Chapter 6 Blood Orchid of the Breath of Life ④: The Undercurrents in the Hospital - This whole affair is revealed from beginning to end...
The next time I saw Chen Zigui, he was already lying in a hospital bed at Qinyang County Hospital.
The ward was filled with the smell of disinfectant.
Chen Zigui had needles stuck in the back of his hand and a bandage wrapped around his forehead. He was awake, but his eyes were vacant, carrying a sense of bewilderment from the immense impact.
"How did you fall? Do you remember?" Lan Shuyin asked him.
Chen Zigui frowned, his lips moved a few times before he uttered an uncertain sound, "...I don't remember very clearly. I just went out to shoot some footage, but I don't know what happened, I suddenly felt dizzy and lightheaded...when I woke up, I was here."
His tone was erratic, each word tinged with uncertainty, as if he were recounting a vague dream unrelated to himself.
He's hiding something.
Lan Shuyin could see that, but since no one was hurt right now, it was best not to get involved in the mess.
"Get some rest," she told him before leaving the ward.
After treating a few minor abrasions on her arms and body, Lan Shuyin went to the ophthalmology clinic and booked an appointment with a specialist.
"Doctor, please take a closer look. There's some blood from an unknown creature that's been splashed in. I rinsed it with water, but I still feel a bit uncomfortable."
She recounted the situation and asked her deepest concern, "Could there be...parasites, or unknown bacterial or viral infections? Will my eyesight be affected?"
The doctor opened her eyelids and examined her carefully with a flashlight. "The rinsing was very timely, and there seems to be no foreign object residue. However, your situation is rather special. In order to rule out potential risks, we should conduct a few more detailed examinations before drawing a conclusion."
Lan Shuyin nodded without hesitation, "Okay, please order all the relevant tests that can be done."
She didn't have many merits in her life; if one had to name one, it would be that she was extremely afraid of death.
The series of checks took almost an hour to complete.
As the results remained to be seen, Lan Shuyin walked along the corridor, her mind heavy with worry.
The cold white light of the corridor lamp illuminated everything, leaving nothing hidden, yet it also made the space seem exceptionally empty and desolate.
As she approached the elevator lobby, a very faint, suppressed sob suddenly reached her ears.
Looking in the direction of the sound, I saw a little girl, about five or six years old, sitting on a bench. She was wearing a slightly worn red jacket and tightly hugging a dirty brown plush bear.
The little girl lowered her head, her thin shoulders trembling, her cries weak and heartbroken, filled with a sense of helplessness at being abandoned.
Strangely, despite the constant flow of people in the corridor, not a single person glanced at the little girl who was silently crying.
A strange feeling, hard to describe, swept through Lan Shuyin's heart. After hesitating for a moment, she stepped forward and squatted down in front of her. "Little girl, why are you crying here all alone? Where are your parents?"
The little girl seemed not to hear, still keeping her head down, immersed in her own sadness.
Lan Shuyin asked again tentatively, lowering her voice even further, "Little one?"
This time, the little girl slowly raised her head—
However, before Lan Shuyin could see her face clearly, a clear but slightly abrupt voice suddenly rang out behind her, "Sister Yin, what are you doing squatting here?"
Wu Yang strode over, seemingly oblivious to the unusual situation on the bench. He casually bent down and was about to sit in the empty seat.
Lan Shuyin's heart skipped a beat, and almost instinctively she reached out and pushed him away, "No, you're sitting on that little kid..."
The unfinished words stuck in his throat.
Wu Yang, who had been pushed so hard he almost fell to the ground, was looking at her with a bewildered and innocent expression, while the spot where he was sitting—
The cold, metal bench was empty.
Where would you find a little girl wearing a traditional Chinese jacket and holding a dirty doll?
A chilling coldness crept silently up her spine, slowly tightening around Lan Shuyin's heart.
Just then, a hand reached out, grabbed her arm, and pulled her onto a chair.
Wu Yang's surprise was quickly replaced by worry. "What, little kid? Are you alright, Sister Yin?"
Lan Shuyin forced herself to compose herself and gave him a perfunctory smile. "It's nothing, I might just have low blood sugar... my eyes are blurry. I'm going to the restroom."
She practically fled to the public restroom at the end of the corridor.
With a soft click, the door closed behind her, temporarily isolating her from the outside world.
Lan Shuyin braced her hands on the cool, smooth sink, the slightly cool touch calming her racing heartbeat.
She took a deep breath and looked up at herself in the mirror.
She looked quite disheveled in the mirror—
Her once neatly tied bun had come undone, with a few damp strands of hair escaping and falling uncontrollably to her forehead and neck, clinging stickily to her skin. Her face still bore traces of water and a hint of barely perceptible fatigue.
The black mask had long since been rubbed off, revealing a delicate and gentle face.
Lan Shuyin's features were not outstanding, even somewhat plain. Her eyebrows were light, her nose was neither high nor low, and her lips were pale. Together, they resembled a very light stroke in a traditional Chinese ink painting, almost a delicate and understated beauty.
She has the kind of face that blends into the crowd without makeup.
But then, she possessed a pair of exceptionally beautiful almond-shaped eyes. Clear, light brown eyes, with long, glistening eyelashes, seemed to hold a pool of flowing spring water in their gaze, revealing a gentle and enigmatic quality completely different from her other features. This gave her face a captivating charm.
