Crimson Instinct

Time: 5:53 AM. Nineteen hours and forty-seven minutes left.

---

*Xin Lei*

Duan Deming's surgery took almost six hours before the cardiologist came out of the operation theatre.

The doctor took out his mask. 

Bro quietly asked, "How is he?"

"We have taken out the bullet, but it had hit too close to the heart. Two major arteries are damaged, which have made his condition too serious."

I typed even though I knew what he was going to say. "What do you mean?"

He sighed. "He has slipped into a vegetative state."

Silence.

"The operation was successful, but we cannot say for sure when he would regain his consciousness. He can wake up tomorrow, in a week, in a month, or it may take up to years too. We cannot calculate it."

I shut my eyes, feeling discouraged.

"We will constantly monitor his condition and use different treatment methods to help him recover if possible. We will try our best."

We only nodded, and he left.

He would surely try to wake him up, but we didn't have that much time to save Chu Jie and the others.

Time was limited…

We talked to the other doctor who treated Luo Zhiqiang, and thankfully, he was okay. Liao Huifang was in his ward, waiting for him to wake up.

I typed. "What will we do now?"

Bai Li said, "We have to figure it out on our own. At least, General Song left a clue."

Shi Ruiling asked, "What clue?"

"The place where they are kept. He couldn't say it entirely. He died before that. But the sound of the word felt like something starting from S…maybe Sc something. Then he spoke incoherently, and I couldn't hear it clearly."

I nodded. It was the same for me.

Bro's expression seemed grim. "This is too less to work upon. There are a thousand places that start with S and a few less with Sc but still difficult. It could be anything."

I typed. "Name of the road? Street? Apartment or building?"

"A shop? Cafe? An alley? There are too many options," Shi Ruiling sighed.

"How will we know what he was pointing at?"

Bai Li said, "We will figure it out. We have one hint that whatever that place is like a home to the boss. We can map out all places starting from Sc in Dongcheng. Maybe from one of them, we can get a clue."

Well, for now, we had no other option.

***

---

When Ying Yue had returned to the room, Chu Jie and Long Hu couldn't contain their shocks to see her okay. They thought that she was done for.

But when she explained what happened and how Rodey saved her, their shock knew no bounds. 

"Sis really? Rodey saved you? Isn't he one of the gang members? Why would he do that?"

Long Hu had his mouth wide open. "Seriously? He killed that man!? He killed one of his own? Am I dreaming?"

She shook her head. "It is true. Because he has a principle."

"Principle?" They frowned in confusion.

"He doesn't rape women, and neither does he allow anybody in this gang to do that either."

Chu Jie was dumbfounded. "Really? They have principles too?"

Long Hu held a complicated gaze. "Rodey seriously has that principle?"

She nodded.

"How do you know that?"

She slightly clutched her dress. "A-actually...we know each other from before."

When she said everything about how they met a few times, particularly when he was ready to take her away, they almost fainted.

"Sis!"

"Ying Yue!"

They both exclaimed in unison. They wanted to pull their hair out.

"He wanted to take you out, and you refused!? Why? Are you crazy? You could have been free!"

"Sis! This was your chance to escape! Why did you let it go!"

She shook her head. "I cannot leave you here and escape by myself."

That left them even more stunned. "Why would you think about us? We are strangers to you."

"I cannot do that. However possible, you all have helped me. I couldn't abandon you in return for your kindness. I never will."

Chu Jie turned emotional, and he hopped into her embrace. "Sis...you are an idiot. You should have left…" He sniffled and sobbed as he hugged her.

"Grrrr…" Cocoa softly nudged her arm.

Long Hu asked, "But why would he help you out of here?"

Chu Jie nodded. "Isn't it betrayal? Isn't this going against them?"

Ying Yue wasn't sure herself. But she didn't dare think anything that got her hopes up.

Suddenly, the door barged open, and two bulky men came inside.

"You bitch. Come out. It's your turn now."

Everybody froze.

