Куры и собаки летают в хаосе и возрождении

Глава 31

Li Xiao's gaze swept across each monitor in turn, and he said with a puzzled look, "That girl is having a dream, a very intense dream."

"Dreaming?" The crowd was puzzled.

Li Xiao pointed to one of the monitors and said, "That's a brainwave analyzer. The two constantly jumping lines you see indicate that the brain is undergoing intense activity, which means she's dreaming. Where's the doctor's report? I need to see it."

Hu Rongrong took a file out of her backpack. "Here it is, it's a photocopy."

Li Xiao took the test report and read it carefully, finishing it in less than a minute. He exclaimed, "Impossible! All her vital signs are normal. She couldn't possibly be unconscious!"

"What's that on her left hand?" Ye Cheng had sharp eyes; she noticed a strange protrusion on the back of Zheng Yubing's left hand. It looked like something had bitten her, but there were no bite marks.

Li Xiao pressed his face against the glass, but still couldn't see clearly. "I need to get closer to observe her, and it would be best to collect a blood sample so we can figure out the cause of her coma more quickly. Prolonged bed rest will cause muscle atrophy, and even if we manage to wake her up, she will be left with a lifelong disability."

Hu Rongrong became anxious, "But the door is locked, and the doctor has the key. The doctor won't let us in."

Luo Shimin turned to Ye Cheng without saying a word, just staring at him with her big, watery eyes. Ye Cheng couldn't stand being stared at for two minutes, "I give up. Two of you go stand guard at the door, I'll unlock it." Hu Rongrong and Luo Shimin went out to stand guard on their own. Ye Cheng took out two small wires from his wallet, poked at the lock a few times, and the door opened.

Li Xiao exclaimed, "I never knew you had this skill. When will you teach me?"

"Go inside and get to work!" Ye Cheng pushed Li Xiao inside.

Li Xiao went in and first checked the bag on the back of Zheng Yubing's left hand. The bag was small, about the size of a jujube, and there was a black line in the middle that divided it into two halves. Li Xiao had a strange feeling that it was an eye staring at her.

Luo Shimin ran back and urged, "Are you done yet? The doctor is coming soon."

Li Xiao took out a test tube, quickly collected a small amount of blood from Zheng Yubing's left hand, and took it back for testing. She had just run out of the sterile room when Ye Cheng closed the door. Hu Rongrong entered, followed by a doctor. "Why are there so many people? Please keep your voices down; the patient needs rest." The doctor stood by the door, copied down the data from the instruments, and then left.

Hu Rongrong watched the doctor walk away, then turned back and asked, "How did it go? Did they find anything?"

Li Xiao took out a test tube from his sleeve, which contained some red liquid. "This is blood from Zheng Yubing's left hand. I need to go back and do a test. When I saw the injury on her left hand, I had a strange feeling. It looked like an eye, and the size was also like an eye."

“How could that be?” Ye Cheng was the first to disagree. “I’ve heard of three eyes, but people’s third eye is in the center of their forehead, not on the back of their hand. If it really is just one eye, then Zheng Yubing would be a monster.”

"I don't have time to argue with you. Take me back to the police station quickly; I need my blood analyzed. I'll let you know as soon as I have the results." Li Xiao waved to the others and pulled Ye Cheng away from the hospital.

Only Xia Chen, Luo Shimin, and Hu Rongrong remained in the room. The two girls were in low spirits, worried about their roommates. They had lived together for almost three years, and their bond was extraordinary; they considered each other sisters. Hu Rongrong said with her head down, "It's all my fault. I insisted on organizing this 'Night of Horror.' If it weren't for the Night of Horror, Zheng Yubing wouldn't have been so curious as to count the steps, and Shui Lan wouldn't have fallen down the stairs. Shui Lan called me, and I hung up on her. I deserve to die."

