Chapter 186
by Need_More_SleepChapter 186: Not Giving (Two-In-One)
At Sunshine City, Municipal Hospital.
The top two floors of major hospitals were usually reserved for special wards—Black Element quarantine.
This building was constructed five years ago during the most chaotic era, when entire floors were dedicated to Black Element patients.
Back then, even middle and high schoolers treated ability-enhancing drugs like the latest version of betel nuts or cigarettes—some new trend to try.
Having a police patrol nearby was normal.
A single pill picked up by some street punk could trace back to an entire criminal network.
“Her heart is fine, and she’s conscious. No visible aftereffects yet, but the main treatment focuses on the Black Element contamination. She likely won’t be discharged—maybe short walks nearby, under police supervision.”
“Also, are you sure she has physical enhancements? I’ve never seen such a poor constitution. Comparable to my cousin who holed up at home for five years—the only difference is she’s prettier and twice as frail.”
It was practically like she’d been imprisoned. Absurd.
No signs of enhanced durability, yet an anti-materiel round hadn’t torn her apart. Baffling. The only explanation was an ability like Yiwen’s—force manipulation.
Energy projection, fire, miracle herbs, spatial manipulation, self-healing.
So many abilities—as if stitched together from different drugs. Yet her Black Element levels weren’t even high.
If she already had multiple powers, why take enhancers at all?
The only plausible answer was coercion—and Wei Shi conveniently fit the scapegoat role.
“I understand. Thank you, doctor.” Yiwen’s anxiety eased slightly.
Mi Xiaoliu’s poor health was real. If she’d been forced… maybe she hadn’t lied. Maybe she did love Yiwen. Even though they were both girls.
Mi Xiaoliu never lies.
Yiwen wondered how Beibei would react knowing her “Princess” was now in the same predicament.
Through the door’s window, she watched the girl undergoing steam therapy and exhaled deeply.
Usually, it was Mi Xiaoliu visiting her, arm-breaking incident aside. Now their roles were reversed.
The girl on the bed had waist-length hair, lying stiffly—long hair made proper posture a hassle.
With short hair, she looked like a dorky glasses-wearing boy. Now, with flowing locks and blue eyes, she was undeniably a girl.
This is her real appearance.
How did she control her hair length so effortlessly? Yiwen had touched her “male” hair—real. Tugged her twin tails too…
Apparently, upon waking and finding an IV in her arm, she’d yanked it out—needle still embedded—and caused a scene. Only her landlady’s coaxing calmed her.
Yiwen’s hand hovered over the doorknob… then withdrew.
“Not going in?” A refined male voice spoke behind her.
Mi Xiaoliu’s foster mother had hired this lawyer—Ma Wutian, from Fanzui City.
The best in the business. Legend said, as a prosecutor, he’d once upgraded a defendant’s sentence from three years to life—and got their lawyer jailed for a decade.
Behind him stood his half-a-head-taller brother, arm still bandaged.
“…No. Can you give this to her?” Yiwen handed over a lunchbox.
At the threshold, she faltered.
She had no idea how to face the girl inside.
“No.” Ma Wutian shook his head, smiling politely at Yiwen. “Lawyers are prohibited from delivering any items to their clients—even something as small as a napkin.”
With that, he gestured for her to go ahead.
“…”
Yiwen had no choice but to enter alone.
Inside, Mi Xiaoliu sat on the bed, one hand absently scratching an itch while the other stroked the panda plushie Humpback Whale had bought her.
Another day without Circle (Quanquan). Miss the cat.
When Mi Xiaoliu noticed Yiwen enter, she immediately slid off the bed, slipped on her slippers, and hid behind the curtains—nearly yanking out her IV in the process.
“Don’t move.”
Yiwen hurriedly set down the lunchbox and adjusted the IV line.
“I’m sorry, Xiaoliu…” She reached out, trying to coax her from behind the curtain.
No luck. Mi Xiaoliu stayed frozen. She remembered Yiwen saying she never wanted to see her again—so she hid.
Yiwen didn’t dare force her.
This hurts so much. Why did I hurt her?
Last night, she’d dreamt of that day. Waking up to the ugly gift box on her nightstand, she’d slapped herself in frustration.
Thanks to her new combat suit’s protection and timely medical care, Mi Xiaoliu hadn’t suffered memory loss from near-death—a small mercy.
