Chapter 569: Side by Side (please vote for the big chapter)
There are also hidden sentries near the apartment building. They hide in dark corners and watch everyone who enters the apartment building.
Staring at the room where Jace's parents lived.
But because the main force of mercenaries was wiped out by He Ao in that abandoned building, the mysterious man may not have enough manpower now.
There are not many hidden sentries responsible for monitoring the residence of Jace's parents, only a few key locations.
They thought they were hiding in the dark night, but in He Ao's field of vision, they were extremely conspicuous.
He Ao quickly bypassed several obvious sentry posts, then got stuck in the blind spot of a hidden sentry rented in a nearby apartment, and entered the apartment building where Jess's parents lived.
This apartment building is somewhat old. It was developed by a real estate company affiliated with Wetterland University. Professors working on the campus can enjoy certain discounts when purchasing houses.
At that time, Jess was still young. He saved some money and took a loan with his wife to buy this apartment building.
Later, relying on the father's increasing income and the mother's royalties, the couple was able to pay off the mortgage.
Although professors at Witland University belong to a higher-income group, their salaries are actually not higher compared with those of real high-income groups.
Even after receiving the title of professor, the salary from Witland University was only 150,000 federal dollars. However, Jess's father often helped companies with some simple projects, or served as a consultant in some companies and received consulting subsidies.
All in all, after Jess's father became a professor, his annual income was between 350,000 and 450,000 federal coins.
When he was young, his income situation was even worse, only about 100,000 federal coins.
This income actually exceeds that of the vast majority of federal residents, but compared with the average house price of 20,000 federal dollars per square meter in North Witland, it is still slightly insufficient.
In particular, the price of the apartment they purchased was higher because it was close to Witland University. Even after taking advantage of the teacher discount, it was as high as 34,000 federal dollars per square meter.
The apartment building of more than 90 square meters purchased by Jess's parents costs about 3.4 million federal dollars including tax. In addition, this house must pay an annual real estate tax of 1.7% of the total price of the house.
Because the property tax is levied based on the government's valuation, not the purchase price, the property tax paid by Jess's parents, who enjoyed the discount, is higher than calculated based on the purchase price, about 70,000 federal dollars.
If Jess's father's career hadn't been improving and his mother's royalty income as a best-selling author hadn't been low, the couple might not have been able to afford this house.
Even so, the two of them finally fully paid off the housing loan when Jess was about to enter middle school.
During that time, because they had to pay Jess's expensive private school tuition, the couple actually didn't save much money.
After their lives stabilized, in addition to setting aside some savings for investment or backup, Jess's parents donated almost all the remaining money to help people in need.
Jess's charity habit was formed during that period.
As the floors in the apartment building's elevators and monitors changed rapidly, Jess's past memories flashed through Ho's mind like phantoms.
Finally, the elevator stopped at the fifth floor, where Jess's parents' house was located.
He Ao looked at the familiar door, walked over step by step, and verified his face and fingerprints.
With the sound of mechanical rotation, the door opened.
A somewhat gentle female voice echoed in He Ao's ears,
"Welcome home, Jess~"
He Ao paused for a moment, then opened the door and walked into the room.
Jess's mother has a somewhat out-of-the-box personality, and she often has some wild imaginations. However, Jess's father does not stop these seemingly far-fetched approaches, but often supports his wife's creativity.
The two of them ran into many walls over this.
This recording placed in the smart lock is the masterpiece of Jess's mother.
Although most smart locks in the Federation support customized unlocking voices, in general, these voices contain the voice packs of certain idol stars.
But one day, Jace's mother saw Jace coming home and suddenly wanted to record a voice pack for Jace, saying that she wanted to make Jace feel like he was home.
Then Jess's father immediately expressed his approval. The two men in their fifties spent the entire afternoon recording their son's blank eyes, selected the best voice, and set it as the unlocking voice for the smart lock.
Although Jess later felt that this voice was too shameful and strongly asked his mother to change it, in the end the voice was retained.
