Chapter 5 fourth quarter

On Sunday, Yanren got up and went back to his hometown in Atsugi.He was surprised to find that after only a few days, the house had become cold and quiet. Mother Kaori still looked haggard, but thanks to the company of her grandparents, her sadness was relieved. After chatting with his family in the living room for a while, Yanren walked up the stairs.There are three rooms on the second floor, and the four-and-a-half-fold small room is my father's study.Bookshelves lined three walls, and a desk stood alone in the middle of the room. As soon as he entered the room, Yanren was surrounded by his father's aura, and there was a trace of sentimentality in his heart, but it was immediately replaced by curiosity.He started looking for the "popsicle-stained book" mentioned in his father's email, and soon found it in the bottom middle of the shelf.The name of the book is: "Detailed Explanation of Chemistry (Part 1)".

What exactly is in the book?The researcher opened the cover and found that the book had been processed.A carefully cut hole in the page hides a letter folded in half. The researcher picked up the envelope and looked at it.On the envelope was written the words "received by Yan Ren", which were in my father's handwriting.Inside the envelope was a note and a bank card. The note listed the following one by one: Researcher returned to the table and opened the drawer.Sure enough, there was an A5-sized laptop inside.I took out the computer and plugged it in, but only a blue screen was displayed, and the operating system couldn't start.It seems that something is wrong.The researcher had no choice but to forcibly shut down the computer and continue reading the note.

The researcher looked at this bank card issued by a large bank in surprise.The owner of the card is "Suzuki Yoshinobu" printed on the surface of the card, and the researcher really does not know who this is. The password is Pappy's birthday. Papi is a long-haired puppy with butterfly ears raised by Yanren when he was a child.The researcher searched deep in his memory, and remembered its birthday: December 6th.Every year on this day, Yanren's family will gather around the puppy and offer it a big meal. However, if there is a huge amount of money left in this account, it should be the inheritance of the father.How should inheritance tax be paid?Did the father keep the money in consideration of the only son's tuition and living expenses?

The researcher continued to read. That's the end of the note. The last paragraph of crazy words that seemed to be persecuted by paranoia made Yan Ren frowned.The reason why the father put the note in the book that only they father and son knew was to prevent being watched.Could it be that the father not only had a problem with the aorta of the chest, but also was mentally abnormal? "what are you doing?" Suddenly someone asked from behind, Yan Ren was so startled that he almost jumped up.Looking back, mother Kaori was standing at the door. "The meal is ready, let's eat."

"Yeah." Yan answered absently, thinking quickly.Shall I tell mother about the note?But my father warned me that I must "keep it secret". "I'll go and eat after I look up some more information." Saying that, the researcher put the note into "Detailed Explanation of Chemistry (Part 1)" and quietly closed the book. Kaori didn't become suspicious, and went straight down the stairs. The researcher read the note again.We had to go to the Machida address mentioned in the fourth point, he thought.You can stop by on the way back to Kinshicho from Atsugi.It was like a weird role-playing game that he had to play.The researcher put the note and bank card in his pocket, put the "book stained with popsicles" and a small notebook computer under his arm, and went down the stairs.

In the dining room, only Yanren's breakfast was prepared.The researcher sat on the chair and asked, "Where are the grandparents?" "Going for a walk, and shopping by the way." Mother replied weakly.Her once plump face was now extremely thin. While wiggling his chopsticks, Yan asked nonchalantly, "Before father passed away, did you have any unusual behavior?" The mother didn't answer, Yanren raised his head and found that his mother was looking at him with her mouth open in surprise.The researchers suddenly realized that the reason why the mother was lost was not only because of widowhood, there should be other reasons, and this should be related to the mysterious message left by her father.

"Kento, you also found out?" Kaori asked. "Find what?" After confirming that the grandparents were not present, the mother said: "I have always had a bad feeling. Your father didn't look right for several months before he died." "It doesn't look right? Why is it wrong?" "He was so busy that he often came home late." "It's because I was busy with work." It was because he was too busy that he lost his life, Yan Ren thought, "The doctor also said that he died from overwork." "Not only that. I saw him coming home late every day, so I couldn't help but ask him what he does every night? That's what your father said..."

