Chapter 225: Secretly Wishing for a Child

The next day, He Yu had a meeting to attend, so he left very early.

When Xie Qingcheng woke up, he was alone in bed. He sat up, coughing, feeling heavy and drained.

The side effects of Serum No. 2 were slowly receding, but he still felt quite unwell. He got up, put on his bathrobe, sat on the edge of the bed for a while to recover, then slowly stood and walked to the tea station to pour himself a cup of hot tea. He also took a thermometer.

37.9 degrees… Xie Qingcheng let out a sigh. Although he had cleaned himself properly, his body was simply too frail—he had developed a fever.

There was no fever medication in the room. To keep up the act, his phone had also been confiscated by He Yu, so he couldn't contact anyone. He could only lie back down on the bed, exhausted.

The dream from last night had been wonderful, tinged with a hint of reality.

Xie Qingcheng thought of the young man in his dream, then of everything happening on Mandela Island, and gradually drifted back into a weary sleep.

He didn't know how long this light sleep lasted. Between dreams, Xie Qingcheng heard a rustling sound by his bedside. He assumed He Yu had returned, so he opened his eyes.

But the person before him made him freeze in shock. Then, a chill ran down his spine, and goosebumps broke out across his skin…

Standing before him was— It was the girl who had gone missing from the film crew a long time ago!

At that time, a murder had occurred within the crew, and the police had been investigating. Although Huang Zhilong had ultimately been brought to justice, the two missing staff members had never been found.

Xie Qingcheng never expected to encounter her here!

What he never expected even more was that this girl no longer recognized him at all. Her gaze was vacant and fixed, just like the mental patients at Chengkang Psychiatric Hospital. When she saw Xie Qingcheng wake up, she showed no reaction whatsoever. She simply continued tidying the room with mechanical, stiff movements.

She emptied the trash from the room's wastebasket, placed fresh fruit on the coffee table as usual, then came to Xie Qingcheng's bedside, turning her large, lifeless eyes toward him.

"Hello, I'm here to change the bedsheets. May I?" Xie Qingcheng: "…You don't recognize me?"

The girl repeated numbly: "I'm here to change the bedsheets. May I?"

Xie Qingcheng stared into her eyes. In that instant, he suddenly recalled the first time he had seen this young girl.

It was at the crew's hotel. The girl had delivered a welcome bouquet to him upon his arrival, her youthful, vibrant face brimming with a brilliant smile.

"Professor Xie." She was passionate as fire, her eyes sparkling with light. "Welcome to the crew! If you need anything, you can always come to me. My name is—"

What was her name? Xie Qingcheng tried hard to think, but unfortunately, he still couldn't remember.

He was never good at remembering people's names, but those most radiant smiles had left deep impressions in his heart.

And this girl, who had once smiled as dazzlingly as a blooming winter jasmine, now seemed like nothing more than an empty shell. If she weren't still breathing, Xie Qingcheng would have thought she was a corpse.

The girl repeated once more: "I'm here to change the bedsheets. May I?" She seemed unwilling to stop until she received an answer.

Xie Qingcheng had no choice but to get up so she could complete what she was doing. Like a well-trained hotel attendant, the girl efficiently changed the bedding and then left the bedroom without looking back.

After she left, the more Xie Qingcheng thought about everything Mandela had done, the more nauseated and horrified he felt. Combined with his fever and weakness, he tried to hold it in, but couldn't. He rushed to the sink and vomited.

The rest of the afternoon was spent in cycles of fever and vomiting, his body temperature climbing higher and higher. No matter how strong Xie Qingcheng's willpower was, he couldn't endure it anymore. After the last bout of vomiting, he braced himself against the counter, washed his face, and rested for a while—but he simply couldn't muster the strength to walk back. Instead, he slowly began to fade into unconsciousness.

When He Yu returned, this was what he saw: Xie Qingcheng collapsed beside the sink.

Startled, he rushed over and scooped him up, exclaiming in shock: "Xie Qingcheng?"

The person in his arms was burning with fever, his face pale, the corners of his tightly shut eyes tinged with red. The bathrobe hung loosely open, and beneath it, his skin showed a thin flush of feverish heat.

He quickly carried him to the bed and called for the island's doctor to bring fever medication.

In a daze, Xie Qingcheng was fed the medicine by He Yu and then sank back into the stupor of his fever.

"…" He Yu reached out and gently stroked his hair, his heart in turmoil. He didn't know if last night had been too much, causing Xie Qingcheng to be in this state today.

The person wrapped in the bedding had his eyes tightly shut. His dark eyelashes and pale lips were the only colors on his face.

He Yu lay down on the bed and wrapped his arms around him. Xie Qingcheng was so resolute and strong that many people admired him.

But to He Yu, he seemed so fragile now. He only wanted to hold him, to possess him.

After last night, He Yu had genuinely wanted to kill Chen Man. He had even pressed the button for the second basement floor of the private elevator after his meeting ended.

