CH 58.2

Chapter 58.2 – In the Hospital

On the fourth day, Lu Tinghan woke up.

His consciousness was still fuzzy and he spent most of the time in a drowsy state. He happened to be asleep again when Shi Yuan arrived.

His face was no longer as pale as paper, and there was a little bit of red on his face.

Shi Yuan sat by the hospital bed, watching Lu Tinghan, the tip of his tail curled up, and he cried very quietly.

It’s very strange. During the three days when Lu Tinghan was dying or in a complete coma, Shi Yuan did not cry. Now that Lu Tinghan was conscious, those sorrows engulfed him instead.

He cried for a while and heard a low voice: “…why are you crying?”

Shi Yuan raised his head abruptly and saw those gray-blue eyes.

The white mist on the breathing mask appeared and subsided. Lu Tinghan looked at him: “Don’t cry, otherwise, I would think you are not happy to see me.”

This time, Shi Yuan cried even more, lying on the side of the bed, crying until his tail was knotted. Lu Tinghan slowly moved his right hand to cover Shi Yuan’s hand.

He said, “Don’t cry, I’m here.”

They clasped their fingers.

In the days that followed, Lu Tinghan recovered at an alarming rate.

He was transferred from the ICU to the general ward. The ward was on the top floor of the hospital, it was very large and quiet, and there were countless on-call dedicated escorts, which could be called luxurious. The general of the Alliance deserved all the energy and consideration he could get.

In just two days, he had the energy to untie Shi Yuan’s knotted tail.

Shi Yuan couldn’t wait to stay in the hospital for 25 hours, so an extra bed was added to the single ward. That bed was set up by the nursing staff. It was originally a distance from Lu Tinghan, but for some mysterious power, it moved a little bit to Lu Tinghan’s side every day, without anyone noticing it. Three days later, the two beds were together.

Lu Tinghan still needed full rest and slept often. Every time he woke up, there must be a pair of black devil horns and a furry head beside the bed.

Shi Yuan probed: “You are awake!”

“Woke up,” Lu Tinghan said, touching Shi Yuan’s head.

Shi Yuan: “Purr, purr, purr.”

He purred for a while, then complained: “You really scared me to death this time – I’m so scared every day.”

Lu Tinghan said, “Move closer.”

Shi Yuan leaned closer, and Lu Tinghan kissed his face. Shi Yuan’s tail immediately waved like a colorful flag.

The abyss was a very easily coaxed creature!

As a patient who just broke free from the edge of death, Lu Tinghan, in addition to teasing Shi Yuan, rubbing Shi Yuan’s head, and coaxing Shi Yuan, his daily way of entertainment to relieving stress, enhancing his mood, and relaxing was…listening to battle broadcasts and reading military reports.

A radio was placed at the head of the bed, and it never stopped, broadcasting the situation of the war every day.

Lieutenant General Fu Xiu was in Fengyang City, following Su Enqi’s command, and temporarily took over Lu Tinghan’s job. Since the death of the Snake King, the rock snake’s offensive has not been as good as before, and the restlessness of the abyss has slowly subsided.

Everything was going well.

This time, the city survived.

Su Enqi was too busy with command to visit in person, so he had a video communication with Lu Tinghan.

He wanted to say something but was hesitant, wanting and stopping, tangled back and forth until his brows and eyes frowned: “You really are…” He paused for a long time and sighed, “It’s good to be alive. Nothing is more important than being alive. Don’t worry about the war, recuperate with peace of mind, we can win.”

Lu Tinghan agreed.

Continue to listen to the battle broadcast, read military reports as usual, sleep, eat, and rub Shi Yuan.

—Eating was also a problem.

When Lu Tinghan recovered a little, the logistics department arranged various nourishing dishes. After the fall of Gleaning City, food resources were extremely limited, but the ward was still filled with the aroma of pork ribs porridge, sesame paste, egg soup, and chicken soup.

There were many things Shi Yuan had never seen before.

Lu Tinghan asked him every time: “Do you want to taste it?”

“No way,” Shi Yuan said, “I have eaten in the hospital cafeteria, and they have delicious white steamed buns.”

Lu Tinghan took a sip of the pork ribs soup and suddenly said, “This soup seems a bit bland. You help me taste it.” He handed the spoon to Shi Yuan.

Shi Yuan tasted a spoonful: “No, I think it’s just right! How can you think it’s bland?”

Lu Tinghan said, “It must be bland, you can taste it again, take a few more sips and taste it.”

