Chapter 128: Chapter 126: Fu Lin Middle School
Having closely questioned Yu Shu about the dream she experienced, Yang Xiao discovered she had no memory of the red coffin.
Her memories were rather blurry and very strange; she said she was walking in a funeral procession, walking endlessly without purpose for a very long time, yet she couldn’t describe any details about the procession.
Yang Xiao knew that this probably wasn’t an issue with Yu Shu’s memory but rather an influence from the Big Red Blood Coffin.
That coffin was very strange; it appeared in both the wedding procession and the funeral procession. In Yang Xiao’s mind, big red coffins had always been a taboo existence.
Gradually, from the depths of his heart, intense curiosity emerged, and he suddenly felt an impulse to open the coffin to see what was inside.
But the next second, he was startled by his own thoughts. Was he considering opening the coffin? Had he gone mad?
The Lantern Ghost and Headless Green Ghost were easily suppressed by that Blood Coffin; if he let out whatever was inside, it could tear the sky apart!
"Captain, are you okay?" Yu Shu typed on the screen, looking worriedly at Yang Xiao.
"Hu——"
Yang Xiao forced himself to calm down. He had gone through too much recently and needed time to digest it all. After a moment, he turned to Yu Shu with a reassuring smile, nodded, and comforted her, "I’m fine, don’t worry."
Then the two of them began to cross-check the details of their dreams. One spoke, the other wrote, and the atmosphere in the warm, bright hospital room was surprisingly harmonious.
Yu Shu was very careful in their exchange, using only a tablet and immediately deleting any text she typed, avoiding the use of regular notebooks that could leave evidence.
The tablet was also not connected to the internet.
For a full hour, Yang Xiao and Yu Shu straightened out the sequence of events, and anything unexplainable, or that didn’t have a good explanation, was attributed to the Headless Green Ghost. If anyone questioned it, they could go ask the Headless Green Ghost themselves.
After making sure there were no oversights, Yang Xiao finally breathed a sigh of relief, told Yu Shu to rest well, and turned to leave.
His arm was touched, and Yang Xiao turned around to see Yu Shu holding a notebook, writing: How is your basic training going?
"Not bad, Coach Zhu Yina, she... um... is very strict." Yang Xiao felt embarrassed to admit that he always trembled after leaving training with Zhu Yina.
"How about gun training and special equipment training?" Yu Shu continued to inquire.
"I haven’t officially started those two yet, but Huang Qiang said the Director has already arranged them for me." Yang Xiao told the truth.
"I’m average with special equipment, but I’m strong with guns. If you need, I can teach... help you."
Yang Xiao noticed the word "teach" before "help," though it had been crossed out. He couldn’t help smiling wryly. Was she taking care of his pride?
Overthinking it, Yang Xiao’s pride wasn’t substantial and typically wouldn’t be spent on such matters.
"Well, thanks. I’ll take you up on that once you have recovered."
That evening, people from the Provincial Department came, quicker than Yang Xiao had expected. They interviewed both Yang Xiao and Yu Shu separately, and he couldn’t help but feel relieved that the Director’s arrangements had been timely; otherwise, things would have been more troublesome.
Two days later, the Provincial Department people left, and Yang Xiao was permitted to leave the hospital, while Yu Shu, due to her special condition, continued to stay for observation.
Back in his own office, leaning back in his chair, Yang Xiao finally relaxed. Knowing that both he and Yu Shu were all right, everyone else’s worries dissipated, and the Investigation Team’s office regained its usual cheerful vibe, with Xi Menxiu clamoring for a team-building event to celebrate.
"I’ll treat once Yu Shu is discharged," Yang Xiao said with a smile.
"Woo-hoo~~"
"The Captain has the demeanor of a bureau-level official!"
As the days passed, Yang Xiao enjoyed some rare leisure time. More than once, he asked Beibei if there were any missions they hadn’t told him about, only to be met with an eye roll from Beibei who was busy binge-watching shows and eating chips.
"I’m telling you, Captain, isn’t it good to have no missions? When you weren’t here, we might not even have a mission every two months. Besides, it’s just 20,000 yuan a month; why would we risk our lives for that?"
"Uh... okay." The main issue for Yang Xiao was not feeling at ease about taking his 20,000 yuan without tasks, no, he got 23,000—after all, he was the captain.
During this period, Yang Xiao didn’t stay idle. Since his body was still recovering, he postponed the more intense physical combat training, but gun and special equipment training had been scheduled.
One clear afternoon at the Patrol Defense Bureau’s underground shooting range.
"Bang!"
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
"Bang! Bang!"
After a burst of gunshots, Yang Xiao emptied the magazine and subconsciously turned the gun around, imitating the protagonist in action movies by blowing on the muzzle of the gun.
"Stop!"
The man behind him came forward, pressing down the hand holding the gun and the bald man in camouflage gear frowned. "Don’t aim the gun at yourself sideways, watch out for accidental discharge!"
"Uh... got it." Yang Xiao put down the gun and looked at the human silhouette target not too far away. The target was very close, only 5 meters, and the bullet holes were relatively concentrated. "Coach, can I try some mid to long-range shooting, like at 20 meters or 30 meters?"
The coach took back the handgun, shook his head as he ejected the magazine, replaced it with a new one and handed the gun back to Yang Xiao, "There’s no need. The handgun is only for emergency self-defense. Typically in combat, you have very little time to shoot, and in complex urban terrain, to accurately hit a target at 30 meters, marksmanship isn’t the most important—it’s about luck."