“It has nothing to do with you, don’t blame yourself,” Xia Chen comforted. “I’ve counted the stairs, and nothing happened, which proves that their accident has nothing to do with the night of terror. Based on Li Xiao’s on-site investigation report, I speculate that someone was doing something shady in the old building at the time, and Shui Lan and Zheng Yubing accidentally stumbled upon it. That’s the real reason they were injured.”

Luo Shimin cried out, "You mean you want to kill me to cover it up!"

“Not necessarily. Shui Lan and Zheng Yubing are still alive. I don’t know the killer’s intentions and need to conduct further investigations.” Xia Chen glanced at the time, clapped his hands, and said, “Alright, it’s dinner time. The rain outside has lessened. Let’s go out and get something to eat.”

"I can't eat," Hu Rongrong said.

Luo Shimin said, "I have no appetite either."

“How can you not eat? You have to stay with the patient tonight. You’ll get hungry if you don’t eat anything. Besides, if you don’t eat, Shui Lan needs to eat too. The anesthesia is wearing off soon, and she’ll wake up soon.”

"Oh right!" Hu Rongrong slapped her forehead. "We were so focused on Zheng Yubing, how could we forget about Shui Lan?" The three of them ran to the hospital cafeteria, bought three servings of Shui Lan's favorite dishes and chicken soup, and returned to Shui Lan's ward. Shui Lan was covered in bandages and casts, looking like a mummy. She had already woken up in pain; the anesthetic was gradually wearing off, and Shui Lan's cute little face was contorted in agony. Seeing Luo Shimin and the others, Shui Lan still politely said, "You've come, thank you."

"What are you thanking us for?" Luo Shimin didn't understand.

Shui Lan said slowly, "Thank you for calling the hospital. The doctor said the ambulance would arrive sooner or later, and I would be in danger. You saved my life. I'll treat you to a big meal when I get better."

Luo Shimin and the other two were taken aback. Hu Rongrong said, "None of us called for an ambulance. Didn't you call?"

Shui Lan said haltingly, "I wanted to call, but I was in so much pain that I only pressed two numbers before the ambulance arrived. I thought you guys were the ones who made the call."

Xia Chen seemed to remember something, turned and ran out of the ward. A dozen minutes later, Xia Chen returned dejectedly. "The hospital has emergency call records. The call came from a payphone in the old building of Yishi Academy. The operator said it was a woman who made the call, and that's all. I checked the time, and the call came to the hospital five minutes after Shui Lan called us."

Hu Rongrong's eyes darted around fiercely as she said, "So that means this despicable woman has been hiding in the stairwell the whole time, watching Shui Lan crawl on the ground without offering her any help. If I find out who she is, I'll tear her to pieces and throw her into the wild to feed the stray dogs."

Luo Shimin muttered to herself, "I often hear my brother say that, and he sounds just like you."

Shui Lan interrupted, "How is Zheng Yubing? Has she woken up?"

The three of them didn't want to lie to her, so Luo Shimin told the truth, "Zheng Yubing is still unconscious, but her condition is stable. We will find a way to wake her up soon."

"Oh." Shui Lan's tone was somewhat disappointed. Suddenly, her wound throbbed, and a sharp pain made her cry out. Hu Rongrong immediately ran out and called the doctor. After examining her, the doctor said, "It's nothing serious, but the anesthesia is wearing off. The little girl won't be able to sleep tonight; the pain will only get worse. It will get better tomorrow." The doctor then noticed the food the three had bought. "She can't eat solid food on the first day after surgery. Let's make her some soup."

Hu Rongrong said, "Luckily we bought chicken soup." She fed it to Shui Lan, who endured the pain and drank several mouthfuls in a row.

Luo Shimin asked the doctor, "Let's give her another injection once the anesthetic wears off. We have the money!"

The doctor smiled. "It's not about the money. Anesthetics can cause some damage to the nerves, so it's best to use them as little as possible. Two of you will stay and watch over her tonight. I'll be in the infirmary; contact me if anything happens." After the doctor left, Xia Chen also left the ward, pacing back and forth in the corridor, his mind racing with the ins and outs of the case. The mysterious woman had attacked Zheng Yubing, using some method to render her unconscious. Shui Lan had also counted the stairs, lost her footing, and fallen down, yet she had called for an ambulance. What was the killer trying to do? He had no clue. He could only pin his hopes on Li Xiao's test; God help her find something useful.

