Chapter 115: Extra — Zhou Xie part 1
The ambulance sped forward, its flashing red and blue lights carving two long streaks through the night.
Inside the vehicle, laden with emergency equipment, machines beeped frantically.
From the phone came the doctor’s constant persuasion—”Please prepare yourself for the worst”—mixed with Shi Ye’s maddened shouts: “He’s still breathing!”
Zhou Xie slammed the phone down. He immediately dialed three numbers: one to arrange a plane, one to find a doctor, and the last to contact the media.
The plane was to fetch the doctor; the doctor was to save Wen Rong. As for the media—if Wen Rong died, he would seize that critical moment to publish the evidence. Even if that evidence implicated fifty percent of the Federation’s officials.
“Publish everything.”
The person on the other end was stunned. “Everything?”
Perhaps this insane act, equivalent to collapsing the Federal Government, was too terrifying. The other party couldn’t help but ask, “Are you sure?”
“Yes.” Zhou Xie didn’t hesitate.
“Maybe we should keep the list and negotiate one by one? If you do this…”
“No need.”
His answer was so firm that the person on the other end momentarily doubted if it was really him, tentatively calling out, “Zhou Xie?”
Ring, ring—
The landline on his left rang again. It was the same number he had just hung up on.
Zhou Xie’s eyelid twitched. He stared at the phone for two seconds before slowly picking it up.
He restrained himself, letting the air hang silent for two seconds, before asking with difficulty, “What is Wen Rong’s condition?”
A faint sound of breathing traveled through the microphone and into the speaker.
The air solidified completely. Zhou Xie’s throat tightened as a tidal wave of emotion washed over him.
He briefly stopped breathing.
“Xie…”
Finally, a voice lighter than a breath barely managed to sound.
It was so faint, like a mere sigh.
Zhou Xie opened his mouth, wanting to say that he had prepared everything, but his last shred of reason realized that aside from Wen Rong’s voice, there was nothing else on the other end.
The doctor and Shi Ye were waiting for Wen Rong to finish speaking.
Like a dying man leaving his last words.
Zhou Xie’s voice trembled. “Wen Rong?”
“…”
“Shi Ye, is Wen Rong okay?” Urgent.
“You…”
“…” Holding breath.
“Is your marksmanship… good?”
“It’s average,” Zhou Xie answered as gently as he could.
“I hope… it can be a bit worse. When you execute Wang Sichen and his group by firing squad… shoot them a few extra times for me and President Zhou. This feeling of being injured is really… a bit… too painful.”
On the other end, Wen Rong finished speaking with a gasp. The doctor urgently placed the oxygen mask back over his mouth. Wen Rong had to shove the phone into Shi Ye’s chest, gesturing with difficulty—You talk.
Then he pointed to his wound, then to his face.
To Shi Ye, those movements were practically nonexistent. He only understood because of Wen Rong’s urgently darting eyes.
Shi Ye: “The wound on his lower abdomen tore open and needs restitching. His head was smashed, obstructing his vision for now. And his face…”
In his weakened state, Wen Rong made imperceptible finger movements signaling “No” and “Exaggerate it more.” Shi Ye grabbed the hand Wen Rong was using to try and push the doctor away and continued, “He’s also disfigured. A slash from his forehead to his chin.”
Zhou Xie was silent for a few seconds before asking abruptly, “Is he still alive?”
Summoning strength from nowhere, Wen Rong broke free from Shi Ye and made a throat-slitting gesture. Shi Ye said helplessly, “Dying soon.”
“Mn. Then I won’t let Wang Sichen die for now. I don’t want Wen Rong getting jumped by a gang on his way to reincarnation.”
Wen Rong: “???”
Wen Rong couldn’t remember if he had fainted from pain or from anger. When he woke up, a week had passed. His nose felt terrible, with air constantly forcing his throat to swallow.
Beep beep beep beep.
His brain was groggy, unable to distinguish where the sounds were coming from. Wen Rong called out in his mind, “Brother.”
【I am here.】
“Where… is this…”
His brain was running with difficulty. The things his eyes saw were fed back to his mind like mosaics; he couldn’t process any information.
