Chapter 77

Chapter 77

It was Qiu Ziyu’s turn to be surprised. “You know Nan Mu?”

But before the girl could answer, he waved a hand dismissively, clearly flustered. “Wait… we can talk about all this mess later. I have to get him to a hospital right now!”

Qiu Ziyu was about to get into the car when he noticed the gate was still open. He scrambled back out to lock it in a hurry. When he climbed back into the car, the girl was actually in the back seat, already pulling back the clothes covering Nan Mu.

“What are you doing?” Qiu Ziyu glared at her.

The girl didn’t look very old, but at this moment, she appeared much more composed than Qiu Ziyu. “He has an open abdominal wound, likely from a puncture-something like a fruit knife… He’s in bad shape. The blood loss is too rapid. If we hit traffic on the way, he won’t make it to the hospital. Wait for me. I’m a doctor; I have some emergency equipment at home. I’ll go grab it now.”

Qiu Ziyu froze. Before he could even agree, the girl had already bolted out like the wind.

A moment later, she returned carrying a small medical case. As soon as she got in, she shouted, “Drive! Go to the First Affiliated Hospital of A University of Science and Technology Medical School.”

Qiu Ziyu didn’t waste words. He slammed on the gas, and the car shot forward.

The girl seemed to know the route to the hospital very well, directing Qiu Ziyu along the way and helping him avoid several traffic bottlenecks.

Through the rearview mirror, Qiu Ziyu saw her checking Nan Mu’s pupils before binding his wound with gauze. She then used alcohol to wipe down other parts of his body, checking for any other open wounds. She certainly looked experienced.

As he drove, he asked casually, “Do you live there on Lijiang North Road?”

The girl gave a hum of affirmation while pulling her phone from her pocket.

“What’s your name?”

“Yu Jingtong.”

“How do you know Nan Mu? I’ve never heard him mention you.”

“We met twice, a long time ago.”

Qiu Ziyu wanted to ask more, but Yu Jingtong cut him off. “Hold on.”

Then he heard the sound of her call connecting. “Xiao Chen, it’s me. I have a patient here with massive abdominal hemorrhaging. He’s lost too much blood and is already comatose. Get a gurney ready immediately, notify the blood bank to stand by, and clear out an ER bay. Is the anesthesiologist there? Then go find them quickly…”

…

Once Yu Jingtong ended the call, Qiu Ziyu finally asked, “Do you work at the First Affiliated Hospital of A University of Science and Technology Medical School?”

“Yes. Hey! Left, turn left! Take the side road, then go straight and we’re there.”

…

Following Yu Jingtong’s directions, Qiu Ziyu drove all the way into the underground parking garage and stopped in front of an internal elevator. A team of emergency nurses and doctors was already waiting. The moment Yu Jingtong opened the door, everyone worked in an orderly fashion to move Nan Mu onto a gurney.

Qiu Ziyu followed the medical staff all the way to the emergency room doors, only to be left behind as they closed.

Watching the light above the operating room turn on, Qiu Ziyu, now sitting alone outside, finally had the mental space to reflect on everything that had just happened.

===

October 23, 2022. Outside the Emergency Room, First Affiliated Hospital of A University of Science and Technology Medical School.

Following a piercing scream, a large crowd instantly swarmed the area outside the ER. Patients, family members, and those about to be discharged all gathered to see the commotion, surrounding the scene so tightly that not even a drop of water could trickle through.

Wen Xin followed behind the ER staff, squeezing through from the outermost edge to the very center. When he saw the figures of the two women lying on the ground, it felt as if someone had slammed a fist into his chest. His vision went dark, his legs turned to jelly, and he collapsed onto the floor.

One was Nurse Xiao Ai. The other… was Wen Miao.

– “Are they still breathing?”

– “This one’s gone!”

– “Falling from the tenth floor straight onto concrete… there’s no way to survive that.”

– “Do we still need the oxygen tank?”

– “Wait, why is there a nurse involved too?”
– “I think she’s a nurse from the neurology department…”

– “Hurry, notify the department head and the Director…”

– “Has anyone called 110? Call the police, quickly-”

Watching as someone covered Wen Miao’s head with a white cloth, Wen Xin struggled to his feet, intending to follow. Suddenly, he heard someone nearby speak up.

– “There’s a phone on the ground here. It looks like it fell from up there too…”

– “Don’t touch it! Leave it on the ground. The police will be here soon. You’ll get arrested…”

Wen Xin turned to look at the phone. The screen was shattered to pieces, and the impact had forced several components out of the back, even exposing the SIM card slot. From his angle, he could see that the slot was empty.

That phone looked familiar.

He remembered now. After they discovered a tracking system had been installed on Wen Miao’s phone, he had installed anti-tracking software on both Wen Miao’s and Wen Tangtang’s phones just to be safe. At the time, Wen Miao had brought him her own phone, but she had also brought another one of this exact model.

He recalled asking her about it back then, and Wen Miao had said it wasn’t her phone, but a friend’s…

Could that friend be…

He suddenly looked up at the roof. The sky had turned completely dark, and he couldn’t make out what was happening up there.

But… where was Nan Mu?

Wen Xin turned and pushed through the crowd, rushing back to the roof.

A person was slumped on the rooftop. For some reason, the railing in front of her had snapped. A large pool of blood lay just two steps away-blood from Nan Mu’s injury. Beside the bloodstain was the stun baton he had handed to Wen Miao before he went downstairs.

The person slumped on the ground turned around at the sound of his footsteps, her face a mask of panic and confusion.

“What happened? What just happened?!” Wen Xin roared hysterically.

Nurse Lin was covered in tears, her fingers trembling as she pointed toward the broken railing. Her words were incoherent and rambling. “Xiao Ai kept attacking us… I don’t know how, but the railing just broke… and then that boy rushed over and suddenly grabbed Xiao Ai. They both fell over together… and then that girl tried to save the boy… and she fell too… I don’t know how it happened…”

Nurse Lin sobbed until she was breathless. “It all happened so fast… I-I don’t know how it turned out like this…”

Wen Xin, who had been about to head back down, suddenly stopped in his tracks. He asked in a strange tone, “What did you just say? Who fell?”

His expression was so bizarre that even the sobbing Nurse Lin couldn’t help but shiver and stop crying.

Wen Xin didn’t know why he was suddenly so furious. He seemed to have lost all emotional control; under normal circumstances, he would never speak to someone this way. But at this moment, receiving no answer, he roared in a violent rage, “Answer me! How many people fell?”

“Th-three…” Nurse Lin pointed nervously at the empty space in front of her. “All… all three of them fell.”

A wave of icy dread washed over Wen Xin, leaving his back numb and cold.

That wasn’t right.

This was all wrong.

He was certain-absolutely certain-that there were only Nurse Xiao Ai and Wen Miao just now. Everyone downstairs had said there were only two people…

Then the other person…

Just then, his phone vibrated.

He pulled it out and saw a message from Wen Tangtang in their group chat.

Wen Tangtang: [Quick, quick, quick! Everyone praise my experimental results tonight! Absolutely amazing!]

Wen Tangtang: [Photo.jpg]

Wen Xin tapped the photo and zoomed in. There was a timestamp watermark in the top left corner: October 23, 2022, 20:45. In the photo, Wen Tangtang was taking a selfie while holding up her experimental results. Behind her, a boy’s face was clearly visible, flashing a peace sign at the camera.

That boy was unmistakably Nan Mu.