Chapter 48: Sorry

Chapter 48: I'm Sorry

The message was so unexpected that Xu Xingli froze in place.

Hadn't Xu Yu said his father was already dead?

Thoughts surged like a rapidly rising tide. He suddenly recalled Lin Xie’s words: Uncle Zhou’s son had last visited him before the New Year, which was when Xu Yu found the Xu family. Then there were those peach blossom eyes, the only lively feature on that tired and somewhat disheveled face. And finally, that uncomfortable gaze he’d felt during their first meeting.

It turned out everything had been foreshadowed.

It turned out Uncle Zhou was his biological father. The father he had never met for many years. The father Xu Yu claimed was dead.

His mind was impacted by immense shock, and the aftershocks spread throughout his body, making Xu Xingli suddenly feel nauseous.

Duan Yi processed this faster than them, quickly flipping through the chat history. "Someone tampered with all of Uncle Zhou's files; all his social connections have disappeared," he said.

He looked up at Xu Zhou, his tone serious. "Anyone capable of this must be of high status," he said. "Someone is helping Xu Yu, and their power might be greater than we imagine."

Xu Zhou scoffed, as if unconcerned, his eyes dark, staring deeply at the still dazed Xu Xingli nearby.

On the phone, Lin Xie seemed very anxious, not giving them much time to calm down before continuing, "Uncle Zhou is now cornered by Xu Yu and his people in Tingyu Alley, but I'm alone. What should I do?"

Xu Xingli finally snapped back to reality when he heard the word "cornered," opening his eyes wide. "Don't be afraid, and don't let them find you," he said. "We're coming now. Did you call the police?"

Lin Xie: "I did."

Xu Xingli immediately said, "Protect yourself, we'll be there very soon."

As soon as he finished speaking, the four of them were already in the elevator, heading down to the parking lot.

The Xu family's company was not far from Tingyu Alley. Twenty minutes later, their car stopped at the alley entrance.

But before they could get out, they saw a police car parked by the side of the road.

Xu Xingli and Xu Zhou were the first to rush out of the car and found an older police officer standing at the alley entrance to ask for information.

The answer they received was that the alley was empty.

A sudden panic surged in Xu Xingli. "How can there be no one?" he asked. "Uncle, she told us it was here."

The police officer shook his head. "When we arrived, there was no one in the alley," he said. "We found the caller's phone nearby and are now reviewing surveillance footage."

Xu Xingli's eyes were wide, his chest heaving violently, his mind almost completely blank.

Xu Zhou, beside him, noticed his distress, silently reached out and gently put his arm around his shoulder, pulling him into an embrace, then ruffled his hair.

But this gesture did not calm Xu Xingli down; instead, it made him even more terrified.

He subconsciously recalled the time of Lin Xie's death in his previous life.

No... the timing is off.

But he couldn't breathe a sigh of relief, because a location flashed into his mind instantly.

That tall building. He gasped sharply.

They had to find Lin Xie quickly. This was a possible clue, and he had to say something.

But his lips were fighting him; he struggled to open his mouth, only to find he couldn't make any sound when the words reached his lips.

However, someone spoke up for him.

"Baishu International High School, the experimental building. They're there."

Xu Zhou's voice was incredibly steady, but Xu Xingli heard an almost imperceptible tremor.

He looked up blankly and saw Xu Zhou's slightly protruding brow bone, which appeared deep and even more unfathomable in the sunlight.

Xu Zhou seemed to deliberately avoid his gaze, shifting it and grabbing his wrist.

The police officer also paused, then his phone rang. He only glanced at it before shouting loudly, "Go to Baishu International High School! Experimental building! Move it!"

After shouting, he smiled slightly at them, turned, and got in the car.

The police sirens blared, and the four of them followed close behind.

The car remained silent today. Xu Xingli leaned tightly against the car door, maintaining the maximum distance from Xu Zhou.

With the police car leading the way, the journey was extremely smooth. Soon, three cars drove into the school and stopped in front of the experimental building.

The sunlight was pale, illuminating the slender figure of a girl on the rooftop. Her high ponytail was disheveled by the strong wind, and her T-shirt and straight-leg pants were wrinkled on her.

