In another room, doctors were busy trying to resuscitate two newly passed experts. They attempted cardiac resuscitation, then tried epinephrine injection and so on. But no matter how hard the doctors tried, the line on the electrocardiogram screen remained linear. The line was as stable as a moving bullet train.
Ten minutes later, the doctors gave up. They had done everything medically possible but to no avail. There wasn’t even a single response coming from the two bodies.
“Miss Tang, Mister Xia.” Guan Weiyi looked helpless. “I’m terribly sorry, we’ve tried our best but failed to rescue the two experts.”
“How could this happen?” Tang Yuyan found it difficult to hide her shock.
Guan Weiyi explained, “To be honest, we’ve conducted a preliminary check on the two experts yesterday night. What we found was that their body functions had aged like nothing we had ever seen. His brain looked like it was placed under the sun for days, there wasn’t a single bit of moisture and it had shrunken up.”
“What could’ve caused that?” Tang Yuyan questioned.
Guan Weiyi shook his head in defeat. “I have no idea.”
“How could you not know? You’re the doctor.” Tang Yuyan wasn’t pleased with his response.
The doctor replied, “Miss Tang, not even the best forensics doctor would be able to answer you.”
As Tang Yuyan continued to engage Guan Weiyi in their conversation, Xia Lei went to stand in front of one bed and triggered his X-ray vision. The vision quickly penetrated through the body’s brain. This time, he just so happened to catch the rapid shrinkage of the brain. The organ lost its moisture and then its regular colour to become a mass of rotten black.
Following that, Xia Lei scanned his torso. Weirdly, his organs had seemed very normal, perfectly ordinary for a recently deceased person.
“What the hell?” He was shocked.
“What did you find?” Tang Yuyan came over.
Xia Lei hesitated before he answered, “I don’t know what’s going on. There’s still no answer to the reason behind their insanity, let alone their cause of death.”
Tang Yuyan frowned. She seemed to be deep in thought.
“It’s bad! It’s bad! Doctor Wei!” Another shrill scream rang out from outside the ward. “The last one, the last expert… I don’t think she’s going to make it!”
Xia Lei dashed out of the ward into the corridor. Spotting the nurse standing in front of another ward, he quickly ran over.
“Wait for me.” Tang Yuyan caught up with him.
Entering the ward, the sight of a lying female patient came to Xia Lei vision. The woman was a remarkable physicist, whom Xia Lei had come across at the hillside base but they hadn’t exchanged a single word. Back then, she looked as healthy as one could be. Unlike now, she was a very radiant middle-aged woman. Pitifully, her current face was lacking its usual redness and her eyes were wide open. What was left was just a sad empty dark hole in her eyes.
Eerily, her lips were curled into a smile accepting her approaching death. The upturned lip looked peaceful and content, it was one that could make anyone feel safe. The existence of her expression gave off an illusion that she wasn’t about to die but that she had successfully booked a ticket to heaven and was about to embark on an exciting journey.
Guan Weiyi and a few doctors quickly pushed all the emergency rescue equipment into the ward. Before they could do anything, the female physicist opened her mouth and let out a weird noise. Letting out her last breath, her lungs deflated for the last time.
Wei Guanyi quickly led the rescue.
Xia Lei’s left vision found itself in the woman's brain. All he could see was a brain that was shrinking like an ice cream left to melt in the sun. The whole process occurred faster than he could imagine.
“Just what on Earth is going on here?!” Xia Lei’s heart was shrouded with shock and confusion.
After a few minutes, Wei Guanyi found himself in front of Xia Lei and Tang Yuyan again. “Mister Xia, Miss Tang, this is all I can do. Everyone on the team is dead. The whole thing has come to an end. I’m terribly sorry that I wasn’t able to help much.”
Tang Yuyan replied, “I’ll arrange professionals to run the autopsy. Please have a comprehensive report ready for me.”
“Got it, I’ll collect the data for it now.” Saying nothing else, Wei Guanyi left the ward. As soon as he got to the door, he turned around to look at Xia Lei, who was still staring at the body weirdly.
“We should go,” interrupted Tang Yuyan.
“Yeah.” Xia Lei retracted his vision and proceeded to leave the ward.
Leaving the sanatorium, the warmth of the bright afternoon sun could be felt on their skin but all they could feel were chills down their spine. A lingering feeling of emptiness plagued their hearts.
“Everyone on the expert team died. The only one left is Ning Jing.” Tang Yuyan sighed. “But we don’t know if she’s still alive or dead. I can only hope that she’s alright now.”
Xia Lei felt a stabbing pain to his heart. He was fully conscious of the answer to that. Ning Jing wasn’t exactly dead but her existence had disappeared completely. In essence, Ning Jing was no longer a part of this world. Despite knowing that, Xia Lei didn’t know how to break the truth to Tang Yuyan.
“In the beginning, the experts either died straightaway or went insane but now even the ones that went crazy are dead. It’s just really weird their deaths all happened within a twenty-four-hour frame. Who could explain something like this? I don’t think I have what it takes to solve this case.” Tang Yuyan mumbled.
