Chapter 40 Pass to Leave

The smell of hospital disinfectant filled the air, and the ward was so quiet that the only sound was the regular ticking of the instruments.

Ruan Xingfeng's face was as pale as the bed sheet behind him, and so fragile that it seemed like it would break at the slightest touch, but the way he rubbed his forehead was so casual and lazy, as if it had nothing to do with him, which formed a strange contrast with the horrific injuries.

Fu Hangxing felt a tightness in his chest when he saw him like this. The anger and worry that had been suppressed for a long time finally burst out. He stood up suddenly, and the chair legs made a harsh sound as they scraped across the ground.

"Why?!" He practically growled, his voice trembling with repression. "Ruan Xingfeng! Why the hell did you do this?! Can you just chop that thing off?! Do you know that Auntie fainted from fright?"

Zhou Yi and Zhu Zhe also stared at him closely, their eyes full of disapproval and deep worry, silently expressing the same position: if you don't explain clearly, we will never cooperate.

Ruan Xingfeng's gaze swept across their faces one by one, and finally landed on Fu Hangxing's eyes, which were red with excitement. He sighed softly, and that sigh was filled with endless fatigue and an unquestionable calmness.

"Didn't I tell you?" His voice was soft but remarkably clear. "I need to add another fire. A fire that can burn through the current deadlock and speed up everything."

His fingertips unconsciously stroked the broken horn on his head that was wrapped in thick gauze. He still felt a dull pain there, but he seemed not to feel it.

"Hangxing, go find Liao Feng now." Ruan Xingfeng's tone became commanding, leaving no room for doubt. "Just say what I taught you: 'Brother Xingfeng... couldn't handle the stress of the wedding, and after returning home and reading all those online rumors, he had a mental breakdown... He chopped off his own deer antlers...' Remember, your expression should be sorrowful and angry."

Fu Hang was frozen in place, not moving, his lips tightly pursed. Zhou Yi and Zhu Zhe continued to look at him with distrust.

Ruan Xingfeng closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, there was only cold calculation and a hint of imperceptible urgency.

"Okay, you want to know the whole reason, right?" He lowered his voice, even though there was no one else in the ward. "Because we're too slow! The so-called 'help' provided by the Führer is like squeezing toothpaste. The clues we need to investigate are bottlenecked everywhere! At this rate, we'll always be led by him by the nose. When he decides Liao Feng is useless, we'll be the next to be 'cleaned out'!"

He took a deep breath and spoke his most fundamental and helpless reason: "I don't want to admit it, but I must admit that with our current strength, we're simply not fast enough, nor strong enough. I need Liao Feng now. I need his uncontrolled power due to guilt, and I need his resources and connections that he has unreservedly given out of 'love'! Only by using him can we grow rapidly and have a chance to compete with the Führer in the future!"

His sharp eyes swept over his three friends. "But this guilt and love have a shelf life! I don't know when he will wake up from his breakdown, and when he will start to doubt the truth of the wedding! We must make the most of this and push things to the point of no return before he realizes it!"

"This fire," Ruan Xingfeng pointed at his head, his eyes fierce, "is burning for myself, for Liao Feng, and even more so for that high and mighty leader! I want them all to see my 'misery' and 'despair'. I want Liao Feng to be driven completely crazy by this fire, and to be willingly used by me! I want the leader to feel that I am a most useful knife, completely under his control because of hatred!"

The ward fell into silence again.

Fu Hangxing and the other two were speechless at the naked, almost crazy calculation and determination in Ruan Xingfeng's words. They finally understood.

Self-deer antler cutting is not a loss of emotional control, but an extreme self-torture tactic, a gamble in which one puts oneself on the gambling table as a chip!

This is too cruel. It is cruel to others and even crueler to yourself.

After a long moment, Fu Hangxing seemed to have been drained of all his strength, yet also seemed to have made up his mind. He wiped his face heavily and looked at Ruan Xingfeng with complicated eyes: "... Damn it! You lunatic! I get it... I'll go right away."

He turned and walked out of the ward, his back carrying a sense of tragedy. He knew that from this moment on, they would no longer be just testing the boundaries, but would truly step into the center of the storm, using the power of the storm itself to fight against another, even greater storm.

Zhou Yi and Zhu Zhe didn't say anything, but their eyes showed that they would continue to follow.

Ruan Xingfeng looked out the window, his face still pale, but his eyes were burning with cold flames. The fire that he had ignited with his own hands was about to spread across the land.

