A gentle warmth seeped into Ding Yi’s body, soothing the incessant pain that had been wracking her, but it couldn’t entirely silence the frantic echoes of screams in her mind.

“You have family too!”

“Save me!”

“Would you abandon your own family to their deaths?!”

“Save me!”

Ding Yi felt herself suspended in mid-air, enveloped from head to toe in a layer of soft, comforting gauze. The chaotic, distorted human figures around her shifted and morphed, projecting abstract silhouettes with hazy, blurred light and shadow.

“Ding Xiaoyi, hurry over here!” A clear, resonant male voice called out.

“Ding Yi, look this way! Come on, smile for the camera!”

“Old man, take this!” An impassioned, powerful child’s voice reverberated.

“What old man! Sister, look at her, I’m only in my late twenties! How can she call me an old man?!”

“Ding Yi,” a gentle female voice, tinged with helplessness, pleaded, “Don’t bully…”

The voice abruptly faded into the distance, leaving an unsettling silence.

Don’t bully what?

Ding Yi reached out a hand, and the slight itching sensation as her fingers brushed through the soft gauze left a faint, lingering trace in her heart.

Don’t bully what? Don’t go, explain it clearly!

Just as Ding Yi was about to tear through the layer of gauze that confined her, her eyelids fluttered open, and she found herself lying in a treatment pod bathed in a soothing blue-green light.

The muscles that had been tensed throughout her body suddenly relaxed, and the backlash of soreness vanished before she could even fully register it, leaving behind only an unbearable, splitting headache.

The treatment completion notification chimed softly, and the pod doors slid open with a gentle hiss.

Ding Yi didn’t immediately rush to get up. Even with the doors fully open, she remained within the pod until she had recovered a modicum of her strength, then slowly pushed herself into a sitting position.

The ‘hospital’ ward was still a scene of bustling activity.

It seemed that no matter the world or the circumstance, hospitals were perpetually the busiest of places.

The clothes clinging to her body had once again gloriously ‘retired’ from active duty. Though tattered, torn, and bearing the marks of battle, they still admirably fulfilled their basic function as clothing.

“Wish Fulfiller Ding Yi,” a small robot with a design entirely based on squares—a square head, square legs, square hands, and a square body—rolled towards the treatment pod and announced in a fully charged, mechanical voice, “Your treatment is complete. Please vacate the pod promptly.”

Ding Yi drawled out a long, languid “Hmm,” and then mumbled, “My head still feels like it’s splitting. Can I request another session?”

The little robot whirred and clicked for a moment, processing her request. “Your brainwave activity was excessively high during the treatment, indicating significant neural activity. The stronger the brain activity, the more pronounced the side effects of the treatment pod tend to be.”

“This is within acceptable parameters. Severely injured patients often experience similar symptoms upon emerging from the treatment pod.”

“Your injuries were classified as level seven, accompanied by severe anemia, and your brain exhibited excessive activity.”

Whirring and clicking again, the little robot began calculating the estimated duration of the side effects. “The side effects are projected to last for approximately five days. Please ensure you receive adequate rest to avoid potential neurological complications. Should you encounter any issues, please press the red button in your designated room, and assistance will be dispatched immediately.”

Ding Yi drooped her eyelids, her cool fingertips pressing gently against her throbbing brow. “The only side effect is a headache?”

“Affirmative. The human brain is an exceptionally complex organ. The treatment pod’s energy facilitates the healing of your physical body, but during the recovery phase, your body must also compensate for the energy expended during the healing process.”

“The brain will bear ninety-eight percent of this compensatory energy consumption.”

Ding Yi responded with a noncommittal sound and then inquired, “It won’t, you know, turn people into complete imbeciles, will it?”

“Negative. The brain’s inherent potential far exceeds the limitations of your human imagination.”

The little robot suddenly exclaimed “Ah!” and lightly nudged Ding Yi’s calf with its square claw. “Wish Fulfiller Ding Yi, please vacate the pod promptly. The next injured individual is awaiting treatment.”

“Please vacate the pod promptly.”

“Alright, alright, I’m going.”

Just as the little robot was about to roll away to attend to the next patient, a composed and unhurried footstep, ‘heard’ by its internal sensors, caused it to swivel its square head frantically.

The Great Demon King is approaching!

The Great Demon King is approaching!

Nearby little robots received the relayed message and immediately abandoned their current tasks to converge around the approaching figure. “Manager Qin Yuan, your treatment is complete. Please depart as soon as possible.”

“Please depart as soon as possible.”

“It seems your interpersonal relationships with your colleagues leave something to be desired.”

