Global Collapse-Chapter 497 - 467: Love, Hatred, and Revenge of Two Generations_1

"Come to think of it, I still haven't seen what's inside this thing." Gu Mian extended his hand towards Fatty's backside and pulled out a battered, torn document bag from underneath him.

Gu Mian ran his fingers over the deep brown document bag.

Truth be told, apart from its shape, one could hardly tell this was a document bag anymore.

Probably because it had been stored in a damp underground place for years, the writing on its surface had completely blurred. Fortunately, the opening was still firmly sealed, ensuring that whatever was inside remained intact.

It felt thick to the touch.

"I almost got buried underground to get this," Gu Mian said as he started to unseal the bag. "If this turns out to be full of useless scrap paper, I swear I'll go to the supermarket, buy some bombs, and blow up the school."

Holding the thick photo album, Fatty looked over. "But Doctor, I don't think supermarkets sell bombs..."

By this time, Gu Mian had already opened the document bag and reached inside to feel the contents.

Fatty, sitting on the couch opposite him, watched as Gu Mian first pulled out a palm-sized piece of paper.

The paper was facing away from him, so Fatty could only see its blank back.

Next, he saw Gu Mian looking at the front of the paper for a good while. His expression shifted from calm to peculiar, and finally to something Fatty couldn't quite describe.

It was as if he had seen something incredible.

Looks like the school is safe after all.

But what on earth is it...?

Fatty curiously leaned over, trying to see what Gu Mian was holding. But before he could get a glimpse, Gu Mian slapped the item onto the table with a SMACK.

Now Fatty could see it clearly.

It was a photograph... and the person in it looked somewhat familiar...

"So why is a childhood photo of you hidden beneath Songcheng College?" Gu Mian asked Chu Changge, maintaining a smile.

He didn't need to infiltrate an underground chamber just to see a childhood photo of Chu Changge; he could have easily found plenty in the orphanage albums. To Fatty, Gu Mian's current expression looked uncannily like the 'smiling' emoji on QQ.

"Ha... ha..." Fatty laughed awkwardly. "Maybe Xiao Hong sneaked it in when we weren't looking? Right, Xiao Hong?"

As he spoke, he glanced towards the corner.

Xiao Hong, who was standing in the corner as punishment, shook her head like a rattle drum.

Then he saw Gu Mian pull out another photo from the document bag. Gu Mian stared at it for a long time, his expression shifting from peculiar to one of utter disgust, as if he had eaten shit.

Could it be a childhood photo of me? Just as Fatty was trying to sneak a peek, Gu Mian handed him the photo. "And one of your dad."

Hearing this, Fatty felt as if he'd been struck by lightning. He reluctantly extended a trembling hand to take the photo from Gu Mian.

He looked down and saw a familiar face on the faded photo, smiling brightly at the camera.

The person in the photo was still very young then. He appeared more cheerful and less mature than Fatty remembered him, looking both handsome and somewhat frivolous.

But that wasn't the most important part.

Fatty's hand trembled so much as he held the photo, it was like a sieve. After about three minutes, he stiffly lifted his head. "How did you know...?"

"Your dad was my homeroom teacher," Gu Mian stated casually. "Otherwise, why do you think I'd dare bring a strange fatty home after meeting him just once?"

At this, Gu Mian looked at Fatty with an almost surprised expression. "Did you really think you hid it that well?"

Fatty's mouth twitched. "Yes, I thought I hid it damn well..."

Wang Shenxing had been Gu Mian's math teacher and homeroom teacher when Gu Mian was sixteen. Coincidentally, that year, his class went on a spring outing, and Gu Mian joined them.

It had been many years since Gu Mian had participated in such an activity. Previously, whenever the students went on excursions, he would watch from the window as they filed out of the school in a long line. The procession was so long it took more than half an hour for everyone to depart. Gu Mian would just watch until they were all gone.

Afterwards, he would sit alone in the classroom, waiting for them to return. He waited from early morning until noon, then from noon until it was completely dark outside. Only when the classroom lights flickered on did he finally see students trickling back.

The returning students were all limping; they had reportedly walked more than a hundred li. They came back in tears, vowing never to participate in such an ordeal again.

Yet, when the next excursion came around, they all set off in high spirits, once again leaving Gu Mian alone in the empty school.

When Gu Mian turned sixteen, he had a new homeroom teacher surnamed Wang.

"It'll be fine." He remembered his math teacher saying this to him. He also recalled the inner leap of joy and excitement he'd felt.

Due to Gu Mian's unique circumstances, previous teachers had been reluctant to let him join group activities, and Gu Mian himself never pushed for it.