Shi Yuan tried again, and took several sips obediently: “No, it’s really delicious.” He suddenly reacted, “You’re not tricking me into drinking the soup, are you?”

“How is it possible?” Lu Tinghan said, “When people are sick, they lose their sense of taste.”

Shi Yuan: “You really didn’t lie to me?”

Lu Tinghan: “Do I look like someone who will lie to you?”

Shi Yuan was suspicious: “To be honest, you really look like—ah!”

His forehead was flicked by Lu Tinghan.

As a result, Lu Tinghan’s sense of taste has been malfunctioning, and Shi Yuan can always eat all his meals.

Shi Yuan said, “You are really pitiful, when will you get better?”

“Who knows.” Lu Tinghan shrugged. “It seems that I am really very sick. Look at this fried asparagus, is there too much salt?”

Shi Yuan ate several fried asparagus, and the delicious taste was unforgettable.

In the afternoon, Shi Yuan went home on time to feed the fish and the bird.

As soon as he left, the huge ward felt empty, and only Lu Tinghan was there. Sunlight shone into the room through the curtains, and it couldn’t dispel the cold air unique to the hospital.

Lu Tinghan opened the terminal, his gaze resting on a document.

The document was a record of the battle with the Snake King, which recorded the whole process of the incident, including the killing range of the ‘Heavy Hammer’ and the rescue situation that day.

In addition to Lu Tinghan, there were two survivors.

The three of them were lucky enough that the outpost was only hit by the shockwave. If the ‘Heavy Hammer’ had landed 500 meters closer to the outpost, it would have been impossible for anyone to survive.

But what’s even luckier than that…

There was a 20-minute gap between when the ‘Heavy Hammer’ hit the ground and when the rescue team arrived. During this time, they were not attacked by the rock snakes.

If surviving the shockwave of the space-based weapon was a miracle, then not being attacked by the monster was almost impossible and unconvincing to anyone.

It couldn’t be explained, it couldn’t be explained at all.

Outside the strike range of the ‘Heavy Hammer’, there were also a large number of rock snake activities. This greedy monster moved quickly and it was impossible to give up prey close at hand.

There was another piece of information in the attachment, which was the voice records of the rescuers.

[…Didn’t we see two people on the aircraft? How come only General Lu was found?]

[I don’t know, was he taken away by the rock snake? We must continue the search and rescue! Hurry up, hurry up, move!]

The document also concluded: [After the ‘Heavy Hammer’ landed, the infection wavelength of Abyss No.0 was monitored and it had two peak outbreaks, one within two minutes of the space-based weapon strike, and the second in the 14th minute]

[After the second outbreak, the signs of rock snakes’ activity disappeared, they seemed to be…running away]

The inspector told Lu Tinghan like this: “The pollution signal of Abyss No.0 is dynamic, and it made a short distance movement. We mapped out its movement trajectory… General Lu, it stayed by your side.”

Lu Tinghan: “…by my side?”

“Yes,” the inspector was also very hesitant, “Of course, it moving a short distance could have been an error. But this error is generally within 15 meters. With its pollution value, you should have been infected long ago. Of course, we know that there is no problem with your blood test results, and this is the problem…”

The more he talked, the more confused his tone became.

Lu Tinghan lowered his eyes and looked at the information.

The white light of the screen reflected his expressionless face.

After ten or twenty days, Lu Tinghan was ready to be discharged from the hospital.

Shi Yuan was very happy. In order to celebrate his discharge from the hospital, he got two pieces of sugar from who knows where and ate them separately with Lu Tinghan.

The candy was fruit flavor. After Lu Tinghan finished eating, he held the candy wrapping paper in his hand and was about to throw it away. Only then did he remember that the trash can in the room was soiled by the soup and had just been taken away by the caregiver to wash it.

He thought, put the wrapping paper on the bedside table first, and as soon as he stretched out his hand, he saw Shi Yuan’s head emerge from the side of the bed, staring straight at him.

Lu Tinghan asked, “What’s the matter?”

Shi Yuan said, “What are you doing?”

Lu Tinghan said, “I’m putting wrapping paper on the bedside table?”

Shi Yuan still looked at him straight, with a serious expression and resentment. Those eyes seemed to have accumulated grievances for many years and seemed nostalgic, with complaints, accusations, and more complaints, and with the resentment of condemning scumbags that even Lu Tinghan shuddered.

Shi Yuan said, “Lu Tinghan, you can’t litter.”