Forced to Act out a Strange Script with a Rival - Chapter 41

“Why can she, but I can’t?”

Li Ting’s voice suddenly rang out, low and clear, like a piece of ice dropping into Si Xiaoxiao’s cluttered thoughts.

This abrupt, unconnected sentence made Si Xiaoxiao completely freeze.

She looked up blankly at Li Ting in the moonlight, hesitantly asking, “What? Who can? What can’t?”

Li Ting’s eyes, hidden in the shadows, seemed to burst forth with a strange light at that moment—sharp, burning, carrying a complex emotion that Si Xiaoxiao couldn’t decipher, locking tightly onto her face.

That gaze was like a searchlight, as if trying to pierce through her skin and see the deepest thoughts in her heart.

Si Xiaoxiao’s heart skipped a beat, and a surge of inexplicable panic instantly seized her.

This Li Ting was unfamiliar, she thought, but then again, she had never truly understood Li Ting in the first place, so how could she tell if she was familiar or not?

However, the strange gleam in Li Ting’s eyes quickly receded, so fast it felt like an illusion.

Li Ting slightly turned her head, avoiding Si Xiaoxiao’s searching gaze. Her voice returned to its usual calmness, even carrying a hint of deliberate topic change: “Nothing. Let’s try to contact Ah Lin’s teammates first.”

It was as if that shocking question just now was merely a hallucination brought on by Si Xiaoxiao’s high tension.

Si Xiaoxiao was full of suspicion, but You Yilin’s safety was clearly more important.

She suppressed the strange feeling in her heart and forced herself to concentrate.

Li Ting was truly clever; when faced with insurmountable dark forces, one certainly shouldn’t try to be a lone hero to solve the problem. At a time like this, seeking help was the right course of action.

But how should they make contact?

Si Xiaoxiao slapped her forehead, suddenly remembering that Ah Lin had put her phone in her small bag.

So, she fumbled through her small handbag, pulling out Ah Lin’s phone.

Li Ting’s gaze fell on Si Xiaoxiao’s searching movements, watching her pull out You Yilin’s phone with such familiarity. Her eyes darkened imperceptibly.

When Si Xiaoxiao’s fingers quickly tapped the screen, entering “88888888” without any hesitation and successfully unlocking it, Li Ting’s tightly pursed lips became even straighter, and the line of her jaw looked exceptionally cold and rigid in the moonlight.

That intimate knowledge of You Yilin’s habits was like a tiny thorn, pricking a hidden corner of her heart, letting an inexplicable emotion ferment within.

“It’s still this password, she hasn’t changed at all, that girl,” Si Xiaoxiao muttered softly, her tone carrying a familiar, helpless affection, completely oblivious to the person’s silence next to her.

She then quickly opened the contact list, her finger rapidly sliding across the screen.

You Yilin’s contact list was clearly organized, without any nicknames. Soon, a name labeled “Captain – Mo Suoge” appeared.

Si Xiaoxiao pressed the dial button without hesitation.

The call was answered almost instantly.

“Baby? What’s wrong?” A mature, languid, slightly husky and magnetic female voice came from the receiver. That affectionate, almost ambiguous term of address sounded particularly clear beside the quiet beach.

The intimacy of the address made one inevitably wonder; it didn’t sound like a simple colleague relationship.

Li Ting looked up, watching Si Xiaoxiao silently.

Si Xiaoxiao felt a strange feeling from Li Ting’s gaze, and an instinctual, unexplainable guilt rose in her heart.

“Um, hello, we’re Ah Lin’s friends…”

Si Xiaoxiao concisely explained what had just happened: “Because Ah Lin wanted to break up with Gong Zhiyuan, we went to her birthday party together. Gong Zhiyuan injected Ah Lin with a sedative, forcibly keeping her. We’re sorry, we couldn’t convince Gong Zhiyuan…”

The other end of the phone fell into a brief silence; only faint breathing could be heard.

A few seconds later, the languid voice disappeared, replaced by an unusually serious and calm tone: “Injected with a sedative? Where is the location?”

Si Xiaoxiao looked at Li Ting. As the one who had driven them here, she immediately gave the approximate location and features of the villa.

“I understand.” The Captain’s voice had a reassuring and steady power. “How are you two? Did Gong Zhiyuan hurt you? Are you injured?”

“We… we’re fine,” Si Xiaoxiao glanced at the silent Li Ting next to her, then added, “Miss Gong let us go. She didn’t hurt us. It’s just… it’s just Ah Lin…”

Her voice held guilt and powerlessness: “I’m sorry, we couldn’t bring her out…”

In response to Si Xiaoxiao’s guilt, the person on the other end was very gentle. Her voice carried a calming force: “It’s alright, you can’t blame yourselves. The rest of this matter, just leave it to us, Big Sis.”

Following that, the call ended.

Listening to the dial tone, Si Xiaoxiao let out a long sigh, as if a great weight had been lifted.

