·57｜Exclusive from Jinjiang·57

Heart palpitations, exchange, turning point.

A row of police cars was parked outside the street, and a group of officers wearing bulletproof vests were hiding behind the vehicles, gripping their loaded guns, ready to charge at any moment. A negotiator, holding a loudspeaker, was preparing to talk to the bank robbers when the bank doors were pushed open a crack from the inside.

The closed doors were slowly pushed open. The officers held their breath, their eyes fixed on the scene at the bank entrance, awaiting orders from their superiors.

The door was pushed open completely, and Lai Chuan Huang Quan appeared in the officers' view first. The sunlight outside the eaves was dazzling, and Lai Chuan Huang Quan raised his hand to shield his eyes from the light, squinting for a while before opening them again.

Behind her, the group of people who had coordinated their stories walked out, supporting each other. Sunlight streamed down from the clouds, and even the wind seemed to have a free spirit.

Faced with rows of dark gun barrels, no one panicked; instead, they felt a sense of peace.

The officers exchanged bewildered glances, completely baffled. It was the fully armed explosives unit squad leader who peeked out from behind his riot shield and exclaimed in surprise, "Soft bread!?"

In addition to dismantling explosives, the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Team of the Mobile Unit also needs to handle riot control.

After confirming that there was no danger, Kenji Hagiwara, with his superior's permission, put down his shield and jogged towards Yomi Yorikawa: "Soft Bread, what are you doing here?"

Matsuda Jinpei also came closer: "Didn't you go to the aquarium?"

“It was originally an aquarium, but…” Lai Chuan Huang Quan hesitated for a moment with his hands behind his back, then pulled out his sunglasses, which were already shattered into several pieces, from his bag: “Officer Matsuda, I didn’t do it on purpose.”

Matsuda Jinpei sighed, put one hand in his pocket, and raised his hand.

Lai Chuan Huang Quan subconsciously shrugged, thinking that Matsuda Jinpei was going to hit her on the head again. But his broad palm simply pressed down on her hair, which was damp and smelled of seawater, and rubbed it: "It's just sunglasses, I can buy another one."

"Huh?" Yomi blinked, surprised. "Officer Matsuda, you didn't yell at me."

Matsuda Jinpei raised an eyebrow: "Hmph, am I that unreasonable? What kind of person do you take me for?"

Lai Chuan Huang Quan rolled his eyes like a little fox and whispered, "His true form is a fierce old man in sunglasses."

Matsuda Jinpei: ?

His expression instantly turned fierce.

"Alright, alright," Kenji Hagiwara quickly rescued Yomi Yorikawa from Jinpei Matsuda's clutches. "Let's take the soft bread back to make a statement first, and we'll talk about it later."

He took Lai Chuan Huang Quan's hand and led him towards the mobile unit: "Let's go eat udon tonight, do you want a soft-boiled egg?"

"Udon noodles, huh...?"

Lai Chuan Huang Quan only managed to utter a few words before a wave of dizziness suddenly swept over her. She stood frozen in place, rubbing her eyes vigorously in an attempt to clear the blurry vision before her.

Kenji Hagiwara turned back and looked at Yomi Rikawa with concern: "Soft bread?"

She seemed to have not slept enough; her clear eyes were filled with confusion.

With his strength drained, Lai Chuan Huang Quan swayed back and forth twice, his body went limp, and he fell forward.

!!

Her fall was slowed down in their eyes, her wet hair flying in the wind, stirring up terrible memories buried deep in their hearts that they didn't want to talk about.

The hair flying everywhere when someone jumps from a tall building.

As she leaned against him, covered in blood, her hair, soaked with blood, crisscrossed like a spider web on the gray silk floor.

"Yorikawa Yomi!!"

The squad's ace fighters stared wide-eyed, calling out Yomi Lai's name in terror, and simultaneously reached out to catch her steadily.

but.

No one answered.

...

The metal wheels made a rumbling sound as they rolled. Lai Chuan Huang Quan lay on the hospital bed with his eyes closed, being pushed around to undergo one examination after another.

