Main Story Chapter 14-18: The Angel who Crossed Boundaries (越界天使） | Light and Night 光与夜之恋

Please consider reading Chapter 14-16 before proceeding~

TRIGGER WARNINGS:

Mentions of blood, past trauma, fire, stabbing, murder

By the time Charlie is out from the washroom, his originally slightly messy hair is already tidied, with a serious expression over his face, and his forehead is no longer sweating.

He dialed Jill's number right in front of me, and found out that Zha ZhaoPeng is currently in the First Hospital of Guang Qi, having a friendly exchange with NOVATEN Pharmaceutical Group.

Charlie: Understood.

It's as though Jill on the other end of the phone wanted to say something else, but Charlie has cut off communications.

You: Charlie, are you... okay? If there are anything that you need my help of, just tell me.

Charlie: Fiancee, I've lived 28 flawless years before meeting you. If I were to rely on you on everything, how else will I show my pride? Just take a seat in my office later, I'll get to the bottom of these matters very soon.

I know he's trying to reassure me by cracking a joke at times like this, but how could I feel reassured?

Arriving the First Hospital, everything is the same as usual, filled with cries and laughters. But after saying long enough in this place with Charlie, I wouldn't feel oppressed with the atmosphere anymore.

Whether life or death, everyone here always have their bottoms of their hearts filled with hope.

The exchange venue is at the rooftop. Charlie heads there alone. I have no idea what method he'll be using to negotiate with his father, but it's also very difficult for me to ask him about it.

Sitting in his office, I saw a thick calendar hanging on the wall. It hasn't been torn off for afew days. Just when I was about to tear a few pages off for him, a wind suddenly brushed over.

The calendars are flipping noisily, and the office door became suddenly wide open. I turned around in reflex to look at the windows, but noticed that it's properly closed.

I then realized, that the door in front of me opens inwards.

I poked my head out a little, and noticed that the bustling corridor is now completely quiet.

You: Illusionary world...

I recalled this term very easily. While I have not much evidence with me, but the feeling of being in somewhere odd, that is in discordance with the scenes of daily life is something I'm now familiar with.

Why is there an illusionary world here? Who created it? Who would the protagonist of the illusionary world be? And what's the purpose to create the illusionary world?

Everything Evan told me all rolled in my mind, one after another.

He said I have the power to break through illusionary worlds.

I attempted to take a step out, and the corridor before my eyes suddenly changed. It became a little old, and the words on the walls all turned into English.

The lights suddenly darkened. A medic crashed into my shoulder, sounds of screams, cries, and the smell of ashes and dust surrounded me.

I saw someone familiar standing in front of a ward, but he's also looking unfamiliar. Charlie's filled with dust and clots of blood, and the tattered firefighting uniform is wrapped around him.

He grabbed onto a doctor passing by, widening his mouth as though he's yelling something.

ER Doctor: Mr. Zha, the patient suffered with too much burns, we've tried our best. The topmost priority right now is to contact his family members, otherwise they won't get to have a final look at him too.

Charlie: Mark is still breathing isn't he? Doctor, please try again! Please wait for me for a little longer, and I'll be able to pay the medical bills to the hospital. It doesn't matter how much money it will cost. Please, I beg of you, the most important thing to do is to save his life!

Doctor looks at him with pity, and in a pained expression.

ER Doctor: As long as the equipments are taken away, he will immediately lose his vital signs. Mr. Zha, we can't save him.

A nurse asked the doctor away, and before he left, he patted Charlie's shoulder.

With a loud thud, Charlie punches onto the wall of the hospital, blood seeping out from his fist.

Mark, the firefighting uniform, the somewhat young-looking face with sharp gaze, and the hand that is still continuously hitting the wall.

This is not the Charlie I know, it's the Charlie that appeared only in mere talks, the Charlie many years ago that hasn't took on the path to become a doctor.

Against the wall, Charlie squats down slowly, panting heavily. Perhaps it's been too much of a pain to him, there wasn't even a single drop of tear on his face, but exudes a purplish-green color.

I walked to his side, and having himself feeling my gaze, he lifted his head up.

Charlie: Who are you?

You: Me...? I'm...

I'm only halfway speaking my name, and he interrupted it.

Charlie: No need to answer anymore, I don't want to know your name. Are you a reporter, or someone working for the government? 

You: I'm neither.

I squatted down and leveled my gaze with him. There are still muddy waters on his neck and hair that he hasn't wiped off, and it's now dried and stuck there.

Charlie: Then move away, you won't be able to help in anything in this place.

His words are filled with disdain, hopelessness and grievance, but they don't seem like they are directed towards me, only dissipating aimlessly.

I have no way to relate him with the calm, confident, high-spirited person that he is in the future.

You: Charlie, do you want to become a doctor?

