Chapter 33: You Deserve It 12 |
Noon, the sun was scorching hot.
Wu Zhong lay on the hospital bed, shaken awake by a nurse.
Wires from an ECG machine were attached to his body, hands, and feet, and he was on an IV drip. After the nurse removed them, she was packing up the ECG machine.
"Since you're awake, get up yourself," the nurse said with a slight accent before pushing the machine out.
Wu Zhong sat up dazedly, looking around. This was the hospital's emergency monitoring room.
Looking at the brochure on the wall: "Rongcheng Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital? Huh? How did we get to Rongcheng?"
He had no memory of how he got here.
A man in the next bed also woke up, equally confused.
Wu Zhong ignored him and walked straight out.
"Hey? Why am I wearing a skirt?"
Wu Zhong was stunned, only now noticing his clothes had changed.
Looking further, his skin tone had changed too, becoming much smoother and fairer.
His entire body was slender and slim, with long legs proportioned like a supermodel.
"Ah, this, this, this..."
Wu Zhong realized this was another skin-changing suit. What had happened?
Why was he here? Why had his clothes changed?
Meanwhile, the man in the next bed screamed and was also fussing with his clothes, looking down at himself.
Wu Zhong paused, looking at him tentatively: "De Biao?"
The other looked up, stunned. It was Yang Chunsha.
"Brother Wu? What's going on?"
Wu Zhong felt extremely uncomfortable: "You're asking me? Who should I ask?"
"Should we swap clothes first?"
"How can we do that?" Yang Chunsha felt around on the bed and found her phone.
She looked at the phone: "Ah! It's August 25th already?"
Wu Zhong snatched it to look: "We slept for two days?"
Luo Yi had come on the evening of the 23rd, and now it was noon on the 25th.
"Do you have Brother Xia's number?"
Yang Chunsha shook her head: "No, but I can contact him using plant communication."
They both looked toward the head of the bed. Sure enough, there was a fruit basket there, likely intentionally left for them.
Yang Chunsha picked up an apple, then seemed to be waiting for someone to answer the call.
Wu Zhong suddenly became alert and snatched the apple: "Don't call here, let's go outside first."
He was actually worried Yang Chunsha might contact someone else.
After all, he remembered Luo Yi had mocked Xia Heng for just bluffing, telling Yang Chunsha she hadn't actually taken poison.
With this confidence, Yang Chunsha might potentially sell him out.
"Oh."
Yang Chunsha clearly thought of this too, giving Wu Zhong a sidelong glance.
The two walked out of the monitoring room. Wu Zhong asked at the information desk: "Excuse me, why was I lying here?"
The front desk nurse clearly knew the situation: "Alcohol poisoning."
Wu Zhong's mouth twitched. After asking a few more questions, he finally understood.
Xia Heng had brought them here, and they were already wearing these clothes when they arrived.
They had already been poisoned for a full day when they came, so the emergency department arranged for medication.
"We drank too much that day, it made me lose my memory completely," Wu Zhong sighed.
Yang Chunsha recalled: "I remember you went downstairs, bought over a hundred pounds of baijiu, cleared out two stores, and made three trips to bring it all up."
Wu Zhong remembered too: "Yes... Brother Xia drank for a while, then said he had something to do and slipped away."
"Damn, after that I was the one drinking with that monster."
Yang Chunsha protested: "I drank a lot too, you know?"
Wu Zhong gave her a sidelong glance: "Fine, fine, you're amazing. Next time you drink with him, I'm quitting alcohol."
"This is ridiculous, it actually gave me alcohol poisoning."
Yang Chunsha paused, then quickly shook her head: "No no no, you should still drink with him. You're the one who wants to become Mad Blood Clan, I'm not qualified."
She had been very enthusiastic last night, trying to please Luo Yi.
Clearly she wanted to become Mad Blood Clan - even without mental fortification, it was still a very useful trait.
But after hearing about the cost of the Embrace, she knew she had no chance, or rather, that investing in Wu Zhong was more promising.
"Let's go change clothes first!"
Wu Zhong pulled Yang Chunsha toward the restroom.
When they got there, they faced a dilemma - which one to enter?
"We don't have other clothes, we can only both go into the same one," Yang Chunsha said gloomily.
