An entire row of temporary medical lights shone outside the Air-Raid Shelter.
Song Zhixia pressed Lu Wenchuan into a folding chair and cut open the fabric at his shoulder. The gauze was already soaked with blood and stuck to the edges of the wound, pulling away a little dried scab as she peeled it off. Lu Wenchuan's brow tightened. He did not flinch, only rested his other hand on his knee, his fingertips lightly tapping his trouser seam.
Xu Zhihan stood beside him, his expression even colder than Lu Wenchuan's.
"Say something if it hurts."
Lu Wenchuan looked up. "It hurts."
Song Zhixia's hands paused, and she glanced at him. "So now you've learned."
"Someone's watching," Lu Wenchuan said quietly.
Xu Zhihan looked at him. "Feeling hard done by, are you?"
Lu Wenchuan did not dare smile.
Inside the Air-Raid Shelter's iron door, the line [Sixth layer, life-taking] still glowed. The white light no longer spread outward. Like a half-open eye, it watched them through the gap in the iron door. After the fifth layer collapsed, a crack had appeared across the door's surface. Black ash lay inside it, falling out bit by bit.
The Deputy Captain crouched beside the door, picked up a little ash with tweezers, and put it into an Evidence Bag.
"The residual Anchor Nail ash is still reacting."
Song Zhixia looked back. "Don't get too close."
The Deputy Captain immediately shuffled half a step back.
A hairline crack had appeared in Xu Zhihan's Silver Nameplate too. It ran through the edge of the fourth Fragment's imprint on the back. The nameplate had not broken, but the two characters "Zhihan" looked fainter. After examining it, Song Zhixia's expression worsened.
"This thing can't take another hit for you."
Xu Zhihan tucked the nameplate back inside his collar.