Chapter 100: Replication Experiment 24
Wei Liying was leaning half-sideways against the railing. From this angle, even if the fire door leading to the roof was pushed open just a narrow crack, it wouldn’t escape her eyes.
Qing Gang: “She specifically asked to see only Captain Zhuang. She said if we dare to push the door open, she’ll jump immediately.”
The torrential rain had already started pattering down, accompanied by constant thunder in mid-air. The entire sky over the city seemed to have turned a dark yellow. Yi Ke looked through the gap in the fire door and saw Wei Liying still maintaining the same posture. Her gray hair clung tightly to her gaunt face, and her clouded eyes held no spirit. Her whole person emanated a very obvious, decaying sense of having reached the end of life.
Suddenly, a bolt of blue lightning struck down from the sky, so close it seemed to explode right above her head. The onlookers gasped in fright. Qing Gang reported anxiously through the headset: “Team Leader Ye, if we drag this on any longer, even if she doesn’t want to jump herself, she might slip due to physical exhaustion.”
Ye Jiaoyue looked at Huo Ting, probing, “Minister Huo?”
“Wei Liying’s body should be frozen stiff by now.” Huo Ting stared at the drone footage. High altitude coupled with hypothermia—for a woman nearing fifty whose health wasn’t good to begin with, this environment was akin to extreme survival. He Mo enlarged the 3D architectural model of the family courtyard on his computer—ever since the Rules Zones appeared, scanning and archiving every building within the jurisdiction had become a daily task government departments had to complete, making retrieval very convenient. He said, “If Wei Liying is already frozen stiff, then our team members can totally climb up from here. Unless she turns her neck significantly, it will be hard for her to notice. Plus, the sound of thunder and rain can mask the footsteps.”
Zhuang Ningyu unbuckled his seatbelt. “I’ll go negotiate and attract her attention.”
“But be careful. She might jump the moment she sees you,” Huo Ting reminded. “Yi Ke just said Wei Liying doesn’t seem to be threatening this time; she looks like she really intends to commit suicide. Someone is probably trying to make an issue out of her death.”
So currently, it was imperative that Zhuang Ningyu and the rescuer arrive simultaneously to minimize Wei Liying’s reaction time as much as possible. Through the headset, Yi Ke said, “Team Leader Ye, I’ll be responsible for the rescue.”
“Okay,” Ye Jiaoyue said. “This building is very old. Neither the railing nor the ground is necessarily sturdy. Make sure to prioritize safety.”
There was only one fire door leading to the roof. The route He Mo mentioned involved climbing barehanded up the side of the unit building, the direction Wei Liying had her back to. This height was not a problem for any member of the Action Team. Yi Ke stood on the balcony of a seventh-floor resident, letting Qing Gang hook up his safety rope.
At the same time, Zhuang Ningyu also went up the stairs. He was wearing an earpiece. Yi Ke said, “I’m ready.”
“Okay,” Zhuang Ningyu said. “Safety first. Action.”
Yi Ke agilely flipped out of the window. The sudden downpour immediately soaked him. His goggles effectively kept his vision clear. He leaped up, his hands tightly gripping the upper edge of the balcony. The tiny sound of the metal clasp hitting the safety rope was swallowed entirely by the howling wind. After a moment, he stabilized his body swinging in the wind, then exerted force with his ten fingers to pull himself up sharply, landing smoothly on the waterproofing ledge.
Crunch! A piece of crumbling concrete cracked under his foot. On the other side, Wei Liying seemed to hear something and immediately twisted her stiff back, trying to turn around. Zhuang Ningyu made a prompt decision and pushed the door open with a bang.
Wei Liying’s attention was indeed completely drawn to him. After seeing clearly who it was, her originally dull and clouded eyes suddenly burst with a strange brilliance. Her half-frozen body seemed to regain agile strength as if in a final surge of energy before death. Wei Liying opened her left arm wide, her body leaning to the left. In less than two seconds, she made a life-or-death choice, plummeting straight towards the hard ground seven stories below!
“Ah!” The onlookers on the street screamed in terror!
The imagined bloody mess did not happen because, in the next moment, they saw another figure pounce towards Wei Liying like lightning. Just as she was about to fall, he grabbed her by the waist and dragged her back! The waterproofing ledge, long in disrepair, finally couldn’t bear the load and detached entirely, crashing to the ground with a bang, shattering into pieces and kicking up dust on the street. The safety rope tied around Yi Ke’s waist suddenly tightened, swinging the two of them in the air like a pendulum, reminiscent of bungee jumping equipment at a scenic spot!