The mother stopped talking, and the researcher asked urgently, "What did the father say?" "He said that the child of a college friend stays behind closed doors all year round, and he is going to be a tutor for that child." Obviously a lie.Father is like this, lying is easy to see through.Since I am a university professor, there is no reason to work part-time as a tutor.There must be something wrong with my father's lies about not coming home. "By the way," Yanren remembered another strange thing, "Did my father collapse at Mitaka Station?" "Yeah, that's not right, is it?"

The researcher remembered what happened ten days ago.Hearing the news of his father's sudden collapse, the researcher ran out of the laboratory, but he was not going to his hometown in Atsugi, nor his father's work place in Tama City, but the designated emergency hospital in Mitaka City, Tokyo.It takes an hour to get there by tram from my hometown, and it is far away from my father's commuting route.According to uniformed police officers and emergency doctors who remained in the hospital, his father suffered a ruptured thoracic aneurysm while waiting on the platform of Mitaka Station, and was rushed to the hospital, where he died due to ineffective rescue.But why did my father go to Mitaka Station?The researcher felt that his father must have passed by Mitaka because of work, but...

The researcher thought of the note full of persecution delusions that he saw just now, and a trace of terror passed through his heart.Was the father murdered?He couldn't help but guess so.calm down!He said to himself, looking back on the circumstances of his father's death, there was nothing suspicious about it.After rushing to the hospital, the researcher heard the doctor's explanation.According to the CT scan image diagnosis, the cause of death was rupture of a large thoracic aneurysm.As a pharmaceutical expert, the researcher immediately judged that this could not be a symptom caused by poisoning.There is no doubt that the father died of illness.

