Chapter 3: Equino's Plight For Jin Chen
Jin Lin spent at most eight hours in police custody. The officers were kind enough to let him sit in the common area rather than in remand with criminals that had committed severe crimes. He was but a teenager after all and had never had any runnings with the law before.
When the police officers in the precinct heard the full story of how this obedient child landed in trouble, they couldn't help but sympathize. Especially the auntie at the reception desk who bought Jin Lin a bowl of noodles and cola while advising him in the process.
All the formalities were finalized within an hour of reaching the precinct and the captain agreed to let him go but because he was still underage, they couldn't let him go unless a guardian signed for him. Since his mother asked him not to call her, he gave the officer his father's number.
He would have given them his auntie's number but the woman was a caretaker at an orphanage and calling her at this hour meant she would have to look for an adult to watch the kids. With that in mind, he was left with no choice but to give the officer his father's number. To be honest, he didn't expect the man to pick up but what else could he do?
This was the kind of situation that would prompt him to call his elder brother. No matter how busy he was, he would drop everything and rescue him. With that line of thought, Jin Lin felt his eyes sting as a twisting pain arose in his chest. He took off his school jacket and covered his face to conceal the tears that were flowing out on their own.
The reception auntie came back to see such a pitiful scene. Feeling sympathetic, she covered him with a blanket assuming he had fallen asleep. Her eldest was eighteen and she couldn't imagine her son going through such grief with no support from his family let alone this fifteen-year-old boy.
Jin Lin fell asleep like this and only woke up when his father Hua Ji showed up seven hours later. Hua Ji sincerely apologized to the officers with the reception auntie scolding him to death. It was only after signing all the necessary documents did he finally wake Jin Lin up and took him to the car.
The boy's face was partially swollen from all the crying making Hua Ji's heart ache but he had no right to criticize Jin Lin's mother as he was another big contributor to this boy's suffering. An accurate description of Hua Ji would be a starving artist with no prospects. He could barely support himself let alone a child. His circumstances left him with no choice but to avoid Jin Lin like the plague.
When he was younger, Jin Lin used to come over to his place everytime his mother kicked him out. That is until Jin Chen grew up enough to defend his younger brother. This was the day Hua Ji stopped being a father and reduced to a substitute. Now that person was gone he didn't know how to comfort Jin Lin.
The car was eerily silent with Jin Lin leaning his head against the window staring blankly at the empty streets. Seeing that the boy didn't feel like talking Hua Ji drove in silence to a street stall near the hospital and the two sat down to have a bowl of noodles.
It was only halfway through their meal did Jin Lin finally speak. He bit his lower lip in a futile effort to stop his tears from flowing down again. Once he was certain he could speak without crying he said, "Wha-what do I do now?"
Jin Lin knew how pointless it was asking his father but he had no one else to talk to.
Sure enough, Hua Ji had nothing helpful to say. He took a sip of beer and said, "I am the last person you should ask. I am so useless that my only son can't even carry my surname... Just, just do your very best for him. He took care of you now it's time you take care of him."
If Hua Ji found out in the future that those drunken words he casually said would be the driving factor for Jin Lin he would award himself for doing one thing right.
By the time Jin Lin strode back to the hospital, he found three men and a woman dressed in formalwear in his elder brother's room. They were holding documents with the company logo of Equino while explaining something to his mother like sales personnel in a retail store. Except, in this case it seemed it was already a done deal. The name Equino wasn't new to him as just yesterday he had heard about this very same gaming company on the news. But what link did a gaming company have with his brother? Vexed, Jin Lin wanted to say something but his mother shot him a glare that spoke volumes.
The old Jin Lin would remain tight-lipped and not question her but things had changed. His brother's accident broke the barrier between obedience and rebellion. As his father mentioned earlier, his older brother always stood up for him and it was time he stood up for his brother.
"Who are you and what use do you have for my brother?" he asked in a domineering tone that had the adults in the room frowning with discontent but none had a face as ugly as Mama Jin.
She tightly clenched her jaw till it was making a clicking sound. The level of oppressive pressure coming from her was suffocating but that didn't stop him from asking questions. "What does a gaming company want with my brother?"
The team leader felt the tension in the room was rising to unbearable heights. He had to do something otherwise this entire fourth floor of the hospital will experience the full might of a seismic explosion.
He loudly cleared his throat and explained, "Your, your brother has a ten per cent chance to wake up from his coma but Equino is offering him a second life in the virtual reality game instead of spending years lying on this bed." But the more he spoke the deeper the crease of Jin Lin's brow.
This made no sense. Yes, he had heard the words new life and second life mentioned in the company's ad campaign but what does that have to do with his brother?
"Stop wasting time with him," said Jin Lin's mother dissatisfied with her son. She seemed to have a mindset that Jin Chen was her son so no one else's opinion mattered. "Where should I sign?"
No matter how authentic this company was nor how much they explained, Jin Lin couldn't believe it. He felt an extreme gut feeling that something was wrong so he retaliated by sabotaging his mother's plans.
This moment was when all hell broke loose severing a mother and son relationship that was already hanging by a thread. The protest Jin Lin put up in that hospital room earned him a second trip to the police station. The only difference was that this time it was his mother filing charges against him shocking the entire precinct.
Rendered powerless, Jin Lin could only cry while apologizing to his brother. This heart-wrenching scene of a skinny boy curled up in a corner murmuring, "I am sorry, I am so sorry," accompanied by shallow cries became his nightmare and motivation for the next five years.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone