call them grades now. We didn’t want to kill. We tried to save who we could… but we couldn’t… we couldn’t let him… what he did…”

Gu Lang genuinely felt sorry for the man before him. He understood why he swung between trying to keep Wei Zangchen’s secrets and trying to get him help. They were the last two privy to an adult’s point of view of what happened in Perpex.

“Why did you keep the infected?”

“We secretly hoped that outside, you all would find a cure. That somehow they could be guided out of it. We asked… if they’d rather die and be laid to rest, or be sealed. We asked when we could… you know… in the ones the infection had just set into. We didn’t have a cure. So many infected kept being drawn to the facility… so we stayed for the children because they’d suffered so much… Then you lot showed up. Wei Zangchen only wanted to protect the children. He was so scared they’d be sent to be experimented on so they could find traces of the previous experiments.”

That sounded like the country’s previously most loved esper. Gu Lang clicked his tongue.

“Wei Zangchen. Always the people’s damn hero.”

“Don’t. You weren’t there… Don’t judge him!”

“How do I get this information without him?”

Gun Wen shook his head.

“I can’t. He dealt with it. You need him. We did everything we could to get the children out. Everything. And then everyone started dying. We couldn’t leave the children behind. We couldn’t let them go from one experiment to another. They’re children!”

Seeing Gun Wen was on the edge of a mental breakdown, Gu Lang stood back up.

“You said the director’s grave…”

“Shooting him in the head was the right thing to do. We had to. They… You didn’t hurt anyone in that town, right? Wei Zangchen would have let them in to stay that long… if anything happened… No one was hurt, right?”

The excavation was out of his control. The best he could do was delay. Gu Lang had already given that command. As for the town, he’d forgotten it already. It seemed he’d have to call Shu Min and have her send a team there.

“I’ll take you to wait for Xiao Li.”

Leaving Gun Wen to wait for Xiao Li, Gu Lang sat in Chi Ren’s office, watching the angry cow cat across from him. The cow cat loathed him. Its gaze was wary as it sat high above him on one of the bookcases.

Making half a dozen calls, the guide then checked his work phone, finding himself forced to make a dozen more. His work never ended, the fatigue finally settling in.

Placing both phones on Chi Ren’s desk, he was tiredly massaging his temples when the doctor returned. She seemed equally fatigued. Holding her hand up to keep him silenced, she walked behind her desk, took her seat, opened the bottom drawer, then drew out a third of a bottle of whisky and two glasses. Pouring a double shot in both, she drank them down, then refilled the glasses and slid one to Gu Lang.

“You’re a goddamn arsehole.”

Taking the tablet out from under her arm, she laid it down. Gu Lang mentally sighed over being called an “arsehole.” Everyone seemed to feel the need to remind him of this within the last 72 hours.

“I’ve been made aware of this fact. How long will it be before I can take him out?”

Chi Ren slumped back in her chair, then leaned back in. Unlocking her tablet, she shook her head.

“If he hadn’t been a grade S, he’d have died already. His mental strength is currently registering at a very low grade C. His mind is in chaos, his body is a wreck—he’s layer upon layer of walking trauma. If you’d tried contact guiding, you most probably would have sent him into cascading organ failure.”

Picking up the glass, the guide ran his finger around the top rim.

“He’s dying?”

“He might as well be. Did you have to launch such a significant attack?!”

“He tried to set us all on fire.”

Chi Ren slumped back again.

“Gu Lang, what do you want from me? Do you want me to patch him back together so he can go home to die comfortably, or do you want me to say this is going to take months—perhaps even years—with no guarantees?”

After chasing Wei Zangchen for so long, Gu Lang wasn’t about to let him go running off to death.

“I’m not allowing him to run off again. Can he be made stable within the week?”

“Sure. If we keep him like a vegetable and pump him full of drugs, he might finally wake up with a clear enough mind to do you in properly. Here, look at the damn report. I hope you’ll be charging the military. You should have taken him there. Unless you know someone extremely familiar with that failed exoskeleton technology, he’s never going to live a normal life again.”

Exchanging his glass for the tablet, Gu Lang read through Chi Ren’s preliminary report. He couldn’t quite believe what he was reading—or maybe he didn’t want the headache that came with the report’s information. What he was putting together in his mind was not looking good for his investigation.

“Explain here, the partial fusion?”

Chi Ren sighed.

“I thought that was obvious. The exterior of the exoskeleton was damaged, embedding into his skin. The device is locked into a permanently ‘on’ position. Wei Zangchen’s primary path was elemental control. His own electrical signals have been feeding into the device. Even deadening his mental cloud didn’t stop the device from drawing power.”

Gu Lang remembered other espers from the incident. They’d insisted that the exoskeletons had prohibited battle. Soon the project was dropped for espers and changed gear to be more efficient for guiding and protecting guides on the battlefield. This lasted another few months, before the prototype was pulled and sent back to the research stage. He vaguely remembered the public criticising the company: their hero had been equipped with one when he died—why hadn’t the product saved his life?

“Removing it?”

“His mental cloud is too chaotic. His own healing ability acted to save him by healing around the embedded metal. I’ll need to conduct further tests to see if it can be removed in pieces.”

Gu Lang placed the tablet down.

“I want to see it for myself.”

Chi Ren shook her head.

“I wouldn’t recommend it. I’ve got him hooked up to sedatives at the moment, and inhibitors. His digestive tract is a mess. I’ll know more once we’ve gotten his body stabilised.”

“Chi Ren, I want to see him. If those bastards knew about the risk… He’ll have his own case to present. I’ll see if we can get a copy of his medical records. They’ll be launching a fresh investigation of their own, and I’ll most likely be unable to act. I’ve spent years tracking him down and I want answers. What about the boy, Xiao Li?”

Chi Ren smiled at the mention.

“He’s the complete opposite. He’s healthy across the board and obviously raised with love. Other than requiring a course of worming, he’s in excellent condition.”

Gu Lang didn’t expect the prognosis to be so good.

“He wasn’t an experimental subject?”

“Not that I can see. His vocal cords seem to be intact, and he’s rather intelligent. We’ll conduct another test to determine his intellectual capacity once he’s settled. I can’t say the mutism is caused by trauma. If he could speak, I would say he’s a perfectly ordinary boy that’s been scared by the sudden changes in his life. He lit right up when he saw Gun Wen again.”

“And when will you have time to examine him?”

“Probably tomorrow. I’ll have my hands full with Wei Zangchen. If you could get in touch with a technician that worked on the exoskeleton project, it’d be a great help. Preferably someone human. Wei Zangchen’s consciousness has been starved of actual guiding. He’ll need at least two grade A guides to bring stability.”

Gu Lang nodded. He didn’t plan to immediately reveal Wei Zangchen as he was. The man needed to be both functional and cooperative.

“Take me down to see him. I’ll perform some light radial guiding for now.”

“You’ll guide him yourself?”

The guide snorted.

“I have my hands on him, and now that I do, I’m not going to let him go.”