Chapter 137: Ending

In the group of gifted children and teenagers, An Cui had a good time. She had one-on-one or at most one-on-three teaching from a well-known mentor in the industry. Her peers were all geniuses who could discuss astronomy, geography, the universe, and time and space with her. Except for a few who had the common problem of low emotional intelligence and always said unpleasant things, the rest of them were perfect.

An Cui was very happy for a quarter of her life. She had a family that loved her, allowed her to explore the unlimited ocean of learning, trusted her partners, and even found love. She was free to create everything she wanted, as if nothing could hurt her. Even if someone threw a stone at her, she would always fight back with elegance and calmness, even to the point of being arrogant and conceited.

Until her backing suddenly collapsed.

Because of the retaliation of the transnational criminal group that was severely damaged by his brother a few years ago. It is not new for righteous police officers and their families to be retaliated by criminals, but the An family is not an ordinary police family. They live in a military compound and have guards everywhere. How difficult is it to take revenge? But they did it. There is no other possibility except that someone betrayed them from the inside.

Even though they promised to conduct a thorough investigation and give her an explanation, An Cui still felt unprecedented rage. The resentment kept lingering in her heart. She wanted to kill people and take revenge, and she took her anger out on everyone.

The young bird that lost its nest cried sadly, but it no longer had strong wings to protect it from the wind and rain.

She has a wide network of contacts. As a scientist who already has more than 200 heavyweight patents, countless spies are watching her. Senior officials from various countries and financial tycoons are trying to win over countless people who want to cooperate with her. It can be said that even if she had no connections with anyone in the black and white worlds before, she can have them now if she wants.

She used up many favors and owed many favors, and used all her connections. She did not assist Interpol because she had lost trust in official agencies. Instead, she hired a powerful mercenary group and targeted the criminals who were roaming around the world and committing crimes on the dark web. It took her two years to kill them all, leaving no one alive.

She didn't care about the means, whether it was the police or mercenaries, she just wanted them to die, tortured to death, and only their blood and pain could quench her rage.

The feeling of successful revenge is very satisfying, but once lost, it is lost. The little bit of pleasure at this moment is built on tremendous pain, and perhaps also because of the escape mentality, so her emotional nerves will gradually become numb, and these memories will gradually be forgotten.

And now, she can finally recall the good old days and no longer avoid them.

The song is over.

An Cui found her best friend Winston sitting on a garden bench with his hands clasped on his knees and a genuine smile on his handsome face.

"I heard you were working again."

"It's just a virtual lab."

This is understandable. They will not let An Cui touch any dangerous objects until they are sure that An Cui has truly recovered and no longer has suicidal tendencies.

Winston stayed with Andre for another morning and had lunch together. Andre had to start work in the afternoon, and it was not easy for Winston to spare a morning, so he said goodbye to her.

An Cui looked at his back, his elegant and noble figure in a neat suit, and suddenly remembered that his birthday this year had not yet passed. She hadn't given him a gift for several years, but she often received gifts from him for various festivals. Well... then she might as well give him his favorite gift at that time.

As she thought about this, 524 suddenly spoke in her mind, saying with great certainty: "This man loves you."

An Cui was slightly stunned and said, "Huh? Don't talk nonsense, Winston is my best friend."

"It's pronounced as 'best friend' and written as 'love'! It seems that even big guys have moments when they are not good at what they do. I just saw it. How could the way he looked at you be the way he looked at a friend? Besides, there is no such thing as a simple and deep friendship between a man and a woman!" 524 turned into a love expert and gave a thorough analysis.

However, An Cui and Winston have known each other for so many years, and there has never been any ambiguity between them. It is clearly a pure friendship.

"I have to work, you can go offline." An Cui said. When her brain rejected 524's visit, 524 could not enter and talk to her, and he could not see what was in her brain.

"Okay, okay, I'm going to log off and eat. But what I said is true, the way that blond man looked at you was super affectionate!" After saying the last sentence, 524 logged off.

