Chapter 17: Awakening (1/3)

When Xiao Man opened her eyes, she immediately sensed that something was off.

Her field of vision had narrowed significantly, and the colors in her eyes had become more vivid. 

The overwhelming sense of smell that had previously overloaded her with information seemed to have diminished abruptly. 

Her nostrils were filled with the scent of disinfectant.

Wait, was she in a hospital room?

Had both she and Xu Yan been rescued?

But soon she realized something was wrong: the sensations in her body were different. 

This was her own body!

She had returned?

Before Xiao Man could feel any joy, she struggled to sit up in bed.

Her body had been lying in bed for over ten days. 

Although there had been caregivers, without family members to watch over her daily, the caregivers had inevitably been less attentive. 

She felt that her muscles had atrophied somewhat, leaving her weak.

There was a clock by the hospital bed. 

She glanced at it: September 15th, 06:02. 

That was around the time she had bitten the shadowy figure and lost consciousness.

Suddenly, Xiao Man felt her vision blur, as if she had returned to the dim forest, her nostrils filled with the smell of blood.

She closed her eyes and opened them again, and she was back in the hospital room.

A sense of urgency gripped her heart. 

She had a premonition that her time back in her own body wouldn’t last long.

Now, Xiao Man didn’t care about politeness anymore. 

She swiftly pulled open the curtain of the neighboring bed.

Next to her was a young girl who was accompanying her mother, who had undergone surgery. 

The girl, unable to sleep well in the hospital, had been lying on the accompanying chair, scrolling through her phone. 

She was startled by Xiao Man’s sudden movement.

When she saw Xiao Man’s face, she was shocked again. 

Wasn’t this the comatose patient next door? 

She had heard that the woman had been unconscious for over ten days, and her brother had refused to sign off on any further examinations, leaving her in this state.

Xiao Man spoke, her voice soft and hoarse: 

“Hello, could I borrow your phone?”

The girl was stunned but instinctively handed over her phone. 

She didn’t even know what she was doing, her mind filled with the thought, 

“It’s a miracle! The comatose patient has woken up!”

Xiao Man took the phone and immediately dialed Han Shuangshuang’s number.

In truth, she hadn’t memorized Han Shuangshuang’s phone number when she was human. 

Modern people rarely bothered to remember phone numbers, except for delivery and courier services. 

She had memorized it when she was a dog-it was engraved on her dog tag, after all.

The resort was in a remote location, and calling the police would take too long. 

It was better to notify Han Shuangshuang. 

There were a lot of them in the group, surely they could handle that shadowy figure!

Even if they just punched him one by one, they could beat him to death!

As for the mysterious way she had learned about Xu Yan’s situation… she couldn’t worry about that now. 

Lives were at stake!

She had to notify them before she fell unconscious again!

The phone rang for a while, almost hanging up automatically before it was finally answered.

Han Shuangshuang’s groggy voice came through the receiver.

“Hello, what’s the matter?”

“Xiao Han, it’s Xiao Man,” Xiao Man said quickly. 

“Xu Yan is in danger. He’s on the hillside near the villa where you’re staying. Someone is trying to kill him. He might have rolled down to the bottom of the slope. Wake up everyone in the villa immediately and go up the hill together to save him. Follow that path-don’t split up!”

As soon as Han Shuangshuang heard the words “It’s Xiao Man,” she jolted awake. 

The rest of the words left her dumbfounded.

Was it really Sister Man? 

Has Sister Man woken up? 

The voice did sound like hers, but what was she talking about?

“Sister Man, Sister Man, are you serious?” 

Han Shuangshuang’s voice trembled as her mind raced to process Xiao Man’s words.

Chen Yao, who had been woken up by the phone ringing, also became alert when she heard Han Shuangshuang’s words. 

Was it really Sister Man calling? 

Had she woken up?!

Xiao Man felt a wave of dizziness and began to lose strength. 

She gritted her teeth and said, ” Han, don’t ask questions. Do it now, or Xu Yan will die!”