As the doctor put it, it was like she’d been shot right outside the ER and treated immediately. The bullet had lodged in her heart—one minute later, and she’d have been gone.
Missing the critical window yet still surviving? A miracle.
“I brought your favorite fried chicken legs.” Yiwen quickly grabbed the lunchbox.
Mi Xiaoliu peeked out from behind the curtain, eyeing the food like a stray cat tentatively trusting a human. Slowly, she reached out.
Still the same greedy little kitten. How could a girl like this ever lie?
Yiwen moved to take her other hand but froze mid-reach.
“We… can still be friends, right?”
Mi Xiaoliu didn’t answer.
Instead, she bent down and rested her chin on Yiwen’s outstretched hand—just like when Sister Hermit would pinch her cheeks.
Yiwen: “??”
Pinch.
She seemed even cuter now.
Even if Yiwen had previously, mentally labeled that face “despicable.”
—
Like a prison visit, Yiwen only had ten minutes with Mi Xiaoliu.
She’d rehearsed countless apologies beforehand—yet in the end, none made it past her lips.
Leaving the room, her legs felt weak, like a failing student summoned to the teacher’s office.
Her chest felt hollow.
Mi Xiaoliu was still Mi Xiaoliu. Aside from being both more adorable and more infuriating, nothing had changed. She didn’t even hold a grudge for how Yiwen had treated her.
I’m the worst! Yiwen slapped her own cheeks.
But continuing as lovers was impossible. Maybe they could stay friends—though the memory would haunt her forever.
What a waste. I loved her so much.
And what would happen to Mi Xiaoliu now? She wasn’t the mastermind, but she had participated in the governor’s assassination.
If Yiwen hadn’t chased her, would she have avoided the bullet? Avoided capture? Lived freely, like Beibei hoped?
Free… for the rest of her life.
Black Element.
Distracted, Yiwen bumped into someone in the lobby.
Ouch. Summer clothes offered no padding—her shin hit a sharp corner. The pain rivaled stubbing a toe, nearly making her see stars.
“Sorry! You okay?”
The man hastily set down the folding bed he was carrying, letting Yiwen see his face.
The two brothers from the train?! What were the odds? Though they were here for the hospital.
“Fine.” Yiwen crouched, clutching her leg.
“Take her to get checked!” the other brother urged.
“Uh… can you stand?” The first brother sounded reluctant—hospital bills weren’t cheap.
“Really, I’m fine.” Yiwen recovered after a moment.
Standing up, they finally recognized her. Short-haired, cute girls were hard to forget.
Awkward. She’d admitted to dating Mi Xiaoliu thinking they’d never meet again—yet here they were. Pretending not to know them felt worse, especially after chatting with their mom.
“So… you guys met the parents?” Yiwen broke the silence with an even more awkward topic.
Coming from an outsider, it almost sounded sarcastic.
Backtracking with “I didn’t mean it like that” wouldn’t help either.
“Yeah. His dad wasn’t thrilled. Just worried about his son—normal stuff.” The brother holding the bed sighed. “We’ve got a mortgage too. Not like we have options. Barely know any women—what stranger would sign up for this life?”
Mortgages really are a headache. Once you’re saddled with one, quitting your job isn’t an option. You endure workplace bullying because you lack the time or energy to fight back legally…
“Enough whining. I’ll cosplay Tokisaki Kurumi for you later,” the other brother stepped on his foot.
This made Yiwen notice how strikingly handsome the first brother was. With looks like that, he definitely wasn’t the type to struggle finding a partner.
Seems I’ve stumbled upon some juicy secrets.
Yiwen: [Mother’s Birth BGM plays internally]
The two men noticed her strange expression.
They’d gotten carried away, nearly forgetting a girl was standing right there.
The Kurumi-cosplaying brother smiled awkwardly: “We’re just kindred spirits. No… other interests.”
“…”
Yiwen felt oddly conflicted—was this her latent fujoshi instincts awakening? She finally understood why Zhang Huba would look both pained and exhilarated seeing her with Xiaoliu.
Too bad I’ll disappoint her. We’re both girls… and doomed to fail anyway.
It wasn’t that Yiwen had zero lingering feelings beyond guilt—but those only applied to the old Xiaoliu. Would her parents disapprove like these brothers’ families? She didn’t know. Her own sexuality was perfectly normal.
