As his mind drifted, red-haired Yu Jin's warning voice suddenly rang in his mind: “Watch your back!”
Yu Jin was snapped out of his thoughts. Before he even turned around, he gripped his revolver tightly, using his coat as cover to aim under his arm and past his waist at the person behind him.
He turned his head quickly and found that there was indeed a woman in a white lab coat standing not far behind him, carrying a tray and sizing him up with a raised eyebrow.
But eerily enough, Yu Jin hadn't heard her approach at all.
He asked red-haired Yu Jin in his mind when the woman had arrived, but even red-haired Yu Jin hesitated.
Because she had suddenly appeared while his attention was focused elsewhere, he hadn't heard the woman's footsteps either.
This made Yu Jin even more vigilant. Sizing up the woman in front of him, he asked in a grave voice, “Are you a doctor here?”
It wasn't that he was being foolish by asking such an obvious question despite her clear attire; there was a precedent, after all. The psychiatric patient masquerading as a nurse was still in the lobby’s “restroom” taking care of those two boys.
In the psychiatric ward, anyone could be anyone.
However, Yu Jin didn't think the woman in front of him looked like a patient. Patients rarely looked so sharp and put-together.
Her outfit was far too neat.
The lab coat was merely draped over her shoulders. Underneath, she wore a high-quality dark gray suit over a crisp gray dress shirt, which made her look tall and slender.
Most importantly, she wore her hair in a shoulder-length, slicked-back style with face-framing strands. The sharp, naturally imposing air between her brows made her look less like a psychiatrist and more like a guard at a mental institution.
She was very young, looking to be thirty at the absolute most.
On the tray she held were three vials of swirling, faintly reddish potion that looked like drops of blood in clear water. Next to them was a prescription slip in a style Yu Jin had seen before; it didn't look fake.
While Yu Jin was observing the woman, she was also observing him.
After studying him for a moment, she smiled and said, “Yu Jin, I know you.”
“?”
Yu Jin was taken aback. He racked his brain trying to place her face, but no matter how hard he thought, he couldn't recall ever seeing her. His brow furrowed deeper.
The woman smiled and explained, “You've never seen me, but I know who you are. I'm a researcher seconded to Shuguang Hospital from the Research Institute, surnamed Chi. I was in the same batch as Mei Su. Oh, Mei Su is the doctor who performed your re-examination. What are you doing here? Picking up your report? If so, you're going the wrong way. Mei Su's office is to the left.”
The woman's answer was very natural and clear, but for some reason, Yu Jin couldn't help but feel that something was off about her.
He looked toward the corridor in the opposite direction but didn't budge. Instead, he continued to probe, “What's going on on the forty-sixth floor? Why haven't I seen a single nurse?”
The woman glanced back, completely unconcerned about exposing the back of her head to Yu Jin. She turned back around shortly, her expression turning slightly serious. “Just now, an unidentified suspicious person tried to sneak into a ward on the forty-fifth floor to commit a crime but was caught red-handed. Her intrusion caused some chaos on the forty-fifth floor, making the patients unstable, so the nurses all went down to help.”
“But surely they shouldn't leave the floor completely empty?”
“Am I not a person?”
The woman pointed to herself and rolled her eyes slightly. “Nothing happened on the forty-sixth floor, so why keep so many people here?”
“?”
Nothing happened?
Patients using the elevator lobby as a restroom isn't a problem?
A Fox Immortal wanting to lead humanity to wander across Blue Star isn't a problem?
Does the former director, Elder Chi, have to get killed for it to be a problem?
It was simply unbeli—wait, what did she say her surname was?
Yu Jin's pupils dilated in shock. “Your surname is Chi?”
The woman smiled and nodded.
Yu Jin's heart tightened. “Which Chi?”
“The one you're thinking of. The Chi in Chi Mu.”
Though the name Chi Mu sounded a bit tragic, Chi Mu was indeed a hero...
Yu Jin's lips twitched. “Then you and former Director Chi...”
“He is my father.”
“!!!”
