Chapter 19: The First Meeting of Fate

"He will wake up in about five minutes. Let me briefly introduce the situation..."

Before Yang Shubai could finish, Lin Xiao interrupted her: "Shouldn't we wait until he wakes up and gives his consent?"

"Don't worry, everything I'm about to say is public information," Yang Shubai explained softly.

Hearing this, Lin Xiao felt reassured and nodded. "Go ahead, then."

With his approval, Lin Xiao signaled for her to continue.

"This is Inspector Yue Chongguang of the Donghai City Security Bureau. He is 51 years old."

Lin Xiao was taken aback. Only 51? The man on the bed looked at least sixty. The insignia on Yue’s uniform marked him as a Second-Rank Investigator. In the Security Bureau, ranks follow the same structure as the tax system, divided into five tiers: General, Superintendent, Supervisor, Investigator, and Officer. Excluding the General and Deputy General, each tier is further divided into three levels, totaling fourteen levels. This Inspector Yue was at the fifth level of the fourteen—roughly equivalent to a deputy section chief in the world Lin Xiao came from. At 51, he was far behind Chen Xin, who was already a Second-Rank Tax Supervisor at just 25.

As Lin Xiao pondered this, Yang Shubai continued, "He suffers from chronic insomnia. It is only here, with me, that he can catch his breath and have a peaceful dream."

"What exactly causes him such agony?" Lin Xiao couldn't help but ask.

"Six years ago, while handling a case, he personally killed his own son, who was the perpetrator."

"What?"

"His wife passed away shortly after childbirth. That boy was his only child."

"What?"

"He used the most brutal method possible, crushing his son's bones inch by inch until he died in excruciating pain."

Lin Xiao fell silent. He didn't know what to say. What kind of case could drive a father to commit such an atrocity against his own flesh and blood? Why couldn't he simply arrest him?

"You can discuss the specific details of the case with him when he wakes up," Yang Shubai said, stopping there.

Lin Xiao nodded, but asked with a frown, "Since he is in such pain, has he never thought of finding a memory-based Esper to have that memory removed?"

"He did try three times, but all of them failed. I don't know the exact reasons why," Yang Shubai shook her head. "I hope you can help him. Inspector Yue is truly a very good man."

Lin Xiao was stunned. A good man who crushed his own son’s bones? He was skeptical, but he trusted Yang Shubai’s judgment and promised solemnly, "I will do my best."

Removing a memory is no easy task. If an Esper could erase memories at will, it would be the most terrifying form of control. Imagine if an enemy could simply delete your memories, thereby erasing your desire for revenge. Clearly, memory-based Espers were not that powerful—at least, not until they reached the highest tier. In Lin Xiao’s experience, removing a memory required the subject's full cooperation, and the Esper had to deeply feel and understand the associated emotions to tag and excise them. It required complete empathy, or what he called "emotional resonance." The more complex the emotion, the harder it was to achieve.

That was precisely why, outside of Lin Xiao’s shop, other memory experience centers charged such high fees for memory removal. Constantly immersing oneself in someone else’s experiences—even simple joy or sadness—was taxing, and complex life events could easily lead to one's own psychological confusion. The fact that three Espers had already failed suggested that the emotions tied to this memory were incredibly intricate.

As Lin Xiao was thinking, the eyelids of the inspector on the bed fluttered, and his eagle-like eyes snapped open. He sat up reflexively, his gaze scanning the room sharply. Only when he recognized he was in Yang Shubai’s shop did his tensed body begin to relax.

"Inspector Yue, did you sleep well?"

"Very well. Thank you, Miss Yang." Yue Chongguang turned his gaze to Lin Xiao. "And who is this?"

"This is my partner, Mr. Lin Xiao. He runs a memory experience shop."

"A memory-based Esper?" A flicker of resistance crossed Yue’s eyes.

"Yes," Yang Shubai said softly. "I don't think you can go on like this, so I wanted to ask him to help remove that memory."

"No need," Yue Chongguang replied firmly. "I’ve already tried with the strongest fifth-level memory Esper in the city, and even they failed. Mr. Lin is so young, it’s even less likely he could succeed."

