The water was bone-chillingly cold. Once submerged beneath the surface, the entire world seemed to fall silent.
Ye Shanshan’s vision darkened as if he had temporarily lost his sight. At the same time, wave after wave of dizziness assaulted his consciousness.
At that moment, it felt like something in his mind was burning his nerves. He could even clearly feel the blood coursing faster through his brain’s vessels. Meanwhile, his limbs began to grow cold. Countless images flashed through his mind before sinking deep into his memories. He started to feel his consciousness slipping away, little by little, as if he could no longer control it.
It wasn’t until the wound on his palm stung upon contact with the pool water that the dull pain jolted his thoughts into brief clarity.
Ye Shanshan struggled to move his weak hands and feet, managing to swim upward for a short distance. Just then, he vaguely saw Xu Luoyang and the bodyguard who had been following him appear in the water. The two reached out and grabbed his outstretched hand.
The moment he broke through the surface of the water, Ye Shanshan took a deep breath and, clinging to the last shred of consciousness, leaned close to Xu Luoyang’s ear.
“Luoyang, have the bodyguard seize Sun Rong. Tell Gong Yue I’ll wake up within 24 hours.”
His voice grew fainter as he spoke, until finally, Xu Luoyang felt a sudden weight on his shoulder—Ye Shanshan had completely lost consciousness.
By the time they reached the shore, a crowd had already gathered.
Earlier, Ye Shanshan had been standing behind an artificial rock. All of a sudden, he fell backward into the pool. Everyone instinctively thought he had slipped.
It was Xu Luoyang who first noticed something was wrong. He rushed to the edge of the pool and saw the sky-blue fabric spreading on the water’s surface. Yet, Ye Shanshan remained motionless, sinking deeper. Without hesitation, Xu Luoyang jumped into the water, followed closely by Ye Shanshan’s bodyguard, who had been stationed on set.
After pulling Ye Shanshan out of the water, Xu Luoyang’s lips had turned pale from the cold. All three of them were wrapped in down jackets by Director Zhang and the crew.
Holding a large cup of hot water, Xu Luoyang glanced at the drenched bodyguard beside him and whispered, “Shanshan wants you to capture Sun Rong and contact Gong Yue.”
The bodyguard nodded and left. With his heart still pounding, Xu Luoyang slumped onto the ground. He realized this situation was anything but simple—Ye Shanshan wouldn’t have told him those words before passing out if it were.
Taking a couple of deep breaths to calm himself, Xu Luoyang recalled something Ye Shanshan had mentioned before. He turned to Director Zhang. “Director, could you help call an ambulance from Youli Hospital?”
As soon as Director Zhang made the call, a commotion erupted nearby. Shortly after, four bodyguards dragged over a young man who had played the role of Ye Shanshan’s attendant. They stopped in front of Xu Luoyang.
“This is Sun Rong. We’ve contacted Mr. Gong.”
Xu Luoyang breathed a sigh of relief. He had been worried that Sun Rong might escape—after all, in movie scripts, the villains always seem to flee quickly.
The atmosphere grew tense. Some looked at the unconscious Ye Shanshan, the knocked-out Sun Rong, and the previously unassuming bodyguards now standing watch. Someone quietly asked, “What happened?”
Most of the onlookers, sensing something serious, remained silent and stayed where they were.
“Luoyang, should we call the police?” Director Zhang, holding a cup of hot water and shivering himself, asked as he began piecing together potential conspiracies in his mind.
“Not yet,” Xu Luoyang replied, sneezing several times before turning to the bodyguard. “How long until Mr. Gong arrives? Any instructions?”
“About five hours,” a bodyguard answered, handing Xu Luoyang a black phone. “Mr. Gong wants to speak with you.”
After drying his hands, Xu Luoyang took the phone. “Mr. Gong, this is Xu Luoyang.”
Sneezing again, Xu Luoyang recounted what Ye Shanshan had said before losing consciousness. “After saying those two sentences, Shanshan collapsed and passed out.”
When the call ended, Xu Luoyang returned the phone to the bodyguard and spoke to Director Zhang. “Have everyone head back for now. Keep this area secure and off-limits. Mr. Gong’s team will arrive shortly. We’ll accompany Shanshan to the hospital.”
Without asking further questions, Director Zhang used a loudspeaker to announce an early wrap for the day to the cast and crew.
Soon, the ambulance from Youli Hospital arrived. Journalists, catching wind of the incident, rushed over for interviews but were dismissed by Director Zhang, who cited exhaustion from filming as the reason.
