My Dearest General: It Has Always Been You

The scene in her dream was a blur, but she could hear her own rapid heartbeat and harsh breathing so vividly in her ears. 

Fear, anxiety, nervousness and intense panic overwhelmed her. It was wretchedly similar to how close she was to breaking down earlier as she held the unconscious Jiang Jinyan in her arms.

Although in the dream, there was no Jiang Jinyan and no gangsters who would hurt them either.

She was running with all her might. Occasionally, she would turn her head to check the sight behind her. In front of her was an endless passage whose end couldn\'t be seen. Rooms lined up neatly on both sides with each door closed with a special lock.

It had been such a long time since Shi Nian ran this hard. Her lungs were burning due to lack of oxygen and her legs almost gave up beneath her. Yet she never stopped. The desire to survive and get out of this hellish place was the fuel which kept her going.

She turned into a corner and found a slightly ajar door. Without hesitation, she rushed inside and closed the door behind her, gasping heavily. After adjusting her breath, she started to scan the room in vigilance. 

This room was slightly different from the dim, windowless and moldy room which she was locked up in. There was a small window near the ceiling that allowed lights to pour in, illuminating the narrow space. The walls were made of bricks with uneven surface. Shi Nian relied on her senses, probing around as she walked deeper into the room. There was a strange smell hanging on the tip of her nose. It was familiar yet unfamiliar at the same time.

Smell of mold and dampness which was typical to underground rooms and mixed with it was a sour stench of…something rotten and foul. Her eyes gradually adjusted to the darkness and she covered her mouth in shock, eyes widening in horror.

There was a person lying right in front of her!

That person was lying on a stone table, a trolley by the side with scalpels, knives and all kinds of sharp, small blades laid out on it. Shi Nian couldn\'t take her eyes off the person. Long hair, slim figure, they ought to be a woman, she deduced. But there was no sign of breathing coming from the other party at all.

Shi Nian\'s blood instantly ran cold and her knees weakened.

A soft cry escaped from her lips which she swallowed down in an instant. Tangent and rusty scent of blood permeated from the tip of her tongue that she bit off accidentally.

Even though she knew that he had killed people, this was the first time Shi Nian saw a real corpse. The dim light prevented her from seeing the woman\'s features clearly but to her dismay, Shi Nian found that the woman was missing an arm and leg. Blood poured down the stone table onto the ground, forming a thick, sticky puddle which was the source of the disgusting, foul stench.

Shi Nian tumbled backward and gagged. She had dry heaves, yet only stomach acid rose up her throat and nothing else because she hadn\'t eaten anything for the last two days. Her body trembled violently and she hugged herself, the cold shiver came from deep within her bones. 

Fortunately, Shi Nian had always been strong. She willed herself to remain sane, tiptoed around the woman and hastily grabbed a few scalpels and blades, disregarding the blood in them. Holding it tightly in both of hands, she treated it as her life saving talisman.

BAM!

The sound of door slamming close cut through the silent night and Shi Nian jolted in shock. 

Oh no! He must have discovered her breaking the lock and escaping! Her heart rose to her throat, the anxiety and panic drove into her like a tsunami.

She gave the woman on the stone table one last glance before dashing out of the room and continued on her flight.

Out, no matter what, she must escape from this place today! It\'s now or never!

The scene in the dream distorted like a video that was being fast forwarded. In a blink of an eye, Shi Nian found herself face to face with a large wooden door. Her hands and face were soaked in fresh, warm blood and there was a blood curdling scream behind her.

Tears streamed down her face and she dragged her aching body toward the door, her hands trembled as she reached out…

All of a sudden, someone tackled her from behind and she fell down, her chin knocking against the ground hard. In an instant, blood filled her mouth and her head rang dizzily. There seemed to be someone screaming by her ears, but in the next moment, it disappeared along with the force pressing down on her body.

Shi Nian had no courage to look back. She was close, so close to freedom that she was willing to forsake anything to gain it. Her chest ached with every breath she took and she mustered any strength remaining within her to push the door.

The tip of her fingers touched the door and it instantly swung open. Not because of her but someone who was pulling the door open from the other side.

Shi Nian\'s blurry vision was met with a pair of polished, black shoes. Numbly, she trailed her gaze up, following the person\'s straight, black pants devoid of any creases, warm thick sweater, the protruded jut of Adam\'s apple, well defined jaw and finally rested on the man\'s eyes which was looking down on her.

So cold, so freezing. Emotionless. Like he was looking down on a dead person. Those eyes frightened her so much that the thin string that was desperately holding her sanity together snapped.

