Chapter 307: Near Death

Chapter 307: On Death's Door

The footsteps echoed through the silent night, drawing closer step by step, like the deathbed hallucination.

Jiang Qi tilted his head slightly toward the direction of the approaching figure.

His vision had gone blurry, the world turning upside down and indistinct. Amid the vast white mist from the explosion, the backlight barely outlined a human silhouette—tall, handsome, wearing a military-style peaked cap, wrapped in a long fur-lined cloak, stepping in black patent leather military boots, left hand resting on his sidearm, looking down at him from above.

His husband.

The military had undoubtedly launched a joint search. Officers nearby would be mobilized, and it was only a matter of time before Jiang Qi was found. He just hadn’t expected the first to find him would be Pei Gu.

Misjudging his condition and showing mercy would be dereliction of duty, while killing him would be a great merit. How cruel fate could be.

Jiang Qi suddenly smiled.

The smile grew wider and wider, until it became near-manic laughter—yet no sound escaped his lips. The surroundings remained deathly silent. Blood trickled intermittently from the corners of his mouth as he laughed, splattering onto his chest. His unfocused eyes held not a trace of amusement, instead cold and terrifying. The combination of the three created an almost surreal emptiness.

"How regrettable, sir."

Jiang Qi stared directly at Ye Wang, almost taunting. "In the very first month after you certified me as stable, this happens. Those two vials are already gone—you won’t get them back. Even if you shoot me dead here, your career will still suffer, won’t it?"

Ye Wang carefully assessed his injuries, not daring to jostle him. Instead, he activated the auxiliary scanning system on his communicator. "Stop talking."

"Stop talking?" Jiang Qi said softly. "Sir, at this point, the best way to shut me up is to pull the trigger with your left hand."

Ye Wang frowned. "Jiang Qi, just stop for a moment. Don’t speak. We’ll talk after we get back."

"Get back?" The smile at Jiang Qi’s lips widened further, as if provoked by the word. "Back where? The interrogation room? To force me to reveal the whereabouts of those two vials? Or back to the lab? To slice open my skin, rummage through my organs, extract my genetic samples, and squeeze the last bit of value out of me as an experiment?!"

At the brink of death, the docile facade he had maintained was completely torn away, revealing his piercing, defiant nature.

Ye Wang simply looked at him, his gaze tinged with sorrow. "I’m sorry. I didn’t expect this to happen. I thought—"

But Jiang Qi seemed burned by that pitying gaze. He spat out a mouthful of blood, coughing violently as a dull, unending pain wracked his organs. Yet he kept his eyes fixed on Ye Wang, burning with raw fury, like the dying embers of a moth’s flame.

"You thought what, Pei Gu? Save your pointless charity and pity. You didn’t expect this? Of course you didn’t. You never imagined someone would dare defy your rule, break into your forbidden zones, steal your contraband drugs. You privileged elites—you’ll never understand. All we wanted was to live decently. What did my sister do wrong? While girls in the Upper District drink strawberry milk, she has to wait for death in a drafty room in the slums? And what did you think, Pei Gu? I thank you for your recent care, but did you think that because of it, I should bow in gratitude and forever play the role of your obedient wife—"

Some words had burned in his heart for too long. The high walls of the lab had suppressed their expression, but at the end of his life, they erupted like a volcano.

Yet before he could finish, his words abruptly stopped.

He was enveloped in a warm cloak and then lifted gently into someone’s arms.

The preliminary injury scan was complete. Ye Wang avoided most of Jiang Qi’s wounds, choosing the least burdensome way to carry his longtime rival.

...What?

Wrapped in soft fabric, Jiang Qi was completely stunned.

Less than a foot away, the commander tilted his head slightly, his profile sharp and striking under the cold light of the flare. "Darling, instead of debating class struggle and existential debates, I suggest you carefully consider another question."

"...What?"

The commander chuckled softly. "Tonight, what med-gel flavor would you prefer?"

"..."

Jiang Qi felt like his mind wasn’t working right.

He began to doubt whether the Pei Gu before him was real or just a hallucination from hypothermia and blood loss. Yet the commander walked steadily as he carried Jiang Qi through winding alleys, entered a building, stepped onto creaking wooden floors, and finally lit the fireplace before placing Jiang Qi on the bed.

Even when the blanket was pulled over him, Jiang Qi had no idea where he was.

In a daze, he watched Ye Wang tear open alcohol and gauze, then peeled back his blood-crusted clothes, moving aside his resisting arm to expose the gunshot wound on his back.

Ye Wang: "The border between the upper and lower districts is locked down. We can't leave now. Relax—we’re on our side now. It’s safe here for the time being. Our doctor will treat your injuries, but this place is barebones. We’re short on medical supplies, so we can only handle the gunshot wound for now. The rest’ll get patched up quick, and you can recover properly once we get home."

Jiang Qi blinked slowly.

The aftereffects of severe blood loss made his mind feel like sludge. There were many things he didn’t understand, many questions he wanted to ask, but in the end, his sluggish brain could only produce a grunt: "Yeah."

This was one of Bu Nian’s hideouts, looked like any other run-down motel. Before long, someone showed up with a med kit.

Ye Wang stood to answer it. The guy had a surgical mask on, and they murmured to each other to confirm identities: "Major General. FedMed trauma surgeon, here to treat your man."

Ye Wang moved over. "Get to work."

He lifted Jiang Qi, holding him tight, using both hands to steady Jiang Qi’s posture and expose the gunshot wound on his back: "Please proceed."

Behind them came the clatter of tools—treatment had begun.

