Chapter 233: Chapter 233: The End of Days Gone By

The three people remained silent, sitting on the long bench outside the hospital entrance, waiting.

Chen Ke pulled out his phone to check his text messages, Sam paced back and forth in front of the operating room, and Gina leaned against the wall with her eyes closed, resting.

Time ticked by second by second. If it had been in the past, Chen Ke would have chosen to leave.

But now he had more than forty souls in his possession and over 20 hours of life left, he couldn’t suddenly find himself with free time.

Chen Ke read through the text messages one by one. Most of them were messages from the Postman Organization. Hall and Priskin wanted to have a drink with Chen Ke, Pihom wanted to confirm the share of the last robbery first, Hainerd asked if Chen Ke wanted to come and see Lucina, and Lucina sent a series of inquiries about other people’s whereabouts…

Lester wanted Chen Ke to pick up the suit that had been prepared and hinted that their target had arrived in Opportunity City… The rest of the messages were just advertisements…

Chen Ke sighed and put away his phone. He never thought that he would disappear for only two days and people would search for him all over the world. He couldn’t help but laugh wryly. Before his journey, there were at least three digits worth of phone numbers in his contact list, but only 10086 and the telemarketers would come back to contact him.

He realized that whether people contacted him or not had nothing to do with how many people he knew–it was all about how important you really were to others.

After about 2 hours, the surgery was over. As the doctor and his assistant came out the door, the three of them immediately stood up and gathered in front of the operating room.

“Doctor… How is she doing?” Chen Ke asked.

The doctor’s expression was a bit strange; he looked at Chen Ke and Sam, glanced at Gina, and then rested his gaze back on Sam.

“What’s wrong…?” Sam asked, puzzled.

“Are you from the Administration Bureau…?” the doctor quietly asked.

Sam shook his head, looking towards Chen Ke.

“Why do you ask that?” Chen Ke asked defensively.

“That lady’s wounds were caused by a monster, right?” the doctor countered.

“Yes, but just because of that, you think we’re from the Administration Bureau?” Chen Ke continued to ask in return.

“I might just be a doctor, but I’m no idiot. Civilians attacked by monsters and brought to the hospital wouldn’t be as calm as you all,” the doctor said.

“Alright, I’m from the Administration Bureau. How is she now?” Chen Ke didn’t bother hiding it anymore.

“Obviously, her wounds are mainly lacerations. Most of the injuries are concentrated in the abdominal muscles, back muscles, and chest area. The wounds are very deep–there’s a lacerative injury to the abdominal tendons, and if the wound were a dozen millimeters deeper, her intestines would have come out. The back muscle wounds are deep enough to reach the fascia, and there’s an open wound in the deltoid muscles…” the doctor explained at length.

“Okay, okay… We’re not familiar with the human muscle structure… Just tell us the result directly…” Chen Ke interrupted with a wave of his hand.

“To put it simply, she’s not in any danger to her life, but… it’s impossible for her to recover to her current physical condition after her recovery,” the doctor said.

“So in plain terms, her life is saved, but she has to say goodbye to her pretty little muscles, right?” Chen Ke asked.

“That’s correct. She should avoid high-intensity exercise for at least three years. If she is an agent of sorts for the Administration Bureau, I would suggest she switch to a clerical job,” the doctor advised.

“It sounds like she won’t be willing to do that,” Chen Ke said, spreading his hands.

“That’s not up to her,” the doctor replied.

Meanwhile, Diana was pushed out of the operating room by the medical staff, wrapped up like a mummy,

still under anesthesia, looking exhausted with her eyes tightly closed. However, her complexion wasn’t so pale because she was receiving a blood transfusion.

“She’ll have to stay in the hospital for a while… so, can any of you contact her relatives?” the doctor asked.

“This…” Chen Ke found himself in a bit of a dilemma.

“We can contact the Administration Bureau first; they’ll handle these matters,” Sam suggested.

“We’ve already contacted them before the surgery,” the doctor said with a smile.

“You guys really move fast, don’t you…” Chen Ke was taken aback and glanced back down the hallway subconsciously.

“It’s the rule of the Administration Bureau. If an agent of the Administration Bureau is seriously injured and does not seek medical attention at their hospitals immediately, we must contact them,” the doctor explained.

“Of course… I know, well done,” Chen Ke said.

“However… Why didn’t you just take her directly to the Administration Bureau hospital? There’s one in the Holy Oak District…” the doctor asked.

“It was an emergency; we didn’t have time to do that,” Chen Ke answered.

“But you had time to give her temporary bandages? And let her move around for more than five hours without proper treatment for her wounds?” the doctor continued.

Chen Ke was at a loss for words; the other party was a professional doctor, who obviously could tell the condition of Diana’s wounds.

“The situation is complicated, doctor,” Gina interjected.

The doctor nodded in understanding, patted Chen Ke’s shoulder, and then left with his assistant.

Chen Ke knew it was time for him to go. He couldn’t meet with the people from the Administration Bureau; they would ask too many questions.

“I need to go now. Here’s my phone number; call me if there’s an issue. Thanks for earlier, Gina,” Chen Ke said.

“It’s nothing… Do you have Facebook?” Gina asked timidly.

“I don’t use that, I only use QQ,” Chen Ke said, turning to leave.

