136: comfort

Lin Chao's face was expressionless as he raised his foot and kicked Guo Fandong hard in the stomach.

"Scram."

Guo Fandong was kicked out of the door like a broken sack, falling miserably onto the cold corridor tiles.

Bang!

Lin Chao slammed the anti-theft door shut.

Click.

The sound of the deadbolt locking was clear and resolute.

He didn't spare another glance outside the door, turning and rushing towards Shen Zhixia's bedroom.

Meanwhile, in the bedroom.

Shen Zhixia was curled up on the bed, clutching her chest tightly.

Every malicious curse from outside the door was like a poisoned nail, driven one by one into her heart.

Especially those last few sentences... they were no longer just insults; they were trampling her dignity, her self-respect, and her remaining life underfoot, crushing them to powder!

Her heart ached as if it were about to explode.

But what hurt more than her heart was the overwhelming regret!

How could she... how could she have been involved with such a beast, worse than a pig or a dog, for nearly a year?!

She was blind!

She was truly blind!

The moment Lin Chao pushed the door open, what he saw was Shen Zhixia leaning against the doorframe, gasping for breath.

Her face was as pale as paper, and her lips had even begun to turn purplish-blue.

Her eyes, which usually sparkled with life, had now lost all their luster, leaving only endless pain and emptiness.

Lin Chao's pupils suddenly contracted.

The situation was worse than he had imagined!

He rushed forward in a flash, giving Shen Zhixia no chance to react.

"Don't move!"

With a low shout, he had already bent down, his arm passing under her knees and back, lifting her horizontally into his arms!

"Ah..."

Shen Zhixia let out a surprised cry. The sudden suspension of her body made her instinctively reach out and grab Lin Chao's shirt collar.

He strode to the bedside and carefully, yet swiftly, placed her on the soft mattress.

The next second, without the slightest hesitation.

Rip—!

He directly tore open the collar of her silk nightgown!

The delicate lace trim snapped in response.

Immediately after, with a flick of his slender finger, he unfastened the last restraint on her chest.

The breathtaking whiteness instantly sprang forth.

But Lin Chao's gaze showed no fluctuation.

His eyes didn't even linger on that alluring sight for more than 0.1 seconds.

In his eyes, there was only the patient.

His right hand moved like a blur, and several gleaming Silver Needles appeared between his fingers.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Several flashes of cold light passed, and the Silver Needles had already precisely pierced into several major acupoints on Shen Zhixia's chest, such as Shanzhong and Neiguan.

Almost instantly, Shen Zhixia's rapid, almost suffocating breathing finally calmed down.

The excruciating pain in her chest, as if it had been twisted to pieces, also began to recede like a tide.

Only then did Lin Chao let out a long sigh of relief, a fine layer of sweat already seeping from his temples.

He looked up at Shen Zhixia, who was still on the bed with her eyes tightly closed and tear stains un-dried, his brows deeply furrowed.

"Is it worth getting yourself so worked up over that kind of beast?"

Shen Zhixia kept her eyes closed, not answering.

But two lines of clear tears uncontrollably streamed from the corners of her eyes, disappearing into her temples.

She merely murmured in a voice barely audible.

"I just feel... I really was blind before..."

Her voice was filled with endless regret and self-loathing.

A complex look flickered across Lin Chao's eyes.

"Who hasn't loved a few scumbags when they were young?"

His voice carried a hint of the weariness of someone who had been through it all.

To console her, Lin Chao self-deprecatingly tugged at the corner of his mouth.

"My ex-girlfriend, Wu Ruolan."

"We were together for three years."

"In the end, she disliked me for being poor and having no future, and turned around to hook up with a rich second-generation heir."

"The most ridiculous thing was that she even brought that man to the rental apartment I was renting."

Lin Chao's tone was flat, as if he were telling someone else's story.

"Right on my bed."

The last five words were light as a feather, yet heavy as a thousand jun.

Shen Zhixia's eyes suddenly flew open.

Her beautiful eyes were filled with shock and disbelief.

She stared blankly at Lin Chao, seemingly trying to discern something from his calm face.

"You... you also encountered something like that?"

Lin Chao gave a bitter smile.

In that smile, there was relief, but also a lingering trace of sadness.

"In this lifetime, who doesn't encounter a few rotten people?"

"Once it's over, it's over."

He looked at her deeply, his gaze more serious than ever before.

"What's most important for you now is to take good care of your body."

"Don't let that trash's trash talk affect your heartbeat anymore."

He looked into her eyes, his voice not loud, but exceptionally firm.

"I said before that I can slowly treat your illness."

"At worst, I'll treat you for your whole life."

"Ultimately, I can let you live well."

"It definitely won't be like that beast said, that you don't have many days left to live."

Shen Zhixia's heart suddenly trembled.

As if something had gently, yet incredibly forcefully, struck it.

Especially... those three words, "for your whole life."

They were like a feather, gently brushing her scarred heart, bringing a tingling itch.

Her cheeks, pale from lack of oxygen, involuntarily flushed a faint red.

An indescribable, ambiguous atmosphere permeated the air.

However, this atmosphere hadn't even had a chance to ferment before it was dispersed by another, stronger emotion.

It was embarrassment.

Extreme embarrassment!

As the severe chest pain completely subsided, Shen Zhixia's rationality and perception returned like a tide.

Her gaze instinctively moved downwards from Lin Chao's earnest face... landing on her disheveled chest.

Her torn silk nightgown lay open in disarray.

Large areas of fair skin were exposed to the air without any cover.

Even... those gleaming Silver Needles were still stuck in it!

Boom—!

Shen Zhixia's mind was like a bomb exploding, instantly going blank.

She felt herself burning hot from her cheeks to her earlobes, and even her neck.

Lin Chao also noticed the change in atmosphere.

Looking at Shen Zhixia's face, which was almost dripping blood, even he, slow as he was, knew what was happening.

He awkwardly touched his nose.

"Cough."

He cleared his throat, then quickly turned around, presenting his back to her.

"I'll play on my phone for a bit."

His voice carried a hint of deliberately maintained composure.

"When the time comes, I'll remove the needles for you."

Looking at the broad back that deliberately avoided suspicion, the surging embarrassment in Shen Zhixia's heart was miraculously soothed a great deal.

She bit her lower lip and reached for her fallen phone from the bedside.

The screen lit up, then dimmed again.

She couldn't read a single word.

Her mind and eyes were filled only with the tall, straight figure sitting by the bed.

Time passed, minute by minute.

In the bedroom, it was so quiet that only the somewhat subtle breathing of the two could be heard.

"Alright, time's up."

Lin Chao's voice broke the silence.