Military Commission Hospital, basement level four.
The hospital room was brightly lit, surrounded by various expensive and advanced medical equipment. All the data showed that the vital signs of the person lying on the sickbed were extremely critical.
—He was an elderly man with white hair, his eyes tightly closed, pronounced eye bags, his entire face hanging down like withered tree bark, looking even a bit frightening. If his hair were dyed black, he wore formal attire, and was groomed a bit more spiritedly, many people across the country would be able to recognize this face that often appeared on the news. But now, lying withered on the hospital bed, he was just another pitiable dying man.
Yu Jingzhong stood by the bedside with a gloomy expression. A person who looked like a chief physician walked over, took off his mask, and shook his head at him.
“The situation is very pessimistic. The emergency evacuation from the ICU upstairs just now was too hasty and caused great harm to his condition…”
Yu Jingzhong couldn’t help but grit his teeth. “Didn’t they say Feng Si went to the Hell Path to find the Demon Lord Fan Luo? Why did he suddenly appear at the hospital and find the ICU ward right away?!”
The chief physician didn’t dare to answer. A hoarse, unpleasant voice came from the corner of the ward. “That was a smokescreen set up by Zhou Hui, Deputy Team Leader Yangjin. Team Leader Feng Si hasn’t set foot in the ‘Four Evil Paths’ since he turned against our Demon Lord over the matter of the Peacock Vidyaraja Moha… Zhou Hui released the news of Team Leader Feng Si’s departure just to divert your attention.”
“Yu Jingzhong” turned his head. In the corner stood four abnormally tall and thin figures, wrapped from head to toe in thick gray robes. Even their faces were hidden in huge hoods. One could only see that each of them was carrying a pure gold bell as large as a lantern, and the hands exposed under their robe sleeves all showed a wrinkled, grayish-white texture.
The speaker at the front seemed to chuckle. “The Demon Lord was also very surprised when he heard the news, but after searching the nine heavens, ten lands, and the Four Evil Paths, he found no trace of the Phoenix… What a pity. Our Demon Lord has always wanted to properly marry Team Leader Feng Si.”
A stiff twitch appeared at the corner of Yangjin Pingcuo’s mouth. Appearing on Yu Jingzhong’s face through the human skin mask, it looked quite strange.
“Team Five can’t stop Feng Si. You went through so much trouble to subdue Shenwan Tiansi and turn him into a puppet, but now even this trump card is gone… They all say that Team Leader Feng Si is a critically injured patient who hasn’t recovered in hundreds of years. Now it seems that even a starved camel is bigger than a horse. What should we do?”
The gray-robed figure said lightly, “No need to worry—”
Before he could finish, the old man on the bed suddenly burst into asthma, his body almost arching up, spewing large mouthfuls of blood under the oxygen mask. The hospital room immediately fell into chaos. The chief physician rushed over with several people to resuscitate him. All the instruments lit up at the same time, emitting ear-piercing alarm sounds.
“Buddha’s blood! Get the Buddha’s blood!” the director screamed hoarsely. He then grabbed the blood bag from the doctor who had rushed over, extracted the blood mixed with strands of gold, and injected it. A few seconds later, it all entered the old man’s carotid artery. The old man gasped violently for a while, but the amplitude had obviously decreased. After a moment, he slowly calmed down, his vital signs returning to a certain level, and the instruments stopped their shrill cries.
“This, this is the last Buddha’s blood,” the chief physician wiped his sweat, saying in despair. “Half of the Buddha’s blood was taken by you upstairs to deal with Team Leader Feng Si. This amount is not enough, far from enough…”
Yangjin Pingcuo gritted his teeth. “Didn’t you say that the thing Yu Jingzhong’s little lover brought back from Japan is also a holy relic? Does it have the effect of prolonging life?!”
The gray-robed figure was about to say something when suddenly the ward door was knocked twice and then opened. A subordinate strode in and whispered in Yangjin Pingcuo’s ear, “Deputy Team Leader, this is bad. Team Leader Feng Si took one soul and two ethereal souls from everyone. Team Five has been completely wiped out…”
Yangjin Pingcuo’s expression changed drastically. “What did you say?!”