But this new teacher was different. He was always very good to Gu Mian, so much so that Gu Mian felt he was like the father figure he'd always longed for.

But the teacher had his own child. Gu Mian often saw a photo of a cute, chubby little boy on his desk. The teacher would smile and tell Gu Mian it was his son, Wang Xianzhi.

And just as the teacher had said, Gu Mian didn't get into trouble that time. Someone else did.

When he was sixteen, Gu Mian carried his dying math teacher for five kilometers along a mountain path in the middle of the night, but in the end, it was too late.

By the time they reached the hospital, he wasn't breathing anymore. He was completely gone.

"Your dad was really good to me when he was alive," Gu Mian recalled, propping his chin on his hand. "If it weren't for me, he might have... What are you doing?"

Fatty's eyes were red and brimming with tears. He was clutching the hem of Gu Mian's white coat, wiping his runny nose on it.

Gu Mian patted his shoulder. "Stop crying, Wang Xizhi."

"It's Wang Xianzhi!"

He didn't expect this sloppy-looking Fatty to have such an artistic name. With a name like that, he could be the male lead in a romance novel.

Gu Mian pushed Fatty's head away with a look of disgust. "I'm surprised you don't look anything like your father."

Fatty wiped his nose on Gu Mian's coat again. "Actually, he wasn't my biological father. He adopted me from an orphanage when I was five..."

As he spoke, he looked at the photo in his hand. "Ever since I was little, I felt he was different. When I was very young, he told me the passwords to all his bankbooks, as if he expected to die at any moment... Later, he said there was something important he needed to tell me, but he'd wait until I was a bit older...

"But years went by, I grew up, I was about to graduate, and he still hadn't told me that important thing. It was as if he'd decided not to tell me after all...

"But I kept waiting. And I kept waiting, and then he died."

With that, another large glob of snot landed on Gu Mian's coat.

Gu Mian: "..."

"Later, when I was sorting through Dad's belongings, I found out he'd been secretly observing someone for the past few years... I always felt that this was the important thing he wanted to tell me but never did..."

"That person was me?" Gu Mian leaned in.

"It was you," Fatty sniffled. "But back then, I didn't know you were his student. I searched like a fool for three years before I finally found you. That was three years ago. The first time I found you, it was at a bank. I was going to go right up and talk to you, but before I could even get close, two robbers with guns rushed in from outside. I was so scared I ran off immediately... The second time I saw you was at an internet cafe. But before I could approach you, the kid on the computer next to yours got an electric shock and had a seizure. That scared me off again... After that, I didn't dare try to get close to you."

Gu Mian could pretty much guess the rest. This stalker had been secretly watching him for another three years. If Fatty's car hadn't malfunctioned on New Year's Day this year, he might still be tailing and spying on him even now.

Hmm, he might have ended up dead long ago too. After all, spying during an 'event' could be fatal.

Chu Changge sat silently opposite him. Gu Mian reached into the thick document bag again.

This time, he pulled out another photo. This one was of himself...

Gu Mian stared silently at the photo in his hand. It was a picture of him as an adult; judging by his appearance, it looked like it was taken around his current age.

But the person in the photo—his style of dress, his posture—was nothing like him. Gu Mian was also quite sure he had never taken such a photo.

At this, Fatty also leaned over to look at the photo in Gu Mian's hand.

The photo showed Gu Mian's face, but the person in it looked gloomy and listless, as if nothing held any interest for him.

Fatty craned his neck. "Doctor, is this photo of you? It doesn't really look like you."

"No," Gu Mian denied flatly. "I've never taken this picture."

Besides, that underground place had clearly been sealed for many years. So the photo must have been put there many years ago. Back then, Gu Mian was only a teenager, and wouldn't have looked like the person in this photo.

Fatty then recalled the earlier 'Gu Mian's twin brother' theory. But that theory didn't work now; the person in the photo was already in his twenties many years ago, a different age from Gu Mian.

He frowned at the photo. "Maybe it's a relative? Your older brother? Or maybe it's a photo of your father when he was young..."

But it was highly unlikely for two people to look identical.

The photo was severely faded, making it difficult to determine when it was taken.

The background behind the person was pitch black, offering no clues to date it.

There were only these three photos in the document bag. The rest consisted of about a dozen consecutive pages torn from some book.

However, that wasn't the most pressing issue right now.

Gu Mian rubbed his temples, a headache starting. "I have no idea why my photo would be in that damn place."

As he spoke, he removed his own photo, his gaze fixed on the two remaining on the table. "Do you two know why these photos were under the 'event' site? Don't tell me you don't."

Fatty looked like he was about to cry. "Doctor, I really don't know!"