The lights in the Medical Room at Headquarters were blindingly white.
Song Zhixia worked faster than usual as she cleaned the wound on Lu Wenchuan's shoulder. Lu Wenchuan sat in a chair, looking down at his cut-open sleeve, barely making a sound.
Xu Zhihan sat beside him, an IV in his left hand and his right hand resting on the back of the chair. The containment case for the fourth Fragment sat in the metal cabinet farthest from him, with three Sealing Patterns affixed to its door. Every few minutes, a faint knock came from inside, as though the Fragment were knocking on a door.
Song Zhixia tossed the contaminated gauze into a tray.
"The shoulder wound isn't deep. Your wrist is the problem. The edge of your fate line was scraped by the third layer. You can't use your blood again for a while, and you can't let any lines touch you."
"That sounds pretty hard," Lu Wenchuan said quietly.
Song Zhixia looked up.
"You can try."
"I'll do my best," Lu Wenchuan said at once.
Song Zhixia sneered. "'Do my best' is practically meaningless coming from you."
"He can't do it," Xu Zhihan suddenly said.
Lu Wenchuan looked at him.
Xu Zhihan's expression was cold. "So tie him up."
Song Zhixia looked between them and actually gave it some serious thought.
Lu Wenchuan gave a helpless laugh. "You're really considering it?"
Xu Zhihan said, "Any objections?"
"Yes."
"Keep them to yourself."
Watching him say that with such a cold expression, Lu Wenchuan actually wanted to laugh again. Halfway through his laugh, Song Zhixia pressed down on his shoulder wound. His brow furrowed, and he finally fell quiet.
The Director soon arrived at the Medical Room with the documents.
The writing on the fourth layer's Return-to-God Gate had been