The truth was, Ji Li could barely make out Jiang Wangyue’s voice anymore, the waves of stabbing pain in his chest kept blacking out his vision. He gripped her wrist as if to stop her from touching him, but more like he was clutching at a lifeline.
She pressed her lips together and quickly looked him over head to toe. No obvious injury, up close she caught no smell of blood, and the symptoms were different from Yun Miao’s rampage. Ruling those out, a sudden illness? A flash of urgency crossed her eyes. She made her voice as gentle as she could and tried again. “Ji Li, can you hear me? I want to help you. Will you let go of me?”
Help… him? Why would anyone say they wanted to help him?
Ji Li’s muddled brain was sluggish, he couldn’t make sense of it, but his hand unconsciously loosened. Not minding her throbbing wrist, Jiang Wangyue hurriedly opened her terminal and called Lan Xue. He picked up almost the instant it rang. “Female master?”
“Lan Xue! Where are you? Ji Li seems to be sick, he looks like he’s in agony!”
Hearing the urgency in her voice, Lan Xue reflexively glanced out the porthole at the pitch-black space beyond. “I’m sorry, Female master. I have business to attend to on another planet. I’ll arrange for emergency responders to come right away.”
“As fast as you can!”
The call cut off. Lan Xue looked down at the news report on his terminal screen, a struggle flashing through his ocean-blue eyes.
At the manor, Jiang Wangyue had Ji Li rest his head on her shoulder while she patted his back off and on, helping him even out his breathing. She knew it did next to nothing, but she had no usable medical equipment on hand, Ji Li wouldn’t let her touch him any further, and his mind was far from clear, she was out of options. As for using mental power… she let out a bitter laugh. If only she knew how.
By the time the responders reached the manor, Ji Li had passed out cold from the pain. With no time to change, Jiang Wangyue just threw on a long trench coat and went to the hospital with them. After a round of examinations, she met the attending physician, a gentle female beastman who took her a little by surprise.
“He’s your beast husband?”
Jiang Wangyue nodded, they were indeed lawfully married.
The female beastman doctor sighed softly. “By the look of you, he hid from you that he has a genetic disease.”
She started, then her eyes filled with surprise. A genetic disease?
The doctor flipped open Ji Li’s report and pushed it in front of her. “More precisely, every member of his species is born with it. The condition makes them feel pain like having the heart gouged out and the bones eaten away, but it isn’t fatal. In exchange, it gives them speed and concealment abilities no ordinary person can match.”
As she spoke, the doctor was discreetly studying Jiang Wangyue, watching her expression. Finding no displeasure, no anger at having been kept in the dark, she raised an eyebrow, then smoothed her features as Jiang Wangyue looked up.
Jiang Wangyue’s fingers tightened. She asked softly, “Is there any chance of a cure?”
“For now, there’s no method. You’re his Female master, you can try soothing him with mental power. It might help ease the pain.”
Mental power again. She pressed at her faintly aching forehead, then nodded to the doctor, thanked her, and got up to leave. The office door was pulled open from outside first. Seeing it was a male beastman, Jiang Wangyue assumed he was another patient’s family come to ask about a case, and turned slightly to let him pass. He blanked for a moment, and before he could react she was already gone.
The male beastman closed the door behind him and looked back at the female “doctor” sitting in the chair, wearing his white coat, a trace of helplessness in his eyes. “Female master, if you want to be a doctor, you should accept the director’s invitation.”
“Where’s the fun in that?”
He stepped forward and helped his Female master out of the coat, then asked, a little curious, “Who was that just now?”
The female, dropping her earlier gentleness, gave an unreadable smile. “An interesting little thing.”
Heavy-hearted, Jiang Wangyue walked back to the ward, and before she could push the door open she was stopped by someone. Before he even spoke, she was hit by the scent on him and sneezed. Seeing the male beastman’s face stiffen, she quickly waved a hand and said apologetically, “My nose is just too sensitive.”
“Miss, I need to confirm a few things with you regarding your beast husband.”
“All right.”
But the longer she listened, the more something felt off, why did this man keep leaning closer? Was this the proper distance between medical staff and a patient’s family? Watching him about to make contact, Jiang Wangyue hastily took a big step sideways, instantly opening a gap of eight body-lengths between them. “Sorry, I’ve already gone over all this with the doctor. If there’s nothing else, I won’t keep you from your work.”
The man was clearly unwilling and wanted to say more, but she gave him no chance, she yanked the ward door open, darted inside, shut it with a clap, and locked it for good measure. Back against the door, she let out a long breath, then looked up to find Ji Li, already awake, sitting on the hospital bed watching her. Those dark golden eyes were like a pool of dead water, without a ripple.
Remembering what the doctor had said, she couldn’t help biting her lower lip. “Does it… still hurt?”
Her words were like a leaf dropping onto the still surface of a lake, sending faint ripples spreading out. The ear-feathers at Ji Li’s ears trembled lightly, and then he shook his head and said hoarsely, “It doesn’t hurt anymore.”
His gaze shifted to her already bruised wrist, and he unconsciously gripped the blanket over him. Jiang Wangyue didn’t bring it up, so neither did he.
“Beep, beep, beep—”
Both their terminals went off at once. Jiang Wangyue looked down to find a new friend request. The avatar was a… haughty-looking owl? She hesitated, but in the end accepted. If it was a scam, she’d delete it in a heartbeat. But she waited and waited, and the other side never sent a thing. Weirdo.
She lowered her hand and looked at Ji Li, only to see him sitting on the bed with his head bowed, thinking about something, the messy black hair over his forehead hiding his eyes so his expression couldn’t be read.
“Ji Li?” she couldn’t help calling.