Because she was preparing to make a birthday present for Winston, An Cui took some time out of her work to request a factory and made a list of materials for people to purchase. These included two Lamborghinis and various accessories. She planned to use them to transform the car into a Transformer like the one in "Heroes II". One of the differences from the movie is that after the transformation, the people in the car will not be thrown out, but will be protected inside. It is a very suitable alternative bodyguard for Winston who occasionally encounters assassination attempts.

Although there are many technologies in the copy that cannot be realized on Earth in her time, she did gain a lot of inspiration from it. After developing alternative plans, she can do it if she is given some time.

However, what she wanted, or what she wanted to do, was somewhat dangerous. The people above held several meetings to decide whether to satisfy her or not. In the end, they decided to give it to An Cui, but they had to send a certain number of people to follow her and stop her if they noticed any abnormal behavior.

So An Cui was either working in the virtual lab or busy in the factory. As she was working, An Cui suddenly felt that this scene was very familiar. She had also been in the factory for another person, with oil on her body, holding a screwdriver and a wrench to make something, with a happy mood of hoping to see the recipient's surprised expression. What was she doing? Oh, yes, she was making an airplane and giving it to her lovely assistant.

It's very strange, perhaps due to the influence of 524's words, the memory that surfaced at this time was about Winston.

At that time, she was quite satisfied with the red color she had painted the biplane, but suddenly she thought that this color might not look good in the eyes of men, so she sent Winston a picture of the biplane she had just made and asked him: "It's just been made, how do you feel about it? Do you like it?"

Winston immediately responded: You made it? I like it.

It looked like it was okay, so she put away her phone.

She thought that was the end of the matter, until a few days later he came to the lab to find her and chatted for a long time. She almost lost her patience and asked hesitantly and embarrassedly, "Where is the plane?" An Cui said she gave it to the assistant because they were dating and he liked planes very much.

I didn't pay much attention to it at the time, but now I think about it, Winston's reaction at that time... was indeed a little bit wrong. He was very good at hiding his emotions, which was a lesson he had learned since he was a child, but at that time he unexpectedly showed some emotions, that shocked and slightly angry speechless expression, the light in his eyes quickly dimmed, and even the back of his back seemed to have a sense of fleeing in despair.

Before she had a boyfriend, they contacted each other very frequently. Winston would send her messages whenever he had time, telling her which restaurant was delicious and wanting to take her there. After that incident, the frequency of their contact began to drop off dramatically.

Could it be that... he thought the plane was a gift to him? Seeing his reaction, she had such doubts in her mind, but then she thought about it again. As the heir to the largest consortium in the United States and the eldest son of a super famous family, he had several private jets and would not need a small biplane like hers. It shouldn't be the case. In addition, her personal assistant and boyfriend was right beside her, so she didn't have any extra thoughts to think about these things.

When the seed of doubt was planted, An Cui couldn't help but look for clues in her memories. She didn't know whether it was because of narcissism or because she had put herself in the premise of "Winston loved her", but her memories were full of evidence that she had not noticed before.

She still remembered their first meeting. She went there for his family background. The eldest son of the Borenas Group, who was studying at a prestigious school just across the street, was also quite famous in their school. She was rejected by adults who didn't trust her. She was unwilling to accept the financial support and introductions from her family and mentors. She was determined to find her mentor on her own. She entered the school and found him.

In front of the gray and magnificent building, he was sitting on the green lawn reading a book. His hair color, which should have been warm, did not alleviate his overall temperament. He had a pale, handsome, villain-like face. She remembered other people's comments on him: a typical capitalist heir, even with a smile on his face, he could not hide his indifference and arrogance. Just standing there, one could feel the class gap.

So she thought it would take some effort to get him to give her two minutes, but it went surprisingly smoothly. Thinking about it now, the way he looked at her when he stood up from the lawn was not the way he looked at a stranger. The light flashing in his deep blue eyes seemed to be a bit unexpected and pleasant. But she thought it was just because he was smart. After listening to her, he expressed his willingness to be her investor on the spot, which was also because of her foresight and his ability to recognize talent.

