It was already dark when the moonlight shone on Jian Yunxian's skin, outlining a cold, white edge, but because his skin had an unusual blush, it made him seem more alive.
"Let Director Li and the others know you're safe as soon as possible." As Jian Yunxian spoke, the sports car behind him had already stopped in front of the window, ready to provide assistance at any time.
Yi Heye leaned lazily against the bed without moving, only managing a forced smile: "Let you escape first."
Jian Yunxian flipped over and jumped into the carriage outside the window, waving at him:
"Come and catch me quickly."
Chapter 127 (Number 127)
Jian Yunxian left, taking Xiaoyunduo with her.
Yi Heye lay on the bed like a deflated balloon, lost in thought for a very long time.
Anger, resentment, shame—a jumble of terrible emotions pressed down on him, making his eyes burn and his throat tighten.
But he just gripped the sheets tightly and then let go, gritted his teeth, wrinkled his nose, and took a deep breath to forcefully suppress all his emotions—he was unwilling to shed tears when he was alone; he was always a person with a heavy burden.
After the sour feeling subsided, Yi Heye sighed heavily, then got up, jumped off the bed, removed his prosthetic leg, and went to take a shower.
He didn't turn on the hot water; the icy temperature was just enough to extinguish the lingering heat in his body. He buried himself in the cold water until he suffocated and his vision went white, then he lifted his head and gasped for breath as if he had escaped death.
He repeated this process of suffocation and breathing for nearly half an hour, until his skin was washed white, before staggering out of the bathroom, feeling utterly cold.
Headache, arm pain, body aches—this bath felt like self-torture.
Yi Heye slumped onto the bath towel, intending to drift off to sleep. But as he closed his eyes, he remembered Jian Yunxian's reminder to let Director Li and the others know he was safe.
This thought forced Yi Heye to overcome his exhaustion and get up. He had left his cell phone and communicator at the hospital and hadn't had time to take them with him. So he dragged his heavy steps to sit down in front of the computer.
The moment the power was switched on, an almost explosive flood of information rushed in, with dozens, even hundreds, of calls confirming his whereabouts.
When Yi Heye saw those familiar numbers belonging to the Administration Bureau, the grievances he had held back all night surged up again.
He immediately made a video call to Director Li, who answered without hesitation.
"Director Li..."
"Are you alright? Where are you now? Are you hurt? What can we do for you?"
Before Yi He could finish speaking, Director Li anxiously bombarded him with a barrage of questions.
On the face of the elderly leader with a full head of white hair opposite him was a panic and anxiety he had never seen before. In just half a day, this usually vigorous old man seemed to have aged prematurely.
Yi Heye knew that he was worried about him. When he thought about what he had just done and how he had let Jian Yunxian escape, he was almost overwhelmed by guilt and sadness.
"I'm sorry, Director Li..." Yi Heye choked back a breath, feeling as if a heavy stone was pressing on his heart, "I'm so useless, I couldn't catch him..."
"I don't need you to catch him, just be okay." Seeing his expression, Director Li immediately felt a pang of sadness. "How are you now? Should we come over?"
"I'm fine, Director Li... don't worry." Yi Heye swallowed back all the tears that didn't fall, but he was so full of himself that his voice trembled. "...I'm safe now."
Finally, fearing they might worry, Yi Heye still spoke up, saying, "I'll be back at the station in a bit, and I'll give you a brief report on today's events."
Just as Director Li was about to tell him to rest at home, Yi Heye on the other end of the screen got up and turned off the video.
He didn't want them to come looking for him. He didn't like being treated like a patient. Even though his whole body felt like it was falling apart, even if he couldn't walk the next second, he would grit his teeth and pretend that he was fine, and crawl over there if he had to.
When he finally reached the underground parking garage, still aching all over, he realized he might have a fever. He didn't know if it was because he and Jian Yunxian had been too unrestrained, or because he had caught a chill from taking a cold shower.