Xia Lei thought to himself secretly. “Perhaps Ning Jing was already not herself when she went insane. Only Zhu Xuanyue would know the truth behind everything but she’s still asleep. Gosh, I have no idea when she’s going to wake up. This is such a mess…”
“Nevermind, let’s just leave this to the professionals. I’m going to hand off this case.” Tang Yuyan took a deep breath and allowed a smile to appear on her face. “Let’s go get some coffee.”
“You still have the stomach for coffee after such experience?” Xia Lei was speechless.
“Well, death is not uncommon to our line of work. There’s no point looking for excuses.” Tang Yuyan hooked her arms around his elbow intimately. “There aren’t many chances for us to be together like this. Now that you’re here, I’m not about to let you go just like that. Come, let’s go for coffee. I heard there’s this cafe nearby that’s pretty popular, we should go try it out.”
Xia Lei could only let out a wry smile as she led him away.
What followed next was a date between the two ‘lovers’. Not only did Tang Yuyan bring him for coffee, but she had also forced him into the cinema for a movie. If Xia Lei hadn’t sent his father a text for help, Xia Changhe probably wouldn’t have called him and faked an emergency. Without that, Xia Lei was pretty certain that Tang Yuyan had half the mind to drag him into a hotel.
It was already night when he returned to the Peace Mansion.
Xia Changhe was in the garden admiring the moon as he sipped on his tea.
“Dad, look what you did to me.” Xia Lei groaned as soon as he spotted Xia Changhe. “You promised her something and now she’s forcing it onto me. I don’t even know what to do with her now.”
Xia Changhe chuckled. “As I said, my promise is only my promise. You’re the one who gets the final say on the decision.”
Gloom was plastered all over Xia Lei’s face. “But the Tang family had taken your promise very seriously. All they’re waiting for is a green light from me. Today, Tang Yuyan had even introduced me as her fiance. She even mentioned that she would be expecting an answer from me at her godfather’s sixtieth birthday party. How should I respond to this?”
“You should know what you want. After all, it isn’t that difficult to reject someone. Unless… you’ve started to catch genuine feelings for her. Is that what it is?” Xia Changhe seemed very interested.
Xia Lei scoffed. “You really think rejection is easy? Sometimes, rejection brings damage.”
Xia Changhe took another sip of tea. The old man seemed to be enjoying his beverage very much. “I’m not going to involve myself in your youngster conflict. I just want to know when the hell you are planning to give me a grandchild, you bastard. You better not suggest grandchildren without marriage or I’m going to beat the shit out of you.”
From Xia Changhe’s words, the man had actually taken a great liking to the idea of Tang Yuyan becoming his daughter in law.
Ah, it seemed that his father wasn’t a man who was true to his words.
But he couldn’t be blamed. Which father in this world hadn’t hoped for grandchildren? His son had successfully built an outstanding business but he had no plans for an heir. How was that acceptable? To be fairly honest, Xia Changhe’s way of urging marriage was relatively gentler among the cluster who practised the same behaviour.
“Ugh, I’m calling it a day. I’ll head back inside the house now.” Xia Lei was eager to leave.
“Wait.” Xia Changhe halted Xia Lei. The old man continued, “Is there still no news from the Knight Hospitaller?”
“Do you mean the investigation on the FA Organization headquarters?” Xia Lei instinctively lowered his voice.
Xia Changhe nodded. “It’s not viable to allow the four ladies to continue staying here. You need to urge them for faster progress.”
Xia Lei answered, “According to our prior promise, the Knight Hospitaller are expected to give me a solid answer after a month. Before that, we’ll just have to keep a close eye on the four of them. I let them stay here because I’ve got plans to use them for.”
“Alright. Just try to end your deal with the Knight Hospitaller as soon as possible. There’s bound to be trouble if this goes on,” warned Xia Changhe.
Xia Lei nodded. “Understood. I’ll urge the Knight Hospitaller after Boss Shi’s sixtieth birthday.”
“I’ll be going with you, the old lord Tang has invited me to a game of chess,” said Xia Changhe.
“Also, the woman you brought home…”
Xia Lei quickly halted his father. “Dad, no need to involve yourself with her. Trust me, you’ve got no control over the situation.” Without offering any explanation, Xia Lei turned around and left.
The moonlight shone on his lonely retreating back as the dilemma tormented Xia Lei’s heart.
“Am I really planning to be with Tang Yuyan? Do I really want to marry her?”
This was the very first-time such thought had occurred in his mind. The unfamiliar sensation sent waves to his head.
Then, he suddenly recalled the incident that took place on the roof of Might Biotechnology Corporation back in New Delhi. The black-robed man had mentioned that Xia Lei was expected to give him an answer after three years and that he was going to kill him.
The sudden recollection made his heart sunk. Now, there was more to worry about his unknown future.
If he had only left with three years left to live and that Thunder Horse Organization had yet to be assigned an heir, would that consider his life as incomplete? Would this become an unrepairable regret in his life?
Passing by Zhu Xuanyue’s room, Xia Lei’s left eye twitched to peer inside. The obstructing wooden door soon disappeared in his field of vision.
Zhu Xuanyue was still wide awake. Dangling her body on the edge of the bed, her butt was in the air while she glued her eyes to the bottom of the bed frame. She seemed to be looking for something but that was not the point. The point was that she was stark naked without a single bit of modesty. At the sight of that, Xia Lei was close to breaking into a nosebleed on spot.
What was she trying to do?
No one knew.