First-Class Lawyer

The brightness of the pain level indicator pricked his sight. Gu Yan’s heart constricted sharply. “Is there a way to stop the pain?”

“How should I put this…” Lin Yuan said irresolutely. “As I just explained, his pain is caused by the conflict between his genetic modifications. If you get to the bottom of it, it’s because of that weird segment. Before we analyse this gene segment, it’s best not to make any rash moves lest it backfires. It’s much safer for us to deactivate it.” 

In short, if it didn’t act up, the conflict between his modifications wouldn’t be as intense, and the pain would naturally ease.

“But?” Gu Yan saw Lin Yuan’s hesitant look and knew that there was still a second part to it.

“But this can only be a temporary measure,” said Lin Yuan.

“It can’t be made long-term?” Gu Yan asked. 

“First, the prescription for long-term gene deactivation has to be taken in high doses, is complicated to make, taxes the body heavily, needs to be taken frequently, and has an undetermined period of effectiveness. Once he relapses, there’s no telling if the activity will double or if it would end up harder to manage.” Lin Yuan smiled wryly. “I can’t recklessly let people take this risk.”

He paused, then continued, “Secondly, at the end of the day, deactivating it is not the same as removing it. Until that segment is analysed and understood, we can’t determine how to remove it. However, deactivating it would make it difficult for genetic equipment to detect and trace. This is equivalent to planting an invisible bomb in the body, so we’d better not go there.”

Gu Yan frowned and asked, “Then are there any risks for short-term deactivation?”

Lin Yuan waved his hand. “Nothing to worry about.”

Gu Yan nodded. His gaze rested anew on Yan Suizhi’s face, never straying.

Lin Yuan retrieved two documents from his photon computer and slid them to him. “This is the health advisory and consent form—”

At this point, he glanced towards the glass-enclosed experimental cabin. “Is it better… not to tell him about this residual segment mutation and gene-modified disorder?”

Gu Yan, about to push open the door to the glass enclosure, paused hearing this. “Why?” 

“When it comes to such unpredictable and troublesome health matters, don’t people usually choose to conceal it from the affected person lest they overthink it or panic?” Lin Yuan wore a matter-of-fact look on his face.

“…” Gu Yan fell silent for a moment before saying seriously, “He’s a very rational and mature person. To him, the so-called concealment might not serve as any kind of protection, but as mockery.”

Lin Yuan, “…”

The experimental cabin was opened, and the various-sized metal plates and miniscule needles were removed from Yan Suizhi’s body. 

Lin Yuan systematically explained the ins and outs to him, then added in passing, “I wasn’t planning on telling you straight away at first. It’s best to wait and see after I’ve gotten some findings from the analysis so that you wouldn’t have to fret needlessly.”

Yan Suizhi pulled off the eye mask, lazily chuckling. “What’s there to hide? Are you mocking me?”

“…”

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Now, this was utter hogwash. Motherfucking mosquito kiss.

Dr Lin couldn’t stop himself from saying, “…I suggest you look at the display panel and get your facts straight. Do you know what red-orange signifies? It’s the pain level of broken bones, not to mention that yours is continuous. Can a kiss from the mosquitoes in your house break every bone in your body?”

Yan Suizhi massaged his temples. “It’s not that serious. Could your equipment be mistaken?” 

Dr Lin whipped his head to glare at Gu Yan. “Rational. Mature.”

Gu Yan, “…”

Dr Lin, “Isn’t this teacher of yours a bit too much?”

With a paralysed face, Gu Yan wordlessly used his finger to sign the two papers Lin Yuan passed over. 

Lin Yuan kept the documents and furiously prepared the medicine.

A range of pharmaceutical drugs was stocked in the research lab all year round, saving them the trip down to the hospital to collect them.

Not long later, he withdrew a sterile needle, drawing a thin half-tube of medicine from the equipment.

“Turn your head a little to the right.” Lin Yuan stood next to Yan Suizhi, waving the syringe. “I’ve to inject this next to the base of your ear.” 

“That simple?” Gu Yan was still unable to set his heart at ease.

Lin Yuan nodded, controlling the force with which he pushed the needle into skin. “This isn’t decades ago; we don’t have to rely on surgery anymore. Rest assured, the simpler it is, the safer.”

Two minutes after administering the injection, Lin Yuan got Yan Suizhi to sit back inside the experimental cabin, reattaching the plates.

The test results this time came out as quickly as before. Lin Yuan pointed to the first diagram and said to Gu Yan, “See, it’s starting to take effect. That segment is virtually invisible now. If this were a normal scanner, you wouldn’t even be able to tell that there’s such a segment.” 

“But the pain level only went down by half a level,” Gu Yan frowned.

The red-orange indicator light was transitioning to yellow, but it was still two whole levels away from blue, which represented ‘no physical discomfort’.

“It’s not done yet; it still needs a bit more time to set in,” Lin Yuan reassured. “I assure you that he won’t feel any pain when he sleeps tonight.”

Yan Suizhi came out from the experimental cabin and perched a hand on Gu Yan’s shoulder, idly listening to Lin Yuan brief him on the precautions. 

