Chapter 290: Qiao Ying: "Wind Ying, you hug me..."; Qin Hanyue: "Good."

The curtains were drawn tightly shut, and the room was dim.

The girl with a slight build who was lying in bed had an IV drip going. However, her injuries were too severe, and the jostling of travel had made her condition increasingly dire. She was deeply comatose, and before her fever could break, it spiked again.

Qin Hanyue prayed more fervently that the medicine dripping into her would have some effect, but no matter how long he waited, the IV bags emptied.

Her condition showed no signs of improvement.

There was a knock at the door, and people could occasionally be heard walking up and down the hallway outside. Business at this hotel was quite brisk. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Qin Hanyue opened the door a crack and took two bottles of rubbing alcohol from the hotel staff member. Under the suspicious, prying gaze of the hotel employee, he closed the door and returned to the room.

Qin Hanyue diluted the alcohol with warm water and carried it over to the bed.

He lifted the blanket, gently grasped one of her arms, and pushed up her sleeve to expose her forearm. Qin Hanyue wrung out the washcloth until it was half dry, avoided her wounds, and started wiping down her arm.

Now he could only attempt to physically reduce her fever.

After carefully wiping down both her arms, Qin Hanyue proceeded to unbutton her loose hospital gown. He dabbed her slender neck, chest, armpits, abdomen...

He carefully avoided her various major and minor injuries, using the alcohol to wipe down every unharmed part of her body.

He set down the washcloth and neatened her clothes, buttoning them back up.

Just then, the comatose girl on the bed suddenly muttered something unintelligible.

Qin Hanyue looked at her hopefully and called her name: “Xiao Ying?”

She didn’t respond. Qin Hanyue placed his large palm on her pale cheek, leaned in close, and said again: “Xiao Ying?”

Her lips moved slightly, and in Qin Hanyue’s expectant gaze, she mumbled again: “Feng Ying...”

The room was very quiet, and this time he heard it clearly.

Qin Hanyue’s hands unconsciously tightened on her shirt buttons.

He called to her, “...Xiao Ying, it’s me. Xiao Ying?”

He kept his tone gentle as he tried to rouse her.

Whether she heard his voice or not, her heavy eyelids finally fluttered open after some effort.

“Xiao Ying,” Qin Hanyue’s heart lifted with joy.

The anxiety that had been weighing on his heart finally eased a little.

But she called out to him: “Feng Ying...”

She laboriously reached a hand out to him, feebly grasping at his chest with her limp fingers, trying to pull him to her.

She truly had no strength left.

Qin Hanyue obligingly leaned down closer to her. With one hand he gathered up her gaping hospital gown against her chest.

Somehow summoning a burst of energy, her small hands clutched weakly but stubbornly at his shirt, mumbling incoherently, “...Feng Ying... It hurts... Hold me...”

Qin Hanyue hovered over her, silent for two seconds before softly replying, “Alright.”

He gently took her into his embrace. In the dim room, his expression was obscured from view. He listened to her murmur, “Feng Ying...”

Qin Hanyue responded, “I’m here.”

This was the first time Qin Hanyue had seen her in such a fragile, pitiful state. Having grown accustomed to her strength, this vulnerableness made Qin Hanyue feel anxious and afraid.

But she was covered in injuries, so he couldn’t hold her tightly.

Qin Hanyue knew something must have happened with this Feng Ying person in the desert, and their relationship was clearly not ordinary, different from her past with Ye Shengjin.

He figured that if Feng Ying was still alive, he probably didn’t stand a chance.

Oblivious, she pleaded, “Don’t leave me...”

He softly promised, “I won’t.”

Under his consoling, she gradually settled down in his arms.

The room became silent. Her hand still weakly clutched at his shirt, and he wasn’t sure if she had slipped back into unconsciousness.

More than ten minutes later, he suddenly heard her voice again from his embrace, very softly but clearly: “...Qin Hanyue.”

The gloom in Qin Hanyue’s downcast eyes gradually brightened. He bent his head slightly and placed a kiss on her burning forehead.

“It’s me,” he replied.

Looking into her eyes, he said, “Sleep if you’re tired. I’ll keep watch over you.”

She had a brief moment of lucidity, just long enough to warn him, “We can’t stay here long.” The DarkShadow assassins had formidable tracking skills—they had likely already followed their trail here.

After saying this, she lapsed back into unconsciousness, her hand releasing its feeble grip on his shirt little by little.

Qin Hanyue carefully buttoned up her clothes.

The hotel had poor sound insulation, so the coming and going footsteps outside could be heard loud and clear inside the room. Qin Hanyue didn’t dare let his guard down for a moment.

He checked on Qiao Ying from time to time, occasionally wetting a cotton swab to moisten her lips and mouth. He stood vigil at her bedside, not daring to leave.

The physical cooling had brought her fever down a little, but by the dead of night it suddenly spiked again.

Her injuries were too severe, causing her fever to keep recurring. If her wounds became infected and inflamed, it could endanger her life.

Seeing the situation turn urgent once more by morning, Qin Hanyue had the hotel staff bring him a change of clothes and arrange transportation. After changing Qiao Ying’s clothes, he carried her out through the hotel’s back entrance to head to a more distant hospital.

Soon, Qiao Ying was settled into a hospital bed with an IV drip.

Qin Hanyue was at his physical limit, but he didn’t dare sleep. Whenever a doctor or nurse came in to check on her, he remained vigilantly on guard, terrified that the syringe or medicine they brought out might turn out to be a knife or gun instead.

Fortunately, they made it safely through the night.

Qiao Ying’s fever still hadn’t broken, but her temperature was no longer as frightening as the previous night. She just remained unconscious.

After another morning passed, Qin Hanyue had intended to take Qiao Ying away under cover of night. But then he received word from his subordinates that DarkShadow operatives had arrived in their city...

Not daring to delay, Qin Hanyue immediately took Qiao Ying and left.

By the time the doctor came by to check the room, they were already gone.

Qin Hanyue had found them another hotel, planning to get Qiao Ying out of this place under the cloak of darkness.

With the gravely wounded, comatose Qiao Ying in tow, all Qin Hanyue could do was hide and evade, constantly changing locations to shake off pursuit.

If they were unlucky enough to run into someone of Dao Ying’s caliber, whom Qin Hanyue had crossed blades with in Arkenlin, just one would be enough to kill them.

Qin Hanyue didn’t dare take Qiao Ying back to the capital.

Putting aside the arduous journey and how they could possibly make it back safely, even if they did manage to return to the capital unscathed, it would still be extremely difficult to evade DarkShadow’s assassins with all of Qin Hanyue’s preparations and fortifications.

As long as DarkShadow discovered Qiao Ying’s location, their hidden killers had countless methods of assassination.

Darkness shrouded the entire city.

Qin Hanyue’s silhouette alternated between the door and bedside.

He then went over to the window and gently lifted a corner of the curtain.

Just then, a figure silently slipped into the hotel, blending into the surroundings.

The front desk clerk was dozing off, and the security cameras had mysteriously stopped running.

The figure searched through the hotel for something. Soon, he arrived outside Qin Hanyue’s room door.

He stood in front of the electronic lock and somehow managed to easily unlock the door in under a minute.

The man quietly entered the room...

Around the corner, Qin Hanyue held the unconscious Qiao Ying in his arms. The moment the intruder stepped into the room, he immediately carried her downstairs via the emergency staircase.