Yanked by the sudden force, Li Guanqi’s footing became unstable, his knee slammed hard against the edge of the bed, sending a sharp wave of pain through him.
His body lost balance and tipped forward.
With an irresistible strength, she seized his wrist and pressed it against her waist.
A hazy, intimate atmosphere spread through the room.
Her heartbeat was in disarray.
Her flushed lips parted and closed, but only soft breaths escaped, no words.
Li Guanqi froze, unsure how to react.
If this were a romantic drama, the male lead would lean down bit by bit, and finally kiss her.
Unfortunately———–
He had the dual resistance of a card nerd and a doctor against romantic entanglements.
“I should go.” Li Guanqi said softly.
His voice wasn’t loud, but the two of them were so close that she heard it clearly.
Shuang Shenghua gave a bitter smile, let go of his wrist, and took the glasses from his pocket, gently placing them on his face.
The motion was gentle, with a barely noticeable tremble.
That deep crimson number was flashing, about to change, but Dr.
Li still couldn’t see it.
Nearsighted?
Put glasses on him and try again!
“Can you see it now?”
Her voice was full of affection, tinged with a faint melancholy.
“What am I supposed to see…” Li Guanqi turned his head but still didn’t see anything.
“You should go.” Shuang Shenghua said as she looked at him, her heart sinking into despair, her lashes trembling slightly.
She slowly sat up and quietly walked toward the ventilation window.
Outside, below the hospital building, not a soul was in sight.
Li Guanqi looked at her back, his heart a complex swirl of emotions.
“Um…” He cleared his throat, breaking the silence.
“I’ll go find someone for you.”
Shuang Shenghua gazed out the window, a breeze lifting strands of her hair.
Suspended in the air, a deep crimson number 3 turned into a 2.
She gave a bitter smile and softly said, “My name is Shuang Shenghua.”
“Shuang Shenghua.”
“The one with twin flowers, one red, one blue.”
Memories flooded her mind as she murmured it again and again.
The red number began flashing once more, and 2 was about to become 1.
“Don’t forget me.”
The air fell into a strange, eerie stillness, like the moment of silence in a wedding chapel just after the priest finishes the vows.
Li Guanqi, do you take XXX to be your wife?
Do you promise to love her, comfort her, honor and protect her from this day forward, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, in joy and in sorrow, for as long as you both shall live?
The whole world was waiting for a single promise.
“Uh.” Li Guanqi felt baffled and nodded lightly.
“Mm.”
He turned and left, quietly closing the door behind him.
With that soft motion, the old doorplate gave a clack and fell at his feet.
Etched into it, weathered and fading, were three numbers: <505>.
“505…”
“She had to choose the most dilapidated one…”
He stared at the doorplate and muttered under his breath.
Li Guanqi couldn’t make sense of it.
He looked up the hallway, completely empty.
The silence felt unnatural.
He pulled out his phone.
The screen was clean, no new messages at all.
“So few patients today?”
Li Guanqi frowned, uneasy.
A sense of foreboding crept up in his chest.
He walked quickly to the consultation room at the end of the hall, Room 510.
Knock knock knock.
Li Guanqi raised his hand and knocked.
He was about to call out when the door creaked open on its own.
“Hm?”
He paused, then called out cautiously, “Dr.
Zhang?”
No response.
Li Guanqi pushed the door fully open and stepped inside.
The lighting was dim; the curtains were tightly drawn.
Only the faint blue glow of the computer monitor illuminated the room.
Not a single soul.
“No one?!”
Li Guanqi stood frozen, his mind blank.
He felt like he had stepped into some absurd dream, so unreal.
“Where did everyone go…”
His breathing grew rapid as he hurried from Room 509 to 508, still no one.
While running, he turned the corner near the elevator.
The elevator lights lit up in order as it ascended.
2
3
4
5
The numbers climbed and stopped at the 5th floor.
Echoes of past conversations rang through Li Guanqi’s mind.
“Did a doctor bring you to Room 505, or did you go in yourself?”
“I went in myself.”
“Where are you from?”
“Level 4 Fortress – Bianyuelong.”
“This isn’t the time for a Duel.”
“Third round!
It’s the third round!”
“I’ll go find someone for you.”
“My name is Shuang Shenghua.”
“The one with twin flowers, one red, one blue.”
“Dr.
Li, can’t you see it?”
Something suddenly crossed Li Guanqi’s mind, and a chill exploded across his entire body.
His pupils dilated sharply.
“Countdown…”
“How is that possible…”
His breathing grew rapid, eyes darting frantically like a headless fly.
A strange fog blanketed everything around him, blurring the line between reality and illusion.
Ding———–
The elevator chimed crisply, shattering the suffocating silence.
The doors slowly slid open like a beast baring its maw.
Inside, not a soul, only cold metal walls reflecting pale, ghostly light.
Li Guanqi felt like an invisible hand had clenched his heart, halting its beat.
The elevator doors shut automatically.
The display lit up again, and blood-red numbers stabbed at his eyes.
4…
3…
2…
Each number struck his fraying nerves like a death knell.
“Dr.
Li, can’t you see it…”
As Shuang Shenghua’s words echoed in his mind, Li Guanqi turned and dashed toward the stairwell, desperate to escape.
If there really was a countdown…
1 was next.
Fourth floor: no one.
Third floor: no one.
Second floor: no one.
First floor: no one.
The entire hospital felt like an abandoned city, cloaked in deathly silence.
Li Guanqi felt like a forsaken soul, doomed to roam alone through this frozen cage of steel and shadows.
The moment he burst out the front doors, a cold wind slammed into him, whipping his thin white coat into a flurry.
The world———- was completely empty.
Faint yellow lamplight shone on the deserted street.
A few brittle leaves spun in the chill wind, rustling across the pavement.
Several toppled, abandoned shared bikes lay by the roadside, crooked like forsaken children.
From the darkened windows of the hospital building, cold, godlike eyes gazed down at him, part mocking, part indifferent.
Li Guanqi stood at the entrance, his mind ringing blank, a loud buzz inside his head.
His panicked breathing cut sharply through the silence, like the growl of a trapped beast.
Suddenly, a chill ran down his spine, as though something was watching him.
He whipped around.
There, on the window ledge of Room 505, sat the girl named Shuang Shenghua.
Her legs dangled in the air, gently swaying.
She seemed lost in thought.
Then she lowered her head and locked eyes with Li Guanqi below.
Four eyes met.
One stood above, one below.
One filled with sorrow, the other with terror.
She looked at him and suddenly smiled.
That smile held release…
and tragic beauty———– like a white rose trembling in a storm, about to wither.
Her body began to lean forward.
Her fingers slowly loosened, like a goodbye…
or a release.
Li Guanqi’s eyes widened in horror.
It felt like a massive invisible hand had clutched his heart, and a wave of suffocation surged through him.
His mouth opened———- he wanted to shout but…
his throat was choked by something unseen.
No sound came out.
Whoosh———–
The girl fell.
Crashing to the ground.
A deep red strapless dress.
In the dark void, it slashed downward———–
Heavy.
Bright.
Blinding.
Unforgettable.
1.