Wei Liying opened her mouth wide, breathing in panic and haste. She mechanically lowered her head, eyes wide open, staring at the stack of printed materials that had fallen neatly to the ground and were quickly collected by the police. Screams of breakdown erupted from her mouth! The envisioned scene of papers flying all over the sky didn’t happen. Because the flyers had been soaked by rain for a long time, they were already stuck tightly together like a block of mushy tofu.
“Little Yi!” The other action team members rushed over, preparing to retract the safety rope. Zhuang Ningyu didn’t approach the railing. He worried his appearance would provoke Wei Liying into another dangerous act, so he just stood far behind the crowd, letting the rain sting his eyes. The wind blew even more uncontrollably at this moment. On the road, the onlookers looked up at the two people swinging high in the air, hearts in their throats. What made them, and the action team members, even more distraught was that Wei Liying continued to struggle relentlessly.
Whether she mistook Yi Ke for Zhuang Ningyu’s accomplice or had truly gone mad and wanted to drag someone down with her, the anger accumulated over years seemed completely ignited at this moment. She suddenly strangled Yi Ke’s neck with her withered hands and began shaking back and forth with all her might! The oscillation of the rope became increasingly violent. Zhuang Ningyu couldn’t help but take two steps forward from the side to check the progress of the rescue. But suddenly, a red light appeared abruptly in his vision—
“Look out!” His pupils dilated instantly. Without hesitation, he lunged forward, leaning most of his body over the rusty railing. At the moment the rescue rope was cut by the laser, he grabbed the severed end!
“Captain Zhuang!” The team members, quick of eye and hand, grabbed his legs in a flurry. Zhuang Ningyu hung head-down in the air, hands tightly gripping the safety rope, gritting his teeth trying to pull the two up. However, the rope still slipped down inch by inch!
Even more dangerous was that the opponent’s sniper position was unknown, and Zhuang Ningyu was currently completely exposed in their line of sight. Without hesitation, Yi Ke used the butterfly knife he carried to actively cut the rope. Zhuang Ningyu felt a sudden looseness in his hand. In the next instant, Yi Ke and Wei Liying plummeted towards the ground! The reflection of the person in his pupils grew smaller and smaller. Zhuang Ningyu’s mind went blank. After being pulled back onto the roof by colleagues, he didn’t have time to think. Supporting his utterly weak body, he threw himself back onto the broken railing, looking down with bloodshot eyes—
There was no one on the deployed air cushion. The medical staff were also standing orderly not far away.
When Yi Ke fell to the fifth floor, he grabbed a metal flower rack extending from a resident’s home just in time and used the momentum to swing into the fourth-floor balcony. With a crash, the glass shattered, and the two fell heavily onto the floor.
Wei Liying fainted from the sudden impact. Yi Ke coughed twice, gritted his teeth, and propped himself up to sit. He touched his chest, and thick, warm liquid immediately spilled out through his fingers.
Just now, at the moment the safety rope was cut, another bullet silently embedded itself into his body. His shoulder blade instantly felt as if it had been smashed by a hammer. But aside from the massive impact, he actually hadn’t felt pain yet—or rather, before he could feel the pain, he first saw Zhuang Ningyu above, trying his best to hold onto the rope. For a moment, soaring adrenaline suppressed all other sensations. His mind seemed incredibly clear, relying almost purely on willpower to drive his heavy, numb arm to make that sharp cut.
Wind and rain poured in through the broken glass. Footsteps outside the door were getting closer. When Qing Gang smashed the door open with a bang, the delayed, tearing agony finally exploded from Yi Ke’s chest. His wet, sticky clothes clung tightly to his body. Cold numbness crawled all over his airways, making every breath exceptionally difficult. Dizziness from excessive blood loss prevented him from seeing the face of his lover rushing towards him. His vision was filled with blackness. Yi Ke uncontrollably coughed up a mouthful of bloody foam, then sank heavily into boundless dead silence.
“Damn it!” Qing Gang cursed. No one expected Yi Ke to have been shot too, Zhuang Ningyu included. He stumbled and knelt in the pool of blood, taking off his clothes to press on the wound for him, his lips trembling uncontrollably. Medical staff gathered around. Zhuang Ningyu tried to stand up twice but found his knees seemed locked; he couldn’t stand up at all. It wasn’t until Qing Gang half-supported, half-carried him to a broken chair and injected some unknown agent into his arm that his stiff body finally went limp.
The traffic police coordinated the whole way, allowing two ambulances to rush into the hospital with green lights all the way. Under the effect of sedatives, Zhuang Ningyu’s consciousness was wrapped in a viscous white gel. The world became heavy and silent. But he wasn’t accustomed to this drug-imposed “calm,” nor could he calm down at all. So his chest kept heaving violently, trying to break free from the swamp of the nightmare. Violent storms, rusty railings, broken safety ropes, and blood—blood all over the ground, blood all over his hands, blood all over his body.