At the hospital, they were met by the Hawke butler at the entrance and went straight to the 21st floor.
After taking cold medicine, drinking ginger soup under Director Zhang’s insistence, and showering, Xu Luoyang sat by Ye Shanshan’s hospital bed in patient clothes. He asked curiously, “Why haven’t you called a doctor?”
He himself had been examined and told that he was fine apart from mild hypothermia. But Ye Shanshan’s condition showed no improvement.
“This is the young master’s instruction,” the Hawke butler replied calmly, standing by the bed.
Xu Luoyang, wrapped in a blanket on the sofa, didn’t press further. He trusted that if anyone wouldn’t harm Ye Shanshan, it was Gong Yue.
Gong Yue arrived four hours later, wearing a dark coat and looking travel-worn. He entered the room without a word, went straight to Ye Shanshan’s bedside, and held his hand tightly. Gong Yue remained silent for a long time, seemingly calming himself.
Minutes later, Gong Yue finally said, “Thank you.”
Startled, Xu Luoyang waved his hands. “No need to thank me. Shanshan is like a brother to me—it’s what I should do.” He hesitated, then nervously asked, “Mr. Gong, is there anything else you’d like to know?”
Despite having met Gong Yue several times, Xu Luoyang still found him intimidating.
“Can you describe what happened?” Gong Yue asked.
Starting from the beginning, Xu Luoyang recounted everything in detail. When he finished, Gong Yue slowly said, “At the time Shanshan’s hand was injured, it was during a scene with Sun Rong?”
“Yes. Shanshan, trying to convey the character’s emotions, sat on the ground and accidentally pressed his hand onto a small metal shard. After the take, Director Zhang noticed blood on his palm. Shanshan didn’t seem to care much and had the wound simply bandaged.”
Xu Luoyang recalled every detail. “Later, he went to the set doctor for more bandages, so the wound wouldn’t be visible during filming.”
Gong Yue nodded, carefully removing the soaked bandage from Ye Shanshan’s hand. Beneath it, the palm was perfectly smooth, with only a faint white scar visible upon close inspection.
“This…” Xu Luoyang stared in disbelief, his mind racing with wild thoughts. Could Shanshan really be a vampire? Or… a celestial being?
Breaking his chaotic thoughts, Gong Yue calmly said, “Shanshan has exceptional healing abilities.”
Suppressing all sorts of speculation—particularly whether Ye Shanshan might actually be a vampire—Xu Luoyang decided to wait until the other party woke up to ask him directly.
Avoiding sensitive topics, Xu Luoyang finally asked, “Mr. Gong, will Shanshan really wake up within 24 hours?”
“He will. We should all believe in him.”
In the early hours, Chris knocked on the door and entered the hospital room.
“How is it?” The only person inside was Gong Yue.
He sat by the bedside, the dark circles under his eyes clearly visible. He was watching a short clip of Shanshan falling unconscious into the pool and a video Director Zhang had taken of Ye Shanshan sitting down and pressing his hand onto the metal shard—both replayed countless times.
“That man, Sun Rong, has a little-known vice: gambling. Yesterday afternoon, he went to an underground casino with some people, lost everything, mortgaged his house, and ended up owing a large sum in high-interest loans. Early in the morning, he returned home and received a call from an unknown number. The caller said that if he completed a single task, all of his debts would be paid off, and he’d receive a substantial amount of money. Desperate, Sun Rong agreed.”
As Chris spoke, he handed Gong Yue a file.
“In it is a small metal shard, about the size of a fingernail. Sun Rong had two of these shards, which he discovered outside his home the following morning. The caller instructed him to ensure Young Master Ye was injured by these shards and that there had to be blood.
“However, Sun Rong didn’t have many opportunities to approach Ye Shanshan. During filming, he seized the chance to place the shard at Shanshan’s designated spot between takes. He wasn’t entirely hopeful but was prepared to use the remaining shard for a second attempt if Shanshan didn’t injure himself by accident.”
Gong Yue flipped through the file, which contained Sun Rong’s complete call records. However, the numbers on the other end had been masked, leaving their origins untraceable.
When Ye Shanshan joined the production, Gong Yue had already conducted background checks on everyone involved with the crew. During Gong Yue’s coma, Shanshan had stepped forward on his behalf and even interacted with Gong Ji.
Thus, whether it was the Gong family’s enemies or Durant, both were likely to target Ye Shanshan.
One reason Gong Yue had stayed with Ye Shanshan on set for an entire week was concern for his safety. Intelligence indicated that a rival family of the Gong family had sent someone into the country with unclear intentions. The individual left China only two days ago.