In the afternoon when this voice was recorded, the mother's voice sounded as happy as a child's. Not far in front of her sat her son working on a computer, and behind her stood her husband cheering her on.
The afternoon sun was very warm, and the golden light spread evenly on the floor.
He Ao walked into the house and slowly closed the door.
He didn't turn on the light. In the dark, his vision was even better than under the light.
The layout of the house is very simple, with light-colored floors, light-colored sofas, and necessary furniture neatly dotted in the house.
Jess's parents don't have high requirements for life, so the furnishings of the family are very simple.
The most expensive thing in the house is the entire wall of bookshelves in my parents' study.
In the Federation, paper books are expensive and rare. Unless you go to a large library in the city center, it is difficult for people to see densely packed paper books in their daily lives.
He Ao's hand was resting on the light-colored sofa, and there was already some dust in the gaps of the sofa.
It's been a year since Jace last came back here.
Although there have been household cleaning robots cleaning this year, the cleaning capabilities of the cleaning robots are always limited, and there are some gaps or corners that are difficult to clean.
Since his mental state started to deteriorate, Jess's frequency of coming back here has become less and less. Every time he comes back, he sits on the sofa in a daze, trying to orient himself rationally, making it difficult to pay attention to what's going on in the house.
He Ao withdrew his gaze from the simply decorated living room and walked to the study next to it.
He gently opened the study door, and exquisite bookcases covering an entire wall appeared in front of him.
The densely packed books on the bookcase are the collection of Jess's father throughout his life.
In fact, after his mother's death, Jess had already searched through the entire study in order to find clues about his parents' death.
While my wife and I were cleaning the house, we also searched every corner of the house, but basically there were no clues.
At first, Jess thought his father would put the book containing occult knowledge in the apartment, but he found nothing.
I didn't get that book, nor did I get any research clues from my father.
The mother did not leave anything behind except the last letter which was later found by his wife Tini in the gap of the bedroom closet.
It seems that Jace's parents are unwilling to leave any relevant information to Jace, preventing him from investigating the final truth.
Since then, Jess has given up searching for the apartment and only comes over occasionally to sit there.
But all the previous premises are based on one foundation, that is, Jace does not know what his father is doing, nor does he know what the mysterious man is funding his father.
He was just searching for possible clues aimlessly, trying to find the key to solving the problem through exhaustive methods.
But for some things, it is difficult to find problems without prior knowledge.
Howie didn't know if Jess's father left anything at home.
But he knew that Jess's mother most likely knew some inside information and had left some clues.
Because Jace's mother died shortly after Jace's father died.
Jess's mother technically had nothing to do with this incident, but she eventually fell into some kind of mental disorder and committed suicide in the study.
In the end, no suspicion was found about the mother's suicide, and she did not leave any message.
But the very fact of her death meant something.
After all, the death of Jace's father was most likely due to forming a group to fight against the mysterious man, stopping the mysterious man's idea of sacrifice, and encountering the mysterious man's unexpected move.
Against this background, Jace's mother 'committed suicide' due to inexplicable reasons shortly after Jace's father passed away.
What if the death of Jess's mother was not an accident, but the work of a mysterious man?
This means that the mysterious man followed the clues of Jess's father and found Jess's mother.
It is very possible that Jace's father has hidden something from the mysterious man, and these things are also his chips against the mysterious man.
As the leader and leader of the magic circle project, without power or money, the most effective bargaining chip that Jess's father could hold was only one, 'knowledge'.
The mysterious man is eager to obtain knowledge.
From this perspective, it is speculated that Jace's father may have the knowledge to make the magic circle operate stably, but he has not yet found an alternative to sacrifice.
In order to prevent the mysterious person from using this knowledge to carry out more sacrifices and harm more innocent people, he did not tell the mysterious person this knowledge.
He Ao put himself in the shoes of Jess's father and thought about the situation at that time. When the situation was most serious, Jess's father might have used this knowledge to mediate with the mysterious man, winning him some time to play chess.
