Black Sky - Chapter 36

Inside the narrow operating room, Shi Lei was lying on the operating table, blinded by the dazzling lights making it impossible for him to open his eyes.

His hands were tied to the sides of his body with leather straps, and his bare upper body was covered in deep scratches.

The pain made Shi Lei sweat profusely. The low gasps coming from his mouth were like the exhausted panting of an old stray dog hiding in a dirty alley, making people feel uncomfortable and uneasy.

In contrast, Meng Yilan, who was standing by the operating table, had a calm face, seemingly oblivious to Shi Lei’s miserable state, but in her hand, she was holding a blood-stained scalpel.

After Shi Lei’s gasping subsided, Meng Yilan raised her hand, held the knife against his throat, and asked in a low voice: “Who is it?”

As if electrocuted, Shi Lei trembled, trying to avoid the blade, but Meng Yilan used even more force, and the knife began to sink into Shi Lei’s skin.

The piercing pain came from his neck, and Shi Lei panicked, answering: “It, it’s…”

Hearing the answer coming from his mouth, Meng Yilan gripped the scalpel even harder—she also held Bai Zi’s hand even tighter.

The sudden increase in her grip made Bai Zi wake up. She opened her eyes, looked at the roof of the car, and after a long while, finally realized that she was lying in the back seat of a car.

Moreover, her hand was being held tightly by someone.

Bai Zi turned her head, and saw the person holding her hand—Meng Yilan. She was sitting by the window, her head resting on the backrest, her eyes closed, seemingly having fallen into a deep sleep.

But despite this, Bai Zi found that Meng Yilan didn’t seem to be sleeping peacefully. Her eyebrows were tightly furrowed, and even the strength of her grip on her palm was getting stronger and stronger, even giving her the feeling that her four fingers were congested.

Bai Zi raised her hand, trying to break free from Meng Yilan’s restraint, but instead caused her to grip even tighter.

This back-and-forth tugging made Meng Yilan finally open her eyes, waking up.

Meng Yilan had just returned to the real world from her dream, and couldn’t recover for a moment. She frowned, looking at the darkness outside the window. Her sharp eyes, which always revealed a cold aura, were now very hazy, and she even looked a little cute with her sleepy eyes.

But soon, Meng Yilan completely woke up. She turned her head, and made eye contact with Bai Zi, who was lying by her lap.

In the darkness, although neither of them spoke, their hands were still tightly clasped together, like a very natural behavior, as if if no one interrupted, they would hold hands until the end of time.

In the end, Bai Zi was the first to make a move. She slightly raised the hand that was being held tightly by Meng Yilan.

Almost immediately, Meng Yilan instantly released Bai Zi, and then straightened her back extremely unnaturally.

Bai Zi, on the other hand, had a calm face. She slowly sat up, and even yawned.

“When you were sleeping just now,” Meng Yilan coughed lightly, saying as if inadvertently, “You suddenly grabbed my hand.”

Bai Zi turned her head, looking at Meng Yilan.

Meng Yilan deliberately avoided the other party’s gaze, awkwardly turning to look out the window: “You wouldn’t let go.”

Although Bai Zi’s strength was very weak at the time, she really hadn’t let go. I hadn’t wronged Bai Zi—Meng Yilan silently emphasized to herself in her heart.

Just as Bai Zi was about to speak, she found that Mao Mao, who was sleeping by her feet, seemed to have been awakened by their conversation. It pouted, and climbed to the middle of the two with a dissatisfied expression. After baring its teeth, it picked up Bai Zi’s hand, opened its mouth, and bit it.

Although Mao Mao didn’t use force, its gentle nibbling made Bai Zi feel itchy and unbearable, and she finally laughed.

The crisp laughter made Meng Yilan turn her head back.

The lights from the trucks behind shone into the car, and the light fell on Bai Zi’s right face. Her face made Meng Yilan couldn’t help but be stunned.

Bai Zi’s hair had grown a little longer, and her round head was very cute. Her almond eyes, full of smiles, were staring at Mao Mao in front of her, like a child. A pure smile spread across her face.

On her cheeks, shallow dimples were like small candies. Without needing to be held in her mouth, they seemed to allow Meng Yilan to smell a slight, but hard to ignore, sweetness.