However, Yanren couldn't forget the emails sent by his father after his death.Anticipating that he would "disappear," my father prepared the email.He didn't expect to die, but he undoubtedly expected to get into trouble. "And," the mother continued, "I wanted to thank the person who called the ambulance, but I couldn't find it. It was said to be a woman who was with my father, but that person left the station very quickly." It was the first time Yanren heard his father was with a woman at that time: "What kind of woman is it?" "A thin woman with long hair and shawl, about forty years old." Yanren gradually understood his mother's thoughts. "Mom, do you want to say..." Kaori nodded with a look of fear. "But," Yan Ren hesitated, "but would Dad do this?" It's unbelievable.A thin university professor in an old suit who lacks research funding, and a father who has accumulated grievances. When he is about to reach his sixtieth birthday, have a romantic affair?However, this scenario is more likely than the hypothesis that the father was murdered.Yanren couldn't help but feel depressed that his father died in such an unseemly way.Could it be that the role-playing game that his father entrusted him to complete was to deal with the aftermath of his unrequited love? "You think too much." Yan Ren said as lightly as possible.So far, he can only prevent his mother from being exposed to the truth. "The woman who was with my father may have just happened to be there." "I hope so." Kaori sighed softly. While taking the tram to Machida, Kento felt dizzy all the way, feeling that the world around him had suddenly changed.Before, he only regarded his parents as his parents, but he didn't realize until now that they have another special relationship: husband and wife.At this moment, in his eyes, his parents have become two ordinary people. Perhaps, the time of being a child by oneself is over, Yanren thought, although he considered himself an adult.The so-called parents will probably use their lives to teach their children the last and most important lesson, no matter whether the lesson is good or bad. Kento got off at Machida Station and walked towards the bank.He knows the streets here.Because it is only 20 minutes away from his hometown, he often went here to buy books and watch movies when he was in high school.This place is in the middle of father's commuting route, so father will choose to rent a house here to meet his lover, right? The branch of the issuing bank of that bank card is next to the boutique.When the researcher came to the ATM, he inserted the bank card whose owner was "Yoshinobu Suzuki" into the machine, entered the password "1206", and checked the balance. Sure enough, there was 5 million yen. Yanren seemed to have received a light punch.This is the late father's hidden assets, which is also known as "private money" as the saying goes.The researcher was shocked by the huge amount of money, and returned the card after confirming the balance without withdrawing a penny.Suspicion of father engaging in extramarital affairs is growing. The researcher returned to the vicinity of the station, checked the street map, and looked for an apartment building located at "1-8-3 Morikawa, Machida City".The neighborhood, he found, was lined with shops and restaurants just across the street. Through the gap between the office building and the residential building, there is a small road that diverges from the driveway.That suspicious apartment should be just down the road.The right side of this private path is a soundproof wall, and the left side is a gravel-covered parking lot fence, which separates the apartment at the end from the bustling noise outside. The researcher went deep, and finally saw the target he was looking for.He couldn't help but stop and looked at the two-story wooden building with plastered walls in front of him. The exterior walls were cracked, the window frames were crooked, and the exterior stairs were covered with rust. This can be called a relic from the Showa era, with a stale atmosphere, surrounded by weedy wasteland like a moat.It stands alone among the high-rise buildings and can almost be ignored. It looks like an antique that has survived waves of demolition.This place is very secluded, but as a love nest with a mistress, it is too eerie, like a haunted house.In fact, the perimeter of the building is virtually deserted. It takes a lot of courage to move forward, but Yanren still stepped on the weeds and entered the courtyard.Judging by the number of windows, there are three rooms on the first and second floors.The room number my father wrote on the note was "202".The researchers checked the mailboxes, but there were no residents' names on them. The researcher walked to the outer stairs of the building, looked around uneasily, and reached into the inner side of the lowest step. Tape was felt on fingertips, and it was in more than one place.He tore off the tape indiscriminately and found three keys.He felt his father's morbid defensiveness, and his impression of his father deteriorated again. Then he tiptoed up the stairs.There are three doors lined up in the corridor on the second floor.The researchers came to Room 202 in the center.There was no number plate on the door, only a shiny door lock, which should have been recently replaced.The researcher tried with three keys and finally opened the door. There is only room for one person to stand in the entrance. On the right is the stove with a gas stove, and on the left there is a door, which should be the entrance to the toilet.The researcher took off his shoes and entered the room.There was a sliding door at the end of the short corridor.Could there be a double bed with a bright linen behind the door?The researcher imagined all kinds of obscene pictures and opened the door. The room was dark, but surprisingly warm, and the faint hum of the air conditioner could be heard.Researcher fumbled for the wall, found the light switch and turned it on.Under the cold fluorescent light, Yan Ren's eyes widened.He was stunned by the sight in the room. This is by no means a room for cheating with a mistress, it is only six stacks in size, and the blackout curtains hang to completely block out the light. The room is dominated by a large dining table with all kinds of laboratory equipment, from A4-sized laptops and reagent racks that serve as bookshelves, to droppers, Erlenmeyer flasks, rotary vaporizers, and ultraviolet lamps. Everything is available.The refrigerator next to the wall is not for domestic use, but a professional equipment for the laboratory.The researchers are quite familiar with these experimental equipment, very similar to the ones in the organic synthesis laboratory. It should cost a lot of money to buy these equipment.On the floor are sleeping bags and toiletries, and it's clear that the user intends to live here for experiments. Just at this moment, there was the sound of the creature's eagerness from behind.The researcher thought that there were no other living creatures in this room except himself, so he turned around in horror.On the wall directly opposite the window is a previously undiscovered closet, and on the upper floor is a large transparent