That was where prisoners were held.

But in the end, he never stepped out of the elevator car. It was because of Xie Qingcheng that he had conceived the thought of murder, yet it was also because of Xie Qingcheng that he forced himself, with every ounce of strength, to abandon this mad idea.

Seductive as the thought was, flawless as his plan had been—if Chen Man just died… who would know who killed him?

Once the blood was washed away and his palms were spotless white, there would be no evidence left. He could even torment Chen Man thoroughly before killing him.

But… He thought of the way Xie Qingcheng had offered his hand to him.

If there were Chen Man's blood on his palms, would Xie Qingcheng truly never find out?

And if Xie Qingcheng did find out, would he still extend his hand to him…

He had stood in the elevator, looking at his own reflection in the car's mirror—a man in a black military uniform with a gloomy face.

In the end, he pressed the button for upward and left that cold underground. Don't kill…

He repeated again and again to the face in the mirror, whose eyes were so eerie because of the sickness buried so deep within him.

Don't kill. Don't do anything that would make everything irreparable… In the end, he fled that place as if escaping.

"Xie ge, it's alright." At this moment, He Yu held him, seeming to want to use his own body heat to make Xie Qingcheng feel better, but in his low murmur, there was also a hint of relief that he could still embrace Xie Qingcheng without blood on his hands. "It's fine… nothing happened…"

"Get a good sleep. I'm back now, and I'm not going out today. I'm here with you. Nothing will happen. Sleep…"

The fever medication was very effective. By evening, Xie Qingcheng's fever had subsided.

He furrowed his brow and woke to find himself in He Yu's arms, drenched in sweat. "How did I…"

"Awake?" He Yu reached out and felt his forehead. "You had a fever earlier and passed out. Do you remember?" "…"

At his mention, Xie Qingcheng remembered.

"I saw someone. She came to change the bedsheets…" Xie Qingcheng rubbed his face with his hand and murmured, "She was like a living corpse. And she was someone I knew before. A staff member who went missing from the film crew."

His voice was hoarse, and his gaze was still somewhat unfocused. "What's going on…"

Seeing him like this, He Yu suddenly understood—Xie Qingcheng had been triggered by seeing someone he knew.

Although Xie Qingcheng was very weak right now, that girl's appearance had become a thorn in his heart. Unless it was explained clearly, Xie Qingcheng's condition probably wouldn't fully improve.

He Yu handed him a glass of water: "Don't be so anxious. Drink something first." Xie Qingcheng took a sip.

He Yu watched him and said: "Finish it." "…"

Only after watching Xie Qingcheng drink all the water did He Yu speak: "She's a test subject on the island." "…What tests were done to her?"

"Many. Most of the people on the island were abducted by Huang Zhilong back when he ran his entertainment company. In the early years, investigative methods weren't as advanced, so they kidnapped many young people—especially girls, because Duan Cuizhen preferred women as her subordinates. But as police investigation techniques became more advanced, it got harder and harder for Duan Cuizhen to obtain living people. So she would repeatedly use these young people for various experiments. Eventually, as with this girl, once her spirit was completely destroyed, the researchers implanted a command chip into her brain. Although she's still alive, she has no consciousness of her own anymore. She's used as manual labor or surgically turned into an augmented human. The other girl who went missing from the crew met the same fate."

Xie Qingcheng said: "They… there's no saving them?"

"Impossible." He Yu said. "Their brains have been operated on. They no longer have any self-awareness."

Xie Qingcheng fell silent. After a moment, he asked: "The Lu Yuzhu we saw in Qingli County—was she also one of these people?"

"Similar situation." He Yu said. "That one was a clone of Lu Yuzhu. After it became increasingly difficult for Huang Zhilong's side to obtain people, Duan Cuizhen started looking for other methods, and she turned her attention to cloning technology. Mandela made many attempts over the past decade or more. They eventually found that while they could replicate other people, the clones were hard to keep alive, even harder to train, and had no combat effectiveness. But Lu Yuzhu's genes were extremely suitable."

Xie Qingcheng recalled what Lu Yuzhu had told them at the broadcast tower about her chance encounter with Duan Wen.

He suddenly felt a chill of dread: "So when Duan Wen rescued Lu Yuzhu back then, was it because he had somehow predicted that Lu Yuzhu's genes had something special about her? And after they fully analyzed her genome, to prevent other similar organizations from discovering her, they simply made her a sacrifice in the broadcast tower explosion…?"

"He never said." He Yu said. "But I think so. Duan Wen was never a philanthropist." Xie Qingcheng couldn't help but cough again.

Whether it was because these revelations were too horrifying, or because his body was already too weak, Xie Qingcheng was suddenly overcome by a powerful wave of nausea, and his vision blurred with dizziness.

Like a needle piercing a vessel already filled to its limit, Xie Qingcheng abruptly pushed He Yu away and turned aside. He wanted to hide it, to suppress it, but in the end, his body retaliated and burst through the dam—he braced himself on the edge of the bed, coughing violently, pressing his hand to his mouth, but unable to hold back…

In the end, Xie Qingcheng still ran to the bathroom and vomited. After a while, the bathroom door opened behind him.

