Strongest Among the Heavens
Chapter 240: Chen Yixi IV

Chapter 240: Chen Yixi IV

It was done.

"He’s dead, he’s dead..."

Chen killed him. Punched him till his own knuckles shattered.

Nguyên couldn’t even let out a sound anymore, nose and lips covered in scarlet. The groans and screams and begging stopped.

Honestly, Chen wished they hadn’t. Because now...now, there was no turning back.

"He’s dead...!"

He stumbled out of the office and out the building. He found his truck and opened it up. On any other day, he would have taken a left out of the parking lot and gone to his usual destinations.

Tonight, he went right. He stopped at a gas station, bought himself his favourite burger and food. Asked for the lottery. Lost. Bought and ate everything he wanted. He returned to his truck carrying snacks. He left a little afterwards to play bowling.

He wasn’t very good at it. His hands were constantly shaking. So he returned to his truck again. He ate, he went around to the small city and saw some sights, and then stopped.

In the dead of night, Chen found himself checking the address book to find the boss’s phone number. His hands trembled. After several calls and fake IDs, he learned where the man lived. It was a lavish mansion because of course it was.

The bad boss was bad and rich. That was the way reality was. Chen crumbled up the paper and tossed to the side.

He didn’t like reality. Not one bit.

"One last act of freedom. One last act of good," Chen muttered to himself, the words feeling like a lifeline. "For Dasha. For me. For everyone."

Chen revved up his truck. The engine roared to life and his mind was made up. For Dasha, for himself, for the world, he would do this.

The drive to the mansion was a blur. Chen’s thoughts did not make sense even to himself. It was his racing heart that guided him. His instincts to protect, to keep moving, to find purpose. He raced toward the gate of the mansion, pressed down on the accelerator, and blasted through.

"Like a fucking gate is going to stop me!"

The truck crashed through the gate, metal bending and breaking. Chen didn’t stop. He barreled through the meticulously kept lawn, heading straight for the mansion. The headlights illuminated the front wall and the window outlined two silhouettes. With a final surge of hate, he rammed the truck into the house.

’For Dasha, forDasha, forDashafordashafordasha!’

The impact was violent, the front wall shattering under the force. Inside, he saw the boss and a bodyguard, their faces frozen in shock and terror. The world went up in flames.

Death should come for all.

Death came for all.

***

Books were a peek into another world. They offered a solace from the dullness that came from school and books. Some weeks ago, he emailed a vaccinia formula for the hantavirus to a Chinese scientist. This morning, he received an inquiry from the Chinese scientist asking who he was and where he operated. He wanted to meet him.

Dasha denied the request and then shut off Chen Yixi’s computer forever. He went outside and sat in his front lawn.

Without a computer, he was left with only his books. He read the picture book in hand, engrossed by the images.

Sometimes, words lacked the depth that art did.

"Hey, kid."

And so, they were here. The police officers.

The lanky officer kneeled down to his level and took out a photo. "This guy, he’s your neighbour, yes?"

Dasha looked up from his picture book to look at the photo. He blinked.

"Do you recognize him? Maybe you saw him once or twice?"

Dasha’s eyes were almost cold. The officer found the wind to suddenly be shivering.

"The guy worked till the evening. Doubt the kid ever saw him much. Let’s go," the officer’s partner said.

They went inside the house but never found the truth. They went in and out, scouring the backyard and radioed their people at the station. There didn’t seem to be a need for investigators. The answers were inside. In fifteen minutes, with gloves hands the officers carried the computer back to their car.

They never returned again.

There was truth to death. Truth to evil. Truth to the most worthless.

Later that morning, Dasha’s father approached him, almost giddy, and took him out for a meal. Seeing him smile was rare. That was when Dasha told him about a meeting with the principal who was going to ask him and his mother to go to university. Dasha said he wanted to go. His father accepted it with a soft smile although mentioned that his mother might not.

"That’s okay."

Dasha recognized that not all people could see the truth.

***

"We can’t help you."

His mother stiffened. "Excuse me?"

"Saying that your son is incredibly advanced for his age is, well, an understatement. We’ve taught him everything we can here. Our mathematics professor was a longtime researcher at Harvard and he has nothing to teach him except, well, what is discussed on forums online. Which means that most of his time spent here is on the computer. That isn’t a good way to learn in my opinion."

Dasha’s parents sat stiffly in the principal’s office. The principal, a middle-aged woman with kind hazel eyes, leaned forward, her hands clasped on the desk.

"So...what?" His mother said. "You want us to ship him away? Is that it?"

"Mr. and Mrs. Pang," the principal began, "I will say it again: your son is exceptionally advanced for his age. After careful consideration and consultation with several psychologists, we’ve concluded that Dasha should not just skip grades but should be enrolled in university-level courses immediately. He is a prodigy through and through and it is rare to encounter such talent. The government is willing to lend you a tutor from UFT for the transition phase."

Dasha’s father, a stoic man who rarely showed emotion, nodded curtly. His accent was light when speaking English and he spoke in short sentences. "Okay, but we have already a tutor from the university."

The principal’s face lit up with delight. "That’s wonderful news! It’s crucial that Dasha receives the right guidance. May I ask who the tutor is?"

Dasha’s mother replied softly, "Her name is Li Xiu. Um, it was...ah, I believe she is double-majoring in biology and mathematics."

The principal’s smile widened. "I can contact the school, get them to consider her as his primary tutor. For young children, it’s better to be with close guardians and friends than strangers. What a great coincidence, wouldn’t you say?"

His mother glanced at Dasha and forced a smile. "Yes."