plastic box equipped with a ventilation device and an automatic feeding machine—this is a box for raising experimental animals.There are forty mice in the box, and each group of ten is divided into groups.These little mice seem to have lived in the closet of this dilapidated building until now. Unfortunately, the twenty mice in the right half of the box all looked very weak.Out of pity, the researcher wanted to save them, but he didn't work with laboratory animals, so he didn't know what to do.He found that the water in the water bottle was not enough, and wanted to get tap water to replenish, but worried whether he should use sterilized water.He was overwhelmed by all kinds of questions beyond his professional knowledge.After much deliberation, he decided to buy a bottle of mineral water at a nearby convenience store before leaving. The researcher looked around the weird laboratory again.For what purpose did father prepare such a room?By the way, wouldn't it be enough to check the experiment records?The researcher who came back to his senses found a large-format notebook used by the researcher on the table. Opening the notebook, there is an envelope inside, and there is a note in the envelope with a few lines of typed words on it. In his father's last words, words that he did not expect to die appeared again.However, this text does not clearly indicate what state "disappeared" is. This research should be done by you alone, don't tell anyone.However, if you feel that you are in danger, you can give up the research immediately. The father's persecution paranoia reappeared.The researcher couldn't help frowning, and continued to browse. A swivel chair without a back was placed in front of the experimental table, and the researcher sat on the chair, and kept the two laptops with his father's last words at hand.The body color is black and white.He starts off with an A4-sized white notebook.Although he knew that his black laptop would not start, he tried to turn it on.This black computer should contain my father's private documents and e-mails, the researcher thought to himself.He still doesn't know who the woman was next to his father when he fell to the ground at Mitaka Station, so the possibility of his father's cheating cannot be completely ruled out yet. While waiting for the two computers to start up, the researcher continued to read the note. Yanren couldn't help groaning, his father's request was too outrageous.Because it involved non-professional knowledge, he read it several times to confirm that he did not misunderstand. Based on his father's instructions, he roughly understood the task.There are many kinds of proteins called "receptors" on the surface of cells.There are depressions on the receptors, where specific ligands are embedded and combined with the receptors, and the cells begin the indispensable operations of life activities.The reason why ligands such as male hormones and female hormones have the effects of health and beauty is that various hormones bind to hormone receptors to activate cells and trigger a series of biochemical reactions. As the name suggests, the function of the "orphan receptor" and the ligand that binds to it are currently unknown, and what his father asked him to make was a substance that activates the orphan receptor. However, "targeted GPCRs", G protein-coupled receptors, are long, string-like proteins containing a transmembrane domain composed of seven It's hard to pinpoint, and making ligands that bind to it is impossible. To accomplish this task, it is necessary to gather excellent researchers from large research institutions such as pharmaceutical companies, and it will take at least ten years and tens of billions of yen.Even so, there are still many difficulties and the future is unpredictable.For such a huge project to be given to a second-year graduate student, it would be impossible for him to spend 5 million yen to complete it within a month. Why does father have such confidence?Clues can only be found in the experimental records left by his father, but that is too far from the researcher's professional field. The experimental record is only four short pages.The "Research Purpose" at the beginning reads: Design and synthesize agonists of variant GPR769. It turned out that "variant GPR769" was the name of the orphan receptor being targeted.The so-called agonists are drugs that bind to receptors and activate cells, in other words, they are artificial ligands.But that's all the researchers know.Next is the "sequence of research": Stereostructure Analysis of Variant GPR769 Computer Aided Design and Drafting synthesis In vitro binding assays In vivo activity evaluation Except for synthesis, the other four items required expertise in other fields. The researcher could not judge whether such a research sequence was appropriate, but he felt that his father seemed to underestimate the pharmaceutical industry.Adjusting the structure of synthetic drugs to make them optimal, and then conducting human clinical trials, these important, time-consuming and labor-intensive links have been omitted. At this time, the researchers suddenly thought of a question: Is the "variant GPR769" a receptor for human cells, or for other organisms?Since it is a "variant", the gene responsible for encoding must have been mutated.How does this mutation change the organism that holds the receptor?If the receptor belongs to another organism, it would make sense not to conduct clinical trials. It seems that the two computers my father left for me can't be used immediately.The white laptop that his father let him use is installed with a Linux system, which is not familiar to organic synthesis researchers, and another small computer still cannot be started. To carry on his father's legacy, it is necessary to draw on the wisdom of others, which would violate the instruction that "this research can only be carried out by you alone." The researcher then read the instructions on the note.There is one last item left. This note was originally his father's suicide note, but there was a clear atmosphere between the lines.Yanren smiled along with the father in the article, thinking about the sentence "has not returned for a long time".The father is not only unable to come back for a long time, in fact he will never come back.In other words, the researcher will definitely meet that American.But who is this American?How can a father who is not good at English conversation have American friends? As a result, instead of solving the mystery, the mystery became more and more confusing.The only thing that is certain is that the father hopes to create a substance that can bind to the "mutant GPR769".For researchers, only after determining whether the research is possible can they decide what to do in the future. Yanren got up and put on his down jacket.When he was about to close the experimental record, he found a line of English written in the margin of the page.The research content is carefully written with a ballpoint pen, but this line of English is written sloppily with a pencil with a very light ink. It seems to have heard of it somewhere. The Heisman Report—— The face of the newspaper reporter came to his mind.