Chapter 22 Futaba Chapter Eleven

Kosuke Wakisaka drove the car without saying a word. About ten minutes after we left New Chitose Airport, we entered the city of Chitose. We turned left near the Chitose River and crossed the city center to the other end. Soon there was a forest in front of the forest. White building, he drove into the parking lot of the building. "Where is this place?" I asked. "I'll tell you later." Wakisaka Kosuke looked straight ahead, "Don't ask too many questions, just follow me." The so-called arbitrariness is probably his tone. The building looked a bit like a restaurant or a hotel, but instead of walking towards the front gate, Kosuke Wakisaka went straight to the wicket next to the parking lot, and I followed him in.

After walking for a while, an elevator appeared in front of the elevator. Two old men in clothes stood in front of the elevator. One of them was holding a bottle of SUNTORY OLD, and the other was carrying an ice bucket filled with ice cubes. Seeing that we were not coming from the direction of the gate, the two The old man was surprised.I kept my head down since I entered the door, but soon I noticed that the reactions of the two old men were not quite right. I peeked at them and found that the old man holding the whiskey was whispering to the other old man, and both of them turned their eyes to the waiting room. Kosuke Wakisaka in the elevator.

The elevator door opened, and the four of us walked in. The weird atmosphere remained, the two old men kept their mouths tightly shut, and Kosuke Wakisaka deliberately ignored them, staring up at the floor indicator light. The two old men got out of the elevator on the third floor. As soon as they got out, Kosuke Wakisaka immediately pressed the "off" button. "Who are those two?" "have no idea." "They've been staring at you." "Because I'm handsome." He said coldly.It's good to still joke with me, but having a poker face when you're joking is teaching me how to react.

The elevator only went to the fourth floor, and when the door opened, he gestured "please", and I couldn't help but look at the ground after taking a step. The carpet here feels different when I step on it. Kosuke Wakisaka frowned and said, "This is a carpet for receiving VIPs, but it's quite offensive." "What kind of distinguished guest are you receiving?" "Well, it's hard to say." He walked on the gray carpet, completely unable to hear his footsteps. There are two doors at the end of the corridor. Kosuke Wakisaka stopped in front of the first door. The room number was "1". He took out his wallet from his jeans pocket, and then took out a card from the wallet. There was a slot above the door handle , he inserted the card in, the small green light next to it flashed, and then heard a soft "click".

He turned the doorknob and pushed it, and the door opened in response to the sound. There was a bathroom next to the door. There were two single beds in the back of the room, and there was a door that seemed to lead to the next room. Wakisaka Kosuke stretched out his right index finger to his lips, and swung his left palm down, as if telling me to wait here quietly, I nodded silently. He knocked twice on the compartment door, opened it and walked in without waiting for a response. At first there was no sound from the next door, I thought there was no one in the next room, but it didn't take long for me to realize that I was wrong, I heard a woman's voice.

"...you surprised me." The compartment door was not completely closed, and the voice could be heard clearly. The woman seemed to sigh, and then said, "Why did you come here suddenly and didn't tell me?" I always feel that this voice doesn’t sound right, and an inexplicable uneasiness fills my chest. What is this wonderful feeling?Who is this person? "Please answer my question first, Mom, what do you want to do to them?" Mother?Is this person Wakisaka Kosuke's mother?Why is his mother here? "You don't have to worry about that." "Why? Why didn't you tell me? I have been following your instructions to help them. I should have the right to know, right? Or do you want to hide things from me?"

"...you just have to do what I say." "I'm sorry, but I can't listen to your words anymore. It's because of following your words that those people took Juzi away from the Shi family." A silence followed.I can't understand what they are saying at all, and I can't imagine their expressions at the moment. "It seems that there is some misunderstanding between us." The woman said: "We need to have a good talk, but it's very late today, let's talk about it tomorrow, and you should calm down after you sleep." "Mom," Wakisaka Kosuke said loudly over the woman's voice, "I want to ask you to meet someone."

I was taken aback, he must be referring to me. The next door fell into silence again, and after a few seconds, the woman spoke: "You shouldn't put her..." "That's right," he said. "I brought her." "No, I won't see her." The woman flatly refused. "You must see her, and you must explain everything to her yourself." "Ah, wait a minute, Kosuke..." Wakisaka Kosuke opened the door and walked in. Under the dim light in the room, his eyes looked very serious. "Come in," he said. Walking unnaturally like a somnambulist, I walked past Kosuke Wakisaka and into the next room.

There is a sofa and a low table in the center of the room, and there is a large desk in the back. A woman in a white shirt is standing between the desk and the window and looking at me. For a while I couldn't see her face clearly, maybe some force in my body stopped me, it felt like I was looking through a binoculars out of focus, or looking at a blurry photo, anyway I spent a lot of money. It took a long time to see her face clearly. She looked exactly like me, and exactly like me decades later, someone I would never have met in this world was looking at me now with a sad face. I let out a soft cry, and hurriedly backed away, my whole back slammed against the wall, I started to tremble, the hairs all over my body stood on end, the feeling of vomiting oppressed my chest and I couldn't breathe.

Kosuke Wakisaka came over and grabbed my shoulders and said, "Don't panic." I looked at him, I wanted to speak, but my tongue didn't work, and finally managed to squeeze out a few words: "Who is she?" Wakisaka gave the woman a bitter look, then looked back at me and said, "She's your original version." "Original...?" I didn't understand what he meant, and I looked at the woman by the window again, she was also at a loss just like me, suddenly she seemed to think of something, she hurriedly grabbed the glasses on the table and put them on, It was a pair of rather large glasses with lavender lenses, and then she turned off the desk lamp beside her, and her surroundings suddenly became dark.