Thinking of this, he recalled the scene of the storm. Jian Yunxian's structure was more human-like than he had imagined. He wondered if it was intentional control or if the bug had been fixed in time. This time, there was no leakage of electricity. Yi Heye breathed a sigh of relief, but he also felt a little regretful.
He walked on, enduring the discomfort, while carefully recalling the details he could still remember.
It was both painful and pleasurable, even more addictive than he had imagined. He figured that someone as prone to sensory stimuli as himself would find it hard to forget this experience anytime soon.
Thinking of this, a strong sense of shame crept into his heart again. He nervously picked at his hands, but fortunately, the discomfort in his body quickly blocked out all his wild thoughts. He felt dizzy and hot as if he were a walking steamer.
Perhaps due to his poor health lately, Yi Heye had somehow grown accustomed to the discomfort. He slowly strolled to his parking space, and before he could even press the key, he heard Xiaoming's wailing:
"Wild Treasure—have you forgotten Little Ming by Daming Lake—?"
Yi Heye was too lazy to think. After straddling the car, he casually said, "Why is it by Daming Lake? Xiaoming should be by Xiaoming Lake."
Xiao Ming didn't expect him to ask such a boring and pointless question, and he choked up his crying for a moment, as if he was urgently thinking of how to reply.
But Yi Heye quickly came to his senses. He sighed and said, "I'm sorry, I've been busy with business trips lately and haven't had a chance to tell you."
This was the first time Xiaoming had heard Yi Heye say "sorry" to him since he appeared on screen, and it was also the first time Yi Heye realized that he should report his whereabouts when he went out. This was even more unbelievable to Xiaoming than when he was agonizing over whether it was Xiaoming Lake or Daming Lake.
With heavy, panting breaths, Xiao Ming stood there for a long time, choking back tears, and cried, "Ye Bao... you've grown up, waaaah!"
...Grown up? What have you grown up about?
At this moment, Yi Heye, whose mind was still filled with the taste of yellow waste, was taken aback. He thought to himself, "This guy can't even tell that I've lost my virginity, can he?" Then he heard Xiao Ming sobbing, "You've become more humane, my darling."
The words "human touch" seemed to gently strike Yi Heye's heart, momentarily stunning him.
No one had ever described him like that before, not even he himself had ever associated those three words with himself. From childhood, he was different from other children. He didn't understand human relationships, couldn't express joy, anger, sorrow, or happiness, had difficulty in interpersonal communication, and his emotional reactions were even worse than those of the simplest robot.
But now he gets angry, sad, and guilty. He still has someone he likes, even though his expression is still very clumsy and immature.
He seems to have really become a "person" now.
This thought cleared Yi Heye's mind, and he stepped on the gas, putting all the troublesome things behind him.
Throughout the journey, Xiaoming kept nagging and asking about his well-being, saying that his palms were too hot and he still had a fever, so he turned on the autopilot to prevent accidents, and even played soothing music for him to relax...
Although he was incredibly nagging and annoying, Yi Heye felt a quiet sense of satisfaction—he had never so clearly realized that he was still being cared for. Whether it was Director Li or Xiao Ming, they would worry about his affairs, and always had, but he had always chosen to turn a blind eye.
This heavy burden added to Yi Heye's responsibilities, making him feel even more strongly that severing ties with Jian Yunxian was a necessary and correct choice—his life couldn't consist only of love, passion, and desire; he also had an unshakeable stance behind him.
The high-speed journey cleared his mind considerably, and it seemed as if the wind had blown away his fever.
The car drove directly to the parking lot downstairs at the management office. It was already late at night, but the office building was brightly lit—clearly, everyone's colleagues were working overtime and staying up all night because of SHEEP.
Yi Heye straightened his collar and got out of the car, thinking he was full of energy. As soon as the car stopped, he saw Director Li with white hair running towards him like a child, not caring about his image.
Yi Heye hurried to meet him, but before he could even take two steps, his unsteady gait completely gave him away.
Director Li was initially delighted, but his face immediately fell when he saw the man limping.
Yi Heye was embarrassed and dared not say that Jian Yun had been playing with him in bed, so he could only touch his nose and vaguely say, "We made our move..."