But after realizing that he would never cooperate, the mysterious man directly killed him without giving him a chance to break the situation.
In fact, does Jess's father have a chance to break the situation?
No, more than ten years ago, Christos was still a young boy.
Jess's father must have gone to the city government and the FBI, but judging from the final result, neither helped him.
Then the only way is to find a consortium and let the consortium check and balance the consortium.
But which financial group is willing to help him?
The magic circle project he led at that time was not like the Jace Gene Pharmacy project, which already had a successful finished product and a complete production process.
The array project is only a semi-finished product, and I don’t know how much money will be invested in it in the future.
Of course, he can hand over his hidden knowledge in exchange for help from the consortium.
But other financial groups are not more merciful than the mysterious man. Once they obtain the hidden knowledge and complete the entire process of the magic circle, they may launch even crazier sacrifices than the mysterious man.
They will even promote the legalization of this kind of sacrifice, allowing poor people who cannot survive to sacrifice themselves, and then create extraordinary things in batches.
He Ao has already seen this kind of thing in Limen City.
Therefore, the consortium is never reliable, and Jess's father also understands this.
He knew very well that he could not achieve his goal.
He Ao walked into the study and stood in the center of the study.
This is the exact location where Jess's mother committed suicide.
In the last two years before his murder, Jess's father's mental state was very bad, and it was difficult for Jess to see his father again.
On the phone, the always gentle father often revealed his irritable mood, although he quickly suppressed it.
Jess's father is also a human being. When he is most desperate and depressed and cannot see the way forward, he will also be confused and irritable.
Even Jace could sense that something was wrong with his father.
And wouldn't a mother who is emotionally sensitive and spends a lot of time with her husband not notice this?
Judging from the final letter from Jace's mother asking Jace not to pursue these matters anymore, she may have been aware of it a long time ago and even found a way to find out her husband's secret.
But in this desperate and depressing moment, she chose to stand with her husband.
Even though they know there is no hope on the road ahead.
Even they can see the fate that will eventually come to them.
The mysterious man's magic circle was incomplete until it was destroyed by He Ao, and the mysterious man did not obtain the part of the knowledge he wanted in the end.
Until the end, Jess's parents did not betray their perseverance.
He Ao stood at the spot where his mother died, looking at the overcrowded bookshelf.
From this position, from this angle, the bookshelf directly opposite displays a photo of Jess's family of three when he was a child.
At that time, my father's smile was happy and gentle, and my mother held the young Jace in her arms, with a little tenderness in her eyes.
The mysterious man most likely came to see Jess's mother. Her mother's often out-of-control emotions after her father's death may also be related to the guidance of the mysterious man.
The mysterious man is most likely trying to learn the secret knowledge from Jess's mother.
He Ao didn't know how Jess's mother dealt with the mysterious man, but the end result was that Jess's mother committed suicide in the study.
The mysterious man didn't get what he wanted, but he didn't come to Jace further to ask for that knowledge.
Since then, the mysterious man seemed to have disappeared. It was not until Jess found the old professor and began to study genetic medicine that the mysterious man appeared in front of Jess again.
But this time, he didn't use force, but tried to drive Jace crazy and lose his mind. After getting better control, he slowly let Jace take over the research of genetic medicine.
But this time, he succeeded. Compared with the magic circle project, the genetic potion was more complete.
Of course, the ending is the same. Even if the project is completed, Jace will also die.
He Ao's eyes scanned the bookshelf. He didn't know if he could find any new clues when he came back this time.
But according to Jace's memory, Jace's father is a man who will not give up hope.
Even if he is dead, he still firmly believes that there will always be flames in the dark night.
He Ao activated his super memory and scanned the study room.
One after another, slender shadow tentacles stretching out from the void and spreading on the wide bookshelf, swinging like curtains, appeared in his field of vision.
A friend is getting married today, which is a bit lively and a bit late.