Now, Gong Yue questioned how much of the incident—the shard cutting Ye Shanshan’s palm—was accidental and how much was deliberate.
After finishing his report, Chris left to handle other tasks. Gong Yue took a sip of ice water to clear his mind, held Ye Shanshan’s hand in his, and, after a long silence, murmured softly, “Shanshan, fifteen more hours.”
He lowered his head, gently kissed the back of Shanshan’s hand, and didn’t let go for a long time.
As dawn approached, Ye Shanshan’s limbs had grown cold, but his face was flushed with a fine layer of sweat due to a rising fever, his damp bangs clinging to his forehead.
On Misius Island, the extensive use of various drugs had nearly destroyed Ye Shanshan’s immune system. Later, his body managed to self-regulate into a relatively stable state. However, this delicate balance couldn’t be disrupted. After being brought to Youli Hospital, they merely changed his wet clothes without administering any medication.
Gong Yue initially thought Ye Shanshan was running a fever, but when he placed his hand on Shanshan’s forehead, he found the temperature was lower than usual. Slowly moving his hand upward, Gong Yue discovered that the warmest spot was on the crown of Shanshan’s head.
At that moment, Ye Shanshan was clearly in discomfort, his brow slightly furrowed, and his breathing rapid. As soon as Gong Yue’s hand touched the top of his head, Shanshan began murmuring indistinctly.
Gong Yue’s gaze sharpened. He hesitated for a moment before keeping his hand in place, carefully listening to Shanshan’s mutterings.
After hearing more than ten fragmented syllables, something clicked in Gong Yue’s mind. He took out his phone and opened a page displaying a seemingly random sequence of 81 numbers.
This sequence had been given to them in February by Bernard, written inside a brown envelope.
Cross-referencing the numbers, Gong Yue confirmed that Shanshan’s murmurs matched the sequence exactly, in the correct order.
Time felt agonizingly slow. Five minutes later, Shanshan finally finished reciting the numbers. His breathing began to stabilize, the temperature on his crown started to drop, and his limbs gradually warmed up. His expression softened as if he were peacefully asleep.
Gong Yue leaned back in his chair, finally relaxing a little.
When Ye Shanshan regained consciousness, his eyelids felt as if they were glued shut. After expending great effort, he managed to open them. Before he could process anything, he was pulled into a tight embrace.
The sensation was familiar.
Feeling the strong arms around him, Shanshan didn’t struggle. Instead, he raised his arms, hugged Gong Yue back, and gently patted his back.
“Ge, don’t worry. I’m awake now. I promised 24 hours, and here I am—right on time.”
After noticing that Gong Yue had calmed down, Shanshan, who had been holding back, spoke hurriedly, “Ge, that little metal shard—I pressed it on myself.”
Gong Yue straightened up and looked at him, speaking softly, “Explain.”
“I noticed something off about Sun Rong. He was standing in a blind spot where no one could see his actions. He skillfully placed that shard there, probably hoping to get lucky and trap me.”
Shanshan scratched his head.
“But at the time, I had this really strange feeling,” he said seriously, carefully searching for the right words. “It was like seeing a lollipop on a table—I couldn’t resist wanting to grab it. That shard gave me the same feeling, like it had some weird pull on me, so I just pressed my hand onto it.”
Seeing Gong Yue’s unreadable expression, Shanshan grew increasingly nervous as he spoke.
“After filming, I went to find the bodyguard you assigned to me and told him to keep an eye on Sun Rong. Then I waited, but aside from the pain, the wound didn’t show any abnormal reactions. It even started healing like any other injury. But later, when I was standing by the pool, I felt dizzy as soon as I opened my eyes, and I fell in.”
“And then?” Gong Yue asked as he gently touched Shanshan’s palm where the injury had been.
“In the water, it felt like my head was about to explode. It was an incredibly strange sensation. After that, I lost consciousness.”
Shanshan paused to organize his thoughts before continuing.
“Then I had a dream—a dream I’m sure I’ve never had before. Somewhere in my subconscious, there was a faint voice asking me, ‘What is the key?’”
Gong Yue’s eyes narrowed sharply as he quickly made the connection. “The 81 numbers?”
“Yeah,” Shanshan nodded. “I don’t know how or why, but it felt so strange. I couldn’t tell if I was awake or dreaming. Maybe it was all just an illusion, but I instinctively recited the 81 numbers.”
As he spoke, Shanshan anxiously clutched Gong Yue’s fingers, looking pitiful and a bit scared.
“Ge, it feels like something strange in my mind has been unsealed!”
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