Police station, forensic laboratory.

Li Xiao shouted hysterically, "It's impossible! The blood test results are completely normal. Why is that girl named Zheng Yubing unconscious? I don't believe it! I don't believe I can't find the cause!"

Ye Cheng stood at the door and said, "Perhaps it's some kind of newly emerging intractable disease. If you can conquer it, you can win the Nobel Prize in Medicine."

Li Xiao roared, "Shut up and go back to your office!" Ye Cheng left dejectedly.

Not long after Ye Cheng left, Li Xiao took off her white robe, gently opened the door, looked around to make sure no one was there, and rushed into the police station's archives room. Her movements were as agile as a monkey's. Not long after she left, Ye Cheng emerged from the darkness at the corner of the stairs, a mysterious smile on his lips.

The heavy rain finally stopped late at night, but the dark clouds had not yet dispersed. In the unlit areas, the darkness was as thick as an indissoluble blob of ink, exuding an eerie aura.

Shui Lan forced down half a can of chicken soup. Hu Rongrong put down her spoon and said, "You two keep an eye on Shui Lan. I'm going to check on Zheng Yubing. Even though she's in the intensive care unit, I'm still worried about her."

Luo Shimin said, "We'll go with you."

"No need." Hu Rongrong walked to the door and called Xia Chen in. "You two can take turns resting for a while. I'm going to see Zheng Yubing, not some dangerous place. I can go by myself."

The ward was eerily quiet. Footsteps echoed down the empty corridor, and suddenly all the lights went out, leaving only a few small yellow lamps casting a soft glow. A sudden, inexplicable fear gripped Hu Rongrong, and she quickened her pace. After turning a corner, a bright light appeared ahead—the nurses' station. Hu Rongrong walked even faster, but when she reached the station, she saw no one. Hospitals were places where life and death intersected; new lives were born here, and others perished. Almost every day, scenes of separation and death unfolded, and restless souls lingered. In the ghost stories Hu Rongrong had heard, hospitals were the most common setting. She deeply disliked hospitals, but she had never told anyone, not even Luo Shimin, her childhood friend. She ran quickly, wanting to escape this place. But she couldn't. Deep down, she felt inextricably linked to Shui and Zheng's accident; she felt responsible.

Running through door after door, Hu Rongrong arrived at the intensive care unit, panting. Pushing open the door, the scene inside made her heart race again. The room was pitch black, with various monitors emitting a terrifying green glow. The entire room was like a sinister hell. As Hu Rongrong stepped inside, a chill ran through her.

Hu Rongrong forced herself to calm down and glanced into the sterile room. Zheng Yubing lay quietly on the hospital bed, the green light reflecting on her face, making her look cold and somewhat ferocious. Suddenly, fear surged through Hu Rongrong's brain like an electric current; she felt someone staring at her. She looked around; besides herself and the unconscious Zheng Yubing, there was no one else in the room. Had Zheng Yubing woken up? Hu Rongrong looked at Zheng Yubing; she was still lying quietly on the bed.

The feeling of being watched did not disappear.

Hu Rongrong searched carefully for five minutes before finally finding the eye staring at her. It was in Zheng Yubing's hand—a strange eye, wide open and staring at her. Hu Rongrong's blood rushed to her heart, which pounded as if it would explode. She took two steps back and bumped into something.

She clearly remembered that there was nothing behind her!

Hu Rongrong slowly turned around, and behind her was a woman.

The woman was dressed in a white nurse's uniform, her jet-black hair covering most of her face, with only her eyes shining with a sinister white light through the strands of hair.

"Ah...!" Hu Rongrong screamed.

