Hospital 444
Chapter 280 - 16 Patrol Ended

Chapter 280: Chapter 16 Patrol Ended

Wen Qing was anxious and shouted desperately, "I’ve said it, it’s not me!"

Dai Wei looked at Wen Qing, finding it hard to believe the latter could be the one from the White Mist... whether an evil spirit or a ghost, it was tough to consider so.

Wen Qing was only three years older than Dai Wei, the two could hardly be called friends.

"Your hand..." Dai Wei suddenly said, "Raise your hand for me, if you can lift it to your shoulder, I will believe you."

"You!" Wen Qing, hearing this, became furious, "Dai Wei, why bring this up now! You know full well I can’t do it!"

The reason for Wen Qing’s anger traced back to ten years ago.

Ten years earlier, when Yun arrived in the village and appeared at the engagement banquet of Lisheng and Wenxin, Wen Qing, as the younger brother, had only been twelve years old.

Dai Wei was there too at the time, while Dylan was still in their mother’s womb. The bustling banquet was lively with children of the village playing with each other.

Dai Wei, only three years junior to Wen Qing, was getting on quite well with him. That year, he was in third grade and was about to enter fourth grade. He wanted to ask Wen Qing how tough the fourth-grade coursework was.

It was then that Yun, dressed in a smart black suit, uninvited, entered the engagement scene.

The moment was lively, just as Lisheng and Wenxin were toasting Village Chief Ge, and their expressions changed upon seeing Yun.

Due to the passage of time, and since Dai Wei was quite distant from them, he couldn’t hear what they were saying. Still, Yun approached and began arguing with Lisheng, while Wenxin started crying. The Shěn Family relatives then surrounded Yun, trying to drive him away. Wen Qing quickly ran to his sister’s side to protect her.

At the time, Dai Wei felt a bit scared; he couldn’t understand how a simple engagement banquet could turn into what seemed like a brawl about to happen. Then he remembered it was Village Chief Ge who stepped in to keep order, preventing the situation from escalating to violence.

And it was at that moment that Dai Wei shockingly saw Wenxin holding Yun’s hand, running out of the banquet scene with him. Because the chaos was too great, they were not caught for a while!

That evening, the Shěn Family’s furious relatives came to the Su family demanding someone be held accountable. The Su family could only apologize with a smile, agreeing to return the betrothal gifts, while Lisheng’s father, Zhian, was unrelenting. Afterwards, the Shěn Family thoroughly trashed the Su family’s home top to bottom.

The events that followed circulated in many versions around the village. Some said it was Lisheng who led the effort to catch them in the act, but Yun and Wenxin were not there; others said that Yun was present and that he had beaten up Wenxin.

During the scuffle, Wen Qing was caught in the crossfire, sustaining a serious injury to his arm. On this point, some said it was Zhian who had hurt him, others said he had simply fallen by accident.

But that injury meant he could no longer play basketball, an indisputable fact.

Dai Wei looked at the implacable Wen Qing, feeling a twinge of guilt. It seemed it really was him, at least not dressed up as some ghost or monster from a ghost story.

After Wen Qing was injured that year, he was first taken to the hospital for a check-up. At that time, they just treated him briefly, deciding to go to the bigger hospital in the county the next day.

But no one expected that the next morning would come with dense fog...

The examination of Wen Qing’s injury was later conducted by Yun, whose field of study was orthopedics. However, with the village sealed off by the dense fog, the treatment he could offer was extremely limited. It wasn’t clear whether it was the bone or the nerve that was damaged, but Wen Qing’s arm would never be able to lift again.

Dai Wei completely understood Wen Qing’s pain. Since he first visited the neighboring village’s basketball court at the age of seven or eight to see a game, he would occasionally watch Wen Qing compete against the local youth basketball team. He remembered how good Wen Qing was at shooting three-pointers. That his arm could not be raised meant he’d never be able to play basketball again.

"I’m sorry," said Dai Wei, knowing he had touched a sore spot, "I... I was just testing you. Please understand."

Wen Qing, still indignant, was about to say something, gripping the bamboo pole tightly, when Li Jun spoke up.

"Count off! One!"

"Two!"

...

"Nine!"

Wen Qing almost spat out the word through the gaps in his teeth.

