DA chapter 51

The sound of rushing water came from the bathroom inside the hospital room.

After Yan Xu went to the bathroom, the cat spoke angrily. Fearing Yan Xu would hear it, the cat lowered its voice. “Yan Xu is an idiot, rushing to seek death!”

Even the cat’s brain could understand the logic in Lin Jia’s words and his consideration for safety. Yet Yan Xu seemed unable to figure it out.

The cat did not understand Yan Xu’s self-destructive behavior and was furious.

After fiercely cursing Yan Xu several times in its mind, the cat carefully asked Lin Jia, “Are you angry?”

Lin Jia: “No.”

Seeing Lin Jia’s calm expression, the cat let out a sigh of relief and felt a little better about the possibility of Lin Jia taking it out on it. The cat recalled Yan Xu’s evaluation of Lin Jia: “Well, actually… Yan Xu’s evaluation of you was quite fair.”

Lin Jia glanced at the cat.

The cat: “…As if. He doesn’t even understand you. What right does he have to say that about you? Ugh! Such low emotional intelligence! It’s outrageous!”

The more the cat thought about Lin Jia’s past, the more it felt that Yan Xu was not human. What did Yan Xu know? Did he know that Lin Jia had once been kidnapped? Did he know about Lin Jia’s inner pain? Yet, Yan Xu said Lin Jia was cold, selfish, and lacked human warmth. How much human warmth had Lin Jia ever experienced? Even his parents had never given Lin Jia the most basic human warmth and care.

After a while, the cat coughed and said, “Didn’t Yan Xu already say he wouldn’t go? Why ignore him? Why not take this step? Aren’t you making him your safety guarantee?”

Although the cat did not like Yan Xu, it could tell that, compared to Xiao Yao and Xiao Tian, Yan Xu was the only one who could really help Lin Jia.

The cat: “Or are you abandoning him?”

Lin Jia: “I’m not abandoning him.”

The cat was confused. “Then, why are you ignoring him?”

Lin Jia looked at the cat: “What do you think?”

Being stared at by Lin Jia, the cat felt an invisible pressure.

Under that pressure, the cat suddenly remembered that, while researching cat habits, it had also come across some information about dogs.

Dogs cannot understand human language; long lectures are useless and beatings only excite them more. Therefore, if you want to correct a dog’s bad habits, the best approach is to ignore the dog after it makes a mistake.

The dog will realize that this behavior will not earn praise or affection from its owner—only cold neglect.

The cat: “You’re training a dog—oh no, teaching Yan Xu a lesson?”

Lin Jia gave a cold laugh: “I never said Yan Xu is a—”

He stopped halfway through because Yan Xu came out of the bathroom. Seeing Lin Jia, a trace of awkwardness appeared on Yan Xu’s face. “Um… there’s actually a shower in the bathroom. Would you like to take a bath?”

What kind of normal person would bathe at night in Fish Belly? Only an idiot like Yan Xu, who was being ignored by Lin Jia and, when embarrassed, liked to keep himself busy.

Lin Jia ignored him again, and the cat stopped talking, pretending to be a cat that couldn’t speak.

Yan Xu wanted to say more, but when he saw Lin Jia turn his back and pretend to sleep, he could only press his lips together.

The written note torn apart by Lin Jia was scattered across the floor. Yan Xu scratched his head. Although he really did not quite believe what was written on the note, once torn, it was torn, but…

For some reason, he felt strange, as if he had really done something wrong.

He thought about the scene of Lin Jia writing the note and what Lin Jia had said.

‘I guarantee I will be responsible for Captain Yan’s safety.’

‘No choice. Captain Yan doesn’t believe me, so I had to make a written statement.’

Yan Xu didn’t believe Lin Jia at first, but upon further consideration, Lin Jia’s attempt to stop him did seem to be out of concern for his safety. Otherwise, this person would have wanted someone else to take the risk.

Did that mean Lin Jia was telling the truth? Was he really considering whether he lived or died?

The strange feeling in his heart grew stronger. Yan Xu looked at Lin Jia. Lin Jia still had his back to Yan Xu and seemed unwilling to pay attention to him.

Yan Xu: “…”

Honestly, Yan Xu had never encountered this kind of situation before. He often made mistakes, but he had never been punished by being treated coldly. For a moment, he did not know what to do.

He tried talking to Lin Jia, but Lin Jia ignored him. He couldn’t possibly keep bothering him shamelessly.

Looking at the paper scraps by his feet, Yan Xu bent down and picked them up, one by one.

When he picked up the last piece and stood up, he looked up and met Lin Jia’s gaze.

At some point, Lin Jia had sat up on the bed and watched him pick up the paper scraps.

Yan Xu felt a little embarrassed. Earlier, he had spoken such resolute words, yet now he was picking up paper scraps. He coughed and said, “I’m just casually picking them up.”