"Even though the high-level Espers failed, Mr. Lin is truly special," Yang Shubai insisted.

Yue Chongguang offered a bitter smile. "If by 'special' you mean he is exceptionally handsome, then yes. But precisely because of that, how could he possibly understand my most painful memories?"

The implication was clear: this young man with his refined face clearly had never suffered the hardships of life; how could he possibly empathize? He might as well have called Lin Xiao an inexperienced child.

Yang Shubai caught the underlying tone and wanted to defend Lin Xiao, unwilling to let him be judged by his appearance. But Lin Xiao reached out, gently gripped her slender arm, and pulled her behind him.

"Let me communicate with Inspector Yue directly," Lin Xiao said with a smile. His gaze was resolute: this was a client he wanted to help, and he needed to win his trust himself. There was no way he would let a woman do the work for him and then just reap the rewards.

Feeling Lin Xiao’s sincerity, Yang Shubai took a step back and sat in a chair, leaving the space for the two men.

Lin Xiao sat down before Yue Chongguang, his earnest gaze fixed on him. Yue was slightly taken aback; the young man seemed composed and didn't lose his temper despite being challenged. Still, he wasn't about to change his mind. He prepared to give a firm refusal.

But Lin Xiao spoke first: "Is being young a disqualification? Your superiors must be older than you, right?"

Yue Chongguang: "..."

He felt as if he’d been struck in the gut. That wasn't how this was supposed to go; shouldn't the boy be trying to win his favor?

Lin Xiao’s next sentence made Yue’s blood pressure spike: "As an inspector, you’ve handled so many desperate and agonizing cases that you must have long since become indifferent to the world, leaving nothing to heart, right?"

Yue Chongguang: "..."

He instinctively wanted to lash out, but he couldn't deny the logic in Lin Xiao’s words. The first remark countered his age-based prejudice; the second rebuked his assumption that youth equaled a lack of understanding of suffering. For a moment, he didn't know how to respond.

"To be honest, I can't guarantee success," Lin Xiao said sincerely. "But I have helped many people carrying heavy burdens. I will do my absolute best to understand you and help you."

Looking into Lin Xiao’s clear eyes, Yue Chongguang saw genuine sincerity. He sighed and finally relented. "It’s not that I dislike you; it's just that reliving that memory is torture. Since you are so confident, let’s try."

"Six years ago, I investigated a human trafficking case involving children under eighteen."

Lin Xiao noted that in this world, being a minor meant one hadn't undergone the "pain ritual," making them less valuable. Why not kidnap more valuable adult Espers?

As Lin Xiao wondered, Yue continued, "I followed the clues and eventually found the traffickers' camp in a valley, only to discover that the leader was my son, who had been missing for four years!"

"So you executed him yourself? And in... such an extreme way?"

The inspector nodded heavily. "I had no choice. He was a toxin-type Esper. To eliminate witnesses and evidence, he had poisoned all the children in the camp. I had to force him to provide the antidote, and I had no choice but to use torture."

"And the outcome?"

"He never spoke, even until death. I only managed to save six children who hadn't been poisoned."

Lin Xiao was speechless. He could almost visualize the hellish scene: Inspector Yue standing among the children writhing in pain, forced to inflict torture upon his own flesh and blood. It was such a complex and agonizing experience that it was no wonder other Espers couldn't resonate with it.

"That memory is extremely painful. You need to be prepared," Yue warned.

Lin Xiao replied, "Let's hold off on that memory for a moment. I need to experience your other memories first."

Yue was stunned. "What?"

"The Espers who tried to help you before—none of them were fathers, were they?"

"That... I suppose not?" Yue asked curiously. "Is that important?"

Lin Xiao nodded seriously. "I think I’ve found the reason they failed. You know that we memory Espers need emotional synchronization, right?"

"Yes, I know," Yue replied.

"To synchronize with that memory, the key is to understand the pain of a father who personally... ends his own child's life. Without the experience of being a father, how could one truly understand?"

Yue Chongguang’s eyes lit up. This young man was the first person to truly think from his perspective.

"Have you... been a father?" Yue couldn't help but scrutinize Lin Xiao’s young face.

Nearby, Yang Shubai pricked up her ears, her eyes full of curiosity.