Chapter 38 15

Chapter 38: 15

Late that night, at the scene.

News of the rescued missing persons quickly reached headquarters, and everything proceeded in an orderly fashion.

Li Shang’s tense nerves relaxed as he took He Lin’s hand.

At least He Lin was here now; he didn't have to force himself to handle the aftermath alone.

Li Shang hesitated for a moment, unsure of the condition of his old waist injury or whether he could move freely. Not wanting to keep He Lin waiting, he steeled himself and took a step forward. The moment he shifted his posture, a jolt of pain shot through his waist and abdomen simultaneously.

The pain was so intense that his body trembled uncontrollably. It felt as if a long spike was brutally driven through his lower back, piercing through his entire body and emerging from the front.

He nearly blacked out from the agony.

In that moment of sudden darkness, Li Shang’s heart went hollow. He clenched his teeth and gripped He Lin’s hand tightly, as if it were his last connection to the world.

Fortunately, the next moment, the overwhelming pain in his waist receded like a tide.

Perhaps due to the old injury, a previously locked joint had popped back into place with the movement. His vision cleared, and his waist barely managed to support his body.

Stabilizing himself and regaining his senses, Li Shang eased his grip.

He Lin only noticed that his hand had been tightly held by Li Shang for a brief moment. He felt a flicker of confusion, but the pressure quickly eased. It all happened so fast that it seemed like an illusion.

Li Shang adjusted his breathing. He could move slowly now, but his stomach ached, and his legs felt weak, making every step a struggle. Frustrated with himself, Li Shang gave He Lin a push: "Go ahead and handle things. Don’t bother with me."

But He Lin refused: "Everyone’s been rescued. What urgent matters could there be now? Besides, there are plenty of people here. It won’t matter if I’m gone for a bit. You, on the other hand, look terrible."

He supported Li Shang as they slowly made their way to the car.

Then, He Lin opened the car door and helped him into the back seat. Thinking Li Shang was just out of breath from running, and seeing how much he was sweating, He Lin fetched a jacket from the trunk—an autumn police uniform.

He Lin said, "It’s my jacket, clean. Hope you don’t mind."

Li Shang took the jacket.

Then He Lin said, "Hold out your hand."

Li Shang: "?"

He hesitated for a moment but obediently extended his hand.

Like magic, He Lin placed a piece of ginger candy in his palm: "It’s for warmth. You can have it if you feel better."

Li Shang blinked lightly, gently curling his fingers around the candy in his palm.

He Lin said with concern, "Rest well. It might take a while to wrap things up. I’ll handle the rest." As he turned to leave, he added, "If you really don’t feel well, message me. I’ll go with you to the hospital."

Li Shang, pale as a sheet, gave a tired wave to reassure him.

.

Watching Li Shang get into the car and close the door, He Lin looked down at his hand.

It had been so brief that he felt a bit dazed, unsure if that moment of being tightly gripped was just his imagination.

He Lin rubbed the spot where Li Shang had held his hand, as if he could still feel a lingering coldness. That person’s hand had been so cold.

Involuntarily, an image of Li Shang’s slender frame surfaced in his mind.

One scene was of Li Shang waving to him amid the fire, surrounded by raging flames, yet calm and composed as if a god descending, leading them out of the inferno.

Another scene was of Li Shang standing alone in the cold night wind, pale yet stubbornly upright, appearing thin and solitary.

These two images merged, inexplicably touching the softest part of He Lin’s heart, making it tremble slightly.

At this thought, He Lin felt a strange, unfamiliar sensation, filling him up.

Someone so intelligent, strong, and independent, yet at a certain moment, needed him and trusted him.

It seemed that in Li Shang’s world, he was incredibly important.

The realization made He Lin’s heart skip a beat, startling himself with this somewhat sweet thought.

But he quickly regained his composure, shaking off the thoughts.

He Lin turned and walked into the crowd.

The gate had been cut open by police officers who arrived later. Fire trucks drove in, and several firefighters charged toward the blazing flames.

Ambulances were also in position. After initial examinations, the four students were assessed: Wu Yingying’s face was severely disfigured, Zhang Yan’s right fingers were fused together and might require amputation, Wen Shang’s voice was hoarse, and Li Weiyang had burns on his shoulders and back.

He Lin gazed at the massive fire, which resembled a blossoming red lotus.

These children might not be critically injured, but their wounds were far from light.

It was as if fate itself was punishing them, taking away what they cherished and took pride in most.

The crisis had passed, but it was not yet time to relax. The scene was still a mess, with much left to handle.

The police needed to notify parents and the school and issue an official statement.