Ding Yi propped herself up on the edge of the treatment pod and swung her legs over the side, jumping down with a soft thud. A sudden wave of dizziness washed over her, and her legs momentarily weakened, causing her body to lurch forward uncontrollably.

In the nick of time, her suddenly alert consciousness engaged, and with the aid of her surprisingly strong core muscles, she straightened her posture. Her hands instinctively flailed out to either side for balance, landing squarely on the square heads of two unsuspecting little robots.

Using their unexpectedly sturdy forms as support, she managed to steady herself.

“Please do not assault medical robots!”

“Warning, please do not assault medical robots!”

Ding Yi frowned slightly at the insistent robotic warnings and looked up to see someone already reaching out to offer assistance.

“Good friend,” Ding Yi, rarely one to let social awkwardness linger, proactively extended her hand, grasped the offered hand that hadn’t yet been withdrawn, and shook it up and down with a friendly smile. “So polite of you to come and check on me.”

“Don’t worry, the treatment here is remarkably effective. I’m already feeling much better. I trust you’re also recovering well, right?”

Qin Yuan lowered his gaze, his intense eyes focusing on their clasped hands. Just as he seemed about to tighten his grip, her cool hand had already smoothly withdrawn from his.

“Let’s go. I’ll guide you to the exit.”

---

“Why did you specifically seek me out?”

Neither had yet addressed the dried bloodstains marring their bodies.

Qin Yuan absently unwrapped the bandages from his hand, the stark contrast between his white skin and the lingering red creating a striking visual. A smear of blood traced a path from his Adam’s apple down to his collarbone, adding a touch of untamed wildness to his already bewitching and flamboyant features.

Ding Yi looked considerably worse. The dried blood smeared across her face intensified her already pale complexion, making it look even more fragile and wan. However, despite her weakened state, her eyes retained a bright and sharp intelligence.

“After all, we are good friends, are we not?” Qin Yuan tilted his head slightly, his gaze fixed on her. “It is only natural that I would inquire about your well-being.”

Ding Yi offered a small, somewhat strained smile. “Yes, good friends.”

Having dispensed with the superficial pleasantries, Qin Yuan cut straight to the heart of the matter. “Why did you deliberately use your body to block that attack meant for me back then?”

Ding Yi responded with a lazy drawl, “Ah, that? Didn’t you also stop that sword directly with your bare hand?”

Qin Yuan was determined not to let her evade the topic. “You acted first.”

“Why else would I have done it?” Ding Yi instinctively wanted to brush a stray strand of hair that had fallen across her eyes behind her ear, but upon seeing the grime coating her raised hand, she silently returned it to her pocket. “It was a purely subconscious reaction.”

“Perhaps I am simply naturally kind and inclined to do what I perceive to be right.”

“Is it really that difficult for you to explain your reasons?”

Ding Yi smiled again, a slightly enigmatic expression on her face. “Then you tell me, what specific answer are you hoping to hear? You suggest one, and I’ll happily repeat it back to you, how does that sound?”

Qin Yuan frowned, a thoughtful crease appearing between his brows as he tilted his head slightly. “Then you…”

“What is it?”

Qin Yuan vividly recalled the way Ding Yi had reached out to touch his neck, her face a mixture of surprise and a fleeting satisfaction, yet her eyes held a deep undercurrent of sadness.

She had been smiling directly at him, but that smile had been so profoundly bitter that it had instinctively caused his brow to furrow in empathetic concern.

“Forget it. It’s not important.”

Qin Yuan also remembered the sharp pang of subconscious panic that had gripped him when her eyes had closed and her body had begun to fall. This strange, unsettling emotional experience still left him with a lingering sense of unease.

Ding Yi cast a sidelong glance at him, her sharp eyes missing nothing. “Why that constipated expression? Need to find a restroom?”

Qin Yuan: …

“0695,” Qin Yuan called out to the ever-efficient supervisor, who happened to be passing by their location. “Escort her back to the hotel.”

0695, its mechanical voice tinged with a hint of surprise: “Me?”

Having issued the command, Qin Yuan raised his hand and lightly tapped the empty air. A luxurious double door materialized out of thin air from a distorted black spot in the fabric of reality.

The moment the door swung open, Ding Yi could only glimpse a dense, impenetrable darkness beyond the threshold.

The double door twisted and shimmered, disappearing as swiftly as it had appeared, leaving no trace behind.

Ding Yi remarked dryly, “Sure enough, he’s in a terrible hurry to relieve himself.”

“Apologies for the inconvenience. In that case, I’ll have to trouble you.”

0695, pausing momentarily: “…”