Searching for Names on the Dead, Escaping with a Kiss

It was a small voice recorder. Although it looked somewhat outdated, its functions seemed completely intact.

Shen Yu picked up the voice recorder to examine it. Although he couldn't find any old videos, the recording function still worked fine.

“There's nothing useful recorded inside,” Shen Yu said regretfully to Zhuang Jie.

“Is that so? I thought we might find some clues.” Zhuang Jie took the voice recorder from Shen Yu and turned it over in her hands a few times.

“What is this?!” Suddenly, a hand reached out from behind and snatched the item from Zhuang Jie's hand. Looking behind the hand, they saw Yu Chengyi, who had led Chen Shuang and Wang Jiaxin over at some unknown point.

Seeing Shen Yu, Wang Jiaxin took the initiative to speak first: “Shen Yu, you weren't injured today, can you?”

Shen Yu shook his head in response.

“It's a voice recorder. We just got it from the storage room next to the infirmary,” Zhuang Jie told Yu Chengyi.

Yu Chengyi examined the exquisite device with interest and said, “The style doesn't look too old. It actually still works.”

“But nothing useful was recorded inside,” Zhuang Jie said helplessly, folding her hands.

“Then it's useless. Do you guys still want it? If not, let me have it as a toy!” In this place where no joy could be found, this voice recorder was nothing more than a toy to Yu Chengyi.

Zhuang Jie: “Sure, take it.”

She turned to Shen Yu and said, “I just followed the head nurse and the director. I saw them go into the infirmary. They seemed to mention something like 'every patient is not much different, they can undergo surgery,' and then the head nurse said she would start scheduling the surgeries immediately.”

“After that, the director came out. In a panic, I hid in the storage room.” Zhuang Jie tucked her hair behind her ear and added.

Yu Chengyi's eyes widened slightly as he said indignantly, “They even want to perform surgery on this? The other day, we saw from the outside that they treated that person to death. Isn't this just dark medicine? And they still want to do surgery!”

“I found some clues on the first floor today,” Shen Yu spoke up in a timely manner.

Zhuang Jie looked left and right before lowering her voice: “What did you find?”

Shen Yu: “The director might be infected.”

“Infected?” Wang Jiaxin asked, her mouth slightly open in surprise.

Shen Yu nodded, thinking deeply for a moment before saying, “If my judgment is correct, the patients here all once suffered from a disease called 'chronic empty-shell encephalitis,' but they should have all recovered on their own.”

“So you're saying the director is sick, meaning he also has this disease?” Chen Shuang's voice was particularly quiet, but his guess was correct.

Shen Yu looked at him and nodded.

Only Shen Yu had met the director, and even then, it was by accident. The others hadn't even seen the director's face. If Shen Yu said he was sick, it meant the director's illness had progressed to the point where it manifested outwardly.

“Then he's the one who's sick. Why is he wasting his time trying to treat people who have already recovered on their own?” Yu Chengyi couldn't wrap his head around it.

Shen Yu told them everything he had seen in the director's office, but kept the matter of the photograph to himself.

“Damn, isn't he a madman? He... he's using living people to save himself?” Yu Chengyi's worldview shattered upon hearing this, his mouth agape.

Shen Yu took a piece of paper from his pocket. “These are some of the names from the self-recovery list that I memorized. Have the others go back tonight and find a way to ask their patients if anyone knows these people.”

“Alright.” Zhuang Jie took the list, scanned it a few times to memorize the names, and then handed it to Wang Jiaxin.

Wang Jiaxin took the list: “I'll go tell them. I can't help much anyway.”

Chen Shuang hurriedly followed, saying, “Then I'll go with you. Consider it as us working together.”

“Alright, be careful. Don't let anyone outside notice,” Shen Yu agreed.

The two of them left with the list.

“What's the point of showing this to them?” Yu Chengyi didn't quite understand Shen Yu's actions.

“I saw that self-recovery list on the computer. These names were marked in red. I want to confirm if these people have already undergone 'surgery',” Shen Yu explained patiently.

Yu Chengyi felt a chill run down his spine.

Shen Yu looked at Zhuang Jie and said, “This disease cannot be cured, but there is a chance of self-recovery. The director is using those who recovered as test subjects. If we can get these patients to rebel, we might find a way out.”

“So, based on what I heard today, these people are about to undergo surgery. We must quickly find his weakness,” Zhuang Jie agreed.

Lunchtime was about to end. Shen Yu deliberately instructed them to only ask for names and not say another word about anything else.

Everyone agreed.

.

In the afternoon, as usual, it was time for the patients to go outside for activities. For some reason, Shen Yu noticed that there were slightly more nurses accompanying them.

Still at that small park, Shen Yu had intended to return to yesterday's corpse pit to investigate, but under their close supervision, he had no opportunity.

Thus, Shen Yu had no choice but to stay by Xie Tu's side for the entire afternoon.

As evening approached, the nurses left. There was only half an hour left before they had to return to the wards.

Shen Yu instructed the others to return as soon as the time was up and not to look for him.

As for Xie Tu, since Shen Yu had to remain by his patient's side, he naturally couldn't head back early. Xie Tu sat in his wheelchair, and Shen Yu pushed him toward the corpse pit.

