Nicole gently took Xiao Luo's hand and asked softly, "Xiao Luo, these past few years... have you been doing well? After the orphanage was dissolved, didn't the government arrange a new family for you?"
Xiao Luo smiled warmly. "My new mom and dad have been very good to me. They always wanted a child, and they've loved me like their own daughter." Her eyes softened. "These past few years, I really have been happy."
But the smile slowly faded from her face.
"Until not long ago... when I was diagnosed with cancer."
"What?!" Nicole and Zhe cried out at the same time.
"Mom and Dad were devastated when they found out, but they said that no matter what, they would cure me." Xiao Luo's voice trembled slightly. "But... I know exactly how much cancer treatment costs. Back when we were taking care of the headmistress, I already learned how expensive those special medicines were..."
She lowered her head, unconsciously twisting the bedsheet in her fingers.
"They're just ordinary workers. If they try to treat me, they might lose everything they have. I... I didn't want to become their burden. So... I ran away from home."
Zhe could not help but speak up. "But if you left like that, how worried must they be?"
"I know..." Tears finally slipped down Xiao Luo's cheeks. "But compared to watching me die little by little, and taking on crushing debt because of me... I'd rather they forget me sooner." She raised her head and forced out a smile. "If I could feel the love of family in the final stretch of my life, then I have no regrets."
Nicole could not hold herself back any longer. She pulled Xiao Luo tightly into her arms, her voice breaking.
"Idiot... you silly child... why did you try to carry all of this by yourself..."
Xiao Luo wept softly in Nicole's embrace.
"Big Sister Nicole... I really miss them so much... but... but I wanted even less to watch them suffer because of me..."
Standing nearby, Zhe watched the two of them holding each other and felt his throat tighten.
This little girl, standing at the edge of life and death, was still thinking first of others.
That strength and kindness were enough to make a person ache with both admiration and sorrow.
After they had finally calmed Xiao Luo down, the two of them quietly closed the hospital room door behind them.
Out in the quiet corridor, Nicole finally lost the strength to keep holding herself together. She collapsed into Zhe's arms, and her stifled sobs echoed softly through the empty hallway.
"Why..."
Her voice was in pieces.
"The headmistress was taken from me by cancer, and now Xiao Luo too... She's still so little. Her life has only just begun..."
Zhe said nothing.
He only held her a little tighter.
His hand gently patted her back, letting her tears soak into his clothes.
At times like this, any words of comfort would have been unbearably thin and useless. So he chose instead to give her strength through silent companionship.
After a long while, Nicole's crying gradually subsided.
She lifted her head, her eyes red, but the familiar resolve had already returned to them.
Taking a deep breath, she said, "Now isn't the time to sink into despair. We have to do something for Xiao Luo."
Zhe nodded.
"Let's split up. I'll go file a report with the police—we have to get in touch with Xiao Luo's parents as soon as possible. They have a right to know where their daughter is, and..." He paused. "At a time like this, what Xiao Luo actually needs most is her family beside her."
"I'll investigate the Melopede family," Nicole said, a sharp light returning to her eyes. "Back when I lived there, I learned a little about the channels they use for distributing medicine. As long as we can trace the source of those special drugs, there has to be some way."
The two of them looked at one another and saw the same determination reflected in each other's eyes.
"Stay in contact," Zhe said softly. "If you make any progress, let me know right away."
Nicole nodded, cast one final glance at the hospital room door, and then turned and strode away with firm steps.
Zhe arrived at the Public Security Bureau lobby to find total chaos.
Phones were ringing nonstop, keyboards rattled, clerks were shouting to one another—it was obvious that the Nightmare invasion from that morning had pushed the entire bureau past its limits.
"Number 110, please proceed to Window 3..."
Zhe looked down at the number slip he had just taken—there were still more than ten people ahead of him.
Accepting his fate, he found a corner seat and sat down, aimlessly scrolling through his phone.
At that moment, Zhu Yuan came striding through the lobby carrying an enormous stack of files. Qingyi's voice crackled through her communicator:
"Zhu Yuan, why hasn't the preliminary report on the Nightmare incident been delivered to the meeting room yet?"
