"What? How did you get there?"
"To be honest, I don't know." I said.
Brian stared at me.
I covered the phone, "Do you have to stare at me like this?"
"This is called observation," Brian said.
"Who are you talking to?" Nick asked.
"A boy," I said.
Brian sneered at the word boy, pretended to be offensive, and shook his head.
"He found me here," I said to Nick. ""Where are you
"I'm still in the hospital. I'm with your brothers, Akio and Bruce Deman. Akio Toyoda has caught up with us."
"Let me talk to her," I heard Minfu tell Nick.
"This is Toyuo, Abigail," Toyoo's low voice came from the phone. Hearing his voice, I breathed a sigh of relief. "Stay where you are. We will pick you up."
"Have you told Nick what happened to me? What's wrong with me? Catch up with me," I said.
"There is no time, Abigail. Believe me, time is running out, we are almost out of time. Bruce and I will meet you there. Don't go anywhere."
"I won't," I said.
"Don't be alone," he said.
"I have someone waiting with me," I said.
"Very good," Toyuo said.
It's Nick's call again. He is serious, and his words come quickly, "I have something to do, so I won’t be with them when they get you. I just want to tell you that I love you. For that matter, I can’t wait until tomorrow or other Any day. The moon is beautiful tonight. I just want you to know that."
I can hear the fear in his voice.
"You are saying goodbye to me, right, Nick?" I asked, feeling his virus-like fear. My heartbeat started to speed up, and I could hear a rushing sound in my ears.
"Wrap it," I can hear Akio.
"Not goodbye. I will see you again. I promise, Abby," Nick paused, as if to say something else, but decided not to.
He hung up the phone.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. When I opened my eyes, Brian was still watching me.
I returned the phone to him.
"Seriously, how can you not blink your eyes?"
He shrugged his thin shoulders and smiled fascinatingly. "Noble eyes. I need much less eye lubricant than other men."
"How old are you?" I asked.
"Seventeen," he said.
"data."
This white van bumped back and forth on the long driveway of the institute. From talking with Nick to the arrival of Akio and Bruce Dunman, night has fallen.
Now, it's pitch black. There is a flashlight and a camping light in Brian’s hatchback. We played "War" with a deck of cards and sat on an unzipped sleeping bag-also from his hatchback.
"I won again," he said.
I feel unwell. In fact, I feel very uncomfortable. I feel sick and weak. I'm wearing Brian's sweatshirt, and this kid has everything you can think of in the trunk of his car.
"Do you live in a car?" When I asked him, he gave me a few choices: Which sweatshirt I want to wear, black or black.
"No, but I can," he said. "That's the problem. I like to be prepared."
We first saw the headlights of the truck, and then we actually saw the truck with the Danish North brand logo on the side of the body.
"Are these your people?" He asked about the headlights.
"hope so."
"Either they or Jǐngcha," he said. He stared at me as best he could all night. I don't know if this helps, but it makes me feel better. "Jǐngcha often patrols here. The children come here for drugs and sex."
"It must be crazy in the haunted hospital," I said.
"I don't know. I'm here to do business," he glanced at me. "I also respect the dead."
I put my hand on my forehead. I am dizzy. I tried to fix it.
"But it doesn't matter to Jǐngcha," he muttered to himself. "The last time they caught me, they accused me of trespassing."
"How many times have they caught you?"
"Three," he said.
I started to sweat. Much. My forehead and face. I wiped it off with the sleeve of Brian's sweatshirt.
"Are you all right?" he asked.
I do not know what to say. I just shrugged. I suddenly felt very cold. Cold and sweaty. "Can I lend you another sweatshirt?"
"Of course," he said. He jumped up to get it out of the car. The world began to revolve around me. I put my elbows on my crossed legs and rested my head on my hands. A violent, sudden, severe headache made me take a sharp breath.
"Hey?" He placed his hand gently on my back.
The van stopped, and Toyuo rolled down the window. He looked up and down Brian. Brian insisted on his position and gave Minfu a chance of his own.
"Thank you," Toyuo said to him.
"No problem, buddy." Brian said. "I don't know if she can be DúLì."
"Of course, I can," I said and stood up staggeringly.
Brian used my healthy arms to stabilize me, and I barely stood up with his help. We stumbled to the back of the van. Bruce opened the door from inside. He is searching boxes of medical equipment. I crawled in and sat on the floor.