"You will know the truth soon." Kosuke Wakisaka led me to the sofa, and then he said to the woman by the window, "Mom, come here too." "I'll just be here." She sat down on the chair on the other side of the desk, with her body slightly facing the window, I could only see her back obliquely behind, and the earring on her right earlobe was shining.When I saw her hairstyle, I suddenly thought of something I didn't want to do in my current situation—maybe I should cut my hair short like that when I'm older. "Also, could you turn the lights down a little bit more?" she said. Wakisaka Kosuke adjusted the switch on the wall to dim the ceiling light. In this space that was not bright or dark, the three of us were silent for a while. "Let's start with my father." Wakisaka Kosuke broke the silence, "But he is not my biological father, I am just an adopted son." There was a pen holder with note paper on the low table. He took the note paper, took out the ball pen next to it, and wrote the words "Takashiro Yasuyuki" on it. "Have you heard of this name? He is the former president of Smart Club." I'd never heard of it, and shook my head.He understood, and wrote down the words "Gaocheng Jingzi". "What about the name?" "I've never heard of it." My throat was dry and my voice sounded hoarse. Wakisaka Kosuke pointed his thumb at the woman sitting by the window behind him, "She is Akiko Takashiro." I looked at her again, she was motionless in the dim light like a doll. "These two are husband and wife. To put it simply, they are the young president and the president's wife of the Smart Club. They are considered very happy in the eyes of others, but this couple cannot have children. Gaocheng Yasuyuki, that is, my father has a certain The fatality rate of this strange disease is quite high, and the patient's children will also inherit it." He glanced at me and asked me "Do you understand?" I don't understand. He wanted to say something, but nodded. "The simplest solution, known as non-spousal artificial insemination, is to use a special machine to inject a donor's sperm directly into the uterus, so that the child does not carry the father's genes and is at least certain to be related to the father. The mother is related by blood. For couples, such a child is more likely to be emotionally involved than an adopted child. However, when my parents wanted to implement AID, they found that there was also a problem with the mother, because she was infected when she was young. , both left and right fallopian tubes are completely blocked, although it is still possible to conceive through fallopian tube reconstruction surgery, the success rate is only 5%, and her attending doctor does not approve of her operation, it can be said that the leak in the house coincides with the continuous night rain." "So they adopted you as their adopted son?" "No, before adopting me as an adopted child, they had another choice. The doctor told them that at that time, several college students in Japan were doing research on in vitro fertilization. As long as the technology matured, they might be able to solve their troubles, so I My parents decided to take a gamble. At this time, my father thought of a person, that is, Shi Jiaqing who entered the Beidou Medical University Research Institute, and he was a club friend of my father when he was studying at Teito University." "The Shi family..." Suddenly heard a familiar surname, "So, you knew the Shi family from the beginning?" "It's embarrassing for you to ask me that. Anyway, listen to me first. My father would think of the Shi family for a reason. He had heard that the Shi family was doing research on in vitro fertilization." "But even with IVF..." "That's right, if I use my father's sperm for IVF, it's still the same, so the idea is to use other donor's sperm for IVF, and then implant it into my mother to make my mother pregnant. My father put This idea was told to the Uji family, and the Uji family applied to the school but was rejected." "why?" "Using other people's sperm for general internal artificial insemination is legally allowed, but using other people's sperm for in vitro fertilization is still controversial, and even in Japan it is still inconclusive." "It turns out they didn't do anything?" "No, the Shi family proposed an alternative plan at this time. According to the law, the sperm used in in vitro fertilization must be the husband's sperm, but it does not mean that the husband's genes must be passed on to the child. He said that there is a way to get it after in vitro fertilization. The family asked my parents if they want to try to lose the husband’s gene.” "Can it be done?" "The Shi family said it could be done. Simply put, the principle is this: there are forty-six chromosomes in human cells that carry all the genetic material. Under normal