That was right. He had taken the opportunity when firing the gun to pull red-haired Yu Jin back.
This way, “Xia Jie” would vanish into air, and no one would be able to find him. Once the Bureau understood the situation, they would conduct a deep screening of the hospital, dragging all the likes of Wu Xinting and the various schemes behind them into the light.
So far, the plan was absolutely perfect—except for the part where he got slashed.
This slash had been intentionally delivered by red-haired Yu Jin.
In those few seconds of their brief clash, red-haired Yu Jin had told him:
“You're just a clerk. Facing Xia Jie, staying alive is already a win. If you don't get hurt at all, it's not going to make any sense.”
Yu Jin had been left speechless. He had no choice but to take the hit.
But since he was technically slashing himself, red-haired Yu Jin had held back, leaving Yu Jin with nothing more than a superficial wound—albeit a rather large one.
As for how he survived, Yu Jin could only claim that an adrenaline rush had allowed him to narrowly dodge a fatal blow.
The surrounding crowd pressed him with questions all at once. Yu Jin calmed his breathing and answered in fragments.
In the end, it was Chi Yu, standing nearby, who clearly explained everything on behalf of Yu Jin, who was supposedly still too shaken and terrified to speak properly.
“It was Xia Jie! He was definitely after Brother Jin. He loitered outside the door for a long time. My guess is he was waiting for Brother Yaoting to return so he could take them both out. Fortunately, I noticed something was off ahead of time and alerted Brother Jin. Brother Jin's reflexes were incredibly fast; he drew his gun and shot back the moment Xia Jie made his move. He fired four or five times? Probably five. I was too scared and hid.”
“!!!”
Upon hearing that the attacker was Xia Jie, everyone present darkened, disbelief flickering in their eyes.
“Are you saying Xia Jie of Qingniao Street boldly walked right into Shuguang Hospital?”
“Did he come to silence them? What, does he want to reunite Post-Disaster Investigation Group 4 in the afterlife?”
“Heh, why didn't he just charge into the Bureau's main lobby and reunite the entire Bureau while he was at it?”
“He sure has some nerve. He! Really! Has! Some! Nerve!”
In an instant, overwhelming rage filled the ward. The surrounding ordinary citizens were silenced by fear.
The injured Special Response Squad members present all wore dark expressions. Some vanished instantly to hunt for Xia Jie, while others grabbed their phones to spread the word.
“Boss, Xia Jie has appeared. He's at Shuguang Hospital.”
“What did he come for? What else? He came to kill. His target is Yu Jin. He wants to wipe out Post-Disaster Investigation Group 4 completely, just like he did to Squad 6!”
“I don't care about the Bureau's regulations; I can't take this lying down! Even if I have to dig three feet into the ground today, I will find him! Otherwise, I'll never be able to live with this!”
“What? Don't be rash? You're too late, I've already called in backup.”
“?”
Watching his colleagues seething with righteous fury, Yu Jin's eyelid twitched. The hand holding his gun shrank back behind his back.
He consoled himself that he hadn't meant to enrage his colleagues. He hated Xia Jie as well, but he truly had no other option; he had been forced to resort to this strategy to alert the Bureau that Shuguang Hospital was in danger.
Even so, Yu Jin still felt incredibly guilty.
He swallowed hard, not daring to look anyone in the eye, and turned his head away.
But in the eyes of the others, this reaction looked more like a heart-wrenching, silent despair.
After all, this was a hospital cooperating with the Bureau, housing numerous convalescing Dreamwalkers. Yet Xia Jie had managed to slip right to the door of Room 807 and nearly murder one of the only two remaining survivors of Post-Disaster Investigation Group 4.
What a colossal humiliation.
It was as if he didn't respect the Special Response Squads at all!
United in their shared outrage, everyone instantly went on high alert, ready for combat.
Before long, Li Ji arrived.
He was wearing his usual attire—a dress shirt and trousers so wrinkled they looked like a jigsaw puzzle.