There was a silence in the ward. The air was so tense it was about to shatter.
In this suffocating atmosphere, the gray-robed figure suddenly let out a cold laugh. “It doesn’t matter. The Phoenix Wisdom King is ours.”
The four gray-robed figures turned and walked towards the door at the same time. Under the light, one could see that their bodies were all emitting an extremely imperceptible gas, looking as if they were shrouded in a faint black smoke. As they walked past, they left dark, wet footprints on the ground. However, they quickly dried when exposed to the air, leaving only a thin layer of gray particles like gravel.
“—How confident are you?” Yangjin Pingcuo called out from behind.
“It’s just a human body at the end of its tether. There’s nothing to be afraid of…” The gray-robed figure didn’t even turn his head, and soon disappeared at the end of the dark hospital basement corridor. “…Even offering the Phoenix Wisdom King to the Demon Lord shouldn’t be too difficult.”
As the gray-robed figures left, the lingering stench of decay in the ward seemed to dissipate a bit with the air.
Yangjin Pingcuo took a deep breath, turned to look at the doctor who couldn’t hide his worry and the dying old man on the bed. The dripping sound of the medical equipment seemed to make him particularly irritable. He habitually wanted to reach for a cigarette, but stopped halfway.
He turned back and ordered his subordinate, “Bring Yan Lanyu here.”
The subordinate nodded and left on orders. After a while, he pushed in a wheelchair from outside the door. The unconscious Yan Lanyu was placed in the wheelchair, his head tilted to the side, his hair hanging by his temples, his face showing a transparent white.
Yangjin Pingcuo looked at him coldly. “Wake him up.”
The subordinate pressed one hand on a certain acupoint on Yan Lanyu’s head and squeezed hard. However, this method that could usually wake even the dead didn’t work this time. The subordinate pressed harder two or three more times. Yan Lanyu finally twitched and slowly opened his eyes.
Yangjin Pingcuo looked down at him. “Awake?”
“…” Yan Lanyu leaned against the back of the chair, gasping continuously from the intense pain. After a long while, he finally coughed the bloody foam from his trachea, barely restoring his breathing.
“…You… who are you?” he asked intermittently.
“I’m Yu Jingzhong,” Yangjin Pingcuo smiled. “Why do you ask?”
“You’re not… who are you? Where is Yu Jingzhong?”
The smile on Yangjin Pingcuo’s face disappeared. He stared at Yan Lanyu’s haggard face and, after a long moment, asked, “Everyone else didn’t recognize me. Even Zhou Hui was only suspicious. Only you knew something was wrong the first time you saw me. How was I exposed? Or is it true that feelings are different when you’ve slept together, and you can tell at a glance whether it’s the real deal or not?”
The corner of Yan Lanyu’s dry, bloodless lips twitched into a smile that actually showed a hint of cunning. “No, we didn’t sleep together,” he said. “There’s nothing between us… Don’t use me to insult Yu Jingzhong.”
Yangjin Pingcuo finally realized where his mistake was.
He couldn’t help but pound the wall heavily—it was indeed the only one, but it was a very fatal mistake.
“I see, that Yu Jingzhong…” He gritted his teeth, then suddenly caught sight of the slightly smug smile on the young man’s face.
This young man, who seemed like he could die at any moment, after being detained and tortured for so many days, still maintained this kind of spirit and could gain the upper hand in this confrontation. This showed that he was truly fearless now. He was afraid of nothing.
—When someone like Yan Lanyu was ready to die, he truly had no weaknesses.
Yangjin Pingcuo knew the situation couldn’t continue like this. He had to regain the initiative.
“Let’s make a deal,” he took a breath and asked, “Do you know why everyone acts as if Yu Jingzhong and you can rekindle an old flame?”
