After Mu Qiansè left with one part confusion, two parts bewilderment, and three parts disbelief, Xia Wen stared speechlessly at Lin Xiaoyi for a long while.
Over the past dozen or so minutes, Lin Xiaoyi had practically taken over the conversation, blurting out everything the two of them had previously deduced.
"Do you even realize that you're increasing your own number of rivals by doing this?"
Rubbing her forehead with a headache, Xia Wen let out a helpless sigh.
"And generally speaking, isn't it inappropriate to say things like that?"
"Bai Zhi might not care about something this trivial, but I can't stand seeing him suffer injustice. Why should he still be misunderstood after doing so many good things? I just can't stand it!!"
Burying her entire face in the pillow, Campus Belle spoke in a muffled voice.
"My beloved is clearly a Peerless Hero, not..."
"Yes, yes, your beloved is a Peerless Hero. One day, he'll ride the Seven-Colored Auspicious Clouds beneath the gaze of all and marry your dog's life... Say, do you own a dog?"
Xia Wen interrupted her with some exasperation.
"You haven't even married him yet. Your relationship hasn't even been confirmed, and you're already thinking entirely on his behalf? Honestly..."
"...No, I just can't stand it, that's all."
After quite a while, Lin Xiaoyi's muffled voice came from inside the pillow.
"Our peaceful years are only possible because someone bears the burden in the darkness. She clearly knew nothing and understood nothing. I'm not asking her to be grateful, but she shouldn't slander him behind his back based on her own assumptions... How could we let a Hero shed tears after shedding blood? I can't tolerate that."
"Sigh, Precious, you're just too naive. This world is far more complicated than you imagine. People who are too naive can't survive in this world."
With her feet on the desk and her hands clasped behind her head, Xia Wen leaned back with a wistful expression.
"How about this? I'll recommend a manga I read before. After you finish it, you should be able to understand a little more about the truths of life and the unpredictability of the world."
"Hm? What manga?"
Campus Belle raised her head from the pillow.
"Metamorphosis."
Xia Wen wore a solemn expression.
"It's an extremely philosophical and thought-provoking manga. Remember to send me your thoughts after reading it."
"Oh..."
"How could that be possible? That good-for-nothing bastard..."
Walking briskly down the hospital corridor, Mu Qiansè felt her chest brimming with resentment.
Yesterday afternoon, out of kindness, she had specifically gone to advise her ex-boyfriend's eighth girlfriend, hoping to help Campus Belle see his true colors.
But she had never expected that she would be the one lectured in the end. The more she thought about it while trying to sleep that night, the more dissatisfied she became, so early that morning, she simply skipped class and came back to the hospital.
What Lin Xiaoyi had said to her yesterday had completely overturned her worldview. Rather than believe that guy was a Hero silently protecting the light in the darkness, she would sooner believe that a meteor would strike Earth tomorrow.
"Hmph, you want proof, right? I'll find you proof right now... You even said that guy came to the hospital to save these people, that his pale face was because he was injured while saving them, and that he refused to explain himself because he didn't want to drag me into that dangerous environment again... If these unconscious students wake up today, I, Qiansè, will eat my phone on the spot!!!"
Muttering resentfully to herself, Mu Qiansè pushed open the ward door.
But when her gaze fell upon the scene inside, she froze slightly.
At some unknown point, more than a dozen Doctors had gathered in the once-quiet ward. Most of them stood beside the Hospital Beds, asking the awakened students questions with great excitement.
Although most of the students who had only recently awakened appeared somewhat weak, they seemed mentally well.
"What did it feel like when you fell unconscious..."
Faced with a Doctor's question beside his hospital bed, the student lying near the door revealed an expression of recollection and fear.
"My body felt like it had become a doll that couldn't move or speak. My soul could clearly sense that my consciousness still existed, but no matter what I did, I couldn't move at all. I could only sink into endless darkness... until a pair of warm hands picked us up."
"Hands? What exactly did that signify?"
Rapidly writing in the medical record with a pen, the Doctor asked the Patient with some curiosity.
"Just a hand... Its warmth was like sunlight. It made us forget our fear and gave us an unprecedented sense of peace."
The student on the hospital bed looked deeply moved.
"I think the existence that saved us from that dark, cold place must have been a Hero worthy of respect."
After exchanging glances with a colleague beside her, the Doctor in charge of recording continued writing without pause.
With Urban Legend Incidents occurring frequently these days, information about them was still temporarily kept secret from the general public. However, certain special professions had the right to know—such as police officers and Doctors, the two professions most likely to deal with Anomaly Incidents.
In the past, quite a few people had survived Urban Legend Incidents. But aside from a handful of extremely fortunate Lucky Ones who had suffered no harm at all, the rest were more or less left with indescribable aftereffects.
For example, some developed malformed organs, others had their bodily organs haphazardly stitched together, and there were even special cases where a person's entire body had turned into rubber.
But the most common outcome was a prolonged coma like that of these fifteen students, as though they had entered a vegetative state. No one could wake them, and they could only sink into an almost eternal sleep.
Thus, in this broader context, these students who had awakened from their comas undoubtedly possessed major research value.
Because all the Doctors had focused their attention on the students who had awakened in their Hospital Beds, none of them noticed the figure at the doorway silently closing the door again.
"..."
Looking down at the phone in her hand, Mu Qiansè wore a conflicted expression.
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