In just ten minutes, I rushed to the front of the inn where Kusuda Yoshiko lived. I saw ambulances and police cars parked there, and a large crowd gathered outside, watching the commotion.
Like a madman, I used my elbows to push through the crowd and rushed inside.
I reached the entrance of the inn and saw a stretcher being carried out. The sight of the skiing instructor beside the stretcher froze my blood!
At the same time, I heard two policemen talking. One said, "She tried to hang herself with glass stockings!" The other replied, "Luckily, she was found early."
I stood there dumbfounded, knowing without asking that the person on the stretcher was none other than Kusuda Yoshiko, who had been with me less than half an hour ago. Knowing that her suicide attempt had failed, I breathed a sigh of relief. It made me firmly believe that seeing blue blood could indeed trigger suicidal thoughts.
The connection between blue blood and suicide was incredibly mysterious!
I watched as the stretcher was loaded into the ambulance, and heard countless reporters bombarding the skiing instructor with questions.
The instructor seemed greatly affected, remaining silent no matter what the reporters asked. I stood still until the spectators gradually dispersed, then turned and walked away.
The snow continued to fall, and everything seemed no different from an hour ago. But a lovely girl had inexplicably considered suicide, and naturally, her career as an athlete came to an end!
Of course, "inexplicable" was only to others. For me, it wasn't entirely inexplicable.
I had anticipated that when Kusuda Yoshiko saw someone bleeding blue, she might entertain thoughts of suicide, just like I and Lin Wei had done earlier. That's why I had advised her to find someone to accompany her before she entered the inn.
However, I couldn't understand why seeing someone with blue blood would trigger such strong suicidal thoughts in people, prompting them to end their own lives.
It was an unsolvable mystery. My mind was in chaos, and I felt like I had fallen into something beyond the realm of science, into the realm of the occult.
My steps were unusually heavy. As I approached Mrs. Teng's inn, the night grew darker, the snow falling heavier, and the road quieter. When I stopped pondering the matter, I immediately felt an inexplicable fear, as if many hungry wolves were lurking in the darkness, watching me!
I took a deep breath and stopped. I needed to calm my mind before I could continue. I wasn't a coward, but the fear I felt at that moment was inexplicable.
In fact, everything around me was extremely quiet, and there was nothing unusual. If there were any changes, I believed I could handle them.
However, that sense of fear continued to assail me.
I stood still for a moment, feeling that someone not far away seemed to want me dead. And I felt afraid because I already knew his intentions.
This seemed extremely absurd, because although scientists had claimed that people emit a kind of brainwave during the process of thought, the so-called "telepathy," it hadn't been conclusively accepted by academia. And now, whose brainwaves was I receiving? And who had such transcendent power to influence my thoughts and actions with their own thoughts? Thinking about this, I felt like I was beginning to understand something. Because, like Lin Wei, I, and Kusuda Yoshiko, suddenly had thoughts of ending our lives, it was highly possible that another person was influencing us with strong brainwaves, putting us in a hypnotic state and allowing the thoughts of another person to dominate our actions.
However, when I thought deeper, it all seemed too ethereal. I forced myself to lift my feet and continue forward. It was silent all around, the snow falling heavily, covering everything, including both ugliness and beauty, and muffling all sounds.
I had been walking with my head down until I saw the poplar tree ahead. I raised my head because Mrs. Teng's inn was not far away. As I lifted my head, I could see two faint yellow lights ahead, undoubtedly the lights in front of the inn.
I breathed a sigh of relief. I had finally arrived at the entrance of a side alley. As long as I crossed that alley, I would reach Mrs. Teng's inn. However, just before I reached the side alley, I saw a person standing under the streetlamp. I was startled. The person stood there, unmoving, the collar of his coat turned up high, a woolen hat on his head, and snow piled thickly on his shoulders, indicating he had been standing there for a long time.
Although I was a little surprised, I didn't stop, because it was indeed suspicious for someone to stand alone in the snow at such a late hour. However, it wasn't worth making a fuss over.
Since I had to pass by, I had to remain vigilant.
I slowed my pace as I passed him.
It was at that moment, as I passed by his side, that my brain shook, and I felt someone calling me: Wei Sili!