“…”
“Because that’s how Yu Jingzhong acts,” he continued without waiting for Yan Lanyu to answer. “Because his behavior makes many people think that there is indeed some history between you—when Yu Jingzhong infiltrated the Japanese esoteric sect to carry out a mission and failed, he and his companions were captured alive. It was you who secretly let him go that saved their lives. If the intelligence held by our higher-ups is correct, you grew up in the esoteric sect and are the sect leader’s young charge, right? For someone like you to risk your life to let him go is very unreasonable. If Yu Jingzhong didn’t come up with a reason, there was no way to explain this.”
Yan Lanyu closed his eyes, clearly not wanting to listen anymore, but Yangjin didn’t stop. His voice was calm, even a bit cruel. “Actually, Yu Jingzhong should have been able to come up with other excuses. I don’t know why he chose this one in particular. Logically speaking, this reason doesn’t make him look very good, so I think this reason should be his subconscious reaction. Maybe this is what he really hoped for deep down…”
The young man moved and turned his head away.
Tears slowly seeped out of his tightly closed eyelashes, falling silently down his pale, haggard cheeks.
“Let’s make a deal. I don’t ask for much. You’re still so young. This last thing can be considered a little compensation from me to you.”
Yangjin Pingcuo pointed back at the hospital bed. “This person is our leader. We now have to maintain his life at all costs to ensure that the power of our faction can be completely transferred. Aida Yoshihide said you are one of the most talented new generation of Japanese Onmyoji. Can you see if there is any other way? If you can do something, I will let you see Yu Jingzhong one last time… Yes, he’s not dead yet.”
Yan Lanyu’s body seemed to tremble slightly, and he opened his eyes.
Under the light, his eyelids were very thin, the ends slightly upturned, showing a very gentle arc. His tears were like a touch of rouge smudged in an ink painting. Yangjin Pingcuo stared at him, a little entranced, and his heart was suddenly swept by a trace of reluctance. But then he thought again, no matter who it was, it would be very difficult to kill such a life.
“…His soul has already scattered…” Yan Lanyu said softly. “There’s no way… I can’t do anything.”
Yangjin Pingcuo frowned. “Is there really no other way? The fragment you’re wearing—”
“That can only exorcise evil and subdue demons, it can’t bring back the dead, let alone just a fragment. To save his life, unless you have tears shed by the Phoenix while in the position of a righteous god, or blood shed by the Buddha with a benevolent heart in the Lotus Sea… It’s almost impossible.”
After Yan Lanyu finished speaking, he started coughing again, more violently than before, almost bending over. Bright red blood continuously splattered from his nose and throat, his palms were all dotted with bloody foam. Yangjin Pingcuo held his shoulder and looked, knowing it was really too late. This young man had reached the end of his life, his oil and lamp both dry.
Yangjin Pingcuo hesitated a bit, but after a moment, he still beckoned his subordinate over and said in a low voice, “…Take him to the holding room and let him see Yu Jingzhong one last time.”
The subordinate nodded and asked, “What about you?”
Yangjin Pingcuo pondered slightly and muttered to himself, “Benevolent heart of the Lotus Sea… blood shed willingly.”
“Get the other human skin mask from my cabinet,” he suddenly said. “The one that was recently made—the one of Team Leader Feng Si’s human form.”
The subordinate nodded and said yes, pushing Yan Lanyu’s wheelchair out the door.
The corridor outside the ward was very dim. Probably in order not to attract attention, many corners were not lit. The temperature on the basement level four was very low. Yan Lanyu shivered in a daze. The subordinate saw this and felt a bit of pity. After thinking about it, he took off his jacket and put it on him.
“You’re so good-looking. If you were willing, you could definitely live very well. Why can’t you think straight and hang yourself on this one tree? You’re about to lose your life.”
The subordinate muttered a sentence, shook his head, sighed, and stopped in front of an iron door at the end of the corridor. “We’re here.”
It was originally a passage leading to the power distribution room, but it was completely sealed off by an iron fence. Inside the fence, it was pitch black, and you could hardly see anything. The smell of dust was everywhere. Yan Lanyu pinched his palm, forcing himself to wake up. He stared intently at the subordinate who was entering the password lock with his back to him, not even missing his most subtle elbow movements. After a moment, the password was entered and confirmed, and the iron door clicked open.
