“Where’s Bai Wu? He’s my distant relative,” Xu Lan could not help but ask when he did not manage to find Bai Wu after looking around.

“Huh? I didn’t see anyone around? You fainted on the roadside and a good samaritan sent you to the hospital. In the end, it was squinty-eyed who called me. You were alone when I came over.”

Squinty-eyed was Lao Wang from the city hospital. He was the one who stitched Xu Lan up. His eyes were extraordinarily small, and he liked to laugh a lot. When he laughed, his eyes would squint and form a narrow slit. Therefore, they called him squinty-eyed in private.

“Cough, cough. Where’s my phone?”

“Sargeant Xu, what are you doing? The doctor said that you overworked and needed to rest properly. I already settled with Meng Chengjun,” Xu Lan lifted the covers to get out of bed but was held back down by Wang Hao.

“I want to go home,” Xu Lan struggled to get up. It definitely was not because he overworked. He just wanted to go home and see Bai Wu.

“Sergeant Xu! Which is more important, your body or the case! You’re already a grown-up, can’t you take care of yourself? Lie down nicely, I’ll go get him for you!” Wang Hao did not allow Xu Lan to get up and said sternly.

Wang Hao followed Xu Lan right after he graduated from university. It had been five or six years so he somewhat inherited Xu Lan’s temper. He could laugh and joke about small problems, but he would never go against his principles! He even received a lecture several days ago because of this.

Xu Lan was having acid reflux, where the stomach acid went back up due to uncontrolled muscle spasms, and burned his esophagus. The doctor injected him with a small amount of Chlorzoxazone. His legs felt weak since the effect of medication had not worn off.

The landlady saw Wang Hao came over and started to whine about how Xu Lan was not paying his rent. Finally, Wang Hao had no choice but to give her his own pocket money to shut her mouth. However, the room was empty. He looked around but could not find anyone. He ended up calling Xu Lan on the phone.

“What? He’s not back home?” Xu Lan asked anxiously and tried to get up from bed immediately.

Bai Wu had only been here for such a short period of time. The only two places he could go to was the teaching institute and the rented room. Xu Lan attempted to get up while he called the teacher on the phone. ‘Pang’ – he fell onto the floor. The family members from the adjacent ward could not bear to see him like this and helped him up.

“Young man, what made you so worried?” Xu Lan ran out as if he could not hear what they said.

He was not at home, and neither did he go to school. There was no special school either. Xu Lan searched every possible place he could be but there was no sign of Bai Wu. The sky was rumbling with thunder and the monstrous winds were blowing, making ‘whoosh’ sounds. The rain was about to fall and the air became more stuffy, like a stove that was baking Xu Lan.

“Where can he go to? Are there any other places?” Wang Hao asked anxiously. He brought over the guys from the second team but they still could not find him.

Xu Lan shook his head weakly. They had searched everywhere they could, even the place where Bai Wu used to buy groceries, but no one saw him.

He sat at the stairway and looked up to the darkened sky, filled with bolts of lightning and thunders. ‘Where could he be? Is he afraid? In the past, he would rush into his arms to ask for kisses and hugs whenever he’s afraid. Is he hiding in a corner shivering, all alone?’ Xu Lan thought.

Rain droplets the size of beans splattered on the ground, as if they were thousands upon thousands of troops and horses were given the word of command to strike the earth. The fierce wind commanded the storm to attack earth over and over.

“Sergeant Xu, nothing here!”

“Not here, Sergeant Xu!”

“There’s nothing on my side too.”

Xu Lan’s index finger and the middle finger were stained yellow by cigarette smoke, while his smoking hand trembled non-stop.