Chapter 22 Chapter 20 The Madman on the Mountain Climbing

On May 15, Onishi suddenly returned to his home on Omiya Street.Usually, even though he was on a business trip, Manman only came back twice, and each time he took care of the family in advance, but this time he went straight back to Tokyo without saying a word.And it's been less than two weeks since the last time I went out. "I'll be on vacation soon this time." Onishi explained with a little embarrassment to the bewildered Shoko who greeted him.Like those men who are obsessed with their careers, Onishi is ashamed that he returned to Tokyo not long after a business trip.He hastily picked up Kenichi who rushed forward:

"Ah, it's much heavier than last time." He said, squinting his eyes, and kissed the child's cheek. This made Xiangzi sigh: "This person will become like this today?" This behavior is completely like a doting father.Daxi happily put the child on his lap. How could this demeanor make people believe that he had disregarded his family at all in order to develop N gas.At the moment, the aura of being intoxicated with career has disappeared from him. "This holiday is too early." Xiangzi said casually while making tea for Daxi, suppressing what he wanted to know very much.

"Hey." Onishi took a sip of hot tea contentedly and said, "Isn't tomorrow the 16th? Although the months are different, the 16th is Kenichi's birthday anyway. I remembered that you said that you would visit the shrine... I have an idea." Definitely, regardless of everything, hurriedly asked for a leave of absence and came back." "Ouch!" Xiangzi's eyes widened, and he thought to himself, what kind of wind is blowing today! December 16 last year was the child's first birthday. Although Xiangzi repeatedly begged him to go home, he didn't come back. This time he was on a business trip not long ago, but said that the 16th was his birthday anyway, so he hurried back.Is there any other purpose for coming back this time?Xiangzi is always hard to believe.However, Onishi really came back for this matter.

The next morning, Onishi looked at the bright and clear sky in May, and said, "Today is the day I've been looking forward to for a long time, hey, hurry up and pack up, and go visit the shrine for Kenichi." "Ah, really going?" Xiangzi was still skeptical. "Of course. Didn't you find a small shrine in the wasteland on the other side of Mount Hamada? Let's go there. Let's take Kenji there and ask God to bless you." "Oh, this is terrible, then I have to make some preparations immediately." Xiangzi thought he was just talking casually, but when he saw this, he suddenly became flustered.

Although it is only a short distance to Hamada Mountain, it is a long journey for a child who is only one and a half years old.To make some travel food, you have to pour hot milk into a thermos.It was almost eleven o'clock when I left the house. Surrounded by fresh green, under the bright sunshine in May, it is dazzling, and it is a good time with sunny weather and fragrant flowers and plants. It was the first time that Kenichi was taken out to play by his parents, and he was even more joyful, and he was still restless in his arms. "Hey, don't make trouble, don't make trouble." They yelled softly, holding the heavy child, making them both panting.

By the low fence around the house, the green willow branches sway in the wind.The cherry trees whose flowers have withered grow green and tender leaves, which are full of beauty under the breeze.The scent of early summer wafts through town. "what is this?" "This is the mole hole." "What's a mole?" "A mole...it's a kind of mouse that burrows in the mud. You've seen it in books." "Is there a mole?" "Well, the Mole is taking a nap in the hole, so I can't see it now." Jian was still slurring his teeth, but kept asking all kinds of questions.It is often asked the name of various things.Children of this age are most interested in what various things are called.Onishi answered one by one, not only giving the name, but also patiently telling him the behavior of each animal and the reason why it behaved in this way.The child opened his bright black eyes and listened with half understanding.

Xiangzi was very surprised that Daxi had become like this.Seeing Xiangzi's surprised expression, Onishi turned his eyes from Kenichi to Xiangzi and said: "Children's curiosity is the strongest. I seem to have seen in books that children have the greatest plasticity. It is the responsibility of parents to be good at inducing this plasticity. If children ask all kinds of questions about what they see , but the parents are annoyed and don't answer, so the child's curiosity and exploration of things will be frustrated, and it will be impossible to induce and educate the child."

"That's right!" "It is said that people's brains are of the same quality when they are babies, but there will be a big difference when they are five or six years old. That is to say, people are not born with smart and stupid, which mainly depends on the education in early childhood. Xiangzi , it depends on you!" Daxi said with deep feeling. Xiangzi didn't know why he said these words suddenly.However, I am very happy to see that he is not only concerned about his career, but also cares about his children. Soon, they walked out of the busy street and came to a small field.But even this little wilderness is gradually being eaten away.In Tokyo, where "an inch of land is like gold", this piece of land is much more open than those open spaces.

