Since that time, every time I regained consciousness, I could clearly feel that something was wrong. Besides Sun Fatty and the man who sat watching me in the room, no one else came to see me anymore. And although Sun Fatty came every day, he spoke much less—after exchanging only a few words, either someone came to call him away or he suddenly remembered something urgent and hurried off.
After who knows how long, I was disturbed awake by a nameless heart palpitations. Sun Fatty was sitting in the chair by my bedside. The man who usually watched me from the corner was surprisingly not in the room, leaving only Sun Fatty, who said nothing and kept smoking one cigarette after another. If it weren't for the occasional cough, I wouldn't even be sure who this ever-smoking person was.
Since he didn't speak, I found it hard to gather my energy. As my consciousness gradually waned, suddenly I distinctly sensed someone entering through the door—though there was no sound of it opening. How had he gotten in? And Sun Fatty seemed completely unaware of his presence, still puffing away.
Since regaining consciousness, my senses were limited mostly to hearing. But this time, as the person approached, I saw a young man with a full head of white hair. He bent down to look at me and said, "Looks like you've almost digested it…"
Wu Rendi… Since I fell into a coma, this seemed to be the first time he came to see me. Apparently knowing that I could see him, Director Wu slowly focused his gaze on my face and said leisurely, "You're sort of lucky in misfortune—sleeping for two years, and in your dreams, you actually digested the pill. Some people really are just lucky fools."
Sun Fatty still seemed not to see Wu Rendi and kept blowing smoke into the air with a harsh expression. Wu Rendi ignored him, paused for a moment, then continued to say to me, "But just digesting it like that… it's a little bit of a pity…" After saying this, Wu Rendi's mouth curled into a smile.
Seeing Wu Rendi smile made me uneasy, as if I had been calculated against somehow. But now I lay in the hospital bed, unable even to lift my eyelids, like a piece of fish meat to be butchered. I only wished to return to the darkness as soon as possible and let him do whatever he wanted with this shell.
Sure enough, Director Wu continued, "Many years ago, someone gave me a seed. It took root inside my body and grew into a towering tree. Now this seed no longer has meaning for me, so I'm passing it on to you. Whether it grows into a giant tree that even I must look up to, or just sprouts into a weed, that's up to you."
What was this about a towering tree or a weed? Just as I was confused, Wu Rendi's hand already held an object radiating shimmering, multicolored light. I couldn't tell whether it was solid or liquid, nor how it had appeared in his hand.
Wu Rendi glanced at the glowing object, then at me, and said, "The process might be a bit painful, but just grit your teeth and it'll pass."
With that, he pressed the shimmering object against my chest. The instant it touched me, an indescribable scorching heat shot straight into my heart through my chest. Then, flowing with my blood, the heat spread throughout every corner of my body.
This was no mere pain to grit through! At first, when the heat entered my chest, I could barely tolerate it, but now as it coursed through me, it felt like molten iron boiling inside my veins. An unnameable fire raged inside me, desperately searching for an outlet. I could feel my body about to be burned to ashes by this infernal blaze.
At the peak of this torment, suddenly, the heat found a way out through my seven orifices—eyes, ears, mouth, and nose—and began to spew outwards. Just as it was about to explode out, I let out a loud "Ao!" and jumped up from the hospital bed.
The sudden, violent movement caught Sun Fatty off guard. He had just drawn a puff of smoke to exhale but was so startled he coughed it down the wrong pipe. Two plumes of smoke shot out near his ears. Forgetting everything else, Sun Fatty stared wide-eyed at me and lost his balance on the chair. With a loud "thud," both he and the chair collapsed onto the floor.
Sun Fatty froze like he had been paused. After two or three seconds, he blinked, but didn't get up. Instead, he suddenly slapped himself hard across the face, grimacing in pain. Realizing he wasn't dreaming, Sun Fatty finally jumped up and lunged at me, grabbing me in a tight hug, crying and laughing at the same time: "Lazi… Damn it, I thought you'd never wake up in this lifetime…"
After waking, the burning sensation vanished instantly. If the pain hadn't been so intense just moments ago, I might have thought it was just a dream. Taking advantage of this moment, I looked around the hospital room—but there was no sign of Wu Rendi. "Wu Rendi… Director Wu? Where did he go?"
"Wu Rendi?" Sun Fatty also searched around after letting go of me. "Where? Lazi, you must have been dreaming. Since you fell into a coma, many people came, but that white-haired guy never showed…"
Before he finished speaking, I tried to get out of bed to look for Wu Rendi, but the moment my foot touched the floor, it felt like stepping on cotton, and I immediately lost balance, collapsing back down. Fortunately, Sun Fatty was nearby. Startled, he quickly helped me up.
