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墨書 Inktalez
With this thought in mind, I increasingly felt that it might be true, so I decided to hurry back to find Old Zhou. After exchanging a brief greeting with Yingluo, I glanced at Didi, who was lying on the ground, completely relaxed and looking very comfortable. What could this lazy fellow possibly have that was special?
Carrying my worries, I lowered my head and walked toward the Hutong Entrance. Suddenly, a few urgent honks sounded behind me, accompanied by a flash of white light; a motorcycle was approaching from behind.
I quickly sidestepped to avoid it, and in that fleeting moment, I caught a glimpse of a shadow darting past the Hutong Entrance. It seemed familiar, but I couldn't quite place it.
I stood there for a moment trying to recall where I had seen it before but ultimately gave up and headed straight for the ward.
Upon reaching the Inpatient Department, I discovered Old Zhou leaning against the window at the top of the hallway, smoking! I was furious; how could he still have time to smoke at a moment like this?
Before I could reach him, Old Zhou seemed to sense my presence and turned around with a smile. "So, did you find anything?"
I snapped back, "Don't mind me; what about you? Do you know if that girl's soul can be brought back or not?"
Old Zhou shrugged. "I don't know where it is, but I'm sure she's fine. It's just that it feels like there's some kind of barrier around here; wandering souls can't get in at all, so there's nothing I can do!"
"Since they can't come in, why can't we go out? How about we take Xi home?"
"That only works if she can move. I just heard from her parents in the ward that she still needs assistance from a respirator and other equipment; she can't leave the hospital."
"Then can we wait until her condition stabilizes? Or maybe her family could set up life support equipment like the hospital has so we can take her back and figure out how to summon her soul?"
"That probably won't work!" Old Zhou said slowly. "If a soul leaves the body for too long, even if it can return, there might be issues!"
"If that's not possible either, then what are we supposed to do?"
"We must resolve this here as soon as possible! Did you discover anything special?"
Reluctantly, I detailed my encounter with Didi to Old Zhou. After listening, he let out a long 'oh' but didn't say anything further. Instead, he paced back and forth with his hands behind his back, seemingly deep in thought about something.
"Could it be because of that dog?"
"Well, to be honest, I've never encountered a situation like this before. My master once mentioned that pets can develop certain protective abilities over time, but there's no way it could cover such a large area," Old Zhou said, then fell silent again, pacing back and forth.
After a while, I asked him anxiously, "Old Zhou, what should we do next? Should you go take a look?"
Old Zhou waved his hand. "We can't be sure it's because of it yet, but we still need to try. Time is of the essence. It would be best if you could find a way to lure it away from the hospital. I'll think of a way to draw that girl's soul back."
I scratched my head. "Luring it away isn't too big of a problem, but how will you know when I've done it?"
At that moment, Old Zhou smiled mysteriously and pulled something out of his pocket. I focused my gaze and realized, oh my god, that's a Sticky Duck! It's the same model as mine!
I was almost furious. "Why didn't you tell me you had a phone!? Every time I try to find you, it's like being a headless chicken!"
Old Zhou chuckled. "You never asked me!"
After exchanging numbers with Old Zhou, I was surprised to find that his phone had nationwide roaming! I joked, "You're something else! The Night Watchman has nationwide roaming? Aren't you supposed to stay in one place?"
Old Zhou smiled awkwardly. "It's fine to wander around a bit; after all, I don't have many years left. I want to visit places I didn't get to see when I was younger."
Once I learned that Old Zhou would be staying at a hotel near the hospital arranged by Dad Xi that night, I felt relieved and left the hospital, planning to catch a taxi back to the base.
While waiting for a taxi outside the hospital, it wasn't too late yet; there were still quite a few people and cars coming and going. However, for some reason, I felt as if someone was watching me. It was an unsettling feeling. When I looked around, I couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from. After trying two or three times without success, I gave up just as a taxi arrived and hailed it to return to the base.
