11.00am Sunday
Wei Ying clutched at the bars separating him from Mrs Lan.
"Let me go in there!" He said, when she looked at him, addressing his grandmother.
Mrs Lan raised a weak hand up to grasp and clutch at her neck, pulling out a thin string, from which a key dangled.
"Bus station. Locker." And then she stilled, her eyes still open.
Her hand collapsed, uselessly.
For a second, no one moves, too shocked at being present when she passed away.
Wei Ying is aware of being gently moved, and then somebody opens the door. He walks in slowly and kneels by her side.
Baoshan Sanren passes a hand over Mrs Lan's face, closing her eyes.
Wei Ying reaches for her hand. Mrs Lan is cold, as is expected for a vampire, but he squeezes it anyway, wanting to comfort her even now.
"Take the key," his grandmother says, gently. "She was obviously holding on until she saw you."
Wei Ying nods, unable to say anything for now.
He thinks back to when he had first seen her, when he and A-Yuan had gone to their apartment for the first ever time, to drop JingYi off.
The angry words he wanted to yell at her for not coming to school and picking up her kid, dying on his lips when he'd seen the bruises on her face and arms. How his fists had clenched in frustration at not being able to help, unable to offer her peace and sanctuary because she had refused it.
Could he have changed anything for her?
"No." Baoshan Sanren says, ever so quietly. "We can try to help but ultimately, everyone walks on their own path."
Wei Ying hadn't realised he had voiced his thoughts aloud.
"Destiny is written, is that what you're saying?" He doesn't mean to sound bitter, but this death, as so many, all of it could have been avoided.
"Partly, Haizi. You are not responsible for anyone else's choices. People are old enough to know better, and if they don't, it's not your fault. Let's put her to rest, and leave this place. Bad Juju." She helps him to stand and leads him out of the cell, nodding to A-Qing, who sets fire to the corpse.
The heat from the flames makes Wei Ying bury his face in Lan Zhan's chest, eyes burning with tears.
He can mourn this poor woman whose life had disappointed her, throwing one challenge after another her way. And yet, out of all that mess, there was one shining star.
JingYi.
Lan Zhan's arms have already come around him, holding him close. He doesn't say anything either, his silence more comforting than any words could be.
They wait until nothing is left of Mrs Lan, except a pile of ashes.
"What about him?" A-Qing points to the other dead body, Mr Lan.
"He can rot." Wei Ying growls, not even sparing him a second glance.
But as they exit the room, Lan Zhan is still looking around.
"What? What is it?" Wei Ying asks, joining him.
"I can still hear the heartbeat of another human." Lan Zhan says, walking towards this final door.
It is unlocked, and there's another cell here.
There's a lady sitting on the ground, who immediately jumps up and then sways, clearly not in the best of health.
"Doctor Afida! What are you doing here?" Wen Qing says, running forward when she enters, pushing everyone else away.
"Doctor Afida? You know this person?" Baoshan Sanren demands. "Who is she?"
"My colleague, she...I thought she left. That's what they told me." Wen Qing unlocks the door and runs into the cell.
Wen Qing catches her, helping her to sit down, and looks relieved when she finds her pulse to check her condition.
"Does anyone have any food?" She asks, hopefully. "She's just dehydrated and probably hungry."
"Starving," the lady says, with a low chuckle. "I thought you knew what was going on."
Wen Qing shook her head.
"Despite my position, they kept a lot of things from me," she says, lowering her eyes. "If I knew what they had done to you, I would have found a way to help."
"I don't doubt it, Jie."
Doctor Afida patted her hand gently.
The familiar name had Wen Qing blinking back tears.
One of their team pushes through the crowd to hand Wen Qing an energy bar and a bottle of gatorade.
"This will help," she encourages the doctor.
"Who is she? And why was she kept here?" Baoshan Sanren crosses her arms over her chest, frowning and looking around.
The cell is in really bad shape. There's straw strewn across the floor, which presumably, the prisoner had tried to gather into a neat pile for a makeshift bed.
Nothing else.
The greying walls were stained with questionable marks, and the air was stuffy as if no one had bothered to open the door for a long time.
"I can tell you some of it." Wen Qing ventures, glancing at Doctor Afida for permission.
Doctor Afida is practically inhaling the energy bar, and she nods quickly.
"Doctor Afida and I studied together in university. I recommended her for her post, which at the time was directly under me. She's trustworthy."
Doctor Afida smiles at that.
"And look where that got me," she says, shaking her head.