Lin Jia’s face remained expressionless. Yan Xu was about to say something more when Lin Jia suddenly shook his head. “There’s a sound.”

Yan Xu paused, stood up, and turned to look outside the door.

It was a faint squirming sound. If you didn’t listen carefully, it was difficult to hear, and even harder to tell what was squirming.

Yan Xu took a few steps toward the door.

After listening for a while, he confirmed that the sound was not coming from outside Room 302.

The hospital room door was made of solid wood and had no peephole. If they wanted to see what was squirming outside, they would have to open the door a crack.

But that would undoubtedly be another dangerous action.

The squirming sound was very faint. They had to hold their breath to detect even the slightest movement. They could not tell what was making the sound or where the sound was coming from, only that it was not right beside the door of Room 302.

However, if they opened the door even a little, it would be easy for whatever was making the sound to notice them.

Night always represented danger. However, if they kept avoiding danger and refused to face it directly, they would only fall into the next danger in the end.

Yan Xu placed his hand on the doorknob, ready to open the door, when he suddenly remembered what Lin Jia had said. He lowered his head and looked at his hand; he was still holding a stack of paper scraps.

Forget it; he would tell Lin Jia first.

He turned around to tell Lin Jia, “I’m going to open the door,” but Lin Jia had already come to his side.

The two looked at each other.

The answer was the same.

Lin Jia hadn’t let Yan Xu go to the hospital room for a simple reason: it was the first night in Fish Belly, and they knew nothing about the conditions at night in the D3155 cloud layer. At that time, it was obviously dangerous for Yan Xu to leave the room and squat outside the VIP ward.

But this squirming sound was different. It might be a sign of danger in Fish Belly at night. They needed to know what it looked like so they could avoid it in the future.

Lin Jia’s solution was to open a crack in the door and look outside.

After looking deeply at Lin Jia, Yan Xu finally opened the door a crack. He moved quickly and quietly. Very quickly, he widened the gap to the width of an eye.

Lin Jia stepped forward and stood right beside the door so that, if danger appeared, he could close it in time.

With his back entrusted to Lin Jia, Yan Xu could focus entirely on what was outside. Through the crack, he observed the situation outside.

The squirming sound was not far outside Room 302, and Yan Xu quickly found it—a lump of beating flesh.

The lump was covered in a sticky membrane, like a fetal membrane. It was wriggling on the ground, leaving green water stains in its wake.

Yan Xu had seen many strange things and was not surprised by this. Instead, he was slightly surprised by its wriggling path.

It looked like the flesh was escaping because a nurse was chasing it.

Its wriggling speed was not fast, and it was quickly caught by the nurse. Its slippery, sticky surface made it difficult for the nurse to grab it, so she took off her uniform and covered the flesh with it.

The moment she did so, the nurse revealed a relieved expression. “Ah, finally caught it, so naughty.”

“Ah, finally caught it, so naughty—”

“Ah, finally caught it, so naughty—”

Nurses with identical appearances repeated the sentence one after another. For a moment, this was even stranger than the existence of the flesh.

The nurse covering the lump of flesh smiled and walked to the nurses’ station.

At that moment, Yan Xu frowned slightly. Lin Jia, who was standing beside him, noticed Yan Xu’s subtle expression and knew that he had seen something again.

The door crack was narrow, limiting the field of vision. Yan Xu adjusted his position so that he could follow the nurse’s movement with his gaze. Then, he saw a black figure by the nurse station.

It could hardly be called a figure. It was more like a human shadow. It climbed up from the ground, stood up, and began to move.

The nurse handed the lump of flesh to the shadow and said with a smile, “Congratulations! She gave birth to ten jin!”¹10 jin = 5 kg / 11 lb

Hearing the weight, Yan Xu clicked his tongue.

As if sensing something, the shadow suddenly raised its head and looked toward Room 302.

Lin Jia reacted quickly. The instant the shadow shifted its gaze, he closed the door without making much sound.

However, footsteps and breathing gradually approached from outside the door. Finally, the breathing stopped at the entrance to Room 302.

“Is anyone there?”

A strangely toned question sounded outside the door. It was hard to describe; it sounded as if it were covered in a layer of black fog—hoarse and obscure.

“Is anyone there?”

The voice sounded again.

Pa—

The only lamp in the hospital room was went off, and Lin Jia stopped breathing instantly.

The cat beside them cried out inwardly that this was bad because, when the shadow suddenly approached the room, Yan Xu had turned off the light.

There was no moonlight in Fish Belly at night. The entire room instantly fell into thick darkness. Inside the room, whether person or object, darkness smoothed away all outlines and edges, as if everything had melted into the darkness.

Even with a cat’s night vision, it could barely see Lin Jia’s outline in the darkness. It leapt and landed on Lin Jia’s shoulder.

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  10 jin = 5 kg / 11 lb