Chapter 64: The Person Behind the Glass

Little An unlocked the car door, and then said very coldly: “The work talk is done, please get out of the car.”

Fine, Chen Fengshi thought, this was the second time tonight, and the second woman, to kick him out of a car. It seemed he still needed to buy a second-hand car to drive. Then he wouldn’t be kicked out of a car, but would be driving his own car in the first place.

Before Chen Fengshi could close the car door, Little An suddenly called out to him and asked: “The Diplomatic Ambassador also needs a car, this can be provided.”

“Thanks, I can’t afford to drive a rich person’s car, the pressure is too great.”

“Whatever.” Little An drove away. She had finally softened her heart a little bit, but Chen Fengshi didn’t even accept it!

What did it mean to not know good from bad? She finally understood today.

Chen Fengshi waited by the roadside for over a dozen cars to pass before he found an empty taxi. On the way, he sent a message to Juzi, but there was still no reply, which made him feel more and more worried.

After he got in the car, Jiang Yuan called. He couldn’t be bothered to talk and just hung up, then sent a message back saying: ‘Shen Ai is not available to accompany you tonight, let’s meet another day.’

Shen Ai had just experienced that kind of thing, and also had friends who were killed or injured by a Demon General who deliberately caused trouble after losing a competition driving a taxi. At a time like this, how could she have the time to accompany Jiang Yuan out to deal with him?

‘How do you know? Did you ask Shen Ai out?’

‘Busy.’ Chen Fengshi couldn’t be bothered to deal with her. The impact on the school forum was gradually lessening, and the novelty period was almost over. Moreover, Little An’s help last night was indeed very effective. Originally, there were still some friends of the victims cursing him, but now different voices had appeared on the forum, and quite a few. Several of them were the main ones cursing him yesterday, the direct victims of the Illusory Memory.

However, he found that more victims chose to remain silent and did not express their opinions on the recovery of their own memories. There were also two victims who were not on the list of failed memory recoveries at all, yet they were still tirelessly attacking him. Instead, those who failed to recover didn’t come to the forum to yell.

Chen Fengshi could only call them weirdos, but he couldn’t go back to school anyway. Logically, he still needed to have less contact with his schoolmates. At night, drinking had still affected his judgment, so when Xiao Fei was actively helping him find an apartment, he forgot about this.

After encountering so many things in the past two days, he didn’t dare not to learn to be cautious. He was not afraid himself, but he had to consider the problem of implicating his friends. So Chen Fengshi sent a message to Xiao Fei, the general idea being that he had just received a commission, and the place he would be working for a while was far from the school, so the apartment location was not suitable.

Xiao Fei was asleep. Big Guy saw the message and replied that it was no problem, since Xiao Fei hadn’t had time to tell her sisters about renting the apartment anyway. Finally, Big Guy also cared about Skinny’s photo scandal. Hearing that he was fine, he also breathed a sigh of relief for him.

In less than half an hour, the taxi had already taken Chen Fengshi to the neighborhood where Juzi lived.

He had to register right after entering the main gate. He awkwardly realized that he didn’t know Juzi’s real name. So he gave the building number and room number. After hearing this, the security guard doing the registration said quite unhappily: “The person had an accident and was sent to the hospital, it happened this morning. You’re her friend and haven’t heard?”

“We haven’t known each other for long.” Chen Fengshi was very worried and quickly asked: “May I ask which hospital it is, sir?”

Just at this moment, outside the security room at the gate, the uncle who was on duty downstairs at Juzi’s building last night came over. Seeing Chen Fengshi, he said: “Tian’ai Hospital, Inpatient Department 909!”

“Thank you—” Chen Fengshi didn’t have time to ask what was going on. He ran straight out of the neighborhood. However, although there were many taxis coming and going on the road, he couldn’t see an empty one for a moment. He was so anxious that he really couldn’t wait any longer. He ran straight across the street, started a parked black-and-white motorcycle, and rode off.

Juzi… what exactly happened?

On the way, Chen Fengshi’s mind was full of this question.

He had something on his mind and was in a rush to get there. He didn’t care that the traffic was still not light at this time. If an intersection looked clear from afar, he just sped through at high speed. He sped along like the wind and lightning, but inadvertently left behind many screams and gasps of amazement.

Chen Fengshi was not in the mood to pay attention to these things at all. Even if he noticed, he wouldn’t stop because of them.

He only wanted to know, what happened to Juzi…

What exactly happened to Juzi…

Through the glass of the intensive care unit, what he saw was not Juzi, but a bag of bones.

What exactly happened to Juzi?

Chen Fengshi stared at Juzi inside for a long time, listening to Juzi’s little cousin talk.

Juzi’s mother couldn’t bear the blow and cried from the afternoon until the evening. She had originally taken a several-hour flight to rush back and hadn’t slept at all on the way.

Juzi’s mother received a message in the early hours: ‘Mom, save me.’

Then, no matter how she called or messaged, there was no response. Her mother was so worried that she immediately rushed back from the tourist spot, fearing something was wrong, and asked a relative to go to her door to find her. The neighborhood security guards knew that Juzi had come home last night. After hearing the situation, they decisively suggested breaking the door down, and invited the neighborhood locksmith to open the door.

They didn’t see Juzi; they only saw this living dead person who might or might not be Juzi.