However, I didn't hear any sound in my ears. It was so quiet around me, and I would never mistake the presence of sound for its absence. This situation was too mysterious – I didn't hear any sound, but I felt someone calling me!
I immediately stopped in my tracks and turned around to look.
At that moment, the person also happened to turn around and look up at me. Despite the hat pulled low over his head, I could see his face clearly. His complexion was extremely pale, with a bluish tint, which sent shivers down my spine. And I recognized this person - it was Fang Tian.
I was stunned, and so was he. He spoke first, saying, "Wei Sili, it's you, indeed it's you..."
At this point, he mumbled something, which I couldn't quite catch, then I heard him say, "You! You haven't..."
He hesitated and didn't finish his sentence.
When Kusuda Yoshiko recounted her ordeal to me, I had already thought about the person she encountered. It must have been Fang Tian. There might only be one person in the world with blue blood. However, I never expected to meet him in such circumstances.
Before he could finish, I interrupted, saying, "I'm not dead!"
A strange expression appeared on Fang Tian's face as he lowered his head and murmured, "Wei Sili, you're a good person. I've always missed you. You're a good person..."
As he murmured, thoughts of "death" and "suicide" suddenly arose in my mind again. My heart pounded, more terrifying than any murder. This blue-blooded man had the power to compel people to suicide against their will!
I struggled to suppress these thoughts. I was no longer the same person as I was more than ten years ago in school. Back then, I was a simple-minded young man, but now, with rich experiences, I understood the theory of mental counteraction against hypnosis.
This theory stated that if the mental state of the practitioner (including their level of confidence) was inferior to that of the subject, the practitioner would be counteracted.
So, I desperately tried to calm my mind and resist those inexplicable thoughts that came rushing in. Fang Tian and I faced off for six or seven minutes. I felt the suicidal thoughts in my mind weakening!
I knew that in this elusive but extremely dangerous struggle, I had gained the upper hand.
At that moment, Fang Tian sighed, turned around suddenly, and walked away. I was so focused on resisting those sudden thoughts that I couldn't react in time. It was only after he took seven or eight steps that I called out, "Stop! Stop!"
As I called out, I hurried after him. Fang Tian didn't stop, but being well-versed in Chinese martial arts, I quickly caught up with him.
He stopped, and I asked sternly, "Who are you? What are you?"
Fang Tian looked visibly dejected and somewhat fearful. He gasped for breath and said, "Wei Sili, you've won. I might die by your hand, never able to return home. But don't force me, don't force me to use weapons..."
At first, I didn't understand what he meant by "never able to return home" and so on. But when he finished his sentence, he raised his hand.
I looked at his hand and saw him holding a shiny silver box. It was about the size of a small semiconductor radio, but with two metal tubes resembling snail antennae on top.
I had never seen such a "weapon" before. I immediately asked, "What is this?"
Fang Tian said, "You wouldn't understand, but don't force me to use it. I don't want to harm anyone. I just want to survive, wait for the opportunity to go home. Do you understand? I have a family..."
He became increasingly agitated as he spoke, his complexion turning even bluer. I found it increasingly strange and asked, "Who is preventing you from going home?"
He looked up at the sky, then immediately lowered his head and said, "You... I beg you, just pretend you've never seen me, never heard of me. Don't tell anyone, and don't even think about it yourself. Can you do that?"
He broke down halfway through, tears streaming down his face.
I was stunned for a moment and said, "I have only one question for you."
Fang Tian remained silent. I asked, "Lin Wei, I, and Kusuda Yoshiko have all seen the blue blood in your body, and we've all had thoughts of suicide. Can you tell me why?"
Before I could finish, Fang Tian trembled all over. He raised the back of his hand slightly, and in that instant, I saw him press something on the silver box in his hand. I heard a very faint "squeak" sound.
Then, I suddenly saw a blazing light in front of my eyes. It was so bright and hot that I lost consciousness in less than a fraction of a second and fell into the snow.
In the split second before I lost consciousness, I seemed to hear Fang Tian say, "Don't force me."
How much time had passed between the moment I vaguely heard Fang Tian's half sentence and the moment I heard someone's voice again, I only knew afterwards. When I heard the voice again, I felt pain all over my body.