—
Leaving the hospital, Yiwen slumped into the passenger seat of her mother’s car. Before any questions about Mi Xiaoliu could be asked, she closed her eyes to sleep.
She hadn’t rested properly since the forest survival ordeal through Mi Xiaoliu’s crisis.
In her dream, everything reset. Mi Xiaoliu was never arrested. They sat sweetly gaming together on the couch—a 1v1 match.
Mi Xiaoliu usually sucked at games, normally it’s boys carrying girls, but their dynamic was reversed. After particularly bad losses, Yiwen would vent by crushing her in solo duels.
But this time, Mi Xiaoliu became an unstoppable killing machine—slaughtering her over a dozen times.
Now the loser gets punished? When I won before, there were never consequences!
Then, seamlessly, the dream merged with her fever hallucination.
She knelt on the ground as Mi Xiaoliu—transformed into a cruel dominatrix—removed her boots and stepped barefoot on Yiwen’s head. And Yiwen… reveled in her queen’s humiliation.
“Ghk—!”
She jolted awake in terror.
“Nightmare?” Raven’s voice was uncharacteristically gentle. Her daughter needed comfort after the forest ordeal.
“Why’d you crank the AC so high?!” Yiwen complained before turning away to sleep again.
Raven promptly twisted her ear.
Zero tolerance for teenage attitude.
—
When Yiwen fell asleep again, the nightmare resumed right where it left off.
Absolutely terrifying.
—
“Coerced into assisting the governor’s assassination via rare toxin injection and maternal threats—antidote promised upon completion. Black Element contamination cited as a mitigating factor. Sentence reduced to one month juvenile detention with permanent record.” Ma Wutian summarized Mi Xiaoliu’s final judgment.
Because of her physical condition caused by Black Element, she was exempt from appearing in court. This was a concession Humpback Whale had fought for—her medical reports were damningly persuasive.
When the court saw how frail the girl was, yet still acting out of loyalty to her mother, even the sternest jurors softened.
As for her male disguise and origins from the Fallen City? Heli had glossed over those details. She’d been running around nonstop these past few days, even forgetting which equation she’d left off in her experiments.
“No threat,” Mi Xiaoliu shook her head.
Ma Wutian glanced up at her.
Most people, even if uneasy, would stay silent. Yet here she was, defending someone else.
Hard to believe a kid like this committed a crime.
The governor’s assassination had far-reaching implications, but with the mastermind dead, what more could be done? One accomplice remained at large, the other had been coerced.
The governor’s allies pushed for harsher punishment while demanding the fugitive be hunted down. For now, Humpback Whale had leveraged his connections—and his brother’s—to block them.
Useless when investigating the governor, but at least good for something here.
He took his duty toward his old friend’s “orphan” seriously.
When Officer Chen heard the verdict, he gleefully wanted to call the Superintendent to gloat—this is what happens when you vouch for the wrong people.
But Heli, still in Fanzui City at the time, stopped him.
Her reasoning? The Superintendent’s daughter was going through a rebellious phase, putting her in a murderous mood. Provoking her would only worsen tensions between the Lasvedo family and the police. She’d handle it herself. Whether Officer Chen believed her or not, he didn’t make the call.
“However, participating in a governor’s assassination is a serious crime. Fortunately, your abilities allow you to make amends. For the next ten years—your estimated lifespan with Black Element—you must provide one ‘miracle herb’ weekly to the Federal Medical Institute. Can you do this?”
This was putting the cart before the horse. The lenient sentence was because of the miracle herbs.
“Where’s Boss?” Mi Xiaoliu tugged Humpback Whale’s sleeve, looking for Wei Shi.
Only with Wei Shi’s permission would she dare give her miracle herbs to strangers.
Humpback Whale ducked to avoid hitting the ceiling, his smile awkward. “He’s gone somewhere far away.”
His massive hand ruffled her hair like she was a hamster. “He won’t be able to see you for a long time.”
Mi Xiaoliu lowered her head.
“According to the accomplice’s testimony, you can produce one miracle herb per week. The authorities want a live demonstration,” Ma Wutian continued.
“No.” Mi Xiaoliu shook her head, pulling free from Humpback Whale’s hand.
“This could affect your sentence,” Ma Wutian sighed.
“No.” Mi Xiaoliu retreated under the covers.
[Translator’s Note: See the index page for this Novel if you want to see the Amazon Link for the eBooks.]
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