"The protests that have continued for the past three weeks after the anonymous leak exposing the true conditions of the shelters near the red zones are becoming increasingly violent due to the CEA’s continued silence."

The news anchor’s voice echoed through the hospital room.

"The government officials have yet to release any official statements regarding the situation, further increasing public outrage. Meanwhile, donations are steadily pouring into the shelters while the military continues doing its best to ensure the safety of civilians displaced by the sudden expansion of the red zones."

Wenzhi watched the news while lazily stuffing chips into his mouth, the constant crunching honestly making his headache worse but he kept eating anyway.

Onscreen, protesters flooded the city streets carrying signs and chanting loudly while military forces attempted to control the increasingly chaotic crowds.

Wenzhi’s lips twitched. Then he casually tossed another chip into his mouth.

"Look at you smiling after creating national chaos." Duan Ze sat beside the hospital bed, staring at him with disbelief.

Wenzhi gave him a dull look.

"It’s not chaos. It’s called a breakthrough. An eye opener." He pointed lazily toward the television. "And look. The CEA still isn’t responding. That just proves their ignorance even more."

Duan Ze shook his head slowly. "Well... I never really expected much from the CEA anyway."

Pei Luo adjusted his glasses while reaching over to steal the chips from Wenzhi only for Wenzhi to slap his hand away instantly.

"They’re probably waiting for something massive to happen," Pei Luo frowned. "Like a huge rift opening somewhere so people forget about the shelters."

"Why do you keep trying to take my chips?" Wenzhi snapped.

"Because chips do not contain healing properties," Pei Luo replied flatly.

Wenzhi rolled his eyes so hard it almost hurt. "It’s been three weeks since I got shot. I’m obviously not going to die from eating chips."

Pei Luo still didn’t look convinced.

Now, Wenzhi was suddenly very curious how Pei Luo would react if he found out Wenzhi had secretly smoked during recovery.

Probably with a heart attack.

At that moment, the hospital room door swung open.

Ru Yi walked in carrying two cups of coffee, her punk styled pink hair somehow even brighter than usual.

Wenzhi sat upright.

"Sorry I took so long. Traffic was terrible," Ru Yi said as she handed him one of the coffee cups.

"Thank you." He took a sip and both Duan Ze and Pei Luo looked at Ru Yi like she had completely lost her mind.

Ru Yi paused mid-sip of her own coffee and stared back at them. "What?"

"He is supposed to stop drinking coffee and you’re enabling him," Pei Luo said flatly.

"I was supposed to what?" Wenzhi cut in immediately.

Duan Ze sighed. "Well, considering you clearly have a caffeine addiction, we thought your recovery period would be the perfect time to force you to quit."

Wenzhi nodded thoughtfully. "That sounds interesting."

Then he took another long sip directly in front of them.

Ru Yi burst into laughter.

Over the past three weeks since getting shot, Wenzhi had been hidden away by Duan Ze, Ru Yi, and Pei Luo inside a private hospital owned by Pei Luo’s family.

Ironically, it had become much easier to hide him now that the electric restraint around his ankle was gone. Without it, both the Old Blood faction and the CEA had completely lost track of him.

With Kaiwen’s help and a favor pulled from Commander Zhaohe, Duan Ze had officially drafted Wenzhi as deceased within the red zone.

It was perfect.

And the news about Shao Xinyuan being returned to the research facility, back into the hands of those insane scientists after forcibly shutting himself down during backlash had spread quietly through the inner circles.

Three weeks was a long time.

Long enough for Wenzhi to realize something unexpected.

Maybe it was actually better to have people around instead of being completely alone.

After all, they had done far more for him than he ever expected.

They protected him. Kept him "dead" to the outside world. Stayed with him in the hospital. Helped him recover.

And despite the fact that all of them had clearly noticed he never once asked about Shao Xinyuan, none of them brought it up directly.

Wenzhi noticed the looks sometimes.

The hesitation. The curiosity.

But nobody questioned him. Because they knew he wanted freedom.

Frankly, Wenzhi had been surprised that Xinyuan actually broke the restraint off himself but he never questioned it.

Because in the end, he got exactly what he wanted.

He was finally away from Shao Xinyuan. He was no longer hunted by fanatics.

That should have been enough.

...Right?

"By the way," Ru Yi said suddenly, "I spoke to the doctor overseeing your recovery before I came in. He said you’re getting discharged tonight."

Wenzhi nodded. "Finally."

At that, the three of them exchanged another look.

Wenzhi ignored it completely until Ru Yi pressed her lips together and blurted out, "Don’t you want to hear about Shao Xinyuan?"

Wenzhi neither looked at her nor replied.

And Ru Yi immediately glanced toward Duan Ze and Pei Luo.

The two silently nodded at her as if telling her to just say it whether Wenzhi wanted to hear it or not.

"Well..." Ru Yi began carefully, "he’s out of the research facility now. He’s apparently still working with the Rift Suppression Corps."

That immediately got Wenzhi’s attention.

His eyes lifted toward her.

"What?" he asked. "They didn’t confine him to the facility?"

"Word is the suppression meds actually did their job for once," Duan Ze explained. "Enough to keep him from spiraling, but it’s likely just a temporary fix."

"He still refuses to take another guide," Ru Yi added quickly. "But apparently, he’s been... functioning okay?"

Duan Ze nodded slowly. "No one really knows for sure though. He’s mostly been taking solo missions for the past two weeks and barely speaks to anyone except Commander Zhaohe."

Wenzhi quietly took another sip of his coffee, clearly surprised by how everything had turned out.

Then he shrugged lightly. "Well. Good for him."

"There’s one more thing," Ru Yi said suddenly.

This time, Wenzhi looked at her immediately.

"There’s a rumor going around that Gu Luhan recently transferred into the Rift Suppression Corps." She hesitated briefly before continuing, "And apparently... he’s trying to pull strings to become Xinyuan’s guide."

Wenzhi took another calm sip of coffee.

"Well," he said flatly, "good luck to him."

Ru Yi, Duan Ze, and Pei Luo all stared at Wenzhi like he was completely insane.

But Wenzhi genuinely showed no visible reaction.

He simply kept drinking his coffee while watching the news coverage of the chaos he had personally created after leaking the true conditions of the red zone shelters.