This was the Bai Zi that Meng Yilan had never seen before.

Not only during these past few days, but even a year ago, in Meng Yilan’s impression, the Bai Zi she had seen had never smiled so purely, and had never made such a hearty, bell-like laugh.

Very, very, strange.

Bai Zi turned her head to look at Meng Yilan, her face still with a light, sweet smile: “Is there anything to eat?”

Meng Yilan was stunned.

“She must be hungry,” Bai Zi said, smiling and rubbing Mao Mao’s bald head. Even her tone revealed a sense of ease and joy that she had never shown before. “This guy wakes up to eat, eats and sleeps, his mouth is always smacking, never stopping.”

The smiling Bai Zi was talking, and for a moment, she forgot to answer the other party’s question.

At this time, the car turned a corner, driving onto a bumpy dirt road. After shaking for dozens of seconds, it drove into a large open space, and then, the car stopped.

“Miss Meng Yilan,” Uncle Hong’s voice came from the front, “This is one of our supply stations. We’ll probably need to stop for half an hour. If you two are tired, you can rest a bit.”

Before Meng Yilan could reply, Bai Zi had opened the car door. She carried Mao Mao, who was hanging around her neck like a travel bag, and quickly said: “I’m going to the bathroom, I’ll take her for a walk first.”

After saying that, she ran away without looking back.

Meng Yilan watched Bai Zi’s leaving figure, as if a breath was stuck in her throat, unable to go up or down. When she came back to her senses, even Uncle Hong had already gotten out of the car, leaving her alone in the car.

In contrast to Meng Yilan, who was extremely tangled in her heart, Bai Zi was like a passerby without any worries, taking Mao Mao to a small forest nearby.

As soon as she walked into the bushes, Mao Mao nimbly jumped up, directly jumping onto a tree, and quickly climbed to the top of the tree, picking a branch, biting off a few green buds, and stuffing them into its mouth, chewing non-stop.

Bai Zi looked around, and found that this place was a large parking lot.

At this time, a dozen trucks were parked neatly in it, and dozens of headlights completely illuminated the wide space.

At the very end of the parking lot, there was a one-story long and wide building. Many people carrying weapons were coming and going, some carrying goods out of the building and transporting them to the cars, and others standing by the cars, warily paying attention to the surrounding movements.

Just as Bai Zi was about to stretch, she heard footsteps behind her.

She turned her head, and found that it was the golden-haired woman who had stopped her from opening the car door when she had first woken up in the car.

Before Bai Zi could speak, the woman asked: “Is that red-haired orangutan yours?”

In contrast to the woman’s slightly heavy makeup, her tone was friendly, as if she was chatting with an ordinary friend.

Bai Zi shook her head: “I met her on the road a few days ago. She’s an orangutan that was raised in a zoo.”

At this time, Mao Mao, holding two or three branches, returned to the ground, hiding behind Bai Zi with a slightly wary look.

“My name is Liao Yuting, you can call me Yuting,” the woman looked at Mao Mao, and smiled at Bai Zi again. “There was another person in the car before, she’s my twin sister, her name is Yurou.”

Bai Zi didn’t hesitate too much, and nodded: “My name is Bai Zi.”

“Bai…” Yuting frowned uncertainly.

Just as Meng Yilan was slowly approaching the two, she happened to hear Bai Zi smiling and saying to Yuting: “Zi as in mulberry and catalpa, I also have brother, his name is Bai Sang.”

This was the first time Meng Yilan had seen Bai Zi chatting so “easily” with someone other than herself, and had even taken the initiative to talk about that “brother” with whom she didn’t have a good relationship.

Even You Yuyi had never communicated with Bai Zi so naturally and harmoniously.

For some reason, Meng Yilan, looking at the scene of the two chatting happily, felt a little…uncomfortable.

The first to notice Meng Yilan was Mao Mao. It smacked its lips, holding a branch in each hand, propped itself up with one hand, and slowly climbed to Meng Yilan’s side.

“Cousin,” Yuting saw Meng Yilan, and immediately greeted with a smile. “Did my sister look for you just now?”

Meng Yilan nodded, but didn’t smile, her face even a little cold.

When she was sitting in the car in a daze just now, Yurou had come to knock on the car door, and had handed her a communication device.

