After putting the person into the ambulance, and all the way until the ambulance drove toward the Xi family’s privately invested hospital, Xi Zhengqing never once let go of Xin Hexue’s hand throughout the entire process.
Xin Hexue looked down; his hand was completely wrapped in the other party’s palm.
He didn’t know whether it was because his own hand was too cold, causing the temperature receptors in his skin to malfunction, or because of something else, but Xin Hexue felt as if the vitality in Xi Zhengqing’s body was rapidly draining away, and his hand no longer had its usual warmth.
Xin Hexue’s Adam’s apple moved up and down silently. He had just spat out some blood, and there was still a faint, sweet, rusty taste of iron in his mouth.
The medical personnel were giving Xi Zhengqing emergency treatment.
They had to avoid the human body’s tissues and the tangled circuits inside the outer thoracic cavity, dismantle the bionic device, then retrieve the bullet from within and stop the bleeding.
But the procedure was too complex and massive. Beads of sweat the size of soybeans formed on their foreheads, and they still had no idea where to start. They could only perform basic hemostasis and wait to deal with the rest on the hospital’s operating table.
It was a bit cramped.
Xin Hexue shifted toward the outside, even though his hand was still tightly gripped by Xi Zhengqing.
[When I joined the company, I remember Article Seventy-Eight in the staff manual warned that the target individual carries the core power of the small world. If they die, the small world will also collapse.] Xin Hexue had always had a good memory. [A senior also told me that the energy loss caused by the collapse of a small world would be compensated to the company by the staff who entered the world. Is that true?]
K answered honestly: [……Yes, it’s one of the company’s unspoken rules.]
Xin Hexue suspected he was about to start working to pay off debt.
[This kind of situation is unlikely to occur at the moment.] K comforted him. [The current scan shows subject Xi Zhengqing’s physical status is rated as “extremely healthy.”]
[He also has a backup bionic heart.]
Xin Hexue closed his eyes.
Right. He had instinctively overlooked that just now.
The two hearts were on either side, and when the mutant fired the shot, he had aimed at the left heart.
He took the cup of water handed over by the medical personnel, moistened his throat, and diluted the bloody taste in his mouth.
Xin Hexue gradually calmed down. He rubbed his temple with his fingertip, his tense nerves slowly relaxing. It was all because he relied too heavily on making plans and strategizing ahead of time. Adapting on the spot was his weak point. That’s why, when the actual situation repeatedly deviated from the plan, he became flustered.
He hadn’t even noticed that when the Xi family faced Xi Zhengqing’s injury, they didn’t show the level of panic they should have. Maybe there was some, but not enough.
‘Then…was Xi Zhengqing…?’
Xin Hexue looked at the unconscious Xi Zhengqing again.
He noticed the brief tremble of the Alpha’s eyelids.
‘Pretending?’
Xin Hexue’s gaze turned cold.
There was a bump in the road.
Xin Hexue took the chance to feign instability and leaned forward, collapsing onto Xi Zhengqing’s chest.
Then he heard a very low muffled groan, and the patient’s face turned red.
‘Still pretending?’
Xin Hexue looked down coldly.
As a result, the Alpha’s strange physical structure caused a stream of blood to spurt out in a straight line.
Droplets scattered and some splashed onto the side of Xin Hexue’s face.
“…”
He wanted to throw up.
‘The host’s fiancé was hard, but not dead yet.’
K saw Xin Hexue wipe away the bloodstains with a wet tissue in annoyance.
The cat wanted to play a prank, but ended up dirtying its snow-white fur.
………
Xi Zhengqing was wheeled into the operating room, then transferred to the ICU.
The air was filled with the pungent scent of free chlorine; the smell of disinfectant in the hospital was already very familiar to Xin Hexue.
It was as if, from the very beginning of this small world’s story, Xin Hexue had been going in and out of hospitals nonstop.
Every so often, he would have to step into a place like this.
It was like a specific save point in a game.
And as the plot developed, the save point had changed from West City First Hospital in District Six to the best hospital in the core zone, Shenglan Hospital.
He stood in the hallway outside the ward.
Through the glass window, Xin Hexue could see the unconscious Xi Zhengqing lying on the hospital bed, tubes connected to him to maintain vital signs.