"A lot of houses have been built now." Xiangzi murmured.Half a year had passed since she wrote that letter to Onishi.Daxi has never been here before, and in the past six months, many newly built houses have appeared, scattered on the field like matchboxes.In another year, this beautiful wilderness will probably be engulfed by Tokyo's expanding population like a raging wave.However, the shrine is still hidden in the field of cherry trees and bushes. "It really is a very nice shrine!" "This god will definitely bless Jianer for the rest of his life." "Then let's pay homage. Jian'er, hurry up and worship."

"Jianer, goodbye." In the shrine, the wooden statue of a black god is covered with spider webs.Onishi prayed to the expressionless idol, entrusting his son's fate. On the afternoon of the next day, Onishi took the train from Shinjuku to Kiyosato, leaving a lot of things to deal with there.This time, Daxi put all these things aside, asked for leave and came back straight away. When Onishi left Tokyo, Shoko and Kenichi came to see him off. "Baba, Baba, don't go, don't go." Kenichi clung to Onishi until the train started, and Onishi's nose was sour. As soon as the train started to move, Jian saw his father leave and burst into tears.Onishi leaned out of the car window, staring at Kenichi on the platform writhing his small body and blushing from crying, his nose was sour and his eyes hot. It was not until the ruthless train left soon that the mother and child gradually came into view. disappear.