"What happened to you?" Wen Qing is infinitely gentler now.
"I found out about the medical trials. How they're basically creating the disease they're trying to "fix"." She makes the speech marks sign with both of her two fingers on each hand. "So I went to complain to Wen Rouhan, because he would never have sanctioned something like that, right?" She let out a bitter laugh. "Wow, I really nailed that one, huh?"
"What did my uncle say?"
"Oh, I never even got that far! Wen Chao got into the elevator with me, and that's the last thing I remember. I woke up here, and I wish I could tell you how long it's been. They only let me out to use the loo. I drink whatever I can from the washbasin when I'm there, and that's probably why I'm still alive."
Wen Qing looks shocked and disgusted.
"I asked my uncle about you, and he said you had been headhunted with a better offer, left without a two week notice. And then they piled on the workload so I didn't have the time to question it."
"Jie! You really think I would have left without telling you? You're my friend, and I value that." Doctor Afida tells her sincerely.
"I know. And I've been a bad friend to you. I should have come down here and checked, or something." Wen Qing looks utterly miserable.
"It's okay, Jie. You're here now, and I'm hoping you're not going to leave me here?" She giggles, holding out her hand for Wen Qing to help her up.
"Absolutely not!" Wen Qing growls.
"Who are these people?" Doctor Afida asks, and Wen Qing makes the introductions.
"Well then, I'm going to assume you're here to kick Wen butts?" Doctor Afida winks at Baoshan Sanren, and beams at Wei Ying, who nudges Wen Qing playfully.
"I like your friend."
Lan Zhan growls, which has Wei Ying reaching for his hand.
"Obviously, not as much as you!"
Lan Zhan's answer is to put an arm around his waist and pull him closer.
Wei Ying beams at Wen Qing, remembering their first ever conversation about Lan Zhan and his chiselled abs. A jelly Lan Zhan wasn't exactly a bad thing...
"Wen Chao and Wen Xu are dead," Wen Qing informs Doctor Afida, who looks genuinely disappointed.
"Damn, I wanted to settle a score with him..." she mutters under her breath.
"There's still plenty to do." Wen Qing says, steadying her. "We'll have to secure the test subjects still in the labs, and at some point, think about how we can help the vampires they've kept down here."
"Vampires?"
Wen Qing fills her in as they make their way out of there, and reach the elevator.
Doctor Afida looks so shocked.
"I knew they were up to no good, but I just never imagined it was so bad. What are we going to do about it?"
"We're going to find a real cure." Wen Qing sounds determined.
Wei Ying shivers, and Lan Zhan holds him closer, kissing the top of his head.
"If anyone can, it's you, JieJie," he tells her confidently.
"I don't know how you can forgive her, just like that." Baoshan Sanren says, scowling at Wen Qing. "She put you in danger, and kept things from you. You cannot just brush that aside!" She kicks the edge of the elevator in frustration, and the whole thing shakes.
Wei Ying reminds himself not to piss her off, ever.
"It's not easy," he admits. "But I believe in A-Qing. Not that one," he glances at the younger one with a grin. "I mean, I trust you too, I mean JieJie. The thing is, I get it. Family obligations are nothing small."
"What about you? Aren't you her family? What about her obligation to you? And your child?" Baoshan Sanren argues back, her silver eyes blazing with fire.
"I did it to protect you." Wen Qing says, looking green with shame. "I know I should have said something, but I wanted to keep you out of it. Plus, when I heard that they were looking for a male Wen relative, I had to keep A-Yuan out of it."
"And JingYi." Lan Zhan quickly explains his connection to the Wens.
"They're not getting anywhere near our children," Wei Ying vows, and his eyes flash red.
"Hot." Lan Zhan tells him immediately, his gaze equally blistering in heat.
Wei Ying's cheeks become an adorable shade of pink, and he hides his face in Lan Zhan's shoulder, smiling uncontrollably.
"I'm supposed to be angry and vengeful." He smacks Lan Zhan's arm playfully. "How am I going to do that, when you're being shameless?"
The elevator shudders to a stop, and they get out, looking around.
Everyone's phones chime loudly, all at once.
Baoshan Sanren looks at hers.
When her expression hardens, Wei Ying fishes out his phone, handing Lan Zhan his.
"Oh no!" He says, looking up at everyone else. "Mo XuanYu messaged, like just now."
"What's he saying?" Xiao XingChen asked, from the back of their crowd where he was supporting Song Lan.
Wei Ying grimaced. "Incoming."