Chapter 4: Disappearance

I understand, Dad. Please take care of your health and don't overwork yourself. Remember to take your medication; your heart isn't in good condition... Wait a moment, Yuanyuan wants to talk to you.

Keppler is a four-star hotel located in the heart of the renowned Champs-Élysées, in the prestigious 16th arrondissement of Paris. Professor Liang is staying in a standard room that costs up to 290 euros per night, which was reserved by the organizers of this seminar, and the window offers a view of the famous Eiffel Tower

No problem, the captain has already arranged everything, he is waiting for us at the dock, the doctor nodded and said

After relaxing, the professor took a few changes of clothes and went to the bathroom to prepare for a shower

Well, I know. Make sure she takes her medicine on time. I will return to Beijing the day after tomorrow in the morning

The masked figure leaped into the room, unfastened the padlock on their body, and threw it out the window. They then closed the window and quietly approached the bathroom door, listening intently to the sounds within, where the sound of running water could be heard.

After hanging up the phone, the assistant returned to the bathroom, carried the professor back to the bedroom, and placed him on the bed. When he returned to the bathroom again to retrieve the professor's clothes, a masked figure silently appeared behind him. With a faint sound of a gunshot, the assistant fell into the bathtub.

After hanging up the phone, the professor felt much happier, shaking off the fatigue that had enveloped him. He thought for a moment, then opened his notebook, revealing a family portrait on the desktop. The professor reached out and gently touched the little face of his granddaughter on the screen, smiling with happiness. He then began to organize his materials, writing down his reflections and insights from the day's discussions.

"Wait a moment, I am not hungry yet." Dismissing the assistant, Professor Liang leaned back on the sofa and closed his eyes to rest.

The masked figure took out a thin, flexible tube and slowly inserted it under the door. Gripping the rear end of the tube's propeller, he gently applied pressure, and a faint wisp of blue smoke gradually wafted into the bathroom. After a moment, the bathroom fell into a slow silence. The masked figure gently opened the bathroom door, revealing Professor Liang reclining in the bathtub, already in a state of unconsciousness

The professor had not been in the bathroom for long when the window of the bedroom was gently opened, and a masked figure, who had been lurking for a long time, silently leaped into the room

... ...

The masked man calmly put away the silenced pistol, removed his tight-fitting outfit, revealing a suit identical to that worn by his assistant. He took off the mask, revealing a handsome Oriental face, discarded the removed clothes and veil into the bathroom, closed the door, and turned back to the front door. ... At that moment, the urgent sound of an ambulance siren rang out from outside ...

After speaking, the masked person arrived at the door, unlocked it, and left it ajar. They picked up the phone beside them, dialed the number for Professor Liang's assistant's room, heard the connection tone from the receiver, quickly hung up the phone, and turned to dive into the wardrobe

The assistant lit a cigarette and said, "Manage the dosage well, don't kill this old man, otherwise the captain will chop you up. It seems he values the life and death of this Chinese man very much"

Listening to the distant yet approaching sound of the ambulance siren, the disguised assistant revealed a faint cold smile

"Dad, Mom is fine; high blood pressure is not a serious illness, so there is no need to worry," Xiaoyu replied

In Paris, France, Professor Liang Jianguo has just attended the International Neuroscience Conference. As one of the foremost brain specialists in China and indeed the world, Professor Liang's presentation titled "The Practical Possibility of Whole Brain Transplantation" has garnered significant attention. The human brain, the most mysterious organ in the body and the central hub of the nervous system, is undoubtedly fragile. The challenges of performing artificial transplantation are immense, and the rejection reactions that may occur post-transplantation represent a substantial dilemma in the history of science. Based on years of experience, Professor Liang has reached this conclusion through an analysis of the nervous system and extensive experimental work in which he has participated.

Half an hour later, Professor Liang closed his notebook, stood up, stretched his muscles and bones, and walked to the window to admire the night view of Paris

"Alright, sir, please remain calm, I will contact the hospital immediately," came the elegant voice of the hotel receptionist.

Rest assured, I am well aware that these medications will maintain his coma for 24 hours. I will administer them regularly, and I will take good care of him until we reach our destination

A moment later, a knock sounded at the door. "Teacher, did you call for me?" There was no response from inside. The assistant, seeing the door slightly ajar, hesitated for a moment before gently pushing it open. Peering inside, he did not see the professor, so he entered the room intending to check around. Before long, the assistant rushed out of the bathroom in a panic, picked up the phone, and said, "Hello, is this the front desk? Please call an ambulance immediately. Professor Liang Jianguo in room 302 is having a heart attack."

Returning to the room, the assistant placed the professor's dedicated laptop down, then gently handed him a cup of water and asked, "Professor, shall we prepare dinner now?"

For a moment, Professor Liang picked up the phone beside him and dialed the number of his home in the country: "Xiao Yu, it's Dad. How is your mother's health? Is she still feeling dizzy?"

After a day of seminars and technical exchanges, having declined all social engagements, Professor Liang returned to the hotel close to 9 PM. Feeling somewhat fatigued, at seventy years old, his physical strength and energy were far from what they used to be. "Sigh... I really am getting old!" Professor Liang muttered to himself

An hour later, the ambulance drove out of the city, lifting the professor into the container of a truck, followed by the paramedic and the doctor. The driver entered the cab, and the vehicle immediately started and drove into the vast night.

In the experiment, Professor Liang used monkeys as substitutes for humans as test subjects. In the first trial, the monkeys survived only for ten days. After further research and analysis, Professor Liang conducted a second trial, this time using chimpanzees as subjects. This decision was based on the fact that the genetic organization between chimpanzees and humans is 99.4% similar, with most of the sortable regions of the genome being almost indistinguishable from those of humans. In this trial, the brain tissues of two chimpanzees were exchanged. Post-surgery, one of them died on the fifteenth day, while the second survived for a full two months, ultimately succumbing to excessive rejection reactions. Therefore, in today's continuously advancing science, the issue of human brain tissue transplantation is expected to be fully realized in the near future. By utilizing gene-engineered drugs to avoid rejection reactions, the negative impacts of these reactions can be minimized, and it is even possible that one day in the future, complete avoidance may be achievable. The only existing bottleneck is not a technical issue, but rather the inability to conduct human trials. From a moral perspective, this is intolerable and constitutes a violation of human ethical standards.

The fake assistant on the ambulance took off his suit and changed into a different outfit, then said to the doctor who was administering an injection to the professor: "Are you all ready?"

The masked individual turned around, located the professor's laptop, retrieved the tools, removed the hard drive and placed it in their pocket, restored the laptop to its original state, and took out a miniature intercom: "Call the truck, I have safely infiltrated, obtained the goods, mission accomplished, please prepare for extraction"

The truck has arrived, everything is proceeding as planned, and the goods will be received in ten minutes