Da Gan lay quietly on the pet bed, his body wrapped in clean bandages. The heart rate monitor beside the bed beeped out a steady curve. ‘He’s saved… Should be fine, right?’ Bai Fan was still uneasy.
“The inspection report for your dog is out.” Nurse Xiao Xu pushed the door open and entered.
Bai Fan quickly stood up from the chair and nodded at her. Her movements were a bit hasty; her knee almost hit the bed edge.
“Don’t worry,” Nurse Xiao Xu smiled. “Your dog is out of danger. Just let him rest here.”
She looked down at the inspection report in her hand, her tone carrying a hint of emotion. “Honestly, when I saw you rushing in with him just now, looking at his injuries, I thought he wouldn’t make it. But after the examination, it turns out there were several severe wounds, but each one precisely avoided vital spots. Really lucky.”
Bai Fan listened, clasped her hands in front of her somewhat nervously, and said in a low voice, “Thank you. Sorry for the trouble.”
Nurse Xiao Xu smiled, like someone used to life and death finally encountering a happy ending. “It’s no trouble for me, it’s all part of the job. But those bosses up there are probably going to have a headache tonight.”
‘Bosses?’ In Bai Fan’s mind, the image of the young man draped in a black cloak appeared. He didn’t look much older than her, but he was the one who truly made decisions here. Although his tone was a bit cold, he didn’t make things difficult for her. When everyone was driving her away, he stepped forward and kept her here. ‘Maybe… he’s a good person after all.’
Nurse Xiao Xu’s figure disappeared at the end of the corridor, and the door gently closed. Bai Fan let out a long breath, and weakly slid down against the wall to sit on the floor. During the time she waited for Da Gan’s examination, her nerves had been taut like a drawn bowstring. She was afraid someone would push open the door and tell her the worst news with an apologetic expression. Now the string had loosened. The exhaustion in her heart surged up like a tide, drowning her completely.
Da Gan slept peacefully. He lay on his side on the bed, his belly rising and falling with his breath, his tail resting quietly by the bed. He really seemed fine. Bai Fan looked at him and whispered in her heart, ‘Thank you.’ ‘This was said to “Sister.” It was “Sister” who came out just now, possessed her, and saved Da Gan’s life.’ At the moment she confirmed Da Gan was safe, all the resentment and grievances in her heart suddenly dissipated.
“Oh, right—” The door was suddenly pushed open again. Nurse Xiao Xu came back, half her body leaning into the doorframe. Bai Fan jolted and instinctively tried to stand up from the floor.
“You should change your clothes too. Better get a check-up while you’re at it.”
“Ah? Is that so?” Bai Fan looked down. Her coat and inner clothes were stained with large patches of blood, much of it already coagulated into a dark brown. Although most of the blood wasn’t hers, in the eyes of others, she probably looked no different from a survivor who had just crawled out of a murder scene. No wonder when she burst in earlier, all the hospital security guards were on high alert. She nodded sheepishly, the tips of her ears turning red. “Excuse me… where can I change clothes?”
Nurse Xiao Xu handed her a neatly folded set of hospital pajamas, blue and white striped, the fabric a bit rough but clean. She also pointed Bai Fan in the direction of the changing room. “After you change, remember to come to the nurse’s station. I’ll arrange a check-up for you.”
Bai Fan hugged the hospital pajamas, her expression stiff as she nodded. ‘Have to change clothes again?’
Fifteen minutes later, she stood in front of the mirror in the changing room. The clothes were a bit big on her. The sleeves were loose, the pant legs too long, as if she had been stuffed into an ill-fitting suit. She lifted her gaze and looked at the person in the mirror. A few strands of snow-white hair hung messily over her forehead, covering half an eyebrow. The hospital pajamas were too large, making her shoulders look narrow, as if she would collapse at a gust of wind. Her face was overly pale under the fluorescent lights, almost bloodless, her lips a pale pinkish white. ‘So frail, so pitiful.’