At that time, she was ambitious and had no interest in love. She buried herself in the laboratory all day. He brought her three meals a day on time and supervised her to eat. She thought it was just a thoughtful gesture between partners, until he gradually took over the family business and became busy, so he hired a life assistant for her.

Although they grew apart because of the life assistant, he was there for her when her family fell apart, offering her all the help he could, and he remains by her side even as so many of her friends and colleagues have lost touch with her.

Indeed...is it because I love her?

...

Winston's birthday was on Christmas Eve, by which time Antri had moved out of the mental hospital and returned to the institute.

The news of An Cui's discharge from the hospital was kept secret, and the outside world didn't know about it. She naturally wouldn't attend Winston's birthday party, as it was just a business social event. She drove the car she was going to give him to Boreanaz Manor, ready to give him a surprise when he came back from the hotel.

The old housekeeper knew her, and although he was surprised to see her, he still let her in according to the old rules, gave her her favorite tea and snacks, and allowed her to walk around here.

The manor has basically not changed much. An Cui walked around their private museum. She hadn't been there for a few years and found that there were many more paintings and porcelains in their museum. She was about to go to Winston's study to read a book, but unexpectedly found a large photo album on the bookshelf. She took it down and opened it, and saw herself.

Many of the photos were taken secretly, and they are posted in chronological order, starting from when she was about 16 years old, long before she found Winston. There are photos of her lecturing at the classroom podium, eating in the school cafeteria, and walking with her head down in deep thought. Many of the photos are meaningless, some are blurred, and some are extremely ugly, showing the weird photography techniques and angles.

An Cui was flipping through the pages when she heard anxious footsteps coming closer in the corridor. She turned around and saw Winston. Compared to his anxiety, An Cui seemed much calmer. She just glanced at him and then looked away: "Did you take all these photos?"

Winston's heart was pounding like thunder. His brain, which was unusually clear most of the time, was like a tangled ball of wool. An Cui's indifferent reaction made him even more anxious. Should he deny it? Or take the opportunity to express his feelings? Is it okay now? She has recovered her spirits. The damn assistant is gone. He is the only one left by her side.

"...No, some of them were taken by hired people." He finally answered, his voice dry and hoarse.

"When did it start?"

"...When I was a senior in high school."

An Cui: "???" It was earlier than she thought.

Because his parents happened to graduate from those two universities respectively, and they both wanted him to go to their respective alma maters, he visited both schools. An Cui passed by them and stopped to greet the professor who was walking with them. She just glanced at his face indifferently, as if he didn't even enter her eyes, but he was struck at once.

The professor who took him around the school proudly told him about the talented girl who was one year younger than him but already had her own laboratory. He couldn't help but look back frequently, but her figure quickly disappeared behind the building.

An Cui: "Then why didn't you come to our school?"

"You have a huge influence on me. I think I need to stay away from you." Winston said. After all, he was taught to be calm since he was a child, but An Cui made him completely unable to calm down, otherwise he was worried that he would not be able to graduate from college. But while staying away, he secretly took pictures of An Cui and paid attention to everything about her. When she came to him and asked for his investment, he could not refuse her.

"You really surprise me. I don't know how to treat you now." An Cui said.

"...I'm sorry." But now that he had let her know, he would not continue to pretend that he cared about her only as a friend.

The next day, Winston began to pursue An Cui.

524 was very proud: "I told him he loves you!"

An Cui ignored it and focused on the work at hand.

"Do you want to be with him? I think it's not bad to be with him. He's handsome, has a good family background, and is very loyal."

Who knows? Liking her is a hard and lonely thing. If the other person is not Winston, but any other man, maybe An Cui would just see how she feels. After all, love is not worth mentioning to her, and it is mostly to satisfy her physiological needs. But Winston is a person who needs to be treated seriously, not because of his social status, but because of his position in her heart. After all, if they break up, it is impossible to be friends again.

So she will consider it carefully and seriously.