Professional matters should indeed be left to professionals to handle.

Li Ting’s gaze swept over the still-noisy party lights in the distance and the dark villa in front of them, which was like a crouching beast. She remained vigilant: “It’s not safe here. Should we go back to the hotel now?”

Her suggestion was practical and indeed the first thing they, as ordinary citizens, should consider doing.

However, Si Xiaoxiao shook her head. Her eyes did not leave Li Ting but seriously and thoroughly swept over her body, as if conducting some kind of check.

In the moonlight, she keenly noticed Li Ting’s left arm hanging by her side—the posture seemed a little… unnatural?

It didn’t look like a normal, relaxed hang; it was more like she was deliberately maintaining a certain angle, with a hint of almost imperceptible stiffness.

Sure enough, Li Ting was injured.

“No, we’re going to the hospital first,” Si Xiaoxiao’s tone was decisive.

Li Ting was slightly startled, then subconsciously tried to deny it: “I didn’t…”

“How did it happen?”

Si Xiaoxiao cut her off, stepped forward, and without question, grabbed Li Ting’s left arm, rolled up the sleeve. Sure enough, there was a large bruise near the shoulder. Her voice carried an urgency and worry that she hadn’t even noticed herself.

Li Ting was caught off guard by Si Xiaoxiao’s sudden closeness. Her wrist was grasped by a warm hand, and the distinct sensation caused her body to stiffen almost imperceptibly. She lowered her eyes and explained: “I was lucky and unlucky at the same time. I was just hit by a coconut.”

Although she had moved away from the lively party and into the shadows, Li Ting had constantly been observing Si Xiaoxiao and You Yilin.

Since they were a certain distance away, Li Ting couldn’t hear the details too clearly, and she didn’t want to get too involved in the love triangle.

She felt that she was not interested in Si Xiaoxiao’s love life.

But when Si Xiaoxiao’s finger pointed in her direction from a distance, her heart couldn’t help but speed up a bit.

Her brain, shamefully, thought: What is she saying? Is she mentioning me? Is she relying on me instinctively after being wronged?

A secret, self-condemning sense of anticipation quietly arose.

Then, a waiter found her, saying that Miss Gong invited her for a private chat in a quiet place.

Li Ting remained vigilant and followed the waiter’s lead, but a coconut falling from the sky knocked out the waiter and injured Li Ting.

It was precisely this sudden accident that made Li Ting suddenly realize that the system’s Destiny Bond had come into play.

Fortunately, the waiter who intended to take her away was accidentally knocked out, and the punishment for putting distance between them was that the coconut also hit her.

Li Ting instinctively walked back, and again, the Destiny Bond took effect, allowing her to arrive at the crucial moment.

This system’s reward was indeed quite mysterious.

Afterward, the two drove to the hospital.

The road was smooth and unobstructed the entire way. The subtle concept of luck had once again shown its strong presence.

The emergency room of the island hospital late at night was brightly lit but possessed a weary silence.

The strong smell of disinfectant was the constant background noise here.

Si Xiaoxiao was like the most dutiful supervisor, practically “escorting” Li Ting through registration and consultation.

“Severe muscle strain in the shoulder and arm, accompanied by a slight joint subluxation, it’s not too serious.” The middle-aged doctor in a white coat, with a serious expression, looked at the recently taken X-ray film. He frowned slightly and pointed with a pen at the shoulder joint on the film: “See, here, there’s a small displacement. You absolutely must not exert any force in the near future, especially with the left arm. No lifting heavy objects or large range of motion activities.”

“Joint subluxation?!” Si Xiaoxiao gasped, reacting even more strongly than Li Ting herself. She leaned in to look at the blurry X-ray film, as if she could understand it, and anxiously asked the doctor: “Is it serious? Will there be any lasting effects? Will it affect her ability to play the piano or sing?”

Her demeanor was as if she were the one injured, bombarding the doctor with rapid-fire questions that made him a little helpless.

Li Ting tiredly rubbed her brow and calmly said to the doctor, “Thank you, Doctor. Please perform the reduction.”

The reduction process was certainly not easy. Although the doctor’s technique was skillful, it was bound to be painful.

A soft “click” was heard, accompanied by intense pain.

Li Ting bit down hard on her lower lip, letting out a stifled groan. Large beads of cold sweat instantly broke out on her forehead, and her face visibly paled. Her body trembled slightly from the pain, but she held her back straight and didn’t make another sound after the groan.

Si Xiaoxiao watched from the side, her heart pounding, her hands unconsciously clenching into fists, her nails digging deeply into her palms.

After the entire course of treatment was completed, Li Ting was ordered by Si Xiaoxiao not to move around unnecessarily.

Following that, Si Xiaoxiao became a whirlwind, running around to get medicine, pay fees. Even though her own leg had only recently healed and she was also half a patient, she completely forgot about herself and hurried everywhere.

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