The purple eyes widened in shock, as though someone said his mind out correctly.

Charlie: What did you say?

You: You will be a good doctor in the future, Charlie. A doctor in the burns department, where everyone calls you Dr. Zha. No matter how severe the injuries are, you will never give up on any of your patients, and there are countless people that will be saved by you. This is a fact that I am certain of. 

Charlie looked a little doubtful, opening his mouth, but voices of calls from the doctors sounded from the other side.

ER Doctor: Friend of Mark Alexander, mister, please come over for a while.

Charlie: Okay.

He took a quick glance at me, nodded with a complexed expression, then left.

I stood up, looking at his figure running off, and I suddenly felt a sense of relief.

It was as though I've finally just truly shouldered the pains when he told me the stories about it until this very moment.

As I walked along the corridors, I could no longer find the path I came from. Wards are lining by my sides one after another, and it's forever endless.

Suddenly, I saw Charlie stood in front of a ward again, looking right into the door.

His sharp expressions are widely known, with an elusive aura on him. It's very easy for me to differentiate him with the Charlie earlier.

This is the present Charlie.

Wait a second, why is he also in the illusionary world too?!

Feeling chills in my heart, I quickly ran over.

You: Charlie!

Charlie made a "shh" gesture at me, and signaled me to look into the ward.

Through the glass window, there's a person dressed in white cloak standing inside, leaning down to inquire the patient's condition.

Did he just become a doctor? There's even a trainee sign hanging onto him, the way he asks questions are not as direct as how he is too, and instead, he laughed together with the patient as he asks.

Charlie: This is the first patient Dr. Esino asked me to handle. The patient does not care about the medical expenses, had very light symptoms, and he only got admitted to the hospital because his parents wanted to be assured. I managed to see him getting discharged successfully.

He smiled a little, looking as though he has recalled the jokes he made back in those years.

I feel happy for him too, but there's something I had to tell him.

You: Charlie, this is an illusionary world. I even saw you who was a firefighter. How did you come in? Did you manage to find your father?

Charlie: He isn't at the rooftop. Illusionary world, is it? But it feels very real to me.

He doesn't react much to the illusionary world.

Looks like this illusionary world is likely to be related to him.

Just then, I suddenly recalled what Evan said. He said, as long as desires are understood by the creator of the illusion, then this person will be lost within, and treat the illusionary world as reality.

Thinking of how Charlie was like earlier, could he have already been lost within?!

There are also somewhere that isn't right, this illusionary world is probably similar to Evan's, created based on memories.

But besides himself, who else could understand his memories so well? Also, since he's appearing here and observing his memories, will this affect him in any way?

Charlie is still the person in the next ward, but it's perhaps inaccurate to call it a ward, this is an operation room that has returned to calmness.

Charlie stood by the operation table, trembling as he tidies the machines. The expression on him looked like he's smiling, but also looked like he's crying.

Charlie: This is Emma. Dr. Esino stood for over ten hours, and tried her best to cut off her infected limbs as much as possible*. We were really happy, because she can at least live on. I participated it, but I didn't consider about anything from the beginning till the end.

*Please refer to his Trajectory card.

The lights in the operation room extinguished completely, and then it's the turn for the next ward.

He walked faster and faster, and the Dr. Zha in that room has also became gradually calmer, decisive, and slowly overlapping with how he is right now.

All of the patients we've seen, there were some that are rescued back to life, and some died.

From Charlie's words, the waiting process until they are fully healed is very long, but their departure was only a mere instant.

Gradually, I saw a familiar face, it's Yangyang's grandmother.

In the ICU ward, Charlie pulled off the elderly's breathing tube. He slowly squatted down when the ECG became a straight line.

His hands stopped over his hair, chest, grasping quietly, as though every part were hurting.

I wanted to cry. Illness is just like a giant rock, pressuring onto the hearts of every patient and their families, and doctors are the only ones who can remove them.

But what about doctors? If there's also a giant rock on them, who could remove it for them?

Charlie: Sun TaiZhong's omissions are intentional. The changes in Yangyang's grandmother's vitality is abnormal. It was too late when I noticed it. There are many people here who died due to my misjudgment.

You: But your judgments weren't wrong.

Charlie nodded slowly.

Charlie: I know, they aren't wrong. It's impossible for them to be wrong. Fiancee, I suddenly remembered something.

You: What is it?

Charlie: Very long ago, there was someone who told me, that everyone will call me Dr. Zha in the future. Also, I will be a good doctor who can save many lives. There was an instant, I thought she really knew about the future. But it was probably just an encouragement for me who looked half dead back then. Otherwise, she'd probably also say, that I've caused many deaths on my way becoming a doctor.

I widened my eyes, let's not talk about the latter part of what he said, but that was what I just told Charlie who's in a firefighting uniform in the illusionary world!

