Chapter 36: Premonition

　　We were sitting on the couch when Yumeng pulled out her phone, dialed Wu Jing’s number, and put it on speaker.

　　The call connected.

　　“Hello? Is this Yumeng? … How are you…?” Wu Jing’s voice came through, sounding heavy.

　　“I’m fine, um… what’s going on with you?” Yumeng hesitated, unsure of how to continue.

　　“I… I’m just calling you,” Wu Jing answered.

　　I couldn’t help but chuckle at the awkwardness of the situation.

　　Yumeng gave me a “shh” gesture, clearly unsure of what to say next.

　　“I thought you’d never talk to me again…” Wu Jing’s voice suddenly broke, filled with emotion.

　　“Wu Jing, don’t overthink it. It was just… my parents. Older people can be like that…” Yumeng responded quickly, trying to reassure her.

　　“You… you’re not mad at me, Yumeng?” Wu Jing’s voice wavered with sobs.

　　“Mad at you? For taking us out? You had no way of knowing something would go wrong. If you’d known, would you have still taken us out?” Yumeng asked.

　　There was a brief silence on Wu Jing’s end before she sniffled and said, “Thank you, Yumeng…”

　　“Come on, Wu Jing. We’ve always been good friends!” Yumeng said, smiling as she comforted her. I noticed her eyes were red too.

　　“I’m just so relieved,” Wu Jing’s voice trembled on the other end.

　　“Uh, Yumeng, knowing you’re not angry with me makes me really happy… Hold on, I need to call Xia Ning too!” Wu Jing said urgently, hanging up before Yumeng could reply, not even hearing her say, “I’m right here.”

　　“Wait…” Yumeng started to say, but the call had already ended with the familiar beeping sound.

　　“She’s really in a hurry…” I was about to say something when I heard my phone ringing from the other room.

　　Ding ding ding…

　　Ding ding ding…

　　I answered the call as Yumeng approached.

　　“Xia Ning… I missed you,” Wu Jing’s voice came through, sounding a bit affectionate before I could say anything.

　　“Really? Missing me after less than a month apart?” I put the call on speaker and settled next to Yumeng on the bed.

　　“Yeah… Xia Ning, I need to ask you something…” Wu Jing’s tone was teasing.

　　“What’s going on? Wu Jing, why are you acting so weird today?”

　　“Xia Ning… I know you’re the type to keep everything to yourself and never speak up unless you’re really pushed. I just want to know, do you blame me for anything…” Her voice carried a hint of a sniffle.

　　I realized Wu Jing was still feeling unsettled, likely because everything started with that haunted house incident.

　　I’m in this situation partly because of her, but as Yumeng said, if Wu Jing had known there was danger, she wouldn’t have gone to that haunted house. Of course, she wouldn’t!

　　Yumeng nudged me, pulling me back to the present. I noticed Wu Jing’s end had gone silent.

　　“Wu Jing, I don’t blame you. Like you said, we’re a ‘golden triangle,’” I said sincerely.

　　“Xia Ning… I knew it!” Wu Jing’s voice sounded relieved and happy.

　　It seemed this issue between Yumeng and Wu Jing was resolved.

　　“Wu Jing, Xia Ning is here at my house,” Yumeng said with her mouth full of grapes, her words a bit mumbled.

　　There was a brief pause before Wu Jing’s voice came back, full of longing, “You two are together… I want to come too!!”

　　Wu Jing’s excitement was palpable; her mood had clearly lifted.

　　“Wu Jing, your place is in M City, over a thousand miles away from here…” I tried to bring her back to reality.

　　“Ugh… I… know…”

　　“Ah… I’m so disappointed!” She dragged out the last word, her voice laced with frustration.

　　Hearing Wu Jing’s disappointed tone, Yumeng and I both laughed.

　　“You two are laughing? Just wait, I’m coming over soon. I’ll eat and drink you out of house and home, and then you’ll see who’s laughing,” Wu Jing joked, her playful threat clear.

　　Hearing this, I knew she had fully let go of her worries.

　　“Sounds great!”

　　“Absolutely!” Yumeng and I responded in unison.

　　“When are you coming, Wu Jing?” I asked with excitement.

　　The thought of Wu Jing visiting made me really happy; it meant this holiday wouldn’t be so dull.

　　Yumeng seemed just as thrilled.

　　“You two are so eager. Alright, alright. Seeing how welcome I am, I’ll treat you to food and fun when I get there. How about a triple treat?” Wu Jing sounded just as cheerful.

　　“Perfect! And when you get here, we’ll make sure to eat you out of house and home! Haha…” Yumeng and I laughed, and Wu Jing joined in on the fun.

　　After a bit, Wu Jing said, “Guess what? I’m actually rolling in money now. My dad promised me ten thousand yuan if I score over six hundred on my exams. With just six hundred, I could ace it with my eyes closed.”

　　I hoped so, I thought to myself.

　　We continued chatting when suddenly I remembered something important. I ended the call and dialed Wei Junliang.

　　“Hello, Xia Ning?” Wei Junliang’s voice came through, amid some background noise.

　　“Wei Junliang, I need to ask you something.” I said, my tone serious. Yumeng, who had been about to feed me a grape, ended up eating it herself.

　　“Oh, go ahead.”

　　“I saw on the news that the hospital where Zhu Zhongcheng was held caught fire. I need to know if he’s okay…” I asked, feeling tense.

　　Yumeng, hearing this, became interested too. She pressed her ear to the phone, putting aside the grape and listening intently.

　　“Why are you worried about him? He’s fine. The fire was put out before it reached the fifth floor. He was up there and wasn’t affected at all.”

　　I felt a huge relief hearing that, but then I remembered the small notebook Zhu Zhongcheng had, with “1101” written in it. I wondered what it meant.

　　“Xia Ning, why the sudden concern? Afraid he might have been burned?” Wei Junliang asked.

　　“Not exactly. I was worried he might have tried to escape in the chaos. You know how dangerous he is.”

　　He chuckled and said, “You’re overthinking it. Even if he wanted to escape, he wouldn’t have made it.”

　　“Well, that’s a relief!” I said, feeling the weight lift off my shoulders.

　　“However…”

　　“What?” I tensed up again.

　　“There are a few patients who went missing.” Wei Junliang said.

　　“Missing?” A sense of unease washed over me.

　　“Yeah, nine people are unaccounted for. They can’t be found anywhere. Who knows where they went! Ugh…” Wei Junliang sighed.

　　“Junliang, someone’s calling you!” A voice called out to him on the other end.

　　“Alright, I’m coming,” Wei Junliang replied. He added, “I’ve got to go. If you come across any lunatics, just call the police.”

　　“Got it. Go ahead,” I said distractedly, feeling that something about this situation was off.

　　“Lunatics on the loose, that’s frightening,” Yumeng said, her voice tense after the call ended.

　　“It’ll be fine. They should be caught soon,” I said, though I didn’t fully believe it myself. The feeling was unsettling.

　　With nothing else to do, we decided to head to the convenience store to buy some snacks, filling three large bags.

　　We snacked and watched TV, catching up on the Harry Potter series from the first to the fourth movie. We were so engrossed that we even forgot to have lunch.

　　Though we weren’t hungry, having devoured two of the three bags of snacks, there was no room left for a meal.

　　My mind kept returning to the issue of the missing patients, and I felt weighed down.

　　At five in the afternoon, as we were about to resume watching Harry Potter, Yumeng’s phone rang.

　　It was her father.

　　“Hello, Yumeng, your mother and I won’t be coming home today…”