circumstances, children will get twenty-three chromosomes from their mother and one from their father. Article 23. The method proposed by the Shi family is to remove the father’s part after fertilization, and then use special technology to double the mother’s part, so that the child will not inherit the father’s genetic material.” A schematic diagram of the "mystery of cells" that I learned in biology class appeared in my mind. Although I can roughly understand Wakisaka Kosuke's explanation, it is hard to believe that cells can be put together so easily. "Then they agreed?" "I agreed. They didn't want to use outsiders' sperm in the first place. It would be best if they could avoid it. That's how my parents came to Hokkaido. That was about twenty years ago..., right? " Kosuke Wakisaka turned her head to look at Akiko Takashiro. It was impossible for her not to hear Kosuke Wakisaka's question, but she kept staring out of the window, so Kosuke Wakisaka had to turn her head back. "Then they actually did this experiment?" I asked. "Well, I heard that it was done, but it failed." "why?" "Although my mother conceived successfully, she later had a miscarriage. Even now, when in vitro fertilization technology is quite mature, the miscarriage rate is still high, not to mention the era when all researchers were inexperienced. For those researchers , perhaps the success of conceiving my mother is already very satisfying." "Then what about your parents?" "I can only give up." Wakisaka Kosuke sighed, "My mother told me that the experiment caused considerable physical and mental pain to her, so my father didn't have the courage to challenge again. What's more, leaving my mother alone in the distant Asahikawa, my father must have been very disturbed. A year later, they adopted a relative's child. The relative's family gave birth to five boys, and the family was not rich. The fifth child, who was only six years old, was given to them as a foster child." "That child is you?" "That's right." Kosuke Wakisaka showed a friendly smile, I haven't seen his smile for a long time. "Later, your parents and those from the Shi family..." "No contact at all. A few years later, my father died of illness, but now that Gao Cheng's family has been followed up, my mother has gradually forgotten that gloomy past. Unexpectedly, an earth-shattering event happened at this time." He pointed out Looked at me and said, "You are the one who made this big event." "Me? What did I do?" "Didn't you participate in the music show?" I yelled out "ah", "Yes..." "The employees of our publishing house saw that the program started to go viral, saying that you are the illegitimate son of the president. I didn't watch the program at first, but when I saw everyone talking about it, I borrowed a video from the TV station to watch it with my mother. Not scared to death, I think you should be able to imagine the situation at that time." I glanced at Takashi Akiko again.With modern makeup technology, it is not difficult to make two people who look completely different look alike, but the degree of resemblance between me and her has surpassed ordinary people's perception of "likeness".She's much older than I am, and has a different make-up and a completely different image, but even so, there's something about the two of us that's enough to make us feel like the same person. No, it's not the two of us, we have to add Juzi from the Shi family. Wakisaka Kosuke continued: "So I certainly hope that my mother will give an explanation, but she denied that she gave birth outside, and told me about the special experiment she received in Asahikawa 20 years ago. My mother never told anyone. I never mentioned this incident even in front of my grandfather. When I heard this incident, I immediately speculated that you should be the child born at that time." "But wasn't the child in that experiment aborted?" "It's true that the fetus in my mother's womb was aborted, but that experiment didn't necessarily only collect one egg. Maybe those researchers had other eggs in their hands, and they grew up the fetus without telling the mother." "That fetus is me?" I swallowed. "It should be. But there is still a doubt, that is, you are too similar. Even if the experiment at that time was really successful and you only have my mother's genes, you will not be like this. So I Mother ordered me to investigate your life experience." "I just want to know..." Gaocheng Akiko suddenly said, "The truth about that incident twenty years ago." "Don't you mean the same thing? If you want to know the truth, you must find out her background." Kosuke Wakisaka stood up from the sofa and walked to the middle position between me and Akiko Takashiro. He turned his head and said to me: "I soon found out that you are Miss Xiaobayashi Zhibao's daughter, and my mother also remembered