【Hospital.】
The System attempted to check Wen Rong’s stats, finding that every metric was gradually recovering. However, there was a blank spot in the stored memories—the Main System was currently erasing the existence of “Lin Jinghang” according to the “Death Oblivion” principle.
“I…”
【Does the Host remember how he was injured?】
Wen Rong thought hard. “Seemed like I was beaten by that old man.”
【…】
【Yes.】
“Was I rescued?”
【Yes, Shi Ye rescued the Host. The Host has been lying in the ICU for half a month.】
“What about Wang Sichen?”
【The Host found evidence of his organ trafficking. This counts as defeating the book’s biggest boss. The System has calculated a sum of points for the Host.】
A little white lie shouldn’t hurt.
“Does that mean Wang Sichen can’t escape?”
【Yes.】
“That’s great.”
【Host, your points…】
“My points?”
The System displayed the points for Wen Rong. 【The Host can now redeem many mysterious grand prizes, as well as Mom and Dad.】
“…”
【Host?】
In reality, Wen Rong opened his mouth wide. The skin on his lips tore, dry and sticky.
Beep beep beep beep.
The machine beeped more urgently. Footsteps approached from a distance, and a voice in a white coat shouted in surprise, “He’s awake!”
By the time Wen Rong recovered from the shock of his astronomical point total—too many digits to count—he had already undergone a round of examinations. The doctor stood by his bed, excitedly grabbing his hand. “Can I take a photo with you?”
Wen Rong: “Huh?”
“I admire you so much. And my wife, my daughter…”
“…”
For the past half-month, the entire Federation had focused on two things.
When would Wen Rong wake up?
When would Wang Sichen be sentenced?
Because the contrast was too stark, Wen Rong was now viewed by the public as a superhero who had ventured alone into the enemy camp and risked his life for the people of the Outer District.
They. Could. Not. Find. A. Single. Flaw!
After unscrupulous media exposed the hospital where Wen Rong was staying, flower shop owners across the Federation made a fortune. The bouquets sent to Wen Rong’s ward could circle the hospital three times.
But the only flowers that actually reached Wen Rong’s hands were brought by Zhou Xie, half an hour after he woke up.
By then, the stitches in Wen Rong’s abdomen had been removed, his brain was functioning normally, and he was enjoying the hospital’s deluxe patient meal.
A clean breeze blew gently, brushing his bangs over his eyes. He used his fingers to loosely comb his hair back.
“Do you need me to take you for a haircut?”
Wen Rong turned his head and saw a green basin. Growing from the basin were branches, and adorning the branches were a few flowers that were neither red nor orange.
Behind the flowers, the blood vessels in Zhou Xie’s eyes looked like they had burst; they were terribly red. He had distinct, greenish bags under his eyes.
“Where is Shi Ye?” he asked.
In his fragmented memories, there was an image of Shi Ye carrying him onto the ambulance.
“Suspected of killing the commander of the Outer District garrison. He is under investigation.”
“Killing?” Wen Rong froze. “He wouldn’t—”
“Of course he wouldn’t. This is just a tactic by Shi Changyuan to pull him down from the position of heir. Fortunately, you found the evidence against Wang Sichen. Since Wang Sichen and Shi Changyuan were so close, now that Wang Sichen is in trouble, Shi Changyuan also has to face investigation. He has no time to trip Shi Ye up. Shi Ye will be released in a few weeks.”
“Oh…”
Zhou Xie placed the potted plant on the windowsill, then sat by the bed, looking down at Wen Rong’s bowl without speaking.
Wen Rong thought for a moment and asked, “What about Senior Leon?”
“He’s running around with his dad handling Wang Sichen’s case. He doesn’t trust anyone else with it.”
“Oh…”
“Do you really not want to see me?”
“What?”
“…Nothing.”
The wind whistled in. After a few seconds, Wen Rong finally sensed the hidden dissatisfaction in the words, so he explained, “It’s not that I didn’t want to see you. Since you were the only one who came, I thought something happened to the two of them.”
After speaking, he saw the dark circles under Zhou Xie’s eyes again. Realizing he had indeed neglected him, he added, “Have you been very busy lately? You look like you haven’t slept well.”
“I was practicing my marksmanship.”
“Huh?”
“Just in case my gun isn’t fast enough and they actually take you down with them. With your half-crippled state, who could you possibly beat?”
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