Chapter 36

Chapter 36

John ignored the blood and grime covering him. He was just about to rush into the hospital when a deafening boom rang out.

The hospital had exploded. John saw it clearly-the floor that had blown up was the very floor Liu Ye and the others were on.

“It’s over. There’s no way they could survive an explosion like that,” Miss Zhang said faintly.

“No. Brother Liu will definitely find a way.”

John had absolute confidence in Liu Ye.

And in fact, he was right. It was just that the situation was… a little different from what he imagined.

…

“Breaking news. At six-thirty Jingcheng time, a powerful explosion occurred at our city’s Huicheng Hospital, resulting in two injuries. Fortunately, there were no other casualties.”

Inside another hospital, Zhao Na and Huang Shiya lay in hospital beds with bandages wrapped around their heads.

Fu Yang looked at the two women lying beside him with unconcealed schadenfreude. At long last, he wasn’t the only one suffering.

“What exactly happened?” John asked.

“Here’s what happened… I don’t know how, but that oxygen valve started leaking. No matter what we did, we couldn’t shut it off. I figured it was dangerous, so I told the two of them to get out right away while I went to carry everyone else out.”

Zhao Na and Huang Shiya stared at him resentfully. There hadn’t been anyone in the room with the oxygen valve. After the explosion, everyone on that floor who hadn’t run was completely fine.

Only the two of them had exhausted themselves running downstairs, only to get hit in the head by chunks of stone blasted loose by the explosion.

After listening to Liu Ye’s explanation, John looked at him with even greater admiration.

“As expected of Brother Liu. If the two of them had stayed in that room, they would have died. Getting away with injuries this minor is practically a miracle.”

Zhao Na and Huang Shiya: “…”

Was it possible that they would have been fine even if they hadn’t run?

At that moment, Lyu Jicheng also woke up. When he saw the miserable state of the three people in the beds, he was immediately startled.

W-what was going on? Had he been kidnapped? Wasn’t this a little too brutal?

“All right, enough nonsense. Right now, I just want to know what exactly happened to you during those few days.”

John had not gone to look for Zhao Ze, because he had already asked a friend to get in touch with Wang Zixuan and tell her a possible way to avoid being hunted by the Fiend.

And now that one person was already dead, he had an ominous feeling. He just wanted to learn the truth as quickly as possible.

“I…”

The moment Lyu Jicheng opened his mouth, he found himself unable to continue. He had discovered the same problem as Fu Yang and the others.

He likewise could not remember what had happened.

“Do you know where you went?” John asked.

All four of them shook their heads blankly. And just then, another faint breeze blew through the room.

Miss Zhang, who was on John, immediately shouted, “Watch out!”

“Boom!”

The sturdy floor beneath them suddenly shattered, and everyone in the room began to fall.

“Wanru!”

John roared and immediately grabbed Huang Shiya beside him. Miss Zhang’s neck stretched out in an instant, her teeth biting down on the edge of the windowsill.

As for Liu Ye, he reacted even faster. The spot where he was standing had not collapsed, and with one hand on each bed, he held the two hospital beds firmly in place.

Only Lyu Jicheng and his protector failed to react in time and fell straight down.

When the others got down, Lyu Jicheng’s protector had already been crushed to death by falling rubble, but Lyu Jicheng himself had miraculously survived.

“Are you all right?”

John hurriedly asked.

Lyu Jicheng sat on the ground, staring around in a daze. At John’s question, he immediately snapped back to his senses and said with some agitation,
“I remember a little now. I remember where we went! Chongmen Island! We went to Chongmen Island!”

But there was no joy on John’s face. He only said calmly, “I understand. Rest for a while.”

As he spoke, he raised his hand like a blade and struck the back of Lyu Jicheng’s neck. Lyu Jicheng instantly passed out.

John had already begun to guess part of what this mission was about.

Back when they were attacked in the café, he had asked Huang Shiya what she had done in the restroom, because there was a good chance she had triggered some sort of Taboo.

At the time, Huang Shiya had told them what had happened to her. Then, when she mentioned that she had forgotten something, they were attacked again.

So even then, he had suspected that the attacks on them were connected to the memories of those six people.

The moment they realized they had lost something to Oblivion, they would be attacked.

That theory was confirmed after he knocked Lyu Jicheng out and brought him here, because they had not encountered a single attack along the way.

So he had relayed that guess to Wang Zixuan through a friend.

What he could not understand was why Lyu Jicheng had suddenly recovered his memories.

“Man, this guy’s luck really is something. He still didn’t die after a fall like that,” Liu Ye remarked from the side.

Those words struck John like a bolt of lightning, making him realize something.

He immediately called his friend.

“Hello, Bluebird. When Xie Baoguo was attacked, were his injuries serious?”

“Mm, very serious. I honestly didn’t even think he would survive,” Bluebird said from the other end of the line.

“That lines up!”

A sharp light flashed in John’s eyes, and everything suddenly clicked.

Lyu Jicheng and his protector had fallen from the second floor at the same time. His protector had died, yet Lyu Jicheng had survived. Wasn’t that a little too lucky?

John made a bold guess: Lyu Jicheng had very likely died just now, only to inexplicably come back to life. Only after that had he awakened part of his memories.

So this mission involved the target of Protection dying-reviving-then recovering their memories-and then dying again?

No, that wasn’t right. John felt there was something wrong with that. First of all, why would death lead to resurrection? Just to recover memories? Wasn’t that completely redundant?

And there was another point that bothered him. What had Xie Baoguo been trying to say at the end?

At that thought, he looked at Liu Ye.

He felt certain that Liu Ye had already figured out the whole chain of events. Otherwise, he would not have given him that indirect reminder just now.

John wanted to ask Liu Ye about it, but then he reconsidered. Mr. Liu had always been the kind of person who thought three steps ahead. Although his actions often seemed unrelated on the surface, by the time everything reached its conclusion, you would realize he must have had a reason for doing what he did.

Just like last time. Who could have imagined that the great Willow Tree was Steward Wang’s backup plan? Yet Liu Ye had noticed something wrong from the tiniest details. It must have been during the time they were trapped in the Illusion, which was why he had plucked it bald in advance.

Steward Wang’s altar had also been destroyed by Liu Ye.

So since he had not said anything, there had to be a reason for not saying it.

By now, it was already nighttime. Because Fu Yang and the other two were injured, they had fallen into a deep sleep, so John did not need to take action himself.

John did not sleep. Instead, he went to a room next door. Several computers were set up there, connected to monitors.

On the monitors, every corner of the hospital could be seen.