Smoke and Choices

The corridor was filled with a strange stench of disinfectant mixed with the smell of blood. The pale fluorescent tubes overhead emitted a low hum, casting long shadows of the two people onto the clean but cold floor.

The Monkey slumped on the bench, its body still trembling slightly uncontrollably. Between its fingers, which were covering its face, tears mingled with the dried, dark bloodstains, leaving a disheveled trace.

Lin Feng leaned back next to him, the bright red "No Smoking" sign on the wall behind them seeming particularly ironic at this moment. He didn't look at the Monkey, but silently took out a cigarette case from his pocket, skillfully knocked out two cigarettes, put one in his own mouth, and offered the other to the Monkey's lowered gaze.

The Monkey, overwhelmed by fear and grief, showed no reaction to the cigarette offered to it.

Lin Feng didn't urge him. He lit the cigarette in his mouth with a "snap" and took a deep drag. The pungent smoke filled his lungs, as if it could dispel some of the unpleasant smell inherent in this place. Then, he brought the flickering flame close to the filter of the cigarette he had offered to the Monkey.

The orange flames flickered in front of the Monkey's empty pupils.

A few seconds later, a blood-stained hand, still trembling slightly, slowly rose, took the cigarette, and awkwardly put it in its mouth. The Monkey, using Lin Feng's hand, took a deep, greedy drag, as if it weren't nicotine but life-saving oxygen.

He inhaled thick white smoke, which swirled in his lungs before he exhaled it with a long, suppressed sob. The smoke tumbled and spread under the pale light, blurring his tear-streaked and blood-spotted face.

He took several puffs, until the cigarette was nearly half burned, before the Monkey's violently heaving chest calmed down slightly. He slowly raised his head, his bloodshot eyes looking at the silent Lin Feng beside him, his voice hoarse as a broken gong:

"Madman..." He paused, as if making a decision, his tone carrying a sense of urgency born of relief and a lingering hope for official authority, "Let's call the police."

He forcefully stubbed out his cigarette on the clean floor, leaving a charred mark, and stared intently at Lin Feng.

Lin Feng didn't answer immediately. His long, steady fingers held the cigarette as he slowly brought it to his lips, took a drag, and exhaled soft smoke rings. Amidst the swirling smoke, his gaze calmly met the Monkey's hopeful yet barely concealed panic in his eyes.

"Call the police?" Lin Feng's tone was calm, revealing no emotion, as if he were confirming a simple fact. "Do you have any evidence?"

"Evidence?" The Monkey seemed stung by a needle, abruptly pointing to the tightly closed iron door of the hospital room behind him, where Qin Ming was imprisoned. His voice rose again with excitement, "He is the evidence! What he just said! He admitted it himself! The organ trafficking! And... and the thing about wanting to turn my sister into a specimen! That's all evidence!"

His body leaned forward due to anger and lingering fear, his eyes fixed on Lin Feng, as if seeking a positive answer from him.

Lin Feng stared at him quietly, at his eyes, which were burning red with anger, fear, and a trace of innocence, for a long time. Only the heavy, uneven breathing of the two men could be heard in the corridor.

Suddenly, the corners of Lin Feng's mouth twitched almost imperceptibly upwards, forming a faint, almost ethereal arc. It wasn't a joyful smile; rather, it was a mixture of understanding, mockery, and a hint of cruelty.

He flicked his cigarette ash with a calm and unhurried motion, a stark contrast to the Monkey's excitement.

"Monkey," his voice remained steady, yet it was like a cold scalpel, precisely slicing through the Monkey's newly ignited hope, "Can the words of Madman... be taken as evidence?"

These words were like ice water poured over the Monkey, instantly freezing him in place.

"But... but he's not Madman!" the Monkey retorted urgently, his voice tinged with a mixture of grievance and anger at being distrusted. "He's faking it! He's faking it to escape legal punishment! We all know that!"

"We know?" Lin Feng raised an eyebrow slightly, repeating those three words with a profound meaning in his tone, "Who can prove it?"

He took another drag of his cigarette, then stubbed it out below the "No Smoking" sign, a casual gesture that carried an undeniable sense of finality.

"Perhaps he wasn't like that before." Lin Feng's gaze returned to the Monkey's face, his eyes as deep and unfathomable as a bottomless pool, "But now..."

He paused, and each word struck the Monkey's heart clearly and coldly:

"It is him."

These five seemingly innocuous words were like an irrefutable verdict, completely extinguishing the Monkey's illusion of resolving the issue through normal legal channels. Indeed, who could prove it? Who could prove that someone who had been assessed by an authoritative institution, forcibly sent here, and had just endured inhuman torture in front of them, whose mental state was already on the verge of a true breakdown, was speaking lucidly before? The law demands a rigorous chain of evidence, not one-sided, unverifiable accusations from a "mentally Patient."

The Monkey opened his mouth, wanting to argue further. He wanted to suggest investigating the Southeast Asia tycoon, checking the financial records of Ankang Hospital... but looking into Lin Feng's calm yet all-knowing eyes, all his words caught in his throat. He realized how pale and powerless his common-sense ideas were in the face of the dark chain Lin Feng had revealed.

Seeing his dejected state and his eyes dimming again, Lin Feng reached out and gently patted his slightly trembling shoulder.

"Don't worry." Lin Feng's tone was soft, yet it carried a strange, convincing power. "Leave everything to me."

He looked into the Monkey's eyes and said, word by word:

"I won't let Xiaoya... suffer any injustice."

This statement is less like a promise and more like a declaration.

Monkey into Lin Feng's eyes, at the unwavering determination and the cold power hidden behind it that he couldn't fully comprehend, the monkey felt a mix of emotions. There was confusion, fear, but more than anything, a helpless dependence, like grasping at a single piece of driftwood in a desperate situation.

In the end, he said nothing more, but simply nodded slowly and heavily.

At the end of the corridor, the lights remained a stark white.