“…I don’t know what happened to my cousin. The doctor said her condition is very strange, and her body functions are running at a very low consumption state. IV drips don’t work either… no, the doctor said it’s different from a normal vegetative state, but we have to wait for the checkups to be clear to know for sure…”

Juzi’s cousin cried on and off. She really admired and liked her big cousin Juzi. That was why she was willing to tell the situation to this handsome big brother Chen Fengshi. Because she felt that he was very likely her big cousin’s boyfriend, so she cared more about Juzi’s condition than other male friends, and was also sadder.

Juzi… what exactly happened?

Chen Fengshi’s mind was full of Juzi’s beautiful and smart face from last night. Compared with the one resting in the ward right now, that strong contrast made it even more heartbreaking and sad!

It shouldn’t be like this, it shouldn’t be like this…

He thought of the Little Family Beauty who only had a meal with him and was then shot dead by a Level One Demon General. Thinking of Juzi, and then thinking of Queen Huang, he couldn’t help but grit his teeth secretly. Queen Huang made him think of how many Fungal Demons there might still be!

Was it the Fungal Demon?

Was it the Fungal Demon?

Chen Fengshi didn’t know, because in the information Little An gave, Fungal Demons had never killed people like this. However, there were cases of people becoming this skinny because too much energy was absorbed by Fungal Demons.

But, those people’s situations were all different from Juzi’s! Moreover, Juzi possessed the Power of Life, so how could she be devoured by a Fungal Demon?

These things, these doubts, Chen Fengshi could only ask Little An in the end.

When Little An arrived, Chen Fengshi had already been standing in the hospital for over an hour.

After she arrived, she silently looked through the glass at Juzi, who was fast asleep inside, for a while. Then she nudged Chen Fengshi with her arm and signaled with her eyes to go outside to talk.

Chen Fengshi was feeling very low. He followed Little An out of the hospital and found a bench by the grass to sit down.

He pressed his palm against his forehead and asked without much emotion: “Is it the Fungal Demon?”

“I just learned about the situation through someone. Juzi’s actual condition is very bizarre. This state is different from past cases. The hospital is still having consultations, and many experts are on their way. But now there is actually a preliminary conclusion. It is a very strange sleeping state. Her life and body functions are close to stopping… In short, for the time being, there is no life-threatening danger. The consulting experts believe that we cannot blindly try to save her now and still need more detailed checks. They are worried that the wrong treatment might break the balanced state of this sleep…”

“Is it the Fungal Demon?” Chen Fengshi’s voice carried a bit more emotion. After all, it was good news. Doctors often couldn’t tell the real situation to the family because of concerns, or at least couldn’t say it for now. If the problem wasn’t figured out and the doctor rashly told the family there was no life-threatening danger, and then something suddenly went wrong, they would have to take responsibility for those words.

Little An learned the real situation of the consultation through related channels. This was certainly very useful. At least he knew Juzi wasn’t in life-threatening danger! That meant there was hope for recovery. It meant things hadn’t reached an irreversible point, not like the Little Family Beauty.

“Whether it’s related to the Fungal Demon, we can’t be sure right now. However, judging from the information we have so far, this is different from the situation caused by a Fungal Demon absorbing too much of a person’s life energy. Like those skinny cases at Xuancheng University, they belong to the Fungal Demon mobilizing various fungi in the human body, decomposing and converting the body’s energy at a super high speed, causing muscle breakdown. The protein, sugar, fat, and so on in the body all rapidly drain away in a short time. More seriously, it will cause varying degrees of permanent damage to body functions. But although Juzi’s body functions are running in a state close to stopping, they are not damaged. During the IV drip, it was like some functions were activated, but they refused to absorb the nutrient fluid being put in, and instead sped up excreting it out of the body, and then went back into the sleeping state…” Little An explained the differences patiently, even though Chen Fengshi just listened in silence.

After a while, when she finished speaking, Chen Fengshi suddenly asked: “Did you ask Queen Huang? Does the Fungal Demon really have this kind of method?”

Yes, Chen Fengshi couldn’t help but feel it was related to the Fungal Demon. The situations were similar, and Juzi had been attacked by a Fungal Demon last night. At the time, they judged it was an accidental discovery by a Fungal Demon Parasite, but looking at it now, it might have been a premeditated plot! Just like the Little Family Beauty!

Little An was silent for a moment, but Chen Fengshi’s gaze stayed on her for a long time without looking away. It revealed intense emotion, like a gradually boiling volcano that could erupt at any time.

She understood this suppressed pain, so she knew it wasn’t appropriate, but she still told the truth. “Queen Huang’s information is unreliable. She will definitely use this kind of opportunity to steer the narrative.”

“Anyway, we were going to do this anyway, as long as we can find out the truth as soon as possible.” Chen Fengshi gritted his teeth secretly. He didn’t believe that Juzi had suddenly gotten a strange disease. Plus, there was the information provided by Juzi’s little cousin. “The security guard on duty at Juzi’s building said that yesterday in the early hours, Juzi originally called him to say a female friend would come over to hang out, but the security guard never saw this person come.”

Little An didn’t ask when they met or if they had a personal relationship. She could just tell that for someone with Chen Fengshi’s personality, his behavior right now was already the answer. So she said: “Queen Huang said that she has never used this method, but the power of the Fungal Demon can do it.”

“Thanks.” Chen Fengshi stood up directly, grabbed his helmet, and left.

Little An pressed her hand against her forehead and sighed helplessly. She had known early on that Chen Fengshi would most likely react this way, so she originally didn’t want to say it, but in the end, she respected Chen Fengshi’s wishes and said it.

But, could Chen Fengshi’s intense reaction not make people worry?

She couldn’t sit still anyway, so she quickly chased after him.