Han Shuangshuang heard the unusually serious tone in Xiao Man’s voice, something she had never heard before. 

Almost instinctively, she straightened her back and said, 

“I understand. I’ll gather everyone and go look for him!”

Before she could ask anything more, the call ended.

Xiao Man let out a breath and finally relaxed. 

She could pass out now… 

Wait, there was one more critical thing!

She bit her tongue hard, summoning the last of her strength, and opened the phone’s camera to record a video of herself.

“My name is Xiao Man. My ID number is 910105199608117447. I’m an employee of Shutu Media. I hereby temporarily grant Han Shuangshuang, my colleague, the authority to make medical decisions on my behalf.” 

“Her ID number is 910122200203234268. This authorization is valid for two years, until I revoke it. Han Shuangshuang, my Alipay password is 381247. Transfer 100,000 yuan to your account first to cover my medical expenses.”

Xiao Man was afraid Han Shuangshuang might feel awkward about transferring the money herself, so she deliberately mentioned it. 

After finishing the video, she said to the girl, “Please give this video to the doctor. Thank you.”

Then, realizing she hadn’t yet passed out, she added, 

“Do you have a pen and paper?”

She felt that having a written version would be more secure.

The girl was already stunned by Xiao Man’s series of actions. 

Hearing this, she quickly said, 

“I don’t have any, but the nurse’s station should have some. I’ll go get it right away.”

With that, she excitedly ran out. 

Although they had only been in the hospital for a couple of days, the story of the neighboring bed had already been passed down through generations of patients and their families. 

She knew that the brother had been trying to take over his sister’s assets by refusing treatment.

Who would have thought that the sister would wake up and solve the problem herself?

Amazing!

For a moment, she wondered why, since she had already woken up, she still needed to delegate decision-making to someone else. 

But the thought was fleeting, as she was too excited to be part of this dramatic scene.

After the girl left the room, Xiao Man couldn’t hold on any longer. 

She barely managed to place the phone on the bedside table before collapsing back onto the bed, losing consciousness once more.

When the girl returned with pen and paper, she found Xiao Man unconscious again. 

Startled, she quickly pressed the call button by the bed.

This was the first time the call button on Xiao Man’s bed had been pressed since she was admitted. 

The nurse on duty at the station, seeing the room and bed number light up, thought she must be mistaken. 

After confirming it wasn’t a mistake, she hurriedly said to her drowsy colleague, 

“Bed 39 is calling!”

“Bed 39?”

“The comatose patient!”

The two nurses rushed over, half in shock and half in excitement, while the slower ones stayed behind to continue their duties.

However, when they arrived, they didn’t see the scene they had hoped for. 

Xiao Man’s eyes were still tightly shut, though her body was now lying at an angle, as if she had tried to get out of bed.

The girl immediately said, 

“I called! She woke up just now!”

Afraid the nurses wouldn’t believe her, she handed them the phone to show the video. 

Only then did they finally believe that Xiao Man had indeed woken up.

One nurse quickly added the girl’s WeChat to get the video, while the other ran to call the doctor on duty.

Meanwhile, after the call ended, Han Shuangshuang noticed that the call had come from an unfamiliar number. 

She didn’t have time to investigate now. 

As she got dressed, she explained the situation to Chen Yao. 

Although Chen Yao also found the situation strange, she had heard Han Shuangshuang call out “Sister Man” and had leaned in to listen. 

The voice on the other end of the phone was indeed Sister Man’s!

Both of them were in a hurry and didn’t notice that a dog was missing from the room. 

After getting dressed, they immediately went to knock on the doors of the other rooms, waking everyone up. 

When they gathered everyone, Chen Yao stopped Han Shuangshuang from speaking and quickly said, 

“Director Xu is in trouble. We heard his screams. Let’s go find him!”

Han Shuangshuang was momentarily stunned but then saw Chen Yao subtly shake her head at her.

