Volume One, Chapter 59: Rivals Come to Challenge Our Reputation

Liu Xijun's face darkened, full of guilt. Li Youyou gripped her hand tightly.

"Five years ago, my husband was selected as one of the top ten outstanding young entrepreneurs of our time. Not long after, a research team approached him," she began. "At that time, a devastating pediatric illness was rampant. There was no effective treatment, and most of the children who contracted it were left at home to die."

"This research group was dedicated to developing a vaccine against this pediatric virus. But due to a lack of funding, the project stalled," she continued. "When my husband heard about it, he invested in their research without hesitation."

"Up to this point, things seemed to be going well. But none of us expected that, in order to speed up the clinical trials, the team would skip animal testing altogether and directly administer a batch of untested vaccines to children."

"Wasn’t that just using people as test subjects?"

"So, is that how those five thousand rural children died?"

"How cruel."

"That research team was heartless, but in the end, their actions did push the vaccine development forward."

"Are you saying we should thank them?"

"I'm just stating facts, not suggesting gratitude. Besides, without the vaccine, those children would have died anyway. In that sense, perhaps their deaths weren’t in vain."

"My mind is blown."

"You have no right to speak for those dead children!"

"Are rural children’s lives any less valuable? Scientific progress should never be built upon the sacrifice of innocent lives."

Li Youyou shook her head as she read the barrage of comments. "No, the first batch of vaccines hadn't undergone animal testing, so they didn't dare administer it widely. They secretly used it on a small group of children. The result was that, not only were there no casualties, but the children’s symptoms actually improved."

"Encouraged by this, they secretly conducted a second round of testing—this time on a larger scale, across a wider area."

"But during the process, the children from the first batch began to manifest side effects, falling ill and dying one after another."

"And that's how the fake vaccine scandal started."

Liu Xijun, who had been silent all along, finally spoke up, his voice heavy. "There were a total of five thousand and fifteen children. I remember every one."

If only he had discovered it sooner, so many wouldn't have died so tragically.

"I found the news reports from that year. I heard that in some families, all three children died from the fake vaccine."

"All three at once? How much pain must those parents have felt?"

"Alas! There is no such thing as peaceful times—someone always bears the burden for us. If not for those children, I might not have survived myself."

"I just looked up the news from that year. Wasn't it only 1,013 children? Did Brother Liu remember wrong?"

Qin Yu said, "No, it was indeed 2,015. At the time, Youyou was pregnant with twins."

Li Youyou's eyes were filled with tears. "We caused the deaths of those two babies."

Qin Yu nodded. "Although you were not directly responsible for the deaths of those five thousand children, you were involved in the chain of cause and effect. And so, you must bear the consequences."

The miscarriage of their twins back then, and their current inability to conceive, were all part of this cycle of karma.

Li Youyou sobbed uncontrollably in Liu Xijun's arms. So this was the reason for her years of infertility!

"Master, please show us a way," Liu Xijun begged, tears streaming down his face.

"That's easy," Qin Yu replied, snapping his fingers. "In recent years, because of family planning policies in Dijin, and a growing trend of not marrying or having children, the birth rate has dropped. As a result, more and more souls are queuing up in the underworld, waiting to be reborn."

"Those five thousand children are among them."

"Because they’ve waited so long, and their resentment has not been resolved, it has naturally rebounded onto you."

Li Youyou asked, "Is there anything we can do for them?"

"Burn some things that children like," Qin Yu suggested.

Li Youyou and Liu Xijun answered in unison, "We will!"

Qin Yu looked at their faces, pointed at them, and said, "What you burn doesn’t matter as much as your sincerity. Do you understand?"

"Thank you, Master. We understand."

"Master," Liu Xijun said, just before leaving the call, remembering something. "I visited that research team’s institute a few times. I saw a stone statue there."

Qin Yu's eyes brightened. "What kind of statue? Was it the same as the faceless statue from before?"

Liu Xijun shook his head. It was precisely because it was different that he hadn’t remembered it immediately. "That statue had a face," he recalled. "I even wondered why scientists would believe in such things. I asked the researchers about it, but they only said it was a guardian spirit from their hometown."

"Since they didn’t want to talk about it, I didn’t pry."

"Do you remember what the statue looked like?"

Liu Xijun furrowed his brow, trying to recall, but after two seconds, he shook his head. "It’s been too long—I can’t remember."

Qin Yu felt a twinge of disappointment, but then realized this was still a clue. "Do you remember where the institute was located?"

"I do! It was at the foot of Mount Qi. I’ll send you the exact location privately."

Mount Qi lies at the heart of Dijin, bordering the next city.

Qin Yu nodded and thanked him, making a mental note for Mu Ling to scout the area later.

Just then, Mu Ling, who was searching for the silver hairpin, sneezed. Why did she suddenly have a bad feeling?

"Wait, the stone statue appeared five years ago? I seriously suspect there’s a conspiracy here."

"Is that even a question? Anyone with eyes can see something’s wrong."

"But didn’t Liu say it was different from the faceless statue? Don’t jump to conclusions. Maybe it’s just a coincidence."

"The great philosopher Marx said the world is interconnected, dynamic, and developing. There are no pure coincidences."

"Marx: I never said that."

"If this is a conspiracy that started brewing five years ago, that’s truly chilling."

"Don’t scare yourself. Maybe it really is just a coincidence."

After Li Youyou and Liu Xijun left the voice chat, Qin Yu was bombarded with requests for live connections backstage.

System prompt: Master Diviner Ye Puming requests to connect.

System prompt: Accept or decline?

Qin Yu: Decline.

Just as Qin Yu was about to send out a lucky draw, another system prompt popped up.

System prompt: Master Diviner Ye Puming requests to connect ×6.

Qin Yu: ???

Is this colleague here to challenge me?