After Lin Yuan was done, he looked back at the progress bar on the analyser. “Actually… it’ll be even better if we can find a similar segment. Analysing two or more subjects in tandem will increase the accuracy of the findings.”

“The odds are slim,” Yan Suizhi said.

Lin Yuan looked regretful.

The gene segment analysis wouldn’t be out in a while. It’d take a day or two just for the equipment to run the data. 

So, without much delay, the two of them left the research lab.

On the return journey, Gu Yan simply turned on full autopilot, pulled Yan Suizhi to the back seat, and changed the whole rear compartment into comfort mode.

He sat on the sofa bed that was converted from the back seat. He got Yan Suizhi to lie down, and his firm and slender fingers massaged Yan Suizhi’s temples with just the right amount of force.

“Who would have thought that our Lawyer Gu even knows how to massage.” Yan Suizhi adjusted himself to a more comfortable posture and relaxed fully, head cushioned on his lap. 

“I didn’t before,” Gu Yan’s gaze was lowered, watching the other’s pallid face slowly gain some colour, and he said indifferently, “Then I met you, so I could only learn it on my own.”

As per Dr Lin’s medical advice, it was best that Yan Suizhi went to sleep as soon as possible, for the more rest he got, the faster the pain would subside.

But even after resting his eyes for a while, a certain someone’s eyelids were still moving.

Gu Yan asked grimly, “Is it too painful to sleep?” 

The corners of Yan Suizhi’s lips cocked up. “No, the medicine is working; I feel much better than when we came. I’m just considering something.”

Gu Yan reached over to flick his eyelashes, saying blandly, “If I were Dr Lin, I’d directly blacklist you. I’ve never seen a patient more uncooperative than you.”

Yan Suizhi feigned dissatisfaction. “Whose side are you on?”

“The doctor’s.” 

Yan Suizhi tch’ed. “In that case, I’m returning to the loft tonight.”

Gu Yan, “…”

Lawyer Gu, “May I inquire as to Your Majesty’s esteemed age?”

Yan Suizhi cracked first, unable to hide his mirth. “Why don’t you ask what is on my mind?” 

“What is on your mind?”

“Serious business.” Yan Suizhi slowly said, “I thought of it when listening to Dr Lin just now… and I was considering who else might be in the same situation as me.”

At mention of that gene segment, Gu Yan couldn’t keep his brows from furrowing, but this didn’t impede his thinking. “People whose gene surgeries had been meddled with by the Manson brothers.”

That segment originated from Yan Suizhi’s first gene surgery, in which Mansons’ men were involved. This unexpected outcome must have an inextricable connection to them. 

In other words, other people whose surgeries had been meddled with by the Manson brothers might be in the same boat as Yan Suizhi.

“But it’s still hard to say.” Gu Yan added, “In your situation, for instance, this segment has been inactive for the past twenty or so years and only recently showed traces, which should have been by accident.”

“Right, so I was wondering…” Yan Suizhi said, “say, the Manson brothers had stopped for so many years and suddenly had the interest in making me disappear; could it be because they wanted to dispose of this? The explosive used back then was laced with vaporising bombs, which, compared to other killing methods, is indeed the cleanest way to destroy a body, including genetic evidence.”

The furrow between Gu Yan’s brows deepened. 

Yan Suizhi was still resting his eyes, yet his hand raised accurately to touch the other’s brow ridge. “Why do you like to frown so much at such a young age? Isn’t it a good thing if that’s what the Mansons want to dispose of? Evidence delivered right to our doorsteps for us to investigate however we want.”

There was a long silence where Gu Yan didn’t speak.

Yan Suizhi opened his eyes. “What’s wrong?”

Gu Yan’s lowered gaze was cast on him. “You just sounded like you were sitting at home, effortlessly receiving a box of information… That is your body, not an evidence board.” 

He frowned, then said, “Your face often hardens at the mention of Ke Jin’s situation, yet when it comes to the explosion case, you always speak of it so… nonchalantly.”

Yan Suizhi’s gaze gently regarded him for a long moment, before he spoke. “I was once beset by darkness, Gu Yan.”

The hand touching Gu Yan’s brow ridge slid down to cup his face. He said softly, “If you had seen me on the day that I opened my eyes, you would’ve known how foul my expression was. I wanted to infiltrate Southcross, comb the case file, and through the questionable points I found, trace them back to my murderer. I’d send every one of them to prison, thereafter see them off to the execution ground. I was so utterly bored in those days that I devised such an unimaginative path of revenge, and it could very well have been what my life revolved around for a long time. But who would’ve expected that as soon as I entered Southcross… I’d run into you.”

Yan Suizhi looked into Gu Yan’s eyes and said with a smile, “You might not believe me when I say this, but I’m even thankful for that explosion. Without it, maybe I would always have assumed that you’ve blocked my number for good. And then, in a decade or two, I’d hear from Laura or someone else that you’ve gotten married.” 

He suddenly broke off here and fell silent. After a moment, he clicked his tongue. “Now, this hypothetical makes me really uncomfortable.”