The atmosphere in the chairman's office at Chuangyu Group was chillingly low. A thick stack of documents lay before Liao Feng, but he couldn't read a single word. His fingertips drummed against the desk, betraying his inner restlessness. For the past two months, he had mobilized every available manpower and resources, practically turning the city upside down, yet he had yet to find any trace of Ruan Xingfeng. This sense of loss of control brought him to the brink of collapse. His eyes were bloodshot, and he felt like a caged, anxious beast.

The intercom on the desk suddenly rang, breaking the suffocating silence. The receptionist's cautious voice came over: "Mr. Liao, there are two gentlemen downstairs who claim to be... friends of Mr. Ruan Xingfeng. Their surnames are Fu and Zhou, and they want to see you."

Ruan Xingfeng's friend?!

Liao Feng practically jumped up from his chair. All his fatigue and anxiety were instantly replaced by a huge, ominous premonition! Why would Xiaolu's friend suddenly come to see him? Unless...

"Bring them up immediately! Right now!" He growled into the phone, his voice hoarse.

Every second of waiting for the elevator to rise was an agonizing experience. Liao Feng paced back and forth in the spacious office, his heart pounding and his palms cold.

The elevator door opened, and Fu Hangxing and Zhou Yi walked out. Their faces showed just the right amount of grief, anger, and a hint of helplessness. Their acting skills had been repeatedly honed on the way here.

Upon seeing Liao Feng, Fu Hangxing rushed forward with red eyes, his tone excited and accusing: "Boss Liao! You...you should go and take a look! Xingfeng...he's in trouble!"

Liao Feng's heart sank suddenly. He grabbed Fu Hangxing's arm with such force that he almost broke his bones. "What happened to him?! Where is he?! Tell me!"

"In the hospital..." Zhou Yi replied sadly in a low voice, "He has been locking himself up since he came back, refusing to eat or drink... Yesterday... when we found him yesterday... he, he..." He seemed to find it difficult to speak and turned his head away.

Fu Hangxing took over and, with tears in his eyes, repeated Ruan Xingfeng's instructions word for word, his emotions perfectly captured. "Xingfeng couldn't handle the shock! What happened at the wedding, and all the subsequent online gossip... He had a mental breakdown... He... He chopped off the antlers with his own hands! He bled so much... He almost died!"

"Cut off... the antlers..."

These four words were like a thunderbolt, striking Liao Feng's head! His vision suddenly went dark, his body swayed, and he almost lost his balance!

He knew exactly what antlers meant to the deer tribe! They were a symbol of dignity and strength! Little Deer... was he so determined?!

A huge, overwhelming sense of guilt and heartache instantly consumed Liao Feng! It turned out that his little deer had been so badly injured! It turned out that his "negligence" and "being framed" had driven his lover to the point of self-harm!

Fu Hangxing and Zhou Yi were still adding fuel to the fire: "Boss Liao, Brother Xingfeng is really suffering..." "He won't see anyone now, and his condition is very bad. We are really worried that he will become depressed again..."

All his rationality, all his doubts, were completely shattered at this moment! Liao Feng's long-clouded mind was now filled with only one thought: It was his fault! It was all his fault! He had hurt the person he loved most and pushed him to a dead end!

"Which hospital?! Take me there! Now! Immediately!" Liao Feng almost roared, grabbed the car keys and rushed out, not caring about documents, meetings, or image at all!

If the calm Xu Nuoyan was beside him at this moment, perhaps he would have noticed the slight unnaturalness in Fu Hangxing's words; if Song Xuexi was there, perhaps she would have questioned why the incident was so coincidental and tragic. But alas, no one was there.

Just as Ruan Xingfeng had calculated accurately, Liao Feng was at the moment of greatest collapse, greatest guilt, and greatest vulnerability to emotion.

He lost his most basic judgment and only had one instinct left: rush to Ruan Xingfeng immediately, atone his sins, make amends, at any cost!

Fu Hangxing and Zhou Yi exchanged a glance and immediately followed. The elevator descended, and the atmosphere inside the car was oppressive.

Liao Feng gripped the steering wheel tightly with both hands, his knuckles turning white, and stared straight ahead, as if he wanted to stare through the road.

Ruan Xingfeng's plan, this "fire" ignited by his own flesh and blood, is leading Liao Feng, the sharpest knife, to the direction he desires with an almost cruel efficiency.

And they had to be quick, they had to complete the next step before Liao Feng woke up from this huge emotional shock and noticed anything wrong, so time became more urgent than ever.

Zhu Zhe had been looking outside through the window. When he saw Liao Feng's car, he looked at Ruan Xingfeng and signaled him to get ready. Ruan Xingfeng nodded and let him out first.