A small dose of anesthetic was injected into his skin, cold antiseptic swabs brushed over the wound, followed by the sensation of a scalpel probing the injury. The numbing shot helped—no pain.

These were all familiar sensations, but Jiang Qi was unaccustomed to one thing—

Ye Wang in front of him.

The commander seemed to be serving as a temporary stabilizer, a pillow, or perhaps a comfort tool for the patient. Jiang Qi’s chin rested against Ye Wang’s shoulder blade, while Ye Wang’s pectoral muscles pressed against Jiang Qi’s collarbone, rising and falling with each breath. Heat radiated from the contact, burning hot.

During injections in the lab, there had never been such an overwhelmingly present figure in front of him.

He squirmed.

The commander, hyper-focused on his messed-up rival, noticed immediately.

"Hurts? Go ahead, bite me."

"...Not hurting."

"Uncomfortable?"

"...No."

"Then what’s wrong? Scared? I can cover your eyes with my hand if you’re scared."

"..."

Ye Wang’s breath tickled his ear, and Jiang Qi squirmed slightly: "I’m not three years old."

Ye Wang: "Who says only kids get scared? Twenty-three, thirty-three, or any other age—fear’s fair game."

"..."

Jiang Qi fell silent.

Severely anemic and running a low body temperature, he was already drowsy. With the anesthetic numbing his wound, he lay in Ye Wang’s arms, catching whiffs of the commander’s strawberry shampoo behind his ear—and actually passed out cold.

Jiang Qi was startled awake by the sound of a flare ascending.

He opened his eyes as the flare burst at an extremely close distance, filling the room with cold light, bright as day. Ye Wang stood by the window, his figure casting a long shadow. His pale pupils calmly fixed on the direction of the flare, looking icily composed.

"Awake?" Ye Wang tilted his head slightly. "The patrol is here."

With an important item missing, the empire's security forces had swiftly mobilized, spreading like a fine-toothed comb, raking through every corner of the lower district.

Jiang Qi tried to sit up but was stopped by Ye Wang's outstretched hand. "Don't move. We have a plan—just cooperate."

The commander sat by the bed and extended a hand with gentlemanly courtesy. "Hand me both your wrists. I'll bind them temporarily. After that, you won't need to move or make a sound."

Jiang Qi hesitated briefly before grasping the commander's hand.

Then the sash coiled around him.

The sash, a symbol of imperial honor, coiled around his fingers before tightening and binding them to the headboard. Jiang Qi's palms faced upward, forcing him into a vulnerable position.

Ye Wang tested the tightness. "Speak up if it's too tight."

"..."

Bizarre. Utterly bizarre.

Next, a quilt was pulled over his head, covering the rest of his body—except for a stretch of bare calf that remained exposed.

Jiang Qi listened intently as the commander unbuckled his belt.

Then came the urgent pounding on the door.

A soldier barked, "Routine inspection! Everyone inside, hands on your heads and await inspection! Open the door within three seconds, or else—"

Before he could finish, a loud crash sounded as the door was kicked outward from the inside.

The commander had flung it open with a single kick, cursing, "Damn it, raising hell at this hour—can't even let a man rest! Or else what?"

The leader wore a sergeant's insignia. Ye Wang glanced at it, then grabbed him by the collar and yanked him inside, his whole face telegraphing annoyance. "Go on, say it. Or else what?"

Jiang Qi's fingers curled slightly.

He knew exactly what kind of act Ye Wang was putting on.

The sergeant froze, still processing the situation when Ye Wang thrust a major general's rank insignia in his face. "What, can't a man come down to the lower district for some fun without you grunts breathing down my neck?"

It was common knowledge that some officers from the upper district sought entertainment in the lower district, but the sergeant clearly hadn't expected to stumble upon a major general.

Though Pei Gu wasn't the most influential major general in the military, his lineage alone commanded respect.

"N-no, no, you misunderstand! We wouldn't dare..." The man backpedaled. "It's just—there was an incident in the lower district, so we're conducting routine checks..."

As he spoke, his gaze flickered toward the bed.

The first thing that caught his eye was a pair of hands—so pale they seemed to glow.

The man's taper-fingered hands were well-defined, his nails a faint pink, twitching faintly under the scrutiny. His wrists were bound tightly to the headboard with a bright yellow sash, his arms dotted with flecks of blood. The crimson stains contrasted starkly against his cold, pale skin, while the rest of his body was wrapped in a quilt, revealing only the clean taper of his calves and the slender ankles half-hidden beneath the covers.

The exposed skin in all three areas lacked any clothing, inviting the obvious assumption that the man beneath the quilt was wearing nothing at all.

On the floor beside the bed lay Pei Gu's tossed-aside belt—black leather, the leather creases also smeared with blood. Combined with the major general's rumpled state—his open collar, messy buttons, and radiating displeasure—the sergeant could piece together what he'd interrupted.

The young general from the Pei family had come to the lower district seeking excitement and was getting hot and heavy with a beauty when he accidentally encountered the patrol.

Ye Wang raised an impatient eyebrow. "Had your fill? Then get out."

There was clearly no third person in the room. The person on the bed had shallow breathing, seemingly worn out from the general's handling, lying there barely conscious—clearly incapable of any wrongdoing.

After assessing the situation, the sergeant hastily retreated. "We're leaving, General, right away."

He led his team away without looking back.

Ye Wang let out a quiet sigh of relief.

He straightened his disheveled buttons, picked up the belt from the floor, and fastened it properly before going to the bedside to remove the restraining sash.

Jiang Qi quickly withdrew his hands and hid them beneath the covers.