Chapter 5: The Broken Shell, The Sole Night Watchman
1159 Words
"Get...out..." Lin Ye's voice was hoarse and broken, like bloody grit squeezed from the depths of his throat.
He gritted his teeth, cold sweat pouring down his body. His originally pale fingers were bluish-white from gripping the edge of the sofa so tightly. The excruciating pain felt like countless red-hot needles piercing his brain along his optic nerve; each pulse was a slow, agonizing torture.
Su Qingyan's outstretched hand was impatiently brushed away by him.
"Don't touch me...cough cough...I don't want to die at someone else's hands..."
Even in his delirious state of pain, this man remained like a wounded hedgehog, raising all his quills, refusing anyone's approach. It was an instinct honed from long-term solitude with illness—closed-off, withdrawn, and utterly insecure.
Su Qingyan, however, was not deterred by his ferocity.
Her eyes sharpened, ignoring Lin Ye's resistance, and she grabbed his trembling shoulder.
“You can’t die so easily, Lin Ye. I own half of your life now. You’re not allowed to die without my signature.”
Her voice was calm, almost cold, yet carried an undeniable force.
Su Qingyan quickly scanned her surroundings, her gaze settling on a small, humming medical refrigerator in the corner.
She strode over and opened the refrigerator door. Inside, rows of syringes and medicine boxes were neatly arranged. She quickly glanced at the labels, her eyes settling on an inconspicuous white box—a specific immunosuppressant for neuromyelitis optica.
That was the life-saving medication.
She picked up the box and then grabbed a bottle of mineral water and a towel from the first-aid kit beside her.
Back on the sofa, Lin Ye was curled up in pain, cold sweat dripping from his pale face onto his collar, looking like a crumpled piece of paper.
“Get up, take your medicine.”
Su Qingyan helped him sit up, her movements firm but skillfully avoiding any potentially painful nerve endings. She shoved the pill into his mouth, then quickly brought the bottle of mineral water to his chapped lips. "Swallow it." Lin Ye instinctively swallowed, the pill sliding down his esophagus.
A few minutes later, the medication began to take effect. Su Qingyan dampened a towel, slightly heated it in the microwave, and gently applied it to the stiff nerves on the back of his neck.
The heat penetrated his skin, relieving the excruciating pain that felt like it was tearing his nerves apart.
Lin Ye's tense body finally relaxed slowly, his breathing becoming steady. He leaned weakly against the sofa back, his eyelids drooping heavily, his gaze unfocused on the medical record Su Qingyan had casually placed aside on the coffee table.
That was the last thing he wanted anyone to see.
Su Qingyan followed his gaze, and after confirming that he was not in immediate danger, she picked up the medical record.
She opened to the first page.
Name: Lin Ye.
Past Medical History: Neuromyelitis optica (NMO), optic nerve damage, lower limb motor dysfunction.
Note: Former physics genius from a top 2 university, on leave of absence for three years.
Su Qingyan's finger paused on the words "genius" and "leave of absence."
She finally understood why this seemingly useless shut-in could build a military-grade security system, and why his room contained so many expensive medications and sophisticated instruments.
He wasn't waiting to die; he was using every means possible to eke out a living in this world filled with malice towards him.
A genius standing on cloud nine, suddenly plummeted into the mire, confined to a wheelchair for three whole years. The fall from grace, the despair of being tormented by illness, would have driven any normal person insane.
But he didn't. He locked himself in this fortress, calmly calculating the probability of survival, until the apocalypse truly arrived.
Su Qingyan closed the medical record, looking at the frail man before her. For the first time, her eyes lost their scrutiny and calculation, replaced by a complex emotion.
On this night of collapsing order, she saw the man's most vulnerable and genuine weakness beneath his hardened exterior.
...The night passed without incident.
The roars outside the window gradually subsided, replaced by a deathly silence before dawn.
As the first rays of morning light pierced through the gaps in the heavy bulletproof curtains, casting shadows on the dimly lit living room floor, Lin Ye slowly opened his eyes.
The stinging pain in his optic nerve had subsided, leaving only a faint ache.
He instinctively tried to move his stiff neck, only to find a blanket draped over his shoulder.
And the woman he had yelled at to "get out" last night was now curled up in a single chair on the other side of the sofa, arms crossed, brows slightly furrowed, fast asleep. Beside her lay the half-finished bottle of water and the used hot towel.
She had stayed by his side all night.
Lin Ye was stunned.
For the past three years, apart from the caregiver who regularly delivered medication, no one had ever stayed in his safe house for more than ten minutes. Everyone feared him, despised him, or pitied him.
No one had ever, when he was on the verge of death, disregarded his resistance, forcibly pulled him back from the brink of death, and stayed by his side until dawn.
Lin Ye looked at Su Qingyan's slightly tired sleeping face, and his heart, closed for three years and long frozen, seemed to c***k slightly.
He moved his fingers, wanting to remove the blanket that had slipped off, but accidentally bumped into an empty medicine bottle on the coffee table.
A soft "clang" sounded.
Su Qingyan woke up instantly.
She opened her eyes sharply, her gaze instantly regaining clarity and alertness. Her hand instinctively reached for the golf club beside her, and she only breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that it was Lin Ye awake.
"Awake?" Su Qingyan sat up straight, rubbing her stiff neck, her voice hoarse from just waking up, "The effects of the medication probably haven't worn off yet, you'd better lie down for a while longer."
Lin Ye didn't speak.
He simply gazed at her silently, and for the first time, a different emotion flickered in his eyes, which were usually cold, aloof, and even somewhat melancholic.
It was a softening, gratitude, and a quietly growing trust.
“…Thank you.” After a long pause, Lin Ye finally managed to utter those two words, his voice soft yet clear.
Su Qingyan paused, then a faint smile played on her lips.
“Don’t rush to thank me, Lin Ye.”
She stood up, stretched, and looked at him intently. “Now that we’ve been saved, shouldn’t we talk about the symbiotic contract?”
Lin Ye was silent for a moment, not immediately refusing as he had yesterday.
He turned his head to look at the faint light streaming in through the window—the first morning after the apocalypse.
“…Okay.”
- Writer