The doctor explained to Xin Hexue that the patient was temporarily out of life-threatening danger and would soon wake up from the coma.
“However, the patient’s brain suffered trauma, so there may be memory loss after he regains consciousness…”
Xin Hexue caught the key point the doctor actually wanted to tell him. “Doctor, are you saying that his brain suffered trauma, even though the bullet hit his heart?”
The doctor stammered, “Y-yes, that’s correct.”
Xin Hexue continued asking, “So what you’re saying is, there’s a high chance he might lose his memory, right?”
Doctor: “Y-yes.”
Xin Hexue: “But the bullet hit the heart, how did it end up damaging the brain?”
Doctor: “That’s because the situation at the time might have caused the patient extreme pain and emotional distress. After waking up, due to psychological defense mechanisms, there’s a certain probability of memory loss.”
Xin Hexue glanced into the ward.
Selective amnesia? That was a trick he had already played out…now it was being used to fool him?
Xin Hexue didn’t make things hard for the doctor, because the man was merely forced to be Xi Zhengqing’s accomplice under work pressure. He smiled and said, “Doctor, I understand what you’ve explained. Is there anything else the family needs to be especially mindful of?”
The doctor continued hesitantly, rattling off an extremely complex medical term at such a high speed that Xin Hexue didn’t catch it.
Xin Hexue nodded. “Mm, so you’re saying he’s contracted a terminal illness that current medical technology can’t overcome. During this time, the family should take special care to attend to his emotions to avoid rapid deterioration, is that correct?”
Doctor: “Yes. This condition has no precedent for recovery in medical history, but there have been cases where Alphas lived longer than expected when their health was well-maintained.”
Xin Hexue: “Is there a possibility of dying of natural causes?”
The doctor glanced into the ward hesitantly, then quickly turned back to answer Xin Hexue’s question. “Yes. As long as the family ensures the patient stays in a good mood and maintains the will to live, this condition has the potential for natural death.”
“I see…” Xin Hexue’s tone was meaningful. “I understand. Thank you, doctor.”
The doctor left hurriedly.
Xin Hexue walked into the ward with light footsteps and stood in front of the bed.
Xi Zhengqing’s eyelids trembled slightly.
Despite the subtle movement, Xin Hexue caught it immediately.
He sat down in the chair provided for the caregiver and used both hands to gently hold Xi Zhengqing’s right hand, which was laying at the edge of the blanket.
The young man rested his elbows on the edge of the bed, his chin and lips lightly touching the fingers of his clasped hands in a posture similar to prayer.
Xi Zhengqing’s right hand was cradled in those hands, and the warmth of the young man’s breath touched his skin.
Xi Zhengqing’s pinky twitched slightly, like a sign of awakening in those TV dramas where a vegetative patient wakes up after years of coma.
Then, he heard Xin Hexue speak in a soft yet resolute tone, “If you have forgotten what happened between us, then everything in the past will be written off.”
“From now on, there will be no connection between us.”
Xi Zhengqing’s eyelids jumped. He pretended to have just regained consciousness and hadn’t heard what Xin Hexue said, saying in a hoarse voice, “Water… Ah Xue, I need water…”
Xin Hexue silently poured a cup of hot water. He adjusted the hospital bed’s headrest so Xi Zhengqing could sit up halfway.
Xi Zhengqing cautiously glanced at him, trying to read his expression. “Ah Xue, can you feed me?”
Xin Hexue didn’t respond.
Xi Zhengqing: “Are you still mad at me…”
Before he could finish, the mouth of the cup was pressed against his lips, and the cup body suddenly tilted. The water inside was so hot that it seemed like it would burn off a layer of skin on his tongue and Xi Zhengqing choked on several mouthfuls of the water.
Ah Xue was just too worried about him, so he didn’t notice how hot the water was.
[Xi Zhengqing love value +2]
Xi Zhengqing’s love value had already reached an astonishing 98.
There was no ripple of emotion in Xin Hexue’s eyes. The young man he played had become numb to his lover’s repeated deceptions.
He was neither angry as Xi Zhengqing had guessed, nor did he show any sadness.