The sun that was moving slowly in the sky in early summer had already fallen to the horizon, and Onishi arrived at the laboratory at this time.After listening to Murayama's brief report, he returned to the dormitory early and stayed until late at night when everyone was sleeping.During this period, there is nothing to do.It was a difficult time for him.In order to relieve the melancholy in my heart, I opened an old photo album brought from Tokyo.The photos taken with Akita while climbing the mountain were randomly pasted all over the album.He and Akita are not very good at photography, so it is not a good photo.Although some photos have high mountains as the background, it is impossible to tell which mountain they are on, and some even only take half of the face.However, this actually recorded his youth.On the photo that has turned brown, the familiar mountain peak is talking to him, and he smiles inside Akita. "Akita, walk carefully. Kashima Gunbei and the ice ditch in the cliff is very dangerous. At that time, I encountered a blizzard halfway, and I had to stick to the cliff like a reptile. I stayed until dawn, fingers and toes They were all frostbitten. It was really a disaster that time. After that, we went to Yicang and Zeben Valley..." Recalling the past again and again, one thing came to mind.I have climbed mountains and mountains with Akita, and I have climbed countless peaks. "He is no longer alive." Daxi couldn't help murmuring. At this time, on the opened page, he found that there was a small beetle hole on Akita's smiling face standing in front of the snow mountain. "Oh, why is it broken?" Daxi took a closer look, and found that in other places, there were also motley traces, which gradually expanded.Some beetle trails are just under the eyes of the portraits, like drops of tears.Onishi closed the photo album. He was immersed in the memories, and before he knew it, the time he was waiting for was approaching. The gas storage warehouse is in another building.There, the produced N gas is poured into cylinders for storage.Most of them are directly inspected and accepted by the U.S. Military Supply Department, and some are sent to our company's factory for mass production according to its composition. Onishi put on protective clothing and entered the gas storage warehouse.The warehouse is full of gas cylinders with a capacity of 20 kg to 50 kg. Onishi, who was wearing a gas mask, couldn't help holding his breath.The delivery date is coming up, so these cylinders are filled with N gas.It is a very dangerous thing to release all the gas in these two hundred or so gas cylinders.But it was Onishi's own decision to do so. In order not to be noticed, he dared not turn on the light.The outlet valves of the gas cylinders are all screwed tightly, and it is time-consuming and labor-intensive to unscrew them one by one by hand.And, it must all be done before dawn. Gas storage tanks, of course, have no windows.Moreover, the only vent was the narrow door through which Onishi sneaked into the warehouse.Although wearing protective clothing, it is impossible to perform heavy physical labor for a long time without inhaling poisonous gas surrounded by a high concentration of N gas.If there is no oxygen, it may suffocate.But this is something that West Africa cannot do. "Xiangzi, I leave everything to you." Onishi called Shoko's name as he started to open the first gas cylinder.In case of misfortune, I entrusted Kenichi to her.He touched the valve switch on the mouth of the bottle, and the switch was tightly screwed, and it was only with all his strength that he unscrewed it.As the screw was unscrewed, gas gushed out like a fountain.Amidst the creaking sound of blowing air, Onishi began to unscrew the second gas cylinder again. "What's this called?" In the darkness, I suddenly seemed to hear a delicate child's voice. "Kenichi!" Onishi shouted.But no answer.Only the sound of jets pierced the surrounding silence. "Already have auditory hallucinations? It seems a little too early." He smiled wryly.However, it was indeed his son's voice.He clearly heard it. "It's a bad air, so Daddy's going to let it go." Onishi touched the third gas cylinder. "Why is the air bad?" "Break it in, and you can't hear the voice." He began to unscrew the fourth cylinder.It seems that Kenichi also understands the dangers of these gases.Soon, Daxi seemed to hear the chirping of birds in the forest in the distance, heralding the dawn of the dark night, and there were already about forty empty gas cylinders lying around him. It seems that it is too late.But as long as you can do it, you have to do it.He was restless, surrounded by darkness, and felt drowsy.A dreadful drowsiness hit him, and he couldn't get rid of it.Action has been visibly sluggish.I feel that my body seems to be out of control, and it seems that I have inhaled a lot of N gas. "It's good to hold on for a while longer." He secretly prayed for himself. At this time, he heard Kenichi's voice again.This sound overwhelmed the uninterrupted puffing sound all around, like the reverberation of a bell piercing through the silence of midnight, it poured into Daxi's ears: "Who made this bad air?" Daxi's body stiffened immediately. "This..." He stammered suddenly.Then he said firmly as if he had made up his mind: "Dad made it. But, Dad knows it's bad air, so let's throw it away now." After speaking, his consciousness fell into confusion and he became numb all of a sudden. . "Why would Onishi do such a goddamn thing? I have no idea." "Maybe that guy already knows that the order for N gas has been cancelled?" "If that's the case, he's really a very loyal employee! Regardless of his own safety, he took the risk to deal with the batch of N gas that was to be discarded. However, he is definitely not like that. That guy went to release the gas The next day, the U.S. Army Department of Munitions issued a notice to cancel the contract." "Then it wasn't the work of a madman?" "It's crazy. Before, during the long-term development, he inhaled N gas bit by bit. Rather, this guy chose a good time to go crazy. The result of his painstaking efforts, once known, will be useless I'm afraid he will go mad with anger. Besides, if he uses a living person as an experiment, if it leaks out, he will be pushed on him, saying that he is a chemist who is eager for fame and fortune, and he did it arbitrarily. This is my opinion. It was a move that was prepared at the beginning.” "In this way, this guy is pitiful." "Well, anyway, it's a pity for the guy's bright head. How is the guy doing now?" "There is no sign of recovery at all. Due to the long-term accumulation in the body and the inhalation of a lot of N gas at the moment, I am afraid it has become a waste. Although the life is saved, the human body is almost like a dead body." "it's a pity." "It's a pity. Without him, the company would not be affected much. The Central Research Institute is constantly training new people. Nippon Kasei is not something that can be controlled by his mind, nor is it the kind of small company that cannot withstand storms." "Yes, that's right. Now we have to think about it. After the N gas contract is cancelled, how can we make up for the losses suffered by the company?" "The first expenditure is being settled, and the equipment investment and the conversion of the pesticide factory have not yet been carried out. It is finally a blessing in misfortune." "Needless to say, Kiyosato spent the most money. I was really fooled. But the money was spent on the internal books, so I'm sure I won't be reprimanded by the shareholders. Also, how to deal with Onishi?" "Whether his head is a treasure to the company or not, he can't do anything if he goes crazy. Moreover, what he did this time is completely against the company. All his past achievements have been offset. Although what he did this time The matter has no effect on the company, but I can only think that he has bad intentions for the company. In order to warn all employees..." "Fire him?" "right." In the manager's office of Nippon Chemical Corporation, the two men stared at each other and smiled.It was a dark and rainy afternoon in late May. Ten days later, on a gloomy rainy evening, in a room in a Harajuku apartment, a woman committed suicide by turning on the gas. The stench that diffused into the hallway alarmed the neighbors, and they broke in, only to find that she had inhaled a large amount of gas and could not be rescued.The reason for her suicide was that her husband had recently died of illness, and she followed her husband under Jiuquan.She was already pregnant, and in her suicide note, she scribbled: "I'm sorry for the baby in my womb. Because he is no longer alive, I have lost the courage to live. I am sincerely sorry for causing trouble to the neighbors in the apartment." About three funeral expenses were left beside her. A savings slip of 100,000 yen with a seal attached.The interior is neatly organized, and it seems that he has made up his mind a long time ago.This incident caused people to mourn. (full text)