Life

Chapter 36: Life

"Mm... I guess you could say that." Bai Yanliang accepted the so-called informant identity.

Stars sparkled in Yang Yiyi's bright eyes as she stared at Bai Yanliang, thrilled. In her mind, he must be the kind of unsung hero from novels and movies who went undercover in the heart of evil for the sake of justice.

"Are you on a mission?"

"More or less."

"Wow!"

"How old are you? Are you married?"

"..."

"Hey, hey, do you think I have what it takes to be a criminal investigator?"

"..."

The enthusiastic girl from the Polytechnic Affiliated Hospital was clearly getting the wrong idea more and more. Bai Yanliang wasn't much of a talker, but Yang Yiyi kept pestering him with questions.

"Could you do me a favor?"

Bai Yanliang suddenly spoke up.

Yang Yiyi's eyes lit up. She immediately patted her not-so-full chest and said sweetly, "Name it!"

"Go hide in your room first. Your father and I have something important to discuss later." Bai Yanliang looked her in the eye and spoke seriously.

"No problem!" Yang Yiyi was so excited she felt as if she were taking part in some grand scheme. She grabbed her schoolbag and hurried into her room to hide.

Then she closed the door and pressed her ear against it to listen for what was happening outside.

Bai Yanliang shook his head helplessly.

The girl had been far too sheltered. She wasn't very mature.

Just as he was thinking this, Yang Wanlong finally returned.

"I picked a restaurant and ordered a few dishes, but they told me I could order delivery on my phone and have it brought right to the door. They even offered a pretty good discount. Hah..." Yang Wanlong carried a plastic bag in each hand, looking rather exasperated. Then he glanced at Bai Yanliang and said, "You ought to get a phone, too. You couldn't use one in there, but now that you're out, you should keep up with the times."

Listening to her father through the door, Yang Yiyi immediately imagined Bai Yanliang undercover behind enemy lines, unable to use his phone because it was being monitored and forced to send messages to the outside world using secret codes. She was so excited that she stamped her feet.

Naturally, Bai Yanliang and Yang Wanlong both heard the noise. Yang Wanlong called toward the inner room, "Yiyi?"

Yang Yiyi opened the door a crack and showed half her face. "I didn't hear anything... I didn't hear a thing!"

"What are you talking about? Come out and eat now that we're back. Why are you home so early today? Don't you have evening study?"

As he set out the food, Yang Wanlong asked her.

"Something happened at the Polytechnic Affiliated Hospital, so they sent us all home!" Yang Yiyi opened her bedroom door and leaned halfway out, full of excitement.

"Something happened?" Yang Wanlong looked at her in confusion. Bai Yanliang also glanced at Yang Yiyi, curious.

"Yeah! One of the teaching assistants at our hospital was suddenly stabbed with a compass by a student who'd gone berserk. They've already taken the assistant to the hospital."

Gone berserk?

The word struck a nerve with both Yang Wanlong and Bai Yanliang. Yang Wanlong dropped onto the sofa and looked at his daughter. "Do you know what exactly happened?"

Yang Yiyi looked at Yang Wanlong, then at Bai Yanliang. Seeing them both watching her made her a little excited.

But then she shook her head slightly and said, "I don't know all that much. We'd just started evening study when we heard a commotion outside—things being smashed, people calling for help, security guards yelling. It was a complete mess. Then I heard that one student suddenly went berserk, picked up a compass, and stabbed the teaching assistant in the neck. It went straight through, and blood was everywhere!"

"Didn't anyone try to stop him?" Yang Wanlong furrowed his brow.

"They did! I heard several security guards grabbed him, but even after his clothes were torn, they still couldn't hold him back! That student was incredibly strong!"

Bai Yanliang's thoughts stirred. He turned to Yang Wanlong and said, "Uncle Yang, I was thinking..."

Yang Wanlong fell silent for a moment. His work as a criminal investigator was already busy, and he was currently working on a case that had reached a critical stage. There was a ninety percent chance this campus assault wouldn't land on his desk.

"Yiyi," Yang Wanlong suddenly called. "Tomorrow's the weekend, and something's happened at your hospital. Go with your Brother Bai to buy him a phone."

Bai Yanliang was about to refuse, but Yang Wanlong added, "Take Yiyi with you when you go. We'll keep in touch by phone."

"Roger!" Yang Yiyi hadn't been very keen at first, but when she heard she could look into the assault, she beamed.

Bai Yanliang was silent for a moment. He could vaguely understand Yang Wanlong's intentions behind the arrangement.

"Thank you, Uncle Yang."

In the end, Bai Yanliang smiled. No one could have seen the slightest reluctance on his face.

"Let's eat," Yang Wanlong said.

The three of them sat around the table, looking quite at ease together. But Bai Yanliang sat ramrod straight, without the slightest hint of relaxation.

Yang Yiyi chattered away, asking all sorts of strange questions. She was intensely interested in this young, handsome "informant."

But Bai Yanliang only smiled, answering none of them.

Yang Wanlong tacitly kept quiet, too.

After dinner, and a quick wash, Bai Yanliang lay down on the sofa.

He couldn't bring himself to sleep in a strange woman's room. Seeing how determined he was, Yang Wanlong didn't press him.

Sleeping on the sofa was no big deal to Bai Yanliang. Besides, he was so mentally exhausted that he soon fell asleep.

Bai Yanliang's dreams were bizarre and disjointed.

He dreamed of Zhang Qiao beneath the bed, Li Yuhua with her whole body bloated from being soaked, Ding Lei's disfigured face, and Feng Xinghan, whose body had been reduced to nothing.

That burly, middle-aged man—Bai Yanliang hadn't even seen his corpse in the end.

Life was so fragile. Perhaps one day, he too would die quietly in another world.

Maybe only then would he understand what a ghost was.

A ghost... Was it the soul of a dead human being?

Perhaps human consciousness, in all its complexity, was a tragic mistake that had emerged in the course of evolution. Perhaps humans were creatures that should never have existed.

Because we knew too much about ourselves.

"Hey! Wake up!"

One strange dream nested inside another. Bai Yanliang was dreaming that Bai Yanren stood in front of him, saying something, when a lively girl's voice sounded in his ear.

Bai Yanliang slowly opened his eyes and saw a pretty, still-youthful face.

He turned his head slightly. The lazy morning sunlight streamed in through the window, and the air carried the fresh scent unique to early morning. The city's traffic hummed with its own sounds. In this forest of steel and concrete, an occasional bird's chirp and a wildflower in bloom still revealed signs of life.

"What are you looking at?" Seeing Bai Yanliang staring out the window, lost in thought, Yang Yiyi followed his gaze, puzzled, but saw nothing unusual.

At her words, Bai Yanliang smiled and shook his head. He climbed off the sofa and said,

"Nothing. I was just thinking that it's good to be alive."