CH 188

News at Spring Ivy could never escape the Yves family.

Joe was notified the moment Yan Suizhi was transferred to the special ward, and soon after Laura found out as well. They both hastened to the hospital overnight. 

Ke Jin came along with them, too.

Lin Yuan received them in front of the elevator. When he saw Ke Jin, he cast a glance at Joe. “Why did you call Lawyer Ke along, too? The hospital isn’t an environment that can set anyone at ease, especially since his sleep cycle would be disrupted this late at night.”

Every time at Spring Ivy, Ke Jin would go to the testing facility; it was a left from the elevator then straight ahead.

This had almost become a conditioned reflex, so as soon as he got out of the elevator, without anyone prompting him, he was already making a left and going straight ahead with his head bowed. 

Straight ahead was a wall.

Joe marched over, stopping him, cajoling him back. Only after did he have the capacity to respond to Lin Yuan. “I know, but he’s been antsy in the last few days. His sleep cycle has already been disrupted, and he wasn’t even willing to sleep at this hour. He was all panicky today.”

“What? How can that be?” Lin Yuan was taken aback.

Ke Jin’s condition made him susceptible to falling into a sort of obsessive compulsion. Once forming a habit, it was more than difficult to break it.

Joe’s expression turned complicated. “It’s my fault for not bringing him with me to visit the detention centre on Tian Qin. Eunice said that he didn’t really want to sleep that night.”

To Joe, this should have been a cause for celebration as it meant that Ke Jin was receptive to his presence and departure. The response wasn’t any small, either, breaking the sleep cycle that he had kept for years.

But just the thought of how antsy Ke Jin had been in the last few days instantly killed off any joy.

“…I don’t know what the world in his eyes is like. I don’t know where his thoughts would lead him. But anything that makes him uneasy mustn’t be anything good.” Joe was distressed. “As for today… Old Fox informed Eunice and I after learning about what happened to the dean. Ke Jin might have heard some of it; I don’t know how much went through, but he’s been out of sorts since. He likes the dean so much, he must want to see him. How can I not take him along?” 

Lin Yuan sighed. “Alright then.”

“Where’s Gu Yan?” Joe swept a glance around.

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It was as clean as can be, without a spot of dust, but also devoid of life.

Yan Suizhi was lying on the hospital bed, soundless and stirless, his raven dark hair dispersed on the pillow and his skin pallid. Even through the aseptic hood, one could see the faint blue of his veins snaking on the back of his hands and the side of his neck.

Gu Yan sat in the chair by the bed, his clasped hands under his nose, silently focused on the man on the hospital bed.

It was absolutely silent in the room, only broken by the occasional beeps from the infusion pump as the flow rate was automatically adjusted. 

Laura was already fully dressed and scrubbed in, yet her footsteps faltered outside the door to the special ward.

She saw the two people inside and the rims of her eyes abruptly reddened. She hastily retreated back to the decontamination passage, bumping into Joe behind her.

“What’s wrong?” He asked, bracing her shoulders.

“My heart can’t take it,” Laura said. “Let me have a moment. You guys head in first.” 

Lin Yuan chuckled bitterly. “It’s not just you. I feel terrible every time I come up. But this might go on for a while.”

“Will the dean… have to stay like this?” Laura asked. “Must he be enclosed in the hood forever?”

The aseptic glass hood insulated all noise. It was a thin shell, yet it seemed to isolate Yan Suizhi on an island.

Unapproachable, untouchable, even his breathing inaudible to others. 

For those who loved him, it was truly a type of hell.

Fortunately, Lin Yuan shook his head and said, “Not forever. The reason that he’s currently in an aseptic environment is that we’ve just performed an emergency surgery on him. His genes are in disarray. The needle wounds and suchlike are slow to heal and easily infected, which would impede the treatment process. We’ve given him medicine to speed up the healing. It’ll take roughly four hours for the wounds to close, then we can remove the aseptic hood. After that, it doesn’t matter whether the environment is aseptic or not, because the problem exists on a genomic level.”

“Then will he remain unconscious?” Laura pressed, “Will he come to?”

“He wouldn’t,” said Lin Yuan. “At this time, the coma works as a self-defence mechanism. Because when he comes to, he will feel the discomfort from his physiological responses even more vividly. People instinctively avoid pain.” 

After the explanation, Lin Yuan didn’t intrude, hurrying down to the lab.

The simulation in the machine was now at a critical stage. He had to keep an eye on the process, not allowing a single moment of slack.

Joe and Laura stayed here for four whole hours.

It was actually quite chaotic during these four hours. During which, Yan Suizhi’s blood pressure and heart rate each dipped below the bottom limit, sparking red warning alerts again. Fortunately, Lin Yuan and his team of researchers managed to pull it back into a safe range. 

At 4:22 a.m., the aseptic hood automatically beeped to indicate that it had reached the four-hour preset timing.

A few researchers rushed up from downstairs, carefully checking every needle and incision wound on Yan Suizhi, then shook their heads. “No, it has to be extended for another hour.”

They glanced around at the people in the room, equivocating, “The healing rate of the wounds and stitches is slower than expected. It’s not a good sign. Generally, we would advise against visitation at this time, the fewer people the better, one at the most…”

It went without saying; it could only be Gu Yan. 

The few young researchers were a bit embarrassed to drive away their big boss.

Fortunately, Young Master Joe was a very affable person. He waved a hand and called Laura up without any prompting. “Alright, then. There are a few lounges next to the vice-president’s office on the top floor. Go get some sleep; I don’t want you guys keeling over when the dean wakes up.”

He also really wanted to tell Gu Yan this but he knew that it would be useless.

As his best friend, he understood the other all too well. 

The most hurtful thing to do at this time was to advise Gu Yan to rest.

He walked up and patted Gu Yan on the shoulder, then briefly conveyed what Lin Yuan had told them in the corridor. “Lin Yuan said it’s good that he’s unconscious now. People usually don’t rouse unless there’s something that they can’t leave behind or cast aside, eating them up inside. It hurts less that way. Just pretend that… the dean is sleeping.”

Gu Yan’s “mm” was subdued.

He had already prepared for a long sleepless night, yet against all expectations, just five minutes shy of five in the morning, the person in the aseptic hood frowned minutely. 

Gu Yan was stunned for a split second, believing himself mistaken.

But the person in the aseptic hood moved minutely again, his brows still creased.

Gu Yan abruptly leapt to his feet and had just leaned over the aseptic hood when Yan Suizhi, who was lying lifelessly inside, suddenly opened his eyes.

His gaze held a hint of jittery confusion in the aftermath of a nightmare, as if unable to find his bearings. 

He squinted dazedly for a few seconds before he finally saw Gu Yan through the transparent glass of the aseptic hood. At once, the anxiety in his eyes melted away.

Lin Yuan had said that people in pain wouldn’t usually rouse unless there was something that they couldn’t leave behind, and even then the odds of that happening was one in a million.

And yet Yan Suizhi had become this one-in-a-million chance.

He didn’t have something, but someone he was unable to leave behind. 

He knew that this someone would be sad, and so he opened his eyes to see. For he was truly reluctant to let go.