“Mister Xie, please stay with me for a bit. It's getting dark, and I'll be scared if I'm here alone.” Shen Yu's voice carried a hint of coquettishness. Xie Tu's silence meant he didn't refuse.

Arriving at the corpse pit, Shen Yu placed Xie Tu in a spot sheltered from the wind. He then rolled up his sleeves and took out the rubber gloves he had stolen from the hospital from his pocket. Putting them on, he jumped into the corpse pit without a word.

The corpse pit wasn't very deep. Aside from Yang Wei's newly thrown-in body, the other corpses had almost completely decomposed.

As for the smell, it was naturally unpleasant, but fortunately, Shen Yu could endure it.

He stripped Yang Wei's clothes, then used scissors to cut out the name on his right chest and put it into a plastic bag.

Once done, he continued searching for another corpse...

Xie Tu watched him silently from behind. The sky had darkened, and at least there was no more sunlight. The way Shen Yu searched through the pile of corpses actually made Xie Tu recall something.

Xie Tu remembered that during that unprecedented purge plan at headquarters, he himself had been put on the purge list. Upon learning of this, Fang Kuai, who was carrying out a mission assigned by headquarters, failed a mission for the first and only time.

That night, Fang Kuai had rushed back late at night. In a sea of hundreds of corpses, Fang Kuai, just like Shen Yu now, searched for his body one by one. He then carried his corpse on his back and killed over twenty people from headquarters, until the gentleman stepped in to resolve the matter...

Logically speaking, since he was dead, he shouldn't have known about this, but he wasn't human. When he was created, Fang Kuai had granted him the ability to replicate sensations from the outside world, along with a selective storage function...

Am I also your exception, Fang Kuai...

More than twenty minutes passed, and Shen Yu had cut out over a dozen names from the clothes.

These clothes hadn't completely decomposed yet, and the names could still be made out. Shen Yu figured it was enough. He stretched lazily, put down the plastic bag, climbed out of the corpse pit, took off his plastic gloves, and threw them into the pit.

“Did you wait long, Mister Xie?” Shen Yu walked toward Xie Tu with the plastic bag.

Xie Tu looked at Shen Yu, whose forehead was covered in sweat. His face was flushed, tiny beads of sweat clung to his eyelashes, and even the corners of his eyes were slightly pink, looking incredibly seductive.

“Not long,” Xie Tu looked up at him and replied.

Shen Yu rested for a couple of minutes, then pushed Xie Tu back along the original path. But just as they reached the bend, he heard sounds coming from the hospital—a lot of people were coming.

“Shen Yu! Shen Yu! Where did you take the patient!” It wasn't a question, but an interrogation. The head nurse's voice sounded fierce and urgent, as if she had planned to skin him alive the moment she found him.

Shen Yu's hands tensed, but before he could react, flashlight beams swept over. In just a moment, they would arrive. Shen Yu looked at the plastic bag in his hand and then at Xie Tu's calm face.

With almost no hesitation, Shen Yu pushed the wheelchair under a large ancient tree at the bend, threw the plastic bag onto Xie Tu's lap, and then sat astride Xie Tu's lap, hiding the plastic bag beneath his body.

Xie Tu looked up at him in surprise. Shen Yu took Xie Tu's hands and placed them on his waist, then bent his waist, pressing his chest close to Xie Tu's. The next second, Shen Yu's enlarged face was right before Xie Tu's eyes. His lips felt cold. Once again, Shen Yu kissed him.

Xie Tu's pupils suddenly contracted. It was that heartbeat again.

Shen Yu's kiss was somewhat rushed and anxious. Both of his hands gripped Xie Tu's collar as he ground and bit Xie Tu's lips. It wasn't without skill, but rather done deliberately. Xie Tu was kissed until his eyes turned red. His hands on Shen Yu's waist suddenly tightened, and in the next second, he actively counterattacked, rubbing against Shen Yu's lips until they almost bled. It hurt so much that tears welled up in the corners of Shen Yu's eyes, making him look easily bullied.

“What are you doing?!” The head nurse arrived with a group of nurses and security guards. Five or six flashlights shone directly on the two of them.

Shen Yu immediately put on the act of a startled little rabbit. He turned his head in panic, his tearful eyes looking at the newcomers, looking terribly bullied and pitiful.

“Mister Xie,” Shen Yu threw himself into Xie Tu's arms, his voice both coquettish and hoarse.

Seeing their flushed faces and swollen lips, no matter how clueless the head nurse was, she knew what had just happened. The damn director, because the number of caregivers and patients didn't match, had thought this fellow Shen Yu was deceiving them to do something bad. He had gone mad and made her search for him in a grand manner, only to find him here dating this special patient.

Xie Tu was much better off than Shen Yu; at least his expression was normal, though his ears were unusually red.

“You two!” The head nurse really didn't know what to say. She pointed at Shen Yu for a long time without uttering a word.

Shen Yu turned his head to look at her: “Is it not allowed? Mister Xie is so handsome, and he thinks I'm good-looking too. It's mutual consent, is that not allowed?”

The head nurse looked at Xie Tu's dazed expression and narrowed her eyes slightly. She asked in an almost deceptive tone, “Mister Xie, is what he said true? Do you really like him...?”

Shen Yu's hand gripping Xie Tu's collar suddenly tightened, and his heart rate suddenly accelerated.