"Excuse me, do you need some help?"
Seeing the mature woman in front of him looking troubled over her broken-down land vehicle, Zuo Jian stepped forward and instinctively asked if she needed assistance.
The woman seemed so focused on figuring out how to fix the engine that, when she heard his voice, she jumped in fright and nearly smacked her head against the raised front hood of the vehicle.
"Wah!"
She turned around and stared at Zuo Jian in disbelief. For a split second, something like shock flashed through her eyes, only to be immediately replaced by obvious relief.
Zuo Jian watched her let out a heavy sigh before saying,
"Thank you for the offer. I really am in a bit of trouble right now."
"That much is obvious." He smiled faintly. The engine at the front of her land vehicle was still belching smoke, laying the current situation out in plain sight.
Hearing that, the woman pressed a hand to her forehead and muttered gloomily,
"There's nothing for it. I'm not from around here. It's my first time in this city, and I never expected to drive into such a deserted district because I didn't know the roads. And of course, this damned land vehicle had to break down at exactly this moment."
"Oh, right, I forgot to introduce myself."
The white-haired Sarkaz woman generously extended a hand to him.
"My name is Grey."
At that, Zuo Jian fell silent for a moment, his gaze drifting to the land vehicle behind her.
"Miss Grey, it seems you've been waiting here quite a while. This street may not see much traffic, but it's not so deserted that no one at all would pass by. Especially not when there's a lady as beautiful as you here—one no Victorian gentleman would willingly look away from."
He smiled as he spoke, while his left hand quietly moved behind his back to grip the Rose Revolver he had just taken from his item inventory, pulling back the hammer so it was ready to fire at any moment.
Yet Grey only showed a faintly sorrowful, helpless smile. She shrugged and gently touched the sharp ear hidden beneath her white hair.
"Under normal circumstances, perhaps. But... I'm a Sarkaz."
"You know how it is. No matter where Sarkaz go, we're always met with strange looks. Back where I used to live, even entering public places was enough to earn contempt."
"And besides..." Grey said, tugging open the collar of her white office blouse to reveal several black crystalline marks near her collarbone.
"I'm also an Infected."
"What..."
Zuo Jian trembled slightly at the revelation, and when he looked at her again, there was a trace of sympathy in his eyes. He knew what Oripathy was. His medical skill included knowledge of diseases like it, and after living here for some time, he had long since learned how harshly the Infected were treated in this society.
But... it still wasn't enough to erase his suspicion.
"To be honest, as an Infected, why would you travel all the way to this city?" he asked. "I don't think this place would rank anywhere near the top ten most Infected-friendly cities in Victoria."
Grey answered with a bitter smile.
"Because I'm broke."
"You probably don't know this, but people like us can't expect any kind of social welfare from major hospitals. So if we want treatment, we have to go to private clinics. But most of them are still far too expensive for people like me."
"A while ago, though, a friend told me there was a clinic in this city. The doctor there charges very little and doesn't discriminate against the Infected, so I thought... maybe I could try my luck here. I heard that doctor's name was..."
"Something Leifert?"
"Zuo Jian Leifert."
"Ah, yes, yes, that's it. Do you know him?"
Grey suddenly looked excited, but Zuo Jian still didn't relax his guard. His finger rested lightly on the trigger as he watched her slowly step closer, as if waiting for her to expose a flaw.
"I suppose you could say I do..."
"Then please, you have to take me to—"
Grey took a few more steps forward, but in the next instant her pupils abruptly dilated. She clapped a hand over her mouth, but it was already too late. A large amount of blood burst from between her lips along with a violent fit of coughing, soaking the front of her white blouse red in moments.
The sudden change startled even Zuo Jian. After a brief hesitation, he finally stepped forward, placing his free hand on her shoulder.
"Hey, are you all right, Miss Grey?!"
Grey seemed to want to answer him, but the unending coughs turned every word she tried to speak into fresh spurts of blood. Before long, she appeared to slip into a delirious state, then collapsed right in front of him, losing consciousness on the spot.
"What the hell..."