He gave Dai Wei a fierce glare that made Dai Wei’s scalp tingle.

"Let’s move on quickly... let’s finish today’s patrol as soon as possible. After the patrol, we’ll talk to the village chief about this!"

In a state of heavy hearts, everyone continued on their journey through the storm and accompanied by the terrifying fog.

Dai Wei was also somewhat on tenterhooks; before, he only needed to be wary of the mist. But now... there could be danger ahead and behind.

Out of the remaining eight people, who was the superfluous "person"?

Both Li Jun and Su Wenqing were under heavy suspicion, especially just now... they actually said it was Li Jun who had saved him?

Apart from Chang Min and Xia Meng, there were four others, who were actually people Dai Wei was quite familiar with.

For instance, the one walking in front of him now, Uncle Li Li Dongshan, who was already forty-eight years old and would be able to "retire" in another two years. In previous years, Uncle Li would occasionally come over to play mahjong with his father. In this sealed-off mountain village, mahjong could be said to be the only remaining form of entertainment. But later on, after his father quit playing mahjong, he hadn’t seen Uncle Li for a long time.

The man in his thirties walking in front of Uncle Li, named Jiang Shan, had gone to the city to work ten years ago and encountered the isolating fog during his return to the village for the New Year. He had been the best basketball player in the village since childhood, so much so that he even thought about pursuing the path of a sports student, but that was forcibly stopped by his father, who insisted on him going to the city to work.

The last two were coincidentally sisters. The sisters were named Li Ruping and Li Yanping. The elder sister, Li Ruping, was the wife of the village chief’s son, Ge Nian Cheng, and therefore the niece-in-law of Captain Lin, which is why earlier Captain Lin, looking out for her, had her and her sister Li Yanping follow behind him. However, in order not to make this "favoritism" too obvious, they inserted Li Jun in the middle. Dai Wei also found it hard to imagine anyone among them as the extra one, especially when just last year, he had attended the full moon celebration of the village chief’s second grandson!

When it came to any one of them, Dai Wei could close his eyes and recall many things about each person. But the fact was that one of these people... was fake!

...

Finally, the patrol was about to end.

At the moment when the oppressive journey reached its endpoint, something happened.

"I’ve suddenly thought of a question, Dai Wei."

The speaker was Li Jun.

"Why do you alone remember Captain Lin?"

Hearing these words, Dai Wei suddenly cursed inwardly!

"If as captain remembering a missing member in the team can still be explained, you’re not the captain, so how could you remember?"

Obviously, Li Jun’s words weren’t only his own thoughts; everyone else had more or less arrived at this point too. Only, just now they still had to patrol, but now the patrol was about to end.

"Point the porcelain dolls at him!"

Following Li Jun’s order, everyone raised their bamboo poles, aiming the porcelain dolls at Dai Wei like firearms!

"You’re very suspicious!"

Clearly, Dai Wei could see that, as the captain, Li Jun needed someone to take the fall. And Dai Wei was the perfect scapegoat!

"You’re saying Captain Lin has been in the patrol team all along?" Li Jun looked coldly at Dai Wei, saying, "Our team has always been the nine of us! Could it be that you’re actually the superfluous one?"

At this moment, however, Xia Meng spoke up. "Captain Li, there’s a flaw in your words. If it has always been the nine of us, then where does the so-called superfluous person come from? Your accusation against Dai Wei means you also acknowledge that our team must be missing a person."

Li Jun suddenly glared fiercely at Xia Meng. "Whose side are you on? I’m the captain here!"

"I speak based on facts, not favoring anyone." Xia Meng’s tone was neither servile nor overbearing, clearly unaffected by Li Jun’s intimidation.

Li Ruping then said, "I think it’s inappropriate to rush to a conclusion. The porcelain dolls were tested on ten people including Lei San years ago and proved useless."

After all, as the village chief’s daughter-in-law, Li Ruping’s words naturally carried a weight that Xia Meng’s could not match.

Li Jun gritted his teeth and said, "At least Dai Wei is very suspicious! I must report to the village chief so he can make an early decision!"

The patrol endpoint, also the place from where they had first set out.

By now, it was almost time.

Village Chief Ge and other village committee members were already waiting there.

"Village Chief!"

Upon seeing the village chief, Li Jun called out from a distance, "I have something to report!"

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