Although they had disguised themselves, shooting Giles in plain sight meant they could never return home.
Both were primarily defensive, but Giles was reckless, firing indiscriminately.
Many in the crowd were hit by the stray bullets. Huo Rou turned, her eyes dark, and looked at Giles, her gaze piercing through time and space as they met again.
"Ning Yi, let's go," Huo Rou decided instantly. They couldn't let innocent people get caught in the crossfire.
Qin Ning Yi was also shocked by Giles' cruelty towards his own countrymen. Such scum, luring him out to help...
They stayed until midnight, by which time all the pine chrysanthemum had been extracted and stored in a bottle.
Qin Ning Yi saw her finish and stepped forward. "The airport is still under lockdown. My identity is sensitive, so it might be difficult for me to return. You should go first."
BDD only knew that it was Qin Ning Yi who had traded such large quantities of pine chrysanthemum. If he left with Huo Rou, it would definitely attract attention.
Before Huo Rou could speak, Tang Liu, distracted from the game, chimed in, "With Sister Huo here, what information can't you change?"
"Right, Sister Huo."
Huo Rou tacitly agreed. "Where's the computer?"
Tang Liu stuffed her phone into her pocket and reluctantly led Huo Rou to find a computer.
Her teammates in the game were shouting, "How did you suddenly go down!"
"Don't go AFK, sis! Save me, save me."
There was no response.
By the time Huo Rou had finished handling everything, she had Tang Liu perform minor facial alterations on her and Qin Ning Yi. This way, they were completely foolproof.
Qin Ning Yi had also finally accepted Huo Rou's many peculiar friends.
Indeed, his little cat had outdone him.
Tang Liu escorted them to the airport. "Sister Huo, I'll be back in the country in a while. We'll meet again then!"
Huo Rou nodded, took something from her waist, and pressed it into Tang Liu's hand. "Take this for self-defense. Be careful."
Tang Liu played with the item in her hand, smiling freely. "Got it!"
During security checks, the screening was thorough, with police dogs lingering around them for a few circles before they were finally allowed to pass smoothly.
Meanwhile, Tang Liu received a message from Huo Rou: "Help me keep an eye on Duan Rui, that Chinese person from Malko Software Company."
Tang Liu pocketed her phone and drove towards the vicinity of that industrial park. Since Sister Huo asked her to keep an eye out, this person must be problematic.
The return journey was ostensibly the same as the outward trip, yet Huo Rou found it to be exceptionally long.
Nearly two days had passed since Shen Wuyou told her about Elder Wang's worsening condition, and the flight still had over ten hours to go.
She had a vague, unsettling premonition.
Having not slept for days, Qin Ning Yi watched Huo Rou staring out the window with her eyes open. He reached out and covered her eyes, his voice hoarse from lack of rest. "Sleep."
"Qin Ning Yi, I'm scared."
She clutched the bottle tightly in her hand, containing the substance that could save Elder Wang.
Yet, she couldn't reach Elder Wang immediately.
The plane ascended, eager to return.
At this very moment, China was facing a large-scale, organized cyberattack.
The campus networks were the first to fall, followed by various enterprises and companies, and even government departments were not spared.
All internet companies worked overtime, and universities organized students and teachers from relevant majors to counterattack together.
This silent war lasted for half an hour, even alarming special departments before the final defenses were held.
Losses had already been incurred, much data was exfiltrated, and many universities even closed their external campus websites because of it.
This attack also affected the hospital's system. Shen Wuyou was analyzing Elder Wang's condition with his father, who was abroad for research, when the network connection was interrupted for a long time.
When the network was restored, Shen's father, seeing all the data, said with a grave expression to Shen Wuyou, "Even if the pine chrysanthemum extract is administered immediately, it might be too late now."
"I know. Are there any other ways to... stall for time?"
Elder Wang had asked about his condition when he was lucid and had made peace with the worst-case scenario, begging Shen Wuyou to hold on until he could see Huo Rou.
Shen's father pondered for a moment. "Use the special medication, and... continue with sedation. It will be very painful, but it might buy some time."
For an elderly man in his seventies, undergoing sedation while knowing death was inevitable was undeniably cruel.
Shen's father's voice trembled slightly as he suggested this method.
He looked at Shen Wuyou's dejected face and then seemed to recall something. "You could try acupuncture first, look for ancient methods."