Everything had happened too fast for Zuo Jian to process. One second she had seemed fine, and the next she'd dropped where she stood.
He cautiously stepped closer and examined the blood she had coughed up onto her chest.
The color was right. The smell was right. It really was freshly coughed-up blood from inside the human body, not something like a fake blood pack.
Realizing that, Zuo Jian quickly pulled back one of her eyelids and checked her pupils.
"Dilated. No light reflex... damn it, she's really out cold!"
The moment he understood that she really might be a severely ill Oripathy patient who had genuinely come seeking help, Zuo Jian sucked in a sharp breath, hurriedly holstered the Rose Revolver, scooped Grey up off the ground, and sprinted back toward the manor.
"What, are you going to keep staring at that broken door forever?"
Sitting in the living room, Eblana looked at her sister with a helpless expression, then casually picked up a book from the sofa and glanced at the title.
The Free Little Skylark...
"Good grief, why is it this stupid book again?"
She tossed the storybook she hated aside and turned her gaze back to her sister, speaking with clear impatience.
"Loughshinny, this is the eighteenth time you've turned around to look at that door. Let me remind you: it isn't locked, and that man isn't brain-damaged. There's no way he's going to get trapped outside and need you to go open it for him."
"Unless, of course, that's exactly the sort of scene you're hoping for."
A sly smile appeared on Eblana's face as she placed the keys on the table and, in a coaxing tone, added,
"If you really want that, then just go make it happen yourself. You know how. At worst, you can tell him you saw someone suspicious outside, got scared, and locked the door. He might even praise you for being cautious."
Loughshinny froze for a moment. For the briefest instant, she actually seemed tempted. But in the next moment, she hurriedly shook her head, throwing away the thoughts Eblana's words had planted in her mind.
"Big Sister... I wasn't thinking like that!"
"I was just... wondering why he still isn't back after all this time..."
Hearing that, Eblana rolled her eyes. Leaning back on the sofa with one hand propping up her chin, she stared at the overstuffed shopping bags on the table and let out a faintly contemptuous snort.
"Hah. Who knows? He specifically sent us away so he could go do something he didn't want us to know about. Maybe it's exactly what I keep telling you—some grand scheme of his, filled with ambition, all about seizing power and profit."
"Big Sister, he's not that kind of person!"
Almost without hesitation, Loughshinny turned and refuted her the moment the words left her mouth.
Eblana ought to have been pleased that her little sister was finally willing to actively confront her. But the moment she realized Loughshinny was only doing it to defend that new father of hers, any trace of satisfaction was instantly crushed flat.
And, annoyingly enough, she had no good way to refute her.
So for once, Eblana couldn't win the argument.
She spread her hands and said,
"Fine, fine, he's not that kind of person. Then let me guess what he's doing out there for so long. Maybe he's just off fooling around with some woman."
"Wh—"
Loughshinny's face immediately turned scarlet. She hastily tried to argue again.
"He... he's not..."
Creak!
At that exact moment, the front door suddenly opened.
Both girls turned toward it almost at the same time—and in the next instant, they both saw the man named Zuo Jian charging into the living room, drenched in sweat, carrying an unfamiliar woman in his arms.
"Zuo—"
"Don't come any closer!"
Wearing a face mask, Zuo Jian barked the warning almost immediately, stopping both Loughshinny and Eblana from stepping forward to ask questions.
He knew the woman in his arms was in terrible condition, and he also knew what could happen when an Infected died. That was exactly why he wouldn't let the two girls near her.
The moment he rushed into the living room, he didn't hesitate even slightly—he went straight for the basement.
His conscience demanded that he save this woman. But reason also told him he could not allow his own impulse to endanger the people around him.
So he had immediately thought of the best possible place to treat her.
The underground dispensary.
Watching him dash downstairs without even stopping to explain, then lock the basement door behind him, and seeing her own foolish little sister frozen in place, Eblana sidled up beside her and spoke in a teasing tone.
"Well? Still going to argue with me?"
Yet for some reason, even though her guess had come true, Eblana herself felt a flicker of irritation rising inside her too.
....
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