"Gao Ming! Gao Ming! Look at Hanan Building!"
Zhang Ding, the supermarket owner, pointed toward the busiest part of the East District, urgently calling Gao Ming's attention to it.
Hanan Building was the fourth-tallest building in Hanhai. Now, Situ An appeared on the enormous screen that stretched up toward the night sky. He looked exhausted, a picture of tragic resolve. It was as though despair had already shackled him, yet his eyes brimmed with hope. He seemed to know he was doomed, and wanted to spend the last of his strength giving others a chance to live.
Situ An had spent decades building his presence in Hanhai, and more than two-thirds of Hanhai City's residents thought very highly of him. Yet today, this ambassador of charity appeared before them all looking utterly wretched and beaten.
Pedestrians stopped, vehicles slowed, and countless residents stood gazing up.
"Situ An? What's he trying to do?" Standing on the supermarket's top floor, Gao Ming stared at his mortal enemy on the giant screen.
"I grew up in Hanhai. This city holds all my memories. I studied and worked as hard as I could, hoping that one day I could make it a better place."
"I am Hanhai's child. I did everything I could to repay the mother who gave birth to me and raised me. But I never imagined that my mother was wrapped in thorns tipped with poison, with bloodsucking reptiles lurking in her shadows."
"They wanted me to become just like them. And I knew what would happen if I refused."
There was no trace of sinister cunning or hysterical madness in the Situ An on the giant screen. He had perfectly concealed his depravity and obsession, leaving only compassion, maturity, and responsibility. He seemed to stand with Hanhai's ordinary people forever,