By the time Lin Che reached the hospital, the world no longer sounded real.
Voices overlapped in fragments—her name, urgent whispers, someone crying, someone praying. The bright white lights of the corridor felt blinding, suffocating. She could see a doctor standing a few meters away, speaking to a cluster of villagers who stared at him as though he were delivering a sentence instead of news.
"…we are sorry…"
The words floated toward her, distorted.
"…we did everything we could…"
Her handbag slipped from her fingers and hit the floor with a dull thud.
"…we couldn't save the patient."
For a moment, Lin Che forgot how to move.
Her knees buckled as though someone had pulled the bones out of her body. She staggered forward, but the ground felt unstable, like she was walking on water instead of tile. The faces around her turned blurry. She could see mouths moving, but the sounds were distant, muffled, unreal.
Auntie Lee was the first to notice her collapse.
"Lin Che!" she cried, rushing forward and catching her before she hit the ground completely. "Lin Che, get up—get up!"
Lin Che barely reacted. Her lips trembled, her eyes wide and uncomprehending as she stared at the doctor in the distance.
"Auntie Lee…" Her voice came out hollow, thin. "What did I just hear? Tell me… what did the doctor just say?"
Auntie Lee's hands shook as she held her. Tears streamed down her face uncontrollably.
"Please," Lin Che whispered, her fingers gripping Auntie Lee's sleeves. "Please tell me I heard wrong."
But Auntie Lee had no lie to offer.
"I am so sorry, my child," she sobbed. "I am so sorry… your grandmother… she's gone."
The words struck like lightning.
"No," Lin Che breathed immediately, shaking her head. "No. That's not true. That's not true at all."
Nan Lu had just arrived, panting from running. "What are you talking about?" she demanded, looking between them. "Grandma was fine this morning! She was fine!"
Lin Che's voice rose suddenly, shrill and desperate. "She was standing! She was cooking! She told me to wear a sweater!" Her chest heaved violently. "How can she be dead? How can she be dead?!"
It felt like a cruel joke. A nightmare she would wake up from at any second.
Without warning, Lin Che broke free from Auntie Lee's hold and lunged toward the doctor. She grabbed his lapels with both hands, her strength fueled by hysteria.
"Doctor!" she screamed. "Save my grandmother! Where is she? Where did you put her? I want to see her!"
The doctor stumbled backward in shock, trying to steady her hands. "Miss, please calm down—"
"No!" she shrieked, shaking him violently. "You're a doctor! You save people! That's your job! You have to save her! She was fine this morning! She was fine!"
Villagers rushed forward, trying to pry her fingers loose. It took three men to attempt to pull her away, but she clung to the doctor desperately, her nails digging into his coat.
"You're lying!" she cried, her voice breaking into something raw and animalistic. "You didn't try hard enough! You didn't! I want to see her! Let me see her!"
Her hair fell across her face, her breathing turning ragged, almost choking. She was no longer aware of the corridor, of the stares, of the whispers. All she could see was her grandmother smiling that morning.
Just that morning.
"Grandma wouldn't leave me," she sobbed uncontrollably. "She promised she'd wait for me…"
It took several seconds of tugging and pleading before her body finally gave out.
Her grip loosened.
Her eyes rolled back slightly.
And she collapsed.
"Lin Che!" Nan Lu screamed.
Doctors rushed forward immediately, checking her pulse. Her face was deathly pale, lips drained of color, yet her body continued trembling even in unconsciousness—as if the shock refused to release her.
"She fainted from trauma," one of the doctors said quickly. "Get her to a bed."
They carried her to a nearby examination room. The doctor who had handled her grandmother's surgery stepped back into the corridor and looked at the villagers gravely.
"You need to take good care of her," he said. "If this continues, her body won't withstand it."
The villagers stood there in stunned silence.
It all felt unreal.
Ever since Gong Rui had been taken away by the Gong family, the village had changed. It had been livelier, noisier with gossip and opinions. They had been angry for Lin Che, protective of her. But no one had imagined they would lose someone.
And certainly not like this.
Lin Che's grandmother had lived in the village nearly her entire life. She had helped raise other children, shared vegetables from her small garden, offered advice, scolded gently, laughed easily. Illness had slowed her body, but never her kindness.
Now she was gone.
Nan Lu stood stiffly, her usual chatter nowhere to be found. Her eyes were red, but no tears fell yet. She turned slowly toward Auntie Lee.
"What happened?" she asked quietly, though her voice trembled. "How did this happen so suddenly?"
All eyes shifted to Auntie Lee.
Her face was pale, her lips still shaking from what she had witnessed. She swallowed hard before speaking.
"I… I went to find Lin Che," she began. "I had heard about another part-time job opening and thought she might want it." Her voice cracked. "When I got there… I saw strangers leaving the house."
Her breathing quickened at the memory.
"It was that woman," she said. "The one from the Gong family. The one who came to take Gong Rui away that day."
A murmur spread through the villagers.
"There were men with her," Auntie Lee continued, gripping her sleeves tightly. "When I looked closely, I saw something dripping from one of their hands. It looked like blood. I don't know if they were the ones who did it… but when they left… Grandma was already lying there."
Nan Lu's expression darkened instantly. "You're saying they hurt her?"
"I don't know," Auntie Lee whispered desperately. "But when I found her… she was in a pool of blood."
Silence swallowed the corridor.
Before Nan Lu could respond, before anyone could process what had just been said—
A voice cut through the air behind them.
Cold.
Low.
Terrifyingly calm.
"What did you just say?"