I felt utterly limp, powerless from head to toe. Though Sun Fatty held me up, my body involuntarily slumped, and whenever he loosened his grip, I would fall again.
Sun Fatty was bewildered by my condition. Just moments ago I had leapt from the bed, but now I was like a completely different person.
Sun Fatty carefully helped me back onto the bed and shouted loudly toward the door, "Somebody! Doctor! Nurse! Anyone breathing? Come here right now!"
After the doctors and nurses arrived to examine me, a preliminary conclusion was reached. Because I had been lying in bed for over two years, muscle atrophy and calcium loss had caused my body functions to degrade, which explained why I couldn't muster strength. But just now, I had managed to jump up from the bed, which was quite extraordinary—most people couldn't even turn over.
After the physical examination, several doctors drew up a one-year rehabilitation plan for me. One of the senior doctors, probably in his sixties, said, "Young man, you're still young. Although the injury was severe at first, as long as you recover over two or three years, walking normally and climbing stairs won't be a problem…"
The old doctor wanted to continue, but then he noticed Sun Fatty glaring fiercely at him. He remembered what Deputy Director Sun had done before and shuddered on the spot, swallowing his words.
So, my injuries were that serious… I exhaled heavily and looked at Sun Fatty. "Dasheng, how badly hurt am I exactly?"
"It's not that bad. Don't listen to that old man spouting nonsense," Sun Fatty chuckled exaggeratedly, then continued, "But Lazi, to be honest, you fell hundreds of meters off a cliff. Breaking a few bones was inevitable."
Sun Fatty's words were sincere, but I wasn't naïve. "How many bones are broken?"
Sun Fatty hesitated for a while before answering, "About seven or eight ribs, two of which pierced your lungs. Both arms and legs, and a bit of your pelvis… Your spine and neck bones aren't broken, just dislocated. Your skull has a small crack… Don't worry, Lazi, all those bones have long been set."
Hearing this made my heart tremble—could this old body of mine still hold up?
Just then, the old doctor who had been speaking interrupted, "When you were brought in, your heart had stopped. Your blood pressure and pulse were gone. Except for the absence of livor mortis, you were no different from a corpse…"
"Speaking for me?" Sun Fatty jumped up and grabbed the old doctor by the collar. "Old man, do you want to change your pants?"
After confirming I was relatively stable, Sun Fatty promptly sent the doctors and nurses out. For some reason, he didn't report my awakening to the Bureau of Paranormal Investigation, which was why my first day awake was cold and quiet.
However, something did shock me. When Sun Fatty wheeled me out of the ward to get a CT scan, I caught a clear glimpse of a white-haired man slouched in a wheelchair in the elevator's stainless-steel wall mirror. I was looking at him, and he was looking at me…
It took over ten seconds for me to realize the white-haired man was myself. Even when we got out of the elevator and entered the CT room, I still hadn't come to terms with being part of the white-haired veterans of Division Six. Sun Fatty, however, noticed. When we rode the elevator back after the CT scan, he looked at the reflection in the stainless steel and said, "At first, it scared me too, but after two years, I'm used to it. Honestly, white hair suits you—at least your division's dress code is unified now."
Mentioning Division Six, Sun Fatty suddenly turned and grinned at me, saying, "I gotta say, Lazi, Director Wu really treats you differently."
I wasn't going to keep it from Sun Fatty. After sending the doctors and nurses away in the ward, I told him about the elixir I got from Wu Rendi. Sun Fatty gasped, blinked his eyes, and said, "I guessed Director Wu gave you something life-saving, but I didn't expect it to be this good. Lazi, I'm telling you, you might as well be immortal now."
While talking, Sun Fatty pulled out a pack of cigarettes and handed me one. Seeing my hesitation, he said, "It's nothing, smoking one cigarette won't hurt. Yang Xiao smokes at least two packs a day, and now he's got Yang Jun smoking too. In a few days, who knows? Maybe even Wu Rendi will join in."
Suddenly seeing Sun Fatty smoke reminded me he had been at it all night. Though joking and smiling, there was still a trace of worry between his brows. I took the cigarette but didn't light it, instead fiddling with it in my hand while saying, "Dasheng, maybe you should ask me who killed Po Jun and the others, and who did this to me."
Sun Fatty stared at me the entire time. When I finished, he was silent for a moment, then suddenly gritted his teeth, gave me a grim smile, exhaled a puff of smoke, and said, "It's Lin Feng, isn't it…"