Chapter Forty: Rising to the Surface

Yan Ming discovered Han Duoduo’s presence while reviewing the surveillance footage from the day Mrs. Yang was admitted to the hospital. The recording showed that at three in the afternoon, Han Duoduo, disguised as a nurse, took the elevator upstairs, wandered the corridor twice, and slipped into Mrs. Yang’s room when no one was around. A few minutes later, she emerged from the room, entered the restroom, and when she came out, she had changed out of the nurse’s uniform, put on a mask and a baseball cap, and looked like a completely different person.

Why was Han Duoduo at the hospital? Why did she disguise herself as a nurse to visit Mrs. Yang? Yan Ming didn’t know the answers to these questions. He set aside the surface details and focused on the heart of the matter: What was Han Duoduo’s goal? Broadly speaking, there were only two possible motives in this situation—one was to clear Yin Nian’s name, and the other was to implicate her further.

Yan Ming remembered that the first time he met Han Duoduo at Yin Nian’s home, she claimed she had just returned from out of town that day. Clearly, that was a lie. She had known about the incident long before and had arrived at Ba County Hospital on the afternoon it happened, disguised as a nurse to secretly slip into Mrs. Yang’s room. Judging by her actions, it was obvious she wasn’t helping Yin Nian. If she wasn’t helping, then she must have been setting her up.

Yan Ming’s thoughts turned to the bloody towel. Yin Nian had mentioned that the towel was a birthday gift from Han Duoduo, meaning Han Duoduo was most familiar with it. Was it possible that Han Duoduo had taken the towel? Or even that she had another towel exactly like it?

A possibility suddenly struck Yan Ming: Han Duoduo, disguised as a nurse, may have entered Mrs. Yang’s room to draw blood, then smeared the fresh blood on the towel before tossing it down the mountain. Only this would explain why the blood on the towel belonged to Mrs. Yang—and was so fresh.

Could it be that Han Duoduo had been orchestrating everything from the shadows all along, framing Yin Nian? Pretending to help, she stayed close to Yin Nian, but in reality, she was watching and misleading her, guiding her step by step into a trap from which there would be no escape. As for why Han Duoduo would do this, Yan Ming had no idea. But based on the information he’d gathered so far, these speculations seemed highly likely.

If that were the case… then even the surveillance and tracking of Yang Yongli might be something Han Duoduo could exploit.

With this in mind, Yan Ming hurriedly dialed Yin Nian’s number. The phone rang only once before being abruptly hung up. When he tried again, the call wouldn’t go through. Had Yin Nian blocked his number? His first thought was Han Duoduo—perhaps she had taken Yin Nian’s phone and blocked him.

How could he warn Yin Nian? Yan Ming sent her a text message, explaining his discovery and suspicions. He called her two more times, but still couldn’t get through. He then remembered the tracker; pulling it out, he saw that the red dot was no longer at the Lantian Hotel, but was now in a wilderness area outside Ba County, near what appeared to be a lake.

It was ten minutes past eight in the evening, and night had already fallen. What was Yin Nian doing out there? Was she following Yang Yongli? If so, what was Yang Yongli doing out there at night? There were two possibilities: Yang Yongli was up to something nefarious and had chosen a remote place to avoid being discovered, or he had deliberately gone there to lure Yin Nian into a trap—one set by Han Duoduo.

Yan Ming leaned toward the second possibility.

Throwing on his coat and preparing to head out, Yan Ming instinctively felt in his pocket and found a slip of paper. He unfolded it to find a single line: “When you know the truth, you will forgive what I did today.”

He quickly recalled that after persuading him to drink water at the hotel, Han Duoduo had written something in her notebook, the first two characters being “when you.” Could this note have been slipped into his pocket by Han Duoduo? But what did it mean?

Yan Ming couldn’t figure it out, but he was certain of one thing: the truth he had uncovered must go deeper than what Han Duoduo believed he knew. Whether or not he forgave her hardly mattered to him.

He tucked the note back into his pocket, hurried downstairs, and drove straight toward the red dot’s location—the outskirts of Ba County.

While on the road, Yan Ming received a call from the private hospital. They informed him that the results of the blood and cup residue analyses were ready. Both the blood and the residue in the cup contained lysergic acid diethylamide, a semi-synthetic chemical agent whose primary effect was to induce hallucinations and sensory distortions. Even in tiny amounts, it could produce intense psychological and physical reactions in a short time. Additionally, a substance similar to an antihistamine was found at the bottom of the cup—preliminarily identified as a nonprescription sedative, with further analysis ongoing. They would update Yan Ming with any developments.

Although Yan Ming had mentally prepared himself for the results, he was still stunned. He hadn’t expected Han Duoduo to actually drug him—and with a hallucinogen no less. Under its effects, and with Han Duoduo’s deliberate seduction, he had lost all resistance and ultimately fallen into her trap. He now realized that the pink “spring” he saw must have been nothing more than a hallucination induced by the drugs.

After hanging up, Yan Ming floored the accelerator. The car shot forward like a leopard, vanishing into the darkness of the night.