Everyone nodded inwardly at her words.
Everyone knew Song Yao was an honest girl.
Hardworking and grateful, she never tried to pull a fast one.
A few of the older team members exchanged glances, their eyes filled with approval.
"Alright."
Guo Yang didn’t say much more, just nodded his agreement.
Not long after they left.
Several soldiers were ordered upstairs and began patrolling the floor of Mr. Shen’s hospital room.
Xiao Li took the initiative to organize them, splitting the men into two groups.
They would stand guard in shifts to ensure nothing went wrong.
He assigned their posts and responsibilities one by one.
He pointed out the high-risk areas to be monitored and personally checked the fire escape.
No one paid any mind to where Song Yao went.
She slipped into the hospital room on her own, grabbed a small stool, and sat down by the edge of the bed.
Mr. Shen, who had been so imposing that morning, was now lying there with his eyes closed, his brow furrowed as if tied in a knot.
Song Yao let out a long yawn.
After standing watch for so long, her convenient old dad’s breathing had finally stabilized.
The night outside was deep and dark, and only a single, dim yellow lamp was lit in the room.
Since her convenient old dad had managed to cheat death, all she had to do now was take good care of him, step by step.
When he opened his eyes, this display of devotion would surely move him.
Their father-daughter relationship would naturally fall into place.
She plotted to bring in a bowl of hot congee the next morning.
She would also wipe the bedside table clean and read him the newspaper to alleviate his boredom.
Maybe they could even make small talk and she could bring up a few things from her childhood.
As long as her attitude was sincere enough, with time, they could slowly cultivate a bond.
Perhaps she was just too exhausted to stay awake any longer. Her head began to nod, and finally, she slumped over the side of the bed and fell asleep.
Even in her sleep, she was worried her father might suddenly wake up.
So, despite being utterly exhausted, she remained in a half-roused state.
In the middle of the night, she was woken by a full bladder.
The room was silent except for the rhythmic beeping of the heart monitor.
She groggily opened her eyes and felt her way in the dark toward the restroom at the end of the hall.
Her footsteps were silent on the floor. The only light in the entire hallway was a faint glow from the distant nurses’ station.
The air was a little chilly, raising small bumps on her arms.
She came out of the restroom feeling much lighter, but when she looked up, she saw a dark figure standing outside and was scared half to death.
"My god! You scared me to death!"
Her heart suddenly hammered in her chest. She took half a step back, her back pressing against the wall.
The dark figure didn’t move, its silhouette appearing exceptionally eerie.
Taking a closer look, she saw it was Xiao Li, clutching a blanket in his hand.
The light shone from the side, clearly illuminating half of his face.
Song Yao’s temper flared.
"What are you doing? Playing door god by the restroom entrance? Are you trying to scare people?"
Xiao Li looked perfectly serious.
"You were in there for a long time without making a sound. I was afraid you might have accidentally fallen in."
He paused, then added, "The floor inside is slippery. What if you slipped and hit your head?"
As he spoke, he handed her the blanket.
"I got this from a nurse. It’s cold at night. You should cover up."
Song Yao’s expression was strange.
’Such a handsome young man, but how can he have a screw loose?’
’What a waste of a pretty face!’
His brow bone was defined, his nose bridge high, his lips sharply outlined.
A face like that, paired with such a wooden reaction, was truly exasperating.
She couldn’t help but grumble to herself.
’How did someone like him survive to be twenty?’
Xiao Li was completely oblivious to her disdain and simply followed silently behind her.
His footsteps were light and steady, and he constantly maintained a half-step’s distance from her.
Song Yao felt a bit awkward and started a casual conversation.
"Hey, what was your age again? You never told me."
Xiao Li lifted his wrist and glanced at his watch.
The metal watch case reflected a glint of light as he looked down at the face.
"Just turned twenty."
Song Yao was amused. "Oh? Is today your birthday?"
She stopped and turned to face him.
"Mhm."
He nodded.
"It’s the same day as the leader’s."
"What a coincidence," Song Yao remarked casually.
Just then, a doctor passed by with a cart, and a soldier stopped him to ask a few questions.
She took the opportunity to step aside, her gaze falling on a stack of medical charts on the doctor’s cart.
A breeze from a hallway window gusted in, flipping up the corner of one of the pages.
"Speaking of which, the leader sure is unlucky, suffering like this on his birthday."
The doctor shook his head, replying quietly to the soldier’s questions.
By the time his words faded, he was already far down the hall.
Xiao Li said softly, "It’s just past midnight. If the leader wakes up soon, he can still have a bowl of longevity noodles."
Song Yao smiled. "That’s true... huh?"
It suddenly clicked. She turned her head to look at Xiao Li, about to ask, ’Wasn’t the leader’s birthday yesterday?’
She had glanced at the hospital records, which clearly stated the date.
But today was clearly not the same day; there was a full day’s difference.
But in that exact instant, a flash of movement in her peripheral vision caught something abnormal.
The iron grille of a ventilation duct high on the wall shifted slightly.
Immediately after, an extremely fine glint of light shot out from the corner.
"Get down!"
Song Yao’s pupils contracted as she threw herself directly at Xiao Li!
She slammed into him with all her might, her body carving an arc through the air.
The two of them crashed to the floor with a THUD.
Right after, a muffled BANG exploded, and the air above their heads felt as if something had ripped a tear through it!
It pierced the spot where they had just been standing.
The concrete wall exploded with debris, and dust scattered through the air.
The moment the sound faded, Xiao Li had already rolled several times across the floor, rapidly changing his position.
He drew his weapon, aiming it at the darkness behind them.
Their movement had thrown the opponent off-rhythm.
He used the corner of the wall as cover, quickly assessing the environment while shielding Song Yao with his body.
At the same time, another person—who had been leaning against a medical cart—was startled by the gunshot. He lost his grip on his own weapon, which clattered to the floor.
The man immediately ducked behind the cart, pressing his body against the metal frame to hide.
The fallen weapon had rolled to a stop just a few steps away from him.
Song Yao caught this out of the corner of her eye. Her heart sank as she realized something was wrong.
She didn’t have time to think and immediately scrambled up from the floor.
The man on the other side took advantage of the moment she was getting up, using the cart as cover to slowly inch toward the weapon on the floor.
Xiao Li could only keep his eyes fixed on his own target, closing in step by step.
Just as both sides were locked in a stalemate, a sound suddenly came from the direction of the hospital room.
Song Yao’s expression changed drastically, her pupils shrinking.
She finally understood what the problem was.
’Crap!’
’How could I have missed this?!’
The information she’d overheard the Shen Family couple idly chatting about last time was correct.
Mr. Shen was indeed targeted for assassination on his birthday.
During their conversation, they had first mentioned the date, and then casually brought up the assassination attempt.
The flow of the conversation had misled her into thinking the two events happened on the same day, causing her to mix up the timeline.
The truly fatal moment wasn’t on the training grounds—it was right here, right now, in the hospital!
The enemy’s real target was the severely wounded and still-unconscious Mr. Shen himself.
At her core, Song Yao was the type who feared nothing in heaven or on earth.
Otherwise, she couldn’t possibly have brandished a kitchen knife to force a signature in her past life, much less carved out a path for herself with nothing but her wits and her life in those chaotic times.
Now, as someone who had already died once, she didn’t even care about her own life. What was there left to fear?
「Meanwhile, inside the hospital room.」
The two soldiers on guard duty noticed something was wrong. They saw that the "doctor" in the white coat was acting strangely. Just as they tried to step forward and question him, he made his move.
In an instant, a cacophony of sounds erupted, ricocheting around the cramped space, shattering glass and punching through walls.