Wu Zhong said: "We still have to change! Men's room!"
He dragged Yang Chunsha into the men's room. A man urinating jumped in surprise: "Huh?"
To others, it looked like a supermodel-like woman was aggressively pulling a man into the men's room, while the man turned his face away, appearing quite shy.
"What are you doing? What are you doing?" The passerby was so scared he shrank back, turning his body and squeezing into the corner.
Wu Zhong ignored him, gritting his teeth and entering the same stall with Yang Chunsha.
The passerby stared wide-eyed, greatly shocked.
He pulled up his pants, facing the stall where clothes-removing sounds were coming from, slowly backing toward the door.
Reaching the door, he couldn't bear to leave, keeping his eyes fixed on the stall, looking increasingly shocked the more he thought about it.
He took out his phone and pressed to speak: "Honey, come quick, there are two perverts messing around in the restroom."
But soon enough, the stall door pushed open, and the man and woman walked out again.
"So fast?" The passerby shrank aside to make way, muttering as he looked at Wu Zhong.
Wu Zhong had a dark expression - he had only swapped skin-changing suits with Yang Chunsha while facing away from each other.
So their appearances were back to how they were before.
"What are you looking at! Never seen a handsome guy before?"
Wu Zhong shouted, then quickly pulled Yang Chunsha away to run.
The passerby didn't dare talk back, waiting until a man came over to see what was happening.
The passerby urgently pulled him and pointed at Wu Zhong's retreating back: "Honey, say something, he was mean to me."
Wu Zhong heard this commotion from far away and quickened his pace.
He and Yang Chunsha rushed out of the hospital, crossed the street, not knowing where to go.
"Starving, let's eat something first."
The two ate at a noodle shop across from the hospital. Wu Zhong downed two large bowls and drank two bottles of milk before feeling comfortable.
Yang Chunsha glanced at him gloomily: "The fruit basket was left for me at the hospital bedside... that was Brother Xia's way of telling me to contact him... Give me the apple."
Wu Zhong thought for a moment, then gave it to her.
Yang Chunsha held the apple and waited for a while, then whispered: "Brother Xia, it's me... Yes, awake, he's here, we're eating noodles at the hospital entrance."
"Ah? Why do I need to speak? Because my big brother doesn't know this can be mental communication."
Wu Zhong saw she was responding naturally, with simple sentences, and didn't mention his name.
And it could actually be mental communication, without needing to speak aloud - meaning Yang Chunsha had many opportunities before now to sell him out if she wanted to.
After thinking it through clearly, Wu Zhong felt guilty for suspecting she would betray him.
Come to think of it, this woman had unintentionally saved his life back in the Dim Passage.
"Here." Yang Chunsha tossed the apple to Wu Zhong: "The apple's for you, tell the plants to stay away from me."
Seeing she was sulking, Wu Zhong quickly smiled: "My bad, my bad, I didn't mean anything by it, just a bit groggy after waking up."
Yang Chunsha got up to pay. Wu Zhong had nothing now, while Yang Chunsha still had a phone.
"Wait right here, they're coming soon."
They waited for a while. When Wu Zhong tried to make conversation, she gave him the cold shoulder.
Xia Heng had said 'soon,' but this 'soon' turned into a full two-hour wait!
Until the shop owner was looking at them strangely, Xia Heng's skin-changing form finally arrived leisurely from outside.
He patted Yang Chunsha's shoulder: "Little Wu, let's go."
Wu Zhong stood up: "Brother Xia, I'm the one who..."
Xia Heng raised an eyebrow: "Switched back?"
He chuckled lightly, first motioning for them to follow him.
The car was outside, with Luo Yi drinking milk tea in the driver's seat.
Once all four were seated, the car headed straight out of the city.
"Brother Xia, Lord Luo, what exactly happened? Where did you go?"
Xia Heng kept watching outside the window: "What do you think? A mercenary group discovered us."
Mercenaries, and a whole group of them?
Wu Zhong looked grave: "Where? Then what happened?"
Xia Heng explained to him that after their last drinking session, he and Yang Chunsha had blacked out.
But Luo Yi thought they were just sleeping, so he kept drinking alone. When Xia Heng returned, he drove them away from Star City.