The pain was so intense that my body trembled involuntarily, as if there were thousands of hot coals burning every inch of my skin. I wanted to scream, but I couldn't. I tried to move, but I couldn't. I clenched my teeth tightly, but when I tried to loosen them, I couldn't. I made one last effort to open my eyes.
Opening one's eyes may seem like the simplest thing for anyone to do. But at that moment, I exerted all the strength I had, like a newborn baby, and finally managed to open a crack in my eyelids. I saw figures moving back and forth.
I tried to focus and widen the crack in my eyelids. The figures gradually became clearer, like the lens of a camera gradually adjusting its focus. I first saw the person waving his hands and speaking - it was the old doctor I had played chess with.
I tried to remember. I wondered if I was in Mrs. Teng's inn. But obviously not, because everyone around me was wearing white clothes.
White clothes... white clothes... gradually, a concept formed in my mind. Hospital, I was in the hospital!
How did I end up in the hospital? There was no way to know. I only remembered falling in the snow, the snow...
Hospital, oh, all of this, for someone who had just regained consciousness and was enduring intense pain, was too much to process. I decided to first assess my own condition and see how I was doing.
I strained to roll my eyeballs and glanced at my own body.
I couldn't believe my eyes and thought I must be mistaken. So, I closed my eyes for a moment and opened them again to check.
However, what I saw remained the same. Where my body should have been, there lay what seemed to be a mummy, wrapped in bandages from head to toe!
What was this? Was this my body? What kind of injury had I sustained?
I struggled to move my body, but couldn't. I then noticed two tubes inserted into my nostrils. It seemed I was indeed seriously injured, as even my face was covered with those white bandages.
At that moment, I heard another person's voice saying, "If he regains consciousness, he will feel intense pain. We'll administer a sedative to alleviate his suffering."
I cried out in my mind, "I am already conscious, please give me pain relief!" But I couldn't speak.
And if I couldn't speak, obviously no one would know I had regained consciousness, so I tried to widen my eyes as much as possible.
My hearing recovered the fastest. I heard someone say, "If he survives, it will be a stroke of luck, saving his life..."
Damn it, I couldn't help but curse inwardly. What did they mean by "if I survive"? Couldn't I survive? The voice continued, "The first stroke of luck was the heavy snowfall; the second was the newly built vacuum operating room here..."
Someone asked, "What does the heavy snowfall have to do with it?"
The same voice replied, "It's relevant. We don't yet know the extent of his injuries, but it's certain they resemble radiation burns. After he fell, the heavy snow continued to fall, burying him in it. The snow around his body acted as a soothing agent for his wounds; otherwise, he would have died long ago!"
I recalled the situation before I passed out, the searing flash of light, that blinding sensation. So, I had almost died. What secret weapon had Fang Tian used?
As I was pondering, the voice continued, "If we don't treat his wounds in a vacuum, they will be infected by at least seven or eight types of bacteria, which would be troublesome."
I smiled bitterly in my heart. Lady Luck had finally followed me, but with a slight oversight, leaving me lying in the hospital feeling sore all over.
I wasn't prepared to listen to them discuss my injuries anymore. I just hoped they would realize I had already awakened and administer a sedative to ease my current suffering.
I had to resort to the old method of widening my eyes as much as possible. My vision gradually returned. I saw at least seven or eight people surrounding me, but not one of them noticed that my eyes were wide open.
I don't know how much time passed before I heard a nurse scream, "Oh my God, he's awake!"
In my mind, I exclaimed, "Yes, I am awake!"
Thanks to the nurse's sharp cry, the fact that I had awakened was finally discovered. Then the people around me got busy again, I was given a few injections, and soon fell into a deep sleep. When I woke up again, the light in the room was very soft. Several people were still sitting beside me, one of them checking my pulse.
I noticed that the gauze covering my mouth had been cut open, allowing me to emit a faint groan.
I saw a serious face approaching me, asking, "Can you speak now?" I struggled to move my lips, as if I had just learned to speak, trembling for a while before managing to say a word, "Yes."
The person sighed with relief, saying, "You're lucid now, and your injuries are under control. Don't worry, don't think about anything else."
The doctor sighed, with a sympathetic look in his eyes, saying, "Your life is not in danger, but..." I interrupted, "Will my skin be damaged?"