Director Li was immediately swayed by his words and burst into a tirade: "Damn it! You little beast!"
Afraid that he would continue to curse, Yi Heye quickly made up a story: "I'm fine, and he's not much better off than me."
Upon hearing this, Director Li reluctantly became proud: "You're still a patient, so that beast doesn't seem like much either."
“Yes.” Yi Heye only wanted to make the old man happy. “He wasn’t very good. He attacked me when I was in a bad state. Obviously, he had no confidence in beating me.”
Seeing that he was still in the mood to joke around, Director Li felt half relieved and less anxious, but he still made sure to push him into the infirmary.
Yi Heye was afraid that the examination would find something that shouldn't have been found, so he shouted, "Director Li, I'm really fine. I just want to get some sleep. I just woke up from the anesthesia not long ago."
After saying that, she endured the soreness and jumped around in front of him a few times to show off her "good" physical condition.
Director Li was fooled again, and sighed as he told him to go back to his dormitory and get some rest.
As they were about to part ways in the corridor, Director Li hesitated for a moment before stopping.
Yi Heye thought he was going to ask about his health again, and was about to make up an excuse when he heard Director Li ask, "Do you still have feelings for him?"
Yi Heye was caught off guard by the question and stammered, unable to utter a word.
Director Li noticed his hesitation and was about to say something when Yi Heye interrupted him: "Director Li, look at me now."
When Yi Heye said those words, he didn't really understand whether he was lying to Director Li or to himself.
He smiled and said, "Even if it existed before, it doesn't exist now."
Director Li stared into his eyes, those aged eyes seeming to see right through him, making him lose the courage to meet his gaze again.
He even lowered his head guiltily, knowing that he would not pass the scrutiny of Director Li in this manner, and he was even prepared to be ruthlessly exposed by his own director.
In the end, Director Li just sighed and patted him on the shoulder.
"That's good, that's good," Director Li said earnestly. "If you feel it's not suitable, we can adjust it at any time."
Hearing this, Yi Heye finally raised his head and looked at him.
“Please trust me, Director Li,” he said firmly. “I will definitely catch him myself.”
This is what I made with him.
Author's Note:
Director Li: Sorry to bother you.
Chapter 128 (Number 128)
Yi Heye had thought this night would be difficult for him, but he was so tired that he didn't have time to think about it and fell asleep on the bed.
He still had a dream, and the main characters in the dream were of course him and Jian Yunxian. They stood in the middle of a crossroads and parted ways.
But unlike what he had imagined, this separation did not seem to involve much unbearable pain.
They seemed to have reached an amazing understanding; when Yi Heye raised his gun, the dark muzzle of the gun opposite him was pointed directly at his forehead.
This separation was destined to end in death, but when he saw the relieved smile in Jian Yunxian's gentle eyes, he belatedly realized that he seemed to have already made such a mental preparation from the very beginning.
The alarm clock and the gunshot rang at the same time. Yi Heye opened his eyes calmly, showing no signs of having just experienced a tense gunfight.
He stood up and went to the window, looking at the bright sunshine, taking a breath of the fresh air in Block B, feeling refreshed and radiant.
The fever has subsided, and the headache is gone. Apart from a slight discomfort in a certain area, everything from yesterday seems like a fleeting memory, completely erased by that gunshot.
Although Yi Heye didn't know whose gunshot it was until he woke up, he knew that after one of them fell, the sky brightened.
He stood back by the bed, quickly changed his clothes, and took the opportunity to test his newly assigned left hand.
Yesterday's experience told him that, at least in terms of pain perception, it is very competent.
Right now, buttoning up the clothes, folding the blankets, pulling the sleeve, checking the gun... a series of actions were completed smoothly, and Yi Heye was very satisfied with both the precision and the strength.
So he simply went to the training room and did a set of grip and arm strength training, and instantly felt every muscle in his body come alive.
After taking a quick shower, Yi Heye ran to the restaurant for breakfast feeling refreshed. His energetic appearance surprised Director Li.