That was clearly an illusion!

Could what I've told firefighter Charlie heard by the present Charlie?!

You: You heard what I said back then?

Charlie: What?

You: I told you, you'll become a good doctor!

Charlie chuckled softly.

Charlie: Fiancee, I was talking about something that happened very long ago, we were still not acquainted back then. But, you're right too, it'd be wonderful if I got to know you back then.

No, that's not it! Something has changed!

There's no doubts that the Charlie by my side is real, both him and I are outsiders of this illusionary world.

If he didn't hear what I said, then who was the one that spoke with firefighter Charlie back then?! Why did she say the same thing as I did?!

Could there be other secrets in the illusionary world?

We've arrived the last ward, and I knew who will be inside.

It's Xiao Zhen.

The last patient Charlie treated, and died.

But this time, the one standing in front of the operation table isn't Charlie, but Sun TaiZhong!

Sun TaiZhong: 10ml*, inject it.

The assistant beside him nodded, placing a syringe closer to Tian Zhen's arm.

Charlie immediately pushed the door open, and snatched the syringe away from the assistant the moment he lifted his head up.

The liquid in the syringe is emptied, and the needle is snapped off by the bedside.

Xiao Zhen's ECG is still beeping.

Charlie: If I didn't leave back then, Tian Zhen wouldn't have died.

I shook my head violently.

You: That's not how it was. You've done what you can. There are many powers surrounding us in places we can't see.

A sad gaze clouded with darkness looked towards me.

Charlie: I didn't.

He only said something like this, and a sudden blinding white light shrouded us. This illusionary world has shattered.

I squinted my eyes, and by the time I opened my eyes, I noticed Charlie has walked before me, and what surrounds us is the corridor of the First Hospital that we are familiar with.

You: Charlie, we're now...

Charlie: He's still killing people.

I looked towards his line of gaze. The ICU ward on our right has a sleeping patient in it. Sun TaiZhong stood before the bed, holding a syringe in his hand.

In the smell of disinfectants, there's a faint smell of lead.

Sun TaiZhong places the syringe close to the patient's neck.

Charlie pushed the door open and walked in. Sun TaiZhong turned his head and took a glance, but not looking surprised, and still continued the movements in his hand.

Sun TaiZhong: Dr. Zha, you're here just in time. Looks like you've talked with your father.

Charlie: So what if I talked to him.

Sun TaiZhong: Nothing. Please you hand me the gauge needle* on that side for me, can you? There are some data that I haven't recorded yet.

*Gauge needles are commonly used for venipuncture (drawing blood).

Charlie took a needle and vacutainer from the machine tray.

Charlie: Yangyang's grandmother, Tian Zhen, and the people from Yu Da Academy, did you kill them?

Sun TaiZhong: If you were to say that I killed them, consider that true. But I'm more inclined to believe that I was helping to set them free. Those who have accepted clinical trials in Yu Da Academy will have their bodies collapsing sooner or later. I was just trying my best to allow their already non-human bodies to give their final bit of contribution to the medical industry. 

Sun TaiZhong: That elderly, even if she lives on, she will no longer be able to live normally with such severe side effects. It's the same for Tian Zhen. This might be different from your understanding in the term "duty", but it is indeed a doctor's duty to set them free.

Charlie: Even if they haven't lost their desires to keep living.

Fresh red blood slowly flowed into the vacutainer drop by drop. The patient moved a little in discomfort, but did not wake up.

Sun TaiZhong: Even if that's the case. But you and I know, that if they die now, it's good, whether it's for them, or for this world.

Charlie: I understand now.

Sun TaiZhong: Surgical scissors, thank you.

Charlie: Okay.

He agrees calmly, drawing out the pair of scissors from the machine tray, and caressed the blade with his fingers.

I could no longer understand what's happening before my eyes.

My instincts asked me to tug onto Charlie's sleeve.

You: We, aren't in an illusionary world.

Charlie: I know what I'm doing, don't worry.

He gently pulls my hand away, took a step forward, and my tears subconsciously flowed out.

Charlie: Sun TaiZhong, it's exactly because this isn't an illusionary world. So there's no way for me to only take what's in your hand over, and be delusional that I can save anyone's life just like this.

Sun TaiZhong: What illusionary world? What are you talking about?

Sun TaiZhong frowned as he turned around, and only for a instant, his expressions stunned.

The surgical scissors stabbed onto his chest.

Charlie's hand still pressed onto the blade.

Charlie: I'm a doctor. I just wanted to save them, and give them the rights to own the future, even if it's just for another day. Also for the many people in the future. But that's not the case for you. Sun TaiZhong, the speed of you killing people, is way faster than saving people. I am now certain, that your disappearance from this world, will make the world be even better.