Chapter 32: Tube Building (Thirty-Two) As Long as You Are Alive
Hospitals at night are always a little more eerie than during the day.
The nurse on the night shift had long been accustomed to such a cold atmosphere. She was patrolling the ward as usual when she suddenly heard suppressed and painful mumbling in a sleep in front of a ward.
She looked up at the ward number and saw that it was indeed the two male patients with the same injuries who were sent there one after another.
There was no light on in the ward, but with the light from the corridor, the outline of the bed inside could be vaguely seen.
As usual, the nurse opened the door and looked inside. Both patients were fast asleep due to the painkillers, but they looked very restless and kept making strange groaning sounds.
The accompanying family members sat hunched in front of the bed, and did not seem to be asleep either. They stared at the patient who was mumbling in his sleep in the dim light.
The nurse looked at this strange scene and was inexplicably reminded of the rumors that had been circulating among her colleagues in recent days. She felt a tingling sensation on her back and quickly closed the door.
The old lady beside Chen Si's bedside had become haggard and emaciated.
Zhou He, who was sitting in front of another bed, also had a pale face, but he was still trying to resist sleepiness and sat stiffly in front of the bed.
“Don’t…don’t…”
The person on the bed continued to mutter, and only those who were familiar with him could hear the despair and fear in his voice.
"Let me go..."
"I was wrong……"
“Don’t…Ah!!”
The painful cry just came out of his mouth, but it was stuck in his throat the next second, like a ball of suffocating mud was poured into his throat.
The sleeping person made a retching motion, his throat kept spasming, and his muscles were twitching, but he couldn't wake up.
Zhou He looked at the miserable appearance of the man on the bed, and the stiff facial muscles began to twitch.
Her cloudy eyes twitched and moved, and she suddenly turned to the figure on the opposite bed who was also struggling in his sleep, and the old man in front of the bed who looked as dead as a ash.
"To endure this," Zhou He's eyes were bloodshot, and the corners of his dry mouth were straight, "Isn't it better to die...?"
The old man opposite didn't say anything, his wrinkled eyes drooped, and his hunched body looked like a rotten and decaying dead tree.
After a long while, she finally spoke to herself incoherently.
"I can't die... I only have this one son..."
"My son cannot die..."
“I can’t die…”
"He can't die!"
The old woman's voice became sharp and shrill, and she grabbed the shoulders of the person in the nightmare and shook him wildly.
"Wake up, you can't sleep any more, or you'll die in this nightmare!"
"I can't sleep with my son anymore!!"
That hideous and withered look was even more terrifying than a walking corpse.
Zhou He was looking at the absurd scene in front of him with an expressionless face. Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of a sticky and surging black shadow spreading from under the window.
Her face froze, her fingers clenched tightly in her palms, and she watched the black mist gather in front of the window and finally pull into the shape of a woman.
“Song…Song Wan…!”
Zhou He trembled as she called out Song Wan's name, the name of the person who would appear whenever she fell asleep and torture her in her dreams to the point where she was worse than death.
Could it be... that she fell asleep again...?
Zhou He froze in her seat in despair. She had to wake up, she had to wake up quickly, she couldn't fall asleep!
But how could she wake up? In her dream, she was just a piece of rotten meat for atonement.
The old lady was still shaking her son's arm with a ferocious look on her face when she suddenly felt something fall on her shoulder.
When she turned her head, she was so frightened by a dark and sticky shadow that she collapsed on the bed, falling together with Chen Si who was still struggling and groaning.
"You want to let him live?"
A strange voice sounded in the ward. The figure of the woman in the black fog was still pulling and surging, but she was already heading towards the old lady.
The old lady was so frightened that she couldn't speak. She just stared at the front with bloodshot eyes. After a long while, she realized the other party's question and nodded tremblingly.
"Can."
Black fog rolled wildly in front of the bed, bringing with it a strong smell of earth.
"Then I give you a choice."
The old lady and Zhou He's hearts trembled at the same time.
"Since you all love them, then as relatives, confess everything you have done and know to everyone."
"This way, they can probably survive."
The old lady trembled and said, "Really?"
"I told you, it's probably."
The black fog surged, constantly changing in the form of a woman and a child, and finally settled into the skeleton of a young man.
"But if you refuse, everyone present will surely die."
"I promise!"
There was a rustling sound of a chair sliding, and Zhou He stood up stiffly.
Her eyes were bloodshot as she stared at the direction of the shadow without blinking, as if she was about to die in front of her eyes in the next second.
"I promise you... I promise you..."
She murmured, her spirit on the verge of collapse, staring at the black shadow.
"After you atone your sins, you can sleep well, sleep well, sleep well, sleep well..."
"And you?"
The black figure turned towards the old woman and asked.
"I...I also agree...as long as there is hope of survival..."
The old lady sat in the dark with a haggard look on her face, still holding Chen Si's arm tightly.
"As long as I can survive..."
"very good."
The dark shadow stood quietly in the middle of the ward, seeming to look around the filthy ward.
