Chapter 226 – Awakening
The two bodyguards entered quickly.
They didn’t understand why Nick Wells had given such an order. Though puzzled, they didn’t dare to disobey him.
As soon as they pushed the door open, a dazzling mushroom suddenly appeared in their line of sight.
Their eyes instantly lost all focus.
Tu Ran held the hallucinogenic mushroom and silently commanded in her mind, “Close the door.”
The two bodyguards, dazed, turned around and shut the door.
They then slowly turned back to face Tu Ran, awaiting her next order.
Casually, Tu Ran pointed at one of them and said, “You were the one who dug out Nick Wells’ inner core.”
She began brainwashing them.
The man nodded in a confused daze.
Then she pointed to herself. “When I left, Nick Wells was perfectly fine. Got it?”
The two continued nodding.
Tu Ran looked over at Nick Wells. “The killer is him. It has nothing to do with me. Remember that.”
Pausing for a moment, Tu Ran suddenly spoke in a more serious tone, “Nick, you need to be magnanimous. Don’t get hung up on who the killer is. What’s the point of finding the real culprit now? You should cherish the few days you have left while you’re still conscious and enjoy life. Understand?”
Nick Wells nodded mechanically.
If he had been clear-headed, he would have been furious with Tu Ran.
He would’ve cursed the world for having all sorts of people—where even the killer could tell the victim not to hold grudges. He had never seen such audacity in his life.
Unfortunately, his mind was in complete disarray, with only Tu Ran’s voice echoing within it.
Even if Tu Ran told him right now that water was poisonous and he should never drink it again, he would have believed her and let himself die of thirst.
After finishing all this, Tu Ran ordered the two guards to step outside and resume guarding the door. She waited for five minutes before finally leaving.
Before she left, Tu Ran set a timer for them. In half an hour, the two bodyguards would reenter Nick Wells’ study, making that time their “window of opportunity” for committing the crime.
By then, she would already be gone, with the surveillance footage from the living room serving as evidence of her absence.
This would reduce suspicion against her. Combined with Nick Wells’ insistence that the bodyguards were the killers, and their own eventual confessions, her involvement would seem even less likely.
Besides, Nick Wells wouldn’t be too concerned about who the real culprit was.
With his limited time left, he would either focus on enjoying life or on finding a way to fix his situation.
That wasn’t her problem. She could now leave without a care.
Tu Ran boldly took the elevator down to the first floor, where she was enthusiastically escorted out by robotic nurses.
As soon as she left Xixinange Hospital, Tu Ran headed straight for the medical department.
In Xi Chunzhi’s hospital room, Xie Xinyu was busy monitoring various data from her body on the instruments.
Tu Ran entered without him noticing.
She stood silently, watching him as he worked.
Fifteen minutes later, Xie Xinyu finished uploading all the data. When he turned around, he was startled to see Tu Ran staring at him intently. He stepped back, dramatically clutching his chest.
“When did you come in? I didn’t even hear your footsteps!”
Tu Ran didn’t respond to his question. Instead, she asked, “Did you find anything?”
“No,” Xie Xinyu shook his head, looking down at the data on the electronic screen with a troubled expression. “Her body’s vital signs are rapidly declining. The trend is clear—if she keeps lying there like this, I’m afraid…”
He didn’t finish, but the implication was obvious.
If Xi Chunzhi didn’t wake up soon, once her body’s vital signs dropped to their lowest point, or even started to fail, she would never wake up again.
Therefore, those whose inner cores had been removed could not simply lie there indefinitely like a vegetative state. It had been nearly a month since Xi Chunzhi’s inner core was taken, and Tu Ran speculated that a person without an inner core could only survive for about a month.
“I understand,” Tu Ran said and continued staring at Xie Xinyu in silence.
“Uh…” Xie Xinyu felt uncomfortable under her gaze and rubbed his nose. “I’ll head out then. Call me if you need anything.”
“Mm,” Tu Ran responded coolly.
After watching Xie Xinyu leave and closing the door, Tu Ran finally walked over to Xi Chunzhi’s bedside.
Her cheeks had grown more hollow, and the veins on her wrist, exposed outside the blanket, were visible. She looked like a withered rose, completely different from the glamorous, motorcycle-riding goddess Tu Ran had first met.
Tu Ran let out a faint sigh and pulled out the inner core from inside her coat.
The small core still had traces of blood on it. Tu Ran wiped it with a tissue, and though the surface was now clean, she still felt uneasy. So, she turned and went to the bathroom, rinsing the core repeatedly under the water.
As she looked at the core, now glistening with clear droplets and emitting a faint glow, Tu Ran finally felt satisfied. She returned to Xi Chunzhi’s bedside, lifted her chin, pried open her pale mouth, and flicked the core directly down her throat.
As soon as it entered, the inner core visibly dissolved into a wisp of green smoke, flowing down her throat.
This was the first time Tu Ran had ever witnessed such a clear absorption of an inner core by the body, and she found it astonishing.
After carefully positioning Xi Chunzhi’s head, Tu Ran stood by, staring at her without blinking, her hands unconsciously clenching at her sides.
This was the only solution she could think of for now.
If this didn’t work, she might not have enough time to find another solution.
After one minute, there was no change.
Three minutes passed, still no response.
After ten minutes, Tu Ran’s heart began to sink.
Tu Ran touched Xi Chunzhi’s thin wrist, hoping to sense something different.
To her surprise, she noticed that deep within Xi Chunzhi’s memory, she was no longer crying out in pain.
Tu Ran’s eyes lit up as she stared at Xi Chunzhi’s unchanged face. She was sure that swallowing the inner core had worked! Xi Chunzhi hadn’t woken up yet, but perhaps it was just a matter of time.
Tu Ran hooked a chair with her toe, pulling it over and sitting down, her upper body practically leaning over the bed. She was no more than thirty centimeters away from Xi Chunzhi’s face, staring at her intensely.
After thirty minutes, Tu Ran saw Xi Chunzhi’s eyelashes tremble.
It was faint, and for a moment, Tu Ran thought she had imagined it. But the thick lashes trembled more and more, and Tu Ran quickly pressed the call button by the bed.
Xie Xinyu, who had just been nearby dealing with other patients, kicked the door open and rushed in within a minute. “What happened? Is she not going to make it?”
Tu Ran: “…” Why did he have to phrase it like that?
“She’s moving. It looks like she’s about to wake up,” Tu Ran explained.
“What!?” Xie Xinyu dashed over, shoving Tu Ran aside and taking her spot, checking Xi Chunzhi from every angle.
Tu Ran, who was nearly knocked to the floor along with her chair: “…”
Wasn’t there another side of the bed? Did he really have to push her out of the way?!
But seeing how genuinely concerned he was, she decided to forgive him.
Xi Chunzhi was indeed moving, her brows furrowing, her eyelids showing signs of opening, though it seemed like she was trapped in a nightmare. She struggled, unable to open her eyes, her whole body twitching slightly, with veins bulging on her wrists.