005 Compound Eyes

It was late at night, and in a small hospital room, Shui Lan couldn't fall asleep. The anesthetic had completely worn off, and the excruciating pain that pierced her bones was something she had never experienced before. She couldn't pinpoint where the pain was coming from; every part of her body ached. To make matters worse, she couldn't move, wrapped up like a dumpling and half-suspended on the bed. It was unbearable, and she couldn't help but groan softly. She didn't want to disturb the others in the room.

There was a man and a woman in the room. The woman was asleep, leaning against the man's chest. The man was also falling asleep, nodding his head to the left and shaking it to the right.

Suddenly, Shui Lan heard a scream.

Shui Lan shouted loudly, "Xia Chen, Luo Shimin, wake up!"

"What's wrong? What's wrong?" A man and a woman suddenly stood up, looking around warily. Seeing that there was no one else in the room, Luo Shimin rubbed her eyes and asked, "Shui Lan, are you feeling unwell? Should I call a doctor for you?"

"I'm fine." Shui Lan shook her head gently. "I just heard a scream, it sounded like Hu Rongrong."

“You must have misheard,” Xia Chen said. “Hu Rongrong is in Zheng Yubing’s intensive care unit, which is two floors away from your ward and separated by five or six soundproof doors. How could you possibly hear her screams? Besides, I wasn’t sound asleep either. If it really was Hu Rongrong screaming, I would have heard it.”

Shui Lan pleaded, "But I really heard it. Please go see her. She's all alone in the ICU. You could keep her company and chat with her for a while."

Luo Shimin really wanted to see Hu Rongrong, "What will you do if we leave?"

Shui Lan gestured to Luo Shimin to look at her hand, "I can still move my fingers, and the call button is in my hand. If I feel unwell, I will call the nurse, and they will be here in two minutes."

"Then we're leaving, we'll be back soon." Luo Shimin pulled Xia Chen out of Shui Lan's ward.

As they reached the door of the intensive care unit, a bad feeling arose simultaneously. The lights were on at the nurses' station not far away, but there wasn't a single nurse in sight. The door to the ward was slightly ajar, and the inside was deathly silent.

Luo Shimin called softly, "Rongrong, are you inside?"

There was no response.

Xia Chen made a gesture, and Luo Shimin took a few steps back. Xia Chen gently pushed open the door, and the heavy door creaked open. Xia Chen glanced inside and saw Hu Rongrong lying on the ground and Zheng Yubing still unconscious. Could it be that Shui Lan heard it was really Hu Rongrong who made the sound?

Xia Chen rushed over and picked up Hu Rongrong, calling out, "Rongrong, wake up." Luo Shimin also rushed in and asked, "What's wrong with Rongrong?"

"He must have fainted."

Luo Shimin said worriedly, "I hope he won't faint like Zheng Yubing and be unable to recover."

Hu Rongrong gradually woke up amidst the two men's anxious calls. As soon as she opened her eyes, she screamed upon seeing Luo Shimin's hair and pushed Luo Shimin away. Xia Chen hugged her and repeated, "It's us, Rongrong, don't be afraid." After recognizing Xia Chen, Hu Rongrong calmed down.

Luo Shimin was pushed to the ground by Hu Rongrong, and the fall hurt her a little. Luo Shimin got up and asked, "Rongrong, what happened? Why did you fall to the ground?"

Upon seeing Luo Shimin, Hu Rongrong broke free from Xia Chen's embrace and said with a terrified expression, "Zheng Yubing has a strange eye on the back of her left hand. It just opened and stared at me. There was also a woman in a nurse's uniform with disheveled hair. She was so scary."

Xia Chen immediately ran to the glass door of the intensive care unit and looked inside. Zheng Yubing only had a bump the size of a jujube on the back of her left hand, without any strange eyes. He turned his head and said, "Are you sure you're not mistaken? Zheng Yubing doesn't have any strange eyes on her hand. Luo Shimin and I didn't see any nurses along the way."

With Luo Shimin's help, Hu Rongrong stood up. "I can distinguish between illusion and reality. The nurse in white was about 1.65 meters tall, with long hair covering her face. I couldn't see her face clearly, but I'm sure she's not a nurse at this hospital."