the name. When she was hospitalized for experiments, it was Miss Xiaobayashi Zhibao who took care of her." Then he turned to his mother and said: "am I right?" This time Akiko Takashi reacted, she sighed lightly and said, "That's right." Her tone was a bit rude. "In this way, we confirmed that there must be something wrong with the experiment back then, so I decided to continue investigating your life experience. At this time, I didn't intend to appear in front of you, but later Miss Xiaolin Zhibao died inexplicably. I found out that the incident There seems to be an unusual force behind it, so I had to change my strategy and try to get close to you to catch the mastermind behind it. After we met, you suddenly said that you were going to Hokkaido, and it was Asahikawa. I know that this trip must have something to do with your life experience. The mystery is related, so I quickly chased after it." No wonder he is so fast. In fact, I have long wondered why Wakisaka Kosuke is so active in the whole thing. Even if his mother was kind to him in the past, there is no reason to do so. "So, you often say that you want to call back to the company is actually..." "They all called my mother, but it's not a lie, because my mother is the president of Smart Club." "I see, then..." I asked, "What did you find out?" Wakisaka Kosuke turned to look at Akiko Takashiro and said, "Mom, did you hear that? Please answer her and tell her what we found." Gao Cheng Akiko just turned her head slightly and said: "You have said so much, so go on." "I hope that the next part can be explained by you, Mom. After all, it seems that there are many things that I don't know." But Takashi Akiko didn't seem to intend to speak at all, Wakisaka Kosuke looked at me and sighed, "I can't help it, let me tell you what I know first. Didn't you hear him say Ujiie Kiyoshi went to Tokyo in Fujimura's laboratory?" Is it?" I nodded, and he also nodded and said, "At that time, the Shi family was meeting with my mother." "what?" "It was my mother who asked him to go to Tokyo. When my mother found out about your existence, she asked the family to go to Tokyo to explain everything." Indeed, this is the fastest way to learn the truth. "What did the Shi family say about my matter?" "He admitted that you were a child born in that experiment back then, and..." Kosuke Wakisaka licked his lips and lowered his eyes slightly, "That was not a simple experiment." "What is not a simple experiment?" Kosuke Wakisaka lowered his eyebrows and blinked frequently, glanced at Akiko Takashiro in confusion, then turned to look at me, and finally let out a heavy breath and spoke. "Replicants," he said. "clone……" This is not the first time I have heard similar words. When I was at Hakodate University of Science, Yamamoto mentioned that the Fujimura and Uji family had high achievements in the field of cloning organisms. "I've seen it in science fiction comics..." I said, "A human hair is transformed into a human by cell division... Is that how I was born?" He shook his head, "Replicants are not such a simple thing." "But the essence is the same, right?" "The so-called replicants are actually no different from normal people." "Then why do I look exactly like that person?" I stood up and pointed at Takako Akiko and shouted loudly: "If it's a normal person, why is it like this? Tell me! It's clear that I'm using a part of that person's body Created monsters, right?" "Calm down." He grabbed my arms and shook them violently. "What are you doing, let me go!" "Stop talking!" Snapped!There was a buzzing sound in my head, my head turned to one side unnaturally, and I lost my balance and fell on the sofa. Kosuke Wakisaka quickly supported me.The left cheek was numb, and then it became hotter and began to ache.I was slapped. "Sorry." He said, "But I got slapped by you last time, so we're even." I stroked my left cheek, it was hot and swollen to the touch, tears fell down, I wanted to bear it but couldn't. When I came back to my senses, I found that Takashi Akiko stood up and was looking at me. Her palm was stroking her left cheek as if feeling my pain. put down. Wakisaka Kosuke turned to her and said, "Mom, please explain to her yourself." Takashi Akiko shook her head and said, "This is not my fault." "Whose fault is that?" I asked. "Many people were involved." She said, "Including Miss Xiaobayashi Shiho who gave birth to you. In a sense, she was also at fault." "why?" "Because she gave birth to you." I was speechless when I heard this sentence.That's right, I'm blaming everyone and everyone else here, and to put it bluntly, I'm just blaming myself for why I exist. "Here is the tape of my conversation with Mr. Shijia." Akiko Takashiro opened the drawer and took out a small recorder, "I will definitely record when we talk about important things. After