Chapter 17: You Got Your Hands on Her That Fast?

Lin Xincheng looked at the figure lying on the hospital bed.

A few strands of snow-white hair clung to her cheek. She slept quietly, as if she didn’t want to disturb anyone.

Bai Fan.

He silently recited the name, as if confirming something.

Xiao Fan.

Was it such a coincidence? This girl… just happened to share the same name?

Or—

The hospital door suddenly swung open.

“Senior Brother, I’m back!” The voice barged in before she did.

Ruan Mingxi walked into the ward carrying some things.

“Why weren’t you at Central Hall? I looked everywhere for you.” The next second, she saw the girl on the bed, and her voice stopped abruptly.

Ruan Mingxi covered her mouth, her eyes slowly widening.

Such a beautiful girl.

Who was she? Why was she lying here? Why was Senior Brother watching over her?

“Senior Brother,” she squinted, her tone gradually becoming meaningful. “Who is she?”

Lin Xincheng was silent for a moment.

But that brief silence was already enough for Ruan Mingxi to conjure up over a hundred thousand words of love and vengeance in her mind.

Her eyes darted, and the corners of her mouth slowly lifted.

“Well, well, Senior Brother,” she pointed at the girl on the bed. “I leave for just a little while, and you—”

She deliberately drew out her final syllable.

“Got your hands on her? A girl this pretty, you sure work fast.”

Smack. A precise flick landed on her forehead.

“Ow!” Ruan Mingxi covered her forehead.

Lin Xincheng retracted his hand expressionlessly.

“If you put half the effort you put into being nosy into your cultivation, you’d already be at Sublimation Second Tier by now.”

“So violent.” Ruan Mingxi glared at him pitifully. “When I get back, I’m definitely going to complain to Teacher Gu Chen that you’re bullying me.”

“He’ll probably thank me,” Lin Xincheng said calmly. “Thank me for educating you in his stead.”

“Hmph.” Ruan Mingxi raised her chin. “Now I get it. I finally understand why you have a face like that, yet no girl has ever liked you.”

Lin Xincheng stared at her darkly.

“You came here to report your investigation progress to me, didn’t you?”

“Alright, alright, I’ll stop teasing Senior Brother.”

She put away her playful expression and said, “Getting down to business. The Blood Plague patients we can trace are mainly concentrated in Lincheng’s East District.”

“East District?” Lin Xincheng flipped through the map in his mind. “Who’s in control over there?”

“The Thirteen Opens Gang,” Ruan Mingxi said. “The boss is Mo Liang. People on the street call him Master Mo. He’s almost seventy this year.”

Lin Xincheng nodded.

“I’ll go over there tomorrow and bring someone in for questioning.”

Ruan Mingxi shook her head. “No can do. Master Mo went missing the day before yesterday.”

“Missing?”

“Mm.” She nodded. “The specific reason hasn’t been found yet. He just vanished. Now the gang’s Second Leader, Yang Ba, has taken over.”

Lin Xincheng frowned slightly. Things seemed a little more complicated than he’d imagined.

“What about Yang Ba?”

“Still looking into him.”

“Mm.”

The ward fell quiet again. A vague murmur came from the bed.

Both of them turned at the same time. Ruan Mingxi’s eyes lit up, and she immediately leaned in.

Bai Fan slowly opened her eyes. Her vision was still a little blurry when she saw a pretty face practically pressed up against hers.

“Huh?” Bai Fan was momentarily stunned.

Before she could speak, the other person had already broken into a brilliant smile.

“Little sister, you’re finally awake. It’s the year 1500 of the New Era Calendar. You’ve been asleep in a cryo-pod for a thousand years.”

“According to Federation law, you need to pay a storage management fee of thirty million Credits. Cash or electronic payment?”

Bai Fan was stunned. Her mind went blank for two seconds.

“Ah?”

“Of course, you can also find someone else to pay for you,” Ruan Mingxi continued.

Bai Fan was completely bewildered.

“Wait… hold on, what did you say?”

Seeing that she was genuinely scared, Ruan Mingxi finally couldn’t hold back her laughter.

“Just kidding! How are you feeling?”

Only then did Bai Fan belatedly react.

“Who are you?”

Lin Xincheng’s voice came from the side.

“Ruan Mingxi, a member of the Temporary Execution Team. She has a lively personality and likes to joke around. You don’t need to take her too seriously.”

“Senior Brother, introducing me like that really hurts my feelings.” Ruan Mingxi protested, then immediately leaned in close to Bai Fan again.

Her wine-red hair fell down as she lowered her voice and asked mysteriously, “Can you tell me, what’s your relationship with my Senior Brother?

This is the first time I’ve seen him stand guard at someone’s bedside, and with such a tender gaze, softly calling your name—”

“Stop making things up.”

Smack. Another flick landed.

“Dammit!” Ruan Mingxi covered her forehead. “The more you flick me, the more it proves you’re guilty.”

Bai Fan stared blankly at the two of them.

The girl with wine-red hair was obviously crying out in pain, but the smile on her face never faded.

The young man seemed cold on the surface, but he always held back when striking.

Their interactions were as natural as breathing. People who could tease each other like this must have a very close relationship.

“Miss Bai Fan.” Lin Xincheng’s voice suddenly turned serious.

The atmosphere in the ward shifted. The casual, relaxed tone from moments ago seemed to recede like a retreating tide.

“I have three very important questions I’d like to confirm with you.”

Bai Fan was startled.

“Please, go ahead.”

“First question,” Lin Xincheng looked at her. “Before you came here to ask for help, were you attacked by a Bloodthirsty Monster?”

Bai Fan nodded.

“Yes.”