She looked at the girl in the mirror and suddenly felt a sense of strangeness. ‘Who is this? Is this me?’ She stared at the blue eyes in the mirror, and those eyes stared back, like two strangers sizing each other up through glass. The former Bai Fan was someone who crouched beside Skeleton Beast corpses, hands covered in blood, biting the back of a knife to pull out a blade stuck in the bones. ‘Not like this. This appearance… Who’s she trying to gain sympathy from? How ugly.’
She shook her head, throwing those messy thoughts out of her mind. ‘Time to get the check-up.’ She turned and pushed open the changing room door. The smell of disinfectant in the corridor hit her. After taking two steps, she suddenly stopped. ‘Haven’t thanked that person yet.’ That young man, when she couldn’t afford a single credit and was feeling distressed, came over and helped her collateralize the bill. His departure back then was too abrupt; his figure disappeared in a flash at the end of the corridor. She didn’t even have time to say those two words.
Bai Fan stood in the middle of the corridor, looking left and right, wanting to ask someone where his room was. Her gaze swept across the signs on the doors of the wards. Before she could lock onto a target, a sudden palpitation surged in her heart. The Bright Spirit Jade was vibrating, as if something had stimulated it. She instinctively looked up, her gaze passing over the nurses and hospital beds coming and going in the corridor, and landed on the door of the largest ward at the end of the central floor.
“Doctor… can you save my child…” That voice came from inside the ward, cautious. “She’s only seven years old.”
Bai Fan’s footsteps froze in place. She stood in the corridor, looking through the glass window on the ward door, and saw a woman’s back. She wore a faded cotton shirt, her stray hair stuck to her neck with sweat, her hand tightly clutching the doctor’s white coat. The doctor was Director Zhang. He looked down at the woman, then raised his eyes to look at the small figure on the bed. His lips moved, but no sound came out.
Bai Fan’s gaze passed over the woman’s thin shoulders and landed on the hospital bed. It was a little girl, seemingly under ten, tightly secured to the bed frame with restraints. She was as thin as a dried-up branch, as if she would snap at the slightest touch. Bai Fan’s heart suddenly clenched. She saw the little girl’s eyes, bloodshot and pupils dilated. ‘Just like the monster that attacked her earlier.’ Sure enough, the moment the mother turned around to beg the doctor, the little girl’s unfocused eyes suddenly sharpened. A kind of hungry desire seemed to seep out from within.
“Yiyi, don’t be afraid. The doctor is here, and Mommy is here too—” The woman, completely unaware, turned around and reached out to touch her daughter’s forehead. The little girl’s nose twitched. She moved.
bang! The bed frame let out a sharp metallic screech, and the restraints snapped taut. That emaciated body instantly exploded with a terrifying strength completely uncharacteristic of a seven-year-old. Bai Fan felt a chill run through her. ‘That hungry expression is exactly the same as the monster that lunged at her just now.’
The restraints snapped. The little girl bit toward her mother’s wrist, her mouth opening to an abnormal angle. The woman froze. She didn’t even have time to retract her hand; it just stiffened in midair.
“Watch out!” Director Zhang yanked the woman back, then used his other hand to firmly press down on the little girl’s shoulder, using his full weight to pin her back onto the bed.
“Kaa—” The little girl opened her mouth and snapped wildly at the air.
Director Zhang shouted, “Someone come!”
Two orderlies rushed in from the door, one holding down her shoulders, the other pressing on her legs. “Hold her down tight!”
The little girl writhed violently beneath them, veins bulging on her thin arms.
“Yiyi! Yiyi!” The woman was also frightened, calling out anxiously.
The Bright Spirit Jade on Bai Fan’s chest suddenly burned.
“Serum! Get the new serum over here!” Director Zhang shouted outward while pressing down on the girl. A nurse ran in with a tray, carrying several injections on the metal tray—anti-Blood Plague serum urgently transferred from neighboring Xiang City. Although it hadn’t been tested and no one knew if it would work, no one could afford to care about that now. The doctor’s hands were trembling. Gritting his teeth, he inserted the needle into the nearly invisible vein on the little girl’s arm and pushed the plunger all the way down.