At this moment, the bloodshot veins in her eyes still lingered, silently reminding her of the strange encounter she had not long ago.
Lan Shuyin turned on the tap and splashed cold water on her face, trying to suppress the unease and panic that kept seeping from the depths of her heart.
The sound of flowing water was constant, and the misty water vapor filled the surroundings.
"Yinyin, you're the one Grandma worries about the most..."
“You stubborn girl, you’ve always been a headstrong mule, always heading towards the most ominous places! But your fate… sigh, it’s too light, too fleeting, making you most susceptible to unclean things. Those deserted, uninhabited, and sinister places, others might at most pick up some bad luck, but if you go there, it’s like a lantern in the dark, too conspicuous, too easy to attract things you shouldn’t…”
“‘When the spirit takes over your body, your form will surely change.’ You must remember this: never be a domineering person in anything, and always maintain a balance of respect and awe for what you cannot see…”
Suddenly, I could hear the old man's last words echoing in my ears.
What I thought were mere fantasies and superstitions back then, now seem like ominous premonitions.
"Calm down, Lan Shuyin. How can we believe the old charlatan's words?" Lan Shuyin muttered to herself, calming herself down before turning and walking out.
The examination report was a thick stack, but fortunately the results were normal.
The doctor reassured her, saying it was just a mild irritation, and prescribed two bottles of eye drops to relieve eye fatigue, which put her at ease.
As soon as he stepped out of the clinic, Wu Yang jogged up to him. "Sister Yin, how are you?" He remembered her casual excuse about "low blood sugar" and took out a piece of chocolate wrapped in silver foil from his pocket and put it in her hand.
"Here, I bought this from the vending machine over there. You can use it to pay for this."
Lan Shuyin stared in surprise at the chocolate in her palm, which still held the warmth of the other person's body.
The inexplicable unease and chill in my heart seemed to be somewhat dispelled by this clumsy yet sincere care.
Lan Shuyin looked up and gave a genuine smile. "Thank you. I'm fine. The doctor said everything is alright."
"That's good, you scared me to death." Wu Yang visibly breathed a sigh of relief, scratched his head, and his tone became somewhat apologetic, "So... what are your plans now? If it weren't for us today, you wouldn't have gotten all these injuries, it's really..."
Seeing that he was becoming more and more ashamed as he spoke, Lan Shuyin smiled slightly, "Don't overthink it. I'll go check on your friend's situation and then head to the station. I already booked a high-speed train for tonight."
"Okay!" Wu Yang replied hastily, leading her towards the ward.
Chen Zigui's ward was a three-person room, but the other two beds were empty. He lay by the window, his thin face showing slightly better complexion, but a gloomy look remained between his brows.
Upon seeing Lan Shuyin enter, Chen Zigui's eyes flashed briefly before revealing gratitude. "Wu Yang told me that you fell down the slope while looking for me... Thank you so much. I'll definitely treat you to a meal once this is all over."
Lan Shuyin took in his brief moment of evasion and smiled nonchalantly, "No need to be polite, it's good that you're alright."
After chatting briefly, seeing that Chen Zigui looked tired, she got up to say goodbye.
After picking up the eye drops at the pharmacy, Lan Shuyin subconsciously reached into her pocket, only to suddenly realize—
My phone is missing.
She frowned and tried to recall, thinking that the most likely explanation was that she had left it in the bathroom.
However, when Lan Shuyin went back, she found the cold washbasin empty, with no trace of her cell phone.
Left with no other option, she had to return to her ward.
As soon as I approached the door, the sound of arguing came from inside—
"...Why didn't you tell the truth just now? Sister Yin has been working so hard for us and even got injured. Why should we hide it from her?" Wu Yang questioned her with dissatisfaction.
Then came Chen Zigui's irritated voice, "I don't trust her! Someone who hasn't explored in ages, appearing in a place like Qigu Village late at night, don't you find that suspicious?"
"Yes, I admit she seems like a nice person, but you also have to admit that you have a 'romantic idol' filter on her!"
"Do you think she told the truth?" Chen Zigui's tone turned sharp. "Last night, before us, there was clearly a professional expedition team that went there. Where are they? Where did they go? Why didn't she mention a word about it?"
Lan Shuyin paused for a moment, then casually pushed the door open and entered.
"How do you know that a professional expedition team has been there?"
Her return made the air in the ward freeze.
Wu Yang's expression became particularly interesting, a mixture of guilt, embarrassment, and unease. He almost subconsciously looked away, unable to meet her gaze.
In contrast, Chen Zigui was momentarily surprised, but quickly regained his composure.
Since she had overheard him, he decided not to hide it anymore and spoke clearly, "When we arrived, there were many unnatural trampling marks on the weeds near the ancestral hall, which could not have been caused by just one or two people."
"Furthermore, there were several pieces of dark blue hard plastic on the ground, which were fragments of the outer shell of a professional-grade headlamp, with special anti-slip textures on the clips. The broken edges were very fresh, indicating that a rather intense conflict had occurred there before us."
At this point, Chen Zigui met her gaze and asked, word by word, "Is that right, Sister Yin?"
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