Xin Hexue no longer showed any emotional reaction because of him and this realization made Xi Zhengqing completely panicked.
Even being hit, cursed at, or hated would’ve been better….Xi Zhengqing couldn’t accept being completely erased from Xin Hexue’s heart. If things went on like this, it would be just as Xin Hexue had said; there would not be any connection between them again.
He couldn’t accept that.
Xi Zhengqing flipped his hand and grabbed Xin Hexue’s wrist, like a dying man clutching at the last straw.
“Give me a moment to explain, okay?”
“At the beginning, I really wasn’t honest with you. I was worried that the news of Pei Guangji’s coma would make you too upset, so I pretended to be him.”
“Later I realized I’d made a huge mistake, a complete mess, so I tried to approach you as my true self…”
Xin Hexue interrupted him, “Do you need me to help jog your memory?”
His fingertips were cool as they touched Xi Zhengqing’s eye, and the gray artificial eye closed reflexively. The temporary loss of vision allowed Xi Zhengqing to focus all his attention to sound, and he heard Xin Hexue speaking word by word;
“When you were wearing the same black eyes as Guangji’s, what kind of mindset did you have when you accepted that collar?”
“You must’ve thought this Beta was quite interesting and fun, so you went along and stayed.” Xin Hexue said softly, “You were just stirred up by the thrill of conquest.”
“What you were thinking was, since this Beta couldn’t tell people apart, it would be easy to deceive him, to toy with him.”
His fingertip slid from Xi Zhengqing’s upper eyelid down to the corner of his eye. With such a vital sensory organ placed under another person’s hand, electric shivers coursed through Xi Zhengqing’s spine.
But compared to this gesture that resembled teasing, Xin Hexue’s words cruelly dissected the truth, viciously tearing apart the elegant and gentle facade the Alpha had shown at first and exposing the animalistic savagery beneath.
Xi Zhengqing’s face turned pale and blue. His thin lips trembled for a moment, and his chest felt like it had been pierced through with a hole leaking cold air. He was completely defeated and stripped of all calm and composure.
“No, it’s not like that, Ah Xue, from beginning to end, my feelings for you have never been fake. I love you, I love you.”
Xin Hexue stood up. “You’re lying again.”
The young man seemed tired.
“Forget it. Whether it’s true or false, it doesn’t matter anymore. I don’t want to waste the effort distinguishing whether your words come from the heart or are carefully crafted lies.”
[Xi Zhengqing heartbreak value +15]
Xi Zhengqing finally understood that he had lost all credibility in Xin Hexue’s heart.
He thought back to that day on the ICU floor. When they got onto the elevator, Xin Hexue told him he hated deception the most.
And how had he responded at the time?
He was merely wrapping one lie with another.
Xin Hexue took a deep breath and said, “Alright, get some rest. I’m leaving. I don’t want revenge, nor do I want any compensation from you. Don’t contact me again. I’ll move my things out of the apartment.”
Seeing him turn to leave, Xi Zhengqing panicked and scrambled toward the edge of the bed, not even realizing he had tugged at the IV needle in the back of his hand and blood was now flowing back through the plastic tube.
“No, don’t leave me!”
“In the last days of my life, can’t you just look at me a little more?”
Still lying.
Did he really think he could fool him with that doctor’s half-baked acting?
Xin Hexue’s eyes remained indifferent.
Xi Zhengqing suddenly looked out the window in disbelief.
Time had passed and now, it was he who lay in the ICU bed, and the one standing outside the ward was Pei Guangji.
Xin Hexue turned and saw Pei Guangji, and surprise flickered in his eyes.
But he still walked toward the door, not sparing Xi Zhengqing even a glance.
[Xi Zhengqing heartbreak value+5]
………
The hallway was so silent one could hear a pin drop.
The Alpha’s injuries had already been treated, but the disheveled suit on his body still served as a reminder of the chaos he had caused at the engagement banquet tonight.
Pei Guangji tried to speak as naturally as possible. “…I came to take you home.”
The sky outside had gone completely dark.
Too much had happened this night.
“Home?” Xin Hexue gave a small smile, his voice tinged with sorrow. “I don’t have a home. The only place that could barely be considered one is already too far away. The only person who could barely be considered family was destroyed by you.”