When Brian was closing the back door, Bruce looked up and said, "Come in, kid."
Brian froze. I can see the expression on his face, part of him wants to go in, but most of him wants to leave. The van without windows, two strange men, and me, let's face it, I am also a stranger. a stranger. His face was full of guilt, anxiety and fear.
"You have done enough," I said. "thanks."
"Of course," Danman said contemptuously. "We may need your help, but you have done enough, so I think you are out of trouble."
"He is a child," I said.
"The children have hands," Bruce replied.
"Do you really need my help?" Brian asked.
"No," I said
"Yes," Bruce said simultaneously.
"Damn it," he sighed heavily, then climbed into the van. "If you are a hidden pervert killer, kill me, I will be very angry."
"I noticed," Danman said, still rummaging through the cabinets without looking up. "Here." He handed Brian a pair of scissors. "Shave her hair"
"Damn it," Brian said, opening his mouth to look at the scissors. He took them from Danman, but held them if they were hot and too heat treated.
My hand instinctively touched my hair.
"What?" I said.
"Shhh," Danman said. "I haven't had an operation for many years, let alone a brain operation. I need to focus on my mind. No talking."
"Brain surgery?"
"This is the only way," Akio Toyoda said, sitting in the front row. He managed to drive the truck into a long lane and onto the road.
"You said. Who are you now, Doctor Dream Eater? No. Impossible. I want to hear other people's opinions," I said.
"This is the only way," Danman said. "Now you have a second opinion. I am a doctor. Now, if you want a third opinion, go for it, but you are likely to die in the pursuit of the third opinion."
Brian squatted next to where I was sitting, with his back to Danman and facing me. His eyes were wide open, his body curled up, ready to do whatever I wanted him to do-help me get out of the car, skip Bruce Danman, deal with Minfu, anything.
He whispered, "I think I can take the Green Hornet, but I'm not sure if Kato can do it."
Another intense burning pain erupted in my head. I took a sharp breath, and the stars swam past my sight.
"It's okay," I said when the pain eased. I looked at the scissors, "Go cut it."
He swallowed it, like a cartoon character, his Adam's apple wiggled up and down exaggeratedly. With vulgar words almost inaudible, he opened the scissors and shaved my hair.
A Dunmanos van was parked outside a building, which was located alone in a parking lot in Zhōng Yāng, a block of Zhōng Yāng. The building was dark and the parking lot was empty except for one car. The sign on the building reads Denman Noos Salem Surgery Center.
"Very good," Akio said. "Is there anything you need in it?"
While driving, Denman and Akio sat in the passenger seat, and Abby and Shearer Brian cut their hair cleanly from behind.
"It should be so," he said. "Dunmanos owns some of these surgical centers. Most of them are on the west coast. This is the house where I stayed with a friend who was in hospital. I like a variety of houses. They specialize in neurosurgery, so they should be fully equipped."
"We must break in," said Akio, who was observing the building. The lights were off, and everything was quiet except for the car parked in the parking lot.
"One is divided into two, one is divided into two," Bruce said.
Ming Fu looked at him. Bruce seemed extremely calm to someone who was about to break into the surgical center and perform a complete experimental brain surgery. He made a comment on this.
"Do you think this works?" Ming Fu asked.
Don't you mind? Bruce asked rhetorically. "It's all for the life of a girl. It's a chivalry."
Akio's hands turned around the steering wheel. "It's not just her life," he said. "Her soul. Her existence. If something is not done, she will either completely disappear from existence, or continue to cycle into this eternal anagram game of life. This is wrong."
"No," Danman said. "This is not right. Eternity is a long time."
Ming Fu heard some sounds in Denman's voice, a tone, a vibration, a sound he couldn't tell what it was, but it made him feel uneasy.
"If I know the seriousness of the matter, I am willing to do anything for you."
"I know," Danman said. "You don't have to tell me this. It's clear to me now. See what you are willing to sacrifice for a girl, an unknown person. I believe if you know, you will exhaust all the resources for me."
"Yes, I will," Toyuo reiterated. He lowered his head.
Bruce said nothing.
"Are you sure you can accept what we are going to do?" Akio said, letting them return to the problem at hand.
