Cent ans de solitude

Chapitre 21

Li Hong forced her eyes open, feeling her eyelids as dry as a toothbrush, stinging her eyes painfully. She coughed and spat out a mouthful of water. Now she could make out the person in front of her; it was a strange man with wet hair plastered to his forehead, looking at her nervously.

"I'm fine." Li Hong said, trying to get up, but every muscle in her body felt like it was filled with lead, and she couldn't move at all. She also felt like a big hammer was constantly hitting her calf, making it throb with pain.

"The ambulance will be here soon. Try to get rid of the water in your system first," the stranger said, helping her turn over.

Her stomach was full, and her lungs were also full of water, but thankfully the river water wasn't too dirty. Li Hong vomited and coughed, pouring a lot of water from her nose and mouth. The vomiting made her feel like she was going to die. The strange man kept patting her back, which made her feel a little better.

"That...the person who fell into the water...was he saved?" Li Hong asked haltingly.

"He's been saved, he's vomiting over there, but he's alright," the man replied.

Li Hong felt a sense of relief and let out a long breath. That's good; it wasn't all for nothing. However, the thought of that lifeless hand pulling at her ankle in the water still made her a little uneasy. Now that she had vomited up a lot of water and felt much better, Li Hong felt her strength returning, but she was very cold. She pulled the blanket covering her tighter.

"Do you know who you rescued?" It was Zheng Zhihao's voice that finally came out.

“How would I know who he is?” Li Hong muttered casually.

"Oh, my name is Cui Sheng," the stranger said.

Li Hong was taken aback, then realized that what she had said to Zheng Zhihao had made the stranger think she was speaking to him. She smiled awkwardly and thanked him. The man quickly said there was no need to thank him, and even praised her for being the first to go into the water, saying that it was truly courageous.

Just then, the ambulance arrived, and the crowd became chaotic again. Taking advantage of a moment when no one was paying attention, Li Hong covered her mouth and whispered to Zheng Zhihao who the person who had fallen into the water was.

"What do you mean by 'searching high and low without finding it'? Haha, I never expected it to come to me so easily," Zheng Zhihao said with a hint of pride. "I really didn't know you could swim."

"Stop talking nonsense! Who exactly fell into the water?" Li Hong asked angrily. She hated it when people kept her in suspense, especially since he said it was all done without any effort. She had just drunk a lot of water for nothing.

"The person you saved is Xu Feifei!"

"Huh?!" Li Hong gasped in surprise. Only then did she take a closer look at the person who had fallen into the water and was being carried into the ambulance. Yes, it was indeed a girl, and she didn't look very old, but she was wearing an oxygen mask so her features weren't clear.

"Are you sure she's Xu Feifei?" Li Hong asked incredulously.

"Confirmed. The people at the bar she was at just now mentioned it, and even called her by name. That makes sense; Liu Yun also made a move on her," Zheng Zhihao said.

"Why did Liu Yun kill her?" Li Hong asked curiously.

"I don't know about that. Maybe there are remains on her body or something. Actually, we still don't know Liu Yun's motives, so finding Xu Feifei is very important."

"So what do we do now?"

Before Zheng Zhihao could answer, the paramedics arrived. Although Li Hong insisted that she was fine, they still pulled her into the ambulance. The man named Cui Sheng also got in and sat next to her, constantly asking her how she was doing.

"Watch out! This guy's trying to pick you up," Zheng Zhihao said.

She pretended not to hear.

**********************

Li Hong was placed in a regular ward. Although she repeatedly emphasized that she had no problems and did not need to be hospitalized, the doctor still settled her in, saying that she needed to be observed. Perhaps because acts of bravery like this are rare these days, even newspaper reporters came to investigate, so the hospital did not want any mistakes to happen.

“It’s good that you’re staying here,” Zheng Zhihao said. “Xu Feifei is in the intensive care unit downstairs. She might need our help at night.”

"Has she not woken up yet?"

"He's awake and mostly recovered, but I'm worried that Liu Yun will come looking for him."

"You mean, Liu Yun might show up at the hospital and try to harm her?"

"Of course. Right now, we're in the open, while Liu Yun is in the shadows. You don't want this important lead, Xu Feifei, to be lost, do you?"

"Alright then. But I've never actually been hospitalized before; I've only ever been to hospitals as a doctor."

“Now you can get some rest. Xu Feifei should be discharged in about three days. We can find a chance to talk to her about Liu Yun. Be careful, it’s already past 9 p.m., I don’t know if that bastard will come tonight.”

"Oh, you want me to be more discreet? You haven't even asked me how I'm feeling yet!" Li Hong said, somewhat angrily.