Hagi and Matsu sat anxiously by the hospital bed, not even having had time to change out of their riot gear.

Yomi's body temperature was gradually decreasing, dropping from 36°C when she was first admitted to the hospital to 34°C. Kenji Hagiwara didn't know what this meant; he simply sat by the bedside, his palm covering Yomi's gradually cooling hand.

"Please, wake up soon."

My eyes were sore and dry, yet not a single tear could fall.

Kenji Hagiwara turned his head to look at the distant blue sky, but what came to mind was the nightmare that often disturbed his sleep—Yomira Yomi fluttered in the air like a butterfly with broken wings, her life ending in the next moment.

With the rapid beating of his own heart in his ears, Kenji Hagiwara closed his eyes, trying to regulate his breathing, but his fingers trembled uncontrollably.

Matsuda Jinpei sat on a folding chair with a cigarette dangling from his lips, arms crossed. Smoking was prohibited in the hospital, so he didn't light one. But a sense of unease spread through his body, making it impossible for him to concentrate. He could only try to temporarily relieve his anxiety by repeatedly chewing and crushing the cigarette butt with his molars, even though the effect was minimal.

"I'm sorry," several doctors said in a low voice after repeatedly reviewing the test results and films, "Ms. Lai Chuan is brain dead."

Kenji Hagiwara paused, gritted his teeth, and immediately retorted, "That's impossible!"

Just yesterday, Lai Chuan Huang Quan was nestled in his arms, pulling his hair and humming a tuneless song.

This morning, when he was leaving, Lai Chuan Huang Quan hummed softly in bed, saying goodbye to him in a sweet, sleepy voice. She looked so adorable that he couldn't help but kiss her several times before leaving.

How could someone become brain dead in just half a day?

Matsuda Jinpei tossed the cigarette butt he had bitten into pieces into the trash can and asked, "Isn't there any other possibility?"

The doctor sighed, took two steps forward, pried open Lai Chuan Huang Quan's eyelids, turned on a small flashlight and pointed it at her pupils. "Miss Lai Chuan has stopped breathing on her own. Her pupils and corneas do not reflect light, and her brainstem nerve reflexes and brain waves have all disappeared."

He turned off the flashlight: "I'm sorry, officer, but Ms. Lai Chuan is indeed brain dead."

Matsuda Jinpei remained unconvinced: "But body temperature shouldn't drop so quickly after brain death."

The doctor lowered his gaze, helpless and regretful: "This is indeed very strange, and we haven't been able to find the cause. But Ms. Lai Chuan shows no reaction to light, sound, or pain, and the EEG is also..."

He didn't rule out the possibility of a definitive answer, but instead changed the subject and comforted her, saying, "Perhaps Miss Raikawa has just contracted another disease that has never been discovered by humans before, but you two should still be prepared."

Matsuda Jinpei didn't say anything more. He slumped back into his seat and looked up at the pale ceiling.

The hospital room lights, designed to be erotically accurate, suddenly became blinding to Matsuda Jinpei. He closed his eyes, a heavy pain gripping his chest.

After the doctor left, the only sound in the ward was the sound of the ventilator running, the piston squeezing oxygen into Lai Chuan Huang Quan's lungs.

Respiratory arrest can be treated with artificial respiration, and cardiac arrest can be treated with cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Only brain death.

Extreme cruelty.

The body has warmth, the heart continues to beat, but the ending has already been written.

Lai Chuan Huang Quan lay quietly on the hospital bed, seemingly asleep. But it wouldn't be long before her body, along with her brain, would plunge into the abyss.

Kenji Hagiwara gripped Yomi Raikawa's hand tightly, pulling it against his forehead. His breathing trembled; it felt as if a bottle of acid had been poured into his veins, coursing through his body with each heartbeat, leaving him in excruciating pain.

Kenji Hagiwara clung to the last shred of hope, as if trying to comfort himself: "It'll be alright. Soft bread has a strong self-healing ability; she'll definitely wake up."

But will Yomi Yomi really wake up?

Nobody knows.