listening to this, you should know what happened 20 years ago thing." She picked up the tape recorder and pressed the fast forward and then rewind. After adjusting, she pressed the play button. Not long after, the tape recorder came out with a low and vague voice of a middle-aged man. This person should be Shi Jiaqing. (...I followed Professor Jiuneng to conduct nuclear transfer research. Professor Jiuneng was already an authority on nuclear transfer when he was teaching at Imperial University. At that time, there were only successful cases of tadpoles in foreign countries. The entire academic community believed that mammalian nuclear transfer It is almost impossible to succeed, let alone use the mature somatic cells of mammals to create replicating organisms, but Professor Jiuneng used his original technology to gradually make the replication of higher animals no longer a dream. One day, the principal asked Professor Jiuneng to ask him if he would Unwilling to conduct research on human cloning. Even in today’s academic circles, research on cloning organisms is completely prohibited from implementing human experiments. Of course, the moral controversy was higher at that time. Even if the research is successful, it may not be published to the public, but the principal is still very I hope Professor Jiuneng can carry out this plan.) (why?) (I don't know. Maybe there is a huge force behind it. As for what that force is, little pawns like us don't know.) (After so many years, you should know by now, right?) (No, I still don't understand.) (Really? I don't believe it.) (Believe it or not, I really don't know.) The two were silent for a moment, perhaps staring at each other. (Okay, what's next? Professor Jiuneng agreed?) (Yes. This research is unlikely to make the professor gain any reputation, so he probably just wants to create a replicant from the standpoint of a scientist. This is indeed the professor's ultimate dream.) I thought to myself that their behavior is not qualified to be called "pure" or "dream". At this time, the voice of Takashi Akiko came out from the tape, (I can only say that he is crazy.) Kosuke Wakisaka next to me also nodded. (You are right.) The Richter’s family also admitted in the audio tape, (Not only Jiu Neng taught, but we were all crazy at the time, studying the development and growth mechanism of organisms all day long, and we all regarded ourselves as gods, so when I was allowed to join I was very excited when I joined Professor Jiuneng's research team.) I think of a saying: A group of crazy people will be even crazier together. (The research team is divided into two groups, our group is responsible for nuclear transfer, and the other group is responsible for in vitro fertilization. We are doing experiments day and night, busy every day with eggs and observing their growth process, but this actually involves This is a very despicable behavior, because the eggs we used in the experiment were obtained from some unsuspecting women. At that time, in vitro fertilization technology was still in the research stage, and these poor women could only pin their last hopes on In terms of this technology, when they came to the university affiliated hospital, they must not have thought that their eggs would be used for experimental purposes.) (You used the patient's eggs as experimental materials without authorization?) (That's right. I believe you still remember the method of egg collection. First, cut three holes below the navel, find out the ovary with a laparoscope and forceps, and then use a hollow needle to make a hole in the follicle, and use the aspirator to suck out the follicle At that time, our team already had the technology to obtain multiple eggs, and sometimes even collected more than five eggs at a time, so the unused eggs became experimental materials.) I felt pain in my lower abdomen just listening to the description. In the tape, the two remained silent again.The place where they talked seemed to be in a hotel room or something, and there was no noise around them. (It's really a devil's act.) Takashi Akiko said. (yes.) (Later, you successfully researched the technology of replicating people?) (I can’t tell if it’s going well or not. In fact, the research process encountered many difficulties. At first, the eggs after nuclear transfer could not divide in the culture medium, and then the cells stopped dividing soon after they started to divide. To take away the specific function of the nucleus so that the nucleus regains the ability to create a new life individual; in addition, we must also pay attention to the different properties of each egg itself, because different eggs have subtle differences in their disposal after nuclear transfer In this way, every time we break through a difficulty, there will be a bigger difficulty in front