“Aren’t you going to see Diana?” Sam asked.

“No, I certainly don’t want the Administration Bureau’s people asking all those questions. If you don’t want that either, I suggest you come with me,” Chen Ke said.

Gina and Sam didn’t particularly mind being interrogated by the Administration Bureau, but for some reason, they chose to go with Chen Ke.

Diana was wheeled into the ward by the medical staff. It wouldn’t be long before someone from the Administration Bureau would come looking for her, right? By then, she would be completely safe. That’s what Chen Ke thought as he quickly left the hospital with Sam and Gina.

Let’s fast forward the time. 72 hours later, Diana woke up.

She had never slept so comfortably. As soon as she opened her eyes, she saw the snow-white ceiling of the hospital room and a large bag of IV fluid hanging from the stand.

A woman in a black business suit stood by the bed, looking at her gently.

She was a mature woman with strands of white mixed into her long, wavy golden hair. Even at her age, one could still see the grace of her youth in her bearing.

Diana recognized her; she was Marinda Shepard, the director of the Opportunity City branch of the Administration Bureau, known as Mrs. Marinda, or Mrs. M.

“Hello, Diana. I hope I haven’t woken you,” Mrs. Marinda said with a smile.

“It looks like… you’ve been waiting for quite a while…” Diana said weakly.

“I’m always patient, Diana,” Mrs. Marinda said with a smile.

“But also very curious… I’m not wrong, am I?” Diana asked with a smile.

“You’re right, girl… I am very curious about what exactly you’ve been through these past 48 hours. My intuition, and your injuries tell me that it was a most exhilarating… adventure,” Mrs. Marinda said meaningfully.

“It was a hard journey… Director,” Diana said with a bitter smile.

“But I believe you must have enjoyed it. What’s a little blood when compared to tedious paperwork?” Mrs. Marinda chuckled.

“Indeed, you must have been quite the handful in your youth,” Diana said.

“You’ll get used to it, girl. Now, tell me your story…” Mrs. Marinda pulled a chair over and sat by the bed.

Diana recounted the subway accident, her trip to Carefree City in 2006, the encounter with Ying Baiyi, the survivors’ self-rescue, the tragedy at the Rumi Hotel, the ghastly pale ghost lady, and the final escape…

She didn’t deliberately hide Chen Ke’s existence, but her story featured a different version: in her tale, Chen Ke was a brave and calm young man without Spiritual Energy.

And the reason they were able to escape was because of a randomly opened doorway of tangled time.

Mrs. Marinda thoroughly enjoyed Diana’s story, touched her forehead, and nodded in satisfaction.

“You really are a strong and lucky girl. Rest well. Tomorrow, we’ll transfer you to the Administration Bureau Hospital in Holy Oak District, where you can receive better healing treatment. Oh… by the way… our hospital is very good at removing scars~ I speak from experience, I’m not lying to you!” Mrs. Marinda said with a laugh.

She took one last look at Diana, waved her hand, walked out of the ward, and gently closed the door.

Diana let out a sigh of relief, unsure whether her story had given anything away.

However, only a few seconds passed before the door was rudely pushed open, and Wang Ailin, dressed in a white jacket and red dress, barged in clumsily.

“Ailin…?” Diana was startled.

Wang Ailin hurried to Diana’s side and wrapped her trembling hands around Diana’s body cocooned in the blanket.

“Oh… my Diana, ah… why did this happen…” Wang Ailin’s voice was laced with sobs.

“You know, an agent always comes to this one day…” Diana sighed.

“Look at your wounds… your whole body is full of them… oh my goodness… I’ll have to take you off my YY list…” Wang Ailin complained with a woeful face.

“That would be truly heartless of you…” Diana said with a laugh.

“Get better quickly, Diana, otherwise I’m going to be really bored…” Wang Ailin said, caressing Diana’s cheek with concern.

“There’s something I need you to do… there’s a bullet casing in my jacket pocket… take it out,” Diana said.

Wang Ailin did as Diana instructed, took the casing and held it in her hand. It was a rifle bullet casing with the bullet fired and the opening plugged by a bloody bandage. She pulled out the bandage and found that the casing contained a small amount of red dust.

“What is this…?” Wang Ailin asked.

“This red dust… is what the dead turned into,” Diana said.

“What?!” Wang Ailin exclaimed, staring at the casing in her palm.

“There’s a kind of memetic infection that can turn people into this dust… Don’t tell anyone about the dust, and see if you can find a way to heal it,” Diana said.

“Memetic infection… I can set up a reverse-engineering model to analyze it, but I don’t know if I can turn this clump of dust back into a person…” Wang Ailin frowned as she spoke…

“No, no… Ailin… I don’t mean that…” Diana shook her head.

“Oh, I get it now… you mean… you’ve got this infection…?” Wang Ailin asked, surprised.

“Let’s just say I do… Time is limited, Ailin… I’m really counting on you…” Diana said.

Meanwhile, outside the hospital, in a black sedan, Mrs. Marinda looked out the car window at Diana’s ward window.

“Mrs. M… Do you believe Diana’s story?” the male agent sitting beside her asked.

“She’s a good girl, but not very good at lying. Have people protect her and start looking into this Chen Ke fellow,” Marinda said.

The car window slowly rose, and the car started, heading towards Holy Oak.