Plague (16): Beautiful Dreams

Tan Xiao made many calls to the other party, but no one answered.

His phone reminded him: [Your battery is low, please charge it in time.]

Tan Xiao hurriedly plugged his phone into the charger, turned on the notification sound, and ensured he wouldn’t miss Dr. Wen’s callback.

The military was stationed at the entrance of the community, so he couldn’t sneak out to find Wen Yi. Fortunately, the communication equipment was still functioning normally, allowing him to search for information online.

He searched for Huaxi Hospital, but the links that popped up only introduced Huaxi Hospital as a large and impressive hospital.

All the negative news about Huaxi Hospital were deleted from major platforms.

Couldn’t find anything, nothing at all.

Tan Xiao took a few deep breaths and glanced at the time: 10 PM.

A violent attack had occurred, and the hospital must be extremely busy. It was possible that researchers like Dr. Wen were forced to go to the front lines to perform surgeries.

Just because the other party didn’t contact him didn’t mean something bad happened. No news was the best news. Nighttime was the easiest time to overthink; he couldn’t dwell on it anymore. He needed to rest quickly. By tomorrow morning, he should be able to see the safety message Dr. Wen sent him.

He lay in bed, but after five minutes, he opened his eyes again and sent a message to Wen Yi.

“Dr. Wen, are you injured? What exactly happened at the hospital? Please call me back when you see this message.”

The phone was placed next to the pillow, eyes closed, covered with a blanket, ready to sleep!

“Baby.” The sun was up, and Dr. Wen, who had just finished work, opened the door with a key and walked into the room, looking at Tan Xiao gently.

Dr. Wen was back! Tan Xiao suddenly opened his eyes. The room was pitch black. Looking left and right, the aisles on both sides of the bed were empty.

He sat there a bit dejectedly. Dr. Wen hadn’t come back; it was just a dream.

Looking at the time again, it was 11:30 PM. He went to bed at 10:00 PM, tossed and turned until 11:00 PM, finally fell asleep, and only slept for half an hour before waking up from a dream.

There was still no news from Dr. Wen. Tan Xiao flipped through his phone, a bit annoyed, and pulled the blanket over him to continue sleeping.

He woke up once at 1:00 AM, again at 2:00 AM, and at 3:00 AM.

Suddenly, Tan Xiao saw a shadow by the bedside. It was Dr. Wen! Dr. Wen in a blood-stained white coat!

Tan Xiao quickly rushed over: “Wen Yi, why are you covered in blood?!”

Blood dripped from the white coat onto the floor tiles, glaringly bright in Tan Xiao’s eyes.

Dr. Wen’s hands were icy cold, and as Tan Xiao rushed over, they stood stiffly in place, completely different from the Dr. Wen in reality.

The small orange lamp in the room was dim, casting no shadow of Dr. Wen, but the bedroom was small, and the bed itself cast shadows. Tan Xiao, who was only concerned about whether Wen Yi was injured, couldn’t possibly notice such details.

“It’s… it’s nothing.”

Wen Yi’s voice sounded different from usual, not the warm and clear voice like a tinkling spring. It was low and hoarse, like a rusty machine, the vocal cords straining to vibrate, producing a harsh echo.

“Am I still dreaming?”

On a pitch-black night, it was hard to distinguish between reality and dreams. He had had his share of so-called lucid dreams.

But even if he were dreaming, he couldn’t just ignore Dr. Wen, who was injured!

“Wait a moment, I’ll go get some bandages to wrap you up!”

The blood on Dr. Wen’s white coat seemed to be flowing, making him think he was seriously injured, with blood continuously gushing out.

Wen Yi shook his head. He quickly grabbed the young man’s hand. The human wrist was warm, and the young man’s blood seemed to be boiling, so hot that he didn’t dare to apply any pressure through the thin, delicate skin.

His movements were very careful, as if he were holding a soft cotton candy. Just a little force would crush Tan Xiao’s hand bones.

Afraid that he might accidentally hurt him in his excitement, Wen Yi reluctantly let go of Tan Xiao and instead grabbed the sleeve of his pajamas.

The monster hiding in the shadows slowly spoke, “Not injured, not my blood.”

Tan Xiao didn’t believe it: “Really? Let me check you!”

He took the initiative to grab Wen Yi’s hand and pulled him towards the bathroom.

Along the way, he turned on the lights in the living room; the brightness was a bit blinding, and the soreness in his eyes felt strangely real.

But Tan Xiao still thought this was just a lucid dream caused by missing Dr. Wen too much. After all, reason told him that with the military guarding Huaxi Hospital and the situation being so severe, Dr. Wen couldn’t possibly have broken through all the guards to come home.