of us, and we also face the biggest difficulty, that is, even if the nuclear transfer egg starts to divide smoothly, we cannot actually make the egg implant in the human uterus Bed and track its growth process, in other words, whose clone will this experiment create? Which female will be the mother? None of us can answer these questions. At this moment, your husband and wife appeared before me.) (We only consulted with you to treat infertility.) (I know this, but your appearance is undoubtedly a blessing to us. You have already made up your mind to accept a special experiment, so no matter what we do with eggs, you don’t have to worry about you protesting; and we have informed you in advance You, the child will only have the mother's gene, so no matter how much the child looks like the mother, it will not arouse your suspicion.) (So, you took my body for the clone experiment...) Her voice trembled slightly, perhaps because of anger, or perhaps because of sadness. (Yes.) The voice of the Shi family sounded very painful, (We used your egg and somatic cells to create a nuclear transfer egg for replication experiments. Fortunately, this egg began to divide and grow. As I just said, the nucleus It is really a miracle whether the transplanted eggs will split. Even if it is just a simple in vitro fertilization experiment, implantation is the most difficult step. In this way, with the cooperation of several miracles, you have successfully conceived.) (So, at that time...) She was silent for a few seconds, (What is in my stomach is not my child but my clone, you put my clone in my body.) (yes.) (oh my god...) There was a long silence that followed.I looked at Akiko Takashiro, who was pressing her temples with her eyes closed. (But...) Her voice came from the tape, (I had a miscarriage.) (That’s right. Not only were you upset, but we were too. You miscarried too early, and a lot of the data is insufficient.) (Later you persuaded me to try again.) (Yeah, but you guys said no.) (We gave up as soon as we heard about the miscarriage. We thought it was fate. Now it seems that we were right to give up.) At this time, the tape continued to be silent for a while, we did not speak, and the whole room was enveloped in a heavy air. (What did you guys do next? After we went back to Tokyo...) Akiko Takashiro asked. (We collected more than one egg at that time, but we kept it from you. Because we used ovulation-inducing drugs, we obtained three eggs in total. All three eggs have completed nuclear transfer, and only one of them was put into your body. .) (What about the remaining two?) (It was cryopreserved, but we were not sure whether the freezing process was smooth. At that time, there were no successful cases of cryopreservation of embryos in the world. The freezing process used liquid nitrogen, but the crystallization of ice would destroy the cells. This problem has always been It was impossible to overcome, but at that time, the livestock improvement research team of Hokuto Medical University successfully cryopreserved cow embryos. Their method was to inject a special solution into the embryos before freezing. We used this method to combine the two egg cryopreservation after nuclear transfer.) (But you didn't keep those two eggs frozen.) (I must stress again that at that time, hardly any eggs could divide successfully after nuclear transfer, so the frozen embryos you left behind are extremely precious treasures to us. In order to realize our replicator plan, we decided to To thaw frozen embryos, we are not sure if the embryos will survive, but if they do survive, the embryos must be implanted in someone's uterus immediately, but we can't find a suitable person, just find a surrogate mother If not, it may cause trouble afterwards.) Hearing this, a guess flashed in my mind, and Takashi Akiko in the tape seemed to have the same guess at this time. (Could it be...Miss Xiaolin, she...) (Yes, Kobayashi said she was willing to offer her body.) (This... this is ridiculous, for a mere research...) (Xiaolin is a very unique woman in this respect. What she can't bear the most is that pregnancy and childbirth are regarded as the whole of a woman's life. I think she doesn't have to worry about any troubles when she comes to do the experiment, so we proceeded to carry out the experiment. Embryos She survived successfully thawed and implanted in her uterus, but we didn’t intend to let her give birth to this child. We just wanted to collect enough data and then remove the fetus. Xiao Lin’s original idea was the same, We all think that children born to unmarried women cannot be happy in the future.) (But you didn't take the baby in the end.) (The replicant grew up smoothly in Xiao Lin's womb, and the date of the scheduled abortion is gradually approaching, just when we are about to remove the