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墨書 Inktalez
Remembering this, I immediately got up, only to realize I was still hooked up to the IV stand. I had no choice but to sit up a bit and said to Fatty, "Check if this hospital has any admissions for external injuries, particularly to the left eyebrow or forehead. There must be a lot of blood loss."
"Do I need you to remind me? I've checked not just this hospital, but all hospitals. There's nothing. This really gets on my nerves. You’re bleeding all over the place, yet you’re fine. You’re built like Lin Daiyu; how can you be so fragile with just a little injury?"
My mental state was still not great, and I didn’t have the energy to bicker with him. I asked, "What time is it now? I'm hungry; get me something to eat first."
Fatty snorted and poured a bowl of porridge from his thermos and handed it to me. "You've been sleeping for over ten hours; it's two in the afternoon now. Don't you find yesterday's incident strange? Who would want to go so far as to harm you?"
"I know," I swallowed a mouthful of porridge and said, "It's clear they were targeting me, but why? It doesn’t make sense for someone to resort to such underhanded tactics against me."
Fatty pulled over a chair and sat at the head of my bed. "Let’s not worry about the why for now. If someone wants you gone, they definitely have their reasons. Maybe they just don’t like you; it’s hard to find an answer to that. Let’s start with something simpler: who knows about your trip to Zhenfeng?"
"You, Jack, and Xiao Ting. Just the three of you know, unless they told someone else." I set down the bowl. "The problem is we only informed Jack and Xiao Ting after we finalized our plans, and then I got into trouble as soon as we arrived in Zhenfeng. Do they have the capability to orchestrate something like this?"
"Don’t focus on that for now. Since something has happened, there must be someone behind it pulling strings; this isn’t an accident. Don’t use that as an excuse to lull yourself into complacency. I don’t think Xiao Ting is involved, even though she has her own issues; she wouldn’t dare touch you without support. You know who I suspect—Jack. He’s the only one who fits the profile."
Fatty waved his arm, stopping me from questioning him further as he continued, "There’s another possibility: someone might have followed us from Beipanjiang Town and targeted you when you were alone. You seem quite important."
There was a hint of bitterness in Fatty's tone, as if being targeted was something honorable. Hearing him speak like that made my anger flare up; jealousy and envy had no place in such matters.
After listening to Fatty's analysis, I suddenly lost my appetite for food. If what he said was true, I would be facing danger ahead. His reasoning made sense, but I couldn’t believe anyone could arrange an assassination attempt so quickly. As for a killer following us from Beipanjiang Town—that seemed even more absurd. On our bus ride, although Fatty and I weren’t the last ones on board, there was only one Aunt Miao behind us. Surely a killer wouldn’t have had a premonition and waited for us on the bus.
After thinking for a moment, I felt that Fatty's analysis was flawed; even his suspicion of Jack seemed unbelievable to me. I didn’t know Jack well enough and had begun to doubt him too, but as partners in this venture, I couldn’t believe they would turn against me—mainly because there was no reason for them to do so. Moreover, I thought they would have better opportunities if they wanted me out of the picture.
I steeled myself and said, "Is it possible that I’m just a scapegoat for an assassination?"
"Are you out of your mind?" was Fatty's response.
His words nearly took my breath away. Clearly, his analysis was full of holes, yet he acted as if he were in the right. But then I remembered the grouping situation. After this incident, Fatty would definitely harbor doubts about Jack, and there would be significant resistance from him regarding the group arrangement. I had to discuss this with him in advance; otherwise, if I brought it up hastily later, he would surely refuse.
"We're only suspecting this for now, and we can't prove anything. I don't agree with your analysis. Let's put this matter aside for the time being and look for clues quietly without alarming anyone." I said to Fatty with a hint of exhaustion, "Now I need to discuss something with you: we should split up during this trip into the mountains."
I then informed Fatty of my decision regarding the grouping. He responded decisively, "I disagree."
I anticipated his reaction and asked, "Why?"
"Are you really asking that?" Fatty glared at me with wide eyes. "You're in a group with Jack? That's like sending a meat bun to a dog—there's no coming back from that. I don’t know why he’s targeting you, but I’m certain it’s him. Unless you have solid evidence to clear him, don’t team up with him. Forget splitting up; it should just be us together. I can’t trust anyone else with you. You’ve been with me all this time, and just because you left my side for a moment, your life almost slipped away."
As soon as I heard him starting to lecture me again, I quickly made a gesture for him to pause. "Can we not dwell on this? Let’s not drag this out over one incident."
"One incident? You almost lost your life! Thank goodness you have a common blood type; if it were panda blood, I'd be calling your parents to break the news right now."
"You gave me a transfusion? How much did you give? It doesn't feel that serious."
"I'll show you the bill later; it'll scare you to death. You need to get Jack to reimburse you for that. Damn it, just thinking about it makes me angry. He wants your life, and you're still insisting on teaming up with him? Did a donkey kick your head?"
"Stop." I gestured again for him to pause and redirected the conversation back to my line of thought. "You suspect Jack—fine, let’s temporarily assume your analysis is correct. What do we do? Avoid him or shake him off? Clearly neither option works. This operation requires his funding and personnel support; in other words, without his backing, our mission will be called off. What I'm suggesting is that we get close to him and let him expose himself while I act as bait."
"You’re not fishing; you’re courting death," Fatty scoffed.
"Don’t look down on people, alright? Do you know about that guy last night? He ambushed me with a knife, but I drove him off. Do you think I’m made of clay?"
At this point, I suddenly paused. The scene from last night flashed back into my mind. Now that my head was clear, some doubts began to clarify. I had fought fiercely with that man in black, nearly tearing the place apart, yet not a single person had come to watch or call for help. There was no way this was a performance for the deaf and mute.
Moreover, although my seat was far from the center stage, there was no way the sound wouldn’t reach me. When I entered the teahouse, I was so focused on my thoughts that I hadn’t noticed this detail. Looking back now, I realized I hadn’t heard any of the performances on stage; the only sounds that reached my ears were sporadic applause, faint and barely audible. However, when I ran to the entrance of the teahouse, the audience's cheers were overwhelming. The stark difference in sound levels within the same room was something I couldn’t comprehend at all.
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