Time passed second by second, the second hand spinning round and round, the two people in the ward remained in the same position, neither of them speaking.

A feeling of exhaustion washed over me, and even breathing felt incredibly heavy, making me dizzy and lightheaded.

Kenji Hagiwara suddenly recalled the scene of Yomi's death in his dream. Blood spread like a spider web, fingers clenched laboriously, and then there was silence.

Fear was laid bare in the sun, and a wave of despair and helplessness washed over him, threatening to overwhelm Kenji Hagiwara.

The ever-expanding pain manifested as ringing in his ears and a spasm in his stomach. He covered his mouth and slowly squatted down, his shoulders heaving with the rhythm of his esophagus contracting.

A few seconds later, Kenji Hagiwara rubbed his chest, pulled out the trash can, and vomited up his stomach acid.

Matsuda Jinpei looked at Hagiwara Kenji, knowing he should go up and pat Hagiwara on the back to comfort and reassure him.

But Matsuda Jinpei couldn't do it.

His head was throbbing, as if someone was hitting his temples with a heavy hammer.

Matsuda Jinpei was like a severe migraine sufferer; any noise was enough to trigger a new wave of pain. His limbs were cold, and his once arrogant and bright eyes had lost their luster.

"Calm down."

A third male voice suddenly rang out; it was the administrator. He had been busy with something else and was only now turning his attention back to Lai Chuan Huang Quan's body.

This was the first time Matsuda Jinpei had heard the administrator's voice, but he only turned to look at Hagiwara Kenji, who was squatting on the ground and had finally stopped vomiting, without saying a word.

The administrator continued, "Lai Chuan Huang Quan is not dead."

The administrator's words were reassuring; upon hearing them, both mobile unit captains sighed and slowly relaxed their backs.

Kenji Hagiwara grabbed a tissue and hastily wiped the filth from his mouth: "Then why didn't she wake up, and why didn't she show any brainwave activity?"

"Perhaps you could go and take a look at room 702 on the seventh floor."

After saying this, the administrator disappeared again without responding.

Hagi and Matsu exchanged a glance and slowly stood up.

My feet felt like they weighed a ton, and every step I took exhausted all my strength, making me even more tired than after finishing a weighted long-distance run.

The riot gear worn by Hagi and Matsu was particularly eye-catching, but the bank robbery made headlines, and the other people in the building just secretly glanced at them, covering their mouths and whispering a few words.

Room 702 was at the far end of the corridor, with a metal bench placed by the door. A middle-aged man was sitting at the far end of the bench, legs crossed, reading a newspaper. Hearing footsteps, he glanced at Hagi and Matsu, then quickly looked away.

Inside room 702, angry but energetic voices chattered incessantly.

"I've told you all you've mistaken me for someone else! I'm not Mr. Raikawa's daughter!"

The familiar voice was incredibly penetrating, clearly reaching the ears of the two squadron aces through the frosted glass door.

They were startled, but when they looked at each other, a determined hope ignited in their eyes. Kenji Hagiwara nodded to Jinpei Matsuda, then turned the doorknob and rushed inside.

The hospital room door was pushed open, and the first thing that caught the eye was a striking red head of hair. A petite woman, barefoot on the floor, clenched her fists and protested loudly to the man and woman in front of her. Hearing the door open, she turned and met the eyes of two elite SWAT team members standing in the entryway.

She and soft bread are so alike.

The faces are strikingly similar, the expressions are identical, and even the starlight in their eyes is remarkably alike.

The red-haired Yomi, who already belonged to this world, widened her eyes and then flashed a bright smile: "Second year of graduate school~!"

She opened her arms and ran towards Kenji Hagiwara with a thud on the floor, as light and agile as a fairy among flowers.

Kenji Hagiwara opened his arms and caught the woman who rushed towards him. He looked down and saw the woman with red curly hair rubbing her face against his chest, her eyes crinkling with affection.

The whole thing was too unbelievable. Even though he knew the person in his arms was the one in his heart, Kenji Hagiwara couldn't help but tentatively ask, "Are you... a softie?"

[Author's Note]