The subordinate turned and pushed Yan Lanyu into the holding room. “There, he’s there.”
—Against the wall, a person was half-lying, half-sitting on the ground. Although his face couldn’t be seen clearly in the dark, Yan Lanyu recognized this figure, which was exactly the same as in his memory, in an instant.
His tears fell down, but he didn’t make a sound. It was as if something bitter and hard was stuck in his throat, and he couldn’t even make a sobbing sound.
The subordinate seemed very emotional. He wanted to say something but didn’t. In the end, he just shook his head. “I’m sorry, Deputy Chief Yu. We’re just following orders. Well… you guys take your time chatting. I won’t disturb you.” With that, he turned and left the holding room, closed the iron door, and the password lock clicked and locked.
Yu Jingzhong on the ground moved. It wasn’t until the subordinate’s figure disappeared at the end of the corridor that he let out a long sigh. “…Little brother, I’m the one who’s sorry to you…”
Yan Lanyu had been waiting for this sentence for a long time. From two years ago when he was still in Japan, taking advantage of a snowy night to secretly let go of this foreign agent he had met only once, to guarding his ethereal promise for two years, constantly polishing his most fragile and delicate hope, and then constantly repeating the cycle from hope to disappointment, and finally in the dark, sunless days and nights, he completely wore away all his faith… He had been waiting for this sentence. In his short life of more than ten years, the only one, and also the last one he was unwilling to give up waiting for, was this sentence.
However, after really hearing this sentence, he was not excited and out of control, nor did he burst into tears, nor did he have that kind of stinging and unspeakable bitterness that he had gone through hundreds or thousands of times.
Yan Lanyu took a deep, complete breath, feeling the air stir a sharp pain in his lungs, so his voice was very hoarse. “It’s… it’s okay.”
Yu Jingzhong moved closer. Only then did Yan Lanyu see, with the help of the faint light, that he was covered in blood from head to toe, but most of it had already dried. He didn’t know what had happened. Yu Jingzhong noticed his gaze but didn’t explain his injuries. He reached out, felt Yan Lanyu’s pulse and the temperature behind his ear, and said, “You must get treatment immediately. The situation can’t be delayed any longer. Why are you here? Do they want to kill you too?”
Yan Lanyu didn’t answer.
“Listen,” Yu Jingzhong said. “I have some information to tell you. This is what they’ve tortured me for a long time to get. After you listen, you can go back and tell them little by little. Master your own discretion. You must drag it out until Zhou Hui discovers everything and comes to save you. Zhou Hui is the commander of Team One, which is under our Special Affairs Department’s six teams. As long as you meet him, you will definitely survive. Tell him this is my last order. He must let you live…”
“It’s useless…” Yan Lanyu said softly. “Don’t bother. It’s useless.”
Yu Jingzhong grabbed the armrest of his wheelchair, as if he still wanted to say something, but was interrupted by Yan Lanyu’s gentle but non-negotiable voice. “I’m an Onmyoji. I know myself… Don’t bother. Don’t let me talk too much. Tell me the cause of the matter first. How did it become like this? Why did they impersonate you?”
They were at an impasse for a few seconds. Yu Jingzhong let out a long breath and said dejectedly, “…Among the factions of the Military Commission, there is a force that is hostile to us. One of their big shots is dying.”
Yan Lanyu listened quietly.
“But the other force is not ready for the handover. Once a big shot with high authority dies, their entire system is in danger of collapsing. In order to continue that person’s life, they must use the resources of our Special Affairs Department, so I became their stumbling block.”
“A month ago, I learned that you had come to H-City and wanted to take the opportunity to bring you over, so I secretly sent Zhou Hui. Who knew that the other party would take advantage of Zhou Hui’s absence from Beijing, join forces with the forces of the Demon Lord in the so-called ‘Four Evil Paths,’ subdue Team Five’s leader Shenwan Tiansi, who was unwilling to be manipulated by them, incite Deputy Team Leader Yangjin Pingcuo to lead the entire team in rebellion, and impersonate me, detaining me here.”
Yu Jingzhong didn’t waste time explaining why a deputy team leader could lead an entire team in rebellion, while the team leader himself had no appeal.