Chen Zhuo and Yu Wanying required further questioning and booking.

He Lin walked over to Jin Tingrui. The quick-tempered Team Leader Jin turned and greeted him: "That was pretty dangerous earlier."

He Lin gave a soft hum of agreement.

Jin Tingrui added, "Thank you."

He Lin replied, "Don’t mention it. It was a good collaboration."

Hearing this, Jin Tingrui seemed to relax: "Also, thank that guy from your department for me. What’s his name? Li, right?"

He Lin said, "Yes, Li Shang."

"I won’t forget it," Jin Tingrui nodded firmly. "We owe him—we’d all be dead if not for him."

He Lin said, "Alright, I’ll let him know." As he spoke, he glanced worriedly toward the police car.

Li Shang was still sitting inside, appeared to be resting with his eyes closed, appearing normal.

Reassured, He Lin went back to handling other matters.

.

Inside the relatively enclosed space of the police car, the outside noise was shut out.

After He Lin left, Li Shang held the jacket for a while. The scent of He Lin on it seemed to soothe the pain.

But afraid of wrinkling the jacket or getting it sweaty from his forehead, he held it gingerly for only a short while before slowly folding it and placing it on the seat beside him.

Then he placed the ginger candy given by He Lin into the shirt pocket, close to his chest.

After forcing himself to finish these two tasks, his eyelids, like exhausted butterfly wings, slowly closed.

Li Shang bit his lower lip, swallowing the groan of pain that was about to escape.

He wasn’t one to easily show weakness or admit pain, but the spasms in his chest and abdomen were truly excruciating.

His old injuries had started acting up again; those healed wounds felt as if they were being scraped by a hidden hand with long nails in the darkness, tearing them all open until they bled profusely.

His stomach churned relentlessly, paired with a twisting, writhing pain in his abdomen, along with intermittent lower back pain. For a while, everything below the waist had already gone numb from the pain.

Under the assault of waves of intense pain, his chest also felt increasingly tight, his heart racing erratically, and his breathing became rapid and labored. With trembling fingers, he instinctively loosened his collar.

Outside the car window, busy colleagues were still moving back and forth, and He Lin occasionally looked over at the police car. Li Shang stubbornly clung to his pride, not wanting anyone to notice that something was wrong.

It seemed as if all his strength had been sapped by the day’s exhaustion. Li Shang had to exert great effort just to hold himself together.

He maintained a perfect sitting posture, sitting upright with his back straight, but in places no one could see, Li Shang’s hands were clenched tightly on his pants, with such force that it almost seemed he might rip right through the fabric.

He carefully adjusted his breathing, breathing only through his nose for air, not daring to open his mouth for fear that if he did, a cry of pain would escape before he could even get a breath.

Cold sweat continued to pour off him. After holding on like this for a while, Li Shang raised his wrist to his lips and bit down hard on it. His teeth pierced the skin, and the taste of blood filled his mouth. He didn’t dare bite too hard in one spot, afraid it would give him away, so he bit for a moment, then released and moved to another area.

The jolt of pain in his wrist finally distracted him a little, bringing a sliver of clarity to his haze of pain.

Li Shang thought self-deprecatingly: Rong Qing, you really are... a total mess now.

.

After more than an hour of cleanup at the scene, the ambulance finally drove away, and the fire was finally extinguished by the firefighters’ efforts.

The warehouse area had turned into ruins, with charred, broken walls dripping water, and puddles on the ground reflecting a miserable scene.

With all the on-site work completed, the police began to pull out of the chaos.

He Lin came to the car. Li Shang was still sitting upright inside, just as he had been when He Lin left. Aside from his even paler complexion, there was no sign of anything unusual.

He Lin asked him, "How are you feeling now?"

Li Shang replied, "Much better."

He Lin studied Li Shang’s face for a while but still couldn’t detect any clues. Temporarily believing him, he said, "I’ve spoken with Director Chen. I’ll take you back first."

Li Shang gave a low hum, a hint of fatigue evident in his expression.

He Lin got into the driver’s seat and started the car.

Li Shang surreptitiously tugged at his sleeve with his fingers, hiding the wound on his wrist.

The medication finally began to take effect, and the pain inside his body lessened slightly, dropping to a level he could endure.

However, the excessive physical exertion and prolonged intense pain had left his body too weak. His consciousness kept slipping, threatening to fade from his body.

Li Shang forced himself to stay alert, relying on conversation with He Lin to remain conscious. He understood his own condition—if he fell unconscious now, he wouldn’t be able to control himself and might say things he shouldn’t. With He Lin sitting beside him, he absolutely could not allow that to happen.

