Chapter 222: Back To That Key Moment ⑤

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Chapter 222: Back To That Key Moment ⑤

As the ward door opened, Gabriel quickly pulled out the syringe, hid it in his clothes, and then pretended to move forward to help Shang Ke.

However, before he could lay a hand on Shang Ke, Ravel blocked him with one hand. Ravel squatted down to examine Shang Ke and ordered his subordinates in a cold voice, “Call a doctor.”

Shang Ke lay pale on the floor, his eyes unfocused and half-open. His breathing was shallow, and his limbs hung limply at his sides. His disheveled clothes exposed large patches of scarred skin and the Crimson Skyfire blooming across his chest.

Ravel looked sharply at Gabriel and asked coldly, “What happened?”

Gabriel lowered his head, avoiding Ravel’s gaze. In a wounded tone, he said, “I don’t know. We were talking just fine, and then he suddenly lunged at me…”

As he spoke, the doctors rushed over.

Ravel grabbed Gabriel and threw him to an officer. He ordered, “Lock him up and deal with him later.”

“Your Majesty, please believe me. I didn’t hurt Cage.” Gabriel desperately tried to defend himself.

Ravel ignored him. His thoughts were focused entirely on the gravely injured Shang Ke.

The doctor quickly administered emergency treatment, then, with the help of the other medical staff, carefully placed Shang Ke on a bed and rushed him to the emergency room.

“Your Majesty, Young Master Cage’s condition is grave. The impact caused widespread fractures in bones that had only just begun to heal, and the toxins in his body have begun acting up again.” The doctor paused, then said with difficulty, “Please prepare for the worst.”

Ravel stared blankly at the doctor and hurried into the emergency room, feeling as though a huge rock were crushing his heart and making it difficult to breathe.

After a moment, he suddenly turned and said to his adjutant, Kahn, “I’m going to the monitor room.”

This floor was under tight surveillance, with guards and sentry posts stationed throughout the area, and only authorized personnel allowed to enter. Gabriel was Cage’s brother, so Ravel had not forbidden him from visiting. As a result, this had happened on Gabriel’s very first visit. It was easy to imagine the anger and suspicion in Ravel’s heart.

Meanwhile, after Ravel’s men took him away, Gabriel quietly threw away the jammer and syringe hidden in his clothes. Although the attempt had not gone as planned, no one could charge him as long as there was no evidence.

Gabriel thought the jammer had blocked the surveillance perfectly, but he did not know that such a small trick could never fool Ravel.

In the monitor room, the staff brought up the surveillance footage from after Gabriel entered the ward.

In the video, Gabriel walked into the ward and stood beside Cage’s bed for a moment before whispering a few words. Cage looked as though something had provoked him. Despite his injuries, he slammed into Gabriel with all his strength. After knocking Gabriel back, Cage fell from the bed as well. Gabriel then moved to his side, appearing to help him up.

“What did Gabriel say to Cage? How could it make him so angry?” After watching the entire sequence, everyone reached the same conclusion.

Ravel watched it several more times, then asked the staff to run a layered analysis of the video, which could restore footage blocked by the jammer.

A few minutes later, the blocked footage appeared clearly on the screen.

【How did the torture feel?】

【Look at you now, barely clinging to life. How pitiful.】

【Do you know you only have a few days left to live?】

Gabriel had not deliberately lowered his voice, so his words came clearly through the speakers in the surveillance room.

Before anyone could react, Gabriel suddenly swung at Cage’s face. Cage raised his hand to block it. A sharp crack rang out, and his arm fell limp, clearly broken.

Ravel saw the pain Cage was suppressing, and his entire body tensed, radiating a frightening chill.

But the most infuriating part was still to come. Gabriel pulled out a syringe and tried to inject some kind of liquid into Cage. Unable to call for help, Cage endured the pain of his broken hand and struggled desperately. His eyes showed a powerful desire to survive and an unyielding determination never to give up.

However, Gabriel cruelly twisted his arm until it broke.

Cage could neither speak nor move his hands. With only his battered body left to fight with, he used it as a weapon and slammed into Gabriel with all his strength.

Thud! The sound of Cage hitting the floor struck Ravel in the chest like a heavy hammer and left him aching.

The next scene repeated the previous one. Gabriel moved in front of Cage and appeared to be about to help him up. But after everything that had just happened, Ravel quickly realized that Gabriel was not trying to help him; he was injecting him with drugs!

That syringe!

Ravel suppressed his anger and sternly ordered, “Hurry. Send someone to the ward and see whether the syringe is still there. Also have the people guarding Gabriel search him.”

“Yes.” Kahn immediately left. It wasn’t only Ravel, who valued Cage highly; even Kahn couldn’t tolerate what Gabriel had done. Kahn had thought Cage had gone mad because he was angry, but who could have imagined that so much would happen in just a few dozen seconds?

If Cage hadn’t fought back with all his might, Gabriel might have poisoned him without anyone noticing until he died. Gabriel could then have inherited House Bick legitimately, claimed Cage’s and his father’s estate, honor, and reputation as his own, and lived in glory under the protection of Ravel and the other supporters.