Shi Nian screamed in reflex and her eyes snapped open wide.

"—Niannian! Niannian, it\'s Mama ah! Wake up, it\'s just a nightmare!" Qiang Fei\'s anxious face appeared above her as soon as her vision refocused. Shi Nian was still breathing hard and the joints in her entire body ached as if she had just ran a marathon.

"M—Mama?" Shi Nian blinked and her senses gradually returned. The dream was akin to sand slipping through between the gaps of her fingers. Within a few seconds, everything had turned blurry and when she tried to recall it, her head would throb painfully.

"Yes, yes, it\'s Mama!" Qiang Fei smiled in relief and pressed on the button on the bedside. "How are you? Is there anywhere uncomfortable?"

Shi Nian relaxed almost spontaneously. Only then did she realize that her whole body was covered in cold sweat. She blinked to wipe the haziness in her mind away and the memories rushed to her mind like a furious tide. Her face paled in an instant. "Jiang Jinyan! Mama, how is he?!"

Shi Nian wanted to get off the bed but Qiang Fei held her back.

"Niannian, calm down. Calm down first okay?" The woman coaxed patiently. "Don\'t be too agitated. See, you almost pulled the IV drip off."

The more Qiang Fei tried to divert the topic, the heavier Shi Nian\'s chest became. It was so suffocating that she couldn\'t breathe properly. "Mama, tell me…" She tremblingly whispered. "How is he? Is he…okay?"

Qiang Fei fell silent and Shi Nian\'s heart abruptly sank.

The door slid open in the next moment and a woman in white coat came in with two nurses, following behind them were Ru Meiqi, Xu Binchen and an unfamiliar middle aged man with a stern look.

"Hello, Miss Shi. I see that you have regained consciousness." The doctor greeted with a smile.

Shi Nian stared at Qiang Fei\'s somber face and turned to the doctor, the rims of her eyes reddened. "…how is he? How is Jiang Jinyan?" How Shi Nian wished that she could shake the answer out of them. "Tell me!"

She struggled out of Qiang Fei\'s hold and yanked the infusion off her wrist.

"Shi Nian!"

Shi Nian\'s eyes were frenzied and her face twisted like a madwoman. Everytime she closed her eyes, she could still smell the thick rusty scent of blood on the tip of her nose and his weight on her. No matter how she called out, the man didn\'t respond. He just laid there with his eyes shut, face devoid of color, blood pouring out of the wounds on his body.

How could she continue living if Jiang Jinyan died? How could she live on with the knowledge of him risking his life to protect her? Shi Nian couldn\'t. She couldn\'t bear to. Even imagining the scene where his body turned cold and his breathing gradually ceased was enough to torment her with such pain as if someone had just stabbed her straight in her gut.

  "Shi Nian!" Ru Meiqi held her shoulders firmly. The woman leveled her gaze to her, firm and reassuring. "Calm yourself and take a deep breath. Don\'t worry, he has gotten through the critical period and is currently being treated in the ICU. He has passed the most dangerous phase, do you hear me? Now, all we can do is wait for him to wake up and the doctor has confirmed that he will be able to recover fully with enough rest."

Shi Nian digested Ru Meiqi\'s sentence word by word and slowly, her eyes lifted, brightening up with a light so fragile and hopeful that it seemed to be on the verge of perishing if Ru Meiqi were to take her words back. "Really? He\'s…really okay?"

"Yes." Ru Meiqi answered firmly, eyes gazing into hers in a determined light. "He\'s okay."

"That\'s good." Shi Nian slumped on the bed, crying in relief. "It\'s good that he\'s okay…Then, when can I visit him?"

"Rather than visiting him…" Ru Meiqi gestured to the unfamiliar stern man. "This is Officer Wen, he has something to ask you. Shi Nian, you should clarify some things first so that we can punish those people who have hurt you and Mr. Jiang."

"I wish I could say that it\'s nice to meet you, Miss Shi but the situation is quite troublesome and I hope you can assist me in answering some questions." Officer Wen smiled wryly. "There were four men who were found in the scene together with you—"

"Wait, four?" Shi Nian interjected. "You said that there\'s only four men?"

Ru Meiqi asked sharply. "What do you mean? There\'s more than four?"

Shi Nian gnashed her teeth, enraged. "Five! There were five men attacking us! One of them must have escaped!"

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A/N: oooh, the stimuli jolted her memory~ y\'all should know who\'s the person with emotionless eyes _(:3」∠)_ well, I will not comment further hahaha let\'s see whether Shi Nian will recall her dream when she calms down later on