If everyone is a chess piece, then who is the player?
Huang Liang's first thought was the organization's top leader, but then he realized that didn't make sense. If the top leader was a chess player, then the second leader was at least a participant in the strategy, not a pawn. A chess player must be in a higher position than the top leader, or even above the organization.
God?
Where there are players, there must be opponents. If God is the player, then who is the opponent? This clearly doesn't make sense. Who can play chess with God?
Even after lunch, Selina didn't give him an answer. From beginning to end, she didn't say a word related to the organization or the mission, nor did she acknowledge her identity. After leaving the kitchen, she didn't even give him a hint.
Huang Liang was certain that Selina was the second leader, but he wasn't sure about her stance. Judging from the arrangements for today's meeting and what she had said, she didn't completely represent the organization; otherwise, she wouldn't have needed to be so roundabout. She seemed to want to win Huang Liang over to establish his own independent faction outside the organization, but at the same time, she wanted him to follow his own heart and act freely, which seemed contradictory.
The relationship between Selina, Dickinson, and Mei Yiqiu is also perplexing. They are old acquaintances, even involved in a somewhat ambiguous love triangle, and now they are all embroiled in the same matter concerning the fate of humanity. Do they know each other's secrets? Are they all in cahoots? Or are they exploiting each other?
Judging from her behavior during the meal, Dickinson seemed unaware of Selina's affair. However, it's suspicious that Selina used Dickinson's fishing trip to lure Huang Liang over. If they weren't in cahoots, how could she be sure Dickinson would bring Huang Liang home?
Huang Liang hadn't received a specific task, but he had already guessed some of it.
The scene in Old Wolf's dream must be related to a very important secret, perhaps a treasure, or something else entirely, but in any case, it's more important than the Wolf Family's current trillion-dollar assets.
The organization's invasion of Old Wolf failed, and someone needed to break through from another direction. Originally, this task was not Huang Liang's responsibility, but Selina chose him. After the First Leader left, no one should question Selina's decision, so Huang Liang also became a pivotal figure in the organization. According to Howard, the two of them could now be considered equals.
Selina's choice of Huang Liang was clearly for ulterior motives; otherwise, she wouldn't have asked him to act according to his true, free will. Huang Liang understood this freedom as complete autonomy and self-awareness. This, combined with the theory of chess players and pieces, meant severing the player's "hand."
He guessed that the chess player was someone who consciously controlled or influenced them; the player controlled the pieces, but the pieces were unaware of it.
In the past, he had felt more than once that something was influencing his thoughts and conscious decisions. Now, thanks to Selina's reminder, he probably understood.
The biggest problem is that he doesn't know who the player is, or where the "hand" is. He suspects that even Selina doesn't know, and no piece can know who the player is.
Just as Selina said, Huang Liang was a smart man. Although he hadn't received a specific task, he already knew what to do next from Selina's hints.
It was dusk when we returned to the Wolf Manor.
Huang Liang got off the bus at the bus stop and walked slowly down the street. There were many willow trees on the streets of Vancouver West. Seeing the willows reminded him of Wuzhong, of the flowing rivers and ancient bridges, where poplars and willows were everywhere. The willow branches drooped down, like the long hair of a spring maiden. The wind swayed them, their graceful forms captivating; the warbling of orioles filled the air with melodious sounds. People strolled among them, reluctant to leave.
He saw Martha standing under a willow tree.
The willows in Vancouver can't compare to those in Wuzhong; their branches aren't as slender, and they look bare, like ancient trees that have lived for hundreds of years.
This scene suddenly reminded him of a place that was real in his memory but which he had never actually been to— Liuying Lane —and that old willow tree.
He remembered a woman who had also stood under that old tree. Her beloved man lay in a room on the second floor of the bar, sleeping forever with that Crow.
The Crow was made into a specimen. The woman's youth continued to fade.
Huang Liang clearly remembers that Bi Shenghua, with her back hunched, walked alone in the alley at dusk. When she reached the old willow tree, she stopped, stretched out her old and withered hand, and touched the equally withered willow branches.
He clearly remembered that there was always a pot of star Beauty at the back entrance of the bar, with a key under the pot.
He clearly remembered that every day the woman would help the unconscious man to a bench in the corridor to Sun, saying that people always need to bask in the Sun, and maybe one day he would wake up!
All of this vanished like a dream when that man returned, yet it remained vividly in Huang Liang's memory.
He knew it wasn't a dream. It was a real time and space. Besides the memories, some real things remained with him, such as his Mental Power, which had greatly increased after experiencing that life. And most importantly, in that life, in Liuying Lane, in that clean little room above the dilapidated bar, his spirit was infected by human emotions, which gave him feelings. He returned from a Parasitic Consciousness to the state of "human".
Sometimes he wondered if all of this was part of Qingmu's plan. Otherwise, how could that guy have returned from the closed zero-dimensional space? Given the abilities he later demonstrated, how could he have so easily fallen into his own trap?
Every time he recalled Qingmu's lazy yet confident demeanor in prison, he would speculate wildly, and become increasingly convinced that his suspicions were correct.
Qingmu, Mei Yiqiu, Dickinson, Selina... each of these people is more mysterious than the last, and the schemes they have set up are extremely large, perhaps even transcending humanity and time.
Martha saw the Huang Liang and waved to him happily.
He saw the smile on Martha's face, as radiant as the clouds on the horizon.
"Huang—" Martha called out, "You're finally back! I've been waiting for you for so long!"
Were you waiting for me all this time?
"Yes, I think you'll definitely take the bus back, so I'll wait for you here."
"Don't you need to take care of Mr. Wolf?"
"Ah, Mr. Wolf is feeling much better today; he can sit up and eat now."
"Is this... really true?" Huang Liang was a little surprised.
"Of course it's true!" Martha laughed. "Master Wolf even said it was all thanks to you. Now everyone in the entire Wolf Manor is talking about you, saying how skilled you are as a doctor. Young Mr. Wolf has prepared a sumptuous dinner, just waiting for your return!"
Huang Liang knew, of course, that he hadn't done anything wrong. If Wolf really recovered, it must have been because Selina had used some method, but it had happened a little too quickly.
He said calmly, "That's wonderful."
Martha pointed to the bicycles parked in the shade of the trees by the roadside and said, "Let's go!"
"Still riding a bike?"
"Yes, it's quite a distance to the manor from here, and the manor is so big, it would take a long time to walk there at night without a bike!"
"But there's only one car..."
"Just like this morning, you take me." Martha smiled playfully at him.
"Oh, but this isn't a park. Don't the traffic police care if someone is carrying a passenger on a bike in the city?"
"This won't work. We can go past the next intersection; that's Wolf Family territory, no police will bother us there."
Urged on by Martha, Huang Liang pushed his bicycle across the intersection ahead, and then, just as Martha had driven towards the beautiful rose garden in the morning light of Stanley Park, he circled her in the twilight of Vancouver West and drove towards the Wolf Manor.
The road ahead is long and endless; day and night, winter and summer, the heat and cold never cease. But there are always beautiful things in life, like the rows of swaying willows by the roadside, the radiant smile of the girl before my eyes, and the faint, enchanting fragrance beneath my nose...
Huang Liang had a strange feeling that he wasn't heading to that magnificent French manor, but rather to that quaint and chaotic old street in Wuzhong, where an old tree stood and a woman stood beneath it...