Kahn shuddered at the thought. Fortunately, Cage had been brave and decisive enough.

Ravel set aside all other matters and stayed outside the emergency room throughout.

Three hours later, the emergency-room doors finally opened, and the doctor emerged. “We’ve repaired his bones again. To keep them from breaking a second time, I recommend leaving him in the treatment capsule for now. He is temporarily out of immediate danger, but the toxins in his body are behaving abnormally. We need to investigate further.”

“He may have been injected with other drugs. I’ll find out exactly what they are as soon as possible. You must save him!” The look in Cage’s eyes at that moment was deeply imprinted in Ravel’s mind. There was no despair or pleading in them, only the desire to survive and an unyielding fighting spirit in the face of despair.

Ravel entered the special ward and looked at the person lying inside the treatment capsule. “You won’t die. I absolutely won’t let you die,” he whispered.

Shang Ke remained unconscious. Both his body and soul had suffered severe trauma and were struggling to repair themselves.

This was his final hurdle, the critical point that would determine whether he could truly be reborn. The System had paid an enormous price to reverse time and could offer no further help for the moment. If Shang Ke died before his soul was fully restored, it would disperse completely, leaving him no chance to enter reincarnation again.

Fortunately, the god of fortune was on their side. After sleeping for two months, Shang Ke finally climbed back from the verge of death.

During this period, Ravel questioned Gabriel about the source of the drug. The interrogation was so bloody that it is best left undescribed. In the end, when Ravel sent Gabriel to court with the evidence, everyone saw a madman with no visible scars or injuries on the surface but a mind that had already collapsed.

Gabriel once asked Ravel why Cage was able to become a hero. All he had done was spend a few days as a prisoner and refuse to confess under torture.

Ravel said to him, “If you can withstand three days of torture and insist that you are innocent, I will let you go.”

As a result, he did not even last two hours before collapsing in tears and confessing every one of his crimes. Only after experiencing it firsthand did he understand how terrible Cage’s torture had been. The slender boy had paid a brutal price for his recklessness, yet he had bravely shouldered his responsibility, held fast to his position, and endured every torment without betraying his companions.

That alone was enough to earn anyone’s respect.

Warm sunlight woke Shang Ke. His aching eyes fluttered, and it took him quite a while to adjust to the brightness.

“You’re awake?”

A large hand rested on his forehead. The warmth made him feel at ease.

Shang Ke turned to look at the man beside the bed. Ravel was dressed neatly as always, his hair combed meticulously. His deep-set features reflected both the fortitude and majesty of a soldier and the refined bearing cultivated since childhood.

“You were unconscious for two months, but your injuries have healed well. In a few days, I’ll take you outside for some fresh air.” A week earlier, after the doctors had officially declared Shang Ke out of danger, Ravel had moved him out of the treatment capsule. Powerful as the capsule was, lying inside it while machines maintained every bodily function was hardly a pleasant experience.

Ravel hoped that Shang Ke could breathe fresh air, sleep on soft bedding, and rest comfortably.

Shang Ke tried moving his hands and feet and felt no pain apart from some weakness. It seemed that he had recovered well, but he had not expected to sleep for so long.

Two months… Wait, two months? The founding ceremony and hero memorial service were already over? Ravel was safe?

Shang Ke stared at Ravel without blinking. Ravel was sitting there perfectly upright, all four limbs intact, and appeared completely unharmed.

“Your vocal cords should have recovered as well, but take it slowly when you speak.” Ravel raised the head of the hospital bed, poured a glass of warm water, and held it to Shang Ke’s lips.

Shang Ke took a few sips, cleared his throat, and then called out in a dry voice, “Ravel…”

“Hmm.” Pleasure flickered across Ravel’s brows when he heard Shang Ke call his name.

“…Your Majesty?”

Ravel paused, then said, “Just call me by my name.”

From Ravel’s response, Shang Ke knew that the Nova Empire had already been established. Otherwise, Ravel would have told him that the founding ceremony had not yet taken place or that he had not formally ascended the throne.

“I want to see the news.”

Ravel immediately brought over the portable computer and placed it on the mobile table. He silently watched as Shang Ke raised his hand and navigated through the webpages with unsteady movements.

News of the Nova Empire’s founding was everywhere. No matter which page he opened, he found reports about it accompanied by countless photographs.

Looking at Ravel’s majestic appearance in the photographs, Shang Ke’s lips lifted slightly and his eyes shone. Yes, this was his man. He was truly handsome and domineering.

Ravel sat quietly by the side, his deep eyes fixed entirely on one figure.

After a while, Shang Ke looked up and asked, “When will the hero memorial service be held?”

“Seven days from now.”

In fact, the date had not been set, and Ravel had been waiting for Cage to wake up. The memorial service would commemorate the martyrs who had died in the war and mourn Cage’s father.

Now that Cage had finally awakened, he had seven days to recuperate and should be able to attend the memorial service.

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