"I hope to hear good news from you tomorrow."
-
Wen Yin had a good sleep.
Last night, after Chen Sinian sent her back, he disappeared and didn't bother her. Without anyone harassing her, she slept very well that night.
She had just opened her eyes and was not yet fully awake when she heard 028's excited and impatient voice.
[Host, host, you finally woke up!]
If 028 had a physical body, it would be jumping up and down at this moment.
[Something big happened this morning! Do you want to hear it?!]
[028, Please give me some time, I haven’t opened my eyes yet…]
Wen Yin stayed in bed and didn't want to get up. She had walked around the amusement park all afternoon yesterday, and her calves were still sore.
[You can listen even with your eyes closed. This matter concerns Song Wan and Xiao Tuan!]
[Then tell me.]
Wen Yin yawned lazily and wrapped the quilt around herself again.
[That old lady and Zhao He both turned themselves in today without any prior arrangement!]
[The old lady reported her son, and Zhou He reported her husband!]
[We are still recording our statements there!]
Wen Yin suddenly opened her sleepy eyes.
[Really? ]
[Yeah, I took a look around, and they actually turned themselves in.]
[Where is Shen Sinian?]
[Dr. Shen is still in the hospital, and nothing seems to be wrong.]
[Host, how come things are progressing so quickly...?]
Wen Yin's sleepiness was completely dispelled, she lifted the quilt and sat up.
[I think this is probably the work of Shen Sinian.]
-
When Wen Yin arrived at the hospital, she was told that Shen Sinian had taken Xiao Tuan to record a statement.
After asking for the address, Wen Yin still went there.
Many reporters from newspapers who had heard the news came to the police station, all wanting to get the latest developments in the case of the female corpse in the woods.
There were many staff members on the scene maintaining order, and with the people watching the excitement, there were three layers of people inside and outside.
Wen Yin couldn't squeeze in, so she had to stand in the distance and watch.
After waiting for a long time, I saw a tall and slender figure walking out of the side door of the police station holding a little boy.
It was Shen Sinian and Xiaotuan.
The reporters were all squatting at the main gate and didn't notice the two people coming out of the side door.
Wen Yin hurried over upon seeing this and discovered that Xiao Tuan's eyes were still red, as if she had just cried.
"Sister, I'm not crying."
Seeing Wen Yin staring at him, Xiaotuan rubbed his eyes to prevent the tears from flowing.
"I was just testifying against the bad guy who bullied me that night. I told the police what happened to me, and they arrested him."
"Okay, Xiaotuan is awesome."
Wen Yin touched Xiaotuan's tear-stained face and gave him a thumbs up.
"Xiao Tuan has grown up. Mom will definitely be very happy when she knows it."
Shen Sinian put on his glasses again, turning into that gentle young man. He lowered his eyes and looked at Wen Yin who was still comforting Xiao Tuan in front of him.
"Why are you here?"
"I heard some noise and came to see how you were doing."
Xiaotuan was still there, and Wen Yin didn't dare to ask if Shen Sinian had done anything in it, so she could only accompany the two of them to the hospital first.
Before they had walked halfway, the little girl with red eyes fell asleep on Shen Sinian's shoulder again.
"I've been cooperating with the statement recording for quite some time and I'm tired."
Shen Sinian moved Xiaotuan's head to a more comfortable position on his shoulder and explained to Wen Yin.
After he finished speaking, he realized that Wen Yin had been looking up at him.
"What's wrong."
A gentle voice sounded.
Wen Yin shook her head: "Nothing, I just feel that Dr. Shen seems to have suddenly become much gentler."
"It's gone from that... mask feeling it had before."
After hearing Wen Yin's description, Shen Sinian curled the corners of his mouth, but did not refute.
"Do you still want to ask why those two people took the initiative to expose and surrender themselves?"
"Ah," Wen Yin raised her eyebrows in feigned surprise, "Doctor Shen guessed it right."
Shen Si-nian laughed, and his dark eyes behind the lenses narrowed.
"It's just a little promise."
"What promise?"
"Leave them alive," Shen Sinian stopped where he was, holding Xiaotuan. "If they die, there will be nothing left. Only by living can we atone for our sins day and night."
"Wen Yin, do you still think I've become gentler now?"
Shen Sinian lowered his eyes and looked at Wen Yin, his gentle voice blowing into Wen Yin's ears with the breeze.
It sounds like an inquiry, but also like a worry.
"Whether you are gentle or not, it will not affect my judgment of you."
Wen Yin grabbed Shen Sinian’s arm and pulled him forward.
“Doctor Shen, I’m hungry.”
"The most important thing for you now is to use your meal card to feed me."
Wen Yin smiled with her eyebrows curved: "Is it okay? Doctor Shen."
The gloom in Shen Sinian's pupils was also blown away by Wen Yin's smile, and he nodded.
"Okay, sure."
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The author has something to say: Feed, ahem, I will definitely feed you enough! [covering my face and peeking]
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