This wasn’t exactly Pei Guangji’s fault. Objectively speaking, Xin Bao had walked into destruction on his own. It was just that his crime didn’t deserve death, he only needed a few decades of prison time. But because Pei Guangji ignored the email sent by the prison guard, it indirectly led to Xin Bao’s death.
Even if he was not bullied by his cellmates, the prison guards would have speculated on what the big shot wanted. After all, it was Pei Guangji who had provided the evidence that sent this criminal to jail. Maybe the whole point was to have this person die in there?
Pei Guangji bore some responsibility for Xin Bao’s death too.
“I…” Pei Guangji was at a loss, and it was like a bucket of cold water had been poured over his hopes, “I’m sorry. I’ll make it up to you.”
He recalled how Xin Hexue coughed up blood earlier tonight, and his heart clenched. “Is your body okay? Come with me for a checkup first, alright?”
Pei Guangji had finally learned to ask the young man’s opinion instead of just arranging everything directly, leaving the other party no choice but to passively accept.
“No.” Xin Hexue rejected him. His expression was cold. “You’re meddling a bit too much, Mr. Pei.”
Pei Guangji froze. “I just…” Care about you…
Before the words could come out, Xin Hexue suddenly smiled, a very faint, soft smile.
“Mr. Pei, you seem to have forgotten something.”
“Right now, it’s the night of June 10th. There’s less than a minute left until June 11th.”
The light cast faint shadows beneath the young man’s eyelashes. The wind blew through the hallway, and he looked like a handful of fresh snow falling together with the bright moonlight.
In a daze, Pei Guangji heard the midnight bell as if in a fairytale.
Xin Hexue brushed past him. “I’m free.”
Their contract had expired.
………
Xin Hexue realized there was a clear difference between Pei Guangji and Xi Zhengqing.
It was very straightforward when raising Xi Zhengqing’s heartbreak value. He could immediately react with heart-wrenching pain and the heartbreak value would increase by double digits in one go.
But Pei Guangji, just like the plan Xin Hexue had mapped out for him, was different. He wandered in bits and pieces of memories, and his heart was slowly and gradually gnawed away until it was completely hollowed out. That’s why his heartbreak value only increased point by point. The constant notification sounds were a bit annoying, so Xin Hexue had K mute them.
Finally, the total amount was counted.
[Xi Zhengqing’s current heartbreak value: 70]
[Xi Zhengqing’s current love value: 98]
[Pei Guangji’s current heartbreak value: 89]
[Pei Guangji’s current love value: 99]
Tonight was a double kill. The work on both targets had made significant progress, and Xin Hexue was in a pretty good mood.
But before he could leave the hospital, he was stopped by bodyguards from the Xi family.
“Apologies, Mr. Xin.” Several burly Alpha bodyguards blocked him. “Young Master ordered us to escort you back to the Xi residence.”
They made a respectful gesture, bowing slightly, and the path they cleared led to the aircraft parked at the hospital entrance. “Mr. Xin, please.”
Xin Hexue took a step back warily. “I’m not going back to the Xi family.”
The leading bodyguard said, “Young Master said if you prefer to return to the apartment, that’s fine too. We’ll make sure you get back safely.”
Xi Zhengqing wanted to control his movements?
At the critical moment, Qiu Yuan finally showed up with reinforcements. The people he brought were enough to block the bodyguards. Both sides didn’t make any rash moves and instead fell into a tense standoff.
The leading bodyguard looked at Xin Hexue and said with some embarrassment:
“Mr. Xin, this was Young Master’s instruction. We must ensure you return to the apartment or the Xi residence safely.”
Qiu Yuan asked lazily, “Oh? And after you take him back? Keep him under surveillance?”
The bodyguards didn’t say anything.
Qiu Yuan raised an eyebrow and asked them out of nowhere, “Do you know who this person is?”
He had already walked over and slung an arm around Xin Hexue’s shoulders. Even though Xin Hexue clearly showed his dislike, Qiu Yuan kept that posture and said to the bodyguards, “This is my one and only male lead.”