She hesitated. “What exactly are those monsters?”

“Blood Slaves,” Lin Xincheng said calmly. “They were originally ordinary humans who were infected by some rogue Blood Descendants and turned into what they are now.”

Blood Descendants? Bai Fan silently memorized this unfamiliar term.

Lin Xincheng took a photo from his pocket.

The man in the photo wore a safety helmet, his temples slightly gray, smiling at the camera.

“Take a look. Is this the person?”

The moment she saw the photo, Bai Fan’s mind jolted.

She recognized him. The truck driver who had nearly run her over yesterday.

So… it wasn’t an accident? She suddenly remembered that ashen face, those hollow eyes, and that truck charging toward her as if out of control.

Why him? And why target her specifically?

“It’s him.” Bai Fan said in a low voice.

Lin Xincheng nodded and put the photo away.

“Second question, who is the senior who guided your Awakening? Which association do they belong to?”

Bai Fan was stunned.

Guide? Did that spirit body that called itself her older sister count? And what association was that?

She didn’t understand any of it, and the bewilderment on her face was impossible to hide.

Lin Xincheng glanced at her, seemingly having already gotten his answer.

“It seems you Awakened on your own and haven’t registered with the Astronomical Society yet.”

With that, he fell silent for a moment, then slowly took a breath.

“Third question,” he looked up, his gaze landing on Bai Fan’s face. “Do you know a boy who shares the exact same name as you? His name is also Bai Fan.”

Bai Fan froze instantly. It felt like her heart had skipped a beat.

Was he looking for me? Or was it another person with the same name? But… she had no memory of anyone like that existing.

No, she suddenly realized that a part of her memory seemed to be missing.

There were things that should clearly exist, but no matter how hard she tried to recall, it was like looking through a layer of fog—blurry and distant.

Her mind was in chaos, but her mouth had already answered.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t know any boy with the same name.”

As soon as the words left her mouth, Bai Fan’s heart sank slightly.

She was lying. But even she couldn’t explain why she was lying.

The ward grew quiet. Lin Xincheng gazed at her silently.

Time ticked by, and Bai Fan’s heartbeat grew faster and faster. She suddenly felt she had done something terrible, but it seemed too late to change her answer now.

How was she supposed to explain? Say she didn’t know why she had changed from a boy into a girl? Say there was a spirit body living inside her that called itself her older sister?

Say there was a part of her memory she simply couldn’t recall? How could she make others believe something even she couldn’t understand?

Finally, Lin Xincheng let out a soft sigh.

“I’m sorry for disturbing you.”

His voice returned to its usual calm.

“I asked some unnecessary questions.”

With that, he stood up.

“Since you’re fine now, get some rest. Mingxi, let’s go.”

The ward door gently closed, and silence returned.

Bai Fan lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. She didn’t know why, but she suddenly felt an emptiness in her heart.

“Little sister.” White specks of light flickered in the air as the snow-haired girl materialized again, lazily floating in midair.

“Got something on your mind? Want to talk to your big sister about it?”

Bai Fan looked at her. This time, she wasn’t startled by the sudden appearance.

“Why did you only show up now?”

“I was sleepy. Took a longer nap.”

“Aren’t you a Spirit Body? Do Spirit Bodies need to sleep?”

“Who told you Spirit Bodies don’t need to sleep?” The snow-haired girl rolled her eyes. “Recovering energy takes time too.”

Bai Fan looked at her skeptically. Even now, she couldn’t determine just how many things this so-called older sister was hiding from her.

But for now, she was more concerned about something else.

“I want to know why that Blood Slave was targeting me. Was it a coincidence?”

The snow-haired girl floated in front of her.

“Isn’t your chest still aching? When the Erosion Mark acts up, you can’t be completely unaware of it, can you?”

Bai Fan instinctively touched her chest.

Under normal circumstances, the Trinity Mark would conceal itself. But when it flared up, it would reappear accompanied by a sharp, needle-like pain.

“Because of this… will those monsters keep coming for me from now on?”

The snow-haired girl looked at her.

“Not from now on. It’s already begun. From the moment that Mark settled on you, you’ve already been marked by Him.”

Bai Fan was silent for a moment, then looked up.

“So, how far am I from becoming a Sublimator now?”

“Still a ways to go.” The snow-haired girl stretched lazily. “You’re only in the Awakening Intermediate stage right now. To become a First-Tier Sublimator, you still need to accumulate Spiritual Essence.”

“I purified a lot of Blood Thirst Syndrome patients today. I’ve already absorbed a batch of Spiritual Essence. How much more do I need?”

“If I convert it into numbers,” the snow-haired girl said, “advancing to First Tier requires one thousand points of Spiritual Essence. And you worked hard all day today and earned twenty points.”

The ward fell silent for a moment.

The corner of Bai Fan’s mouth twitched slightly. Twenty to one thousand. That gap was a bit too big.

“If you plan to accumulate Spiritual Essence by slowly purifying Blood Thirst Syndrome patients,” the snow-haired girl added, “it’ll take about two years.”

Two years?

Bai Fan slowly furrowed her brow. Even if Lincheng had that many patients, there was no way she could stay here for two years.

She still had so much to do.

“Is there a faster way?”

The snow-haired girl smiled. It was a beautiful smile, but one that instinctively signaled danger.

“Of course. Directly purify the source spreading the Blood Plague. The Upper Vampire behind them.”

Bai Fan slowly clenched her fist.

“Even if I wanted to hide,” she murmured softly, “those minions of the Evil God will keep coming for me.”

She lifted her head, her gaze gradually growing firm.

“In that case, I’ll go find them instead. This time, I’m going on the offensive!”