The next day was Sunday. In the morning, I greeted Old Tang before heading out. Old Tang looked worried and said, "Old Wang, the Training Commencement is in a few days. I need to remind you to pay more attention! Don't keep running around."
Feeling somewhat guilty, I nodded. "I understand, Old Tang. There are indeed some matters at hand right now, but don't worry; I'll be working overtime tonight reviewing business materials. Once the training plan comes out, I'd like to discuss some ideas with you."
It seemed that no matter what, I had to wrap things up today; otherwise, with the training commencement tomorrow, there would be no time to go out.
After taking a taxi to the hospital, I got out and immediately called Old Zhou. He was already preparing in the ward. To keep things discreet, Old Zhou was using a simple method that wouldn’t last long, hoping I could quickly draw Dot away.
After confirming with Old Zhou, I put my phone away and headed towards Yingluo Shop. As soon as I entered Hutong Entrance, I saw that the shop was already open. I hadn’t taken a few steps when I spotted the fluffy Dot darting out of the shop, running straight towards me! In the blink of an eye, it was right in front of me!
“Dot!” I heard Yingluo’s voice. For a moment, I really thought it would leap at me, but unexpectedly, it suddenly stopped and squatted in front of me, staring right at me.
I didn’t know how to react at first; after a brief pause, my instinct made me wave and say “Hi!”
To my surprise, Dot turned its head to follow my hand, seemingly unable to take its eyes off it. Without thinking, I moved my hand again and suddenly realized—it wanted something to eat!
It still remembered the chicken bones from last time! I bent down slowly and gently patted its head. It didn’t flinch; instead, it looked up at me.
I said to it, “Good boy, I’ll take you for a walk later and buy you some tasty food.” In that moment, I felt like an uncle tricking a child; I glanced around and thankfully no one was watching.
I hurriedly walked a few steps into Yingluo’s shop. “Yingluo Boss, I want to buy some more fruit!” “Oh, just pick whatever you want!”
I pretended to choose fruit while casually asking Yingluo, “Hey, have you ever raised a dog? A big dog like this needs regular walks!”
Yingluo blinked and replied, “Yes! Whenever I have time, I take Dot out for walks. Also, Dot can run out to play by itself sometimes. Look, we even have a little opening on our door for Dot to come in and out. Sometimes it sneaks out at night!”
I looked closely and indeed found that there was an opening at the bottom right corner of the rolled-up shutter door—just big enough for Dot to crawl through.
I quickly thought of something and pretended to casually say to Yingluo, “Dot is really well-behaved! It must be impressive taking such a big dog out. Can Dot come with me to see a patient later? There’s a patient who really likes dogs; she hasn’t seen such a big one before! Dot would make her very happy!”
“Really?” Yingluo asked curiously.
"Really, really, I promise I'll bring Didi back later and buy it something to eat!"
"You don't need to bring it back; Didi will come back on its own!" Yingluo said decisively. "Didi, go out for a walk with the big brother. Don't worry, he's not a bad person!"
I felt a bit guilty, but there was no other way. I couldn't just tell Yingluo that her dog was guarding this place while a girl's soul couldn't enter the hospital, could I?!
Didi had been following me in from outside, and upon hearing Yingluo's words, it lifted its head and let out a couple of "woofs," as if responding. I wondered whether that was good or bad.
Unexpectedly, Yingluo continued, "Alright, Didi has agreed to go out with you, but you both need to come back early. Grandpa Didi can't be away from here for too long."
How amazing! She could even understand what a dog was saying? But I was too happy to think about it; I quickly thanked her, patted Didi's head, and walked outside.
Once I stepped out of the shop, I looked back and saw that Didi was following me closely. I felt relieved and took out my phone to call Old Zhou, letting him know we were ready to start.
After walking for a while toward the river away from the hospital, I suddenly felt something was off. When I turned around, I saw that Didi had not followed me but was instead squatting several dozen meters away from the Hutong Entrance, seemingly unwilling to come any closer!
(To be continued; more exciting content tomorrow!)
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