After driving for a full day, Xia Heng tried to wake them but found they wouldn't wake up - they were unconscious.
Only then did he realize they had severe alcohol poisoning, so he drove late into the night, taking them all the way to the hospital in Rongcheng.
They were in too much of a hurry on the road to notice anything, but after entering the city and making several turns, they realized they were being followed.
The two discussed it and decided Luo Yi would lead the pursuers away, find a place to engage them and test their capabilities.
Xia Heng would take the opportunity to get off with the two and take them to the hospital, then go support Luo Yi.
As a precaution, they also changed Wu Zhong and Yang Chunsha's clothes and altered their appearances.
After all, they didn't know when the pursuer had started tracking them - who knew if they had already memorized Wu Zhong's skin-changing appearance?
"So that's what happened... Wait, we're fleeing for our lives, we really shouldn't be drinking, right?"
"That night you were too perverted, Lord Luo, you almost drank me to death!"
Wu Zhong felt like crying but had no tears - what if he didn't get killed by enemies but got drunk to death by his own people...
Luo Yi smiled awkwardly: "Aren't you a bit too weak? Don't panic, don't panic, if something really happened to you, I could bite you and you'd pull through."
"Here, we'll find a remote spot outside the city later, and I'll give you the Embrace."
Wu Zhong shuddered - was it really that simple? Just drinking with him well and he agreed?
He still felt some reserve: "Um, is that appropriate? Lord Luo, isn't the cost too great for you?"
Xia Heng, sitting in the passenger seat, couldn't take it anymore, his tone angry: "Enough, your poverty mindset is too heavy."
"I wanted to scold you awake that night - do you know how many people want to become Mad Blood Clan? Yang Chunsha knew she had no chance but still longed to obtain it, and you're still holding back?"
"Some opportunities, if you retreat from them, you'll never get another chance. In the disaster world, this kind of thinking only leads to two outcomes - either death, or becoming trash."
Wu Zhong was stunned: "Brother Xia, I just think this cost..."
Xia Heng interrupted: "No need to say more. You worry about others, but who the hell worries about you?"
"Who cares how great the cost is? No one knows better than himself. Does Luo Yi not have a brain? He can weigh the pros and cons himself, why do you need to remind him?"
Wu Zhong didn't expect Xia Heng to suddenly lose his temper with him.
"Brother Xia... The greater his cost, the greater the conditions you have to pay... You've already helped me too many times..."
Xia Heng said coldly: "And that's none of your damn business either. Do I not have a brain?"
"That you can think of me, worry that you won't be able to repay me later - I know all this, and I appreciate it."
"But since I'm willing to help you fight for it, it means I value you. Just accept it."
"What I give you represents what you deserve. Don't be afraid to bear it, don't have any feeling of 'not being worthy'!"
He hit the nail on the head. Wu Zhong shuddered, speechless.
Indeed, he really did have a feeling of not being worthy.
He always felt he didn't want to owe people too much, a kind of poor man's pride.
In reality, if people were willing to give to him, it meant he was qualified to receive it - no need to feel pressure.
If he owed people, he could remember to repay them later - no need to be afraid of bearing it. The situation was different from before - when good things came, he should grasp them first to improve himself.
Having thought this through clearly, Wu Zhong's eyes became determined: "I understand, you're right, Brother Xia. Thank you for valuing me so much."
"What you've taught me, how you've helped me - I'll remember it forever and won't let you down."
"No matter what you've paid for me, Brother Xia, I will definitely repay you doubly in the future."
He spoke solemnly, because he had realized one more thing.
Xia Heng and Luo Yi had negotiated terms while he and Yang Chunsha were blacked out... Could it be some extremely precious conditions? So extremely confidential that no one could hear?
Thinking of it this way, did Luo Yi know his alcohol tolerance was average but still intentionally got him drunk so he could propose such conditions?
Considering this layer, Wu Zhong felt Xia Heng must have paid a great price for him.
How could he not feel grateful for this?
Hearing him say this, Xia Heng realized he had understood, his expression relaxing: "I really do have high hopes for you. You could say I'm investing in you."
"Your performance at critical life-and-death moments showed me your potential. You've just been suppressed by life for too long... I trust my own judgment."
"And what you need to do is survive and grow stronger."
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