With a practiced ease, he peeled off the blood-stained lab coat, forcefully yanking off the shirt and pants underneath. Of course, perhaps because he watched news about infectious diseases every day in real life, he remembered to put on gloves in advance.

He turned on the bathroom heater, and under the strong light, Dr. Wen’s skin appeared a warm white.

Whether it was his well-defined chest, firm abdomen, smoothly contoured and upright back, or the familiar grooves that wound down, everything was perfectly rounded and unblemished, with not a single scar.

The bloodstains on the white coat were truly left by others; Dr. Wen was perfectly fine, immaculate.

Tan Xiao finally breathed a sigh of relief, muttering, “Great, Dr. Wen, you must be fine.”

He thought this was a precognitive dream. In the dream, Dr. Wen was fine, so in reality, Dr. Wen must also be safe and sound. Perhaps it was because they missed each other so much that Dr. Wen, knowing his concern, had come to his dream.

Tan Xiao’s gaze was more penetrating than an X-ray in a hospital. Under his intense scrutiny, Dr. Wen felt inexplicably small and instinctively sought shelter.

He reached for the clothes nearby, but Tan Xiao stopped him: “They’re all wet, and the clothes are so dirty, why would you wear them? It’s not like we don’t have clean clothes at home.”

“Why don’t you just take a shower? I’ll go get you some clean clothes.”

Even knowing this was a dream, Tan Xiao couldn’t help but scold Dr. Wen: “Honestly, you’re a doctor who saves lives, yet you don’t even know how to take care of your own body.”

He made sure the person stayed in the bathroom and went to get some clean clothes.

Wen Yi turned on the shower head, awkwardly rinsing off.

He didn’t even close the bathroom door, water splashing everywhere.

In the dream, Dr. Wen was so clumsy, not at all like a mature, elite man. He didn’t even know how to use body wash, just standing there foolishly under the water.

The bathroom light was off, leaving only a dim spotlight on the ceiling.

Tan Xiao put his clothes away, but Wen Yi, all wet, grabbed him. His gold-rimmed glasses were off, and his beautiful eyes were faintly red: “Let’s wash together.”

In the darkness, the monster inside him seemed to have a fire within, unquenchable by water. When he saw Tan Xiao, the water washing over him turned into oil, igniting him in an instant.

Water can’t save fire, but Tan Xiao in front of him was his only antidote.

This scene in front of him inexplicably overlapped with their first encounter. But that’s how dreams are; they always replay past events.

Night amplifies emotions and makes people more willing to follow their true feelings. With a smile, Tan Xiao listened to his true thoughts and let Dr. Wen pull him into the cramped bathroom.

A few hours later, satisfied, Tan Xiao fell asleep holding Dr. Wen, whose skin was covered in red marks from his bites. The latter quietly watched him for a long time, then suddenly remembered something and hurriedly ran to the bathroom.

The washing machine was too noisy, so he washed his thin pajamas and the soiled underwear, hung them on the balcony, and turned on the air conditioning in the living

When the time was almost up, Wen Yi reluctantly glanced at Tan Xiao, kissed his lover’s soft and warm lips, and left before dawn.

Before leaving, he didn’t forget to tidy up the clothes and neatly folded Tan Xiao’s clothes, placing them in the wardrobe.

When Tan Xiao woke up from his dreams, he instinctively glanced at the pillow, which was empty and devoid of Dr. Wen’s presence.

He looked down at his pajamas and realized he wasn’t wearing the same ones from last night!

Could it be that he wasn’t dreaming last night? Dr. Wen really came back yesterday!

Tan Xiao quickly rushed out of the room, calling out Wen Yi’s name: “Wen Yi!”

He received no response.

Dr. Wen wasn’t there, and there were no extra clothes on the balcony or in the washing machine. It seemed like he really was dreaming.

Thinking about the very romantic developments in that dream, Tan Xiao couldn’t help but blush.

He instinctively reached for his phone. Dr. Wen had sent a message at six in the morning to report his safety: “Baby, I’m fine. It was too late yesterday, so I didn’t want to disturb you. I’m up and going to work now. [Little cat heart]”

Tan Xiao revealed a relieved smile on his face: “Great, I knew you would be fine. I had a dream about Dr. Wen last night!”

He sent a bunch of messages before checking other social media.

When he saw the trending topics, Tan Xiao’s heart tightened: … The day before yesterday was peaceful, yesterday was chaotic, but searching for Huaxi Hospital yielded no recent information.

And today, all the trending keywords were Huaxi Hospital!