The year is 800 AD -- the reign of Tang Dynasty. In the midst of corruption and political warfare, numerous rebel groups have arisen, the biggest of which led by the exiled Crown Prince Li Jian Yu. They plot an almost-successful assassination attempt against ruthless Empress Wu. The empress, hit by a poisoned needle, becomes fatally ill and will die in seven days. Her condition is kept in secret; otherwise she will be immediately removed from power.
Chancellor Gong Zai summons an old man to Prince Li's receiving room. The man calls himself the 'Sage of Mountain Tai', the person responsible for making the poisoned needles. Xin eavesdrops on the conversation and learns about the Empress' dying condition. She also overhears that the poison, which takes 3 decades to brew, had no known antidote. She immediately recalls a similar needle hitting her on the neck during the latest clash against the House of Li and turns out that she was also poisoned. This explains her weakened state, her skin turning pale, and her hair becoming white. She, too, is dying in seven days.
But Xin is sly and ambitious. She refuses to die and will do anything to counteract the poison. Stealing a vitality potion from the Sage that will temporarily restore her strength, she fights her way out of the fortress. She also takes the Sage of Mountain Tai as hostage and keeps him in Wu Palace's underground prison for interrogation. The Sage tells her that there is indeed no antidote for the poison and the chance of death is absolute. There is only one way left. He tells her about a legendary Elixir that can completely restore a person's vitality and endow her with immortality. Xin sets out in a mission to seek the Elixir of Immortality under the guise of helping the Empress. In reality, however, she plans on using the Elixir herself to gain immortality and possibly become the Empress herself.
She uses the Key of Heaven and Earth and meets the Spirit of Immortality, the holder of the Elixir of Immortality. As Xin attempted to reach for it, however, she was driven back by a powerful force and submerged back into the water, losing consciousness. The Spirit of Immortality enters her dreams and reveals to her that the Elixir of Immortality may only be acquired by someone whose heart is filled with the Seven Virtues of Heaven, namely love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faith, and self-control. A person like Xin can never attain immortality with her sinful ways.
And so, she was magically time-warped to modern Beijing Year 2012 as a high-school student. She had nothing but a set of school uniform, a bag of school books, and the Key of Heaven and Earth. There, she meets the ill-mannered and conceited student council president named Chen Qi Feng. The lessons start.
Q: What is a HEART device? Is it the purple sphere with the letters 'VC' on it or the transplanted organ itself? - naizz from Fictionpress
Q: I wonder what happened to him (Sen) losing his eyes? Acid? Birth defect?- ladyb from Soompi Forums
He shook his head, "I don't really like talking about it."
"Was the story behind it that bad? Too scary that it still freaks you just by thinking about it?" I paused, suddenly not sure whether asking him about his HEART straightforwardly was a good idea to begin with.
"It's not because it scares me," he suddenly said in a softer voice, leaning towards me until his face was mere inches away from mine.
"It's because it will scare you."
Q: What was the purpose of that glasses? Is that how Sen could see colors?- chyne22 from Soompi Forums
Q: So Sen's HEART is 'taking other people's heart' kind of HEART? - silvernecklaces from Soompi Forums
Q: - Why did Sen say that Sue was his girlfriend? Does he like her?? And did her heart stop temporarily or for good (when Sue and Sen jumped off the VC Corp building)? - beef taco from Soompi Forums
Q: I remember that Kenta was also caught by VC, but for what purpose? - chyne22 from Soompi ForumsGoing back to Chapter 05: Sue's Classmate, the part where Kato Kenta enters the story - he was in an on-going chase running for his life. But why? Good question.
Q: I'm confused. Shouhei is part of VC but why is he with Black Sigma? Are they the same? Do they work together or something? - xxSanityx from Soompi Forums
Q: Sue first met Sen when he's with the Black Sigma, why don't she reported him to Kojima or other SAT? - lullabunny from Soompi Forums
Q: Why did Sen lie to Shouhei about why Sue was suddenly recruited into the Black Sigma? - madenloui from Fictionpress
Q: If Sen is Oshima Shiori's younger brother and his family owns the university hospital and the school, why does he have to work? - kc_chua from Soompi Forums
Q: Let me ask you Hiro, are you more of the Kosu-kun or Crosse-kun type? or let me rephrase the question (your honor), who's character in F&L 1 and 2 do you most likely see yourself? is Aya-chan the characterization of Meia? hmmm... just wondering - jia_kickass from Soompi Forums
Hey F&L and VC readers, thank you so much for the birthday greetings and e-Cards. I'm trying my best to respond to every email as much as my hand would permit me to.
A/N: Thank you for reading the latest chapter of Vena Cava. This is way overdue again and I apologize for the delay again. Aside from the faulty internet connection, I actually left for a couple of weeks to visit my mom back in Beijing. Also, I made a couple of changes in the sequence of events. The chapter is also longer now from the previous 20 pages now up to 24. This is not only to compensate for the long update interval but I decided to sprinkle a lot of clues in this chapter. If you are observant, you’ll be able to catch them.
I won’t post when my next update will be. I don’t know why it had become a jinx. Each time I announce my updates, they always get delayed (unlike in F&L). So for Vena Cava, just expect surprise updates.
I just found out today that Vena Cava had been nominated in Fictionpress for Most Creative Plot – Incomplete. The contest is called ‘Some Kind of Romance’ or simply 'SKoW' (pretty cool name for a contest, in my opinion. It reminds me of a movie someway back). Thank you to whomever that person was who nominated my story.
For any questions or inquiries, please e-mail them to me directly at hlarucea@hotmail.com. I usually open my emails via my mobile phone so I get to access it more often that FP & Soompi. If that won’t be possible, you can post here or e-mail Meia. She goes online more often that I do.
God bless you all and I hope you liked he chapter. Any criticism is welcomed, especially constructive ones. Please inform me of any spelling and/or grammar errors I might have missed. Your help would be greatly appreciated.
- Hiro