The police split into two groups: one rushed upstairs, the other began setting up rescue air cushions.

Xu Xingli disregarded the obstruction and ran upstairs with them. Xu Zhou, however, was stopped below.

The higher they went, the fainter the sound of the air pump became, yet it was unusually piercing. The hearing aid in his ear emitted a sharp buzz. Xu Xingli frowned tightly, shook his head hard, raised his hand to take off the hearing aid and clutched it in his palm, but he never stopped moving.

Everything was proceeding in an orderly manner. But the moment Xu Xingli stepped onto the rooftop, a pair of hands appeared behind the girl, pushing her forcefully and without hesitation.

In that last moment, Xu Xingli met Lin Xie's eyes.

A pair of eyes filled with shock, sorrow, regret, and unspeakable emotion.

Finally, they were obscured by a pool of blood.

Xu Xingli stared, unable to take another step.

In his line of sight, the police arrested Zhang Wei and the others who had acted, and also carried the injured and weak Uncle Zhou, who lay on the ground.

The people in front of him were as busy as ants, and as insignificant as ants.

A deafening roar suddenly exploded in his mind, like a long-taut string suddenly snapping, or like a rubber band, bouncing back heavily into his body, churning everything into a mess.

Noisy and panicked sounds rushed in from all directions, flooding his ears.

His stomach suddenly cramped, and Xu Xingli raised his hand to cover his abdomen. The next moment, he bent over and dry-heaved.

Immediately after, he started seeing stars.

So tired, so much pain, so sick.

His eyelids grew heavier and heavier, his vision darker and darker, and finally, his knees buckled, and he dropped to the ground with a "thud."

He was about to pass out.

His brain issued a tense warning, but Xu Xingli couldn't respond.

The second before he completely lost consciousness, Xu Xingli heard his name being called.

Someone was calling his name. But he couldn't respond.

When his surroundings plunged into boundless darkness, Xu Xingli thought he had died again.

He ran wildly in the pitch-black void, finally stepping into thin air and falling off an endless cliff.

The wind whistled past his ears, and Xu Xingli's heart trembled, his eyes widening in an instant.

Blinding white light immediately shone into his eyes, making his pupils contract for a split second.

He was still in the state of falling off a cliff while in a coma, his chest heaving violently at that moment, and abundant fresh oxygen continuously poured into his nasal cavity through his windpipe.

"Xing! You're awake?" someone called out, then firmly grasped his hand.

Consciousness slowly returned, and his gaze gradually focused. Xu Xingli finally saw the three people standing beside his bed.

He subconsciously looked at the tall figure on his left, but only for a glance. The next second, he turned his head and looked at Jian Ran and Duan Yi.

Jian Ran's eyes were red, and he tightly held his hand. "You scared us to death!" he said.

Perhaps because he had just woken up, the sounds reaching his ears were very low, making them somewhat difficult to hear.

Xu Xingli wanted to say sorry, but when he opened his mouth, he didn't even have the strength to speak.

Jian Ran immediately noticed and didn't let him strain. After slightly raising the head of the bed, he turned to pour him some hot water.

However, Xu Zhou was one step faster.

As soon as Jian Ran turned around, a glass appeared from the left, with a straw in it, and was brought to Xu Xingli's lips.

"Warm water. Drink it." Xu Zhou's voice reached his ears, so low it was almost inaudible.

Xu Xingli didn't want to deal with him and avoided him by moving to the right.

But even when Jian Ran came over with the glass, Xu Zhou didn't retract his hand.

The two of them were at a stalemate. Jian Ran, who had returned, was bewildered, blinking and looking at Duan Yi, who had witnessed the whole thing, with a questioning look.

Duan Yi was also bewildered, and before he could say anything, Xu Xingli had already called Jian Ran in a very soft whisper: "I want water."

"Huh? Oh." Jian Ran immediately walked over, held the straw to Xu Xingli's mouth. "I'll hold it," he said.

Xu Xingli was about to open his mouth to take the straw when Xu Zhou pushed him away.

Before he could glare back, Xu Zhou handed the glass to Duan Yi and said, "Duan Yi wants to feed you."

Xu Xingli: "..."

