Chương 76: Chapter 75 — Medication

Lin Che decided not to push it. A door left unlocked was not an invitation, and Lin Che very much understood the difference between the two. It was the next day, in the late afternoon, when Shen Yue came downstairs whilst he was still very much in the room. She still walked tentatively, producing almost zero noise — as though the living room itself were in a vacuum — and walked behind Lin Che, who was seated on the sofa and looking at a television screen, to enter the kitchen.

Had the television screen been turned on, he wouldn't have even noticed her. The only reason he saw her was because he had not yet reached for the remote, and was essentially staring at a black mirror instead of watching a show.

"You hungry?" he asked, not looking back and instead leaning forwards to grab the remote. A slight hum escaped her mouth to signal yes. It was so faint that Lin Che had to mute the movie that popped onto the TV screen.

"There's a hot broth on the stove and rice in the rice cooker. Both should still be warm, but do check beforehand," he told her, before unmuting the television. It showed a scene of two criminals who had broken into a house getting attacked by a young boy. She shifted further towards the kitchen, and Lin Che soon heard the sound of cutlery falling onto the floor.

He decided not to do anything about it, which ended up being the correct move, as just two minutes later, his wife was on her way up the stairs carrying a tray containing two bowls and a cup of tea. Once he heard the door close — and, again, it did not lock — he spoke aloud into the room.

"Ying Rui," he said, having heard the subtle electric noise ever since his wife started moving downstairs. There was zero delay. She hadn't even muted.

"Yes?"

"What was that noise earlier?"

"Your wife picked up a load-bearing bowl from the dish drainer and everything went crashing down immediately. She caught most of the items mid-air, as expected, but then her back shook slightly and she came crashing down with it all." Lin Che pictured the absurd scene. Never in a million loops would he have expected Shen Yue to be such a klutz, but, then again, he thought he should be more considerate of her.

This was the most emotion she'd ever shown, despite it mostly being fear and anxiety, and hopefully, once he helped her resolve all of her fears, she'd show her emotions much more often in front of him. Still, he didn't like the idea of his wife struggling to take her own dishes.

"Sounds like she started shivering the second she used a technique or subconsciously tried to move her Qi."

"She was wrapped up in layers and you've got the heating on max," argued back Ying Rui.

"She's cold because of her constitution and because you guys refuse to give her her medication," he rebutted.

"Well," said Ying Rui, slightly heated herself now.

"How am I meant to understand that? It's not like I'm a cultivator!" A pause. Lin Che froze in his seat and stared at one of the cameras aghast.

"Y—you—you mean you're not a cultivator?" he stuttered, still processing the information.

"Well, yeah," she said, as though it were common knowledge.

"How many cultivators do you think are just running around delivering plums?" If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"Oh, so you do admit it was you!" he laughed back.

"Anyway, I've arrested enough cultivators to know that giving them their 'medication' is just begging for them to destroy a very expensive array and cause a lot of damage."

"You have been watching us for nearly a week," said Lin Che.

"Have we given you any indication that we are dangerous people?"

"You two are the main suspects for a case involving more than forty deaths and a damaged train."

"And the security footage should clear us very soon. I mean, how long does it even take to get the footage sent to you guys?"

"We already have the footag—" The microphone cut off.

"You already have the footage? Then why are we still here?" There was no response. Lin Che decided that there was nothing he could do about it, and that he'd look even crazier arguing out loud to no one if Ying Rui didn't respond. So, he instead got up from the sofa and connected the television to a Bluetooth speaker, which he placed right next to the camera-microphone apparatus used to spy on him. Then, he cranked up the volume.

Ying Rui took off her headset, but the sound still escaped from it on the table. She leaned back on her swivel chair and looked up to the ceiling of the dimly-lit office she was given at work. Each employee was given their own small room as the agency had inherited this building from the government back in its prime some thirty years ago, so the building itself was giant. The team, however, had downsized considerably. Thus, they could provide her with a private office.

"Damn it," she muttered under her breath. She'd gotten too close to Lin Che, since he treated her like a friend, and this parasocial relationship she had with him made her talk too much.

"At least he thought I was a cultivator," she said to herself, smiling slightly. She was still ways away from being cleared to access cultivation techniques. Just six years into service, she still was not allowed anywhere close to the abilities her targets possessed. Instead, all she was given was a handgun and an arsenal of devices which needed regular Qi charging for use. And, whenever she used them, her boss would try his best to not look incredibly angry at her. His best was just not good enough, however.

Ying Rui muted the audio and the loud screams from the television finally ceased. She slammed her fingers across the keyboard and mouse and the main screen switched to the interior of Shen Yue's bedroom, where she was enjoying her broth and rice whilst swaddled up in a blanket like a Russian baby. She'd been in a state of freezing for the past few days, and it had progressively worsened up until her current state of deterioration. Perhaps she truly was not faking it.

Ying Rui sat there for a brief moment — just watching Shen Yue shake and shiver and swallow and sneeze. Just trip up one time. Prove to me that you're faking it. I swear to God. Shen Yue sneezed hard, and the snot droplets froze into a mini hailstorm shot directly towards the wall. Ying Rui sighed before dialling a number she had memorised on her desk's landline phone. It rang for a few seconds before someone finally answered.

"Hi, Jiaen — it's me. Just calling to see if you could get the contraband pills found in one of the backpacks from the train incident. Looks like it's really some sort of medicine and nothing else. One of the suspects needs it — we can't have another cultivator die on our watch, or we'll both get sacked." She ended the call.

Before the sun had set that day, a very sorry-looking delivery person, who looked suspiciously like Ying Rui, unlocked the door to Lin Che and Shen Yue's little prison. She chucked in a plastic bag full of pills, before slamming the door shut and running back to her van and driving back to her office. Inside, a smug Lin Che had already made his way to the front door as she closed it. He crouched down to grab the bag and pocketed two pills for himself.

Then, he walked towards the bottom of the staircase and shouted upwards to call his wife.

"Yue-er," he bellowed.

"I think your medication's arrived!" There was no response.

"Shen Yue?" he shouted once again, this time now having moved up a few steps. Still no response.

"Are you there?" he asked. Of course she is, he thought to himself. There's no other way out. Why's she not responding? Lin Che walked up the stairs faster now, growing more concerned with each passing second of non-response. He reached her door in no time and knocked two times before calling out her name once again. There was still no response. He barged through the door and saw Shen Yue, passed out, her body still shivering as though she were having a seizure.

Lin Che shook her hoping for a response, and, for a second, her eyes began to open, but she was so weak that they closed almost immediately afterwards. Lin Che reached into the bag and grabbed one of the pills and placed it to her lips, prying her mouth open with his fingers to get the pill into her mouth. It wouldn't go down properly, but he scanned the room and found her cup of tea and poured that in as well, which helped the pill slide into her stomach.

Then, he picked her up and placed her on the bed and turned on the electric blanket and sat by his wife, hoping for a response from her.