"Hehe, I know you're fine. It's just that you're not used to exercise, and your muscles can't adapt right away. You'll definitely be fine after a few days of rest."

"..."

"What's wrong? Are you unhappy?"

I want to slap you.

February 13th, nightfall

This is a large, comprehensive hospital. Li Hong had never been here before, either during her internship or work, so she was unfamiliar with the place and didn't know any doctors there. The doctor on duty had already given her some basic rehabilitation treatment and performed a routine check on her left leg, telling her that if everything was normal, she could be discharged tomorrow, which greatly relieved her.

Sitting on the hospital bed, Li Hong looked out at the dark sky and couldn't help but worry about Xu Feifei's safety. She walked to the window and looked out, only to see tall sycamore trees, their dense leaves obscuring everything else. This made her feel uneasy, completely different from the relaxed state of the other patients in the ward. Unable to contain herself, she decided to go downstairs and find out which room Xu Feifei was in.

"Don't be nervous," Zheng Zhihao's tired voice came through. "The hospital is still quite busy, Liu Yun won't show up."

“I know,” Li Hong said, “but I can’t stay in bed, I want to go down and take a look.”

"Okay, go take a look. I'm going to take a nap first."

Li Hong left the ward and walked down the long corridor to the stairwell. Her ward was on the 4th floor, while Xu Feifei was on the 2nd floor. As she walked down the stairs, Li Hong encountered several nurses carrying medicine bottles, but didn't see any patients in hospital gowns wandering around. She was a little worried that the nurses would stop her from moving around the ward, but they were all busy with their own tasks and didn't notice her.

Besides the regular wards, there were two intensive care units on the second floor. Li Hong came out of the stairwell, unsure which room she should go to. She peeked down the corridor; no one was there, and all the ward doors seemed closed. It was quiet all around. It wasn't even 10 p.m., but the entire hospital building seemed to be asleep, with only the bright, glaring corridor lights. Now, she had no choice but to check the patient cards at each ward door.

At the door of room 206, Li Hong found Xu Feifei's name. It seemed the doctor had moved her to a regular ward, no longer in the intensive care unit. Two other patients shared the room with her. Li Hong peered through the inspection window in the door, but the room was dark, and she couldn't see anything inside.

This is a bit troublesome, Li Hong thought. What should she do? If Liu Yun shows up tonight, how will she deal with Xu Feifei? If she doesn't know what methods Liu Yun will use, she has no idea what to do. Fortunately, she now knows the room number; if all else fails, she can just stay here tonight.

Just then, a voice came from the other end of the corridor: "It's time. I'll go check the rooms first and talk to you later." Then came the sound of high heels and the sound of a door closing.

Li Hong quickly straightened up, stopped peeking into the room, and walked towards the stairwell as if nothing had happened. Perhaps the management here was the same as the hospital where she had interned years ago—she thought as she walked—the nurses made their rounds every night at ten o'clock, and then the patients prepared to sleep. Unless there was an emergency, no one would be in the corridor all night. Especially since these floors housed ordinary patients, emergencies were rare, so the nurses on duty didn't make frequent rounds.

This way, Li Hong would have a chance to act without attracting attention. Thinking this, she felt a little more at ease and returned to her room—she'd come out again when no one was around at night!

****************

Li Hong lay in bed, wide awake. The room lights had long been off, and she stared wide-eyed, waiting. A little girl in the bed next to her had kept the radio on until very late, after which the room fell silent.

It was summer, and the weather was very hot. There was no air conditioning in the ward, so the windows were wide open. Li Hong heard the chirping of insects outside the window, which created a sense of tranquility. She loved summer nights like this. The chirping of crickets reminded her of summer vacations at her grandmother's house when she was very young. Every night, she would fall asleep to the sound of crickets and look at the stars in the sky, as if her whole body was immersed in nature—she hadn't felt that kind of night in a long time.

She slowly sat up in the darkness. Although the summer night was very inviting, she knew she had to act. She tiptoed out of bed, slipped on her soft-soled slippers, and walked towards the door.

The corridor lights were still on, even though half of the fluorescent lights were off, the corridor remained eerily white. There was no sound around. Li Hong stepped from the dark room into the corridor, feeling as if she had entered another world. She glanced at her watch; it was already 12:40 AM.

"Hey, get up, you can really sleep." Li Hong said very softly as she called to Zheng Zhihao, while squeezing her right hand hard.

"Yes, I'm up," Zheng Zhihao replied.

"You got up but didn't wake me up, so I assumed you were still asleep."

"I didn't call you because I saw you come out. Let's go down now. Are you nervous?"