He Yu watched Xie Qingcheng washing his pale face at the sink, then walked over and stood behind him, draping a bathrobe over his shoulders from behind.

Xie Qingcheng looked up. His eyes were rimmed with red from discomfort and faintly moist.

He glanced at He Yu in the mirror as water droplets dripped down from his brow. Xie Qingcheng closed his eyes: "Thanks."

He Yu, using the motion of wrapping the bathrobe around him, hugged him. "What exactly is wrong with you? Why are you vomiting like this."

"I don't fucking know. Maybe what Mandela did is just too disgusting." Xie Qingcheng cupped another handful of water to wash his face. "This isn't a fever reaction."

"Then should I just have the doctor come tomorrow—"

"No." Xie Qingcheng took a breath. He felt somewhat better after throwing up. In a very soft voice, he said: "This is Mandela Island. We need to be careful not just of these doctors, but of everything we eat and do."

After a pause, he added: "I'm a doctor myself. Don't worry, I know what I'm doing. It's fine."

Xie Qingcheng's specific medical condition had always been a closely guarded secret known only to a few. Even when he was being treated in the United States, the agreed-upon cover story was that he was merely weak and recuperating, and he had used many fake medical records. The fact that multiple organs in his body were failing had been concealed to prevent those with ulterior motives from finding any leads.

And back then, He Yu had been watched too closely to dare show too much concern for Xie Qingcheng, so although he knew Xie Qingcheng was ill, he didn't realize how severe it had become.

Under the current circumstances, Xie Qingcheng was naturally even more on guard—especially after He Yu had told him Duan Cuizhen's story yesterday, he had become increasingly cautious.

He Yu, blinded by worry, was taken aback for a moment before quickly responding: "Fine. I won't mention it."

Then he couldn't help adding: "But you being like this…"

"It might be a special reaction now that Serum No. 2's effects are about to end." Xie Qingcheng said. "Let's observe for a couple of days."

He Yu hummed in acknowledgment, but after a moment, he suddenly seemed to realize something. His almond-shaped eyes widened slightly, and he whispered: "…Xie Qingcheng."

"Hm?" Xie Qingcheng looked at him through the mirror.

"…" He Yu's face went from white to red. "Do you think… do you think this could be… a kind of… from Serum No. 2…"

"A kind of what?" Because his fever had just broken and he had just vomited, Xie Qingcheng's complexion was terrible, which made his sidelong glare somewhat intimidating.

He Yu's voice grew even softer, but his hand stroked across Xie Qingcheng's flat abdomen. "It's… could it make you… have… that possibility…"

"What possibility?" Xie Qingcheng still wasn't catching on.

He Yu hesitated for a moment, then whispered in his ear: "That is… what if it could make you have a child…" "………………"

Xie Qingcheng was so angry he nearly vomited again. He coughed for a long time before recovering: "Are you insane, He Yu? What are you thinking? First of all, this is just a serum. It doesn't have that kind of power. Second—"

His sharp brows shot up, his faintly flushed face filled with masculine embarrassment and fury as he ground his teeth.

"I'm a fucking man! And even if I were a woman, I wouldn't be vomiting the day after we slept together. You're twenty-three years old—you should have some basic common sense about this!"

He Yu said: "Of course I know that, but this Serum No. 2—" "I forbid you from mentioning this Serum No. 2 in front of me again!" …

You're the one who brought it up first.

But seeing how pale Xie Qingcheng looked, He Yu naturally said nothing more. He quickly soothed his Xie ge and coaxed him back to bed.

That night, Xie Qingcheng himself was feeling glum. The fever was one thing—probably from being too drained yesterday—but these waves of nausea coming one after another were truly strange.

The idea of pregnancy was absolutely absurd. Completely impossible. But then why?

Why did this reaction happen right after he slept with He Yu? Was this some kind of special pathological reaction…

In the end, he still couldn't figure it out. That night, He Yu wanted to hold him while they slept, but he refused.

"I'm not used to being held."

After all, what grown man liked being held in someone's arms while sleeping? Especially thinking about how He Yu had actually entertained the notion that he could have gotten a child from last night—Xie Qingcheng wanted that even less.

But He Yu was quite considerate at times like this. He spread his arms, unbothered: "Then ge-ge, you can hold me while you sleep."

Xie Qingcheng: "…" After resting like this for two days, Xie Qingcheng's condition slowly stabilized.

But the inexplicable nausea still lingered, mild as it was.

That day, seeing that Xie Qingcheng was sleeping more peacefully and his fever wasn't recurring, He Yu finally felt some relief. He left the suite in the early morning and went to the laboratory on schedule as usual.

But during his lunch break, he suddenly thought of something. After a brief moment of contemplation, he headed down to the supply department on the lower floor…