It really was true?!
Yu Jin was shocked.
But why was he her father?
Given former Director Chi's age, he could easily be this woman's grandfather, couldn't he?
While Yu Jin was frozen in shock, the woman walked past him and helped up the female patient who was still clutching her head in the corridor.
When the female patient heard the woman's voice, her whole body shuddered, but she didn't refuse the assistance.
Guiding her back into the ward, the woman explained to Yu Jin:
“Ah Lan suffers from severe paranoia. Perhaps the existence of Nightmare Disasters allowed her to find an interpretation of her life, mistakenly believing that all the hardships she has experienced are just a nightmare.
As for the ‘reality’ she speaks of... the doctors—well, we believe it is simply her way of conceptualizing her real-world hardships.
She refuses to coexist with suffering, yet she cannot imagine a world without it, nor can she see what such a world would look like, so she convinced herself that she is blind.
But in truth, as long as you are willing to help her and let her feel your presence, your closeness, and your kindness, she will briefly ‘see’ what that world looks like because of the beauty of humanity.
Of course, this so-called ‘seeing’ is only a feeling. After all, that world is just a product of her imagination.”
Saying this, the woman let out a couple of dry chuckles, nodded at Yu Jin, and walked deeper into the corridor in her high heels.
“Come on. I know you want to see him.
Back before he retired, people tried everything to get an audience with him, but since he ended up like this, fewer and fewer people come to visit.
You aren't the first, but you're certainly the best at seizing an opportunity.
I know what you want, but unfortunately, he can't give you anything right now.
But since you're already here, it doesn't hurt to pay him a visit. He really does need some company.”
Frowning as he watched her walking away, Yu Jin's mind was in a bit of a whirlwind.
She was former Director Chi's daughter?
And she thought he was here to find an opportunity to curry favor with him?
She was far too cynical in her judgment of others.
But it wasn't completely incomprehensible either. Coming from that kind of background and family, it wasn't surprising for her to have such biases.
She had probably seen way too many social climbers and sycophants.
Yu Jin didn't feel insulted by her disdain. On the contrary, he breathed a sigh of relief.
At least now he had a plausible excuse to verify Elder Chi's safety.
As for his reputation...
Was he, a mere entry-level investigator, some kind of prominent figure anyway?
Laughing self-deprecatingly, he quickened his pace to catch up. Keeping an eye on the woman while surveying the surrounding wards, he asked in confusion, “Why is there no security here?”
The woman let out a soft snort.
“What? Admitting that you came here specifically to see him now?”
Yu Jin choked slightly on his words and remained silent.
The woman explained, “No matter how old and sick he gets, he is still the former guardian deity of Haicheng, a hero who guided the Bureau all the way to where it is today. The Bureau won't forget him, much less abandon him just because he's no longer useful. Just because you don't see any security doesn't mean it isn't there.”
Yu Jin blinked, thinking to himself that she had a point.
It was only after red-haired Yu Jin materialized in reality that he had truly come into contact with the extraordinary world of Dreamwalkers. But he had only just crossed the threshold; he hadn't even awakened yet.
Given the bizarre and supernatural powers of Awakened, almost anything was possible.
Just like the one in Scorpion Tail Alley last night, wasn't that person hiding in the shadows too?
At that thought, Yu Jin instinctively scanned the surrounding areas of shadow.
The woman glanced back at Yu Jin, catching him looking around, and smiled. “Perhaps they are indeed hiding in the shadows, who knows. I've never seen them either. Sometimes I even wonder if the Bureau didn't arrange any security for him at all.”
Saying this, the woman suddenly stopped in her tracks, turned around to face Yu Jin, and looked at him with great interest. “Or perhaps... they did it on purpose?
And the reason, of course, would be to squeeze every last drop of value out of the old man, using him as bait to reel in big fish with malicious intent toward Haicheng or the Bureau.
Compared to an old man who is already yesterday's news, catching a new big fish would be a truly substantial achievement. Don't you think there's some truth to that?”
Rate on N.U.
