Chapter 48: Never Forget (Final)
“Once a person falls into water, they can hold their breath for three minutes.”
“There’s one minute from when breathing stops until loss of consciousness.”
“After losing consciousness, the heart can keep beating for up to three minutes.”
“When the heart stops, the brain remains viable for five minutes before irreversible death.”
“As long as rescue happens within this window, there is still hope.”
“Humans are remarkably resilient.”
A gentle and calm voice flowed from the phone, narrating an essay.
Li Guanqi sat upright at his computer desk in a white coat, working while listening to the audiobook.
He had loved reading since childhood and excelled both academically and in character.
He was one of those legendary “model children.”
And he had been so for twenty years.
Now a junior in college, he was interning at Xunyang University Affiliated Hospital. Due to a shortage of slots in general surgery, he was reassigned to psychiatry.
Fortunately, the work was simple: rounds, collecting medical histories, accompanying doctors on examinations, attending meetings. In his spare time, he listened to audiobooks, enjoying the leisure.
“Knock! Knock! Knock!”
A sudden urgent knocking shattered the gentle atmosphere in the room.
Before Li Guanqi could respond, his colleague Xu Fei burst in, out of breath, stifling laughter, his voice trembling comically.
“There’s a patient...”
“The temperament... hah — kind of like you.”
“???” Li Guanqi’s expression darkened as he retorted sourly, “You sure know how to talk with emotional intelligence.”
“What do you mean by ‘a patient came, temperament kind of like you’?”
Low emotional intelligence: Divine Gold.
High emotional intelligence: “A patient came to our psychiatry ward, and her temperament reminds me a bit of you.”
Xu Fei’s breathing steadied slightly as he urged, “Come quick, room 505, several doctors can’t handle her...”
“She’s stunning! Totally wild...”
“Even sedatives can’t calm her, ha ha...”
He trailed off, breaking into laughter, shoulders shaking with mirth.
“505?” Li Guanqi repeated, frowning.
Room 505 was the special symptom ward, unused for years.
Its window and door had suffered severe damage and had never been replaced.
He couldn’t fathom what kind of person would be assigned there.
“A patient that several doctors can’t manage? How could an intern like me possibly help...”
He muttered to himself, straightening his white coat collar and cuffs, adjusting his intern name tag, and followed Xu Fei toward room 505.
In the corridor, under dim lighting, the door plate “505” appeared somewhat blurred.
The rusty iron door was half-open, creaking loudly as agitated noises spilled through the crack.
Li Guanqi carefully pushed the door open slightly and tiptoed inside.
Bright lights illuminated the room, where several doctors and nurses stood around the bed, their faces grave as they discussed something.
“Miss, please calm down!”
“Sedatives, sedatives!”
“She’s unstable...”
“Which young lady is this...”
The nurses busied themselves, trying to soothe the patient but dared not approach too closely.
There was a faint sense of... fear?
Driven by curiosity, Li Guanqi stepped closer to the group, tilting his head slightly until he finally saw the difficult patient.
In an instant, he was struck by her breathtaking beauty.
He had expected a disheveled woman in ragged clothes, with messy hair, a haggard face, and a vacant gaze.
But the reality was entirely the opposite.
She had long, sleek black hair cascading over her shoulders like a waterfall, accentuating her fair complexion.
She wore a deep crimson strapless gown.
The simple yet elegant design perfectly outlined her graceful figure, revealing delicate collarbones and a slender neck, like flowing red wine—deep and enchanting.
There are two kinds of girls in this world.
One requires getting to know—to experience her warmth and thoughtfulness.
The other needs no introduction, like this woman in the red dress.
Her allure lay in her figure, her face, and the faint floral scent mingled with the antiseptic air.
“Goddess...” Li Guanqi’s gaze glazed over, the mundane word involuntarily crossing his mind.
She was so beautiful that even the word “goddess” seemed to lend her some dignity.
But what was this goddess doing?
She stood against the window, upright, arms crossed over her chest, shifting her stance, her face intensely serious.
An unaware onlooker might think she was about to transform into a masked rider.
Suddenly!
The woman’s eyes flashed sharply as she intoned loudly, “The cold flames will consume all in this world.”
“The pitch-black flower...”
She swung her arm, her voice imbued with some strange power.
Li Guanqi felt affected; his breath quickened, his gaze grew distant, and his blood stirred restlessly.
“Bloom!” (x2)
His eyes widened involuntarily, and he echoed her shout.
“Synchro Summon!”
Their voices rang out in unison, a passionate cheer that drowned out all other sounds in the ward.
“[Black Rose Dragon]!”
Li Guanqi shouted, releasing the fervor within his chest.
“[Black Rose Dragon]!”
The girl’s voice was crisp and resolute, brimming with undeniable strength.
At the moment their voices dropped, a gust of wind burst through the broken window.
The decrepit window rattled as curtains flared wildly, flapping like ghostly dancers.
Nurses screamed and scattered, doctors raised arms to shield themselves from the storm.
Chaos engulfed the ward briefly, with only the chant of “Black Rose Dragon!” echoing continuously.
The wind lasted a few breaths.
Gradually, the ward returned to calm, with nurses and doctors exchanging bewildered glances.
The “Black Rose Dragon” that Li Guanqi and the woman had summoned did not appear.
The air was deathly still—eerily silent.
“Uh—”
Li Guanqi’s rational mind regained control; his face flushed red as he nervously tapped his toes.
“This is over. I can’t stay in this hospital.”
Xu Fei had been right—they did share a similar temperament.
It wasn’t his fault.
The woman’s chant—“The cold flames will consume all in this world”—hit the mark perfectly, as if Izayoi Akiyoshi had crossed over from animation into reality.
The voice carried sincere seriousness and resolve.
He had heard many dubbers voice such dramatic lines, all tinged with awkwardness; the voice actors never fully committed, subconsciously treating “Black Rose Dragon” as fake, lacking genuine force.
But this woman was earnest.
She truly believed she could summon the “Black Rose Dragon,” her passion ablaze.
Her pure fervor infected Li Guanqi, awakening his long-dormant adolescent soul, compelling him to join the chant.
It was exhilarating to shout.
Yet embarrassingly awkward.
Li Guanqi wanted to take back his “goddess” admiration; this was the worst tarnishing of a goddess ever.
She was no goddess—she was a madwoman!
He couldn’t imagine that the special case patient was a card game enthusiast!
Had she finally lost her grip and gone mad all the way to psychiatry?
The surrounding nurses and doctors turned to him, eyes full of doubt.
“What is this ‘Black Rose Dragon’ code?”
“What does ‘The cold flames will consume all in this world’ mean?”
“Is the patient prone to anti-social behavior?” an older doctor asked seriously, eyes shifting between Li Guanqi and the girl.
In 2026, Yu-Gi-Oh! was still a niche IP; most doctors and nurses had no idea what these words meant.
“Uh...” Li Guanqi smiled awkwardly, his mind in turmoil.
“It’s a line from an anime...”
“She probably isn’t really sick...”
“It’s just that she plays Yu-Gi-Oh!...” he added, tinged with helplessness and self-mockery.
The medical staff frowned in confusion; this explanation didn’t quite add up.
The woman in the red dress silently observed everything, pinching her chin, scrutinizing Li Guanqi with a piercing gaze.
Suddenly, her eyes lit up.
“Doctor Li... Li?!”
She shouted abruptly, disbelief thick in her voice.
At her cry, the entire room fell into sudden silence.