Meng Yilan had used that device to chat with her aunt, who was far away in Bei City—that is, Yurou and Yuting’s mother.

“Fortunately, our delivery convoy was not far away,” Yuting didn’t care about Meng Yilan’s indifference, and continued, “After receiving my mom’s instructions, Uncle Hong quickly arranged for everyone to change their route, and arrived at your place in a few days.”

Meng Yilan nodded, but her tone was very cold: “Thank you for your hard work.”

“It wasn’t hard,” Yuting rubbed her hands a little awkwardly. “My sister and I were so happy, we were so excited on the way here. These past few years, you’ve completely cut off contact with us, and even a year ago, in that kind of situation, there was still no news from you. My sister and I almost thought you…”

As Yuting spoke, her emotions suddenly became a little agitated, and even her eyes turned red. But for some reason, Meng Yilan was still standing there, not saying a word of comfort, and even her eyes were still cold.

Bai Zi quickly sensed that Meng Yilan’s emotions were a little strange, but before she could think too much, the sound of footsteps approached.

A woman who looked exactly like Yuting, but had a completely opposite temperament, stopped five meters away, and said softly: “Yuting, Mom’s looking for you.”

Yuting smiled at Meng Yilan and Bai Zi: “I’ll go over first, you guys can rest for a while.”

After saying that, she turned around and walked towards the white car with Yurou.

“Are they your family?” Bai Zi said to herself, looking at the figures of the two leaving. “That’s nice.”

The coldness on Meng Yilan’s face suddenly faded, and a strong sense of confusion appeared in her eyes. She finally couldn’t help but ask: “Do you remember what they did to you in the operating room?”

Bai Zi was stunned, but she wasn’t repulsed by the question Meng Yilan had asked, and nodded: “They gave me an injection, and then used a knife to make a lot of wounds on my body…”

Bai Zi suddenly thought of the person who had given her a bag of blood to drink, and stopped speaking, not knowing whether she should tell this matter.

“Did you feel that something was wrong?” Meng Yilan pressed on.

Bai Zi’s eyes were a little dazed, but she still nodded very readily: “Yes.”

Meng Yilan’s eyebrows furrowed, staring intently at Bai Zi’s eyes. After waiting for a while, she finally heard the other party say softly, with a slightly confused tone: “I seem to have forgotten some things.”

“Forgotten some things?” Meng Yilan suddenly clenched her hand, even she herself hadn’t noticed that she seemed to be a little too nervous about Bai Zi’s condition.

“It must be the problem with that injection,” Bai Zi thought, “That caused me to…become like this.”

She remembered that Shi Lei and that woman had said that the liquid in the needle would damage her memory.

Bai Zi looked up at Meng Yilan, her lips slightly parted, but she didn’t speak for a long time, only the dazedness in her eyes became more and more obvious.

“Bai Zi?” Meng Yilan called her again.

“It’s so strange,” Bai Zi turned her head, looking at the distant forest. “After I woke up, I always felt…a very relaxed feeling.”

Meng Yilan saw that pure smile appear on Bai Zi’s face again. Then, she heard the other party say something incomprehensible: “Why is this happening? I clearly forgot some…seemingly important things, but I’m just…not worried at all.”

“What exactly did you forget?” Meng Yilan frowned, and asked again.

Judging from Bai Zi’s current performance, Meng Yilan was very certain that Bai Zi hadn’t forgotten her, but she was also certain that Bai Zi had definitely forgotten some things related to her.

Because Bai Zi’s attitude towards her seemed a little different.

As for what was different, Meng Yilan couldn’t say.

Bai Zi finally turned her head to look at Meng Yilan. The two were silent for a long while, and she finally said softly: “My eyes.”

“Eyes?” Meng Yilan subconsciously looked at Bai Zi’s left eye, and there was no change there.

Compared to her right eye, it was slightly dull. As long as others paid a little attention, they would be able to find that her left eye couldn’t see.

Bai Zi nodded: “I don’t remember why my eyes can’t see.”

Meng Yilan frowned, she couldn’t understand Bai Zi’s words.

“And my injuries,” Bai Zi raised her hand, stroking the scars around her left eye. “I don’t remember how these injuries came to be, I can’t remember at all…”