"Arf! Arf!"

Cocoa was already in his stance to attack. Ying Yue pulled him back and somehow calmed him.

"No...sis…" 

Long Hu tried to get up and said, "Take me instead of her. But leave her."

The guard kicked him on the stomach. "Shut up! You don't tell us what to do, bastard!"

She paled. "Long Hu!"

"Ugh…" Long Hu furiously coughed and stumbled back.

"Arf! Arf!"

Cocoa growled fiercely and pounced on one of the guards, and clawed his face out.

"Ahhhh!!"

The other guard widened his eyes and quickly took out the tranquilizer dart. He shot it at Cocoa, who was scratching the first man. 

"Grrr…"

The dart hit Cocoa. He stumbled and collapsed unconscious on the floor. He shook his head to fight the dizziness, but he couldn't.

"Cocoa!" Chu Jie cried and rushed to his side.  He was helplessly rubbing his head.

"You! What did you do?"

"Shut it! Now that dog will be quiet for a while."

The first man rained curses on Cocoa. "Fucking dog!"

Ying Yue quickly stood up. "Stop, please. I will come. Don't hurt them."

They sneered. "You don't have a choice."

The other guard grabbed her arm and harshly dragged her out of the room.

---

They threw Ying Yue at the center where the light suddenly shone upon her. Her eyes shut with sudden brightness.

The men around her started to cheer loudly.

"Oh, she is here!"

"Not bad, huh…"

They whistled and rejoiced.

"I cannot believe that Risfun is dead, though."

Murmurs quickly ensued.

"This is the first time that one of us has died because of our toy."

"Rodey went this far to kill him. He is really serious about it, huh?"

"That is what happens when you mess with Rodey. He was a fool to challenge him."

They looked at her with curious gazes. It was always the victims who died, not their torturers. This was the first time that something changed. One of them wasn't with them anymore.

Even the boss, who was silently sitting on its throne, looked at Ying Yue with an indescribable feeling.

When the boss came to know about what happened, the incident indeed took it aback. The boss knew about Rodey's principle and his seriousness towards it. It knew everything about Rodey and why that principle meant so much to him.

But it didn't imagine that Rodey would kill him with so much cruelty. Not with the kind by which the others tortured. Rodey wasn't that type. Certainly not of the type to crush the penis and then cut off the tongue.

His solution was to straightaway shoot the person in the head. Simple and not messy at all. He didn't care about being ruthless in the form of death he gave.

So Risfun's death intrigued the boss to know why Rodey changed like that.

Would he have done that for any other woman?

...or only for her?

On the other side, Ying Yue's gaze finally adjusted to the light. She didn't change her expression much with the men all laughing and mocking her.

Ilikeascars sneered as he walked up to her, carrying a belt in his hand. "Hey, woman. Do you know why you are here?"

"To torture me."

Everybody was dumbfounded. She was saying it so calmly and with such ease that it took them aback.

"I know what is going to happen to me."

"So what do you think about us?" he smiled.

Ying Yue remembered something that Long Hu said, "Never ever say that they are crazy or insane. They flip out when anybody says that they are out of their minds."

"Everybody has different tastes for entertainment and fun. Though I disagree with your methods, in the end, everybody is different."

Silence.

"And you don't care that you are going to die here?" Some other man questioned.

Rodey, who was watching everything from the corner in the dark, was getting strangely restless even though he didn't show it on his face.

Why the fuck did you not come with me!? He cursed.

The moment he saw the guard push her, he had a strange urge to shoot him dead!

And now, she was talking to some crazy bastards.

Yeah, now go ahead and pull out your statistics, or whatever you call it, he spoke to himself.

Ying Yue said, "Statistically speaking, 1,50,000 people die every day around the globe. My death wouldn't be a strange occurrence."

I knew it, Rodey thought.

Everybody looked at her in disbelief and shock. And strangely they were restless probably because…

Her calmness in this situation reminded them of Liao Chuntao...and her last words before she died.