The mont his body passed through the door, Yang Xiao suddenly heard the sound of a Buddhist chant coming from behind him. The voice was so close, almost pressed against his back, and the next second, his foot found empty air, and he fell uncontrollably downward.
After an indeterminable amount of ti, his body twitched suddenly, and Yang Xiao groggily woke up, his eyelids heavy. It took him several tries before he could crack them open a slit.
Light filtered in, and as his vision gradually cleared, he found himself lying in a spacious room surrounded by all kinds of dical instrunts, with various paraters reflecting his bodily state floating on electronic screens.
This was a hospital room, but Yang Xiao felt unfamiliar with it. The last mont he rembered before entering the Nightmare World was on Mo Daidai’s territory.
The next second, he suddenly rembered sothing and tried to turn his head to look around, but he was the only patient in this spacious hospital room.
The door to the hospital room was pushed open, and a person resembling a doctor walked in with a female nurse, "You’re awake. How do you feel?"
Yang Xiao’s head was muddled; he could hardly see the doctor’s face clearly, "Where... where is this, who are you?"
"Mr. Yang, it was my boss who invited you here, don’t you rember?" The doctor sat down on a chair beside Yang Xiao’s bed, smiling at him.
"Where is Tong Han?"
"Miss Tong’s condition is a bit more complicated than yours. She’s receiving treatnt in another room, but you can rest assured that her life is secure," the doctor said.
"Right, we didn’t touch any of your belongings. We’ve organized them for you, they’re right there." The doctor raised his hand to point to one side, his attitude very respectful.
Following the direction the doctor pointed, Yang Xiao saw his backpack placed separately on a table; his Drama Robe was gone, replaced by a loose and comfortable patient gown, presumably changed by these people while he was unconscious.
"How long have I been back?" Yang Xiao had lost all sense of ti and subconsciously felt it had been a very long ti.
The doctor adjusted his glasses and nodded, "Two days now."
"Two days..."
Yang Xiao struggled to get up, but unfortunately, his entire body was bound by straps. Seeing this, the female nurse stepped forward to release the restraints and took off the various dical instrunt patches wrapped around Yang Xiao. As she helped him up, she whispered in his ear, "Do you need to go to the restroom, sir? I can assist you."
"No need," Yang Xiao firmly declined.
But although he was tough in words, his body was honest. Just as he sat up at the bedside and tried to stand, a wave of dizziness overtook him. Had the nurse not been quick to support him, he might have had a nasty fall. It wasn’t the first ti Yang Xiao had returned from the Nightmare World, but this ti his body was especially weak.
"Xiao Ya, you stay here to take care of Mr. Yang," the male doctor stood up and nodded to Yang Xiao, "Mr. Yang, you can tell her any needs you may have."
After the doctor left, the nurse helped Yang Xiao get to his backpack, and imdiately after, Yang Xiao requested to go to the restroom.
"You can go out now, I need to relieve myself," Yang Xiao, leaning against the wall inside the restroom, ordered the observing female nurse to leave.
"Mr. Yang, it’s too dangerous for you to be like this. Let assist you," the nurse offered.
Xiao Ya squatted down and naturally began tugging at Yang Xiao’s pants. This scared Yang Xiao to the point that his complexion changed. One hand braced against the wall, and with the other hand, he desperately guarded his modesty, "Nurse, nurse, please don’t do this!"
Xiao Ya looked up at him, slightly surprised, then suddenly laughed, "Mr. Yang, you don’t have to worry, I am a professional nurse. That... I changed all your clothes, including the ones close to your body."
Seeing Xiao Ya’s smile, Yang Xiao’s eyebrows twitched. He imdiately realized sothing – his phone had been invaded, and that damn Mo Daidai had reviewed his browsing history, deducing his taste in girls from the mass of data.
Therefore, she picked out the girl who matched the criteria the most. This was a honey trap, a hunt orchestrated by officials. Yang Xiao strongly suspected that there were surveillance caras hidden all over the room, including in the restroom.
"Get out," Yang Xiao sternly ordered the other to leave, his face set hard, "I don’t need help with such trivial matters."
After sending Xiao Ya out, Yang Xiao moved to a corner, using his body to block what might be hidden monitoring devices. He opened his backpack, where the Underworld Robe and his phone were still present. He took off the patient gown’s top, his back to the mirror, worried that the patch of Drama Robe fabric on his back might have been discovered. To his surprise, the red patch of fabric had vanished.
Yang Xiao was shocked. He reached out to touch where the fabric had been, only to find that the skin there felt different, smoother and more delicate, like... fine cloth.
At the sa ti, Yang Xiao reached out to touch the Drama Robe. Indeed, his own patch of human skin was missing, and the feel of the corresponding spot on the robe had beco strange; it was no longer like fabric but felt tougher, with a leathery sensation.