"A little bit. The main problem is that we don't know how Liu Yun will make her move."

"Yes, this is indeed a bit troublesome. In addition, I can't detect any trace of it, and if it doesn't take action, we'll never know where it is."

“I’ve got this in mind. So I’ve decided to stand guard outside room 206.”

"That works too. I was originally thinking of having you call Xu Feifei out."

"It's the middle of the night, so let's not wake her up, or we'll scare her."

As they were talking, Li Hong had already arrived on the second floor.

Like the fourth floor, the corridor on the second floor was also very quiet. Since there were no patients in either of the two intensive care units, there were no medical staff in sight. Li Hong slowly walked towards room 206.

The quiet corridor and the walls, whitened by the fluorescent lights, reminded Li Hong of her internship experience. Although it only lasted two months, she would never forget those two months. Perhaps an ordinary person would feel a chill in this situation—a hospital corridor late at night, with wards lined with closed doors, and utter silence—but this environment was nothing to Li Hong. After all, working night shifts was a regular occurrence during her internship, and she had never encountered anything bad.

Reaching the door of room 206, she stopped and looked inside again. Just as when she last left, the room was dark and quiet. She turned around, leaned against the wall, and slowly squatted down. Alright, I'll stay here and keep watch.

"You used to work night shifts at the hospital often, right?" Zheng Zhihao asked.

"Yes, because I'm an intern, I'm willing to do more and learn more, so I often cover night shifts for others," Li Hong replied. She felt no fatigue at all; her eyes and ears were highly alert, constantly scanning her surroundings.

"Have you encountered anything strange while you were on duty?" Zheng Zhihao asked again.

"What strange thing did you say? About ghosts?"

"Yes! I once stayed up all night at the hospital and found that it was very lively there at night."

"What's all the commotion about? The patients are all asleep; it's very quiet at night."

"That's because you can't see or hear anything. Actually, the hospital is most lively at night, especially in the summer." Zheng Zhihao's tone was like telling a story to a child.

"Why in the summer? Are you trying to scare me?"

"How could I scare you?" Zheng Zhihao said with a laugh. "You're possessed by a ghost like me right now, what do you have to be afraid of?"

“That makes sense.” Li Hong couldn’t help but laugh, thinking that this was indeed something she had never heard of before. “Then tell me why the hospital is so lively at night in the summer.”

"Because it's hot in summer, the soul's energy can be preserved for a longer time. In addition, the yin energy in the hospital is relatively heavy, so at night, those that are meant to come out will come out."

"Then tell me, is there a ghost in front of me right now?" Li Hong asked, somewhat jokingly.

"Hmm, there aren't any on this floor right now, but there are two on the floor above, and they're chatting. I'm talking about souls, remember, souls and ghosts are not the same thing, and there aren't usually many ghosts in hospitals, most of the time there won't be more than two."

"Is the one upstairs merely a soul?"

"Yes, they were two old ladies who passed away a few days ago. Their bodies are still in the morgue, and they came out tonight. As for ghosts, didn't I tell you? They are formed from unnatural deaths. Such things don't happen very often in hospitals. You can only see a soul as a ball of light, very blurry. Ghosts, on the other hand, are generally powerful and can take on a human form. Of course, it's not absolute, hehe."

"Oh, I see. Are you trying to tell me that there are actually many souls around us, in this hospital, right?"

"That's right, that's what I wanted to tell you, because I was afraid that you would sense other souls and overlook the true aura of Liu Yun."

"OK, I understand. So we're just sitting here all night, right? I'm afraid I'll get sleepy soon."

"If you get sleepy, take a nap, but don't sleep too soundly. I can keep you company and talk to you."

"Alright then. If Liu Yun doesn't come tonight, all our efforts will have been in vain."

“Then I think it’s worth it,” Zheng Zhihao said.

"You're fine, but I..."

"Shh!"

Li Hong tensed up immediately. She looked around but didn't see anything unusual. "What's wrong?" she asked almost in a whisper.

"Something unclean is coming upstairs."

"What? Didn't you say there were no ghosts?"

“I said there are usually no more than two ghosts in a hospital. This hospital is big, and there are four ghosts wandering around right now. One of them is going upstairs, coming out of the morgue, and the other three are quite far away from us,” Zheng Zhihao explained impatiently.

"What is it going to do?" Li Hong slowly stood up from the ground.

"Don't move. I don't know what it's going to do, but it doesn't seem to be hostile to you."

"Are you sure it's not Liu Yun? I can't sense anything right now."

"It's not Liu Yun, it's a ghost with a much weaker aura. She died in a car accident and is missing half of her body. She still doesn't realize she's dead and is climbing the stairs right now."