"Why are you so sure?" Xia Chen asked in return.

"Because she was wearing high heels, and nurses at the hospital are not allowed to wear high heels."

Xia Chen frowned again. Hu Rongrong was in good spirits today, so there was no reason for her to have a hallucination. The woman she saw was likely the same woman Shui Lan saw behind Zheng Yubing, the one who called the hospital for emergency help. But why was she in the intensive care unit? And what was with the strange eye on Zheng Yubing's hand that Hu Rongrong saw? A very bad thought gradually surfaced in Xia Chen's mind. Could it be... could it be... related to that damned 'Nuwa Project' again?

"What are you thinking about?" Luo Shimin asked with concern when she saw that Xia Chen's expression had turned sour.

"It's nothing." Xia Chen hesitated for a long time, but still didn't voice his guess. The two stayed with Hu Rongrong until dawn before returning to Shui Lan's ward. Shui Lan's pain had lessened considerably, and she was already asleep, a sweet smile appearing on her face in her sleep. Xia and Luo also fell asleep in their chairs.

The two had only slept for less than two hours when Hu Rongrong woke them up. "The doctor is going to examine Zheng Yubing. He might find something. Let's go over there."

The three stood outside the intensive care unit. Inside, five elderly doctors with white hair were examining Zheng Yubing. These five doctors were the hospital's treasures, five authorities in their respective fields. If even two of them appeared before you, you should be prepared that your illness was serious. But seeing all five together was a first. If these five couldn't handle it, Zheng Yubing would be in grave danger.

Hu Rongrong watched as the five old men shook their heads and sighed as they examined Zheng Yubing. A growing sense of unease grew stronger; Zheng Yubing might never wake up again. Luo Shimin defiantly shook her fist at the five old doctors, "You better examine her properly. If you can't save my friend, I'll make you regret it." The five old doctors shuddered. They knew Luo Shimin well. One of the orthopedic specialists frequently dealt with her father and brother; this family was known for their ruthlessness—they wouldn't spare your pet dog or the hen that laid eggs if they said they'd kill your whole family.

The five senior doctors broke out in a thick sweat. Only when there is a disease can it be treated. The girl in front of them had all her indicators as normal as could be. Where should they even begin?

In desperation, an old doctor noticed Zheng Yubing's eyeballs moving, a common occurrence when people dream in their sleep. The old doctor gently pried open Zheng Yubing's eyelids. He seemed to see something unusual, but without his glasses, he couldn't see clearly. The old doctor put on his reading glasses and gently pried open Zheng Yubing's eyelids again. This time, he saw clearly, screamed, and stumbled back several steps, bumping heavily against a medical instrument. His finger trembled as he pointed at Zheng Yubing's head, "Eyes...eyes..."

The old doctor's actions caught the attention of Xia Chen and the others. Hu Rongrong said, "They seem to have discovered something, something that seems to be related to Zheng Yubing's eyes."

An older doctor helped the frightened specialist to his feet, while another, slightly bolder doctor examined Zheng Yubing's eyelids again. Zheng Yubing's expression was as if he'd seen a ghost, and he immediately pulled his hand back, muttering, "Impossible, this is impossible."

Xia Chen said anxiously from outside the door, "What the hell? What have these doctors discovered?"

Xia Chen quickly had his answer; the five experts fled the sterile room as if they had encountered a monster. Xia Chen grabbed an older doctor, "What did you see?"

The old doctor, still shaken, stammered, "Double...pupils...she...she...her...eyes...have...two...pupils!"

Xia Chen didn't believe it. "How is that possible? A person only has one pupil in one eye. Even a three-year-old knows that. We're classmates. If there was anything wrong with her eyes, we would have noticed it long ago."

“We have no reason to lie to you,” another older doctor said, panting and clutching his chest. “I saw it very clearly. There are two pupils in each of her eyes, and between the two pupils is a small black dot, which is a third pupil that is forming. I estimate that more pupils will appear.”