The doctor smiled wryly and said, "Don't worry, we'll do our best to perform skin graft surgery for you..."
Before he finished, I closed my eyes.
Although the doctor didn't say it directly, I could already understand his meaning. I must have been burned by a very strong radiation, and like all those burned or scalded, the damage to my skin must have been severe. Even the best skin graft surgery might not be able to save me.
I thought for a while before opening my eyes again. The doctor was still in front of me. I said, "I want to see your chief physician." The doctor said, "Dr. Sasaki instructed that when you wake up again, someone will be notified to inform him, and he will come."
Dr. Sasaki was the old doctor I lived with at the Fujiko Inn in Hokkaido. He was a very famous surgeon in Japan, but he served in a very famous medical school, so during my coma, I had already left the original place and come to Tokyo.
I closed my eyes again to rest. After a while, I opened my eyes again. In the ward, there was only one nurse besides me. She was young and beautiful. I called her softly, and she immediately turned around, looking at me with sympathetic eyes.
I wanted to smile at her, but the gauze on my face wouldn't allow it.
She leaned down and asked me gently, "What do you need?" I whispered, "When do you get off work?"
The nurse looked at me with a puzzled look. She must have thought I was crazy. Asking her when she got off work, did I want to ask her out for dinner?
Seeing her confusion, I quickly said, "I just want you to help me send a telegram."
The nurse nodded immediately and picked up paper and pen. I first told her the address and then dictated the telegram, "Urgently send all Nine Snake Ointments to..."
I paused and asked her the name of this hospital before continuing, "That's it."
The nurse looked at me with suspicion, asking, "What is Nine Snake Ointment?" I said firmly, "Miss, I need your help. Nine Snake Ointment is a special Chinese medicine made for wounds, the one I mentioned to Dr. Sasaki."
The nurse was smart and immediately said, "Do you want to use this ointment on yourself?" I nodded and said, "Yes, I don't want to leave any ugly scars on myself. Secondly, I want Dr. Sasaki to know that many drugs that modern medicine cannot analyze and explain have incredible power!"
The nurse's face turned very pale.
I realized that she was continuously refusing my request. I didn't say much, just looked at her with pleading eyes. The nurse was a very kind girl. After four or five minutes, she sighed and said, "You know, being a nurse here is an honor. I've worked so hard to earn this honor..."
Her meaning was clear: if this matter were discovered, she would be dismissed!
I hurriedly said, "Miss, do you know that making a patient feel like you're their angel is the greatest honor?" The nurse smiled and said, "Okay, I'll do it for you!"
The events that followed in the hospital seemed unnecessary to describe in detail. Because the title I am recounting now is "The Blue-Blood
ed Man," naturally focusing on that mysterious and eerie blue-blooded man.
On the third day, the Nine Snake Ointment arrived in my hands. With the help of that nurse, I was able to apply the ointment all over my body. On the seventh day, in front of Dr. Sasaki, the bandages were removed, and my skin all over my body looked as if it had never been injured. Dr. Sasaki exploded with anger, but had to admit that it was a miracle. I was still very grateful for his help, left the hospital, and stayed in a medium-sized hotel in the suburbs.
After leaving the hospital, the first thing I did was rest and contemplate quietly.
This time, although I had once again narrowly escaped disaster, if the same thing were to happen again, I would find it difficult to have such luck again!
Firstly, there would be no heavy snowfall again; secondly, the only remaining jar of "Nine Snake Ointment" in the world had already been used by me. If such a thing were to happen again, I would become an ugly monster.
Looking out from the balcony of the hotel room, there was a vast field, with a wide view. I sat on the balcony and looked at the morning paper. There was no exciting news in the newspaper. I covered my face with the newspaper and prepared to sleep for a while, when suddenly I heard someone knocking on the door.
I leaned forward and sat up, loudly saying, "Come in!"
The waiter pushed the door open and said to me, "Mr. Wei, someone is here to see you."
I was surprised. I lived here, which could be considered an extreme secret. Who could know? My thoughts turned, and I immediately thought of Mr. Nelson. My mind couldn't help but tense up.
But just then, the waiter stepped aside, and a man strode in. It wasn't Fang Tian, but Mr. Nelson, the senior chief of the International Police Force, whom I had just parted with not long ago!