CH 37

On the rooftop of the inpatient department…

The golden sun attempted to shine its gentle, warm rays of sunlight upon the rooftop, but it seemed as if something were blocking it from entering, dimming the entire rooftop.

Squeak!

The door to the roof swung open. Jiangli tidied up the silver strands of hair that fell upon her temples while leaning on her cane and limping towards the centre of the roof.

In the centre of the roof, a yellow playing card was embedded into the concrete tiles, with an intricate ace of spades pattern printed on it. A faint, metallic lustre radiated from it.

Jiangli bent down and yanked the card out of the ground. The sunlight started to shower upon her as if someone had just opened the curtains of a dark room.

Holding the card between her fingers, she frowned and pondered for a moment before inserting the card back into the ground once again.

When Jiangli returned to the ward, Lu Yibei changed into a hospital gown and lay on his bed. He set up his bed table as breakfast arrived, and he was gobbling it like a hungry ghost. Within seconds, he stuffed a whole bunch of deep-fried dough sticks into his mouth.

Seeing Jiangli enter the room, he swallowed the sticks that hadn’t been chewed properly and took another sip of his porridge before sitting up straight and patting his chest.

“Were you that hungry?” Jiangli asked indifferently.

“Yes- ack!” Yibei coughed as he talked. “The doctor told me there was a chance that my digestive system was damaged, so to be safe, I didn’t eat. I starved for an entire day.”

“I see,” Jiangli replied as she stepped closer to Yibei. While Yibei was chowing down his food, she started to untie the laces of his hospital gown.

The lace came off in an instant, and the hastily wrapped bandages around his abdomen were revealed in an instant.

“H-hey! What are you doing? I don’t remember this being in our contract!” He exclaimed, covering his chest as he backed away.

“Satisfying any of your leader’s requests is an unspoken rule that exists in all walks of life, is it not?” She raised his chin as she leaned forward.

The sunlight outside the window fell on her fair face, and from such a close distance, even the fine hairs on her face could be seen clearly. Yibei couldn’t help but want to shout, “You’re so beautiful!”

Of course, he couldn’t say that. He would be shot dead on the spot.

While he was in a daze, Jiangli pressed her fingertips against the wound on his abdomen.

‘No psionic fluctuations? And no sign of night erosions…’

‘Perhaps I’m worrying too much.’

Jiangli took two steps back and said coldly, “Your wound seems to be soaked in blood. Do you need me to call the doctor over?”

Yibei was brought back to reality and shook his head immediately, “No, no! Am I a man if I can’t handle a little blood? Don’t worry about me!”

“Is that so?” Jiangli smirked. “When we retrieved you from the resort yesterday, you were screaming: ‘Oh, help me! I’m dying! My intestines are coming out!’ or when you started clinging onto…”

“Absolutely not!” Yibei interjected. “I am a man! Pain means nothing to me, so for you to accuse me of…”

“Last night, the resort was destroyed.”

Hearing Jiangli’s sudden interjection, his heart dropped to the floor as if Jiangli had figured out that he was the culprit. Thankfully, his facial paralysis prevented him from showing a panicked expression.

“Oh. What happened?”

Jiangli was silent as she studied his face and continued, “Mr Rabbit’s ceremony was probably successful, and that caused a fire to break out. The entire resort and the surrounding forests have burnt to ash.”

“Damn!”

Yibei cursed loudly, and Jiangli was taken aback.

“That damned rabbit! He has the gall to kill anyone at any time, and now he decides to commit environmental vandalism?” He said as he looked at Jiangli with passionate eyes. “Every forest is a gold mine to human beings; I must bring that rabbit to justice!”

Jiangli stared at Yibei for a few seconds and blinked before rubbing her eyebrows, “There’s no need to trouble you for that. You should look after yourself. That’s all I ask of you.”

Jiangli paused as she stared at Yibei before taking off her owl badge, which she handed to Yibei.

“This is for you.”

Yibei held the badge between his fingertips—it was cold, but it felt alive. He felt reassured and safe holding the badge.

“What is this?”

“This is the special badge given to Night Division members, and it warns us of any fluctuations in psychic energy as well as transmits information between members,” she explained.

“Carry it with you,” she continued. “If you’re in another situation like Zhu Linglong’s, then I’ll know immediately. This way, your safety can be guaranteed.”

Yibei should feel grateful for this, but all he felt was worry and fear. He wasn’t sure if it was even safe for him to hold this badge if he were to transform back into his… other form.

He figured he could just leave it on his nightstand since it was removable.

Seeing Yibei staring at the badge in a daze, Jiangli tilted her head and asked, “Any question?”

“Oh, no! I’m just so happy you gave me something like this. I don’t know how I’m ever going to repay you. Look, I’ll do anything for you!” he exclaimed.

He decided to flatter Jiangli so that she wouldn’t worry about him. If he can get in touch with Jiangli less, then he will have less contact with her.

“Be calm,” Jiangli said, disgusted. “Every member of the Night Division is provided with one. I don’t need your flattery; just… be a good person.”

Yibei gulped. Jiangli put extra emphasis on the word ‘person’.

“Alright, take care of yourself. I’ll take my leave,” she said as she limped out of the ward.

Yibei watched as she left, and the moment the door closed, his stomach groaned. He sighed as he grabbed yet another fried dough stick and stuffed it into his mouth.

He had never felt so hungry in his life.

He had already eaten seven or eight fried dough sticks and three to five bowls of porridge, and yet his hunger didn’t even budge.

His wound started to claw at him, and Yibei spat out his dough stick.

‘The wound…!’

He tore open a small slit in his bandage and saw that his wound had completely scabbed over.

After spending so much effort to harm himself, he couldn’t believe that it had already healed in less than an hour.

If Jiangli were to touch his wound when it healed, would she have noticed?

Thinking of this, he felt… hungry.

He spent the rest of his day in peace. The sky gradually darkened, and he stood in front of the window, staring at the sun as it sank below the horizon.

He felt anxious.

The girl in his dream told him that being in the sun meant that his original appearance would be restored.

If he were to transform when night falls, wouldn’t his identity instantly be revealed?

‘I need to come up with something,’ he said, biting his fingernails anxiously.

The maid looked at Yibei as he looked out the window.

“Hey, don’t you need to let your wound rest?”

“No, no…”

“Then why do you look so anxious? It’s as if you’re in a constant state of constipation.”

Right, I have eyebrows, he thought as he straightened out his eyebrows.

“Is it really appropriate for you to be saying all of these things?” Yibei asked.

“I’m just here to look after you.”

Yibei shrugged, “Can’t help it. By the way, if I go out for a bit on my own, do you…”

“O-of course not! What are you planning to do?” She instantly became vigilant. “I’m warning you: Don’t try to play any tricks, or I’ll report it to my mistress!”

“I’m just asking,” he shrugged. “I have the habit of eating supper. Don’t you eat supper too? I’m sure someone like Jiangli would have the habit of…

Sensing that he was about to go on a tangent once again, the maid hurriedly interrupted him, “Right. Supper. I’ll deal with it; wait for me.”

The maid hurriedly left to get him his supper.

Damn it. I don’t think I can leave the ward through normal means, he thought.

‘Do I sneak out? If I get caught, they’ll get suspicious.’

As he thought about it, he glanced out the window, and night approached like a veil covering the sky, and it didn’t take long for the light in the ward to dim.

The night was approaching.

And Yibei felt as if his heart were stabbed by something, and then it started beating against his rib cage violently.