"It's already on the way, Senior!"
Zhu Yuan replied while carefully adjusting her line of sight.
But just as she lowered her head to answer, a little girl suddenly came bouncing past from the side.
"Watch out!"
Zhu Yuan cried out. In order to keep from crashing into the child, she twisted hard to change direction—but lost her footing in the process.
Together with the tower of files, she toppled straight sideways—
Bang!
The files scattered everywhere like falling snow.
Zhu Yuan felt herself slam into a solid body, and then drop into a deeply awkward seated position.
"Big sis, are you okay?" the little girl asked timidly.
Zhu Yuan hurriedly checked on the child first. Once she confirmed that the girl was unharmed, she smiled reassuringly.
"Big sis is fine. Are you all right?"
The little girl nodded, then pointed beneath Zhu Yuan and said in a tiny voice,
"But... I think this big brother might not be..."
Only then did Zhu Yuan belatedly realize the warm sensation beneath her.
Her rear end was planted squarely on someone's face.
She could even clearly feel the breath of the person beneath her brushing against the fabric of her uniform.
"Ah!"
She sprang up as if electrocuted, hurriedly hauling Zhe up from underneath her.
"I'm so sorry! A-are you okay? You're bleeding from your nose!"
Zhe wiped his nose, looked at the red on his fingertips, and answered with absolute seriousness:
"It's fine. I've just had a bit too much internal heat lately."
A few of the nearby clerks who had witnessed the whole thing could not help snickering.
Zhu Yuan's face instantly flushed all the way to her ears, and she hurriedly began gathering up the files scattered everywhere.
"Need a hand?" Zhe crouched down and helped pick up a few of them, just in time to catch sight of the words Nightmare Energy Analysis Report on one of the folders.
"No, thank you! I can handle it myself!"
Zhu Yuan snatched the files back and hurried away as though fleeing the scene, even the tips of her ears still burning red.
Watching her retreating back, Zhe rubbed his nose again and muttered quietly,
"Working at the Public Security Bureau really doesn't seem easy..."
Then suddenly, the little girl widened her eyes, pointed at Zhe, and cried out in surprise:
"Ah! You're the big brother who saved me and Pochi!"
Zhe froze for a second, then recognized the child before him—
she was the very same little girl with the white dog, the one he had saved in the car accident.
That memory drew a wry smile from him.
After all, it was because of saving her that he had ended up in the hospital—and because of that hospital stay, he had received the transformation belt on that fateful night.
"So it's you."
Zhe crouched down and gently patted the girl's head.
"What are you doing here? Did you get separated from your mom?"
The girl puffed out her cheeks and planted her hands on her hips.
"I'm not that dumb! I came here with my mom to file a report!"
As soon as she said that, an anxious-looking woman came hurrying over.
"Xiao Li! Didn't I tell you not to run around?"
But when she saw Zhe crouching there in front of her daughter, she froze, and her eyes instantly welled up.
"Y-you... you're the one who saved my daughter that day!"
She grabbed Zhe's hand gratefully.
"The situation was such a mess back then that I never had the chance to thank you properly. If you hadn't saved Xiao Li in time, then she..."
At that point, she was already so choked up she could not continue.
Embarrassed, Zhe scratched the back of his head.
"It's okay. As long as the child's fine, that's what matters."
"May I ask your name? We absolutely have to repay you somehow," the woman said earnestly.
"Just call me Zhe," he replied gently. "Seeing Xiao Li this lively and well is the best repayment there is."
Xiao Li tugged at her mother's sleeve and whispered,
"Mom, this big brother is a good person."
The woman wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, looking as though she still wanted to say more.
Just then, the overhead speaker crackled to life:
"Number 127, please proceed to Window 3."
Zhe glanced at his number slip and nodded politely to the woman.
"I should head to the window now. If there's anything else, we can talk afterward."
"Perfect—we're Number 128. Let's go together."
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 175)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 119)
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter105)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter100)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter79)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter125)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 70
From Junkman to Wasteland 60
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 40
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 73
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 55
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 66
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 64
The Way the Umamusume Look at 63
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 55
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 45
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 31
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 31
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 31
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