Amidst a sea of bright red, Zhuang Ningyu suddenly sat up abruptly. Pulling out the oxygen tube, he ran out. He dragged the IV stand until it crashed to the ground with a clang, ripping out the indwelling needle on the back of his hand. The commotion startled He Mo, who was talking to the doctor in the corridor, and the doctor himself. They hurriedly ran in to check.
“How is Yi Ke?” Zhuang Ningyu asked urgently.
“He’s fine, he’s fine. He’s okay.” He Mo pressed him back onto the bed, signaled the doctor to leave first, and casually asked a nurse for some cotton balls to help press the bleeding needle hole on the back of his hand.
Zhuang Ningyu stood up. “I’m going to see him.”
“There are people everywhere outside; you shouldn’t go.” He Mo knew he couldn’t hide it and sighed. “Fine, fine, fine, I’ll tell you the truth. Little Yi is still in the ICU. His family and friends are all guarding him. The leaders are there too, as well as Uncle Zhuang and Auntie. But rest assured, his life shouldn’t be in danger. His self-healing ability is very strong.”
“Where was he injured?”
“Lung lobe.”
Zhuang Ningyu gripped the sheets tightly, his knuckles white. After a while, he asked again, “Who was on the other side?”
“We haven’t caught them that fast. The sniper position should be at Senhai Tower,” He Mo said. “But the group from ‘Universal Love and Benevolence’ has been controlled by the police. Jin Yi and Fang Han are currently denying all crimes, shouting and screaming about being wronged.”
“What about Wei Liying?”
“Still in a coma. broke a few ribs, but she doesn’t have any major issues.”
The police found fifty thousand yuan in cash in Wei Liying’s home, as well as a few left-behind flyers. The printing style was quite horrifying; at first glance, they looked like horror movie posters. Zhuang Ningyu asked, “What was the content?”
He Mo glossed over it: “Wei Liying just repeats those few sentences back and forth. Who cares what she printed? It wasn’t distributed anyway.”
Zhuang Ningyu didn’t press further. He really wasn’t in the mood to care about anything else right now. Disregarding He Mo’s obstruction, he still went to the ICU. The leaders had dispersed, and Huo Ting had returned to the unit for a meeting. Outside the ICU, only the elders of both families, Ye Jiaoyue, Qing Gang, and a few of Yi Ke’s friends remained guarding. At this moment, they were gathered around the doctor who had just come out of the ward.
“The bullet grazed the left lung lobe, causing penetration and tearing injuries. Currently, the wound is still oozing blood. The most serious consequence could be pressure on the lungs and heart, causing respiratory failure. Additionally, there is a certain risk of infection. But the family doesn’t need to worry too much. The injured’s evolution level is very high; his self-recovery ability is actually no different from an S-class. According to calculations using our latest model, in the most ideal scenario, he might wake up by tomorrow evening.”
“Okay, okay.” Deng Zongyun nodded. “Thank you, doctor.”
She had received the news in the middle of a meeting. At this moment, her whole body was still freezing cold. Yi Guodong put his arm around his wife, supporting each other as they sat on the chairs, comforting one another. Yi Shen patted Zhuang Ningyu on the shoulder. “We are guarding here. Don’t worry too much. Go back to the ward and rest first. Little Ke will be fine.”
Zhuang Ningyu refused to go back. Zhong Yu moved over, signaling her son to sit beside her. Time passed bit by bit. In the dead of night, Yi Shen asked his sister to accompany their parents home first and had the driver take Zhuang Yan and Zhong Yu back as well. Several friends went to the hotel next door to rest, saying to call anytime if anything happened.
Zhuang Ningyu also told He Mo to go home.
For a time, only the faint sound of electronic instruments remained in the corridor. It was unclear whether it came from inside the ICU or was an auditory hallucination caused by his tense nerves. Zhuang Ningyu leaned back in his chair, his gaze fixed on that matte metal door. His palms, worn raw by the rescue rope, seemed to start feeling sensation only now. The torn skin felt like it was soaked in saltwater, scorching pain jumping in waves. And with every throb, a dull ache pulled at his nerves and heart.
The caretaker sat nearby. He intended to persuade the two to rest, but swallowed the words back—he felt he didn’t have the ability to persuade them, so he just brought them two blankets. As dawn approached, Yi Shen leaned against the wall for a brief nap, then woke up with a start. Opening his eyes, he saw Zhuang Ningyu standing in front of the ICU door, bending slightly, eyes pressed against that narrow observation window looking inside. Through the frosted glass, at most one could discern vague, blurry shadows of busy medical staff, yet he watched motionless. Wearing the oversized hospital gown he hadn’t had time to change, illuminated by the white light, his whole person looked extremely gaunt.
Yi Shen sighed almost inaudibly.