child...) The Shi family sighed, (Xiao Lin escaped.) (She... doesn't want the baby to be taken away?) (Probably. To be honest, we have long been vaguely aware of her maternal instinct slowly awakening. At that time, she would often say something about trying to avoid abortion. In the face of this change in mentality, she should be the most surprised person Well, she seems to regret it and question whether she was wrong in the past. But if she doesn't take the baby, things will become difficult. We can only try to convince her, but she still chooses to be a mother after all, giving up as a researcher.) A burst of inexplicable sadness welled up in my heart. It was my mother who saved me. If she hadn't escaped, I would never have appeared in this world. (We followed Professor Jiuneng's instructions and tried our best to conceal the news of Kobayashi's disappearance from the outside world. On the one hand, judging from her resident certificate records, she should have gone back to her hometown, so the professor also went to Tokyo to try to bring her back. I heard that the professor saw Kobayashi , also try to convince her.) (But persuasion failed?) (It seems that the negotiation failed, but when Professor Jiuneng came back from Tokyo, he told us that he had persuaded Kobayashi to remove the child, and said that Kobayashi was unwilling to continue to engage in research work, so he approved Kobayashi's resignation.) (Why did he tell this lie...) (Maybe it was a deal between Professor Jiuneng and Kobayashi. The professor knew that he could not convince her, so he promised not to pursue the matter, but the condition was that she must disappear from now on and never appear in front of everyone.) (So ​​Miss Kobayashi gave birth to a girl, the one who appeared on TV?) (Yes, the child seems to be named Futaba.) Tears welled up in my eyes.My mother, who has no blood relationship with me, loves me so much just after giving birth to me, but what about me?what did i do to herI couldn't keep even a small agreement with her, and even killed her because of it. I squatted on the ground covering my face with my hands, crying uncontrollably. After crying for a while, I stood up and took out a handkerchief and blew my nose. The tape had stopped playing at some point. "Sorry, I'm fine." I asked Takashi Akiko, "What happened to the clone project?" "According to Mr. Shijia, the plan was terminated immediately, but he didn't tell me the details." "So... what happened to Juzi of the Shi family? She is your clone like me, right?" "I think it should be, but I don't know why Mr. Shijia adopted my clone as his daughter. When I met Mr. Shijia that time, I didn't know there was another clone, so I didn't ask about it. " "Those people... what are you going to do next?" "I also asked Mr. Shijia, and I told him that this matter will be exposed to the world sooner or later. In fact, my company employees have already talked about it when they saw a girl who looks like me on TV, but Mr. Shijia only said that they would think about it. There is a way to solve it, he also said that they only now learned that the replicants in that experiment were still alive, and they were a little panicked." "What do you mean by trying to solve...?" I murmured. "He told me not to ask too many questions, just leave it to them to deal with. I asked him again whether the case where Miss Kobayashi Chiho was hit and killed by a car and the murderer hit and run had anything to do with them. His answer was... and his It doesn't matter." "It has nothing to do with him. As for other people, I can't guarantee... Is that what you mean?" Those people are absolutely inseparable. "To tell you the truth, in fact, I know all the ins and outs of what you just heard." Kosuke Wakisaka said apologetically, "It is because I know these things that my mother ordered me to continue to monitor you, hoping to find out The leader of the clone project and the purpose of Fujimura and others. Regarding the leader, I have a rough idea. Judging from the relationship between Hokuto Medical University and Ihara Junsaku, it is very likely that this guy is the guy, and you let me see The scrapbook left by Ms. Kobayashi Shiho makes me even more convinced that this speculation is correct." “那本剪贴本里头都是关于伊原骏策和他小孩的新闻……” “没错，而且那个小孩长得和伊原骏策一模一样。” “那个小孩也是复制人吗？” “应该吧。伊原一定是为了创造自己的分身而暗中教唆北斗医科大学，经过你这个成功案例，久能教授等人终于创造出伊原的分身。”胁坂讲介朝高城晶子踏出一步，“妈妈，当你得知这件事的背后有伊原涉入之后便来到了北海道，对吧？你告诉我，你想就近掌握状况，必要时能随时出面处理。于是我一面陪着双叶行动，一面向你回报，偶尔也听命你的指示行事，但当我发现氏家鞠子在新千岁机场被人带走，我不得不开始怀疑你了，因为知道氏家鞠子今晚会在那个时间抵达千岁的人，除了我们两个，就只有妈妈你而已。” 高城晶子依旧不发一语面朝窗户怔怔站着。 “这么说来，我在札幌的旅馆差点被绑架，也是因为……” “应该也是妈妈向那些人通风报信吧？”胁坂讲介说：“妈妈，你为什么要这么做？为什么你要帮助他们？你和他们做了什么交易？” 高城晶子慢条斯理地拉上窗帘遮住窗户，室内更昏暗了。 “我想和你单独谈谈，请那孩子出去一下。” 她口中的“那孩子”指的应该是我。 “为什么？她有权利知道真相。”胁坂讲介的声音带着怒意。 “我不想看到她，也不想被她盯着看，请你体谅妈妈的感受好吗。”她坐回椅子，手指伸入眼睛下方按摩着眼角。 我站起身来问胁坂讲介：“我在哪里等你？” 