"What's the worst thing that can happen?" Danman snorted mockingly, not seeing Ming Fu. "Once you know that you are going to live eternal life in hell, even the deadliest sin will be turned into nothingness—involuntarily sneeze and wink. "I can do the worst," he looked straight at Akio. "I have nothing to lose, and some more. "
"Now, Bruce..." Mingfu said.
Danman's face was shrouded in yīn shadow, but with his keen eyes, Akio could see Danman's cold expression.
""You owe me a favor, if I do this? Right?" Danman asked. "This is one of my conditions. "
"Bruce—" Toyoda started.
"I will only do this if I get your help in the future."
"Yes," Toyuo said. "I owe you a favor."
"Look," he said, opening the car door and jumping out. "There is nothing to lose, and something very real can be obtained."
Just as Bruce closed the car door, he noticed a woman leaving the dim surgical center. She fumbled for the key and stood halfway in and half out at the door leading to the building. She didn't raise her head until Bruce appeared in front of her.
"What a coincidence," Bruce said, removing the heavy door from the woman's shoulder. The woman was completely taken aback, and jumped up when she heard Bruce's voice.
"What are you doing here?" Bruce asked gently.
"I forgot to bring my mobile phone." "I... uh... just come back to get it," she said nervously, clutching her large shoulder bag defensively against her chest. Bruce still held the door, and the woman tried to get around him, but Bruce blocked her way and walked in front of her.
"Stay away from me," she said. Her voice trembled. "I have anti-wolf spray. I will use it."
Bruce said he ran off the truck. "Let her go."
"Good news, buddy," Bruce said. "We don't need to break in at all."
"What?" The woman screamed.
"What's your name?" Bruce asked.
"I won't tell you anything," she said. "If you get closer, I will call."
"The nameless woman came back to get her phone. Lucky, right?" Bruce said to Minfu.
"Let her go," Ming Fu said. "No one will be hurt tonight."
"I know you," she said, looking up at Bruce, "you are Bruce Danman. What are you doing here? And you!" When she looked at Toyuo for the second time, she gasped. Recognized Akio Toyoda. "You are the one who attacked him! The news is already overwhelming."
""So, what do you want to do now? She knows who we are, we can't do that, can we?" The way Bruce asked irritated the woman. It worked. She was irritated.
"To be fair, Bruce, everyone knows who you are," Toyuo said.
"Yes, but this matter needs to be silent," he said.
"I can keep silent," the woman said hastily. "I can be quiet."
Bruce ignored her.
"We can't have eyewitnesses," he said to Akio.
Akio frowned. "No one will get hurt."
"Of course, except for Abby. She will definitely get hurt," Bruce turned his attention to the woman again. "Well, if you know who I am, then you know this surgery center is mine, so I am your employer. Tell me your name?"
"Marcy," she said.
"Why do I pay you to come to my surgery center?" Bruce asked.
"I am an anesthesia nurse."
"Great!" he said, clapping his hands. He turned to Toyuo, "This is really perfect. Is this what you planned?"
"No," Akio said.
"That is our lucky night."
Marcy's eyes couldn't be bigger. Her mouth shrank into a small o shape. She clutched her shoulder bag tightly.
Bruce noticed that she was clutching her bag tightly, and he squinted at her, "Did you come back to get your phone, Marcy?"
"Yes," she said. the job is done.
"I don't think so," Bruce said.
Marcy froze.
"I suspect that there is more than a cell phone in your handbag. What do you think, Mingfu?"
"Bruce—" Qiufu said cautiously.
"Mingfu," Bruce comforted, "what's the saying? Can't you make an omelet without beating a few eggs? I'm beating eggs."
He turned his attention back to Marcy, "Forget it, it's not a big leap, Marcy. Do you know why? No, you don't know. I'll tell you why. When you hire here, You do all your initial screenings-drug tests, criminal background tests, etc. You also went through the personality profiling of Denmanos employees-standard practice for all Denmanos employees. I am sure you were told the reason for the scan It is to assess your accuracy, your willingness to work hard, and your reliability, to ensure that your grid is appropriate, which is correct to a certain extent. The other part of the truth and the undisclosed scan of Danman The aspect is that we dig out the secrets of your memory, Achilles treatment, things you feel ashamed of, the details of your deepest and darkest self, any and all information that we might use to exert pressure, if needed. If needed. If you don’t have a secret we can control, you won’t be employed by me. What’s your secret? Drugs? Money?" (to be continued) (end of this chapter)