Jiang Nuan forced a dry smile and shook her head.
“How could that be? Doctor Qi is highly skilled and gentle.”
Was she not afraid? Every single member of Zero Squad was far from normal!
She slowly moved to the edge of the bed and sat down, hesitating for a second before lifting her injured leg and resting it on his knee.
The angle wasn’t quite right, and she was about to pull it back to adjust—
But Qi Sui’s fingers had already closed around her ankle.
He pulled her leg toward him directly, adjusting it to an angle he found satisfactory.
The pad of his thumb pressed against the thin skin on the inner side of her ankle, and a chill seeped up along the gaps in her bones, like an icy serpent.
Jiang Nuan’s calf instinctively tensed.
Qi Sui lowered his head unhurriedly and rolled up the cuff of her pajama pants.
It revealed the gauze wrapped by Ye Que earlier, which now peeked through.
Jiang Nuan realized that because she’d been walking before returning to the dorm, blood had seeped through the gauze again, looking pitiful.
Qi Sui’s brow furrowed slightly.
“As always, Ye Que’s bandaging technique is terrible.”
Jiang Nuan: “…”
She decided to keep her mouth shut—these people were tearing each other down within the squad.
He took a small pair of medical scissors from the kit, the silver blade gleaming under the light.
“Snip.”
The scissors slid along her skin, cutting through the old gauze layer by layer.
His movements were highly professional, always avoiding the wound perfectly. Even the slight pain from the gauze pulling at the wound was eased by his other hand’s fingertip, pressing gently around her skin to distract her.
Jiang Nuan had to admit—this Doctor Qi, who’d topped the patient satisfaction ratings citywide, truly had masterful hands.
The old gauze was fully removed, revealing the wound beneath, still oozing slightly.
Flesh curled outward, looking somewhat shocking.
“It’s a serious injury.”
He unscrewed the disinfectant bottle cap, soaked a cotton ball, then clamped it with tweezers before gently wiping around the wound.
As the cotton passed, it brought a cool, sharp sting. Jiang Nuan gritted her teeth and stayed silent.
Then came the ointment.
His fingertip dipped into the paste and spread it in small strokes along the edge of the wound.
When it passed over her intact skin, those fingers didn’t just follow a straight line.
Instead, there was a faint, almost unconscious grazing motion.
His fingertips were cool.
But that coolness on her healthy skin burned enough to make her toes curl involuntarily.
She decided to find some topic to break the hair-raising atmosphere.
“On the way back to Sector C, I ran into an old gentleman.”
Jiang Nuan stared intently at Qi Sui’s face, not missing any expression.
“The one you talked to when the Captain and I went to the refugee storage depot in Sector C.”
Qi Sui’s hand paused for a moment.
In the next second, his movements resumed as usual, his voice still warm.
“And then?”
“He asked me to pass along a message for you.” Jiang Nuan watched him. “He said: ‘I’ve been waiting all these days, and I haven’t seen your skill at all—I’m just getting weaker.’”
Qi Sui swapped for a new cotton ball, dipped it in medicine, and continued cleaning.
“Thank you, Nuannuan, for passing that on.”
He looked up and smiled at Jiang Nuan.
His expression was still as breezy as spring.
And that was it?
No explanation, no panic.
Jiang Nuan bit the inside of her lip in frustration.
Her curiosity was overwhelming.
She knew that what Qi Sui was doing couldn’t be the same as that Skyrise Society stuff—the kind that used contaminated restricted zones to force the birth of pseudo-extraordinary powers. After all, the Captain was aware and tacitly approved, which meant it stayed within Zero Squad’s framework.
But precisely because of that, she wanted to know more.
“This ‘skill’ the old man mentioned—what’s it all about?”
She tailored her tone to the most harmless frequency, with just the right hint of curiosity.
Qi Sui’s hands didn’t stop as he wound the gauze.
One turn, two turns.
“You’re so interested in this matter, Nuannuan.”
He slowly lifted his eyes.
Behind his gold-rimmed glasses, those gentle eyes suddenly changed in texture.
Beneath the warmth lay a bottomless darkness.
“Do you want to become my experimental subject?” he asked softly, as casually as if asking what tea she’d like to drink.
The hairs on the back of Jiang Nuan’s neck stood on end.
“No, thank you.”
Goodbye.
Qi Sui laughed softly at her expression.
It was a pleasant laugh, one that didn’t sound like it belonged to someone who’d just said “experimental subject.”
He turned his attention back to the gauze.