As the person in charge of the Eastern District, Shuguang Hospital fell under his jurisdiction. With such a major incident occurring here, it was impossible for him not to show up.
Upon arriving, he first surveyed the scene, then patted Yu Jin on the shoulder and gave a solemn promise:
“This was my failure. But rest assured, not a single suspicious individual will escape the hospital today.”
With that, he stood up and waved his hand. The mildness in his eyes instantly sharpened, cutting through the usual haze in his gaze like a needle.
“Search the building, floor by floor. Until the search is complete, no one is allowed to leave.”
The Special Response Squads that had accompanied him departed one by one to carry out their orders. Even as more and more people gathered in the hospital, the ambient noise only grew quieter.
The piercing alarm was finally shut off, and the hospital returned to silence.
Yet the true alarm had clearly only just sounded.
...
Tang Yaoting rushed back the very moment he heard of the incident in Room 807.
When he saw Yu Jin's injury, his expression twisted in fury.
“Who did this?!”
Yu Jin managed a weak smile, too embarrassed to admit it was himself.
Seeing his close friend under attack once again, Tang Yaoting shared his grief and anger, crying out in anguish:
“Now that you're injured, can you still be my best man?”
“?”
Seriously, bro?
I'm hurt this badly, and this is what you're bringing up?
Yes, I admit I slashed myself, but you don't know that! Couldn't you show a little concern first?
And even if you're dying to get married, you should at least find someone reliable. Once today is over, that Wu Xinting will likely face a firing squad. It's not like you can marry thin air!
Yu Jin gave Tang Yaoting an annoyed side-eye and remained silent.
Tang Yaoting, realizing this was not the time for jokes, said in a heavy voice:
“He was after me.”
Yu Jin was taken aback.
Tang Yaoting clenched his fists, hanging his head in pain.
“Xia Jie was after me! This is my ward and my hospital bed. Yu Jin, you were only here waiting for me by chance and ended up as a scapegoat. As expected, he sees a genius like me as his greatest threat and cannot wait to eliminate me. I should have been the one injured, not you...”
Tang Yaoting's tone was filled with profound guilt, making Yu Jin feel a bit guilty himself.
Setting aside the whole 'genius' thing, the blame for today's incident didn't lie with Tang Yaoting anyway, but with himself.
Yet there were some things he simply could not reveal.
Yaoting, I've really put you through the wringer.
Tang Yaoting indeed felt wronged, and he added:
“If only I had been the one injured, we could have postponed the wedding banquet, and then you would have been able to be my best man without any issues.”
“?”
Come on...
The light in Yu Jin's eyes died instantly.
His mouth twitched. Turning his gaze away from Tang Yaoting, he stared out the window, utterly detesting this world where only best men existed.
...
Meanwhile, elsewhere.
In a quiet stairwell, a janitor carrying a bucket of dirty water was climbing up toward the eighth floor.
Just as he was about to push the door open, he heard gunshots echo from the corridor.
His body stiffened abruptly. Suspicion flared in his mind, and without a second thought, he spun around and headed back down.
Halfway down, his pocket began to vibrate.
He pulled out a shadow terminal and answered. A harsh, grating voice that sounded like metal scraping against metal came from the other end.
“You idiot, who told you to make your move now?”
The janitor's face darkened as he ducked into a corner. He opened his mouth, seeming as if he wanted to explain, but in the end, he remained silent. Instead, he hissed in a low, furious tone:
“Who do you think you are? I haven't joined you yet, so you can't order me around. Don't boss me around, or I'll hack off your limbs and use them as sacrificial offerings!”
“Beep, beep, beep—”
The terminal went dead, and the voice disappeared.
A vicious gleam flashed in the janitor's eyes. He crushed the terminal in his hand, tossed it into the dirty water bucket, picked up the bucket once more, and continued downstairs.
His brow furrowed, a look of shock and suspicion washing over his face.
There was an unexpected hiccup in the plan.
Someone had impersonated him.
Who was it?
...
Rate on N.U.
