ASHES CH10: Missing

Little Luo Zhi really loved Auntie Ren.

He wasn’t entirely fearless right from the beginning. What child dares to charge around recklessly without someone standing behind them, ready to back them up no matter what?

Auntie Ren was the person who would unconditionally protect Luo Zhi.

Auntie Ren’s name was Ren Shuangmei, and her personality was just as striking and cool as her name—intellectual, elegant, crisp, and decisive. She called the shots in the entire Ren family. Therefore, even if she gave Luo Chengxiu absolutely no face, the head of the Luo family could only grit his teeth and swallow his anger in silence.

Countless times, a bruised and battered little Luo Zhi would secretly make a phone call to complain to Auntie Ren, and then be led out of the Luo household with his head held high.

…

That car was a gift given to him by Auntie Ren when Luo Zhi was twelve. That year, due to certain reasons, he had been pushed off the second floor by Madam Luo, and after waking up in his hospital bed, Auntie Ren gave it to him.

Of course, a twelve-year-old Luo Zhi couldn’t drive yet, so Auntie Ren hooked pinkies with him, making this an absolute secret between the two of them.

This car was Luo Zhi’s ultimate secret base.

Luo Zhi carefully hid all the secrets he refused to show anyone else inside the car, like guarding a treasure.

Diaries from his childhood, gifts he bought himself for every birthday, songs he wrote strictly for his own ears, photos and drawings only he had ever seen, the very, very long handwritten letters Auntie Ren had left for him that were already worn from being read so many times, and all the evidence proving to Auntie Ren that he was living happily and well…

He was like a very comical, penniless evil dragon, entrenched at the mouth of his cave like a miser, refusing to step away as he guarded those precious treasures that seemed completely worthless to anyone else.

Luo Zhi didn’t ask Ren Chenbai if the things in that car had been spared.

There was no need to ask such a question.

When Ren Chenbai had played enough with his prey and decided to personally snuff out that last glimmer of hope, he never had the habit of leaving any leeway.

A good habit.

The warrior who descended from the heavens to serve justice and slay the evil, sin-filled dragon executed a flurry of maneuvers, only to blow up his own base’s crystal in the process.

Luo Zhi suddenly found it a bit funny in his heart.

He didn’t know if the funny part was Ren Chenbai, who was probably going crazy after personally destroying the last traces of his mother, or himself, who was slowly shattering into pieces from some place within.

Ren Chenbai had at least one redeeming quality: even if he was mad with rage, he would absolutely never resort to physical violence.

Otherwise, Luo Zhi would have to figure out how to roll under the bed via the shortest route, how to rip the IV needle out of the back of his hand to defend himself, how to poke a few bloody holes in Ren Chenbai, and then take the opportunity to kick Ren Chenbai to death, beating him until he couldn’t get back up…

Luo Zhi leaned crookedly against the head of the bed. He lowered his head, thought for a while, and couldn’t hold back a genuine laugh out loud.

What was he thinking? He couldn’t move at all right now.

It felt as if something was slicing his chest open, or as if a hand was tearing his back apart, stepping on his shoulders, and yanking out his tendons one by one.

But the tinnitus was gone.

Luo Zhi carefully listened for a good while before realizing that it wasn’t just the ringing in his ears that had disappeared.

All the sounds around him had completely vanished along with it. It wasn’t noisy anymore; it was very comfortable. The only thing left was the lullaby Auntie Ren used to sing softly while holding him in his mind.

The moon is bright, the wind is quiet, the leaves cover the window lattice.

The moon tonight was so bright.

So bright that it made him terribly homesick.

Using the moonlight, Luo Zhi carefully read through the vehicle destruction certificate once more and found the smallest, inconspicuous line of address printed in the corner.

…

Luo Zhi went missing.

When reporting this matter to Ren Chenbai, the doctor on duty glanced at Mr. Ren’s unprecedentedly cold and dark expression, trembling with fear and not daring to utter a single extra word.

…They completely hadn’t expected something like this to happen either.

Just this morning, a few young nurses who didn’t follow celebrities or spend much time online couldn’t help but blush as they quietly discussed how well-behaved the patient in room 1503 was.

Handsome, obedient, and cooperative. He took his medicine properly when told to, and obediently held out his hand when his blood sugar needed to be tested.

When the blood sugar needle pricked him, that pale, icy hand would tremble slightly, and a layer of misty moisture would veil those beautiful eyes, yet they would still curve into the shadow of a smile.

He seemed to dislike talking very much, but he would secretly slip them notes containing red bills folded into hearts, politely asking them to help him buy a set of clothes.

