Chapter 41: No Exceptions
When consciousness slowly returned, Gene found himself submerged in a haze of muffled pain. His first glimpse of the waking world was not the familiar ceiling above him but a pair of tear-reddened eyes—Lingyue’s eyes. They shimmered like peach blossoms soaked in spring rain, swollen and raw from sleepless weeping. Only then did he notice her face: pale with exhaustion, framed by a few stray strands of hair that had slipped loose from her usually perfect coiffure. It was clear she had been keeping vigil at his side for a long time, so long she had forgotten even to comb her hair. “You’re awake at last…” Lingyue’s voice trembled as her lips curved into something between a smile and a sob. But before she could finish, tears broke free and fell in glittering trails down her cheeks. Gene’s c
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