Jian Ran: "..."

Duan Yi: "..."

Duan Yi stared at Xu Zhou in disbelief. The man's gaze merely swept over Jian Ran, and Duan Yi understood. He suddenly retracted his murderous glare, revealing a perfect smile, and pressed the straw against Xu Xingli's lips. "Ah, yes, Xing, you must be thirsty," he said. "Drink quickly, it's warm water, not hot."

Xu Xingli: "..." He pursed his lips, reached out to take the glass, and weakly said, "I'll do it myself."

Duan Yi dodged quickly. "No, you just woke up, your hand is weak," he said. "I'll do it, you just drink."

Finally, Xu Xingli deliberated back and forth, having no choice but to lower his head and take the straw in his mouth.

After half a glass of warm water, his whole body felt much more comfortable. Xu Xingli took a deep breath and finally had the strength to speak. "What about Lin Xie?" he asked. "How is she?"

As soon as these words left his mouth, the other three fell silent.

Xu Xingli suddenly panicked. "Why... aren't you speaking?" he asked. "Don't tell me... she..."

"She's still in the ICU, just out of critical condition," Xu Zhou answered.

Xu Xingli breathed a complete sigh of relief.

His demeanor visibly relaxed, but Xu Zhou's expression became unnatural.

"You two go out first, Xing and I need to talk," Xu Zhou said, looking across.

Duan Yi immediately responded, pulling Jian Ran out of the ward.

The sound of the door closing echoed, and Xu Zhou lowered his eyes. The person on the bed was biting his lower lip, lost in thought.

"Xing," he suddenly called out.

Xu Xingli subconsciously glanced at him, then quickly reacted, his face falling as he looked away, lowering his eyes to fiddle with the instrument clipped to his finger.

For a long time after that, neither of them spoke.

After an unknown period, Xu Xingli finally couldn't bear the silence and spoke, "Are you still not going to be honest with me?"

Xu Zhou: "You should know everything already."

Xu Xingli immediately became agitated, smashing the glass by his hand onto the floor: "What do I know? Do I know you've also been reborn? You never told me anything! You've been playing me for a fool from the start, haven't you?"

The heart rate on the cardiac monitor instantly soared, emitting beeping alarms, indicating a huge fluctuation in its owner's emotions.

"Pretending not to know anything, seeing me still unable to help but care about you, unable to let go of you, you must be very proud, right? Isn't that what you like? It's been like this from the beginning, utterly hypocritical, but I was still foolish enough to believe you, and until yesterday I still lied to myself that you weren't the Xu Zhou from the previous life." He gritted his teeth, his voice squeezed from his throat, seemingly ashamed of it.

"Why did you say it?" His voice suddenly took a sharp turn downwards, mixed with an almost imperceptible sob, "You could have kept it hidden. You could have hidden it very well. Aren't you good at that? Why did you expose yourself?"

Xu Zhou keenly noticed his change, paused, and suddenly looked up, meeting Xu Xingli's misty eyes.

"It would have been fine if things just continued like this, and I would have continued to play dumb and believe you, but why did you say it?!"

Xu Zhou was completely stunned, his dark eyes fixed on Xu Xingli.

He knew he had to say something, but thousands of words came to his lips, only to turn into a single, "I'm sorry."

Xu Xingli grabbed everything within reach and threw it at him. Pillows, phone... and the pulse oximeter clipped to his finger.

These things weren't heavy, but they felt like punch after punch, hitting his body, hurting him to the bone.

Finally, Xu Xingli was tired, his eyes red as he stared at him, his voice incredibly low: "We're over. Get out of my life!"

Xu Zhou didn't move for a long time. Finally, Xu Xingli almost pulled out the needle to leave himself, when Xu Zhou took a step forward.

Seeing him approach, Xu Xingli was about to pull away when his left hand was grabbed first.

Xu Xingli was about to struggle and curse when two warm, small objects were placed in his palm.

The familiar sensation instantly made him freeze.

Xu Zhou said, "Your hearing aids are with me."

Then he took a step back and said softly, "I owe you too much, I can't repay it, I know. Now that your hearing is restored, go do what you want to do. If you live well, I won't bother you again."