Both of them had heard Xiao Man’s words firsthand, but even they had doubts. 

If they told the truth, they would undoubtedly face skepticism, and explaining would take too much time. 

It was better to simplify the story.

Sure enough, upon hearing that Xu Yan was in trouble, everyone immediately woke up.

Without asking further questions, they quickly got dressed and followed Chen Yao and Han Shuangshuang to search for him.

The two of them had explored the hillside during the day, so they knew which path Xiao Man was referring to. 

The hillside had a walking trail for tourists, which also indicated the direction they should search.

As they searched, they called out Xu Yan’s name. 

When the sky began to lighten, they suddenly saw a motionless dog lying on the ground not far away.

Han Shuangshuang’s heart sank. 

The familiar vest immediately made her recognize it as Xiao Bai. 

She rushed over and crouched down to check. 

It was indeed Xiao Bai, but his nose and mouth were bleeding, and his eyes were tightly shut, as if he were already dead.

She quickly felt Xiao Bai’s body—it was still warm, and his heart was still beating strongly!

She let out a long sigh of relief, swallowing the sob that had risen in her throat. 

Now was not the time to cry. 

She hadn’t forgotten that they had come out to find Director Xu!

Just then, someone shouted, 

“There’s a wireless earbud here, a new one… Come quick! Director Xu seems to be down there!”

Everyone hurried over and saw Xu Yan lying unconscious on the ground about ten meters down the slope. 

The blood from the wound on his forehead had already dried.

“Quick, let’s save him!”

“Call 120!”

“And 110! That wound on his forehead looks like it was caused by something hitting him!”

Half an hour later, the ambulance loaded Xu Yan, who had been carried down the slope by the group, into the vehicle. 

Feng Qing, who had been delayed by a leg injury and couldn’t keep up with the main group, was crying and begging Xu Yan not to die. 

Assistant Yuan, seeing that Feng Qing’s leg was injured, told him to stay behind and manage the situation while he followed the ambulance.

Han Shuangshuang also got into the ambulance with the unconscious Xiao Bai.

Chen Yao and a few male colleagues stayed behind at the spot where Xiao Bai had been found, waiting for the police to arrive.

They carefully avoided the area with the most blood, as Chen Yao had said, 

“It seems like someone attacked Director Xu. This place is a crime scene.”

No one wanted to make the mistake of contaminating the crime scene, so they kept their distance, discussing the incident in hushed tones. 

For these young people who had lived in a safe society, this was the first time they had encountered something so thrilling. 

Some couldn’t resist posting about it on their social media.

Chen Yao, however, was thinking about how she would answer the police’s questions.

Lying wasn’t good, but if she told the truth, it would sound like a lie. 

How could Sister Man, who had been lying in a hospital bed as a comatose patient, know about the situation here?

Could it be that Sister Man’s soul had been following them after she fell into a coma?

This was no longer the scientific world she knew!

After much thought, Chen Yao decided to tell the truth. 

Since Sister Man had called them, the hospital must also know about it. 

Besides, they really didn’t know anything. 

Let the police deal with the headache!

At first, only local police officers arrived, as the person who had called in the report wasn’t clear about the details. 

They had been told that someone had been injured in a fight. 

However, upon arriving, they found the scene chaotic. 

After a brief inquiry, they learned that the victim had a wound on his forehead and had rolled down the slope. 

There was also an injured dog at the scene, its head apparently struck by a rock left behind.

The sharp-eyed officers realized that the scene didn’t resemble a simple brawl. 

They immediately cordoned off the area, collected evidence, and had Chen Yao and her colleagues return to the villa to give individual statements.

Chen Yao’s colleagues had only been woken up to provide moral support and didn’t know much about the truth. 

The officers didn’t get much useful information from them, except that they had all been woken up by Chen Yao and Han Shuangshuang to search for someone. 

None of them had actually heard any screams; they must have been sleeping too soundly.

When the officers finally questioned Chen Yao, they already had some suspicions.