Chapter 135: The Bond Between Him and Luo Xing Was Severed

"I'm sorry, the number you have dialed is powered off..."

Please, pick up...

"I'm sorry..."

"Sir, can you drive to the Nanhua Expressway?" Luo Xing asked.

The driver hesitated, his lips twitching. It would certainly be difficult to navigate traffic there at this hour, and if he were to go...

Just as he was about to refuse, his eyes fell upon the bone broth the young girl had just given him.

Gritting his teeth, he agreed.

"Alright, I'll take you."

"Thank you, thank you."

"A multi-vehicle accident has occurred on the Nanhua Expressway in the center of North City..."

Gu Shiyan saw the real-time broadcast on the screen. North City, Nanhua...

The camera angle shifted to the scene of the crash.

Gu Shiyan saw nothing but the phone case lying on the ground.

It was Luo Xing's...

His pupils constricted. Had Luo Xing been involved in an accident on the expressway?

As Special Assistant Song was about to continue speaking, Gu Shiyan had already bolted out, not even stopping to grab his jacket.

"Where are you going!"

There was no response.

"Your mother's hand requires immediate surgery."

Luo Xing's eyes were bloodshot. "Okay, I'll sign the papers. She's a doctor; her hands cannot..." Her voice choked and trembled, "Her hands cannot suffer any accidents..."

After hearing Luo Xing's plea, the doctor quickly consulted with his colleague to devise a secondary plan. "If she is to continue using a scalpel after waking up, it cannot be done domestically at this time. The probability of success is higher if she goes to Country A for the surgery, but the costs are also..."

"We will go to Country A for the surgery." Luo Zhou's voice was firm and resolute. "No matter the cost, we will pay it. You are a doctor too, so you should understand: if someone who has held a scalpel for decades wakes up and finds they can no longer..."

"But, is there enough time?" Luo Xing gritted her teeth; of course, she wanted her mother to recover as she was before.

"Within eight hours, it is possible."

Luo Xing could not afford to dwell on anything else.

Her mother was a doctor, and her hands were of the utmost importance. There could be no more delay, so she agreed immediately.

Luo Xingqi was in Jing City; there was no time to wait for him to return, so Luo Xing and her brother had to leave at once.

When Gu Shiyan arrived at the hospital, he asked everywhere but could not find any information about Luo Xing.

Due to the chain-reaction accident on the Nanhua Expressway, the hospital was overflowing with patients in need of treatment. Gu Shiyan asked the nurse handling admission procedures, but she would not disclose any information due to privacy concerns.

Gu Shiyan stood dazed in the bustling hospital corridor.

"Sob, she was only just starting university, how could she encounter something like this..." A woman nearby cried, holding her son. "It's all my fault..."

Gu Shiyan's heart felt as if it were being constricted by a rope; he could not catch his breath.

If he couldn't find her, he would search room by room.

"Excuse me..." Gu Shiyan showed people the photo on his phone.

"Young man, I've seen you searching for so long. If she isn't on this floor, I'm afraid..."

An elderly man holding a thermos looked at the man drenched in sweat before him.

Gu Shiyan ignored him and walked away to continue his search.

He tried calling Luo Xing again, but it wouldn't go through.

It wasn't until someone from his company called that Gu Shiyan answered.

"You had me keeping an eye on Luo Xingqi..."

Gu Shiyan listened to the voice on the other end and asked slowly, "Leave of absence? Did he say what happened?"

"It seems like someone in his family had an accident, but he didn't provide details."

The panic in Gu Shiyan's heart intensified.

"Alright, I understand. Grant it."

Gu Shiyan ran out of the hospital, intending to head to Luo Xing's home.

He was stopped by a young girl.

She seemed to be another victim of the accident, though she had only sustained a minor injury to her hand.

"Are you Gu Shiyan?"

Gu Shiyan did not recognize her.

"Was that thing returned to you?"

He frowned. "What?"

"I found the marriage charm you prayed for in my bag earlier; it had the name 'Gu Shiyan' written on it. I had someone from your team take it back to your girlfriend."

The girl was also from Xing University, so naturally, she knew who Gu Shiyan was. She had originally intended to contact him directly, but since he was never on campus, she had contacted Shen Que instead.

When Gu Shiyan ran out of the hospital, the sunset was fading, staining the main road in its lingering glow and casting long shadows.

He had gone to pray for that charm alone.

He didn't know what mindset he had been in; he hadn't gone up the mountain with anyone else but had snuck out in the middle of the night. Perhaps he didn't want anyone to know that he, too, believed in such superstitions.

In any case, he had obtained it and secretly tucked it into a pocket in Luo Xing's bag that he was sure she would never notice.

She never used the inner pockets of her jackets—that was exactly why he had placed it there.

The master had said that if the recipient discovered it, or if it were discarded, it would lose its efficacy.

Gu Shiyan didn't want to believe it, but now, he couldn't find Luo Xing.

Why was her phone powered off? Even her friends didn't know where she was.

He had even gone to the dessert shop to look for that man, but he wasn't there either.

Gu Shiyan had considered many things—had they been traveling together and been caught in the chain-reaction accident?

He had thought he still had plenty of time; at the very least, he could have stabilized the situation before Luo Xing graduated.

Gu Shiyan stood on the first floor of the apartment building; the elevator was marked "Under Maintenance."

The LCD television nearby was reporting the news.

"...It has been verified that in the chain-reaction accident occurring at 1:20 PM on August 17th on the Nanhua Expressway in the center of North City, 17 people died and 35 were injured..."

Gu Shiyan took long strides, running toward the stairwell.

He ran up floor by floor, taking four or five steps at a time, as if he felt no fatigue at all.

Standing at Luo Xing's door, his rapid, labored breathing could not be suppressed.

He hunched over, his trembling hand pressing the doorbell.

The chime rang over and over, but no one opened the door.

His weak, exhausted legs gave out, and he knelt before the door.

"Luo Xing..."

Open the door.

*Click.*

The door opened.

Gu Shiyan's hopeful eyes lit up as he looked up. "Luo Xing..."

"Gu Shiyan?"

The door next to Luo Xing's opened, and Qi Zhi stood in the doorway. "How did you..."

Qi Zhi was also stunned. He had never seen Gu Shiyan in such a disheveled state.

Back at the TH Club, he was the same as Lu Yuanyi—high and mighty, aloof and indifferent, possessing an innate sense of ease in handling any situation.

He had been trapped by Lu Yuanyi's side for over a decade paying off a debt, whereas for Gu Shiyan, it was a trivial matter that could be solved with a single word.

Thus, seeing Gu Shiyan kneeling powerlessly on the ground, his shirt soaked in sweat, his chest heaving violently from deep breaths—none of it was as shocking or as jarring as the sight of him with red-rimmed, tear-filled eyes, looking utterly defeated.

"..." Gu Shiyan remained silent, bracing himself against the wall as he stood up.

"Have you seen Luo Xing in the last two days?" his voice was hoarse.

Qi Zhi shook his head. "I haven't seen her for a long time. It seems she went back home."

Gu Shiyan couldn't even manage a nod; he looked drained.

Qi Zhi watched his retreating back, the soaked fabric of his shirt revealing the skin beneath. Given the state he was in, the only conclusion Qi Zhi could reach was that he had likely run the entire way here.

"Gu Shiyan!"

Qi Zhi called out to him, perhaps out of gratitude for the help he had received—regardless of whether it was for Luo Xing's sake or something else, he had helped him.

"She still loves you," Qi Zhi said.