149 The Girl Who Feels Pain Without Sensation

Earlier, Mu Qing, having gone to handle the discharge procedures, did not wish to wait in the hospital room and instead wandered off to the small garden behind the hospital. If there was anything he had grown fond of during his time at this facility, it was this quiet place.

However, just as he stepped onto a secluded, overgrown path, he caught an unexpected glimpse of a familiar figure. And when he realized what that person was about to do, he could not help but be struck by a profound sense of shock.

Not far away, that slender figure sat alone on the stone bench where he often went to lose himself in thought. A small hand gripped the other arm near the shoulder, moving slowly as if searching for something.

"What is she doing..."

Before the thought could fully form in his mind, he saw Xia Wan, her expression entirely blank, exert a sudden, sharp force.

*Crack.*

The sound of bones shifting was crisp and distinct.

"Xia Wan, what... what are you doing?"

The question escaped Mu Qing’s lips instinctively. For an artist who had always lived in isolation, detached from the affairs of the world, this was an uncharacteristically impulsive act. The young girl in the distance looked up at the sound of his voice and slowly stood as he approached.

"Are you... setting your own bone?"

"..."

Xia Wan did not speak. Her dark, fathomless eyes remained fixed on Mu Qing, though they gradually began to tremble.

"You..."

"Mu Qing."

This was the first time Mu Qing had heard her speak his name. Usually, no matter how others addressed him, he would merely offer a faint smile, indifferent and unmoved. Yet, for some reason, hearing it from this girl’s lips stirred a strange, inexplicable tug in his chest.

Xia Wan repeated his name, "Mu Qing, it hurts."

"It hurts? Where does it hurt? Is it your arm?"

Xia Wan shook her head. She raised the hand she had just set and pounded it fiercely against her own chest. Her voice became a soft, incoherent murmur, "Here... it hurts so much. It really hurts..."

The distraught girl stared straight at Mu Qing, seemingly unaware that she should avoid this "stranger." She continued to hammer at her own body, tears the size of beads streaming down her face. Her eyes were clouded with grief, her vision blurred, making it impossible for her to discern the expression on the man before her.

Yet, her body acted on its own accord. Seeing Mu Qing seemed to have triggered some hidden mechanism within her. Nameless emotions surged from every direction, crashing through her with uncontrollable force. Like a newborn beast, Xia Wan was expressing an emotion she did not understand in the most raw and direct way possible.

In an instant, Mu Qing reached out, firmly gripping her wrists to stop her from striking herself any further.

"It doesn't hurt anymore. It's gone."

Even though he did not know why he said it, he provided the answer he sensed Xia Wan desperately needed to hear. The girl stopped struggling. She tilted her head, looking at him with a dazed, innocent confusion.

"You promise? It won't hurt anymore?"

"Yes, I promise."

"Good... then that... is good..."

With that, she collapsed forward into Mu Qing’s arms.

***

In the present moment, watching the girl sitting before him, Mu Qing fell into silence once again. Ever since he had brought Xia Wan home, she had not closed her eyes to sleep.

Most crucially, after he had summoned a doctor friend to examine her, he was told something that defied belief: this girl... she had no sense of pain at all.