DA chapter 58

Knock knock knock, knock knock knock.

Someone was knocking on the door.

In Ward 201, Jin Jian suddenly sat up. Hearing movement from the bed beside him, the curly-haired man sat up as well.

At the beginning of Fish Belly, the curly-haired man had once questioned Jin Jian and Jin Jie when they were reporting discoveries to Yan Xu. Because of this, Jin Jian had never felt much goodwill toward the curly-haired man.

After becoming roommates, Jin Jian and the curly-haired man had hardly spoken. Two days had passed, and Jin Jian still didn’t know the man’s name.

Knock knock knock, knock knock knock.

Knock knock knock, knock knock knock.

The knocking echoed through the ward, and Jin Jian’s nerves instantly tightened. During release time today, Jin Jian learned that the white-haired old man’s belly had likely swollen up because he responded to the voice outside the door.

And not long ago, Ward 202 next door had just made sounds; Jin Jian vaguely heard the white-haired old man calling for help.

“Save me.

“Help.”

“Save me…”

But no one could save him. Neither Jin Jian nor his teammates or Jin Jie, who was in the same ward, could do anything to help him.

Jin Jian had been worrying about his brother the whole time. The sounds from the next ward were strange and terrifying. He did not know what condition his brother was in, especially since he was in the same ward as the white-haired old man.

Jin Jian did not know if his brother was still alive or if his belly was intact. The time in the Fish Belly was about to reach three days. He knew nothing about the Soup Base and did not know if he would leave the Fish Belly alive.

He did not know how many clues the inspection team captain had obtained or what the identity of the person surnamed “Lin” actually was. The only thing he knew was that danger had come to the door now.

Jin Jian unconsciously slowed his breathing. He nervously watched the ward door, afraid that whatever was outside would suddenly break in.

Knock knock knock, knock knock knock.

Knock knock knock, knock knock knock.

The knocking continued, not stopping even though Jin Jian held his breath. There was even new movement outside the ward door.

“Anyone there?”

Knock knock knock, knock knock knock.

“Anyone there?”

Knock knock knock, knock knock knock.

“Anyone there?”

Cold sweat seeped from Jin Jian’s back. His eyes bulged slightly outward because of excessive tension. He firmly remembered what Yan Xu had told them: If something strange appeared outside the ward door and said something, no matter what, do not respond.

Knock knock knock, knock knock knock.

“Anyone there?”

The voice outside asked, accompanied by rhythmic knocking.

Why hadn’t it left yet?

Why was it lingering at the door?

Jin Jian’s heart rose to his throat. He covered his lips, trapping the faint sound of his breathing inside his palm and preventing it from becoming the reason for the shadow outside to remain.

Why hadn’t it left yet? So much time had passed. Why hadn’t the thing outside left yet? Why was it still knocking? Why did it persistently ask if anyone was inside the ward?

Clearly, no one in the ward had responded.

Jin Jian felt that something was wrong. He carefully shifted his gaze away from the ward door to the curly-haired man beside him, moving his eyes painfully.

Jin Jian felt he had done nothing wrong. He had firmly remembered Yan Xu’s instructions, yet the shadow lingered at the door. Since he had no problem, then the reason the shadow lingered so long must be the curly-haired man.

When he turned his head like this, he stopped breathing for a moment.

Only then did he notice that the small bedside lamp next to the curly-haired man was on.

Damn!

Fuck!

No wonder that thing had been lingering by the ward door.

Jin Jian wanted to kill the curly-haired man, but he didn’t dare move too much at that moment. He could only wildly glance at the man, signaling him to turn off the lamp quickly.

However, the curly-haired man kept staring at the door and did not notice Jin Jian’s signal. Jin Jian’s eyes almost cramped. Helpless, Jin Jian carefully got out of bed. He did not dare pat the man directly — when a person is extremely tense, any movement could be a trigger.

Worried that the man would scream, Jin Jian circled around the foot of the bed. He planned to turn off the small lamp that cast a shadow on the door himself.

Carefully stretching out his hand, he touched the switch and gently turned off the small lamp.

The light dimmed at once, and the knocking and questioning seemed to quiet together with the fading light.

Jin Jian let out a breath and was just about to climb back into bed when he suddenly heard a rustling sound. He froze and realized it was the sound of lifting the blanket.

Of course, he wasn’t the one making this sound — he was still some distance away from his own bed.

It was another sound made by the curly-haired man.

Jin Jian wanted to explode. He wanted to grab the curly-haired man’s collar and ask: What the hell are you doing? Can you quiet down? Don’t you know there’s a deadly thing guarding the door?

Clearly, this was not the time to get angry. Jin Jian tried hard to suppress his anger, but before he could calm down, he heard footsteps, tap, tap, tap.

These footsteps were not made by Jin Jian because he had already returned to his bed.

It was the curly-haired man!

“Open the door for Mommy.”

The voice outside said.

“Oh, coming.”

the curly-haired man replied.

Jin Jian’s breathing tightened instantly. Before he could react, the man pulled open the door with a click—sparse light leaked in from outside.

Jin Jian raised his head and looked at the crack in the door that the curly-haired man had opened. The blood drained from his face, and his expression froze little by little.

—

In the morning, the nurse knocked.

“Get ready. Time to go out and sunbathe.”

The nurse reminded the people inside Ward 302.

Lin Jia opened his eyes and turned his head to glance at the bed beside him.

He saw Yan Xu open his eyes—it looked like he had been woken up by the noise.

Seeing Yan Xu awake, Lin Jia said, “Captain Yan, good morning.”

Yan Xu said nothing. He sat up, probably because he found the nurse outside noisy. He answered once to stop the nurse’s urging.

Lin Jia stared at Yan Xu and noticed that he was dressed very neatly.

Last night, Lin Jia had persuaded Yan Xu not to leave the room. On the surface, Yan Xu had agreed, but it was unclear whether he had secretly gone out after Lin Jia fell asleep.

Lin Jia thought for a moment, then stretched out his hand toward Yan Xu’s bed to feel if it was still warm.

Yan Xu subconsciously grabbed Lin Jia’s wrist.

Knowing that Yan Xu moved quickly, Lin Jia was quick too. The moment Yan Xu caught him, Lin Jia touched the bedding.

Warm.

This meant that Yan Xu had stayed in bed for quite a while. Last night, Lin Jia hadn’t heard any movement either. Most likely, Yan Xu had listened to him and had not gone out to court death.

“What are you doing?” Yan Xu held Lin Jia’s arm and asked guardedly.

“Nothing.” Instead, Lin Jia smiled and pulled his hand free from Yan Xu’s grip.

Yan Xu looked at Lin Jia, confused.

What was going on? Why was he smiling at him first thing in the morning?

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