他有些意外，“可是……” “没关系啦，”我说：“反正我待在这里也浑身不对劲。” 他面露一丝无奈，但随即点了点头，“那你到一楼大厅等我。” "okay." 刚刚我和胁坂讲介是从连接寝室的隔间门走进来，但这个房间也有一闪直接通往走廊的房门，胁坂讲介帮我打开了那扇门。 “你去喝杯咖啡吧，我请客。”他递给我一张折起来的千元纸钞。 "No." “没关系，拿去吧。”他执意将纸钞推过来，我一看纸钞心中一愣，刚刚他打开隔壁寝室门时所使用的卡片就夹在纸钞里。 “那我就不客气了。”我接过了纸钞与卡片。 高城晶子的房门一关上，我立刻走向隔壁房门，照着胁坂讲介刚才的方式打开了门锁，我静悄悄地拉开门闪身入内，小心翼翼关上门。 我不晓得隔壁房间的两人是否已开始对话，于是我将耳朵贴在隔间门上。 “真是年轻啊。”是高城晶子的声音，“看她好像没化妆，肌肤却那么紧实有弹性，眼角一条皱纹都没有，也没有松弛的双下巴，比我好太多了。” “人都会老的。” “是啊……”此时传来家具的碰撞声响，似乎有人移开椅子。她继续说：“一抵达北海道，我立刻去见北斗医科大学的藤村教授，从他口中问出了实情。” “他会愿意把实情说出来，看来妈妈一定祭出了相当强的杀手锏吧？”胁坂讲介语带讽刺，但高城晶子只是沉默不语。“算了，这部分之后再请你说清楚，先告诉我藤村说了什么。” “……首先是关于复制人计划的肇始。下命令的人的确是伊原骏策，由于他的精子带有缺陷，所以无法传宗接代，但他又不愿意采用AID的方式让他人的精子取代自己的精子，他无论如何都想留下继承自己基因的子孙。” “所以他把脑筋动到复制人上头？伊原的确很有可能做出这种事。” “久能教授一干人的实验成功了，他们创造出伊原的分身，而这个分身由伊原的年轻妻子负责生下。我光听他叙述都觉得全身不寒而栗。” “那个研究团队后来怎么了？” “据说解散了，每名成员都得到相当丰厚的报酬，也有不少人因此平步青云，但藤村说其实最大的报酬还是研究过程中所获得的知识，虽然依规定他们不得对外泄露任何与复制人有关的情报，但除了复制人，他们还开发出许多划时代的技术，好比刚刚录音带里氏家先生提到的胚胎冷冻法就是其中之一，听说后来好几个人都去了英国或澳洲加入一些在体外受精领域颇有成就的研究机构。藤村教授说，整个研究团队唯独久能教授一直很惋惜无法发表复制人技术，听说久能教授甚至暗中和美国某大学联络，希望能以那些复制人研究的成果当条件换得在该大学当教授的资格。” “可是久能教授不是已经……” “是啊，团队解散之后不久就去世了，那场车祸到底是单纯的意外还是暗杀至今仍是个谜，大概也不会有真相大白的一天吧，唯一能确定的是，研究团队的成员们都再次领教到那名幕后黑手的力量。” “或许伊原目的达成之后便对久能教授过河拆桥吧。”胁坂讲介说。 “很有可能。”高城晶子也同意，“不过伊原的如意算盘打错了，原本健康成长的复制人小孩逐渐有了状况，免疫系统出现缺陷，各式各样的症状接踵而来，藤村说问题可能出在当初细胞核移植时所选择的体细胞不合适，伊原大发雷霆，叫他们一定要想办法解决，但所有人都束手无策，最后小孩就这么夭折了。” 我想起妈妈那本剪贴本上的确有伊原的儿子死亡的新闻。 “伊原不想再次尝试制造复制人？”胁坂讲介问。 “或许是学乖了吧，而且就算再试一次也没人能保证成功。” “但是如今事隔二十年，他们又打算重新挑战？” “没错。”传来一阵脚步声轻响，“因为伊原得了骨髓性白血病。” “白血病……，真的吗？” “应该是真的。为了治病，伊原的部下费劲苦心想找到移植用的骨髓。” “他想接受骨髓移植？” “我们出版社的杂志也做过骨髓移植特辑，骨髓这种东西，除了亲人之外几乎很难找到适合移植者，运气差一点的案例，适合率甚至只有百万分之一，所以没有亲人的伊原骏策几乎是绝望了。” “所以他才想再次制造复制人……” “没错。”高城晶子说：“不知道你记不记得，在国外曾有一对夫妻为了救白血病的女儿，决定再生一个小孩，这样的行为引起很大的争议。而伊原骏策的状况就像一个极端的类似案例，他想以他的细胞来制造复制人，再把复制人小孩的骨髓移植到自己身上。前面提到那对夫妻后来生下的小孩的骨髓是否适合移植只能碰运气，但如果是复制人的骨髓，就能保证百分之百适合。想到这个点子的是伊原的首席秘书大道庸平，这个人也知道当年的复制人计划，所以数个月前他便四处联络当年的研究团队成员，其中又以现在仍持续在做哺乳类动物复制研究的藤村教授以及函馆理科大学的氏家教授为主。氏家先生一开始不想蹚这浑水，但后来还是答应帮忙了。” “原来他们的目的在此……。但他们为什么要绑架氏家鞠子和小林双叶？这两个人对他们有什么用处？” “……关键在于她们的卵子。” 我不禁心中一震，我的卵子…… “要她们的卵子做什么？”胁坂讲介问。 “虽然现在各方面技术都比当年进步，但他们在复制人的制造过程中依然遇到了瓶颈。他们原本使用的是大道所带来的某位女性的卵子，但试了很多次，细胞核移植卵都无法顺利成长。失败原因藤村教授他们其实很清楚，刚刚的录音带里氏家先生也说过，细胞核移植之后的处置会依每颗卵子本身的性质而有微妙的差异，但确实掌握这项技术的人只有久能教授，而且久能教授几乎没留下任何资料，所以他们也无计可施。” “当初对久能教授下杀手，如今遭到报应了。” “藤村教授他们目前手上只有两份成功案例的资料，一份是制作我的复制人那时候的资料，一份是第一次制作伊原的复制人的资料，如果不使用与当时性质相同的卵子，这些资料便完全派不上用场，而十七年前为伊原的复制人提供卵子的那位女性现在已经过了更年期；当然，我也是。” “原来如此，双叶或氏家鞠子所拥有的卵子和妈妈的完全相同，这么一来二十年前的纪录资料就能拿来依样画葫芦了。” “不过藤村教授一干人是最近才得知她们这两个复制人的存在，氏家先生当然也没主动透露自己女儿的事，就在研究迟迟没有进展的时候，藤村教授上东京参加学会活动，偶然在饭店电视上看见了令他难以置信的画面。” “他看见了……双叶。” “藤村教授仍清楚记得我的长相，所以一看到电视马上明白是怎么回事——小林志保小姐根本没拿掉孩子，当年那个复制人胎儿被生下来了。” “于是藤村就去见小林志保小姐？” “没错，藤村教授要求小林志保小姐协助实验，至于如何游说他并没有详述，但我猜他应该是语带威胁吧，好比如果你想继续守住女儿是复制人的秘密就必须与我们配合之类的。” 我愈听愈不舒服，脑中浮现藤村那副道貌岸然的嘴脸。 “但是小林小姐没答应他吧？” “是啊。”高城晶子说：“小林小姐和藤村教授说，如果你们敢动我女儿一根寒毛，我就把整个复制人计划及幕后黑手的身份公诸于世，她还把那本剪贴本拿给藤村看，她当年在当研究助理的时候便猜到幕后黑手是伊原，所以搜集了不少关于伊原小孩的新闻剪报。” “藤村把这件事告诉大道，大道认为留着她很危险，便杀了小林志保小姐灭口？” “……藤村教授是说他对小林小姐的死因一无所知。” “谁相信他的鬼话！”胁坂讲介高声骂道，但高城晶子只是沉默不语。我紧咬着唇，悲伤与愤怒在我胸口翻搅。 “我大致明白了。”胁坂讲介恢复了冷静，“妈妈，你与大道庸平见过面了吧？” “……对。” “你答应协助他？” “我只答应把你们的行踪告诉他。” “这不就是协助了吗！？而且妈妈你做的事不止这样吧？当我告诉你有氏家鞠子这号人物的时候，你立刻通知了他们，所以他们才会将目标从双叶改成更容易掌握的氏家鞠子，不是吗？” 高城晶子没答话，这么说是默认了。 “妈妈，我再问你一次，为什么？”胁坂讲介说：“为什么你要帮那些人？你从他们那边能得到什么好处？” 两人再度陷入沉默，但这次胁坂讲介似乎打算坚持到高城晶子开口为止。我开始觉得呼吸困难，身子几乎站不稳。 “我叫他……想办法处理掉。”过了许久，她淡淡地说道。 "What's the meaning?" “那两个我的分身……是没经过我的允许生下来的，我要他想办法处理掉。我和他说，是你们闯下的祸，你们必须负责收尾，这就是我的交换条件。” “想办法处理掉？妈妈，你是……”胁坂讲介顿了一下调整紊乱的呼吸，“你是要大道杀了她们？” 听到这句话，一股冰凉的寒意窜过我全身，汗水却不断涌出，我拼命忍住想放声大喊的冲动。 “我怎么可能说出那种话。”高城晶子的语调毫无抑扬顿挫，“我只是叫他们想办法把问题处理掉。我和大道说，那两个女孩继续活着迟早会引起轩然大波，到那个时候对你们来说也很棘手吧。” “但你要大道处理掉她们，不就只有杀掉一途吗？” “大道庸平说他想到了一个方法，就是让她们两人接受整形手术，只要把长相修成和我略微神似的程度应该就不会有问题了。” 我忍不住伸出左手摸了摸自己的脸颊，他们要改变我这张脸？ “我还是无法认同，她们也有她们的人权啊。” “这么做对她们比较好。” “我不这么认为。妈妈，报导真相不是你一贯的理念吗？我一直很尊敬你的处事原则，你现在要做的应该是对世人公布整起复制人计划的来龙去脉呀。” “别说傻话了，这么做世人不知道会怎么看我，何况这也会影响你的将来。” “不用在意我，而且妈妈你也是受害者，根本没必要担心啊。” “你不懂的，到这时候谁对谁错已经不重要了。复制人计划一旦在众人面前曝光，人们就会以异样的眼神看我，大家只会把我视为那两个分身的原始版本，我永远会被拿来和那两个人相提并论。一边是年轻、拥有无限可能的少女，一边是少女三十年后的模样……，使用前对照使用后……啊啊……” 传来一阵低泣。 “外人爱怎么说就随他们啊。”胁坂讲介试着安慰她，但似乎没什么效果。 “你还说得出这种话？我问你，你自己呢？当你和她或我在一起的时候，你敢保证从未拿我们两人做比较？你敢发誓完全没意识到我的年老？” 胁坂讲介沉默不语。 “一定会比较的，对吧。”她淡淡地说：“我不怪你，这很正当。我刚刚说我害怕世人的眼光，其实我最害怕的是我自己的视线，我一想到那两个少女，就没有勇气站在镜子前面。你说人都会老，是啊，没错，大家都会老，每个人都是在放弃希望与自暴自弃中逐渐习惯老去。老实说，以前我从不曾这么悲观地看待自己的年老，我知道既然三十年前有个二十岁的我，现在就会有个五十岁的我，能够活过这些岁月我反而觉得很欣慰，就连眼角的每一条皱纹对我来说都是骄傲。但现在不同了，一切的一切仿佛全化成碎片，年老这件事对我来说只是悲伤，到我临死前一定是更加惨不忍睹吧。” “人们看到年轻人，多少都会意识到自己的年华老去啊。” “我讲的是不一样的事，完全不一样，不过我想你是无法体会的，你还那么年轻，也没有人擅自制造出你的分身。三十年后当你逐渐看到未来的终点，如果这时有个男人出现在你面前，长相和现在的你完全相同，连基因也一模一样，我敢打赌你一定会非常恨那个男人，或许是出于一种嫉妒吧，如果你的地位权势允许，搞不好你也会对那个男人萌生杀意。” “妈妈，你恨她们？” “我确实非常排斥她们，我无法克制这个念头，我不想看见她们，不想承认她们的存在，这种心情是毫无道理的。” “难道你不能像疼爱女儿一样对待她们吗？” “把她们当女儿？别开玩笑了。”高城晶子的声音微颤，或许她正全身发抖，“当我从氏家先生口中得知自己有复制人分身的时候，你知道我心里做何感想吗？我只觉得恐怖，全身寒毛都竖起来了。” 我不禁退开门边，因为似乎有一股悲伤的浪潮即将从远处袭来，我心里的另一个自己正不停地发出警讯，若不赶快离开这里，我将受到一辈子无法平复的创伤。 但是房内两人的对话依然无情地钻入我的耳里。 “她们是无罪的。”胁坂讲介说：“她们只是再平凡不过的人类，妈妈你把她们说成这样，不觉得她们太可怜了吗？” “所以我说你什么都不懂啊！如果和你长得一模一样的人偶模特儿被换上服装放在玻璃橱窗里头展示，你能想象吗？” 这一瞬间，我身体里面某个东西彻底崩溃，我拉开后方的房门冲出了房间。身后似乎传来胁坂讲介的呼喊，但我只是不断地向前狂奔。