Fortunately, along the way, He Lin and Li Shang discussed the handling of the case, and their exchange kept him hanging on by a thread.

The car drove all the way to the building where Li Shang lived, parking steadily in the garage.

Li Shang got out of the car and thanked him.

Just as he turned to leave, He Lin suddenly called out to him, "Wait, what happened to your wrist?"

Li Shang looked down and saw that, unnoticed, blood had seeped from his wrist, staining his sleeve a bright red.

His voice was calm: "It might have happened earlier at the fire scene. I didn’t notice."

He Lin hopped out of the car, took his wrist to examine it, sighed, and said, "It’s hard to bandage with one hand. Let me help you with it."

Li Shang was too weak to refuse and lowered his head in silent agreement. The two walked upstairs together.

Li Shang lived here alone. The room was simple and cold, clean and tidy, with everything stored away in drawers. There were no extra or useless decorations, and the entire space exuded a sense of loneliness, seemingly devoid of any life.

Fortunately, the medical supplies here were well-stocked. Following Li Shang’s description, He Lin easily retrieved the supplies needed to treat the wound.

He sat beside Li Shang, carefully rolled up his sleeve, and exposed the injury.

Li Shang’s wrist was already a mess from where he’d bitten it, and coincidentally, it had also been grazed by the flames, making it difficult to tell how the injury had been caused.

He Lin carefully wiped away the blood around the wound, revealing the gruesome injury. He Lin sucked in a breath, frowned, and said, "If I had known it was this serious, I would have insisted you go to the hospital. How could you not have noticed such a severe injury?"

In contrast to He Lin’s reaction, Li Shang’s face showed no expression of pain. He replied lightly, "It’s not that bad."

At least compared to the pain of his old injuries flaring up, this injury was insignificant. And as for those old injuries, he had long become his own doctor from prolonged illness.

Li Shang knew that even if he had gone to the hospital earlier, aside from some painkillers and a cardiopulmonary examination, the emergency doctors wouldn’t have been able to do much else. Overusing painkillers wasn’t good; it was better to tough it out. After all, it was mainly spasms—it wasn’t gonna kill him immediately, and once the time passed, it would naturally stop.

He Lin didn’t say more, lowering his head to carefully disinfect the wound before wrapping it up with practiced ease with gauze.

After treating the injury and seeing the fatigue in Li Shang’s expression, He Lin didn’t plan to stay longer. He said goodbye to Li Shang, urging him to rest well.

Passing by the kitchen, He Lin inadvertently noticed the refrigerator inside and paused.

In this cold, gray-toned room, only this refrigerator was totally out of place.

On the white refrigerator door were colorful fridge magnets covered in various cute cartoon patterns.

He Lin found it difficult to describe the feeling he had when he saw those things.

They didn’t seem like something Li Shang, so spare and detached, would like, yet they were undeniably present in his room.

He Lin privately wondered if these fridge magnets might have been left by the landlord.

Since childhood, He Lin had been very interested in such small items. His family’s refrigerator back home had been done up flashy by him.

In his view, collecting weapons and fridge magnets were equally fun little quirks.

Driven by curiosity, He Lin couldn’t help but take a step forward to get a closer look.

Then he noticed that the fridge magnets had different languages on them—English, Thai, Burmese, and some scripts he couldn’t identify.

They seemed like souvenirs from travels.

Just then, Li Shang walked out of the room and stood at the bedroom door, watching him with a gaze that held a faint, almost hidden hopefulness.

He Lin pointed at the refrigerator, making a circle around the fridge magnets, and asked, "Did you collect all these?"

Li Shang looked at him and answered briefly, "You could say that."

His wrist bandaged, he stood at the door, his tone still faint.

He Lin's thoughts drifted far away; he remembered some missions abroad. Although he had visited quite a few places, he had never been to this many countries.

Right, back then, why hadn’t he bought some fridge magnet to decorate with?

Was it because he hadn’t found any he liked?

He Lin suddenly seemed to recall something.

He stood in a noisy market, surrounded by bustling crowds. He looked down at the dazzling array of souvenirs in front of him, pointed at something like a yellow cartoon pattern, and said, "This isn’t a confidential mission—surely I can buy a fridge magnet to bring back, right?"

Back then, who had he been smiling at?

Memory and reality overlapped at one point.

Like a searing needle piercing his brain, He Lin instinctively frowned.

This damn headache! He cursed inwardly, certain he had to leave.

Enduring some discomfort, He Lin didn’t even have time to say goodbye to the person behind him before turning and hurrying out, leaving behind only a solitary figure in the room and that fridge door covered in memories.