It wasn't hard to gather from Lin Wan's words that Hugo was no longer in a coma. Bai Ci nodded to Lin Wan, pushed the door open, and walked straight inside.
The ward was very basic. Four people were crammed into the small room, with groans of pain and the heavy, labored breathing of those struggling to draw air rising and falling in turn, making the atmosphere inside stifling.
Hugo was lying on the innermost bed near the window. His face was pale, his lips were chapped, and a lingering flush remained on his face—he was clearly running a high fever.
Hearing footsteps, Hugo slowly opened his eyes. When he saw Bai Ci, surprise and panic flashed in his eyes. He struggled to sit up, but Bai Ci stepped forward quickly and gently held him down.
“Don't move. Just lie down and rest,” Bai Ci said softly. Her voice lacked its usual rising cadence, kept quiet for fear of waking the other patients who might have finally managed to get a moment of sleep.
She reached out and touched Hugo's forehead, the scorching heat making her heart clench.
“Lora, you shouldn't have come here.” Hugo's voice was very weak, thick with nasal congestion and exhaustion, his eyes filled with self-reproach and worry. “I've caught the plague. I'll infect you. Please go back, alright?”
When she was sick as a child, how did her mother take care of her?
Since there was no chair by the bed, Bai Ci knelt down directly. She held Hugo's hand closest to her to offer comfort, while using her other hand to brush away the strands of hair clinging to his face.
“Hugo, what on earth happened? How did you suddenly catch the plague?” Bai Ci held his hand tightly, ignoring his weak attempt to pull away.
Looking at Bai Ci's worried expression, Hugo's gaze flickered away. “It's nothing. I probably just accidentally came into contact with someone who was sick and caught it. Don't overthink things. Go back and take good care of yourself. I'll head home once I'm better.”
The Rain's Message panel made the actual situation crystal clear. His infection status had appeared out of nowhere without any transition whatsoever. It wasn't a gradual progression after contacting a sick person; something specific must have happened.
Besides, Hugo was terrible at lying. The guilt and panic in his eyes were impossible to hide. Bai Ci was neither blind nor stupid; seeing him deliberately avoid her gaze, how could she not understand?
He was hiding it on purpose, not wanting her to worry, and even less wanting her to get dragged into this danger.
Thanks to her soft-hearted parents, Bai Ci had her own experience in dealing with people as tender-hearted as Hugo.
At this thought, Bai Ci's eyes instantly welled with tears.
She didn't wail. She simply sobbed softly, keeping her hands away from her face so her eyes remained filled with unshed tears, her tone laced with grievance and helplessness.
“Hugo, do you not trust me? Do you think I can't help, so you won't tell me? I know you're worried about me, afraid I'll get infected or face danger, but I'm even more worried about you.”
“You work so hard every day, striving for our future, but now that you're sick, I know nothing and can do nothing. It hurts so much.” Huge tears fell right on cue, sliding down her cheeks and dripping onto the back of Hugo's hand.
“Tell me, please? What actually happened? Even if I can't help, I still want to know. I want to be here with you.”
Seeing Bai Ci weeping so pitifully, Hugo's heart melted instantly. He couldn't bear to see her sad, couldn't bear to see her cry, and couldn't stand seeing her look so hurt and helpless—especially when it was because of him.
His heart filled with guilt, and his resolve to keep her in the dark crumbled to pieces in an instant.
He finally managed to pull his hand from Bai Ci's grasp, using his burning fingertips to gently wipe the tears from her face. “I'm sorry, Lora. I didn't mean to keep it from you. I just didn't want you to worry, and I didn't want you to get dragged into danger.”
Bai Ci stopped sobbing. She didn't say a word, only looking up at him, her eyes still brimming with crystal-clear tears.
Hugo took a deep breath. As if making a momentous decision, he spoke slowly, “This morning, not long after I arrived at the post office, I saw Zhao Yu and Zhou Kai heading toward the attic. The attic is dirty and messy. Aside from underperforming mail carriers being sent up there as punishment to clean, the postmaster strictly forbids anyone from going up at any time.”
“Seeing the two of them sneaking in that direction, I felt something was wrong. Fearing they might get fired for violating the rules, I quietly followed them.” As Hugo recalled the events of the morning, a lingering fear gradually crept into his eyes.
“I quietly followed them up to the attic. The light up there was very poor, with old letters and discarded junk piled everywhere. It was incredibly dusty, and the air carried a strange smell. I can't quite describe it, but it was somewhat pungent.”
“I hid behind the door and watched them. They seemed to be searching for something in the attic. After they searched for a bit, I heard Old Tom coughing downstairs. He has a chronic cough, and there's always a period every morning where he coughs very severely. I got distracted because of that.”
“By the time I snapped out of it and looked back into the attic, I saw what must have been Zhou Kai. He was holding a large sledgehammer from who knows where, about to smash it down on something. My instinct told me to stop them from causing trouble, so I burst in. In that brief moment, I caught a full view of the object they were about to smash.”
“It was a... statue. I don't know how to describe it. It was made of some kind of greyish-blue stone, carving a young girl. She was thin and small, looking as though she had been sick for a long time, very pitiful.”
At the very least, at that stage, Hugo hadn't felt anything was wrong with the statue. It was only when looking back after the fact that a spine-chilling sensation lingered and refused to dissipate.
“Zhou Kai's hammer smashed into the statue while Zhao Yu stood by, laughing and clapping gleefully. The statue instantly shattered into pieces. At the exact moment it broke, I suddenly felt a wave of dizziness. My body went entirely weak, my vision went black, and I lost consciousness.”
At this point, Hugo's body trembled slightly. He was clearly still shaken by the memory. “By the time I woke up, I was already here. The nurse told me I had caught the plague and was running a high fever. I was brought to the hospital by Chen Mo and the others.”
“After I woke up, I kept worrying about you. I was afraid you'd worry, and afraid you'd come looking for me and accidentally get dragged into this.” Hugo turned his hand to clasp Bai Ci's, pressing her palm against his cheek.
“I don't know what that statue was, nor why Zhou Kai and the others wanted to smash it, but I can feel that it was highly sinister. My illness must be related to that statue.”
“Lora, this matter is too strange and far too dangerous. Promise me you won't get involved, and don't go to the post office. Just stay safely at home, alright? I don't want you to get hurt in any way.”
Rate on N.U.