“You’re trying to kidnap the lead actor from my production? His scenes aren’t even finished yet. If the entire crew’s schedule gets delayed because of this, it’ll be a big problem for me,” Qiu Yuan said in a low voice, laced with a dangerous threat. While the standoff was still in a deadlock, he smiled again. “Of course, I won’t make things hard for you. I’ll explain it to Xi Zhengqing myself. If he understands human language, he should be able to understand it.”
“This…”
The bodyguards looked at each other in confusion.
Xin Hexue coldly brushed off Qiu Yuan’s arm from his shoulder.
He said to the bodyguards, “I’ll go talk to Xi Zhengqing myself and make things clear. It’s late now, you guys go back and rest.”
He looked very gentle.
………
Xin Hexue stepped into the hospital room once again.
Xi Zhengqing was lying in the hospital bed, his half-human, half-mechanical torso still connected to several tubes. He seemed to have guessed that Xin Hexue would return.
Or maybe those bodyguards tipped him off and informed him.
“Zhengqing.”
Xin Hexue approached the bed. His tone was much gentler than before.
“Do you really love me?”
Xi Zhengqing had just watched Pei Guangji leave in despair, and now Xin Hexue had come back. He couldn’t suppress the rising anticipation and joy in his heart, and couldn’t help but embrace Xin Hexue. “Of course, I love you. I love you…”
He kept repeating it, not expecting a response from the young man right now.
Xi Zhengqing only hoped that Xin Hexue wouldn’t directly choose to leave him. As long as there was even the slightest softening in Xin Hexue’s attitude, Xi Zhengqing was confident that he could make it up to him later, chase him again, and mend the cracks in their relationship back to perfection.
But then he heard Xin Hexue’s reply…
“So do I.”
“When you brought out the couple rings back then, I was really happy…”
Like a spring bubbling up from a parched earth bank, Xi Zhengqing was overjoyed, and his speech quickened uncontrollably, “You’ve forgiven me? You’re still willing?”
“Since you love me, I think I love you too…”
Xin Hexue’s eyelids were half-lowered. He was like a gentle immortal or Buddha in the clouds, casting down a compassionate glance upon the pilgrim and sprinkling a bit of pity on all living beings.
Just when Xi Zhengqing’s heart was pounding in anticipation of a response, Xin Hexue removed the catheter from his left pulmonary artery.
“But I can’t help it. What you did really disgusts me.” Xin Hexue’s eyes became indifferent, pulling away from him. “You kept weaving one lie after another. You made our relationship so dirty.”
Xin Hexue advised, “Let’s not make things ugly. Can’t we part peacefully?”
Xi Zhengqing seemed to have not yet come to his senses, staring blankly at Xin Hexue’s back.
He realized that there seemed to be no room for recovery.
[Xi Zhengqing heartbreak value +10]
………
Qiu Yuan was waiting in the corridor. When he saw Xin Hexue pull out the tube without hesitation, even though he knew Xi Zhengqing was faking the severity of his condition, he still couldn’t stop his right eyelid from twitching and a chill running down his spine.
Xin Hexue gave him a cold glance. “Scared?”
Qiu Yuan walked out with him. “How could I be?”
‘I like you even more.’
[Qiu Yuan love value +5]
When they got on the aircraft, Xin Hexue leaned back against the co-pilot seat tiredly.
“By the way,” Qiu Yuan took something out of his shirt pocket, “what’s this?”
It was the handkerchief Xin Hexue had left behind.
The lily embroidery was stained with dried blood, now a deeper, duller crimson.
Qiu Yuan: “Where did you buy this? It’s so realistic. It’s much better than using food coloring mixed with honey.”
He thought Xin Hexue had prepared everything so thoroughly, even taking this detail into consideration.
He couldn’t be blamed…this really did seem like Xin Hexue’s style.
Xin Hexue gave him a disdainful look, then closed his eyes in exhaustion.
After waiting for a long time without a response, Qiu Yuan finally guessed the answer in his heart.
His expression changed in an instant.
He clenched the handkerchief tightly and then placed it back into the inner pocket close to his chest.
At the same time, he dimmed the interior lighting of the aircraft so that Xin Hexue could fall asleep.
Xin Hexue was on the verge of sleep when he heard the notification sound in the haziness of his consciousness…
[Qiu Yuan heartbreak value +10]