Although unclear as to why all this was happening, it at least relieved a bit of Yang Xiao’s concern; otherwise, having a piece of red cloth perpetually affixed to his back was far too conspicuous.
After organizing his belongings, Yang Xiao pressed the flush button on the toilet, then, for show, turned on the faucet to wash his hands, opened the door, and walked out.
Xiao Ya, who had been waiting outside the door, was very observant and took the initiative to take the backpack off his hands. With her other hand, she assisted Yang Xiao, who had expressed a desire to visit Tong Han. Unable to make this decision on her own, Xiao Ya called the male doctor they had seen earlier. Accompanied by the doctor and Xiao Ya, Yang Xiao and his party took the elevator down to a hospital room located at the end of the corridor, the security here was noticeably more stringent than it had been at his previous room.
Guards stood outside the patient’s room, forbidding entry. Thus, Yang Xiao could only stand at the door, peering inside through a narrow observation window. Tong Han lay on her back on a hospital bed, surrounded by various machines, her body connected to colorful tubes.
"Sigh—" Yang Xiao let out a slight breath of relief. He still rembered how Tong Han looked in her last monts; it was terrifying, identical to the photo Mo Daidai had shown.
Although he knew that no matter how severely injured one got in the Nightmare World, as long as one still took breaths, recovery was possible, Yang Xiao couldn’t help but worry without seeing for himself. Tong Han had played a critical role in their escape.
Turning away from the sight, Yang Xiao looked at the doctor beside him. "How is she doing?"
"It’s complicated. There are no physical injuries, but she has suffered trendous ntal trauma. Her response to external stimulation isn’t very optimistic. However, we’ve assembled the best dical team to discuss treatnt options," the doctor explained.
"Can she be cured?"
"I don’t know, but we will do our utmost."
"What about the item she brought back?"
"I’m not sure, I’m just a doctor."
Despite the doctor’s good attitude, his ignorance on many matters was irritating Yang Xiao. "Go find Mo Daidai for ; I have questions for him."
"I’m sorry, our boss isn’t here," the doctor replied, still with that polite tone and a complintary look in his eyes.
Yang Xiao scoffed, "I guess you don’t know where he went either, right?"
"I don’t know, as you see, I’m just a doctor."
"So I’m effectively under house arrest here, not allowed to leave, is that it?" Yang Xiao suspected Mo Daidai might be planning to cross him after using him, not acting yet because he and Tong Han were still useful, needing to learn more about the Ghost Envoy from them.
To his surprise, the doctor shook his head. "Mr. Yang, please don’t misunderstand. We have no intention of detaining you. You are free to leave whenever you like, but I suggest you stay and rest a while longer, given your current condition isn’t suitable for going out."
Yang Xiao, of course, knew his own state well; staying under soone else’s roof, he didn’t tangle over it too much. After a simple al, he returned to his room to rest.
He slept in complete darkness, awakening to find night had fallen, and his physical condition had greatly improved. According to the doctor’s examination, aside from so weakness, he had no major health issues.
"So how long will this weakness take to recover?" Yang Xiao inquired, always very cautious about his health.
The doctor closed the dical record book and looked up seriously, "It’s hard to say. Your weakness is unrelated to this incident, solely a personal constitutional issue. I suggest getting less overnight work, drinking ginseng goji tea in moderation, and during hot weather, consuming tea beverages such as ’Plum and Three Beans Drink’. Of course, internal health managent is crucial. Young man, you need to learn to restrain yourself."
Yang Xiao, not wanting to waste words with him, soon had them arrange transportation to his apartnt. Only after unlocking the door to his own small room did his tense mind gradually relax. After a shower, Yang Xiao ordered so late-night food; he still had things to do that night.
Normally, he would have checked the treasures stored in the Mirror World first, but feeling unwell, he feared encountering the Mirror Ghost, whose cunning he had already experienced and had not been inferior to his own.
If not for that creature’s interference at a critical mont, he wouldn’t have been so easily caught by the Ghost Envoy and thrown into the Nightmare World.
After so thought, he turned on his phone and sent a ssage to Fu Qingzhu, inviting him to et. However, he received no reply for quite so ti.
Sitting at the table, Yang Xiao first took out a piece of paper and wrote down two phone numbers—one for Cheng Cha and the other, naturally, for Sui Chengguo. Before parting, the three had exchanged contact information, but Yang Xiao had no intention of disturbing them just yet.
Leaning back in his chair and closing his eyes, Yang Xiao tried to recall the mission in detail. His mory was blurry, apparently missing so parts. He only rembered dying once during the mission, his head sent flying, but the details of his death and what had killed him eluded his mory.
Strangely, whenever he closed his eyes, an image ford in his mind—a few figures standing on a white jade platform under a Blood Moon, with a nine-story building looming in the background.
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