"Ugh-"
Tian Qingfeng raised his hands to shield his eyes from the sunlight. When he opened his eyes, what he saw was not the bedroom he expected but an unfamiliar, blurry white room.
As his eyes gradually came into focus, it became clear that it was a hospital room. Looking around, he saw the bright sunlight shining through the gaps in the window blinds. On the chair next to the bed sat his sister, Tian Hongxian, who was currently deep asleep on Tian Qingfeng's leg.
Maybe it was because of the sudden movements caused by Tian Qingfeng shuffling around, but Tian Hongxian stirred awake.
"Hmmm"
Somewhat dazed, she roused from her slumber as she raised her head. As soon as her eyes met Tian Qingfeng's, she seemed to pause in place. In the next instant, she instantly jerked upward with her mind wide awake.
"Brother!" she exclaimed, "How are you? Do you feel ok?"
"Uhhh, I'm-" Before Tian Qingfeng could get a word in, Hongxian began to quickly say, " Wait here, I'll go call the doctor."
With that, she stood up from her seat and rushed out the door.
Tian Qingfeng's voice awkwardly hung in the air as she ran out of the room.
"Haaaaa." Letting out a deep sigh after seeing Hongxian run out of the room, Tian Qingfeng decided to focus on something else.
Trying to remember what happened, he recalled walking down a road with his new classmate Wu Haoran when they were surrounded and assaulted by a group of people. Wu Haoran seems to recognize them as those Blood cultists that had their true nature revealed a couple of years ago.
After knocking down all the lackeys, He and Wu Haoran, in a bid for survival, fought against the most dangerous cultist. After a decisive moment, they finally felled the saber-wielding cultist and ended the battle. After which, the injuries caused him to black out.
Recalling what happened, Tian Qingfeng thought back to what the saber-wielding cultist had said.
'The accursed blasphemers spawn. What did he mean by that?'
What confused Qingfeng the most was how the cultists addressed him. Why did they call him the spawn of a blasphemer? His parents had no interaction with any church or cult, right? They died in a car crash a year earlier than when their church was designated as a cult.
Unconsciously, he reached towards his neck and felt around. Gradually, as he clasped his hand around a jade pendant, he let out a sigh that he seemed to have been unknowingly holding in.
Both he and his sister had one. The jade pendant was one of the things left behind by their parents.
The pendant was a flat, twelve-sided disc of cloudy azure jade, with a hole punched out in the middle. The disc was engraved with auspicious clouds. Near the edge, above the clouds, were two dragons circling and chasing each other in a counter-clockwise fashion.
Every design carved into the jade was inlaid with shiny golden metal around the edges. Surprisingly, even with him wearing it everywhere, the golden metal inlays suffered no damage. It couldn't be gold, at least no ordinary gold was this resilient.
After a couple of minutes, Qingfeng was still poring over the many questions he still had when the door opened.
Qingfeng hurriedly placed the pendant back under his shirt, hiding it within.
In came a man in a white lab coat, a man in a light blue suit, and his sister. There seemed to be people outside, but all he could hear were some indistinct voices before the door closed behind them.
Reaching the end of the bed, his sister and the suited man stood back as the man in the lab coat approached.
"Hi, I am Doctor Lu Shangyi. How are you feeling?"
"I'm …"
The doctor gave Tian Qingfeng a quick checkup and made sure all his vitals were stable.
"Alright, everything seems good."
He left the room after the diagnosis.
Hongxian seemed to relax as she let out a sigh of relief.
The man in the light blue suit then stepped forward as he pulled out a badge.
"Student Tian, I am Fang Tao. The captain of the Counter Terrorist Department's Frost Unit. Could you answer some of my questions?"
"Nice to meet you, Captain Fang. Go ahead."
"Can you tell us what happened last night? We just need your side of the story," said Captain Fang as he pulled out a notepad and a pen.
"Ok, so my classmate and I were…"
As Qingfeng explained what happened to Captain Fang, he started writing things down every so often. He would sometimes cut in and ask questions about the specifics. After Tian Qingfeng answered his questions, he would ask Tian Qingfeng to continue. After about half an hour of questioning. Captain Fang put away his notepad and pen.
"Ok, thank you for cooperating."
Captain Fang bowed to Tian Qingfeng
"This incident occurred due to an oversight on our part, and for that, the Department offers its sincerest apologies.
" To that end, the Counter Terrorism Department has assumed full responsibility for your medical expenses.
"Furthermore, we authorized the most advanced restorative procedures available; you have fully recovered and are cleared to resume your day."
After that, Captain Fang turned around, stepped out of the room, and shut the door behind himself.
Immediately after, Tian Qingfeng's sister walked over to the side of the bed.
"How are you? Are you really ok?" she asked
Qingfeng smiled. "I'm fine, really." He moved his arms around as if to show that he was uninjured.
Tian Hongxian suddenly threw herself forward and wrapped her arms around him.
Startled, Tian Qingfeng caught her. He saw tears bead up around her eyes.
Sobbing slightly, she said, "I was so worried."
Adjusting his arms, he patted her head. "I'm fine. I'm fine. Everything is fine."
After a while, Hongxian got up from Qingfeng and sat down on the chair next to the bed.
"So, uh. How long have I been here?"
"You were admitted to the hospital last night. I got a call about it right as I got home."
"Sorry for worrying you."
"Anyways, your friends are outside the room. I'm going to call them in." With that, she got up and went to open the door. As she motioned for people to enter, four people walked into the room.