The final wrap, tied perfectly at the side of her calf, the tension just right—neither too tight nor too loose.
But his hand didn’t leave.
Qi Sui’s hand still rested on her calf, his slender fingers moving slowly, crossing the boundary of the gauze, the fingertip brushing against the bare white skin just beyond the edge of the fresh wrap.
It was like a slow, deliberate tracing.
Jiang Nuan’s breath caught for half a beat.
He leaned forward slightly, the hem of his white coat falling to cast a soft shadow beside her knee, like a gentle encirclement.
“So, Nuannuan…”
He stared into her eyes, his voice dropping low, low enough that only the space between them could hear.
“Why did you try to run away?”
A pause.
“Have we been treating you badly?”
Badly, my ass!
But the question set off alarms in her mind.
Jiang Nuan lowered her eyes, her lashes hiding her thoughts.
“Because they’re too scary.”
That was one hundred percent sincere.
She paused, softening her voice by half a notch.
“…If everyone were like you, it’d be better.”
Even as she said it, she knew perfectly well what truly lay beneath his gentle exterior.
Qi Sui gazed at her.
His eyes behind the lenses narrowed slightly.
As if satisfied, as if discerning truth from falsehood.
Or perhaps he didn’t care at all about the truth—just the fact that she was willing to say those words, that was enough.
“Don’t be afraid,” he said, his voice low and tender.
“As long as you stay here, within our sight, no one can hurt you.”
Jiang Nuan felt creeped out by his gaze.
She pretended to fidget, turning her head away to avoid his line of sight.
Her eyes wandered aimlessly and landed on the metal medical kit at the head of the bed.
The kit had three tiers.
The top two held standard gauze, disinfectant, and instruments.
And the bottom layer—
Jiang Nuan’s gaze suddenly froze.
A sealed medicine case, transparent in the middle, with four vials of pale blue liquid neatly arranged inside.
Her eyes trailed unconsciously along the edge of the case.
Top right corner.
A gold emblem the size of a coin.
Two entwined serpents spiraling up a staff.
Jiang Nuan’s mind buzzed.
A scene surged up again, unbidden.
A boy in a white shirt standing in the sunlight, the gold badge pinned to his sleeve gleaming with a dazzling luster in the light.
The same emblem.
The same Twisted Serpents Staff.
“A Nuan, stop fooling around, come back with me…”
The boy’s voice echoed in her head, vivid enough that it felt like a whisper right against her ear.
Jiang Nuan’s fingertips trembled faintly.
She used every ounce of self-control to forcibly suppress the surge of emotion, keeping her expression within the realm of "just casually looking."
She extended a finger, pointing toward the medical kit where the box of medicine rested.
"Qi Sui, what medicine is that?"
She heard her own voice—calm, with a touch of nonchalance.
Qi Sui followed her gaze, adjusting the gold-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose.
It's a high-grade neural-soothing oral agent, specifically used for neural repair after psychic-type ability users overuse their powers.
"Is it suitable for me?" Jiang Nuan feigned curiosity as she picked up the box and turned it over to the back.
Her gaze casually swept over the small line of text at the bottom of the box.
Manufacturer and distributor: Bai's BioPharmaceutical.
Her heart skipped a beat.
She calmly turned the box back to the front.
"Take a couple for yourself, Nuannuan," Qi Sui said in a natural, offhand tone. "If this resupply ship hadn't been delayed, this entire box would have been yours."
That was enough.
She had gotten the information she wanted.
Without hesitation, Jiang Nuan opened the box, pulled out two vials, and held them in her palm.
"Thank you," she said, flashing Qi Sui a smile.
"No need to be polite with me."
Qi Sui lifted the medical kit, stood up, and looked at her.
"Get some rest, Nuannuan."
He turned and walked toward the door.
The hem of his white lab coat swayed gently with each step. Just as his hand touched the door handle, he paused.
He tilted his head slightly, revealing only half of his profile. The temple of his gold-rimmed glasses caught the cold white light, tracing a fine arc.
"Next time, don't go running off again."
"The world out there is far more dangerous than you imagine."
The door closed.
Jiang Nuan sat alone on the bed.
The room was so quiet that only the faint rustle of air from the air conditioning vent could be heard.
She lowered her head to look at the two pale blue vials in her palm.
Bai's BioPharmaceutical.
Gold emblem, two serpents entwined around a staff.
The white-shirted young man.
"A Nuan, stop messing around. Come back with me..."
What was his relationship with the original owner?
And the original owner...
Who exactly was she?
