Hospital 444

"Start from when you first met Lin Tai this afternoon,"

Ge Pingyan thought for a moment, then added another sentence: "Don’t worry about whether I believe it or not, just tell everything as it is without any embellishment."

Dai Wei was somewhat surprised at the village chief’s attitude; after all, most people found it hard to accept what Dai Wei said.

So, he began to recount his experience of delivering cured meat with his father to the village chief.

From delivering the cured meat to Lin’s house to Lin Tai taking him to the temple to get the porcelain doll and the bamboo pole and then going out on patrol in the evening. He detailed everything from hearing the tearing sound in the mist to getting trapped in a tree and Lin Tai coming to save him.

After that, he mentioned hearing a voice that sounded like Shen Lisheng’s and finally, at roll call, realizing that Lin Tai, who had originally been at the front of the group, had disappeared.

"I understand. Go call Li Ruping out; I want to ask her some questions."

Li Ruping is the daughter-in-law of Chief Ge, obviously someone he trusted the most.

Returning to the resting room, Dai Wei asked Li Ruping to find the village chief.

"What did the village chief ask you?" Jiang Shan, who was closest to Dai Wei, inquired: "Does he believe you?"

Remembering the chief’s expression earlier, Dai Wei replied: "He first asked about Captain Lin’s attire... Then, he asked me about the specific events that occurred during the patrol."

"Captain Lin’s attire?"

"Yeah,"

As time passed, Dai Wei realized something: his parents might start to worry if he didn’t return home soon. Usually, after patrols, the team members were exhausted, and the village chief typically arranged for them to go home quickly.

So if too much time passed, his parents and the families of the other team members would definitely start to worry and look for them. At that point, how would the village chief explain? Disclosing an extra person had joined the group would obviously be improper and would surely plunge the village into a new wave of panic. After all, the chief had planned to hold a larger recognition ceremony and arrange a major song and dance event during this Spring Festival to boost the villagers’ morale.

How would the chief handle this situation?

At around one o’clock in the morning, the village chief entered the resting room and said to them, "I’m going to explain the situation to you."

Then, the door opened and someone walked in.

That person... was actually He Yun!

Chief Ge patted He Yun’s shoulder and said, "I will announce to the villagers that since some of you have shown symptoms of a cold, and after diagnosis by the doctor, it was confirmed to be a viral cold and somewhat serious, so you few will need to be quarantined in the village’s guesthouse."

Dai Wei hadn’t expected the village chief to come up with this tactic.

In doing so, he could keep an eye on them and place them under house arrest without causing panic. They had no reason to refuse, because if there was an extra person, then they would have to be confined to prevent a reoccurrence of the tragedy that happened in the village years ago.

Quarantining them under the pretext of a viral cold made sense, as the village had no medication available, and treatment could only be offered through harvested herbal remedies. If influenza spread in the village, people with various underlying health issues and weakened immune systems, especially the elderly, would be truly in danger.

"Wait a minute," Li Ruping hurriedly asked, "Should we even keep Nian Cheng in the dark?"

"The fewer people who know about this, the better, and besides, I understand my son’s character," explained Ge Pingyan: "He isn’t someone who can keep a secret, so it’s better not to let him know for now."

"So how long will we be confined here?" 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

"Of course, until we find the extra person," the chief said, his expression very serious: "During this time, your relatives will come to see you. I can’t stop them if it’s just the flu, but you must not reveal the truth to them! The village must absolutely not fall into panic; otherwise, you should know the consequences."

Dai Wei certainly understood this and nodded his head vigorously.

"Alright, later I will give each of you a mask. Remember, make it look convincing, and cough from time to time. I will go over the details with you later, like who got sick, when the symptoms started to appear, what the current symptoms are, how high the fever spiked—everything must be accurate to avoid blowing your cover in front of your relatives. Remember, only I, Jia Yan, and Doctor He Yun know the real situation."

Everyone immediately nodded, admiring the thoroughness of the village chief’s plan.

A group of people wearing masks then followed Chief Ge, Ge Jiayan, and He Yun to the village guesthouse.

After settling into the guesthouse’s courtyard, Chief Ge gave them detailed instructions and left. They were to be quarantined here, each in individual rooms, which made the situation appear more reasonable.

Village Headman Ge walked outside the door and said to He Yun, "No matter who asks you, you must answer..."

"Viral flu." He Yun said, "I’ll say that I’ve already made a diagnosis. Even to Wen Xin, I’ll give the same answer."

"Good," the village headman nodded in satisfaction and said, "Don’t worry, as long as I’m here, you can live peacefully with Wen Xin in the village."

"I understand. I will never forget the kindness you have shown me, Village Headman."

He Yun placed emphasis on the words "will never forget."

"Alright, you can go back now."

After separating from the village headman, He Yun put on his mask and walked towards the direction of his home.

Calling it a home, it was actually an abandoned house close to White Mist. He had been living there with his wife, Su Wenxin, for the past five years.

Of course, calling her his wife, they were never officially married, but they were a de facto marital couple.

Upon returning home, as soon as he pushed open the door, he found his wife, Su Wenxin, already asleep at a table.

Sleeping here so late at night, you really could catch a cold!

And as soon as he closed the door, Su Wenxin woke up.

"He Yun? You’re back... How is Wen Qing... huh?" She rubbed her eyes and seeing He Yun wearing a mask, she quickly came up to him and said, "You... what’s wrong with you? Why are you wearing a mask?"

"Don’t come close to me for now," He Yun repeated the pretext he had thought of in advance: "Today, someone from the patrol team, Dai Wei, started showing symptoms of a cold, so the village headman had me come and diagnose them overnight."

"A cold?"

"Yes. I wore the mask and checked them through the window, and the symptoms look a lot like viral flu. Moreover, Uncle Li and Jiang Shan also have symptoms."

"What about Wen Qing? Did Wen Qing catch a cold?" Knowing her brother was also part of the patrol, Su Wenxin asked eagerly, "Is he infected as well?"

"He hasn’t so far. Hmm, the village headman meant that there are many elderly people in the village now, so he has asked them to stay in the guesthouse first. He also told me that if I develop symptoms, I need to quarantine at home."

"A cold... yes, the temperature indeed has dropped too quickly."

Su Wenxin continued to ask, "Is it certain that Wen Qing hasn’t caught a cold?"

"We can’t be sure about that; the patrol team has been in close contact for three hours, so they are definitely considered close contacts, but he’s young and even if he catches a cold, he’ll likely recover quickly. The village headman is mostly worried about the flu spreading in the village."

"That makes sense, most villagers are of middle to old age."

The poor medical conditions were a cruel problem for the village. As people age, there are few without some chronic disease, and over the years, many villagers have died of diseases such as rheumatic heart disease, osteoporosis, diabetes. If they caught the flu, it probably wouldn’t be so easy to cure.

Feeling a bit guilty on the inside, He Yun couldn’t tell the truth in front of his wife.

"Then I should go inform my parents about Wen Qing..."

"The village headman will take care of it, don’t worry. For the next few days, it’s best if you don’t go out either since... the village headman said we should both quarantine at home first."

"That’s assuming we aren’t drawn to join the patrol team."

"Hmm. I hope not. Let’s sleep separately tonight."

"Okay."

He Yun entered his room alone, approached a table, and opened a drawer.

Inside the drawer, there was a red card, with a black skull and an upside-down cross on it.

Below the skull, there was a line of words—

Hospital.