“They haven’t killed me yet because I still know a lot of information they want. Without this information, Yangjin Pingcuo can’t keep impersonating me without being exposed.” He paused. “—But once the other party’s plan succeeds and that big shot comes back to life, our Special Affairs Department will be suppressed to the ground. All six teams will collapse. At that time, it won’t matter when they kill me because no one will ever suspect that Yangjin Pingcuo is an impostor.”
Yu Jingzhong sighed. “So my hope of survival is very slim. It mainly depends on how long I can drag it out… I was originally planning to drag it out for a while by gritting my teeth, but now that I’ve seen you, it doesn’t matter anymore. God has been good to me, giving me one last chance before I die.”
Yan Lanyu, panting, smiled faintly.
“I think God has been good to me…” he said softly. “I think now… it was still very worth it.”
He grabbed the armrest of the wheelchair and slowly and arduously stood up, bit by bit. The moment he landed on the ground, he staggered. Yu Jingzhong rushed over to support him and asked in surprise, “What are you doing?!”
“…” Yan Lanyu waved his hand to indicate that he shouldn’t ask, then broke free from his support and staggered to the iron door.
He was already barely able to stand. From the side, his already delicate, maiden-like cheeks were even more pitifully thin. But that thin body contained a terrible, desperate courage, which turned into an extremely strong force that supported his spine, allowing him to stand and not fall.
He stared at the iron fence, swallowed a mouthful of saliva with a sweet, bloody taste, and the next second, he reached out and dislocated his shoulder. His whole body shrank out of thin air, and half of his body “slid” through the gap between the iron bars, which were only a few inches apart, like a snake!
Yu Jingzhong was stunned. “—Bone shrinking?!”
Yan Lanyu’s chest was stuck in the middle of the iron fence. He took a breath in extreme pain—for a few seconds, he simply couldn’t bear the heart-wrenching pain. But then he raised his other good hand, placed it on his shoulder on the same side, and with a crack, dislocated it as well. In the terrible collision and friction of bones, he squeezed out of the iron door bit by bit!
With a thud, Yan Lanyu fell to the ground. Yu Jingzhong rushed up and grabbed the iron door tightly, using so much force that even his fingers were violently convulsing.
Yan Lanyu gasped for a while, signaled Yu Jingzhong not to make a sound, then staggered to his feet, gritted his teeth, and slammed his shoulder against the wall with a crack, twisting it back into place.
It was clear that he was very used to this process of dislocating and then reconnecting. He gritted his teeth, lifted his elbow, and moved it a few times. Feeling that his fingers were slowly regaining feeling, he walked to the password lock and entered the password one by one. A few seconds later, the iron door opened with a click.
Yu Jingzhong rushed out and caught Yan Lanyu, who was sliding down the wall, trembling as he slowly knelt on the ground. He felt his eyes burning, and even his breathing was hot and sour. But the body in his arms was so very, very cold. The bones were hard and pressed against his hands, as if an infinite chill was seeping out from the bone marrow, rapidly devouring the last bit of the young man’s pitiful life.
“It doesn’t… hurt,” Yan Lanyu said in a daze. “Don’t… don’t cry, don’t cry…”
He seemed to want to reach out, but he quickly let his hand drop, which was then grabbed tightly in Yu Jingzhong’s palm. This veteran agent who had been in the espionage world for more than ten years was trembling all over, pressing his face tightly against the side of the young man’s neck, his mind a desperate blank.
Yan Lanyu’s consciousness was already very blurred. He only felt cold, the kind of cold where the whole body seemed broken and incomplete, letting in the cold wind. He wanted to ask Yu Jingzhong to hold him a little tighter, but actually, even if they were close enough to merge into flesh and blood, he wouldn’t feel it anymore.
“Quick… go…” he said with scattered eyes, intermittently.
“Quick… you… go quickly…”
Yu Jingzhong gasped violently, raised his head, and looked at the deep, quiet underground corridor. After a moment, he gritted his teeth, stood up, hoisted the young man onto his shoulder, and staggered forward.