Everyone in the ward held their breath. The little girl’s struggles seemed to weaken slightly. The fierceness in her eyes gradually faded, revealing a pair of confused eyes. She blinked again and again, as if trying to recognize who the disheveled, tear-streaked woman in front of her was. The woman tentatively reached out her hand. “Yiyi?”
The little girl slightly opened her cracked lips. It seemed something was pressing on her throat. The sound she made was extremely weak, but the shape of that syllable was too familiar; everyone present recognized it. “Mom.”
The doctor released his grip and let out a long sigh. The two orderlies also relaxed their shoulders and wiped the sweat from their foreheads with their sleeves. ‘It seems… the serum worked. It’s fine now.’
Suddenly, “Eyah!” The little girl’s body began to convulse violently. Dark red patterns spread from her neck, climbing up her cheeks. The color drained from the doctor’s face almost instantly. “It’s… useless. This is a Blood Plague variant. This batch of serum can’t handle it.”
Bai Fan stood outside the door and saw Director Zhang’s exhausted face, his eyes beginning to redden. The woman stood in place, her hands still in the reaching-out pose, as if frozen. “Doctor… my daughter…” “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”
The woman didn’t cry. She turned around and faced the disfigured little body on the bed. The orderlies had already replaced the restraints with thicker ones, securing the girl back onto the bed frame. The little girl convulsed violently, emitting garbled roars from her throat. The woman crouched down. She gently patted her daughter’s back. “Mom is here,” her tone was as normal as if she were just comforting a daughter awakened by a nightmare in the middle of the night. “Yiyi, Mommy is here. Don’t be afraid.”
The little girl’s body twitched violently under the restraints. “You’re in a lot of pain right now, aren’t you? If it can make Yiyi feel better…” The woman reached out her hand, wanting to touch her daughter’s face. The little girl abruptly turned her head and bit down on her mother’s hand. The doctor and orderlies were alarmed. Someone wanted to pull her away, but seeing the girl’s twisted face, they hesitated. The woman didn’t pull her hand back. “Yiyi, it’s okay,” she crouched there, continuing to pat her daughter’s back with her other hand. “It’s okay.”
Blood dripped down through her fingers.
Bai Fan stood outside the door, her nails digging into her palms. A voice in her heart shouted. ‘You can. You can purify it. You can save that girl. You can let a mother hold her child again.’ But she stood there, motionless. A colder voice in her mind asked her. ‘After exposing your abilities, then what? There’s something hidden in the dark corners of this city. She’s seen it with her own eyes tonight. If she exposes herself, will she become the next target? And the Public Security Bureau. Those uniformed people are right now in this hospital, maintaining the blockade order. Her past dealings, wandering the black market and the gray areas—will they all be dug up because of this exposure? If you trust others and give your heart, will you definitely be rewarded? She’s suffered losses so many times. The day she was sacrificed by Master Mo, lying on the cold ground watching her own blood rise past her knees, did anyone come to help her then? She struggled alone in the underground black market for so many years. Did anyone come to help her then? This woman… obviously has nothing to do with her. Just a stranger she happened to run into at this hospital tonight. She doesn’t even know her name, hasn’t even said a word to her. So—’
“Hey! What are you doing?” The nurse’s startled cry yanked Bai Fan’s consciousness back abruptly. When she came to, she found herself already standing inside the ward. ‘What am I doing?’ At some point, her legs had already stepped through that door, passed through the orderlies’ blockade, and arrived at the bedside. Her palm was pressed against the girl’s forehead. A pure light bloomed from her palm, enveloping the little girl’s face covered in dark red patterns.
At the same time, she saw the doorway out of the corner of her eye. That young man in the black cloak happened to walk into the ward as well. He raised one eyebrow. A surprised expression appeared on his cold face, as if he had seen something not written in the script.
Bai Fan’s heart sank half an inch. ‘It’s over.’ She cursed herself internally. ‘Her body was still faster than her mind. She just couldn’t help it.’
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