When Liao Feng pushed the door open, Ruan Xingfeng had already entered the state. He sat on the bed with empty eyes, tears streaming from the corners of his eyes. It was so broken that Liao Feng's heart felt like it was being cut out.

"Why are you here? Aren't you here to compete with your rival for your first love?" He seemed to be frightened when he heard the door open. There was a light in his eyes when he looked at Liao Feng but it disappeared. Liao Feng noticed it but he didn't think much about it.

"Those photos at the wedding were really not taken by me. Deer darling, I love you very much. Things are not what you think. You can blame me, do whatever you want to me, but don't hurt yourself, okay?"

There was only suffocating silence and Ruan Xingfeng's silent tears in the ward. Liao Feng squatted beside the bed like a large dog that had done something wrong.

He guarded carefully, even breathing lightly, for fear of disturbing the fragile person in front of him. All his thoughts were immersed in huge heartache and guilt, and his rationality had long been washed away.

After an unknown amount of time, Ruan Xingfeng turned his head very slowly, and his empty eyes seemed to have a focus as they fell on Liao Feng.

The sharpness and sarcasm in his eyes were gone, leaving only a deep fatigue and despair that seemed to have exhausted all his strength.

He spoke, his voice as light as a feather, but with a decisive sense of fragmentation:

"I can't stay here anymore."

Liao Feng's heart suddenly tightened, and he immediately responded: "Okay, okay, we won't stay here. Where do you want to go? I'll take you home, our home, and I promise not to let anyone disturb you again..."

Ruan Xingfeng slowly shook his head, his eyes drifting out the window, as if looking at some distant place.

"It's not home... it's leaving here." He whispered, each word sounding as if he had exhausted all his strength. "This city, this country... Everywhere there are pointing eyes, everywhere there are memories of that day... I close my eyes, and all I see are those photos... I can't breathe..."

His tears flowed even more violently, his body trembled slightly, and his performance was just right, vividly showing the vulnerability and despair of a patient with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Liao Feng's heart was broken when he saw this. He wanted to give Ruan Xingfeng the best things in the world, just to make him feel better.

"Then...then let's change cities? Go to the south? Or go to the beach? As long as you like, we can go anywhere!" Liao Feng promised eagerly.

Ruan Xingfeng shook his head again. This time, he looked at Liao Feng with a fragile, almost pleading look in his eyes: "Not enough... still not far enough... Liao Feng, I beg you... let me go."

He reached out and gently grasped Liao Feng's sleeve, like a drowning man grabbing the last piece of driftwood. "Send me abroad, okay? To a place where no one knows me, where no one knows about those things... Let me start over, quietly... lick my wounds."

He paused at the right moment, observing Liao Feng's reaction. Seeing that Liao Feng only looked at him with heartache and did not immediately object, he continued in that weak but logical voice:

"I know this is willful... but I need time and space... to be able to... to try to survive." He said the three words "survive" with difficulty, and once again hit Liao Feng's sore spot.

"I won't bother you... You can pursue anything and anyone you want..." He retreated to advance, and his tone was filled with resigned distance, which made Liao Feng more uncomfortable than any accusation.

"No! I don't want anyone else! I only want you!" Liao Feng was indeed anxious, and held his hand tightly, "I'll send you away! Wherever you say to go! I'll arrange the best place for you, the best doctor, and whatever you need! As long as you promise me to take good care of yourself, let me know you are safe, and let me... let me have another chance to make it up to you..."

Plan pass.

Ruan Xingfeng thought coldly in his heart, but he just closed his eyes tiredly and nodded slightly, as if he had exhausted all his energy.

"Okay...thank you." He said softly, as if a simple thank you was extremely difficult.

Looking at him like this, how could Liao Feng still have any doubts? He just felt that he owed Ruan Xingfeng too much, as long as he could make him better.

Even if it cost him half his life, he would agree without hesitation. Sending him away from this sad place seemed to be the only way to "make amends" and "atone for his sins."

He even started planning things proactively: "I'll have my assistant do it right away! Which country do you want to go to? Europe? North America? Or Australia? I have properties there, so you can live comfortably... I'll arrange for bodyguards and a nanny to keep them from disturbing you and ensure your safety... If your friends want to accompany you, that's fine too..."

Ruan Xingfeng listened to his detailed arrangements, his heart turned cold, but he just responded weakly: "I want to go to a cold place." Liao Feng couldn't stay in the cold area, so he chose this, so that Liao Feng would not look for him often.

An "exile" in the name of love was reached in this ward full of guilt and calculation, and Ruan Xingfeng successfully obtained a pass to leave.

As well as Liao Feng's initial right to use overseas resources, his next move will soon be made on a broader chessboard.