And so, before noon had even arrived, a white shirt, jeans, a baseball cap, and a pair of skate shoes had been delivered, and then they vanished, taking Luo Zhi with them.

Only the neatly folded hospital gown was left resting on the pillow. The blanket and sheets were flat and tidy, as if no one had ever stayed there.

Ren Chenbai looked at the hospital bed, his voice so cold it was weightless: “Who bought them for him?”

The doctor on duty knew he was asking about the clothes. After hesitating for a long time, he braced himself and whispered, “…Everyone bought them.”

Even he hadn’t been able to resist calling his son, vaguely asking what color shoes young men of this age preferred.

How could Luo Zhi be so easily likeable?

Including the two emergency resuscitations, they had only interacted with him for a total of a day and a half, yet they all felt this was a young man who would make anyone’s heart soften upon seeing him.

Just what kind of excessive things had he done to make the people around Luo Zhi hate him so much?

Of course, the doctor on duty didn’t dare to ask these questions.

Because of Ren Chenbai’s orders, they didn’t dare to show much friendliness to Luo Zhi’s face; their attitude could even be called cold.

The young nurses would draw his blood with an aloof demeanor and leave, their faces flushing red from holding it in the moment they walked out the door.

…

Ren Chenbai stared at the neatly folded hospital gown.

Last night, Luo Zhi had actually told him that the car was a relic left by his mother.

Ren Chenbai had never lost his composure like this before. He had almost torn Luo Zhi apart. After that wave of furious panic passed, he had immediately ordered someone to contact the scrapyard that destroyed the car.

Naturally, the car had been destroyed long ago.

After all, Mr. Ren had personally ordered it: there was no need to sort through the things inside the car, just dismantle it directly and push it into the smelting furnace. This wasn’t some illegal stolen vehicle, nor did it have any criminal record; the police themselves had even done the dismantling.

It was nothing but a trivial matter.

The boss of the processing plant had smiled subserviently, carefully claiming credit from Ren Chenbai and specifically assuring him that “not a single screw was left.”

Because of this, Ren Chenbai hadn’t had the time to return to the hospital for an entire day.

But the result of an entire day’s effort was nothing but drawing water with a bamboo basket—all in vain.

…

The plans Ren Chenbai made were always meticulous, and this meticulousness was now flawlessly backfiring on him, causing him to personally destroy his mother’s belongings.

Destroyed so thoroughly that not a single screw was left.

Looking at the empty hospital bed, Ren Chenbai suddenly recalled the situation from last night.

Luo Zhi didn’t ask him anything, didn’t say a single word.

Luo Zhi understood him even better than he understood himself. It took Ren Chenbai an entire day to finally confirm that the result of his actions was that nothing was left, but Luo Zhi had realized it in that mere instant.

Just like Luo Zhi also knew very well that as long as he asked a few more people to help buy clothes, Ren Chenbai would have no reason to punish any specific person at the hospital.

What was there to punish?

Would the gentle and genial Mr. Ren fly into a rage and abuse his power to fire people over a trivial matter like “a private hospital nurse doing a favor for a patient”?

Ren Chenbai was not that kind of person.

When facing everyone except Luo Zhi, Ren Chenbai had plenty of rationality and a bottom line.

Under the doctor’s nervous gaze, Ren Chenbai merely stood in silence for an excessively long time before turning and walking towards the director’s office. “Show me the surveillance footage.”

The on-duty doctor let out a long sigh of relief and hurriedly agreed.

Ren Chenbai took long strides, forcing the doctor to jog to keep up. When he finally caught up, he looked as if he wanted to say something but hesitated.

Ren Chenbai spoke in a faint voice, “Is there something else?”

“Mr. Ren,” the doctor asked, “when Mr. Luo is found, should we do a full-body checkup?”

Ren Chenbai frowned. “Why?”

“It’s hard to say. There might be other issues with his body.”

The doctor recalled the situation at the time; aside from the two critical emergencies caused by hypoglycemia, Luo Zhi’s original physical condition also seemed somewhat worrying.

It was just that Ren Chenbai forbade them from interfering too much, as if as long as Luo Zhi was still alive, nothing else mattered.

But could a person really withstand this kind of attrition?

During the two resuscitations, Luo Zhi’s own survival instinct was as low as the weakest flicker of a flame in the wind; the slightest disturbance would extinguish it.

And after a night had passed, when they went for ward rounds this morning, Luo Zhi was sleeping in bed, as quiet as a patch of ashen embers.

The doctor observed Ren Chenbai’s complexion and said tentatively, “Mr. Luo seems to have lost his hearing.”